This 39th game bullshit.

[leftpeg]

There's a certain inevitability about this happening sooner or later. I almost posted this in the thread about LFCTV...people have to get over this romantic illusion that top clubs, including ours, give a shit about their fans because they don't. As long as we're buying tickets, shirts and over-priced crap with a Liver bird printed on it we're serving our purpose.

 

[Brizzle]

It's not as if it's going to pump the money it makes back into the game, make it cheaper for people to get on coaching courses or spend more on training facilities for kids.

What if the money that comes in allows clubs to improve their own academies and training facilities? It won't just be the large clubs benefitting. The money coming in would have serious impacts on clubs like Burnley, Fulham, Stoke etc.

 

[Comical Aly]

There's a certain inevitability about this happening sooner or later. I almost posted this in the thread about LFCTV...people have to get over this romantic illusion that top clubs, including ours, give a shit about their fans because they don't. As long as we're buying tickets, shirts and over-priced crap with a Liver bird printed on it we're serving our purpose.

Yep - this. The sport is global and like it or not the PL is competing with the Spanish/German/Italian leagues to be top dog. Imagine if the all of those did this and their leagues got more popular than the Premiership. The whole league would stop being able to attract the best and by extension Liverpool become poorer. Obviously this is the extreme but you can see why the business bods are doing it.

 

[StevieM]

I think it's a stupid idea.

However - Liverpool playing a competitive game at the MCG works for me.

 

[Squiggles]

I'm in favour. It's tacky, sure, but I do feel a bit sorry for our overseas fans who wait all their lives to see a Liverpool game and we put our a B-team against some local nobodies and take it easy. More importantly, the idea would boost our income from abroad, and with oil tycoons running the show, we're not in a position to turn our nose up at any extra dough.

 

[Silver Sean]

I can understand it a little more in America because no countries other than Canada play their sports because they're shit, but we have the champions league and europa cup, there's no need for this, pre season friendlies are enough.

American sports are shit? Bit of a generalisation there. Also baseball is huge in Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Central and northern South America. The best players in the world all aim to get into MLB as it is the pinnacle of their sport. I'll give you Nascar/funny car/drag racing though. Those are utter wank.

 

[Judge Jules]

Agree. For all the stick it sometimes gets on here (especially with the business over Wembley), some of it justified, I like American football. When my team the N.Orleans Saints won their first ever Superbowl a few seasons back it was one of the best sporting experiences I've had in a while.

 

[Mystic]

American sports are shit? Bit of a generalisation there. Also baseball is huge in Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Central and northern South America. The best players in the world all aim to get into MLB as it is the pinnacle of their sport. I'll give you Nascar/funny car/drag racing though. Those are utter wank.

You're right, it was, it was more of a dig at the NFL, Nascar and the general franchise model in America, I hate it. I'm a massive ice hockey fan, but I prefer to think of that as Canadian/Scottish.

 

[SummerOnions]

Baseball is terrible. The world series isn't even a world series

 

[tombrown]

If the PL stage a Liverpool-Utd match at Cusack Park in Ennis and they give priority tickets to families of kids playing in the Clare Schoolboy Soccer League then I am all in favour.

If not I am 100% against this idea

PS I may settle for Liverpool-Everton at Thomond Park, but its still a bit of a hike more than I am comfortable with

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

The FA are run by fascist, totalitarian men who think the league is the hunger games.

 

[Athens]

Agree. For all the stick it sometimes gets on here (especially with the business over Wembley), some of it justified, I like American football. When my team the N.Orleans Saints won their first ever Superbowl a few seasons back it was one of the best sporting experiences I've had in a while.

A friend of mine from Louisiana is a massive saints fan and the year they got to the final he was on holiday in New Zealand. He reckons He was the first Cajun to celebrate super bowl Sunday on a Monday.

 

[Silver Sean]

Baseball is terrible. The world series isn't even a world series

Best game in the world. But like all the finer things in life, it takes time to learn to appreciate it.

 

[tony]

Best game in the world. But like all the finer things in life, it takes time to learn to appreciate it.

Rounders for blokes!

If they must have overseas games why not have a carling cup fixture or fa cup match instead of a league game- no arguments about who's home or away and doesn't fuck up the league

 

[Squiggles]

Rounders for blokes!

If they must have overseas games why not have a carling cup fixture or fa cup match instead of a league game- no arguments about who's home or away and doesn't fuck up the league

Because the idea is to raise awareness and generate income for the Premier League.

 

[Best Believe It]

What if the money that comes in allows clubs to improve their own academies and training facilities? It won't just be the large clubs benefitting. The money coming in would have serious impacts on clubs like Burnley, Fulham, Stoke etc.

Then that would be great, but seeing as it would essentially be depriving regular match-day folk of a game a season, I'd like the money to be spent on lowering ticket prices considering the extortionate prices they generally have to pay anyway.

 

[Brizzle]

Then that would be great, but seeing as it would essentially be depriving regular match-day folk of a game a season, I'd like the money to be spent on lowering ticket prices considering the extortionate prices they generally have to pay anyway.

If there were 1 less home game i'd expect STs to be lower in price to reflect that.

If the point of playing a game abroad is to subsidise match tickets where demand current outweighs supply then we would be massively wasting our time. The above reason is why that won't happen.

 

[Best Believe It]

If there were 1 less home game i'd expect STs to be lower in price to reflect that.

If the point of playing a game abroad is to subsidise match tickets where demand current outweighs supply then we would be massively wasting our time. The above reason is why that won't happen.

Like I said, I'm not really viewing it in isolation. There are obvious positives - increasing the fan base, allowing fans outside the country a chance to see their club play. I just don't like the fact that the FA - and the clubs to an extent - are trying to milk as much money from the game as possible whilst at the same time not making a comparable amount of effort to make the club more accessible for match going fans. It's the whole attitude to the Premier League that bothers me, and I see this as just another part of it. I don't begrudge any Liverpool fan getting more of a chance to see the team play.

 

[Brizzle]

Yep - understand that view. I would like the FA to provide a proposal or business case for why we would do it and what the outcomes would be. Like you say, greater coaching facilities across the country (and not just London), getting the money back into the Football League potentially and initiatives like that. Knowing that more money is entering that association without knowing how they plan to use it (other than just 'withdraw') is a bit sickening when you watch other countries start to develop boat loads of world class youngsters.