The Saudi League

[KB1862]

Whenever I check out the gossip column on BBC Sport or there's a transfer rumour on social media, there's multiple players being linked with a move to the Saudi League.

Some big names being linked to go there as well. Benzema, Lewandowski, Gundogan, Kante, Messi as well as already having Ronaldo in there, who I believe is the start of big name players heading over there for a nice pay day. 

I personally don't know much about the league myself but all I can think is players are moving over there for the big fat pay day that they are being offered. 

It almost feels like when the Chinese Super League started gaining attention and got linked with pretty much every single big name player in the world and offering them hefty wages to sweeten deals. 

[Chris]

It's awful. I wouldn't be surprised if certain games are fixed.

The amount of shoddy errors that happen and own goals, it's quite suspicious. I mean, I don't expect their level to be all that high, but I have seen 5-year-old kids play better football, games which involve running and just kicking a ball.

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

It's sports washing pure and simple.  It's no different to the financial doping of Man City and Newcastle.  It should be called out, but won't be.

[KB1862]

@Chris I've not seen too much of it but little bits that I have seen, it's not appealing at all. 

More than likely there's match fixing involved. I'd be amazed if there wasn't any. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtJdEh1ouFr/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

More players are being rumoured. 

[KB1862]

 

[Countyman]

The Saudi League isn’t all that special. I have seen games and it’s amazing how easily the likes of Ronaldo manage to find the net. It’s not a very entertaining league and it will only be ruined by throwing silly money at players at the wrong end of their careers.

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

Aging players looking for a last pay out hasn't worked before in the US or China, and I can't see it this time.  It may be different if players in their prime start getting lured over - a Haarland or a Mbape, but why would they go to a mickey mouse league?  The Saudis have enough money to buy golf, I'm sure they have enough money to collect players at their prime if they chose to. I suspect they will continue to financially dope clubs in other leagues for now though.

[liampie]

the mls can be good to watch but the standard still is not as good as other countires near to them let alone most of the weaker european leagues. i find the saudi league to be worse than chinas, both of which are just sideshow gimmick leagues.

[KB1862]

The MLS is actually a decent league to watch tbf. Of course there are some games which can be looked at as a poor level of football but with their expansion and more teams becoming involved, it's getting to a decent level. It deserves more credit than it gets. 

But with the MLS there's more of a level playing field in terms of teams getting players but not able to go above a certain amount of wages due to the MLS franchise owning the rights as opposed to clubs. 

There is the exception to overseas players though however. As far as I understand it, they can get so many overseas players that are deemed of a certain standard and be able to offer them more than the allowed wages for all others. That's as far as I understand it anyway. 

Where as in leagues like China and Saudi, they just offer what ever the hell they like and it has little effect. Can't see it becoming any more appealing even with the players coming in. As @Ohh Tommy Johnson said rather than getting aging players they surely can try persuade prime players to come over for that kind of pay day. 

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

I should have been clearer... I was thinking of the original US league with Pele etc involved.  This version seems much more organic and sustainable.  

[KB1862]

@Ohh Tommy Johnson oh yeah absolutely, the MLS back in the day wasn't that great. Although, they did have an interesting way of doing penalty shootouts. Quite liked the way they did them. 

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

W

13 hours ago, KB1862 said:

@Ohh Tommy Johnson oh yeah absolutely, the MLS back in the day wasn't that great. Although, they did have an interesting way of doing penalty shootouts. Quite liked the way they did them. 

Wasn't the offside rule different with a blue line midway between the halfway line and penalty box?  I seem to remember Roy of the Rovers being caught out by that in his brief sojourn stateside!!

[KB1862]

@Ohh Tommy Johnson not sure I've heard that one, might have to look into some of the different rules and way they played the game compared to us back in the day. 

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

It was in Roy of the Rovers, so my source is not 100% reliable!! 

[CliftonMagpie]

Their league is ranked somewhere around 80th in the world - that says it all really! Most players who go there are taking a shot in the dark, hoping to elevate their status and have some glory days before moving on again. It never lasts and I doubt it ever will reach much higher levels of success or excitement - it’s just not a very interesting league to watch at all! Even when Ronaldo plays there, the overall standard of play is quite poor.

[AmericanPie]

I can’t say anything about the quality, but I am against players taking big paydays just to make more money, and I dislike leagues that resort to these cheap antics. It’s not a serious, competitive league if you are spending £300m on one player while the rest of their teammates most likely don’t get paid 1% of that.

[KB1862]

Gary Neville says Premier League should stop Saudi Arabia transfers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65956434

 

Well worth giving this a watch if you have a spare 5 minutes. 

[KB1862]

Seems that players are realising the grass isn't always greener on the other side. It's obvious they were money motivated to move over there but the reasons given for why they wish to leave, as reports suggest, makes it even more obvious that they were blinded by the money being offered. 

It was never about "helping improve the league" it was always about the big sum of money offered. Now that they've had their share of big paydays they're upping and leaving. 

[Robbie]

Totally agree @KB1862

The Saudi Nation have an infinite amount of dollars to throw around. They behave like a child with a new toy.

The concern for me is not just the Billions being put into paying players to go over there to Saudi, it's what the Oil rich Countries buying of Premier League clubs and the inexhaustible amounts of money these clubs have available is affecting our domestic game.

And what's happening in the Premier League affects clubs throughout the football pyramid, which I believe is changing football for the worse. Killing competition and & thus making the elite clubs even richer.

[Dripsey3]

The Saudis always have a Plan B. I think they'll throw their support behind the Super League in Europe now. Having Real Madrid vs Barcelona in Riyadh is better than what they have now. 

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

I think you are right.  I hope that UEFA can prevent those clubs entering European competitions and players being eligible for national teams. The success of a European Superleague would depend upon if TV got behind it.  I am not sure how good long a league like that would remain interesting unless there was a turnover of clubs.  Mind you I can imagine the BBC getting behind it as they have been great supporters of top level football since it was invented back in 1992, 

[Robbie]

@Dripsey3 & @Ohh Tommy Johnson  If there were to be a Super League they would probably follow the same model as the NFL in the States with no promotion or relegation. Could be two leagues with an end of season playoff system with one overall winner to make more money.

Just going a little of topic,

As far as today is concerned I would like to see, all those who qualify for European Competition in England ineligible to play in the FA Cup & League Cup the season afterward. This would be positive development for all the other clubs in the Football pyramid. In addition, I would limit team changes to no more than 4 players to the starting 11 in Cup matches, to stop the big clubs devaluing the competitions.

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

@Robbie That is an interesting approach... and with the limitless amounts of money could be made to survive.  Fans would certainly get behind it (they always do) and FOMO would mean the top clubs would jump.  I can see ManUre, Man City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs going.  I think Liverpool would have to jump too, or risk becoming irrelevant.  That would be enough for the TV companies to jump on board and the funding for the Premiership will dry up.  That could cause a massive problem to he remaining PL clubs and on down the pyramid.  At that point the only thing that could stop it would be parliamentary intervention or banning of those clubs and players from FIFA competitions - but LIV golf shows that is largely ineffective.

[Robbie]

Agree @Ohh Tommy Johnson

There will be less money around the football pyramid as foreign owners may be less willing to fund Clubs remaining in the domestic leagues ,& TV revenues will go down, but funnily enough, I think it would make for more exciting competition in the Premier League if the big six go.

Would the Premier League try to make the competition a UK National Premier league to include clubs from Scotland & Northern Ireland such as Celtic, Rangers & Linfield?

As far as televising the matches are concerned, I think probably Sky Sports & Discovery Sports would be attracted to televise the Super League, that would leave BBC & ITV to bid for the Premier League, EFL & Cup Competitions.

[Ohh Tommy Johnson]

@Robbie I think a UK league would fall foul of different FA jurisdictions.  I believe that Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Wrexham have either special dispensation as they were in the set up before the Welsh League was set up, or they were required to resign from the Welsh FA and join the English FA.  When I lived in Newport, AFC Newport were required to play in England as they could neither train or play in Wales unless they joined the Welsh leagues.  They used to be called the Nomads for that reason.  I could see a UK cup competition being rather fun though.

A league without the big 6 or 7 would be a far more interesting competition.