General Premier League Thread 2022-23 - mod note in OP 12/03/23

I'm sure we will see him share his "expertise" on BT or Sky. Might even see him telling us all about "bet thing" like his equally talented managerial friend.

Jake Humphries to be the new face of Soccer Saturday? have they announced who is replacing Jeff?

Tony Romo is a good shout.

John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker for tennis.

Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo for golf.

Ian Botham, Michael Holding for cricket.

But golf is probably the only sport I follow as close as football and probably not coincidentally find most pundits to be rubbish. The more you know about a sport the harder it is for pundits to provide insight.

Having said that the average football pundit is objectively terrible. While I find the average tennis pundit pretty good, again probably because I don't follow it that closely.

I'd say the average IQ of tennis players is higher than footballers though, or is that a classist statement?

Man City and their footballing staff are some operators with their shell companies and the likes. We've seen that in the past with Mancini and the fake sponsors.

Mino Riaola died in April 2022, but somehow in January 2023, he created a company registered in the UK. However a few months later, he(?) decided he didn't want to be the majority shareholder and handed over control to another person, his old business partner. The company still has one remaining director, who by chance also is listed as a director of another company, along with the Haalands. Erling being the sole shareholder.

The Taxation Disciplinary Board is investigating currently investigating the companies but there is probably nothing illegal invovled.

It's above board, but the question remains about who is paying this company. Is the company being used as an external consultant for some business work in some foreign lands perhaps? Let's say 1 hour every month for £5m perhaps?

To be fair, I'd say a lot of footballers are using shell companies and other means to avoid paying tax, but I wonder how many clubs are using them to avoid showing how much they are actually paying their players to skirt around the FFP / PL Financial rules? I've been told in the past that a certain PL club was paying the girlfriend of a certain player for some 'consultancy work' via an external company as a side agreement as part of a new contract. That same player had been rumoured to be trying to leave that club that summer (and last summer) because they don't like the climate and might just leave this summer after a few attempts. Maybe the money overrides the rainy weather.

Nothing to see here, move along.... 🤔

Well done Luton Town, always exciting to have a new team in the Premier League.

I'd be a bit worried they could end up like Derby given their lack of resources.

But on the other they are already under-resourced for the Championship yet won promotion so they will be a fun watch!

The important thing is to prepare for that and not bankrupt the club trying to stay up.

I think there’ll be a few twists and turns with the relegation battle today but ultimately I think Everton will get the win to send Leicester and Leeds down

Is Steve Foster still playing for them, with his long hair curly hair and tennis style headband.... He was sooo cool!

Probably would've been better if Spurs had something to play for

Oooh Leicester winning , Everton down as things stand