Euro: Chelsea for sale

[The Abusement Park]

Are you going with the all billionaires are dirty and equally bad argument?

I mean I don’t think you can become a billionaire without doing shitty, shady, etc things. Obviously there’s levels to those things, but I think in the end yes. All billionaires are shitty people.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Nah, more the "you have a lot more faith in the EPL than I do" route.

...but don't let that stop you from putting words in my mouth again ;-)

Gotha, just a misinterpretation, I genuinely wasn't sure what you were implying. I agree with you, I have very little faith in the EPL here. Of the public bidders, Boehly looks like the strongest, but we'll see what happens.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Your general premise isn't wrong, but Liverpool is owned by an American consortium and is competing just fine. It's the difference between doing it easy/fun (i.e., money and outlay mean absolutely nothing) and just being well-run.

In general, from what I've seen, Chelsea supporters have kind of adopted this bunker mentality where they see themselves as victims and resorted to a lot of whataboutism (some of it justified, some of it outrageous). They were on easy street for 20 years, now they may have to live in the top 15/20%, not the top 1%. Boo hoo.

Liverpool F.C. are also one of the two mega-giants of English and one of the ten or so mega-giants of European football. Many people do not realize just how big the gap between Liverpool/Man Utd and the big London clubs in terms of support really has been through the years. And yet in spite of that advantage on Liverpool's part over an Arsenal or Chelsea, they basically need to get 'it' just right in terms of having the right manager and recruiting the right players in order to be near the top.

They've won the league and the CL with Klopp but if they at the time had decided to go with say Ancelotti, Mourinho or Koeman (all mentioned as candidates) then it's extremely likely that none of that would have happened and they might be on the edge of the top 6 now if that.

 

[Chimaera]

Come now, I have read in this forum many times about how the greatest club in the world is based on Twitter followers or some none sense

 

[cgf]

Gotha, just a misinterpretation, I genuinely wasn't sure what you were implying. I agree with you, I have very little faith in the EPL here. Of the public bidders, Boehly looks like the strongest, but we'll see what happens.

Gotcha gotcha, sorry if I'm a little touchy on this subject. Having words put in my mouth really irks me in general given how much consideration I try to give my wording (most of the time)...my ex used to do it to me all of the time, to the point where I started to feel like I couldn't talk to her about anything serious for a long time...and getting accused of justifying genocide was especially irksome lol.

But I'll let it go now though.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Gotcha gotcha, sorry if I'm a little touchy on this subject. Having words put in my mouth really irks me in general given how much consideration I try to give my wording (most of the time)...my ex used to do it to me all of the time, to the point where I started to feel like I couldn't talk to her about anything serious for a long time...and getting accused of justifying genocide was especially irksome lol.

But I'll let it go now though.

I'm the same way as you, don't worry no hidden agenda on my part.

 

[Evilo]

Are you going with the all billionaires are dirty and equally bad argument?

Nobody said equally bad.
It's that if you draw a line you condone what you deem acceptable.
It's not hard but some people continue to misrepresent.

 

[Evilo]

Well, that's the thing. A team like Liverpool will have down cycles that teams with blood money owners likely won't. Same for Arsenal.

They will spend when it makes sense to and they will try to have maximize their competitive windows. Then, they will "rebuild" and try again. I think LFC is very close to that point while Arsenal is more at a "okay, we are close and should invest more" stage. Chelsea should be that type of club with a US/UK owner. It is a little drop from Roman, but not that much. It is not as if Chelsea was operating like City or PSG.

City and PSG will just sign ready-made star after ready-made star no matter the cost and will always be a threat.

PSG is actually selling though. City isn't. Thanks to the TV deal.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

PSG is actually selling though. City isn't. Thanks to the TV deal.

Selling... players? Sure. Still, they can spend whatever they want and that was the point. If PSG has a down cycle, it will be very short and it won't be because they do not spend. Same for City.

Clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool can "wander" for a few years.

 

[Evilo]

I'm just stressing that contrary to City, PSG is under FFP scrutiny and have refrained from spending many years. And have sold their youngsters every year (which is a mistake).

 

[cgf]

I'm just stressing that contrary to City, PSG is under FFP scrutiny and have refrained from spending many years. And have sold their youngsters every year (which is a mistake).

Given how many of those youngsters left because they were unhappy with their opportunities at the club, how much of that is an intentional strategy to cover them for FFP and how much is just the result of buying more talent for their academy than they can actually integrate given the level they expect?

To me, it feels more like Bayern's overloaded academy problem...where a club like TSG can build a decent team on kids who couldn't make the jump with FC Hollywood...than Abramovich's Chelsea, where that was an intentional strategy.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Yes, refrained from spending...just don't include the hundreds of millions they poured into free agents last summer.

...ya know what, never mind.

 

[Evilo]

Given how many of those youngsters left because they were unhappy with their opportunities at the club, how much of that is an intentional strategy to cover them for FFP and how much is just the result of buying more talent for their academy than they can actually integrate given the level they expect?

To me, it feels more like Bayern's overloaded academy problem...where a club like TSG can build a decent team on kids who couldn't make the jump with FC Hollywood...than Abramovich's Chelsea, where that was an intentional strategy.

No, guys like Nkunku, Diaby, Augustin and others got playing time and were sold.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Liverpool F.C. are also one of the two mega-giants of English and one of the ten or so mega-giants of European football. Many people do not realize just how big the gap between Liverpool/Man Utd and the big London clubs in terms of support really has been through the years. And yet in spite of that advantage on Liverpool's part over an Arsenal or Chelsea, they basically need to get 'it' just right in terms of having the right manager and recruiting the right players in order to be near the top.

They've won the league and the CL with Klopp but if they at the time had decided to go with say Ancelotti, Mourinho or Koeman (all mentioned as candidates) then it's extremely likely that none of that would have happened and they might be on the edge of the top 6 now if that.

I'm just saying it's not preclusive of competing at the upper echelons. Teams can go through cycles money or not - United throws money at everything and is still run like a clown show. It's not like having money means you don't need the right manager or the right recruiting, you can just absorb way more misses than makes. The support is nice, but it doesn't fill the club footballing structure that actually fills the squad.

It's not a given that no sugar daddy automatically makes you Spurs, it just takes an actual level of shrewdness that money can't paper over.

 

[cgf]

No, guys like Nkunku, Diaby, Augustin and others got playing time and were sold.

Eh...they got some playing time, but Nkunku played almost twice as many minutes in his first season for Leipzig than he had his final season at PSG. And he was already 22 when he went to Leipzig, so it's not like he was some teenager who just wasn't ready for PT. Diaby was only 20 and saw only a 50-60% jump in PT, but that's still a significant increase...while Augustin barely played for PSG.

Now you could say that if their strategy had been more focused on developing their academy products, that they could have carved out more time and so the kids wouldn't have wanted to leave, that may be true. As is, it still feels more driven by the youth wanting to leave for PT to me, but that may just be because of how often french kids reference the greater opportunities as a reason they came to germany, in german interviews.

 

[Evilo]

I am stressing that they're not looking to develop but also that they're selling in order to fund their star purchases.
I also think you're confusing kids leaving before turning pro with players who were establishing themselves.
Nkunku was a super sub in Paris at age 20. Diaby had some decent playing time. They wanted to keep Augustin but needed money.
OTOH, guys like Zagadou did leave to get more playing time. And never got a chance.

 

[Savant]

I am stressing that they're not looking to develop but also that they're selling in order to fund their star purchases.
I also think you're confusing kids leaving before turning pro with players who were establishing themselves.
Nkunku was a super sub in Paris at age 20. Diaby had some decent playing time. They wanted to keep Augustin but needed money.
OTOH, guys like Zagadou did leave to get more playing time. And never got a chance.

Honestly if I am PSG, (assuming Mbappe is gone) I’m getting rid of that whole front three and bringing the Parisians back. Would bring some good Will back into the squad. Forget the mercenaries. Will still be good enough to roll L1 and might actually have some pride in the CL.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

The hypocrisy is palpable in here.

 

[S E P H]

The Athletic have a video on the Chelsea sale. The club has gotten 10-12 offers, but only six of them are ones that should be considered legitimate offers. A couple of them are from USA blokes, including the owner of the Chicago Cubs and I think the other was one of the Atlanta Falcons or Atlanta Hawks. Insiders mentioned it should be completed in a month or two.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

....so what would the PL do if he plays a positive role in ending this shit?

 

[robertmac43]

Larry Tanenbaum has also put in an offer for the club. Would make Chelsea the second-best soccer team in MLSE.....

 

[bluesfan94]

....so what would the PL do if he plays a positive role in ending this shit?

Well the PL isn't forcing Abramovich to sell.

 

[cgf]

....so what would the PL do if he plays a positive role in ending this shit?

Celebrate what a noble hero he always was?

...

 

[bleedblue1223]

Finalists have been announced. Ricketts is the 4th, the other 3 look stronger though.

 

[Blender]

Finalists have been announced. Ricketts is the 4th, the other 3 look stronger though.

Blitzer and Harris (Devils owners) are on the list apparently, but they already have a stake in Palace so I have no idea how that will work.