Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Something To Talk About That Isn’t Nancy Pelosi

Something To Talk About That Isn’t Nancy Pelosi

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How about the debacle that is breaking the New Coke record for fastest brand-wrecking can’t-shove-into-the-memory-hole-fast-enough follies?

That would bet the European Super League Monumental Fuck Up.

Something To Talk About That Isn't Nancy Pelosi

All six English Premier League Teams are now out, with varying degrees of abject apologies to their fans. The rump of the planned new league is still wandering around, a cross between the Black Knight and the “Not Dead Yet” plague daddy:

In a statement released late Tuesday, the Super League said: “We are reconsidering the appropriate steps, in order to reshape the project” despite the exit of the English teams.

“Despite the announced departure of the English clubs, forced to take such decisions due the pressure out on them, we are convinced our proposal is fully aligned with European law and regulations as was demonstrated today by a court decision to protect the Super League from third party actions,” it read.

Yay! It’s legal!

I guess this is a good thing for the sport, though it’s fair to say that in a Superleague vs. UEFA cage match I’d likely be rooting for injuries (to the execs, not the players). But mostly I like watching when the outrageously rich step on their own appendages.

Open thread.

Image: Umberto Boccioni, Dynamism of A Soccer Player, 1913

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  3. 3.

    craigie

    It’s hard to imagine anything that Tucker/FOX would consider bad, unless his college girlfriend had, you know, an afro or something. Or was a boy.

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    Tucker just melted down on his own (police vet!) guest, so hey, let’s not worry too much about him.

    Instead…let us savor.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    “Super League?”

    “Hmm. I think I’ll take the soup.”

    (works better as a jape when spoken aloud) :)

    That particular futurist painting is 100,000 times more impressive in person than in any photo of it I’ve ever seen. Six-plus feet long in both height and width. One of the ones I look forward to seeing in MOMA at every visit.

  9. 9.

    Tom Levenson

    @craigie: Some blokes who own franchises that employ other blokes to kick a ball around a lawn tried to set up a system where other blokes who aren’t as special as them can’t siphon off sweet, sweet media dollars that by right should only go to the most implausibly wealthy among them so that they can ramp up the competition to see whose wallet is fatter.

    Every other owner…and every fan and many of the players/managers basically said this is a totally fucked up scheme that will wreck the year-over-year pleasure so many take in the current sequence of competitions. Basically everyone who actually cares about the game said feck yerselves with oxidized agricultural implements.

    And the rich gobshites caved.

    Clear now?

  10. 10.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Jeffro: ​
     
    Yeah he did. If anyone wants some basic details about the perfesser’s Super League stuff ask away, there are several folks who can chime in.
    In short, 12 of Europe’s most profitable and successful clubs — six from England, three each from Spain and Italy — gathered to a form a closed league of their own that would exclude and skirt around European soccer’s traditional pyramid of competitions.
    It’s a blatant case of absurd greed and horribly poor execution that has led to the fanbases across Europe to expressing their outrage in ways only football fans can.
    It’s very, very, very personal.

  14. 14.

    Another Scott

    Not since the USFL went into business with Donald Trump have I seen a sports fiasco like this Super League thing in Europe. Against all odds, these people almost make FIFA look good.

    Almost.

    — Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) April 21, 2021

    Hubris is a hellofa thing.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    Anya

    Greedy club owners tried to benefit from the pandemic with this naked power grab. They woken the fans and I am not sure if they can survive this without some sort of regulation. Something has to change.

    The most offensive part of this is these clubs were built by poor people and now they’re owned by the worst of society.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    @Anya: even the not very good person Henry Olsen was having a chuckle about it in the WaPo earlier today…something about populism beating capitalism.  Um not really, not usually, Henry.  But we’ll take it.  =)

  19. 19.

    Anya

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is this why he had that maniacal laugh during his  “isn’t shooting black people legal?” segment?

    I wonder what is he getting so nervous about? It can’t be something racist because he’s open about his white supremacy.

  21. 21.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Also, Tucker Carlson made a pre-emptive strike against a story coming about about his high school yearbook. Must be bad. 

    We all know he was even more of a POS douchecanoe in high school. That can’t be actual news. :)

  22. 22.

    Prometheus Shrugged

    I like the artwork, but Nicolas de Stael’s Parc de Princes might have been even more perfect, given the theme of the post!

  23. 23.

    Anya

    @Jeffro: Honestly, it’s heartwarming how all the fans were outraged about this, specially, the teams that joined the super league. I just hope they continue to direct their anger towards the greedy asshole owners and not the players.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    And all the world is football-shaped
    It’s just for me to kick in space

    ‘night all.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Tucker Carlson has been taking potshots at Erik Wemple for at least the past four years. Have no idea what first started the feud, but if it means Wemple’s looking for things that will embarrass Carlson, it’s fine with me.

  28. 28.

    Steeplejack

    @craigie:

    I haven’t read the comments yet, so I apologize if someone has provided a cogent, detailed explanation that makes it all clear.

    The simplest, stupidest way I could explain it to American non-soccer fans is that the proposed Super League is as if 20 powerful college football teams decided that only they could be in the Top 20 and only they could compete for bowl-game slots and the national championship. Everybody else, fuck off and enjoy your piddly seasons.

  29. 29.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Seriously, what else do you expect from the sooper-geniuses who are behind FIFA?

  30. 30.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I barely follow sports at all, but I couldn’t miss this Super League stuff coming into my Twitter timeline. I barely paid attention. Here is my summary of the action:

    1. Extreme outrage at this desecration of the game and its fans
    2. More outrage
    3. Victory over the plutocrats

    That’s it. Glad it went so quickly. It must not have lasted more than 24 hours.

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    A richly deserved comeuppance for Florentino Perez. Let him slink away in disgrace, never to be seen again.

    Fuck Real Madrid, an organization that combines the worst qualities of the New York Yankees, the University of North Carolina, and the Texas Republican Party.

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    @burnspbesq:

    Fuck Real Madrid, an organization that combines the worst qualities of the New York Yankees, the University of North Carolina, and the Texas Republican Party. 

    As a wise man once said, “Fuck the fucking Yankees!”

    Not sure about UNC, but fuck the entire Rethuglican party!

  35. 35.

    Just One More Canuck

    Any “super league” without teams from Germany and France was doomed to fail. The German league has strong rules giving the fans a lot of say and the owner of Paris St Germaine is also a minister in the government of Qatar where the World Cup is next year.  The arrogance of the president of Real Madrid (we’re doing this to save football) didn’t help the cause but this was a non starter and more of an attempt at shaking down UEFA than any real attempt at a new league. It just blew up in their faces a lot faster than anyone thought

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    @burnspbesq:Fuck Real Madrid, an organization that combines the worst qualities of the New York Yankees, the University of North Carolina, and the Texas Republican Party.

    YEOWCH!!!1!!

  38. 38.

    Roger Moore

    @craigie: 

    Some background may be required for some viewers of this blog.

    To understand you need some background. Professional leagues just about everywhere except the US are built around a system of promotion and relegation. At the end of the season, the bottom teams in a league are relegated to the next lower league, and the top teams are promoted to the next league up. In the top league in each country, there’s nowhere for the top teams to be promoted to so they instead get a chance to play in a regional champions league the next season*.
    A dozen of the top teams in Europe challenged this idea by declaring they were going to form their own super league that bypassed promotion and relegation and would go head to head with the existing champions league. The European governing body told them to go fuck themselves, and threatened sanctions against the teams for joining. The international governing body did the same and also threatened to ban players who participated. The teams are now rapidly backpedaling.
    *The US doesn’t have promotion and relegation, but it does take part in a regional champions league.

  39. 39.

    Uncle Omar

    @Steeplejack: Or, in baseball terms, imagine the NY Yankees, NY Mets, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, St, Louis Cardinals, and LA Dodgers decided to secede and form their own league with their own TV rights and networks and said “fcuk off” to the other 24 teams.  Only to the 23rd power.

  40. 40.

    Jeffro

    OT but reminder to all that tomorrow is Prince Day: there should be nothing going on your Spotify or YouTube or CD player (what’s that?) that isn’t purple through and through.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    When I read Tom’s post I thought “This will be some sport thing it’s impossible for me to understand, like how they decide when a cricket game is over”.  But congratulations to the commenters — you made it simple enough for me.

  42. 42.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Cheryl Rofer: ​
     
    That’s an excellent take other than this is just another flare-up of an ongoing issue.

    Make no mistake, however, the supporter power is real. For one example, Germany mandates that every club be at least 50-plus one fan ownership for instance (Red Bull aside) meaning supporters have very real input into how the club operates and the clamor for that to be a European standard is unceasing.
    There are a lot of parts involved but one part remains the key cog and that’s the grassroots level supporters.

  43. 43.

    burnspbesq

    The owners of the six English clubs involved are an interesting lot:

    American shopping-center developers (Manchester United)

    Wal-Mart heir by marriage (Arsenal)

    American hedge-fund managers, who also mismanage an iconic baseball team and who recently sold 10 percent of the business to LeBron James at what appears to be a scandalously excessive price (Liverpool)

    Russian oligarch (Chelsea)

    Gulf sheikdom’’s sovereign wealth fund (Manchester City)

    Gazillionaire currency trader who ran away to the Bahamas one step ahead of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Tottenham)

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Uncle Omar:

    Or, in baseball terms, imagine the NY Yankees, NY Mets, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, St, Louis Cardinals, and LA Dodgers decided to secede and form their own league with their own TV rights and networks and said “fcuk off” to the other 24 teams.  Only to the 23rd power. 

    Does Chicago get a third baseball team again under this idea?  Go Whales!

  46. 46.

    HumboldtBlue

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     

    Not sure about UNC, but fuck the entire Rethuglican party!

    Look up the story of what white supremacist North Carolinians did following a losing election compared to Jan. 6 except they won and overturned the results of the election.

    They named the football stadium after the father and son who led the effort.

  48. 48.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jeffro:

    OT but reminder to all that tomorrow is Prince Day: there should be nothing going on your Spotify or YouTube or CD player (what’s that?) that isn’t purple through and through.

    So we party like it’s 1999, and throw Florida out of the Union as a precaution?

    ETA – scratch that.  We just “gerrymander” the hell out of Florida, ie. split it up into several states, most of them Democratic.

  50. 50.

    Mary G

    @HumboldtBlue: I have been skipping posts and tweets about this all day. I have only a vague idea of what happened and no interest at all in the outcome. So here’s a sweet pair of cats:

    One of these cats is blind. The sighted cat is guiding the blind cat. >^..^< pic.twitter.com/OPsVEqrLlI— ?? ~ ? A new America ? ?????️ (@andIwillpersist) April 15, 2021

  51. 51.

    Yutsano

    Saag murghee, samosas, garlic naan, and mango hibiscus tea. My only issue right now is lack of utensils.

    My day was a bit of a saga. May regale the legend after consumption of much foods.

  52. 52.

    Omnes Omnibus

    The people who run F1 are looking at this and saying, “My god, that is shockingly corrupt and greedy!”

  56. 56.

    sanjeevs

    The Super League is a much worse debacle than New Coke.

    The owners announced the League but had no Public Relations at all. Literally nothing in a sport that people talk about obsessively.

    There was no start date – not even an idea if it would be months or years.

    The owners had not informed the players or the coaches (who effectively act as spokesmen normally) of the plans (and certainly not the fans). The players had no reason to support it since there was no real plan, lots of fan anger and a likely salary cap.

    The owners had no political cover. This was an easy win for Boris Johnson.

    The funny thing is watching so many people realise these billionaires are actually morons. Maybe they’ll begin to ask why the Glazers, Kroenke etc were allowed to inherit such wealth instead of just taxing it to pay for hospitals and schools.

  58. 58.

    L85NJGT

    The problem with the current system is the depressing regularity with which clubs fall into receivership.

    FC Barcelona is in bad fiscal shape. Like missing payroll, broke-ass broke. If a club of that stature and global branding reach can get to that point, something has to give.

  59. 59.

    craigie

    @Ken:

    like how they decide when a cricket game is over

    I think that one’s easy – it’s when the team that’s ahead says “that’s enough, we win”

  60. 60.

    Patrianakos

    Isn’t that what the “Power 5” conferences did with the college football playoff?

  61. 61.

    LeftCoastYankee

    The more you know about European soccer, the stupider this scheme is logistically (aka beyond the obvious blatant greed and disregard for the fans):

    • There was going to be 15/16 permanent teams and 4/5 rotating teams, with the rotation based on “TBD, something, something something”.
    • The German and French teams they assumed would be “in”, never signed on (leaving 12).
    • They seemed to think they could still be in their local leagues and/or the UEFA Champions league (again “TBD something something something”)
    • European soccer does not have player trades, it’s all single player sales/buys. They never accounted for if players wanted to be in the league or not, or if the teams “left behind” would still deal with them.
    • FIFA and UEFA threatened players who participated with not being able to play for their countries in the World Cup and similar competitions.
    • European soccer doesn’t have “minor leagues”, but player development often involves “loaning” a player to a lower division club to get experience. They did not seem to account for this if the “lower clubs” or their league said “get bent”.​​​
  63. 63.

    L85NJGT

    @Patrianakos:

    Basically. But more ham fisted, with less crumbs to the little guys. Also, they have to pay their players.

    It scans reactive. A bad COVID year, plus no cartel rules to limit talent costs. Next up will be taking hatchets to payrolls.

  65. 65.

    Yutsano

    @mrmoshpotato: Quite the reverse. The naan was quite a good vessel to carry from container to mouth. The big issue is the restaurant also gave me rice. Oh well. I have other things to order over the next couple of days.

  68. 68.

    Mart

    I love that painting. It looks a lot like how I played, always stoned. I was horrified recently reffing a game and the other ref got there early, called the cops, and got the kids busted for smoking weed before the game. I told him I usually played stoned. Didn’t mention that I usually reffed stoned too.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    how they decide when a cricket game is over

    That’s easy.  There are three ways a cricket game can end:

    1. Both teams complete both their innings
    2. One team completes both innings and the other team is ahead
    3. You reach the time limit

    In cases 1 and 2, the team that has more runs is the winner.  In case 3, it’s a draw.

    The trickier bit is how you decide when an innings is over.  They can end either when the team is all out (10 of their 11 batters are out) or when they declare (they decide to end their turn early).  Why should a team decide to end their turn at bat early?  Because they’re afraid the game will exceed the time limit.

  71. 71.

    James E Powell

    A while ago, I was musing on this very blog about purchasing a 12 string guitar. I mused for long enough that the guitar was sold before I ever made up my mind. Last weekend, another 12 string caught my eye. I didn’t dither, I dealt. It arrived yesterday and I am quite pleased with the guitar and myself.

  72. 72.

    Cursorial

    I’ve always loved that painting. His Dynamism of a Cyclist is great too, even if it’s off-topic for this incomprehensible thread.

  76. 76.

    piratedan

    @billcinsd: Bill he’s correct, UNC has some less than awesome history, both in its recent past and not so recent past.  It’s administrators throughout the years have been Confederate apologists and it’s had a sketchy past when it comes to blending athletics and academics.  I should know, I went to school there.

    There’s also a deep and abiding antipathy between Duke and Carolina that won’t be mended anytime soon, that’s wrapped up in State School versus Private School and even old money versus new money.

    and while there are a score of its (UNC) alumni who are ratfink racist bastards, not everyone who came from there has used those tenets as a cultural lodestone.  So I take Burnsie at his word about the institution itself, but not about everyone who matriculated there.  YMMV

  78. 78.

    Tony Jay

    @cain:

    Heh.

    On the issue of this whole self-inflicted splatterwhack of bowel-sourced greed, I think most everything that can be said has been said.

    1. Incredibly amateurish and arrogant roll-out. You’d think that vastly expensive PR companies would feel a professional need to come up with a strategy a tad more synergistic than “Dump it + Strike a Pose = Victory and Riches!” but I guess that’s why I don’t work for said vastly expensive PR companies.
    2. When tossing down a ‘bargaining chip’ in the ongoing negotiations between Football’s openly corrupt powers-that-be on who gets the biggest slice of the advertising/merchandising/streaming pie, you’d think that a bit of prep might have gone into making that chip sturdy enough to survive the initial toss. Like, have at least the basics of your deal for streaming rights already set up. Have advertising partners on board and ready to throw their weight behind the venture. Have spokespeeps tanned, rested and ready to tell the world why they should LOVE your exciting new product and be utterly thrilled to give it all of your money. Hell, just take a few hours to make sure that the product itself (the people who kick the ball and the people who tell them where and how to kick it) are aware and invested in bigging up the deal.
    3. Or do none of the above. I’m sure that’ll work.
    4. What was really hilariously cack-handed about all this was the way the Plastic Gods of Greed managed to make UEFA (fucking UEFA!) look like the reasonable, salt-of-the-earth footballing professionals here. UEFA’s proposals for engorging the Champions League are very, very unpopular. Why not wait until they’ve been officially announced, let them get muddied up a bit in the Media, then step in to announce a DATE on which potential breakaway clubs would be meeting to decide IF they would prefer to join a Super League format instead? That’s how you play a bargaining chip.
    5. The sheer across-the-board condemnation of the Super League idea very quickly became self-sustaining and allowed everyone and their Mum’s hairdresser to jump on the bandwagon and safely wash their balls in the mountain-chilled stream of cleansing rightness that was public opinion on this issue. When Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson feels safe to shunt his oysterlike bulk in front of a camera and declare his (un)informed opposition to this most pernicious degradation of the central and underlying tenets of Soccerball, you should know you’ve fucked that chicken so hard its still-staring eyeballs are pinging off squirrel’s nutsacks three fields away.
    6. Everything about this announcement was bad and badly done, but the baddest had to be the complete and total absence of buy in from the clubs themselves. I’m not talking the owners or their appointed representatives on top of the money-making pyramid, I’m talking the players, the managers, the staffs, etc. The people whose 100% commitment to making the product you’re trying to sell is absolutely vital to the project. I said to my friend yesterday morning that I gave it 48 hours before the first Players Union rep and/or swinging-big-dick Player’s agent went public with their rejection of the concept, and while I was clearly playing it too safe timewise, that’s what started happening. Players want to play, but they also want to be able to play for their countries, they want to be able to play in more than one tournament, they want to be able to play for other teams outside of the ‘elite’ level once they’re past their peak years, and they want to be able to play without being jeered as greedy sell-out wankers by everyone in the whole, wide world. The opportunity to smile mechanically while fronting a soft-drink advertising campaign aimed at 17 to 30 years olds in the Greater Beijing market just wasn’t worth losing all that.
    7. I’m glad that my own team, the Mighty Reds of Liverpool, came out hard against this stupid idea. The manager Jurgen Klopp was already on record as opposing it and restated it on camera (unlike Chelsea’s manager, who obviously feared the wrath of that club’s Russian oligarch owner more than he feared having his self-respect shrunk to the size of a Conservative’s conscience), followed by the entire team, led by Captain Jordan Henderson signing a unified socially media post saying basically “Get Fucked”. After that, and the news that Manchester City and the aforementioned Chelsea had jumped off the Super League ship, Liverpool’s Trumpy owners had no option but to accept their bid for yet more money and power and Bwa-Ha-Ha-Ha-Haaaaaa was over – for now.
    8. For the record, and in case I haven’t made myself clear, I didn’t support the idea and am glad it’s been torn apart by zombie hordes. Will this be the start of ‘Taking Our Football Back’? That’s a much bigger question that I’m woefully ill-equipped to answer.
  80. 80.

    SFAW

    @mrmoshpotato:

    As a wise man once said, “Fuck the fucking Yankees!”

    He’s been gone almost 14 years now. I still miss him.

    I thought of him yesterday when Rev. Sharpton was speaking, post-verdict.

  81. 81.

    SFAW

    Has anyone done a wellness check on Amir? I imagine he’s OK now, but the initial bullshit could not have done him any favors.

  83. 83.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay:

    When Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson feels safe to shunt his oysterlike bulk in front of a camera and declare his (un)informed opposition to this most pernicious degradation of the central and underlying tenets of Soccerball, you should know you’ve fucked that chicken so hard its still-staring eyeballs are pinging off squirrel’s nutsacks three fields away.

    I don’t know where to nominate you/this for the Nobel Peace Prize for Sheer Fucking Poetry, but if someone tells me, I’ll attempt to do it.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I’m talking about the Soccerball clusterfuck. I wasn’t being serious. Sorry for not choosing my words better.

  86. 86.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay:

    For the record, and in case I haven’t made myself clear, I didn’t support the idea and am glad it’s been torn apart by zombie hordes.

    Oh! OK, now I see. Thanks for clearing up my confusion.

  88. 88.

    SFAW

    In a statement released late Tuesday, the Super League said: “We are reconsidering the appropriate steps, in order to reshape the project” despite the exit of the English teams.

    My town generally has pretty good soccer teams, often state-tourney-qualifying level for both girls and boys. I’ll keep a lookout for Super League agents trying to get some of the U-10 teams and players to sign on.

  89. 89.

    Tony Jay

    @SFAW:

    Given how grievously toxic the whole Super League brand has become in just a few glorious days it’ll probably be the same two slightly shabby looking guys in a beat up People Carrier leaking oil and crumpled energy-bar wrappers from one Kidz Soccer Tourney to the next, frantically trying to get half a dozen names down on their subscription forms before they get run off by concerned parents.

    A most fitting match for an astonishingly crass idea.

  90. 90.

    SixStringFanatic

    @Jeffro: I will certainly being listening to lots of Prince today but, if we’re going to have an official Prince Day, where we celebrate the man, his music and his legacy, I would personally much rather that day be his birthday (June 7th) than this sad and awful anniversary.

  91. 91.

    Hoodie

    @Tony Jay: As big as a fustercluck as this was, I wonder about the game plan of someone like Abramovich.  There are rumors (planted?) that he wasn’t hot on the idea from the start.  I wonder if he and some of the others were going along knowing it would implode, but the see the failure as a way to grease the skids for further emoluments, such as more money for the Champions League.   Chelsea pulls out first, Abramovich gets to play good guy listening to the voice of the people (does Boris give him a green light on the visa if Chelsea pulls out?).  IIRC, Barcelona and Real both have financial issues, so they would have been useful idiots for forwarding this plan.

  93. 93.

    Tony Jay

    @Hoodie:

    If any of the club owners involved in this catastrophe, including Abramovich, ever intended to use the Super League fiasco so cunningly then they (and their team of crack socio-financial advisers) were smoking something culled from the droppings of Balinese pygmy elephants in the run up to and immediate aftermath of the announcement, because once they’d done it they were fucked sideways with a spinning canoe if they didn’t get right the fuck on the phone to every single journalist they ever filmed snorting charlie off an underage escort’s rigid member demanding that they include their heartfelt and entirely genuine misgivings about how everyone else involved was mishandling the situation in their coverage.

    I think they all just convinced themselves that their franchises were sooooooooo important to the commercial success of European football that the lesser mortals running the game would buckle before their superior confidence, so they didn’t have to do anything more than announce their new hypercool brand was coming to the market in order to win the war over All The Money in one swell foop.

    Didn’t work out that way for them, and I don’t think that the immediate resignation of Ed Woodward from Manchester United (God knows I’ll miss his pea-headed incompetence) is going to be the end of the blame-shifting blood-letting. Popcorn and beer, stat!

    OTOH, I was surprised that Mourinho’s ousting as Spurs boss wasn’t revealed to be one of his patented PR moves. I was sure he’d be on the News ASAP, multi-million euro severence check in pocket, telling everyone how he’d been sacked because he couldn’t possibly betray the fans by going along with such a scheme and wasn’t he a hero for bailing out of his team’s collapsing season standing up to the Big Money Mob?

    Evidently not, though.

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