Its simply the next logical step from an economical business standpoint, and the accumulation of at least 20 years of revenue having the biggest priority in the sport, assuming and just to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they have done their homework and that there is an avtual market with people interested.
Could also be a huge own goal and they have underestimated the possible backlash and lack of enthusiasm.
If JP Morgan gave me money they are given them for the league with the condition that I would have to watch half of the games every league for the remaining of my life I would refuse.
Its a pity to say but real.football fans are hardly the target audience, even i can tell that much. Its a clear strategy to take advantage of markets like middle amd far east asia, and possibly.north america as well.
It's collapsing already, yessss
Keep the chaos coming!
EDIT:
(Details on why Woodward resigned. Player power!)
Good to see the United players with the Cantona's Spirit. Fuck Woodward and Fuck the Glazers.
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Tribus Watches broke partnership with Liverpool. As soon as the sponsors back out in fear of fan backlash the corporate leeches will let it die.
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All the English teams backed down, now it's time to hunt the money hungry owners out.
I guess the benefit of the doubt was really misplaced, they completely miscalculated apparently.
The blow to the image, especially for teams like Liverpool and ManU, might never be mended.
Oh no the image blow will be better when the Glazers and FSP get the FUCK OFF England.
We, United fans have always hated the Glazer family for their buy out of the club and them splitting the bill with the club.
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Its simply the next logical step from an economical business standpoint, and the accumulation of at least 20 years of revenue having the biggest priority in the sport, assuming and just to give them the benefit of the doubt, that they have done their homework and that there is an actual market with people interested.
The first bold part is unfortunately true, the second one I don't think so - or at least not in the places football means something for people. What makes the confronts between continental giants interesting is how scarcely they happen. If they started to happen 4-6 times a year it would lose interest, oh they are playing again and next month they play again, etc. It would be no more than fancy derby without any of the elements that make a derby a DERBY.
It also seems that the Milano duo will drop out too, which would leave with us with 4, out of which only Florentino and Agnelli might be fully compromised, one because his a megalomaniac and the other because Juve is the biggest vice champion of UCL, so why bother playing it.
Oh no the image blow will be better when the Glazers and FSP get the FUCK OFF England.
We, United fans have always hated the Glazer family for their buy out of the club and them splitting the bill with the club.–- Update From New Post Merge ---
The first bold part is unfortunately true, the second one I don't think so - or at least not in the places football means something for people. What makes the confronts between continental giants interesting is how scarcely they happen. If they started to happen 4-6 times a year it would lose interest, oh they are playing again and next month they play again, etc. It would be no more than fancy derby without any of the elements that make a derby a DERBY.
What´s the alternative at this point to stay competitive though, not that ManU was that successful anyway to be fair, but money for the most part unfortunately means success at this point in football, or at least it´s a serious prerequisite, not the only one.
That was my point though earlier, this was never meant for real football fans, but for different markets and at best casual followers who would be more interested in the spectacle than actual competition.
That´s the reason behind stuff like club world cup, or friendlies played in China, Middle East and so forth, it´s a pure moneymaking scheme in markets that like this kind of spectacle. And it would have been much safer in terms of profits since you would have an insurance to play in the league every year and expect the same amount of revenue.
They simply underestimated (or did not care initially) about the backlash of the real football fans.
Btw, no matter what anyone says, it actually shows that the German teams, by comparison at least, are still led by sensible people.
ManU became less competitive after Fergie retired and Ed Woodward, former JP Morgan staffer, was brought to be VP. There's no coincidence, there's losing of of the best managers in history and hiring a wall street shark to maximize profit.
There's an economical bubble on football that is on the verge of blowing, the salary professional players are making is unreal.
And the German Federation is probably one of the best managed, has equity among clubs - despite Bayern's enormous success - has high quality games, didn't budge FIFA demands to overblown budgets on stadiums for the world cup.
If the want so much the petromoney from middle east and the chinese market do what the brazlian clubs did in the 50s and 60s and go on tour in this places during the pre-seasson. Easy, don't seem overtly greed and on the nose, you still doing pre-season with friendly matches, and you not angerirg your fans.
It wont have the same kind of appeal though, since friendlies at the end are just that. This is marketed as the best teams in Europe competing and playing for the biggest cup and the people in Qatar, China, SA and so forth can actually watch that live. The pre-season tour is already done by the biggest teams, including the German ones, but its not comparavle to an actual Tournament.
Plus both the tour and friendlies are influenced by fluctuation and the success of previous year or years, so for the profit targeting managers, it is an uncomfortable circumstance. Same for Champions League, since you have to qualify which is not a given for many teams (arsenal, manu, spurs).
Lol so that went well
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It will be fun if the last team that backs out get penalized the fuck out by uefa
Am I the only one under the impression that the only reason they wanted a Super League is because they watched too much Oliver & Benji and now they want to be Super Campeones?
So the Euros are beginning, hope to see some great games and drama.
Would have preferred less drama, but yeah, I'm a little excited too.
Honestly I hate national teams football.
I'm certainly not a big fan of this Europe wide competition, or the expanded format, but hey while we have it, let the teams who benefit from it have some time to shine.
I'm certainly not a big fan of this Europe wide competition, or the expanded format, but hey while we have it, let the teams who benefit from it have some time to shine.
As for me, such competitions are an opportunity for athletes to prove themselves. In addition, this is a way of international communication, so such competitions will continue to exist for a long time until an alternative is created.
Benzema is back !
So UEFA bend the knee to Orbán ans vetoed the Allianz to use the Pride flag as illumination on the Germany vs Hungary game. Hope the DFB does it anyway and pay the fine.
It's awkward to say but since Platini UEFA and CONMEBOL have no distinction.
I hope my townspeople and fans coming here will do their best to present the rainbow flag anyway, no matter what the city or the stadium people do. Wave the flag as much as possible, make it impossible to get a shot of the game that doesn't include a rainbow flag.
I felt so bad for brave Austria yesterday.
Italy were saved by the overtime period. 
With the Netherlands the first favourite to win their match is out, let´s see who else can upset a big one, not many underdogs left.
As for me, such competitions are an opportunity for athletes to prove themselves. In addition, this is a way of international communication, so such competitions will continue to exist for a long time until an alternative is created.
Apologies, let me clarify… not a problem with the competition in itself, actually I have been a fan of Euros growing up and it has historically provided some very special moments.
I suppose in a way what I am not a fan of, is it being hosted across all of Europe this year giving a select group of nations home advantages, for example the fact that Wales were unable to have support in their games in contrast to Denmark who were allowed support due to proximity of the game... that feels a little cheap in my eyes.
I would have preferred it to be held in one country (Eg France) or two border nations (Eg Spain and Portugal)
@Don:
With the Netherlands the first favourite to win their match is out, let´s see who else can upset a big one, not many underdogs left.
Portugal gone too but possibly not really an upset. Just one look at the brackets and with England and Germany to meet on Tuesday, there's a real prospect that a team like Denmark or Sweden could make the finals which would be a big surprise.
Infact - checked that half of the bracket and winners of Ukraine/Sweden to play winners of England/Germany, and Denmark to play Czechs…could easily see a finals involving a Denmark or a Sweden which would be a huge upset.
What amazing games we have today, Croatia and Switzerland showing comebacks you hope for once a decade on the same day.
This tournament is amazing so far.
Way more excitement and drama than I was ever hoping for.
Even before today I was comparing the results to a good FA Cup year,
with underdog sides mostly punching above their weight.
Today was incredible on that front.
TWO underdogs heroically fighting back to 3-3 from 3-1 down,
and one of them knocks out the world champions 5-4 on penalties.
I can't stop smiling, things are turning out so cool.
Yesterday was a great advert for the competition as a whole with two fantastic matches with some incredible quality… shout out to Pogba who scored a fantastic goal and made some utterly amazing passes during the game, and also to Benzema for his first goal with superb technique to control the ball. Feel for Mbappe who simply had a competition to forget and hopefully he bounces back to remind us why he is such a talented young player.
Onto tonights games and completely no bias here 
great result for England in a pretty quiet game for the most part. Sterling yet again providing the goods and it's criminal that sections of England fans continue not to accept how well he has done for the country. Also Ukraine providing another shock by knocking out Sweden to set up a quarter final vs England.
Back to being an England fan.. am I allowed to dream yet, or utter the line it's coming home in confidence yet 
Quarter final line ups throwing up some nice games too, Belgium/Italy has to be the pick of them here, but I fancy Czech/Denmark to be a bit of a cracker too.
Belgium/Italy
Switzerland/Spain
Ukraine/England
Czech/Denmark
If you told me this morning that England would be beating Germany 2-0 today then I wouldn't have believed you.
Compared to my expectations, things went surprisingly smoothly.
For the most part England kept Germany at bay and slowed the game down,
and Pickford was immense in goal when the Germans managed to shoot. Some fantastic saves from him.
Then it was just a matter of picking the moment to attack, and when England did so they got their rewards.
Very well played.
I won't deny that it was a smile of fate/luck that Muller missed a wide open opportunity for Germany,
but sometimes that's what you need to push you over the line.
Overall very ecstatic about what my country did today.
I won't feel sad if we don't reach the final,
for me this tournament has delivered enough good feelings already. I'm satisfied.
Hoping that the quarter finals will be just as entertaining as the last 16 round was,
because I had a blast following these games.
International football feels fun again.
Man the Swiss team really liked to take the matches to penalty kicks hum.
There's some real grit in that Swiss team,
they held on so well in both of their games.
Shame that the 5/5 penalty performance against France didn't repeat itself.
Great try, fellas.
EDIT: Fuck yeah, back to back international semi finals for England!
Very proud of our controlled 4-0 dispatching of Ukraine.
No overconfidence or slip ups, just professionalism and good finishing.
More of that needed!
there's a spike in covid cases related to the fans traveling to watch the matches, no UEFA forces Wembley to hold 60k in the semi and on the final. Not like there isn't a spike in case in UK already.
And glad no one is talking about Copa America. It sucks.
UEFA and CONMEBOL are racing each other for which is more corrupt and inept.
Too bad for Spain. It was a great match, really enjoyed it.
The final will be interesting!
Something tells me that Italy and England will play in the final. I don't even know who will be the winner. These teams are very strong. Although today Denmark may well surprise and win contrary to forecasts.
To progress in major competitions, you often need a combination of skill and luck.
….and I'd say that England truly used up all their luck reserves today.
We equalized through an own goal,
and we were gifted a soft penalty (which VAR should have overturned if I'm being honest).
Even then, the initial penalty was saved before the rebound was fired in.
I know that the loser of a duel doesn't like to be pitied,
but I still feel like I need to give sympathies to the Danes.
I felt like we were really fortunate to survive this match against them.
That free kick opener was a killer. I thought we were up against the wall at times.
Don't get me wrong though, as an England fan I'm still extremely happy about the outcome.
I just have a lot of respect for Denmark's journey, and their performance in this match.
They did themselves really proud.
Hoping that England can carry their torch,
since this will be our first international final in 55 years.
Shame for Denmark, looked like they simply ran out of steam towards the end of the 90 which opened the door for England to take full advantage in ET.
Ref had a bit of an odd game, giving the soft penalty in ET, but also gave the soft freekick (2nd freekick) for Denmarks goal, seemed to also let a fair bit go in my opinion but hey it was a good game, and both teams can be proud of how far they went as both England and Denmark would not have been picked by many to get to the last 4.
So on Sunday we have England vs Italy now, but just to throw in a curve ball too… Argentina vs Brazil in COPA America, so there is a prospect of England winning their first Euro championship, and also Messi getting his hands on his first International trophy too, wonder what the odds of that would have been last month
England had in all but one game home advantage..so was that rly a all european Euro ?
Definitely an exciting final with Italy maybe the slight favourite, but England has again jome advantage and showed they're there to fight with a solid defense and a attacking side that is always good for a goal.
The curse is gone. Argentina finally wins a title again.
Now Messi has finally won a title with his national team just like CR7.
Guess now he´s hungry for a last shot in the world cup^^
Well, this is Southgate and penalties.
Once again beaten by penalty…once it´s in your head^^
Maybe it's coming home after 16 months. Till then stfu and sit 
Damn, I'm conflicted.
Firstly, I'm not upset at the outcome.
Italy are easily the more deserving team based on their form and harder route to the final.
And I'm still proud of our team.
I'm proud that Shaw set a new record for the quickest goal in a Euro final.
I'm proud that we managed to hold our own for so long in normal play, considering how good Italy are.
I'm proud that Pickford showed up in every single game of this tournament, and even saved two penalties in the shootout.
I'm proud that we achieved our best finish in an international tournament since 1966.
I'm proud of the team's overall progress (WC semi and a Euro final back-to-back), etc
But the conflicting part…
The only thing that makes me bite my lip...
Is that we took advantage in the shootout, and then...
one of my biggest pet peeves in football reared its ugly head.
The SLOW RUN UPS. The over-complications.
As far as I'm concerned, those two substitutes THREW the game into the TRASH by doing that.
I'll never understand why they thought it was appropriate to try that in such an important game.
That's the only thing that's nagging me about this match.
Trust me, I really really really really don't begrudge the result.
I'm not an "it's coming home" pub dwelling knuckle dragger.
It's just... there's a good way to lose and a bad way to lose.
And those penalty run ups have utterly stumped me.
Congratulations to Italy!
You guys had a great tournament, and I was going to root for you anyways if England went out sooner.
Gutted for the final. Lads on the pitch over 120 mins did everything asked of them and can not fault them, including Rashford, Sancho and Saka whom I really hope keep their heads up and grown from this experience. The players in the squad should hold their heads up for doing what they did tonight, battled against an elite country in Italy unbeaten in along time now and took them the full 120. I just hope that they see the vast majority of people will back them against the minority of idiots undoubtedly spewing racist rubbish right now
That being said…
I sincerely hope people can not get over saying how great Southgate is as a manager because he is not. I'm kinda annoyed with everyone in punditry calling him the best, he did nothing wrong, etc,etc because that's complete rubbish.
He is late to react to changes as evidenced tonight
His picks for the penalty shootout relative to the on field were bizarre (He claims he picked the order yet put Saka at 5th over Grelish or Sterling, or even Stones... a position you need an experienced taker)
His tactics are poor... we had 1 good tactical game on route to tonight.
His subs are usually too late and predictable
The biggest reason we got to the finals is because we have a strong core of 16 players who are good enough to bulldoze through most of the non elite teams... against the likes of a Brazil, Argentina, Spain I'd back them
That's a huge thing for me as well.
The selection of takers. Sterling and Grealish would have been likely to bury them.
The highlight was easily Maguire breaking the camera.
He and Kane showed the others how it's done, but sadly their example was ignored in the subsequent shots.
Magiure, as much as I dislike him… his penalty is a textbook example of how to take one as a player who doesn't take them often... pick a spot, all power and go on keeper try to do this.
In order my opinion
1. 1st or 2nd regular taker
2. Put young taker if must
3. Put young taker if must
4. Experienced player
5. 1st or 2nd regular taker / or high experienced player
lol italy made me some good money yesterday.
Thats all i have to say about it
Tbh I didn't expect England to come all the way to the finals let alone almost clinch the trophy.
That said, I feel bad for the youngsters forced to come in the end to just take penalties. I remember an experienced player like Anelka coming in at the end during the 08(i think?) CL finals against MU and squandering his penalty. If we have even experienced players having their jitters during a shootout, it's not fair to put the burden on youngsters like that. I don't know what the f was expected, 19 yr olds coming in and hitting panekas like the zidanes and del pieros?! Poor poor decision
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Oh and Italy was fucking amazing!! England was very confident after their goal but Italy literally thawed off that confidence by the second half. Brilliant use of subs as well! I felt that this was like a better version of the 06 Italy that won the WC.
To be honest, I bet on England, but my predictions did not come true. The Italian national team played just fine!
Just to throw this up but did anyone have a chuckle at the way Manchester United fans acted recently over the rumors of Cristiano Ronaldos transfer…
Rumor of going to City - The mans a snake, no legend of ours
(couple of hours later)
Transfer to United - The goat is back, we love him
Makes me glad not to be a club supporter of them despite living in a close-ish area
That just literally every fan reaction to a club idol going to the main rival. Do you think Barça fans were happy when Figo went to Madrid?
