Premier League 2023/24

[METALMAN]

Why would Newcastle go this far to see neighbours when they already have such nice ones down in Sunderland : /

[Lineker]

 

[Lineker]

Quote

Plans for an independent regulator for English football will not proceed further through parliament, it is to be announced, with the football governance bill paused as a result of the general election.

The leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, is to confirm on Thursday the bills that will be expedited into law before parliament dissolves next week and the FGB is not expected to be on the list.

Despite making swift progress through the house, and with estimates that the bill could have completed its passage in a matter of weeks, there remain too many stages in the process for it to be incorporated in the wash-up process, government sources have suggested.

The wash-up is the accelerated process by which, in agreement with the opposition, the government speeds through remaining legislation before the end of a parliament’s term.

The football governance bill has the support of MPs from all parties and to this point in the parliamentary process there has been broad consensus on its contents. The Labour Party, who launched their election campaign at Gillingham’s Priestfield stadium on Thursday, have previously said that if elected they would introduce a regulator if this government had not.

There remains uncertainty, however, over whether an incoming government would pick up the bill as is or seek to redraft it. This could lead to another extended period of lobbying by football stakeholders, and further delay the introduction of a regulator.

The Premier League and EFL remain at loggerheads over the regulator’s proposed backstop powers to enforce financial redistribution from the top flight down the pyramid. The campaign group Fair Game, meanwhile, had submitted amendments to the bill calling for more equitable financial distribution to be part of the regulator’s remit.These details are likely to be issues passed to the next government to resolve.

 

[Colly]

Labour will kick it along, Starmer's a massive football fan.

 

[Lineker]

 

[Baddar]

One of his questionable bookings.

 

[METALMAN]

What an idiot if true. He could go to prison for that 

[Plubby]

We've seen Newcastle's future...and it is bleeeak.

[Chris2K]

1 hour ago, METALMAN said:

What an idiot if true. He could go to prison for that 

For comparison, the three Pakistan cricketers who were involved in spot-fixing (bowling no balls at specific times) Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir all got prison sentences (30 months, 12 months and 3 months respectively) for their involvement. The differences were based on their level of complicity, Butt was the ringleader of the group speaking to the bookmakers so he got the harshest sentence, whereas Amir was a naive 19 year old following the instructions of his captain (Butt) and veteran team mate (Asif) so got off with 3 months and a much shorter suspension from cricket.

This certainly feels like a very similar situation, and Paqueta's punishment will likely be proportionate to how involved he was in organising it.

[gunnar hendershow]

Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban from the NBA for gambling because he was betting on himself to not do things (you can make individual player prop bets here in the US & I believe Canada as well for stat lines, so he'd bet on himself to score less than a certain # of points, etc.) Paqueta making bets that he can directly affect is no different, it seems a cut above what Toney or Tonali were evidently doing. You have direct questions about the integrity of each game & you have the ire of these now-huge gambling companies that rely on this exact thing not happening to maintain their public perception as "harmless fun".

[Adam]

One thing I read was that they traced the bets back to Paqueta Island, his home (his name is a nickname based on the island) which if true, will surely eliminate any notion of him being a bit-part in the scheme.

He might well be done as a professional footballer.

[Gazz]

2 hours ago, Plubby said:

We've seen Newcastle's future...and it is bleeeak.

Our Mike Ashley era academy was one bloke, three lads, two cones and a football.

[Colly]

31 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Our Mike Ashley era academy was one bloke, three lads, two cones and a football.

And Peter Beardsley scaring off the foreign lads. Dog dirt.

[gunnar hendershow]

3 hours ago, Adam said:

One thing I read was that they traced the bets back to Paqueta Island, his home (his name is a nickname based on the island) which if true, will surely eliminate any notion of him being a bit-part in the scheme.

He might well be done as a professional footballer.

Hey now there's evidently a few other people who live there and this could just be a totally unprecedented coincidence!

[Colly]

It might just be a name.

 

[Kaney]

4 hours ago, Colly said:

And Peter Beardsley scaring off the foreign lads. Dog dirt.

He just wanted a right good stare.

[Gazz]

Quote

Manchester United’s non-football staff have been en-masse invited to take redundancy, in an email sent across the club on Tuesday afternoon.

United are giving employees just seven days to make a decision about whether they wish to continue their careers at the club.

The offering relates to all employees who are not a scout or on the playing staff, and therefore impacts some who work at the club’s Carrington training complex. Employees have been given until June 5 to decide whether to take what the club describe as “voluntary resignation”, although some employees, who wished not to be named when discussing confidential emails, argued it looked a lot more like a voluntary redundancy programme.

Club staff who accept the offer by June 5 will be entitled to the payment of their annual bonus, which would ordinarily be paid later in the year. Staff who take on voluntary resignation would also be expected to complete their notice periods, working from the office, if they wish to receive their pay for that time.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe — who completed his minority investment in the club in February — is seeking to bring United’s costs down as the part of the restructuring process taking place with the club losing £42million ($52.5m) despite posting healthy overall revenue.

Earlier this month, United’s staff were told in an all-hands meeting by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club’s minority owner, that working from home would no longer be permitted and subsequent emails insisted staff must return to the office by June 1 at all locations including the club’s offices at Old Trafford and in London, as well as their Carrington training base. The redundancy process represents an opportunity for staff to exit the club if they do not wish to comply with working from the office, for personal or professional reasons, while it also reflects INEOS appearing to encourage staff who do not wish to buy in to their culture to walk out of their jobs.

United also asked any staff wanting to travel for the FA Cup final on Saturday to pay a £20 subsidy to do so.

INEOS is looking to trim the club’s staff count from more than 1,000 with consultancy firm, Interpath Advisory, hired last month to review business and operational costs across the club.

United hope the cost savings can help them better fit into both Premier League and UEFA financial regulations as well as allowing for greater investment in the playing squad.

Staff members attending the FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium were asked to contribute to travel costs and were not provided with food for the trip. Staff have traditionally been offered a free ticket which they again received.

Ratcliffe is making sweeping changes and recently sent an email to all staff to highlight the lack of tidiness at both Old Trafford and Carrington, describing one area as a “disgrace”.

Staff have been warned that underperformance across an organisation like INEOS would lead to perks like Christmas parties being cancelled, with the implication being that this would also be how it may work at United.

Billionaire gonna Billionaire

[DavidMarrio]

Just the chemical version of Mike Ashley

[The Lusophone]

Giving them only 7 days to decides is ridiculous, but the club employs more people than any other team in the Premier League, only rivalled by Liverpool and more than double the number Man City employ, so I can see why they're looking to cut down the number of employees:

Spoiler

Number of employees, discounting matchday staff, all numbers taken from Companies House accounts filings:
Luton 202
Brentford 243
Nottingham Forest 254
Bournemouth 270
Fulham 283
Crystal Palace 295
Sheffield United 295
Brighton 303
West Ham 352
Newcastle 410
Wolves 465 (either don't distinguish in their accounts or don't list at all)
Man City 520
Everton 532
Burnley 565
Aston Villa 693
Arsenal 723
Spurs 793
Chelsea 827
Liverpool 1,008
Man Utd 1,112

 

[Baddar]

A fair % of that 1,112 are probably involved in making sure poor old 67 year old Jim is banned from attending the next match as he missed one for attending his wife's funeral, despite owning a season ticket for 50+ years.