Good Morning. It's Wednesday 21st April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Forgotten man has a future at ER Marcelo Bielsa believes Leeds forgotten man Adam Forshaw has a future at Elland Road, as a back up for Kalvin Phillips! The news came from Phil Hay, replying to a fan about the 29yo's future. We all know Bielsa has his favourites (like Roberts and Bamford), but we can include the former Boro man on that list too. When asked whether Forshaw will be at Elland Road next season, the former chief football writer for the YEP replied:- “They would have to think carefully about that because Forshaw is competition for Phillips and Bielsa has always rated him extremely highly.” please log in to view this image Brazilian Ace has 'decent chance' of returning against bitter enemy Raphinha has a “decent chance” of being fit to face Manchester United this weekend according to Phil Hay. The Athletic journalist was replying to a fan in his Q & A session about the availability of the 24yo! "It was a dead leg and heavy bruising from the Fernandinho challenge. Those injuries tend to heal in their own time - sometimes quick, sometimes slower. Fingers crossed, though". “He’ll have a decent chance given that he wasn’t ruled out of this game as of Thursday last week,” Leeds more than held their own, and were unlucky not to defeat Liverpool on Monday evening. This, and the performance against Pep Guardiola's Champions elect, should install the confidence that they have nothing to fear against the red side of Manchester, when the two bitter enemies collide Sunday lunchtime. I can't help thinking that Leeds showed too much respect, especially against Liverpool in the first half. please log in to view this image Super League dead in the water The European Super League appears dead in the water after all six English clubs withdrew overnight following threats from football authorities. Manchester City were the first to succumb to the pressure, followed quickly by Chelsea. Just like a domino effect, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal followed suit. All clubs issued statements trying to make amends, labelling the importance of their fans being the main excuse for exiting the competition. This leaves Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus. Should the English six be punished for their treasonous behaviour? Perhaps a 50m fine each would make them think twice in future? please log in to view this image
Real Madrid believe they have a divine right to no longer compete with teams like Valencia, Sevilla, Villarreal. They think that if they're not perpetually one of the top two or three teams in the world then they need to be given more money until they are. They try telling us they don't have enough revenue to run a football club and if only we'd let them have a few hundred more million everything would be alright. The trouble is they already have one of the largest revenues in world sport. If they took more money they wouldn't be more sustainable. It would go in the pockets of the owners, board members, players and agents and the club would still be run on the edge of bankruptcy because that's their business model and it won't change as long as they believe they're the untouchable elite. It'll be interesting to see what the protests are like at Spurs today. The owners will be hoping they can sweep this under the carpet but if we get the same scenes we did at Stamford Bridge, even after the Super League is dead in the water, then that'll be a sign the fans have finally had enough and want seismic change.
I think JP Morgan could have the biggest say in the punishment to be given to these clubs, they won't take kindly to contracts being ripped up.
If Forshaw can do Bielsaball again and be as effective for Bielsa as Bielsa wants him to be, he will save the club circa £20m, so I hope he does. We will know in the next few weeks if he can as there are still league games and a couple of U23 fixtures to fill. All the clubs involved in the ESL except for Man City/Chelsea are in massive debt and we all know about Barcelonas crippling £350m debt and Real Madrids £275m debt, Man Utd are as bad because Glazer bought the club with debt not his own money. So far Glazer has taken out around £1billion in profits and paid around £800m in interest just servicing the debt which means the debt or price the club was sold for is still needing to be repaid. Spurs is the strange one because if the new stadium they owe £850m and because of covid they have lost £65m in match-day revenues so tough to pay debt down, but Leeds have lost around £45m so far, but the only reason Spurs got involved was et cash to pay down debt. Stupidest thing Dan Levy has ever done. The ESL built on debt and the cash they would receive initially from JP Morgan was loans so even more debt massive debt
Morning all Not sure why Bamford would keep being referred to as a Bielsa favourite, he has been one of the best Strikers in the league this year and earns his right to play every week, no wonder he put "and so it starts" on Twitter at the start of the season, even if he performs brilliantly he is questioned. As they say, careful what you wish for. Couldn't actually care whether the clubs wanting to play in the soppy league are fined or not, they have been put firmly in their place, we move on.
Question is Doc, have we actually "lost" £ 45M this year or have we not received £ 45M we could have had? Quite different things
It has to be at least a 15 point deduction for each of those clubs though doesn't it? It's just as bad if not worse than what Bates did with Leeds. Also, the other 14 PL teams should have a vote, as happened with us when clubs in the same division we ended up in benefited in deducting us points.
I really hope the rest of the Premier League demand adequate punishment for the "top six" . Even more so though, I hope the Italian and Spanish clubs get punished by their respective leagues. Unfortunately I think that's unlikely as they have too much power. Perhaps one club might've been hung out to dry but do La Liga and Serie A have the balls to go after all of these clubs.
I wonder what kind of power the other 14 clubs, could the for example force a motion of no confidence against the FA if they don't think they've gone far enough? The ESL drama might be over but this will rumble on for a long time if the appetite is there.
Totally agree with you bud in principle. The problem is, we know it won't happen because of politics within the game so why waste time and money on it? We suffered due to Ridsdale's ineptitude and Bates' ridiculous behaviour and, of course, we all felt the world was against us when other teams voted for sanctions but, the truth is, the biggest damage done to Leeds United was the chasm that formed between our fans and the owners for many years right through to the loony Cellino and making outside investment and Sponsorship so difficult (partly why I think Rads has done a remarkable job because he has closed that gap so well). Possibly, the "Big 6" will have caused themselves untold damage with their own fans - let's hope so!
Exactly right Marcos I need to use language much better mate. Leeds did not receive the £45m they had budgeted for due to covid restrictions
Whilst I agree, some kind of sanction should be taken against the decision makers ie owners of the respective clubs Also the EFL/FA need to look at their regulations and make them water tight to cover for any future attempt at forming a breakaway league, with specific sanctions should this be attempted. Whilst it appears to be over for now some bright spark will try again in the future.
They've always managed to punish Leeds even when effectively they hadn't broken any roles likes Spygate, or asking the Chairmen of the football league to have a vote to see if they should be deducted their 15 points. Unprecedented at the time.
Fine the 6 greedy clubs £100m each, and give them a points deduction effective immediately. They should be punished as a deterrent, and the other 14 PL clubs rewarded for their loyalty.
“I want to apologise to all the fans and supporters of Liverpool Football Club for the disruption I caused over the past 48 hours,” said Henry. He does not apologise or regret trying to join this breakaway league.............
Good Morning from a dull Bardsey The otherv 14 clubs would have jumped at the chance to gett300m lets not kid ourselves and noone has noticed as a result of the npoint against Liverpooln we can no longer be relegated Lorente seems to be another good buy
Certainly wasn't pulling you up on it bud, I just meant, maybe we are actually in a really strong position compared to those that are actually losing ten's of millions