General Premier League Thread 2023-24 Mod Note in op 27/6/23 And 21/05/24

Some outlets call her his ex-wife, others his ex-girlfriend - though I see globo (the brazilian outlet) says ex-girlfriend, so would be inclined to go with that one since it's closer to home for them and probably better informed.

This is just weird now, gone too far.

Who do you suggest as an independent person - media pundits, ex-managers, Tyrone from Coronation St? I'm being a little trite, but fundamentally I'd have thought it needs to be an expert in the rules - hence, a currently qualified referee.

My issue though is that they are only using EPL-list referees who have qualified up through the levels and proven themselves as able to control matches, have rapport with players, physically fit enough, not panic in games etc. Which is a good skill-set to have, but VAR requires a different skill-set.

So perhaps they shouldn't just limit it to the list of EPL referees but instead have VAR specialists - people who failed to make the step-up to EPL level but may be better with the technology, quick and concise analysis of events, ability to spot what angle needs to be looked at.

Or just ditch VAR and be no worse off.

Mike Deans interview was insightful because it shows that what we expect referees to do and what they actually do are completely different.

We expect referees to apply the rules of the game as they see it.

But they actually view themselves as part of the game, not outside of it. Wondering things like “If I make this decision what will that mean for the game?”. We see situations that back this up all the time, cards not given because a referee doesn’t want to affect the rest of the game. Same hesitation with penalties.

VAR as a concept isn’t the issue. The idea that having a process that gives referees more information to come to a correct decision is detrimental to the game is mental.

How games are being reffed in the first place seems fundamentally broken.

a great example of this is players that are on a yellow card asking for a player to be booked - that is supposed to be an automatic yellow card but no refs wants to send someone off for it, so they don't give it. they are tying themselves up in knots with rules, they are being written and read to the letter, but not taking the feel of a game into account.

Handball is a clear example of this, or the offside rule on player interference. How Romero got away with the handball vs United is amazing to me, but you will see a much more suspect (closer/faster) one given. I remember an Arsenal player (i think) vs United (not this season) crawling along the ground and SCOOPING the ball away and it wasn't given - because arguably it was the arm supporting his body so not a handball!!

The Bruno/Rashford offside vs City - by the rules Rashford didn't stop anyone from getting to the ball or making a play on it - so its not offisde. But we all KNOW it should be, just as we know the City goal at the weekend should be offside.

Football fans, players, managers, refs etc - we all generally know what should or should not be given as handball, or offside, based on how the game is played and what is reasonable to expect of players, but the rules are getting too letigious, and that is as much down to fans demanding consistency as it is anything else.

All a bit of a farce.

Getting married at a young age in Brazil is really common.

Not cursed, rather the culture is rotten.

Giggs and Ronaldo aee revered, and have both had serious allegations made against them, that while not proven out in a court of law (like Greenwood).... well it's clear the cases have merit.

If Giggs and Ronaldo are OK given their behavior, then why would Greenwood and Antony not be OK, because they are somewhat less talented? Antony is only there a year or so, due diligence should have weeded him out before he was signed, but it would appear there was a no look/no see attitude to him as with the others.

Im obviously no United fan, but nonetheless, their 'curse ' is more down to a poor culture and bad leadership than bad luck.

Yea, nothing to see here 🙄

This is the fourth case in recent years, and the club has done little if anything to distance itself from the 3 players involved. Look at the efforts to reintegrate Greenwood, he'd be playing for them still it for the public outcry. There IS an issue with the leadership and culture there, is there any other club with similar problems in recent years?

Plenty of good people there I'm sure, but leadership badly lacking.

But Alex Ferguson, who was still a director at the club, gave a character reference for Ryan Giggs during his trial. He described him as a person with a 'fantastic temperament'. A few ex Man Utd players or board members did the same.

Nicky Butt was arrested a couple of times for domestic abuse. The last time was April 2019. He received a promotion at Man Utd in July 2019 to become Head of first team development. The case ended up being dropped and he accepted a caution for criminal damage but not domestic abuse.

Ronaldo obviously came back to the club after the allegations were placed against him. There was protests against his signing by some groups ahead of his first game back to the club. Those allegations and quotes etc were in the public domain, however they were acquired, but the club still pursued the transfer with full knowledge.

There was a plan in place for the re-introduction of Greenwood to the first team, even after all the public evidence shown against him. There was a big outcry forcing the club to change its mind. Or so we thought, they released a statement saying he wouldn't play for the first team and we assumed that be has been sacked. But he was loaned out instead. So there is still a chance that he could play next year. The club are giving him a platform to regrow his career and paying for his accomodation etc. He should be sacked.

I'm not sure how true it is but there are allegations that the Man Utd club doctor attended to Antony's ex girlfriend after she sustained the injuries she did. This is very worrying if true, and the club know about it, especially when the whole Greenwood thing was happening.

There's a lot to respect about Man Utd in what they do both on and off of the pitch and the way they have conducted themselves traditionally but there is a trend here that deserves a lot of criticism. There doesn't seem to be any accountability for their actions. And while the club cannot tell the players how to act, that's down to the individual, but they can tell them what to not do.

What you're saying is that Manchester United are actively encouraging players to break the law.

Should we say that Liverpool are an institutionally racist club because of how they handled the Suarez/Evra affair?

Wanna have a pop at United? Go for it but at least keep your narrative within the realms of reality instead of the wet dream of a rival fan type waffle you've posted on this topic.

You should know better than to post absolute nonsense.

I'll give you one thing, you've raised the bar for crackpot claptrap made up about a rival football club.

First there was the conspiracy theory that the Saudis were trying to destabilise Liverpool, now United are seemingly a bordello of wife beaters and scumbags.

Can't wait to hear whats next, probably will be Evertons turn.

jesus folks there's some utter shite posting about united here

okay so the reason we are hearing so much about these cases is likely social media blowing everything up in our faces, footballers have messed up over the years big time and it was always covered up, young men with time on their hands and massive amounts of money to spend will make mistakes is it right - no but what can the clubs do bar lock them up for life

joey barton and woodgate i think were involved in a fight that was deemed a racist attack many years ago, print media went to town on them at the time and if that happened now social media reporters would have torn them a new arsehole

tony adams and the drink driving similar

george best and the many things he did

just my 2 cents

I dislike united as much as anyone but to suggest there's a correlation between the club and the few absolute pieces of sh!te they've hired is pure nonsense.

Ya weird when you consider what some of their players have been accused and charged off. And yet still celebrated.

That's in no way defending actions of United lads. If guilty I want them out.

The PSG comparison doesn’t work because they don’t own a team in the same league.

And while no team has to sell, the numbers being thrown around do cause headaches for clubs - headaches that Newcastle will no doubt avoid.

So based on your comment that something being possible not being probable, are you happy for Saudi Arabia to self-regulate in terms of their interests in their own league and the PL?

Regarding the player allegations - I feel this is a topic we need to be very careful around.

While anyone who makes the allegation deserves to have their side of the story heard and a proper investigation into said incident. That is not the place of the public to make a judgment call.

Just as there can be players who done awful things and got away with it there can also be players who are innocent and are accused of things they never did.

I or anyone here would not want an accusation to potentially ruin our entire lives and we must afford that same chance to people in the public eye.

It's pretty disgusting to come in and read the joyful glee almost that some posters have over the potential of getting one over on a rival club from these situations.

Talk of a rotten culture - want to look a bit closer to home with that thinking.

Two points:

1. Congratulations on making yet another thread about Liverpool and Manchester United, neither of which will be winning the Premier League this season by the way, or anytime soon, while Pep is at the wheel.
2. What would make the Newcastle stuff interesting would be if Salah or Bruno or Saka went to Saudi for megabucks, but were bought a year later by Newcastle for a pittance. Could that be investigated, if it happened?

Yeah, Prince Abdullah actually owns them outright now.

The football ownership world is starting to become very small.

Since it was a personal assault, with the person immediately arrested, that might change the approach the club have to take. They released a statement alright, just saying; "We are aware of an incident that took place during our match against Manchester United on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police is conducting an investigation into the matter and we are fully co-operating with their enquiries."