Saw the City thing in the news. Hope they crucify them. Doubt they'll get anything to stick. The show will roll on.
I stopped watching club football over a decade ago because the financial doping made it all seem so rigged and fraudulent. I remember seeing something on 538 about how closely wage bills corresponded to league finishing position and it made me realize how boring this chequebook competition between billionaires is. And moreover, I just can't handle how uncompetitive most leagues in Europe are. And even the Champions League, these days, same semi-finalists year after year. I mean, I hated it when I was young and Utd could just buy whoever they wanted - and that was with legit earned money. When gas/oil money started to be pumped in with Abramovich it was the beginning of the end.
Problem is, for every fan they lose like that they gain another two who turn 8 years old or whatnot and get sucked into the incredible global hype machine that is the Premier League and Champions League.
God, I wish football was run like US sports.
What I'm hoping for is that one day the bubble pops, the system collapses, and in the wreckage they have to come up with some kind of profit sharing salary cap solution. Also, you can make fun of Real, Barca and Juve all you want but there really does need to be a European Super League to firstly compete with the Premier League (which IS a super league) and secondly to free the non-English domestic leagues from the drudgery of the same team winning 70% of the titles.
As long as there's promotion and relegation from that super league I'd be all for it.
Also, end the loan system for fuck's sake. Can't people see that it hurts the lower team? Rich teams can horde all the talent, loan them out, and then when one or two of them come good, they own the asset and get all the benefit or profit. If teams couldn't do this, they have to have smaller squads, and the ownership of young talent would disperse through the leagues.