General Premier League Thread 2024-25

The penny pinching suggests the club is in deep financial trouble, yet they have not opted to terminate Alex Ferguson's lucrative club ambassador contract which costs the club far more than £1M.

My point was that getting rid of hot lunches and offering bread and water for non playing staff won’t make any difference to Uniteds financial situation in the long term. The only way they sort themselves out is by moving players on, getting players in for less money on less wages or promoting youth players if possible, and doing this well for multiple seasons to get a better league finish and into the CL money.

So these new policies that just make it a worse place to work for average staff come across as incredibly petty, especially when this tighten the belt philosophy doesn’t apply to the executive. They’ve made some decisions that have cost the club millions it didn’t have to.

I had understood that it was to be reviewed at the end of the season.

Nope.

Benitez was a great European manager, taking Liverpool to 2 Champions League finals, but Klopp bettered that. And their league form doesn't remotely translate.

I often argued with my Liverpool supporting mates back in the day that I found Benitez style and mannerisms was never going to translate to sustained success. Whereas Klopp took Liverpool from middle of the road rubbish to 3 x 90 plus point seasons, winning a title along the way, as well as every club competition available to them, and it would have been way more only for the cheating juggernaut that was City.

Some Liverpool fans still hold Benitez in high regard and may disagree, but too me, its not even a competition between the 2. To be honest, if you were to ask me what manager over the last 10/15 years that I want over my side, if given a choice of any, I'd pick Klopp.

I've noticed in the last year or so since he came into united that in the media, he is no longer Jim Ratcliffe, or Ratcliffe/Mr Ratcliffe. Its always "Sir" Jim Ratcliffe, or SJR or Big Sir Jim. Was there an edict or something? It seems forced, "you address me by my peoper title, you little b*llix!!!" Etc.

Ferguson never had the same, there was always SAF but people switched between his actual name and using the title. Similar to Kenny Dalglish, rarely hear him called Sir unless they are talking about the stand.

I always refer to Kenny Dalglish using his official title

King Kenny

If any team lost their best players they'd do worse than the previous year. Look what has happened to City, Arsenal dropped off when Saka got injured, Chelsea would be way lower without Palmer and United would be really in a relegation battle if Bruno missed a chunk of games this year.

The players you mentioned like Saka are only short term absentees but if Liverpool were to lose both they are massive losses and won't easily be replaced. There's talk of Konate stalling on a new contract. You have to question why they have come to this situation

As an Arsenal fan I find it bizarre that people would try to undermine what's looking like a fantastic league campaign for Liverpool. For me they are easily the best team, and in all honesty play the most attractive brand of football in the division too, they fully deserve the league title & are worthy champions. No shame finishing runner sup to them IMO, they're a great team.

I genuinely hoped Arsenal would kick on this year & early on felt they would, but the injuries have killed any real chance of sustained momentum and the confidence that brings, but even had that happened there was no guarantee they'd have topped Liverpool anyway, who will in all likelihood win the league by a significant margin (unless they ease off when the title is more or less won). They've lost one game at the end of the day. Small margins for catching there.

Credit where its due, and as a fan of the game anyone doubting or belittling this team really needs to ask themselves why they watch the game, they're very entertaining to watch, yes they have bad days, all teams do, but have players that can change a game in an instant. I like what Slot has done with them, I actually think their style is more sustainable too which means players don't get flogged (ala Arsenals) and they seem to have better strength in depth too despite the money Arsenal have spent over the last few seasons. Klopp deserves credit for the base, but Slot has reinvented their style & made it more effective. Having Salah fit & available has been huge too, but every top team has at least one superstar & whilst Arsenal have lost theirs Salah has been immense. Very hard not to admire how good a player he really is.

Just hoping Arsenal can stay competitive now next year as I expect City to spend close to a billion to reinforce & think Liverpool will still be the ones to beat, especially if they keep their key players.

I think Konaté is replaceable

I'm not too concerned overall. I imagine it will be a very busy summer

They have to live with it to a certain extent, contracts are contracts that have been entered into and have to play out.

Fvcking over the tea lady doesn't correct anything though, it's just a show of strength and shows where the loyalties of these INEOS guys are. They'll do the same to the fans before long too.

I think they'll have already worked on their list of targets.

Big money for the sake of it isn't their main objective. It's value for money

But I certainly think they'll be spending for the players needed for sure

MacAllister, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch in the same window instead of going all out for a single Bellingham is an example.

None of those players were big money, Szoboszlai maybe, but none were peanuts either.

I think fans get over excited about the transfer fee. I trust these guys to bring in the right players. If that's on a free, £35m or £100m it doesn't really matter as long as there's a strong squad to compete at the end.

Well if they do go and they want to replace them with the same calibre of player they are probably going to have to spend 50+ million

Why would you want to be a knight when your already a king?