meregreen Posted September 29, 2023 Share Posted September 29, 2023 On 25/09/2023 at 09:39, mottaloo said: I once pulled nigel spink's leg about going to sha as a coach. His one word justification ? Mortgage. Back then there were few sponsorship opportunities or image rights to cushion the blow of no contract renewal. Different times, indeed. I and a few friends went to a reunion of that 82 team in 2007 for the 25th anniversary of that great night. At the question and answer session Spinksy was asked when he was coming back from the dark side, as he was coaching at the sty. He replied “when I get offered a ***** job here” to great applause. Got the impression he would have walked on hot coals to come back. But like he says, he’s got a family that need a home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 No criticism of posters saying such things, because in the 2023 PL, they're right, but we talking about football badges for a club in Birmingham, and referring to another football club in London, and it's not what things mean to fans of those clubs that's important, it's "strong branding" for "global appeal", and something that can "break America". Give me strength. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 25 minutes ago, Davkaus said: No criticism of posters saying such things, because in the 2023 PL, they're right, but we talking about football badges for a club in Birmingham, and referring to another football club in London, and it's not what things mean to fans of those clubs that's important, it's "strong branding" for "global appeal", and something that can "break America". Give me strength. Indeed. I don't think I've said quite the same thing, but it's definitely in my mind with what we end up with. I mainly want something that looks good and reflects the villa I know. But if it doesn't have wider appeal beyond the UK then its going to have the effect of holding us back on the pitch (even if only to a small degree). The more money we make from foreign fans, the more money we can spend on players. Again, it all comes down to FFP. It's a real stain on the game, becoming ever more apparent that it isn't good for the fan, and is getting continually worse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 Why are refs freelancing in UAE and Saudi? Huge conflict of interests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, The_Steve said: Why are refs freelancing in UAE and Saudi? Huge conflict of interests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 (edited) Interesting that referees get paid way more than the average person. Salary over £70k then a £1.5k per match bonus. Most will be earning well over 100k. And whilst that's true, it's also interesting that they will be refereeing players earning that much in a week. So in that environment its not surprising they'll want to earn a bit more. I can only imagine their per game fee in UAE and Saudi is astronomical. It's a way for them to further legitimise their leagues and sportswash their image. They'll want the best referees to oversee the newly acquired superstars and protect them. May have even been a requirement of someone like Ronaldo to want to play there. So they'll pay whatever they have to, to get them. I imagine the refs have seen this as an opportunity to get closer to earning what footballers do and you can't really blame them for it. They prbobably shouldn't be working 2 days after though if that's their ambition... much like you wouldn't expect a footballer to play 2 competitive games in 2 countries over 3 days. Then you bring in the fact UAE and Saudi own two clubs that the refs will referee in their PL roles... and you begin to form a view that this conflict of interest of their now main paymaster is a huge issue. How can you judge a decision that impacts Newcastle independently if you are being paid thousands of pounds by their owner.... Edited October 3, 2023 by MrBlack 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's Your Round Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 Can’t help but wonder what level of Saudi and UAE ‘hospitality’ these referees are exposed to while out there. It’s not exactly transparent and will lead to accusations or corruption once these refs start giving dubious decisions to the state owned teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 1 minute ago, It's Your Round said: Can’t help but wonder what level of Saudi and UAE ‘hospitality’ these referees are exposed to while out there. It’s not exactly transparent and will lead to accusations or corruption once these refs start giving dubious decisions to the state owned teams. Or dubiously rule out goals of their competitors... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 38 minutes ago, MrBlack said: Interesting that referees get paid way more than the average person. Salary over £70k then a £1.5k per match bonus. Most will be earning well over 100k. You'd need to pay me WAY more than that to consider being a referee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 12 minutes ago, bobzy said: You'd need to pay me WAY more than that to consider being a referee. I guess what they benefit from in minimal working hours, they lose in death threats and media scrutiny of their role. I think I'd give it a go for that figure, but yes, it's not that appealing when you look at what they have to face up to in their role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 2 hours ago, MrBlack said: Or dubiously rule out goals of their competitors... Especially if Newcastle need a rival to lose to guarantee 4th or City need a favour in the title race. The possibilities are pretty concerning. More corruption in real time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 They shouldn't be allowed to freelance - end of story. If they want to work in Saudi/UAE/Qatar, then they need to resign from the Premier League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, MrBlack said: I guess what they benefit from in minimal working hours, they lose in death threats and media scrutiny of their role. I think I'd give it a go for that figure, but yes, it's not that appealing when you look at what they have to face up to in their role. What about the travel, the training, the meetings, the courses etc. I'm sure they're easily doing 40 hours. Edited October 3, 2023 by Mr_Dogg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 15 minutes ago, Mr_Dogg said: What about the travel, the training, the meetings, the courses etc. I'm sure they're easily doing 40 hours. In guessing they only work a few days a week on average, but yes, those days are probably fairly long and have travel. I'd be massively surprised if its was even close to averaging 40 hours... especially given they're also moonlighting in the UAE and Saudi leagues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 1 minute ago, MrBlack said: In guessing they only work a few days a week on average, but yes, those days are probably fairly long and have travel. I'd be massively surprised if its was even close to averaging 40 hours... especially given they're also moonlighting in the UAE and Saudi leagues. They would easily do 10 hours on a match day for example. For a 3 o'clock kick off they'd be there at 10, probably stayed in a hotel the night before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBlack Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Mr_Dogg said: They would easily do 10 hours on a match day for example. For a 3 o'clock kick off they'd be there at 10, probably stayed in a hotel the night before. Agreed, the hotel time isn't exactly working hours though. And unless they've then got a 30 hr working week planned alongside it, it won't be 40 hours. But we've digressed slightly.... The "games gone" element of this is the fact they're now being paid by the owners of two of the biggest clubs in the league. You can't have a game officialled by someone with that conflict of interest. They're not independent. Of course, if countries didn't own football clubs we wouldn't have this issue. Edited October 3, 2023 by MrBlack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 In principle, I see nothing wrong with referees working abroad as well as PL. They can see different standards, work with foreign refs and improve their game. If anything, that's a good thing. I'm not sure this can be done in Saudi. And even if they are able to "improve" their game in Saudi (which isn't an issue in itself) the issue only arises because of Saudi influence in the English game. So the issue is not referees working abroad - the issue is that their new bosses are owners of football clubs here. I can only assume many posters on here have an employer, and do some freelance work on the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyour Posted October 3, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted October 3, 2023 6 hours ago, The_Steve said: Especially if Newcastle need a rival to lose to guarantee 4th or City need a favour in the title race. The possibilities are pretty concerning. More corruption in real time. Don’t see a problem, those clubs aren’t state owned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAlex Posted October 3, 2023 Share Posted October 3, 2023 :( Wasn't sure where to put this, but kind of sums up football and fans. Apparently EFL protocol. What a disgrace either way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Wolves vs Chelsea looks like it will be played on Christmas Eve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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