Ham Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 (edited) 2 hours ago, thevelourfog said: To be clear, I completely agree. It is just, within that, I expect the club will have scrutinised any figure FIFA put to them for feasibility and that the figure they've made projections on will be what they themselves consider realistic/achievable and not solely what FIFA told them. Just the same basic stuff as buying a flat or house, isn't it. You expect the mortgage lender and seller's solicitor to check the buyer actually has the means to pay up on the offer they've made. I think these guys are idiots, but then so am I and even I managed to hire (on a much lower budget!) a competent conveyancer, so I assume they're also capable! To be fair to FIFA my understanding is that they had assurances from Apple who then suddenly pulled their support. Not saying anything was signed. Edited July 17 by Ham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 3 hours ago, thevelourfog said: To be clear, I completely agree. It is just, within that, I expect the club will have scrutinised any figure FIFA put to them for feasibility and that the figure they've made projections on will be what they themselves consider realistic/achievable and not solely what FIFA told them. Just the same basic stuff as buying a flat or house, isn't it. You expect the mortgage lender and seller's solicitor to check the buyer actually has the means to pay up on the offer they've made. I think these guys are idiots, but then so am I and even I managed to hire (on a much lower budget!) a competent conveyancer, so I assume they're also capable! It seems to be another competition the owners have identified for commercial reasons, rather than understanding where this stands in prestigiousness. one thing can be assured top European clubs will not be sending their star players to this competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Just now, ROTG said: It seems to be another competition the owners have identified for commercial reasons, rather than understanding where this stands in prestigiousness. one thing can be assured top European clubs will not be sending their star players to this competition. Why didn't it stop them sending their star players before then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Just now, Mark Kelly said: Why didn't it stop them sending their star players before then? Because before it was two games, and not another version CL competition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Perfect timing for a new sponsor to be announced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulw66 Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 21 minutes ago, Bison said: Perfect timing for a new sponsor to be announced. Some Argentinian brand, perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Just now, paulw66 said: Some Argentinian brand, perhaps? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 1 hour ago, paulw66 said: Some Argentinian brand, perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 This would be most fitting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevelourfog Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Let go of another manager/coach at Strasbourg ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chara Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 On 17/07/2024 at 08:49, Mark Kelly said: This would be most fitting Mark,,it's serious..you can't just paste over the issues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 31 minutes ago, chara said: Mark,,it's serious..you can't just paste over the issues. That's mint. Well played. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chara Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 6 minutes ago, Ham said: That's mint. Well played. Yeah,, the whole thing is going down the tube, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Moon Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 1 hour ago, chara said: Yeah,, the whole thing is going down the tube, You tartar 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chara Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 9 minutes ago, Blue Moon said: You tartar Cue Max Bygraves,,,,,,,,,,,🪥🪥 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Vieira walks the plank Patrick Vieira leaves BlueCo-owned Strasbourg by mutual consent By Adam Crafton Jul 18, 2024 39 BlueCo, the multi-club ownership group best known for its ownership of Chelsea, has today made a managerial change at its French club Strasbourg, parting company with head coach Patrick Vieira by mutual consent. Vieira, a legendary player in the English Premier League with Arsenal and 107-cap midfielder for the France national team, signed a three-year contract to coach Strasbourg in his homeland last July. ADVERTISEMENT However, the French top-flight club have now undertaken a review of the team’s performance during his first campaign and decided to hire a new head coach, which is also the fate that befell Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino after one year in the job in west London. Strasbourg are now seeking a new coach to adopt their preferred possession-based and positional play approach to football, rather than a more conservative approach favoured by Vieira at times during his single season in charge. Strasbourg ended the 2023-24 campaign in 13th place in the 18-team Ligue 1, ten points clear of the relegation zone but eleven points short of European qualification places. Among the fifteen teams who were not relegated, Strasbourg had the second-worst goal difference in the division and only four teams across the league failed to score more than Strasbourg’s 38 goals. BlueCo, a consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Toddy Boehly, paid €76.3million (£65.2m; $81.7m) for a 99.97 per cent stake in the French club in June 2023. BlueCo described it as a “strategic investment” to “further our presence in European football alongside our ownership of Chelsea” and “create huge opportunities to share knowledge and expertise”. The club recently hired Pascal De Maesschalck as their new technical director, with the Belgian a former colleague of Chelsea’s co-sporting director Laurence Stewart, having worked as AS Monaco’s director of youth development when Stewart was technical director of the principality club. De Maessschalk, who arrived last month, was a key part of the season review that has culminated in Vieira leaving the club, along with the club’s board. GO DEEPER Chelsea may have spent £1bn - but how much of that have they seen on the pitch? Strasbourg president Marc Keller has been at the helm since 2012, helping the team recover from severe financial problems and demotion to the fifth tier of the French football pyramid to establishing themselves in Ligue 1 since promotion in 2017. This coming season will be their eighth successive campaign in the top flight. Based in eastern France near the borders with Germany and Switzerland, they won the French League Cup in 2019 and finished sixth in 2021-22. Keller has been a key figure at Strasbourg over the last decade (Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images) Last summer, Strasbourg spent around €60m on players aged 21 or below, in a move for young talent that resembles the approach at Chelsea, although the existing leadership at the French side were also aligned with the aim of lowering the age of the squad. Abakar Sylla joined from Club Bruges for a club-record €20m (plus €2m in potential add-ons). Emanuel Emegha arrived from Sturm Graz for €12m. Saidou Sow was bought from Saint-Etienne for around €4m, while Dilane Bakwa and Junior Mwanga were acquired from Bordeaux for a combined €20m. Those five players are either 20 or 21 years old. They also took Brazilian pair Andrey Santos and Angelo, aged 20 and 19, on loan from parent club Chelsea. There were also substantial sales during the season, including forward Habib Diallo to Saudi Arabian club Al Shabab and goalkeeper Matz Sels to Nottingham Forest. Teething problems made for a challenging campaign. Between Christmas and the end of the season, Strasbourg won only four of 17 games and during this time, banners emerged protesting against the club’s multi-club ownership model. GO DEEPER Chelsea, Strasbourg, BlueCo and a multi-club model yet to convince a sceptical fanbase Vieira would likely argue he required more time and additional recruitment to develop his team in his image but Strasbourg have aspirations of European qualification during this coming season and felt a change was necessary. Strasbourg are planning to invest significantly once more and have already spent over €5m on winger Oscar Perea, an 18-year-old from Colombian side Atletico Nacional. ADVERTISEMENT Strasbourg are able to benefit in their multi-club ownership model from sharing data and recruitment knowledge and information with Chelsea, while the English club can also use the French side as a landing spot to develop its younger talent. Yet BlueCo sources insist they are eager for Strasbourg to stand competitively on their own two feet, breaking into the clutch of clubs behind Paris Saint-Germain who compete regularly for European positions in the French league, which means rivalling teams such as Lens, Brest, Lyon, Monaco, Nice and Lille for those key qualification spots that can unlock the revenue potential from UEFA competitions and also provide greater challenges for any players who may be developed either for Chelsea or broader resale value. Santos impressed on loan at Strasbourg last season (Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images) BlueCo sources say that they are also contributing significant sums to the renovation of the club’s Stade de la Meinau stadium. The ground is owned by the Strasbourg municipality and is undergoing a renovation to bring the capacity of the stadium from 26,282 to circa 32,000. The BlueCo decision to cut ties with Vieira and double down on the investment comes at a significant moment in French football, when Ligue 1 has been struggling to sell its domestic television rights deal and Strasbourg’s divisional rivals are afflicted by financial difficulties. The LFP has been trying to sort its TV deal — for the rights to show Ligue 1 matches from 2024 to 2029 — since October, when an ambitious auction looking to bring in €1billion (£840m; $1.1bn at the current rates) per year was scrapped because there were no takers. At that time, LFP president Vincent Labrune wished to spark a bidding war involving current broadcast partners Amazon Prime and Canal+, as well as Qatar-based beIN Sports, British sports streamer DAZN and potentially U.S. media giant Apple. Yet no offer came and so Labrune was forced to go back to the drawing board. GO DEEPER 'We must hope for a miracle': How a failed TV deal has put Ligue 1 in crisis mode The delays ran into this summer, leaving clubs fearing firesales, administrations or bankruptcies. But this week AFP reported that a deal with beIN Sports and DAZN was close, worth around €500 million annually for domestic broadcast rights, while international rights would bring in a further €160m. The deal, however, is still to be finalised as some quibbling continues over the length of the agreement. ADVERTISEMENT Ligue 1’s TV income is dwarfed by the Premier League — which agreed a £6.7billion domestic TV rights deal with Sky and TNT Sports in December to show matches for the next four seasons, working out at £1.68bn ($2.17bn/€2bn a year) — but is also behind the German Bundesliga’s domestic broadcast income (€1.1bn a year), Spain’s La Liga (€990m a year) and Serie A in Italy (€900m a year). The shortfall in TV income, if this deal materialises, is around 35 per cent down relative to expectations originally set out by LFP and 20 per cent, is likely to tighten belts and cause financial headaches across French football. Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool, withdrew over the past week from their previously advanced discussions to acquire the French second-division side Bordeaux, who are in significant financial turmoil. BlueCo and Strasbourg, however, sense an opportunity to double down on their investment and break consistently into European positions. Whoever is chosen to replace Vieira, therefore, will need to meet expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Moon Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 8 hours ago, chara said: Cue Max Bygraves,,,,,,,,,,,🪥🪥 Eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kelly Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 7 minutes ago, Blue Moon said: Eh? "I'm a blue toothbrush , you're a pink toothbrush" was his biggest hit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Moon Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 18 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said: "I'm a blue toothbrush , you're a pink toothbrush" was his biggest hit Ah, and to think my parents would bang on about the meaningless nature of 60s pop songs … 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 24 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said: "I'm a blue toothbrush , you're a pink toothbrush" was his biggest hit you need hands to use a toothbrush I'll get my coat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Blue Moon said: Ah, and to think my parents would bang on about the meaningless nature of 60s pop songs … In the 60's everyone wanted to visit Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea? Edited July 19 by ROTG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciatika Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Or the Tulips from Amsterdam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Moon Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Only if they had a windmill. Or a lovely bunch of coconuts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTG Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 (edited) I want to tell you a story The Last time i visited a windmill in Amsterdam, i saw mouse on the stairs with clogs on Edited July 19 by ROTG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bison Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 1 hour ago, ROTG said: The club recently hired Pascal De Maesschalck as their new technical director, with the Belgian a former colleague of Chelsea’s co-sporting director Laurence Stewart, having worked as AS Monaco’s director of youth development when Stewart was technical director of the principality club. De Maessschalk, who arrived last month, was a key part of the season review that has culminated in Vieira leaving the club, along with the club’s board. Ahh of course, more jobs for the boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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