Premier League 2021/22

[DavidMarrio]

Investigation is ongoing so just have to wait and see what comes out of it. It's just one of them unfortunately in a social media age and football bantz era it's going to be getting hammed up on the likes of Twitter and if he is innocent he's basically going to just keep getting called a nonce anyway

[Twist]

Just running off a @Lineker salary dump analogy in the transfer thread. How would people feel about a salary cap in the Premier League and other major leagues in Europe? Perhaps via a salary cap for the European comps?

Does it mean more money invested in grass roots, paying academy scouts and other volunteers, etc? Do the owners just keep the profit? Do tickets become more affordable? Replica kits, etc?

Or does everyone just fuck off to China?

is it feasible and is it a good idea in any way?

 

 

[Colly]

It would need so much regulation to prevent most of that so probably wouldn't happen sadly. The idea of a level playing field is lovely but it's a sport of rich people wanting to be richer so fairness isn't on the agenda.

[gunnar hendershow]

In the North American leagues the salary caps by and large depress player salaries while increasing the amount team ownership takes in. Revenues are recorded and split between ownership and the players, which is about 50/50. However it forces team front offices to be more creative and you see in a the NFL especially a near refusal to pay older players when they can get similar production out of a younger player on a cheaper salary. This allows the superstars to get their money, but often at the expense of a middle class of players.

However the NFL is relatively competitive and there has been no team to repeat as champions in almost 20 years. There's something to be said for the salary cap giving every fan a level of optimism about their team.

I think an ideal scenario is a proper revenue sharing down the entire pyramid with a luxury tax or soft cap vs a hard salary cap. It could reward teams who build their squads up through academies or through low-cost transfers by exempting some wages for long-tenured players from a salary cap while a club that takes on a big transfer has to pay a luxury tax whose % increases the longer they stay over (similar to MLB). And this luxury tax money is distributed evenly across the rest of the league in addition to the normal revenue sharing.

I say this because with hindsight it's apparent the salary caps punish teams that have good scouting and player development by having their good players become too expensive too quickly while rewarding teams that aren't well-run by letting them stay in the mix through attrition. And a soft cap won't depress player salaries as dramatically.

[Kyle]

It wouldn't be pre-season without me reminding everyone that we have an EWB fantasy league, auto-join link in the spoiler. It's the same league as last year so anyone who was in last season's should automatically be in.

Spoiler

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/95g4hthttps://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/95g4hthttps://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/95g4ht

 

[Gazz]

Your only chance to win the Myke Dumny EWB FPL memorial wooden spoon.

[Nerf]

19 hours ago, Twist said:

Does it mean more money invested in grass roots, paying academy scouts and other volunteers, etc? Do the owners just keep the profit? Do tickets become more affordable? Replica kits, etc?

none of those things would happen. i would wager the only thing that would change is that transfer fees get bigger so that the surplus money goes somewhere. the other problem you run into is that you can't get the entire world on board. the prem is the biggest league in the world because the money attracted all the superstars. whatever league pays the most would just replace it as the go-to destination.

i've never understood why people are so desperate to "fix" football wages when it's essentially the only industry in the world where the workers are paid fairly relative to the value they create.

[Colly]

It's not so much fixing wages as creating a more level playing field. I'm quite happy for the salary cap to be high, and to be honest I wouldn't give a toss if the Premier League was no longer the greatest league in the world™, though of course the money men do. It's the same view I have on things like F1, it would be a miles better sport if everyone had the same car but it's never going to change.

[Matt]

On 20/07/2021 at 14:48, Twist said:

Just running off a @Lineker salary dump analogy in the transfer thread. How would people feel about a salary cap in the Premier League and other major leagues in Europe? Perhaps via a salary cap for the European comps?

Does it mean more money invested in grass roots, paying academy scouts and other volunteers, etc? Do the owners just keep the profit? Do tickets become more affordable? Replica kits, etc?

Or does everyone just fuck off to China?

is it feasible and is it a good idea in any way?

 

 

It'd end up with Harry Kane's missus being paid £200k a week to work in the club shop

[FestiveJack]

Villa playing a friendly - 2-0 up currently, both goals by Watkins, both times assisted by Buendia. Reckon we might see that a lot this season.

[Cymbols]

4 hours ago, MadJack said:

Villa playing a friendly - 2-0 up currently, both goals by Watkins, both times assisted by Buendia. Reckon we might see that a lot this season.

Here’s hoping. Some of the youngsters did well in the second half too, hopefully we’ll continue to give them minutes this season. Last season’s breakout star Jacob Ramsey’s younger brother Aaron got our fourth goal - he’s supposed to be the more promising of the two, so it is exciting to see, for sure.

[Lineker]

 

[FestiveJack]

And the last thing making Villa unlikeable left. Hope they do very well this season.

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, MadJack said:

And the last thing making Villa unlikeable left. Hope they do very well this season.

Literally this. Always felt a bit weird about JT being around. Good coach, shit person.

[Lineker]

Quote

Football fans attending Chelsea FC’s home matches this season will have to provide proof of being fully vaccinated or show a negative Covid test, the club has announced.

The requirement will come into force as soon as 4 August, with the checks in place for the men’s team’s friendly game against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge.

Fans will have to prove they had their second dose at least 14 days before the match to count as fully vaccinated, while proof of a negative lateral flow test carried out within 48 hours of kick-off time will also be accepted.

“This is to increase the safety and comfort of our supporters, players and staff as we begin hosting capacity crowds for the first time since March last year,” the Premier League club said.

Chelsea say the requirement will ensure no one who is at high risk of passing on Covid will be able to enter either Stamford Bridge or Kingsmeadow, the home of the women’s team. Stewards will check fans’ status before they enter the stadiums.

Fans can prove their vaccination status using the NHS Covid Pass on the NHS app or with a vaccination letter, while supporters with a negative test result should do so on the NHS app, or via a text message or email from NHS test and trace.

The move follows reports that the government is in talks with the Premier League about proposals to introduce a vaccination requirement for matches. It is being discussed whether vaccine passports could be introduced for seated events with a capacity of 20,000 people and over, although no final decision has been made.

The Guardian contacted Premier League clubs about whether they would be following Chelsea’s lead in introducing a vaccine or testing requirement for fans at their home games.

A spokesperson for Manchester United said the club was “still in discussions with the Premier League regarding any changes to our Covid protocol”, adding that “any decisions made will be communicated to fans in due course”.

The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, has said domestic Covid passports are “the right way to go” for some venues so “people can be confident that those who are attending those events are less likely to be carriers of the virus”, specifically referring to Premier League football matches.

He said that if businesses “required a certain level of safety” from customers, then people who refused to get vaccinated should not be surprised if they were “barred” – accusing them of “putting other people’s health and lives at risk” and calling them “selfish”.

The use of vaccine passports could also be introduced in football’s lower leagues as well as other sports in England in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus following the end of restrictions.

The government is likely to face a backbench rebellion over introducing vaccine passports for nightclubs, with Conservative MPs saying more than 40 Tories were prepared to defy the prime minister over civil liberties concerns.

 

[Baddar]

Villa fans were calling Kevin Friend a shit Mike Dean today.

So he booked them.

[Lineker]

Quote

The Premier League is to try to end the art of “buying” a penalty, as it announced tougher refereeing criteria for deciding spot-kicks.

When the 2021-22 season begins, referees are to assess three criteria before deciding whether a penalty should be awarded for a foul challenge. Officials must first consider the degree of contact experienced by the attacking player, then the consequence of that contact, before finally taking into account the motivation of the attacker in reacting to the challenge.

The Premier League’s head of refereeing, Mike Riley, said the decision to change the guidance on penalties followed conversations with top‑flight clubs and players, all of whom wanted spot-kicks awarded only for “proper fouls”. It also comes after a record 125 penalties were awarded in the top flight last season.

“Referees will look for contact and establish clear contact, then ask themselves the question: does that contact have a consequence?” Riley said. “They will then ask themselves a question: has the player used that contact to actually try and win a foul penalty? So it’s not sufficient just to say: ‘Yes, there’s contact.’

“I think that the feedback we’ve had from players, both attackers and defenders, [is that] you want it to be a proper foul that has a consequence, not something that somebody has used slight to contact to go over, and we’ve given the penalty to reward it.”

Riley said he hoped the rules would help to persuade players to stay on their feet in the box. Under the new guidance, the penalty Raheem Sterling won for England against Denmark in the Euro 2020 semi-final would not have been given and, if it had, the decision would be expected to be overturned by VAR.

Riley confirmed this season there will be revisions for the video refereeing technology, with changes to the way it interprets offside decisions set to benefit the attacking team.

VAR assesses whether a player is offside in the buildup to a goal as part of its four key checks but has been criticised for ruling out goals on the tiniest of margins. New rules will apply a different approach, with a final decision made not using the one-pixel-wide lines of the VAR, but the fatter “broadcast lines” used by TV. If the line marking the attacker’s position blurs into the line marking the defender’s position, the attacker will be deemed onside.

“We’ve now reintroduced the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player,” Riley said. “Effectively what we have given back to the game is 20 goals that were disallowed last season by using quite forensic scrutiny. It’s the toenails, the noses of the players that last season were offside – this season they will be onside.”

Riley remains a staunch supporter of the much-criticised technology, three years into what he sees as a five-year process of establishing it. He said Euro 2020 had helped to make the case for VAR, with a light-touch approach allowing the game to flow. This approach, he says, will be followed in the Premier League.

“I think one of the encouraging things that we’re going into next season is with people expecting that threshold to be in a higher place than last year,” he said.

 

[Matt]

That all sounds brilliant. Can't wait to see it be an absolute shit show.

[Gazz]

Sounds great until the first incident of a player being clearly fouled in the area, not falling over and so not winning a penalty.

[Baddar]

Yeah it won't be implemented well/consistently.

The offside thing should be better at least.