Soccer thread 08/09 (will have spoilers!)

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:02 pm

FA Cup games this weekend were quite entertaining

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:00 am

At 41 Paolo Maldini played his last Milan derby. What a player, Inter took the classic 2-1.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:29 am

Ooo, look who's just come out in favour of a salary cap

From Martin Samuels, Daily Mail chief football correspondent

"That's rich, Herr Rummenigge. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, acting chairman of the European Club Association, is a leading advocate of the need to link player wages to turnover.
This is a handy way of ensuring the elite remain just that, by preventing a club such as Manchester City interloping through the wealth of an ambitious owner.
‘Clubs would only be able to invest 50 per cent of their whole income in wages,’ he says.
‘Then it would not make such a big difference if a club is owned by its fans or a sheik.’
So how does Rummenigge, also chairman of Bayern Munich, see this working in his backyard?
Interestingly, not off quite the same level playing field. Here is Rummenigge’s concept for the next Bundesliga television deal.
‘The top of the league needs to be strengthened in order to become more competitive internationally. Bayern have received around 29million euros from the TV marketing pool, but need around 60m euros.
‘That is the ideal, but even another 5m would allow us to close the gap a little. That is the salary of a very good player.’
So just to recap, Rummenigge’s idea of equality is to seize a larger portion of German TV revenue for his club, weakening opponents and increasing turnover.
In his brave new wagecapping system, this would ensure Bayern Munich had even more money to spend on players than its rivals.
How wonderful that the ECA has chosen such an independent thinker to be its voice; otherwise it could have ended up with just another charlatan solely interested in feathering his club’s nest."

Maybe that might solve the dilemma of how they are 4th on the money list, but haven't seriously challenged for the CL in years.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:18 am

See, all of Munchen hates Manchester! The Bundesliga TV deal is so crap right now, that is why you see Bayern talking about needing a bigger piece of the TV pie. As for a salary cap, I don't agree with him.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:55 am

When you say 'crap', do you mean that it is poor because of the total size of the contract, or the way in which it is divided between the various clubs ? I know that certainly in Italy this was a problem, but one which was compounded when the clubs opted not to negotiate as a bloc and instead sell rights individually, which caused chaos as many clubs even in Serie A struggled to sell their TV rights.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:46 am

davet010 wrote:When you say 'crap', do you mean that it is poor because of the total size of the contract, or the way in which it is divided between the various clubs ? I know that certainly in Italy this was a problem, but one which was compounded when the clubs opted not to negotiate as a bloc and instead sell rights individually, which caused chaos as many clubs even in Serie A struggled to sell their TV rights.

I mean that it is universally accepted in Germany that the FCB negotiated way too low a contract for the Bundesliga as a whole. Add the fact that the First and Second Division clubs share equally in the 300 million Euro pool, and Bayern is at a disadvantage when you compare them to Italian, Spanish, and England clubs.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:55 am

Well Bayern seem to do quite well then, if they get €29m out of the €300m total. I don't know much about German TV, so is there any prospect of someone bidding against the existing licence holders ?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:58 am

Heard on the BBC podcast that in the same time Arsenal and Everton/Aston Villa have been spending about 25 million pounds, MU had spent over 100 million and Chelsea over 300 million.

Liverpool was probably in the same neighborhood.

It seems there's as much interest in parity in the EPL as there is interest in parity in baseball in the Bronx

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:36 pm

wco81 wrote: It seems there's as much interest in parity in the EPL as there is interest in parity in baseball in the Bronx

And what's that lack of parity done for the Yankees for the last 10 years?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:00 pm

Biggest revenues and payrolls in the sport.

Actually, parity was the wrong choice.

Level playing field is probably a better choice.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:12 pm

wco81 wrote:Heard on the BBC podcast that in the same time Arsenal and Everton/Aston Villa have been spending about 25 million pounds, MU had spent over 100 million and Chelsea over 300 million.

Liverpool was probably in the same neighborhood.

It seems there's as much interest in parity in the EPL as there is interest in parity in baseball in the Bronx

That's not to do with TV deals, that's to do with the way they are owned. The point about BM was that on one hand, Rumennigge was talking about parity in terms of salaries etc, but was not quite so willing with regard to the TV deal currently in place in Germany.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 2:21 pm

That 300 million Euro figure might be wrong. I think Premiere recently reupped their deal, but I can't imagine that the FCB did any better.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 9:26 am

In case you missed it and judging by GolTV's rating you did, Donovan came on for an injured Toni in the 35 minute of Bayern loss to Hertha. He did ok. Had some really bad misses, but so did the whole team.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:21 pm

Soccernet.com has ads for PPV for next week's CL games, $9.95 per match presumably streamed.

For that kind of money, UEFA should at least have some download, that people can play on portable devices as well as view on the big screen.

But ESPN2 is going to show the Man U./Inter and Chelsea/Juventus matches anyways.

No wonder the sport is having problems gaining more popularity in this country.

miget33 · Post by **miget33** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 9:49 pm

wco81 wrote:Soccernet.com has ads for PPV for next week's CL games, $9.95 per match presumably streamed.

For that kind of money, UEFA should at least have some download, that people can play on portable devices as well as view on the big screen.

But ESPN2 is going to show the Man U./Inter and Chelsea/Juventus matches anyways.

No wonder the sport is having problems gaining more popularity in this country.

Not only ESPN2 but also on espn360

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:07 pm

It's Fergie vs Jose again. I am saying Inter in ET.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 6:08 am

They'll be at it again next week - this is a 2 legged tie.

If MU don't get an away goal or a draw, then Inter will go through (crosses fingers), otherwise it'll be squeaky-bum time next week.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:09 am

How can I listen to this online?

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:43 pm

Have you looked here?

http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/schedule

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:37 pm

Feanor wrote:Have you looked here?

http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/schedule

Ya comcast doesn't partner with them...the pussies.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:59 am

You didn't miss anything

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:32 am

Watched the Arsenal/Roma game last night (SPOILERS for those that are recording)...

Arsenal played beautiful attacking football this time but still lack that confidence around goal. Actually, it's not only about confidence - personnel is also key, as Bentdnar was simply horrid all night. Van Persie converted a penalty to give them the 1-0 first leg victory, but could have easily been 3 or 4 nill. Roma has to be somewhat hopefull (not based on their play mind you) going into the second leg.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:33 am

Oh I don't know, the Lyon - Barcelona game was pretty entertaining.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:20 pm

Landycakes doesn't make the bench for the Bayern game at Sporting.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:27 pm

davet010 wrote:Oh I don't know, the Lyon - Barcelona game was pretty entertaining.

It was the only game with a pulse. I thought Benzema was outstanding.