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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (4 Viewers)

One rich MLS owner who gets it, one who doesn't

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[Stejskal] RSL announces it will furlough some employees and all staff will receive a pay cut. Owner Dell Loy Hansen bought a rare dime for $1.3 million in 2019. Say 50 employees w/ average salary of $60k are furloughed for 2 months. That'd be $500k in savings for Hansen. Perspective

[Yates] After previously pledging $5.4M to COVID-19 relief efforts in Georgia and Montana, Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz Stadium has tag-teamed for a $1M fund for game day workers. More exceptional generosity led by Blank

 
Slapdash said:
I'm in on Jiangsu Suning FC since it is based in the city my wife was born in.  Rivals with both Shanghai teams, which feels right since Z already likes the less good team there.
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I'm looking at Tianjin TEDA FC, German manager and two German players ... including Sandro Wagner.

 
Guangzhou Evergrande (winners of 8 of the last 9 titles!), getting shafted here.  Although I guess we can count Slapdash's endorsement if he really wants to follow Paulinho.

 
NewlyRetired said:
Be warned.  This is a Bill Barnwell story.  For those that follow his NFL stuff, you know to get ready for an extra long bathroom sit :)

Ranking the best Premier League transfers of all time: 50-1
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Not a bad list.  Can't really argue with much, although with somewhat biased leanings I would have Cantona higher.  His transfer to United set them on the path to what they became under SAF.  Without him I am not sure they become that team, which is why he is so beloved, even with kicking fans and getting banned.  Probably would have him above Aguero and Hazard at least.

Also fitting that 5 of the top 11 are United buys.

 
Yesterday I stumbled onto a Southampton FC twitter video on "Saints top 100 goals of the past decade." I bet I've already thought of most of the jokes that could be made about that.

I watched the top 30 anyway, half of which were scored by current Liverpool players. I'll probably go back and watch the other 70 tonight because footy.

 
roadkill1292 said:
Yesterday I stumbled onto a Southampton FC twitter video on "Saints top 100 goals of the past decade." I bet I've already thought of most of the jokes that could be made about that.

I watched the top 30 anyway, half of which were scored by current Liverpool players. I'll probably go back and watch the other 70 tonight because footy.
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Half the goals are Shane Long watching YouTube compilations of Matt Le Tissier. 

 
blend said:
I was wondering if it was a cost cutting measure or if some of his Social stances went to far with mgmt.  Looks like it was cost cutting

https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/1248697150567047173?s=20
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From the ny daily news

Sports Illustrated fires legendary journalist Grant Wahl, smears him on the way out the door
By DENNIS YOUNG
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
APR 10, 2020 | 4:42 PM

Sports Illustrated fired mainstay soccer writer Grant Wahl on Friday, ending the tenure of one of the central figures of American soccer journalism who had been with the publication for more than two decades.

Maven, led by notorious media bunglers James Heckman and Ross Levinsohn, bought Sports Illustrated in October as part of a deal with the branding company that purchased SI last year.

Wahl had been publicly critical of Maven in recent weeks, blasting the company on Twitter after it laid off accomplished writers and editors like Kalyn Kahler and Chris Ballard.

In an email obtained by the Daily News and first reported by Front Office Sports, Maven CEO Heckman smeared Wahl’s work and disclosed his compensation to the entire remaining staff.

“Every senior staff member volunteered to put their personal budgeted future at risk, to save jobs and ensure stable salaries for those making less. Everyone, that is, but one person,” Heckman wrote in an email addressed “To All Employees.”

“This person” — Wahl — “made more than $350,000 last year to infrequently write stories that generated little meaningful viewership or revenue. Yet he trumpeted that he thought it shameful to be asked to participate in helping his fellow workers."

“The memo was infuriating,” a Sports Illustrated employee told the News. “Speaks volumes about the leadership here.”

In since-deleted tweets, Wahl had announced that his pay was getting cut by 30%. When Heckman’s email leaked on Friday, Wahl responded to say that his salary was “far below" $350K, and that figure included a bonus. “I got a bonus because my bosses said my work was very good. I write frequently,” Wahl wrote.

Wahl said that his objection was not to the pandemic pay cut, but to making the cut permanent. (Tribune Publishing, which owns the Daily News, announced sliding-scale “permanent” pay cuts for employees making more than $67,000 on Thursday.)

“As a company policy, we don’t talk about personnel decisions in the public square,” a Maven spokesman told the News. When asked how to square that with Heckman’s extensive memo blasting a former employee, the spokesman declined to comment on the record.

Heckman claimed in the email that “We’ve decided to direct what would have been this person’s salary into additional severance pay and health benefits for those laid off.”

Three Sports Illustrated employees reached by the News cast doubt on that claim, while a fourth described it as a possible “goodwill gesture to the (still unrecognized) union.”

After Maven bought and gutted Sports Illustrated in October 2019, the remaining employees had to sign new contracts that honored their preexisting severance agreements through July 1, 2020. As part of his now-deleted tweets, Wahl pointed out that as bad as the pandemic layoffs were, at least those employees were getting contractually promised severance — unlike those who might get shown the door in July. As a 24-year employee with a now-leaked six-figure salary, Wahl’s severance package would likely have been significant. (Two weeks of salary per year of service, give or take, is the industry standard.)

Wahl’s thinking was echoed by one Sports Illustrated employee, who said that “A lot of us are worried that they’re going to completely clean house in July.” Wahl asked about the July 1 cutoff on an all-employee call last week, and was told that no other layoffs were on the table.

Wahl tweeted on Friday that he was receiving no severance, which means that Maven will likely attempt to argue that his firing was for cause. Adam Duerson, a high-level editor at Sports Illustrated, tweeted, “My friend Grant Wahl writes meaningful stories that are widely read. He writes more often than almost anyone else I know. He dominates his beat. Dominates.”

[More Sports] USWNT’s equal pay lawsuit against U.S. Soccer delayed due to coronavirus »
That leaves Wahl’s critical tweets from earlier this week. One read, “Who would take advantage of a pandemic to permanently reduce someone’s salary beyond that pandemic? Maven and James Heckman would.”

Dennis Young
New York Daily News
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TLEF316 said:
Who does everyone follow on Twitter for soccer content.

I finally had to unfollow grant Wahl last night. He's been absolutely insufferable this week with the coronavirus stuff.
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I blame @TLEF316

Sounds like a very toxic environment at SI.  Media is a tough place to be right now - SI is not alone in cutting jobs and wages in this environment.  I know reporters want a fair wage, but traditional media is a very tough market to make money - and be able to pay staff.

I am sure Grant will land on his feet - too many connections in the game not to do something, maybe even start his own web site.

 
Seems like SI is going to be 100% stripped to the bones once July rolls around. Really is a damn shame.  Obviously its a new era in media, but it just sucks that some big soulless conglomerate is basically going to turn them into a click farm. 

Thank goodness for The Athletic.  Otherwise I dont know where I'd get any decent sports reading

But yeah, Wahl will be fine.  I dont have a ton of sympathy for a guy making $300k+ to write stories about sports,  but when the alternative is some millennial coming up with hashtags and slapping together slide-show articles, (which is I'm sure what SI is going to become)  its an easy choice.

 
TLEF316 said:
Seems like SI is going to be 100% stripped to the bones once July rolls around. Really is a damn shame.  Obviously its a new era in media, but it just sucks that some big soulless conglomerate is basically going to turn them into a click farm. 

Thank goodness for The Athletic.  Otherwise I dont know where I'd get any decent sports reading

But yeah, Wahl will be fine.  I dont have a ton of sympathy for a guy making $300k+ to write stories about sports,  but when the alternative is some millennial coming up with hashtags and slapping together slide-show articles, (which is I'm sure what SI is going to become)  its an easy choice.
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Yeah.  Sounds like Maven is using this pandemic as an excuse to turn SI into the click bait site it desires.  Almost every decent journalist they had have been shown the door.  SI used to be the place to go for hard hitting sports journalism, especially back when print was king.  I haven't been to their site in 3-4 years though as there wasn't anyone outside of Wahl I was interested in there and I got most of his stuff from twitter.

Sad that today clicks=money so even sports sites are going to the sensational headlines for views.

 
My understanding is that media is still profitable, but not profitable enough in the times of conglomeration and private equity ownership.

 
It's happening!

@DJackson10

A Newcastle United takeover has moved a step closer after new documents show owner Mike Ashley has entered into a charge agreement with potential buyer Amanda Staveley.

Financier Staveley is leading a bid which involves Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and the Reuben Brothers.

It is understood to be worth £300m.

The 31-page charge agreement lodged at Companies House lays the legal groundwork for a potential deal to be completed.

The documents include details of a £150m claim related to Staveley's firm, PCP Capital Partners, and its long-running legal case against Barclays Bank PLC.

The Premier League has also been informed of the potential deal and is understood to have begun the process of carrying out checks under its owners and directors test.

Newcastle and Staveley would not comment when approached by BBC Sport.
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Its bad enough there are no games to watch.  But now we have the transfer rumor mill going twice as hard as it does during transfer season.  And there are no transfer windows open!!!!!

:wall:

ok, I feel better now.

 
rant

Most of my twitter feed is sportswriters, and overwhelming majority are soccer, as well as teams.  My feed for the past month as been ridiculous.  Besides the transfer "speculation" as noted above, there are "live tweets" for past games. WTF is that all about.  And sports writers have filled their feeds with useless garbage, been borderline unreadable.  And a few of the people I've follow, I've had to mute because frankly, they are morons when they tweet about something which they know nothing about. 

/rant.

 
Sunderland Til I Die season 2 is just fantastic television.  The producers got incredibly lucky on the timing - to get this club in these two seasons was perfect for a full access reality program.  I didn't know the outcome of any of these games (I knew where they finished the season, but otherwise nothing) - was honestly on the edge of my couch watching those games at Wembley and some of the league and cup games.  The personalities involved, the supporters, the players - its wonderful tv imo.

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Sunderland Til I Die season 2 is just fantastic television.  The producers got incredibly lucky on the timing - to get this club in these two seasons was perfect for a full access reality program.  I didn't know the outcome of any of these games (I knew where they finished the season, but otherwise nothing) - was honestly on the edge of my couch watching those games at Wembley and some of the league and cup games.  The personalities involved, the supporters, the players - its wonderful tv imo.
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I've been watching the 4k UHD version of Take Us Home: Leeds United on Amazon Prime.  Maximus Decimus Meridius is hosting it, and it is really well made.  I have not got to the part of the season where Leeds started to Leeds yet and it is even fairly upbeat at this point.  The main message so far,  which I totally agree with, is that Bielsa is god. 

 
I am completely ignoring any transfer stuff - what's the point?  I get that these guys are obviously desperate to save their jobs, get some clicks and generate some attention. All of it has to be nearly 100% bs as far as I am concerned.

I think the writers at the Athletic are doing a great job finding stories with nothing going on (outside of the never-ending USSoccer drama.)  Almost every day there's something to read.  If you're looking for some footy material to fill the gap, one recent piece I recommend is Jeff Reuter's interview/story about the San Francisco Deltas.  

Won and done: The San Francisco Deltas’ single, title-winning season of existence

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Sunderland Til I Die season 2 is just fantastic television.  The producers got incredibly lucky on the timing - to get this club in these two seasons was perfect for a full access reality program. 
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Speaking of unlucky - I can't wait for Amazon's All or Nothing series on Tottenham this season...

 
McBokonon said:
Just know that Newcastle is buying everyone.
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Will be hard since reportedly United has already agreed to terms with EVERYONE and their brothers.  :hot:

guru_007 said:
rant

Most of my twitter feed is sportswriters, and overwhelming majority are soccer, as well as teams.  My feed for the past month as been ridiculous.  Besides the transfer "speculation" as noted above, there are "live tweets" for past games. WTF is that all about.  And sports writers have filled their feeds with useless garbage, been borderline unreadable.  And a few of the people I've follow, I've had to mute because frankly, they are morons when they tweet about something which they know nothing about. 

/rant.
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:goodposting:

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Sunderland Til I Die season 2 is just fantastic television.  The producers got incredibly lucky on the timing - to get this club in these two seasons was perfect for a full access reality program.  I didn't know the outcome of any of these games (I knew where they finished the season, but otherwise nothing) - was honestly on the edge of my couch watching those games at Wembley and some of the league and cup games.  The personalities involved, the supporters, the players - its wonderful tv imo.
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Agreed.  I knew a bit about their season as I'm a pretty big Rochdale supporter (bummed they didn't show any of those games) and I was aware of their playoff result as I follow that - and the howler was very widely posted but everything about it is great.  I root for everyone they show EXCEPT Charlie Methven because eff that guy, way too arrogant for my liking.  

I really like the new owner, it's like having a soccer fan as an owner.  But I have a hard time seeing him as an owner.  He is not very well spoken, stammers quite a bit.  He doesn't know much about negotiating (should have let to his team), and he does seem like he's looking to flip the team for a profit - probably so he can take over Oxford United.  Oh, and he needs to find some clothes that properly fit ffs.  Still like him though.

It's so crazy that this team was a premier league team, with a premier league stadium, and a massive fan base and they are toiling in league one.  I've been to league one stadiums.  They are nothing compared to the stadium of light.  How can you not root for Sunderland though.  Their fans are great.  The whole city is so desperate for a team to succeed you'd be a heartless ******* to not want to help them.  I think Mike Ashley may be looking for a team to buy and I know Steward Donald's looking to get out.  

 
I got through the Wembley cup final and need to get back and keep going. It's been fun.

The kid they "lost" in Jan window was compelling stuff. You could see the joy his goals brought, but could also see the rising tension for management with each goal.

While Gooch is frequently named in highlights of the games, I've yet to see California Messi get actual screen time off the field. Hope that gets rectified.

 
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