Hello my good football people, trust all’s healthy and happy!
Guys, can I just ask when the f***k the money banter thing is gonna end? And when fans are gonna stop being so concerned about what their (or any other) club is spending on players? It’s boring now. It means nothing.
We’ve gone so far past the idea of nurturing a successful side out of local boys in an academy. It’s sad… I remember Trevor Francis (RIP) getting sold for a £1-million when I was a teenager
Official: Mohammed Kudus joins West Ham on €45m package deal plus sell on clause for Ajax ⚒️✨🇬![CDATA[]]>🇭 #WHUFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 27, 2023
Contract until June 2028 with option for further season.
📸 Here Kudus travelling with new West Ham director Tim Steidten who did huge job to make top signing happen. pic.twitter.com/DVamTHHN5s
It was front page headline news. Pay £50m or less for a player now and people assume he ain’t all that.
It’s gone potty, the ceiling keeps rising. All the ‘big’ clubs do it, the days of oligarch and Russian crook songs have no place given the fine collection of capitalist pigs that control the upper echelons of club football, grotesquely feasting on the pockets of football fans and TV revenue. Can we all come to some kind of consensus?
I mean Antony went to United for £85m. I’d just kick him in his tiny bollox if he tried dribbling past me, irritating little spotty d!ck.
Surely that and many others like Mikhaylo Mudryk £62m plus add-ons, Nicolas Pepe £70 mill, Cristiano Ronaldo £5m a month in Saudi, to name but a few, illustrate the point…
We lost football a long time ago. History means f**k all to the modern day fan and it certainly doesn’t guarantee success now or in the future. Our dreams and aspirations rest in the hands of a collection of non-football people plotting in boardrooms around the world.
I have a number of old friends in England who no longer go to Stamford Bridge, the Emirates or the Tottenham Stadium.
They watch lower league teams like Barnet or Hendon. Finding solace on the terraces, among ‘real’ football supporters, supporting real local teams.
But hey, in the modern environment if you are lucky enough to get a committed billionaire (like Chelsea for the past two decades), enjoy the ride for what its worth!
My rant doesn’t quite stop there this week!
I’ve never really bought into conspiracy theories, you know, like United being given more penalties or ‘Fergie time’. But my soft approach has been blown out of the water with former referee Mike Dean’s recent admission that he purposely didn’t call his “mate’ Anthony Taylor to the VAR monitor to save him embarrassment.
In effect protecting a colleague rather than upholding the laws of the game. What a wanker… Happened to be Chelsea who were at the wrong end of his decision as well. How the hell are we supposed to trust VAR? And for all the weekly dodgy VAR decisions, who knows what agenda lies behind them?
OK! On to the football and there’s just one fixture to really comment on and what a cracker it turned out to be!
Full-time.#NEWLIV // #NUFC pic.twitter.com/qonHEVVVaI
It was a typically good Newcastle, Liverpool encounter… Usually more fireworks at Anfield, but this one had it all.
Virgil van Dijk probably should have walked, and given the way the Geordies were playing, they probably should have scored two or three to put it to bed.
But wow, wow, wow… who would have called what happened. I’m the first to admit that I don’t rate Darwin Nunez that high, but he was explosive when he came on.
Taking advantage of sloppy defending, ran on to two through balls and scored two excellent goals to give the Scousers all three points. Craaazy.
What a finish! 🤩
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 27, 2023
A superb equaliser celebrated in style by Darwin... #NEWLIV pic.twitter.com/zd7JIfI444
There’s another Sunday cracker to look forward to as United travel to Arsenal. Just so hard to call? Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has to continue with Kai Havertz, despite (in my opinion) unbalancing the side. And who knows how Erik ten Hag’s lot are gonna perform. For me one of the worst looking sides in the league. I guess they’ll come right at some stage (mind you, we’ve been saying that since Sir Alex left 10 years ago).
In the meantime good people, take care, chat next week, bye byeee.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za