Tag Archives: Arsenal

Is the Community Shield a “real” trophy?

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Short answer: No

Long answer: The Community shield is no more than a glorified friendly. It is not a major, it is not even an honour. Those that portray it to be so are clutching to straws, trying to add to their clubs trophy count.

The Community Shield is a curtain raiser. An aperitif. An Hors d’oeuvres. Clubs in the Community Shield usually reduce the amount of friendlies they play by one, as clubs use it to prepare for what is important, the start of the Premier League the weekend after.

The fact that you can make 6 substitutions shows that it is not a competitive game. The fact that players who are set to be suspended for domestic games can play  shows that it is not a competitive game.

https://twitter.com/BlackScarfAFC/status/893429241857159168

I do not know when people started to count the Community Shield as a trophy, but my first memory was Liverpool in 2001. The year their fans claimed to have won “5 trophies in 1 season”. Despite 2 of these trophies being glorified friendlies (Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup) and both being in the season after they won a poor mans treble.

I guess where counting the Community Shield comes out of desperation. Liverpool fans in 2001 included it as they were jealous of Manchester United’s treble 2 years earlier. They attempted to show winning 5 trophies in 1 season 2 seasons was superior to Manchester United’s treble. It wasn’t.

Manchester United took it a step further a few years later. Having overtaken Liverpool’s English League Champions haul, Liverpool fans were quick to point out that they had still won more major honours then United, by the time the FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup and minor European trophies were taken into account. In response, Manchester United fans added their 20 Community Shields to their total plus other glorified global friendlies to show that they were England’s most successful club with 62 honours to Liverpool’s 60.

Last season, after winning the Europa League, Jose Mourinho encouraged his players to hold up 3 figures, to indicate Manchester United had just won the treble.

Man U won the Europa League, the League Cup and the Community Shield.

In a world where everyone gets their statistics from Wikipedia, the site has now included the likes of the Community Shield, the UEFA Super Cup & the FIFA Club World Cup in their list of Most England’s Most Successful Clubs. Everyone knows, deep down, that these do not really matter.

Arsenal fans went a bit OTTa few years back, celebrating victory against Manchester City. After 10 years with no trophy, being able to celebrate “2 trophies in 4 months” was too much for some fans. They celebrated the Community Shield victory a little bit too hard.

Roll on a few years and this will be Arsenal’s 9th visit to Wembley in just over 3 years. Many fans who went to previous games are not going. They are jaded by Wembley. they see the Community Shield as what it is. A friendly.

A trip to Wembley is always a good day out, no matter what you are going there for, but celebrating the Community Shield and treating it like an honour is something done by the desperate. I am sure back in the 90s & 00s, Manchester United fans did not care about the Community Shield, but after a few barren years, they will cling to it as their last trophy won as if it was a major honour.

Of course, there is more than just the trophy on offer. The Community Shield is an opportunity to see where you are for the forthcoming season. A victory will create optimism within the fans, that this year could be our year. A defeat and the bright clouds of pre-season will soon be darkened.

As for it setting you up well for the season, showing you where you are, the truth is the Community Shield has very little bearing on who wins the league. Since the turn of the century, the Community Shield Winners have gone on to win the Premier League 5 times. That is just 5 times in 15 years.

And that is boasted by 5 times in 6 years. It is clear that the Community Shield has very little bearing on the winner of the Premier League.

In 2013/14, Manchester United won the Community Shield. United fans went into hysteria, creating all sorts of meme’s showing that David Moyes had won 1 trophy in in the 3 months he had been at the club, whilst Arsene Wenger had not won a trophy at Arsenal in 10 years. Fast forward 9 months, Arsenal were at Wembley lifting the FA Cup, whilst Moyes had been sacked and Manchester United finishing 7th.

The Community Shield is a good day out. It is sunny, it is a laugh, meet up with the lads who you haven’t seen for a few months, have a few beers and get back into the swing of things. But the result? It does not really matter.

Is it important to win the Community Shield? No.

Keenos

How have PSG financed the Neymar deal?

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So after the news over Neymar’s impending move to PSG, there are some more thoughts floating around.

The financial situation – The way release clauses in Spain work is that it is the individual player who has to pay the money. They have to go to a Spanish court house and buy themselves out of their contract. For all intents and purposes, they then become a free transfer and able to join whoever they wish.

Under normal circumstances, the club buying the players will usually transfer the money over to the player, therefore giving them the cash to buy themselves out of the contract.

Manchester United famously messed up the signing of Ander Herrera by not giving him the tax on top of the transfer fee.

Rumours in Spain are that Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), the owners of PSG, are going to be paying Neymar up to £500m (the figure varies from £300-£500m). A tax-free contract was allegedly signed in Doha for Neymar to be an ambassador to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

A portion of this lump sum payment will then be used by Neymar to release him from his contract with Barcelona.

The key is that within Spanish law, the money to release the player does not require to have to come to the club who is interested in buying him, it merely has to come from the player. There seem to be no restrictions on who provides this cash.

Therefore, QSI are providing the cash to release Neymar, which in turn lifts any financial burden PSG have in the transfer, as under law, Neymar will be a free agent, and they will be purchasing him on a free.

Now UEFA (or FIFA) might investigate the deal, but it is seemingly legal under Spanish law, therefore they might not be able to do much. The rule is a player needs to buy himself out of his own contract. There are no rulings on where this money must come from.

It could create a new bosman ruling, where players in Spain are at risk of having big companies buying them out of their contracts on behalf of a club, meaning that under FFP, the club do not have to declare a transfer fee.

The rest of the money from QSI to Neymar is reportedly to be used to pay off the agents, fathers, and others who have a financial interest in the deal, as well as some money for Neymar’s own pocket, to supplement any basic wage paid from PSG.

Spain is up in arms over the deal, but should they be?

Barcelona / Real Madrid and their relationship with “sponsors” – Some see this deal as Karma. That Barcelona’s chickens are coming home to roost over the way they have financed transfer deals in the past.

For years, both Barcelona and Real Madrid have been running up massive losses, with those losses being guaranteed by reports of state funding.

When Real Madrid signed Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid sold their training ground back to the local authority it sat in for a vastly increased price. Real Madrid were actually found guilty by the European Commission, who declared that Spain had provided the club with illegal state funding over the deal. Barcelona have also been found guilty of similar.

Also in the past, there have been major rumours of Nike, Adidas, and other headline sponsors of Barcelona and Real Madrid pay extra in sponsorship to cover transfers of big players. Also reports that the major companies offer player lucrative sponsorship deals to top up their wages.

So are PSG doing any different to what Barcelona and Real Madrid have done for years? Possibly not.

The waters are muddied further by reports that the move of Neymar from Santos to Barcelona was part funded by a sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation. Quite ironic that money from the same country to buy bring Neymar to Barcelona was also used to take him away from Barcelona.

This is a transfer which could end up being challenged in the courts for years to come. It will be interesting to watch.

Keenos

Note: We know this is an Arsenal blog, and tomorrow we will return to talking about Arsenal and the Community Shield. But for for today, like all football fans, Neymar is a deal of interest.

Neymar to PSG shows greed has killed football

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The transfer of Neymar from Barcelona to PSG really does highlight that players are motivated by nothing but money.

Barcelona are one of the greatest teams in world football. A historic club. They compete for major honours every year, and participate in a competitive league. Compare this to PSG who were only founded in 1970 and are the 7th most successful side in France.

Before PSG got the oil money, they had won the same amount of Ligue 1 titles as Sète & Sochaux. Less than the likes of Reims, Nice, Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Monaco, Nantes, Marseille & Saint-Étienne. They are simply not a big club, they are just a rich club.

Whilst Barcelona have won 5 European Cups, PSG have never mad it past the quarter final. Last season they were knocked out in the first knockout stage.

Neymar could be running out infront of 100,000 people at the Nou Camp. Instead he will be at some stadium in a French suburb that holds just 47,929.

PSG play in a one team league – although Monaco did surprise everyone by winning the league last year. They are where players go to stat pad. Beyond the top handful of teams, the quality is poor. Will anyone really respect Neymar if he scores 100 goals in France next year? They will not.

There is talk that Neymar’s move will enhance his chance of winning the Ballon d’Or. That will only happen if he drives PSG to the Champions League or Brazil to the World Cup. 50 goals in France is like 50 goals in Scotland. Not impressive.

The only logical reason Neymar is picking PSG over Barcelona is because of money.

If he is unhappy at Barcelona, why not go to Manchester United, Juventus or Bayern Munich. They would all love him at their club. But of course, they would not pay him the tax free £650,000 the French club are reportedly offering.

There are millions of reasons why Neymar is leaving Barcelona for PSG. And none of them are footballing. They are all about his bank balance.

Greed is no longer killing football. It has killed football.

Keenos