Saudi Pro League

[AllRoverAsia]

32 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Exactly.

Bear in mind the repressive house of saud is only in power in Arabia due to the UK and US governments.

Their crimes against humanity are permitted and openly supported by those governments.

And France, who are never far from a good earner supply chain.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Mitrovic is off to the Saudi league apparently. Only 28 and in his prime. 

[bluebruce]

13 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

MBS knows Saudi has to move away from oil sales dependency. One avenue is making Saudi a tourist destination. Towards that goal he wants Saudi to host a WC and has targeted 2030 or 2034. The upgrade to the Pro League is towards that. All the main leagues in Saudi are recruiting foreign players, not just at the top end and at all level wages are the attraction. They will get a WC in the above timeframe, FIFA like money and they gave 2 billion US to someone just for 'advice'.

It is sports washing but who are we to criticise when we have earned billions and still do for supplying them for decades.

If the Saudis think football can be worth the investments they're making, I'd say they're being foolish. The money in football all swirls one way - into the pockets of agents and players. World Cups are expensive, and the tourism boons are short-lived and outweighed by the costs. You also have a country where people don't drink - one of the big economic benefits of World Cups etc over here.

They absolutely do need to diversify their economy from oil, and tourism can be a contributor, but I think they need to box a lot smarter than relying on football and sport. Neom isn't sounding like it's going to deliver on its initial promise either, could prove to be one of the most expensive follies of all time.

[Norbert Rassragr]

The Saudis also seem to move into Boxing, as the likes of Anthony Joshua have had rights there. It's all a move to make the country look more like a glamorous tourist place like the UAE instead of a repressive terrorist breeding craphole with infinite money. Whether it will work, along with mad projects like that long, straight city they're building is another matter. It depends how many rape victims they behead or people they kill in their embassies.

[Upside Down]

9 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

The Saudis also seem to move into Boxing, as the likes of Anthony Joshua have had rights there. It's all a move to make the country look more like a glamorous tourist place like the UAE instead of a repressive terrorist breeding craphole with infinite money. Whether it will work, along with mad projects like that long, straight city they're building is another matter. It depends how many rape victims they behead or people they kill in their embassies.

Or how many children they bomb or how many people they starve to death with their blockades. 

[Andy]

On 18/08/2023 at 15:57, Norbert Rassragr said:

The Saudis also seem to move into Boxing, as the likes of Anthony Joshua have had rights there. It's all a move to make the country look more like a glamorous tourist place like the UAE instead of a repressive terrorist breeding craphole with infinite money. Whether it will work, along with mad projects like that long, straight city they're building is another matter. It depends how many rape victims they behead or people they kill in their embassies.

For as long as they don't allow equal rights for women and imprison (or outright murder) those who happen to be homosexual, a country like Saudi will never be taken seriously and will always be several decades behind the rest of the civilised world.

[KentExile]

On 18/08/2023 at 15:57, Norbert Rassragr said:

The Saudis also seem to move into Boxing, as the likes of Anthony Joshua have had rights there. It's all a move to make the country look more like a glamorous tourist place like the UAE instead of a repressive terrorist breeding craphole with infinite money. Whether it will work, along with mad projects like that long, straight city they're building is another matter. It depends how many rape victims they behead or people they kill in their embassies.

That genuinely looks like something from a dystopian future, I can only imagine that 95% of people living there will never get to leave or even breath fresh air.  God knows what happens to that place if there is an earthquake.

As you say, the whole idea seems mad

[AllRoverAsia]

6 hours ago, KentExile said:

That genuinely looks like something from a dystopian future, I can only imagine that 95% of people living there will never get to leave or even breath fresh air.  God knows what happens to that place if there is an earthquake.

As you say, the whole idea seems mad

They plan to have outdoor snow covered ski slopes easily accessible to Neo.

Having worked and lived in country for over a decade there are beautiful parts, mountains and coasts that are being developed as part of the project.

If it helps stop the failed war against the medieval thugs, the Houthi, its a good thing although it just throws the area into more chaos and conflict.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

20 hours ago, Andy said:

For as long as they don't allow equal rights for women and imprison (or outright murder) those who happen to be homosexual, a country like Saudi will never be taken seriously and will always be several decades behind the rest of the civilised world.

Decades ? You mean centuries ?

[Upside Down]

On 18/08/2023 at 12:27, AllRoverAsia said:

 

Here's what they're playing for.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi

 

Edit. Not sure why AllRoverAsia was quoted there.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Upside Down

[Ianrally]

Personally I don’t give two hoots about their pro league , nor anybody going there to play in a football backwater. (My description). 
What I would really love to see is one of these football icons to be found in a homosexual situation, or to be found drinking alcohol in an area where it is illegal, and then see how the Saudi government deal with it.

A public beheading of a football superstar should put the end to their WC aspirations. 

[Upside Down]

5 hours ago, Ianrally said:

Personally I don’t give two hoots about their pro league , nor anybody going there to play in a football backwater. (My description). 
What I would really love to see is one of these football icons to be found in a homosexual situation, or to be found drinking alcohol in an area where it is illegal, and then see how the Saudi government deal with it.

A public beheading of a football superstar should put the end to their WC aspirations. 

That will never happen to a multi millionaire football player.

As for a non wealthy immigrant, provided they haven't been massacred at the border (see above article), the sword is sharpened and waiting.

[AllRoverAsia]

20 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Here's what they're playing for.

https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi

 

Edit. Not sure why AllRoverAsia was quoted there.

I wondered why too.

No probs, I read the full article on this human tragedy and proxy war. So sad.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Laporte off to Saudi - 29 and in his prime. 

[philipl]

The gap in money between the PL and the Championship means in reality the Championship is not suffering but at one time the Saudi pro=league players would be dropping into national second tier teams.

[LeftWinger]

Mo Salah the latest one to be linked - potentially with a salary of £1.5m per week (currently £350k per week at Liverpool).

[Dreams of 1995]

Watched a few highlights of the Saudi "pro" league..............................

There was a slight inkling that this may take off. There's a couple of big-ish names. Laporte surprised me because, like Neves, he was playing international football too

However, after seeing some of the frankly comedy levels of goalkeeping and typical standard of footy, I am happy to say it is some way off challenging even the lower leagues of European / South American football

Edited August 25, 2023 by Dreams of 1995

[Dreams of 1995]

On 23/08/2023 at 23:31, Sweaty Gussets said:

Laporte off to Saudi - 29 and in his prime. 

I wouldn't say prime

He's gone off the boil lately. Even for Spain his performances have been a bit.....meh

[Sweaty Gussets]

12 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I wouldn't say prime

He's gone off the boil lately. Even for Spain his performances have been a bit.....meh

I meant age-wise....the suggestion has been that only players in their twilight years would be off to Saudi. That clearly isn't the case. 

[bluebruce]

On 25/08/2023 at 11:37, Dreams of 1995 said:

Watched a few highlights of the Saudi "pro" league..............................

There was a slight inkling that this may take off. There's a couple of big-ish names. Laporte surprised me because, like Neves, he was playing international football too

However, after seeing some of the frankly comedy levels of goalkeeping and typical standard of footy, I am happy to say it is some way off challenging even the lower leagues of European / South American football

A sensible team over there would just spend a lot less money on a greater number of less glamorous players, from leagues like the Championship, Allvenskan, Tippeligaen, Serie B, etc. Probably also the Turkish Super Lig where players are more likely to be suited to the culture (and therefore make less extortionate demands, especially now there are some superstars in Saudi to make the league a bit less of a joke). Then you'd have a solid overall team who could probably dispatch the imbalanced sides with a couple of superstars and various part timers for the rest of the squad.

But of course, it's not about winning, or building sensibly, it's about vanity.

[Norbert Rassragr]

It's all about the sports washing, and the Arab elite are worse than that Spanish FA guy who is in trouble.

[Upside Down]

6 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

It's all about the sports washing, and the Arab elite are worse than that Spanish FA guy who is in trouble.

Agreed. 

See above linked article. 

[VenkysRuinedMyLife]

For what it's worth, it is generally not thought've as an international sportswashing operation as much as a domestic one.

The international interest is mostly due to the younger generations (mostly in Africa, Asia and parts of North America) tending to be player fans and the atrophying of mainland European leagues and is unlikely to be a goal.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by VenkysRuinedMyLife

[VenkysRuinedMyLife]

On 17/08/2023 at 03:25, LeftWinger said:

I also watch Rugby League and the salary cap has at least made it more competitive in general - but you've still only had 3 grand final winners in 17 years - so I'm not even sure that is the answer. FFP hasn't helped at all in football either.

The salary cap is not RL in the UK's problem, from what I have read it's that most clubs have been poorly run and that without the salary cap things would be much worse. I could also blame the administrative bodies but there's just not enough money to go around because it's a regional code in the NH. I guess you could argue the NRL doesnt do enough internationally.

The NRL has even a larger safety net and just as little parity, because the best young players want to play for the best and largest clubs. Even in systems designed for parity like American sports this happens; especially for neutrals, there is still the appeal of watching the best go at it.

[LeftWinger]

Reports suggested Henderson was being paid £700,000-per-week - four times what he was earning at Liverpool - but he denied those claims.

"People can believe me or not, but in my life and my career, money has never been a motivation. Ever," he said.

There's me thinking he'd gone for the money.