Best League in Europe

redout

Form is only temporary Mr Alan. That attack looked like it was starting to wake up on sunday. I expect them to hit form now.

Dempsey

I think some people are sucked in by the English media operating in Ireland and Sky about how good the EPL actually is. They both have heavy investment in the league so obviously they are going to hype it up and out of proportion.

For me

La Liga
EPL
Seria A
Bundesliga

I wouldnt consider much difference in these leagues. The EPL is so high on that list because of the ridicolous amount of money that a number of clubs have to spend on players e.g. Top 4 & Man City

All the other leagues have sustainable growth, the EPL doesnt and the arse is very close to failing out of the whole league. If this recession gets worse and thats likely which will cause less people turn up to matches, cancel season books, cancel sky packages, get rid of their sky digital boxes to save money, you will see the EPL fall flat on its arse and it will go back to the stone age.

redout

Dempsey wrote: »

I think some people are sucked in by the English media operating in Ireland and Sky about how good the EPL actually is. They both have heavy investment in the league so obviously they are going to hype it up and out of proportion.

For me

La Liga
EPL
Seria A
Bundesliga

I wouldnt consider much difference in these leagues. The EPL is so high on that list because of the ridicolous amount of money that a number of clubs have to spend on players e.g. Top 4 & Man City

All the other leagues have sustainable growth, the EPL doesnt and the arse is very close to failing out of the whole league. If this recession gets worse and thats likely which will cause less people turn up to matches, cancel season books, cancel sky packages, get rid of their sky digital boxes to save money, you will see the EPL fall flat on its arse and it will go back to the stone age.

Jesus sure La liga clubs were in over €3 Billion worth of debt in 2007 a recent report from last week revealed. Now my best guess is that that figure has probably increased since.

Dempsey

redout wrote: »

Jesus sure La liga clubs were in over €3 Billion worth of debt in 2007 a recent report from last week revealed. Now my best guess is that that figure has probably increased since.

All the sugar daddy owners are in the EPL for one reason to get a slice of the Sky deal and as I said when the recession grips hard, less people turn up to matches, cancel season books, cancel sky packages, get rid of their sky digital boxes to save money. When the Sky TV deal collapses because people are cancelling their sky boxes, the big investors will pull the plug in the EPL just as quick as they came into the league.

The same cannot be said of the owners of La Liga clubs

An Citeog

redout wrote: »

Jesus sure La liga clubs were in over €3 Billion worth of debt in 2007 a recent report from last week revealed. Now my best guess is that that figure has probably increased since.

Being in debt isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as you have a constant stream of income and can meet your repayments. There's as much danger of private investors pulling out of clubs as there is of banks calling in loans. That, and Madrid have their own government bailout scheme!:D

Jazzy

Xavi6 wrote: »

Massimo Oddo plays on the right for Bayern with Lahm on the left.

didnt realise they got oddo. classy player imo. thats some width bayern munich have - lahm, schweinsteiger, ribery & oddo. kill for any of those to be at liverpool

redout

Dempsey wrote: »

All the sugar daddy owners are in the EPL for one reason to get a slice of the Sky deal and as I said when the recession grips hard, less people turn up to matches, cancel season books, cancel sky packages, get rid of their sky digital boxes to save money. When the Sky TV deal collapses because people are cancelling their sky boxes, the big investors will pull the plug in the EPL just as quick as they came into the league.

The same cannot be said of the owners of La Liga clubs

La liga has a poor tv deal to be honest. Real and Barca are adamant to go it alone and wont sign up with the other teams. Most matches here in Spain are PPV which is a load of bollox being honest. They get 2-3 matches non PPV a week (two on terrestrial tv and one on Canal+ which is subscription based) all others can be viewed but €12 a go is a bit steep imo.

DSB

redout wrote: »

La liga has a poor tv deal to be honest. Real and Barca are adamant to go it alone and wont sign up with the other teams. Most matches here in Spain are PPV which is a load of bollox being honest. They get 2-3 matches non PPV a week (two on terrestrial tv and one on Canal+ which is subscription based) all others can be viewed but €12 a go is a bit steep imo.

That is realistically how it should be. Encourage the football fans there to actually go to the games. The same reason Premiership games weren't allowed be broadcast on Saturdays before Sky decided to turn football into a GRANDSLAM SUPERSIZE WHOPPER ZINGER MONSTER DOUBLE-BILL WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!! for event junkies.

invincibleirish

Dempsey wrote: »

All the sugar daddy owners are in the EPL for one reason to get a slice of the Sky deal and as I said when the recession grips hard, less people turn up to matches, cancel season books, cancel sky packages, get rid of their sky digital boxes to save money. When the Sky TV deal collapses because people are cancelling their sky boxes, the big investors will pull the plug in the EPL just as quick as they came into the league.

The same cannot be said of the owners of La Liga clubs

Nah your doomsday predictions about the collapse of Sky TV deals are highly unlikely. Sky & Setanta need the PL as much as the PL clubs need their money.

Plus the ever increasing popularity of the PL internationally means in the next few years there should be continued increases in revenue from that and probable online developments.

Dempsey

invincibleirish wrote: »

Nah your doomsday predictions about the collapse of Sky TV deals are highly unlikely. Sky & Setanta need the PL as much as the PL clubs need their money.

Plus the ever increasing popularity of the PL internationally means in the next few years there should be continued increases in revenue from that and probable online developments.

As we speak, if you ring Sky and Setanta and ask them to cancel your subscription they will offer you the same package at less than half price.

Not a total collapse but it the next tv deals wont get any bigger, and what will happen to all these over inflated price tags and wages? They wont be offered and the best players will go back to spain and italy compounding them to more losses in viewers to other leagues and the knock on effect will result in alot of sugar daddies pulling out and leaving the debt with the clubs crippled a la Leeds.

Trippie

Jazzy wrote: »

didnt realise they got oddo. classy player imo. thats some width bayern munich have - lahm, schweinsteiger, ribery & oddo. kill for any of those to be at liverpool

Only on loan but has said that he would like to stay in Germany so he may or may not return to milan next year

invincibleirish

Dempsey wrote: »

As we speak, if you ring Sky and Setanta and ask them to cancel your subscription they will offer you the same package at less than half price.

Not a total collapse but it the next tv deals wont get any bigger, and what will happen to all these over inflated price tags and wages? They wont be offered and the best players will go back to spain and italy compounding them to more losses in viewers to other leagues and the knock on effect will result in alot of sugar daddies pulling out and leaving the debt with the clubs crippled a la Leeds.

I acknowledge your points but the last TV deal was the biggest one ever because Setanta broke the Sky Monopoly. Assuming Setanta stay in business then any combined deal between them and Sky for the next contract should remain in and around the same as the current arrangements at the very least.

Which leads onto international & online options. The PL will surely try and 'develop' these markets, but i suspect the recession might impact on any hopes of agreeing TV deals which dwarf the domestic deals. But my guess would be that the PL are all two aware of the popularity of watching games online live and that their moneymen will be interested in developing this as a new product. That should be the next honeypot for them.

redout

DSB wrote: »

That is realistically how it should be. Encourage the football fans there to actually go to the games. The same reason Premiership games weren't allowed be broadcast on Saturdays before Sky decided to turn football into a GRANDSLAM SUPERSIZE WHOPPER ZINGER MONSTER DOUBLE-BILL WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!! for event junkies.

You are aware that Real Madrid and Barca's stubborness to go it alone is a detriment to the other clubs financially. So I think that you are totally wrong there in your beliefs. As for sky, football fans want to see their team on tv as much as possible !

cardshark202

Jesus why did I read this thread? Toni is class but saying he's way better than rooney or tevez or berbatov is ridic stupid. Compare to someone like van nistelrooy if anything cos at least they are somewhat similiar. Toni has an astonishingly good record but it is in weaker leagues than la liga and the premiership.

DSB

redout wrote: »

You are aware that Real Madrid and Barca's stubborness to go it alone is a detriment to the other clubs financially. So I think that you are totally wrong there in your beliefs. As for sky, football fans want to see their team on tv as much as possible !

At the expense of football fans going to see their team in the ground as much as possible. I'm not saying that Sky was a bad thing for football financially, clearly not. But it has destroyed the footballing culture, and has created a mindset whereby people think that watching a game on TV, is something close to actually being there. In that sense I'd say the Premiership has been ruined as one of the best leagues in Europe. It's atmospheres are terrible. Daytripper fans etc.

Edit - I'm not turning this into a LOI debate, before anyone jumps on me.