It’s unfortunate that Omar Marmoush, Eintracht Frankfurt’s best player and most prolific goal scorer, left during the winter transfer window. They might have had a real shot at winning the competition had they managed to retain him.

Jordan Henderson back in Europe really feels like an improved version of the same player. Still not sure if he could see a lot of playtime, but could work as an experienced squad player.

It really feels like they fell off hard after that comment. Well, now they certainly aren’t in the title race.

Exactly. That’s what convinced me that Liverpool would edge past PSG. Normally no team that steals a result on an off day and then improves in the second leg goes out. This match showed that this feeling was premature.

I honestly did no see this coming. PSG ertainly is a stronger team than it was a few years ago and is playing some real football. However, after winning the first leg, I was convinced that the Reds would also manage to get this tie sorted. Well, I guess it’s likely “only” the Premier League title for Liverpool then.

I believe it’s less of an issue the smaller the league is. Already in the Dutch league I feel like I can still afford the price of admission and the spectacle is still solid with full stadiums and generally good atmosphere. If even that level is still too commercialised, I recommend giving your local village team a visit. It’s usually a blast and the “Bratwurst” at the matches here in the Verbandsliga Südhessen is very affordable.

Vielen Dank für diese wertvolle Aufklärungsarbeit!

United really have the habit of turning managers who were successful at other clubs and who regularly go right back to being successful after moving on from United into depressed mediocre looking chaps.

Looking for someone to finance a new stadium is fine, but seems speculative at best right now. It’s hard to imagine any serious investors really gushing about such an opportunity at the moment.

In terms of cutting costs: in my opinion there was a lot of room for savings when it came to the Dan Ashworth hiring and firing. Additionally the way the decision makes at the club wasted millions on renewing Ten Hag’s contract and then firing him soon after also seems imprudent. Apparently it’s easier to fire the proverbial tea lady instead of making some more sound long term decisions by the management.

Yes, most teams are playing in modern, large stadiums or are in the process of having them constructed now. My wording was probably a bit off. What I wanted to express was unease with the fact that the current management is squeezing pennies out of common people working for the club in the name of fiscal responsibility while at the same time planning major expenses for this project just seems … off.

Obviously this is another brilliant idea by Sir Jim. Just increase ticket prices, multiply by number of seats and … voilà, line goes up. Why didn’t anyone else think of that?

Oh, and don’t forget to charge extortionate rates for handicapped parking, because why not.

Haha! We had one supercup in 2021 that was played in Tel Aviv of all places for some reason. Well, at least the league has promised never to do anything like that again after some serious backlash.

Although I don’t know MLS, your description could also be true when considering smaller European leagues. As a Dutchman I somewhat follow the Dutch Eredivisie. There we have a generally well developed fan culture, full stadiums with good atmosphere and several teams challenging for the title all while not being skinned alive as English fans often are.

As someone who really started watching football when United started their absurd phase of dominance in the early 1990s, it still feels weird seeing them muddle around in mid table now. I guess this is how my father’s generation must have felt about Liverpool until Klopp took over and turned things around.

I thought that was the entire point of the show; to get the highlights of the matches!? I mean, it’s not Gary Lineker’s charming personality.

Das ist eine gute Idee; merke ich mir!

Thanks for compiling the data. I suspect the data could be heavily skewed by the different employment models of the clubs. Some likely opt to cover many functions with in house staff while others probably prefer outsourcing various duties. Does this model account only for staff of the “football company”; does it include subsidiaries like club TV stations and the like?

Ja, der Netzwerk-Effekt ist sicherlich stark, aber es hält Dich niemand davon ab einen fließenden Übergang zu machen. Ich nutze seit Jahren Signal als Messenger neben dem leider immer noch weiter verbreiteten Marktführer. Sobald ich aber mit einem Kontakt über Signal kommuniziere, gab es nie einen Schritt zurück. Mit der Zeit sind stetig mehr Kontakte auf Signal und vielleicht kann ich eines Tages den Übergang komplett machen. So einen weichen Übergang würde ich jedem empfehlen - kostet nichts extra, kann aber mittelfristig den Netzwerk-Effekt kippen lassen.