okay, but here is where i thought the calculus was changing: that with tv deal, global fandom, the latest world cup, the rising tide was lifting ALL of the prem’s boats above bundesliga & etc. big six or no big six.

maybe this was premature.


me :D

my point is those guys rose out of the fucking CHAMPIONSHIP. which in itself is highly competitive right? what young player wouldnt want the chance to beat that?


sure but my thinking is they dont have to beat those teams for players. they only have to beat... roma, lyon, dortmund, hoffenheim, marseille, ajax, porto, sevilla, galatasaray, etc.

frankly even big teams like bayern and juventus should be getting in trouble from this whole movement. no? have i misjudged the rise of the prem?


ofc they re gonna get poached. it’s the nature of the game. but having a mid table prem team should put you head and shoulders above most of the world

firmino used to play at hoffenheim! but i already made that point

anyway guys im sorry it’s so gloomy up on those heights riiiiiight below the clouds lol


photo caption: the big six

But if everyone moves up together, you're no closer to the holy grail of European football than you were when you started. As rich as the Prem is, there's still only 4 CL places and 3 EC ones. And no matter how rich you are, the top players still want to play in Europe.


Honestly, it doesn't bother me. Of course it'd be nice to know what it's like to win something big but really my idea of a good season is a top half finish, playing good football, taking some big scalps along the way (mainly Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea) and a decent cup run. Yeah, losing your best players is frustrating but I'd say that frustration is just part of being a WH fan. Remember the club song has the lines "fortunes always hiding"and, "just like my dreams they fade and die". I'll take that over the triumphalism of "glory glory man utd" all day long.

... meanwhile, Spurs rumoured to be looking to address their injury crisis by signing .... wait for it ... Andy Carroll

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/footb...rroll-striker/

I'm assuming it's all bollocks but it did make me smile just to imagine it.



"T'is just a flesh wound."

higua going to chelsea: more than meats the pie?

Thierry Henry got suspended at Monaco after only 4 months.


20 matches
4 wins
11 losses
5 draws



15 goals, 36 against




ouch

oh damn that is a shitty record

poor guy!

Put the champagne on ice: Arnie announces he's staying at West Ham



(Of course the reality is the Chinese offer simply fell through but, y'know ...)

congrats. he’s a good player and entertaining to watch.

Even as a West Ham fan, I consider Claude a legend. Hope he sorts himself out.

Ty (wearing the contents of the club shop) v Claude last season was pure comedy gold.

I dunno. You give that Everton lot a simple task: beat those Millwall bastards, and what do they do?

Scousers ah? 'kin useless!

This is bollocks.

Cockneys ah? 'kin useless!

Never gets easier does it. Fucking Millwall fans are total cunts too.

3 cuntin 0 now.

fucking embarrassing. got to admit i was worried as soon as i saw the team sheet. rice and anderson on the bench. nasri and arnie not even in the squad. what is pellegrini thinking? if this was Allardyce or Moyes there'd be a riot, literally.
And yeah, Millwall fans really are the pits.

--

Right.

3-1. Prove your worth now Pellegrini.

--

OK.

3-2. Anderson. 20 mins to go.

--

4-2.

Absolute disgrace.

I'd have sacrificed the Wolves game on Tuesday to win this.

At least Everton could point to the dodgy Millwall hand ball. Wimbledon fully deserved their win.

What a crappy day, right? Didn't help that straight after the game the Mrs' 9 year old came running downstairs (having not watched the everton game) to gloat and point and laugh. Never wanted to slap a 9 year old more in my life.

LOL!

I'm just off the phone with my cousin, who has't sounded this angry since McDonalds stopped doing Mega Macs.

Re Everton - got home in time to watch the last ten minutes...wish I'd stayed out now.

bayern-stuttgart 1-1 at halftime @allianz arena

wtf bayern?

makes the league more interesting though...

Yeah, those are the worst. Synonymous with watching everton right now "could have done literally anything else this afternoon and it would have been more fun"

Turned it on a 60 minutes to see Stuttgart hit the post, straight after Lewandowski get a pen and hit the post himself. Turned it on at the right time!

looks like you came in for the harvest. 4-1 lol and stuttgart back in relegation zone

the stuttgart goal was a beauty though

missed yesterday’s dortmund. beat hannover 5-1

oh, wolves v west ham coming up??

-

dammit i can only watch the man u game

Millwall get Wimbledon in the FA Cup.

Interesting to see what the FA would've done if West Ham had gone through. Millwall v West Ham would've been its worst nightmare. Probably insist it was played behind closed doors.

so while we’re watching these games the british parliament is at work voting on a bunch of brexit amendments

that’s dedication...

and holy shit burnley just scored

If Everton concede in the last ten minutes...well...I won't be surprised at all. The twats.

man u just got punched in the huevos a second time

-x

now pogba scored a penalty

Phew.

Fucking City are losing too. What a mess.

man u now tied at 2 looking like they want more

-x

and they couldnt but wow

excited about liverpool leicester. could define the season so the pressure will be high

--

goddammit they're showing chelsea burnmouth...

Bournemouth 4 - 0 .Chelsea

Sarri looking more and more like a dead man walking.

kept an eye on that yeah

fucked uuuuuuuup

now liverpool not quite where it needs....

—

oh damn 1-1

So it seems like West Ham have nicked Batshuayi from Everton's advances. Hope he flops now, demo.

At best he'll start brightly then see all the behind the scenes chaos and either go to seed or want out asap. It's the 'West Ham Way'.

man, batshuayi was good at dortmund. they wanted to keep him but chelsea said no.

he came in to replace aubameyang who was really at his best there. now in arsenal... hmmmm....

but anyway if you get him you should be alright

or i should say “better than relying on just arnie”

Jesus. So the deal he wanted from.Everton was £35 million to Chelsea and he wanted 160k a week. Absolutely mental.

how much tv money does everton get per year? what about merch?

Just looked at the TV money and we got £127 million last season putting us 7th. As for merc it's not massive. There's a decent following in Asia for sure.

However, Bats is not worth 160k a week no matter how much a team gets a week.

i see...

160k?!? That's a joke. The guy can't even secure a place in this current car crash of a Chelsea side. I wouldn't even pay that for Giroud and I'd take him over Bats all day long.

what does that annualize to? @52 weeks it’s 8.32 mil per year... or does he get paid only for the weeks the prem is in season?

such a weird way to count...

I've no idea how it works. The actual money is pretty abstract after a certain point. I just think even a club like West Ham can get better than Batshuayi for 160k, and the fact he's asking for that much in the 1st place only makes me think he's got a bit of an ego problem. Which is the last thing they need right now.