[Malankazooie]

Messi is going to wear #30. That's going to be weird getting adjusted to.

[Tapper]

Tiste Simeon, on 09 August 2021 - 12:40 AM, said:

Sounds like an ideal job for a team of turds with unlimited funds to snap up! What are City up to?

Snapping up Harry Kane for a sum equivalent to the GDP of a small country (that is not Qatar).

[Morgoth]

Lukaku returning to Chelsea is wreaking havoc on my fantasy team

[Macros]

speaking of fantasy team

Malazan Bowl is back baby!

I've went really left field on my team selection this year.

[Malankazooie]

Match Day 1 in EPL. It sneaks up, doesn't it just?

huh, Virgil van Dijk is back. Tomorrow Spurs vs. Man City..... awkward!

[Tiste Simeon]

More 5-1 wins for Utd please!

[Tsundoku]

I did NOT know PSG is owned by Qatar.

https://www.news.com...b090a5fa22c4347

Messi’s mega move to PSG is an expensive piece of political propaganda
One of the greatest footballers of all time is now front and centre of a major political PR move that won’t sit easy with the rest of the world.

Alex Conrad

AUGUST 15, 202110:45AM

Football: Lionel Messi has agreed to join PSG after 17 seasons with Spanish giants Barcelona. He scored 672 goals in 778 total appearances for the side -…
Lionel Messi openly wept in his final press conference as a Barcelona player and you’d have struggled to find someone in Catalonia who didn’t shed tears with him.

The Argentine arrived at La Masia, Barcelona’s fabled youth academy, as a 13-year-old boy in need of medical treatment to help him grow because he suffered from growth hormone deficiency. He left Camp Nou as a 10-time LaLiga champion, a four-time Champions League winner and a six-time Ballon d’Or recipient.

Watch the best European Football with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. Live coverage from every round of La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A & Ligue 1. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Messi’s upsetting exit from Barcelona was the result of the club’s financial mismanagement, which saw its expenditure on player wages balloon beyond what it could afford. The finger cannot be pointed at LaLiga officials for taking a firm stance on preventing Barcelona re-signing Messi. Rather, the blame lies squarely at the feet of those in power at the Blaugrana. Their inability to control their spending has cost them the greatest player to ever wear the Barcelona jersey.

But Barca’s loss is Paris Saint-Germain’s oh-so-sweet gain. PSG tied Messi down to a two-year deal, with the option for a third on a salary of $AUD55 million a season.

But Messi hasn’t just signed for PSG. He’s part of something much bigger. The footballer has become a very expensive piece of political propaganda.

PSG is one of only two state-owned clubs in football. The French club is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, which is a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority. QIA just so happen to be the state-run sovereign wealth fund in Qatar.

As for the other state-owned club in football? That would be Manchester City - a club that came very close to signing Messi themselves this time last year. They are owned by the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Qatar won the race to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in controversial circumstances. Allegations of bribery swirled as fans did a double-take when finding out the country would play host to the biggest football feast on the planet.

The nation found a way to upset the apple cart by forcing the World Cup to be hosted in November due to soaring temperatures in the European summer months. This places the tournament smack bang in the middle of domestic seasons right across Europe, creating a few headaches for football’s biggest leagues.

One cannot discuss the Qatar World Cup without mention of its human rights record. More than 1000 workers, many of them migrants from India and Nepal, have lost their lives while building stadiums for the World Cup. In March, players from Germany, Norway and the Netherlands wore shirts before World Cup qualifiers voicing concerns over human rights after The Guardian reported at least 6500 migrant workers had died in Qatar since it won hosting rights in 2010.

By playing for PSG, Messi is front and centre of Qatar’s PR push to give it more legitimacy on the world stage – which sport plays a significant role in.

As Daniel Storey wrote for iNews this week: “The 2022 World Cup, PSG’s progression, sponsorship deals with other super clubs; all were elements of sportswashing that sought to improve the superficial reputation of a state and sought to switch focus from the inherent problems within it.

“For them, Messi is the perfect bridge between PSG and the World Cup. There may be pressure for him to become an unofficial ambassador for the tournament.

“Messi has chosen a football club and a means of prolonging his high-level success. But Messi has also chosen Qatar, implicitly or otherwise. He is the new poster boy for a state sportswashing its way to global acceptance.”

Global Professor of Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School in Paris, Simon Chadwick, also spoke of Messi’s importance to Qatar’s political ambitions.

“Its government is not afraid to use football as the means to achieving other political ends, of which PSG’s signing of Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Neymar is a prime example,” Chadwick wrote for The Conversation.

“It also symbolised how the government in Doha sees football as part of its soft power armoury, a way of engaging global audiences intrigued by the signing of football’s best talent.

“Some will view Lionel Messi signing for PSG in the same way. His expected contribution to the club’s success will ensure that Qatar’s projection of soft power continues, while the status, image and reputation of ‘brand Qatar’ are further burnished.”

James Dorsey, author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, believes the deal is Qatar yet again flexing its financial muscle in the region.

“Diplomatic ties have been restored but Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are still not as cordial and getting Messi ahead of City is a big thing statement; a feather in the cap ahead of the World Cup,” Dorsey told Dawn newspaper.

It’s not Messi’s first foray into playing an ambassadorial role for Qatar. Barcelona were sponsored by the Qatar Foundation from 2011 to 2013, then Qatar Airways from 2013 until 2017. Both companies featured on the front of Barcelona’s famous jersey.

But the switch to the French capital is a more significant and overt power play than just wearing a jersey.

Messi’s move to PSG reflects a sad reality about the shifting tides of football, as the rich grow richer while the rest fight over what little scraps remain. It’s a sorry state of affairs for the so called “beautiful game”.

[Malankazooie]

Sad day, but expected. Carli Lloyd announced her retirement. She was a stud for the USWNT and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her on the pitch. She was one of those players who your eyes were drawn to. A stand out talent.

[Tsundoku]

Team building? Well, you can't have "Morgy" without "orgy".

https://www.news.com...b21406f5fbab81e

Football club punishes 11 players, one star quits over stadium sex party
A Norwegian football club has handed out punishments after finalising its investigation into players who had a sex party at the club’s stadium.

AFP

AUGUST 21, 20219:05AM

Norwegian first division football club Brann SK said it had fired one player and issued written warnings to 10 others following a late-night sex party they organised at the club’s stadium.

Another player has quit following the August 10 incident, which has caused an uproar in Norway and provoked booing from fans during a recent home game.

According to various media reports, the 12 players went out for dinner before going to a nightclub and then on to the stadium, where they were accompanied by seven women.

Security cameras reportedly captured the players having sex on the field and in the changing room.

“The club has worked intensively to get to the bottom of the very serious breaches of trust from 12 of our players,” Brann said in a statement, adding there were “many rumours and speculation” circulating.

The investigation showed a “breach of guidelines, general norms, corona restriction rules and reasonable expectations of our employees,” it said.

“We have therefore decided to dismiss one of our players and given 10 other players serious written warnings,” general manager Vibeke Johannesen said in the statement.

Kristoffer Barmen, 28, who has played for the club since he was 10, was fired because of his “key role” in the night’s events, the team said.

Barmen’s lawyer Eirik Monsen said in a statement that his client was surprised by the club’s decision and felt he was being “treated unfairly”.

The player who quit was keeper Mikkel Andersen, whom Brann said was returning to Denmark after he and his family received threats at their home over the incident.

The other players involved have not come forward and have not been identified. Police are also investigating reports of a possible sexual assault at the stadium during the incident, and one person, who has not been publicly identified, is considered a suspect.

Brann are bottom of the Norwegian Elite Division with 10 points after winning just two of their first 15 league games, but they are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions and beat Sandeford 3-2 at home last Sunday in the league.

[Malankazooie]

Is Ronaldo going to Man City or Man U? Is this one of those deals where they keep reporting - "the situation on the ground still evolving" / "We are trying to stay ahead of events as they develop, a lot of moving parts, back up to you in the studio, Al." ?

[Tiste Simeon]

BBC reports he is in advanced talks to rejoin United and that MUFC have officially approached Juve...

[Tiste Simeon]

For the BBC to be reporting it there must be quite a lot of backing for it, it's being reported closer to a "Done Deal" than just rumours. So I think it'll probably happen. They have a live text update on their page and it's kind of seeming the most likely thing.

The /r/reddevils subreddit has a live thread too and it seems it is being confirmed from a number of sources...

[Tiste Simeon]

And now it's official as per manutd.com well isn't that something!?

[Cyphon]

It's bonkers. Not sure how it makes footballing sense

[Tiste Simeon]

Short term gain/Talisman/United legend while they solidify a longer term top squad?

Also annoying City who wanted him?

[Tsundoku]

Tiste Simeon, on 29 August 2021 - 07:10 AM, said:

Short term gain/Talisman/United legend while they solidify a longer term top squad?

Also annoying City who wanted him?

I'd say about 10%-90% on those two theories.

[Macros]

Shirt sales

[Tiste Simeon]

Well, that too.

[Tapper]

I think shirt sales making up for a player's fee + salary are by and large a myth?

Edit: they are. +/_ 15% of the revenue of sold shirts goes to the club - the kit deal itself is where most of the money comes from and that's usually already agreed. So, if Ronaldo sells 200 million quid worth of shirts, that recoups his transfer fee. Seems unlikely, tbh.

This post has been edited by Tapper: 01 September 2021 - 01:38 PM

[Gorefest]

It's not just shirts though. It is sponsoring, outreach, ticket sales, VIP passes, Tv exposure, etc. Messi made an absolute fortune at Barca but he was also single-handedly generating a huge stream of revenue for the club, which for some time comfortably offset his ridiculous salary. You'd be amazed how much income these top level players can draw for a club. According to some figures, Messi alone was responsible for around 30% of the total club revenue at Barcelona. Sponsoring is the big thing, not shirts. Messi was earning over 100 million euros per year (!) but he was generating money for the club estimated at around £200 million per year.