Premier League ‘rigged’ against Newcastle and Aston Villa

Newcastle fans are angry at the Premier League and at F365 for suggesting Spurs are doing things ‘the right way’.

The real Newcastle mood

I note in the ‘mood rankings’ Dave Tickner (rightly) has Newcastle last, but uses a number of tenuous yardsticks as measurement for this, including the writing of Luke Edwards – one of the most despised (along with Craig Hope) local journalists amongst the fanbase. Please do not use Luke, it’s just wrong. Anyway…

I feel like I’m stuck in some sort of hideous time-loop where the same questions are constantly asked no matter how well or bad we are doing as a club. Tickner asks if we’re happy being amongst Bournemouth and Brighton – what does he want? What does everyone else in the country want us to be? Chasing Mbappe with our millions or just a talent pool for the 6 biggest clubs.

The Newcastle takeover clearly struck such an emotional nerve for so many fanbases and boardrooms. Any revenue growth was immediately stifled by the APT rules. The feeling was we’d then abuse any route afforded to us? Shall we sign Ruben Neves on any easy loan? Even the mere hint created bedlam.

The reality is the ownership have done everything by the book, asides spending too much initially and being forced into the panicked sales of two future stars. On reflection, we should have just sold a big star – easy to have hindsight right? We bought well, played well, ruffled many feathers, qualified for Champions League far too early, let it hit our league form and simply ‘went again’ and qualified again, this time better prepared, this time a little bit better (I really wish we’d qualified for the Europa early on instead, as we would have won it).

We’ve then been gutted – the steady growth is simply unsustainable if you have exciting players. Learnings are now in abundance in terms of when players should be sold and when we should hang on, we’ll dust ourselves off and go again.

We are then given the reference point in Villa’s section about Spurs being the example to sustainable revenue growth and how not to ‘cut corners’. I am sick of reading about Spurs and how clever they’ve been for so many years. Spurs are in LONDON – this is an automatic accelerator to any frugal financial activity.

If Spurs and their entire strategy had existed outside of North London, they never would have been in the picture to begin with, it’s simply a fact. Concerts, NFL games – all of this is more challenging for sustainability for stadiums outside of the capital. We will build a new stadium, we’ll build new training grounds, we’ll try our hardest I’m sure to get better commercial revenue, but please stop comparing the commercial opportunities amongst Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and what we can do without cutting any corners.

The stadium transformation up here is extremely complex, involving listed buildings, a need to remain in the city centre so we retain an essential USP of our home, and just the time it takes to do this stuff – other stadiums took forever between announcement and work starting. In the time it takes us to catch up, the others will simply steam further ahead. How else do you catch up? Regular Champions League football. How do you get there? Beating other clubs to the best players, wages, catching the league by surprise again, only having one game per week. It’s an endless cycle. Perform –> qualify –> more games –> more injuries –> potentially lose best players –> no qualification –> lose players –> suffer in UEFA SCR.

I actually think what both Newcastle and Villa have done is incredible. It’s annoyed so many owners and proves it can be done, I had emotional hatred towards Villa after they sent us down but couldn’t care less anymore. Solidarity in disruption.

If you want my mood ranking, and that of many friends and family. Everyone is very excited. Howe’s football had become stale, he struggled to break loyalties built up over years and had lost his fire in upsetting the opposition. We stopped being b**tards – a tag I feel we should wear with pride given everyone now hates us anyway. There’s no use being a soft touch when that’s how our ability to hold onto players is represented in the media.

We’ve got a new manager, new ideas, exciting young players. If we have to use this season as a transition, I just hope we upset some people along the way. I think everyone feels quite invigorated by some change – and we’ve already accepted that exciting young players like Sean Steur will be snapped up for quadruple their fee in a couple of seasons.

But please next time you ask – ‘Newcastle fans were promised so much more, this isn’t good enough, they’re raging’ please ask yourselves how we’re supposed to feel? We’re used to being told what to do up here, please go ahead and tell us how to support. Harry, York

(p.s please stop using the cesspit of Twitter replies as your market research too)

And as for Aston Villa…

When will Dave Tickner and other F365 writers lay off this Villa bashing over financials?

Frustrated at not being able to spend money we don’t have? Don’t be a dick. Villa have owners worth billions who have openly stated they would happily sink in hundreds of millions of funding if allowed to. And we all know Newcastle’s owners could and would outspend City and Chelsea put together if allowed to. It’s only “money they don’t have” if you accept UEFA’s and the PL’s restricted definition of money they do have. Which as we all know is just a bent way of protecting the haves from the wannabes.

Villa and Newcastle, not to mention Everton, Forest, Leeds and others are competing in a game so heavily rigged that it should be, and probably is, illegal. Can you imagine any other sport that would be allowed to sway the odds so far in favour of certain competitors at the expense of others as to make it a closed shop?

So we should use Spurs as a model, because they earned their place in the big 6 over a couple of decades? Let’s have a deeper look at that idea. First off Dave, the point you are missing (or deliberately ignoring) is that there were no limits to Spurs spending what they wanted in at least the first decade you are referring to. They may have opted not to spend in some windows, probably because they had wasted shedloads on dross in previous windows, but from what I recall Spurs owners Enic pumped a fair old amount of wedge into them before FFP/PSR/SCR was around. They may not have spent it that well but they were still allowed to spend it when and how they chose to or chose not to. I’d hazard a guess their wage bill in that time was way in excess of Villa’s and Newcastle’s.

Second why are Spurs even considered to be part of the “big 6”. It’s hardly been built on sustained success has it? One League Cup since 2000 until A Europa League win against an even more inept Man Utd when they were both already well and truly cemented in their privileged positions. Plus a few decent runs in the Champions League including one final and that’s about it. Hardly the stuff of dreams is it, and not a lot different to what Villa and Newcastle have achieved recently?

From what I can see their supposed status in “the cartel” (let’s call it what it is) has little or nothing to do with sporting achievements, it’s based on one thing – the revenue they can generate. In that regard, Spurs have something most other clubs don’t – London. Catchment area for genuine fans, tourists, concert fans, NFL fans etc. is vastly higher than other cities, and disposable income levels support much higher ticket and merchandise prices. Which means significantly higher revenue.

Spurs are somewhat fortunate that UEFA and the PL decided to use that as the yardstick/barrier to entry. Building their stadium was obviously a very clever move, but would other cities’ demographics allow similar investment to be just as viable or generate anywhere as near as much revenue? I don’t think I’m alone in believing that’s highly unlikely.

Yet Villa and others are supposed to see them as a “roadmap on how to crash the party” and as “a reminder that the only route to that status that doesn’t involve just cutting corners and taking shortcuts is long and hard and neither Villa nor Newcastle really want to hear that”.

The only route? Did the rise of Chelsea and Manchester City via uninhibited spending on a colossal scale over 2-3 decades pass you by Dave? Or does it just not fit your argument? Should Villa and Newcastle consider upping sticks and moving to London to follow the Spurs roadmap?

Try and admit it Dave, the system is rigged, Spurs were lucky enough to be in a position to find themselves on the right side of the fix, at a time when Villa and Newcastle were being run by the likes of Randy Lerner, Tony Xia, and Mike Ashley – a succession of wealthy idiots and charlatans. To try and sell the idea that Spurs “did it the hard way” is an absolute nonsense. Villa’s and Newcastle’s only crime was to finally get their wealthy owners too late in the day, which along with the threat of a Super League breakaway sent the PL and UEFA scurrying to close the doors of the party bus to stop the riff raff getting in.

Given that background, to dismiss the protests of non-big 6 clubs as “a general teenage-howling of it’s just not fair.” is so utterly facile and deliberately ignorant of the wider context that a so-called professional writer should be ashamed of themselves for having the stupidity to put it out there. Kevin, Villa

Why are Arsenal fans not happy?

Re the mood rankings and the bit about some Arsenal fans being twitchy: heard a Gooner on t’wireless the other day explaining why for him (Will Gavin – he of the NFL commentary). He listed the 14 games won last year by a solitary goal margin and how these could easily become draws/losses, rule changes to address set piece skulduggery, fitness or lack thereof of key players (Saliba, Saka, Rice, Timber), and I’ll chuck in my own – has to be harder to persuade players capable of so much more to play Arteta’s 25/6 style now they have actually won the PL, that on top of how difficult it is to retain in any event.

All that said, they absolutely should pip City if Rodri goes given the travails of any other realistic challengers and Arsenal’s squad depth/strength at the time of writing. And who knows, Arteta might even let them play this season.

Also, how are we feeling about Jeff Bezos buying into Liverpool, Kopites? Doesn’t have an appalling human rights record, but at the same time doesn’t seem like the kind of human being you want anywhere near anything you love either. You having Araujo too? Smells of hand me downs from the bigger boys to me given the injury record and the poor lad’s mental health issues, what do you reckon? RHT/TS x

(Thought I’d do a sensible mail or two before the carnage commences and they write themselves, I do hope everyone approves, no, really)

Blowing a broken trumpet?

I’m not sure I fully understand the back slapping of Garey Vance. He seems proud of his prediction for last season’s Top 5…. which wasn’t correct.

Someone help me out. James, Kent

Predictions etc

I agree with virtually everything Hong Kong Ian says, though I have United and us finishing the other way around. One I’d happily be wrong about – but my word, do we need to fix our defence.

Anyways whilst Arsenal’s players may indeed be more Royal Rumble wrestlers than footballers at times – it’s important to remember that 1990’s Rumbles were really *enjoyable* ( early 90s ones anyway ). Arsenal matches, eh, not so much.

I dare anyone to watch the average Arsenal match and the 1992 Royal Rumble and tell me with a straight face that they preferred the football.

Who’s under pressure this season?

Mew season predictions are upon us, but I’ll take a different stance and look at who ‘should’ do what, where is the pressure to win things. A lot of that pressure has been on Arsenal, with a lot of that reasoning being the ‘£1 billion’ Arteta has spent since coming in. So now Arsenal have won it the logic dictates that pressure to have to win the title shifts to Chelsea, Man U and Spurs who have all, and had all, outspent Arsenal in the same period.

We’ll have the usual downplaying of club expectations from fans through fear of mocking when they don’t meet those targets, but we can’t have a situation where all the top teams are satisfied or praised for their end of season league position and trophy haul.

So based on money spent Chelsea, Man U and Spurs should win the title. Arsenal should defend the title, Man City have gone 2 years without the title so huge pressure to win it back and Liverpool have to prove Slot’s title wasn’t a fluke and need to show some return for last seasons’ £500m splurge.

A little more realistically those high spending teams won’t be expected to win the title (even though Arsenal were) because they’ve historically spent so poorly and haven’t challenged in a title race for years now. So here are the expectations for each team

Arsenal – win the title City – win the title Liverpool – in the title race – top 3 Man U – in the title race – top 3 Chelsea – in the title race – top 3 Spurs – top 4

Villa might be harsh to say top 4 considering they probably punched above their weight for a while, but there must still be an expectation tomaintain or progress, you can’t be praised for getting worse.

Spurs and Chelsea have the bonus of just being able to focus on the league, like Man U did last season. Maintain fitness of key players, ample rest, both should finish in champions league spots based on this alone.

Others feel free to fill in expectations for other teams in the table, but all 3 promoted teams should have minimum expectations of 17th or better, and any prem team finishing in the bottom half last season should aim to be finishing 10th or better. Or fans of those teams i’ve noted above feel free to tell us why we shouldn’t expect anything from your team this season.

Perhaps F365 can have a go at a minimum expectation table for the league so at the end of the season we can judge each team accordingly and avoid any revisionism from fans talking about ‘transition seasons’ etc. Rich, AFC

New FA rules good for Arsenal

The accepted narrative appears to be that Arsenal will suffer more greatly than other teams if the FA rule changes around corners are implemented. I don’t believe it is that clear cut.

1) The Premier League / PGMOL / The FA typically have these ‘new’ initiatives every year, which usually last a few weeks (the running away with the ball / kicking the ball away, only captains talking to the referee etc.) I’m sceptical that this season will be any different.

2) The partisan nature of football supporters would have you believe that Arsenal are the only team which holds/grapples at corners. I don’t deny that they do it (a lot), but in return Arsenal players are also on the receiving end of exactly the same treatment. Watch Gabriel at any corner – he rarely grapples as he is the one seeking to head the ball but is typically the one being held/blocked.

Hopefully most fans can agree that in Rice, Saka, Madueke (and seemingly now Tzolis), Arsenal have several players capable of absolutely consistent and dangerous corner delivery (probably better and more consistent delivery than any other Premier League team). Coupled with this, they have a good combination of both tall or physical players (Gabriel, Saliba, Havertz, Gyokeres, Calafiori) or other players who are not massively tall, but seemingly good aerially (Timber, White) and technical players capable of punishing loose balls (Zubimendi, Eze, Saka). If the rule changes genuinely bring an end to all holding/grappling for both attacking and defending teams, then I believe quite strongly that Arsenal will still be the best team both offensively and defensively at corners. Pete, Shropham