That’d be a more compelling argument if TV deals weren’t contributing so much more. Consider that for Borussia in particular match operations (ticket sales etc...) was 17.14% of their revenue (EUR 39,942,000) vs 32.5% from advertising (EUR 75, 725,000) and 35.25% from TV (EUR 82,113,000). Given how cheap tickets are…

But a free market doesn’t benefit the FA (or at least one element of the FA). While it may draw more money in broadcast rights (and I’d argue that a team of 11 Brazilians and Argentines would actually make the league less attractive to the public), they’re not exactly having a hard drumming up revenue at the minute…

The Premiership is a Rugby competition, looked more like the Premier League to me.

Thought you probably deserved the win to be honest.

Be interesting to see Chelsea’s financial might vs ‘Arry’s ability to tank just about any club’s financial stability.

Couldn’t agree more. Carrick has been playing since before the turn of the century for God’s sake! Fellaini may not have gelled at Utd, but he's got tons of experience, the same goes for Mata, and anyone on the planet would rank De Gea in the top 5 keepers right now.

Given that these guys are currently making more money than they’ll ever need, I can’t see a good motivator to move from Spain to Manchester. They can’t really become any more high profile either, so moving to United isn’t likely to net them more in endorsement/merchandise.

Thank you, it’s not that difficult to be reasonable really.

Is this controversial? It seems more like an accurate application of the rules.

No, plenty of people here in England hate him too. It’s partly because jealousy for sure, while I’m not a Chelsea fan by any stretch it’s rather easy to see why people should be jealous. The media also has a role to play for sure, they demonise him more than other players.

It’s certainly a difficult balance, and I absolutely have my reservations about the state having that power. However, I’d be interested to know how the limitations on speech with the incitement stuff majorly differs from the classic “falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre” and Brandenburg v. Ohio limitations,…

This is all well and good Drew, but where’s your kid’s insane Christmas list?

I have some issues with a potential limit on freedom of speech, but, on the other hand, I really don’t want people inciting racial hatred etc... If people want to say “I hate all of race x, they’re a bunch of <<insert insult>>” then I don’t like it but they should absolutely be allowed to say that. If they add “So…

He wasn’t charged. He almost certainly won’t be charged. He hasn’t even been arrested or been asked to come to a police station. Someone made a complaint to the police, the police are investigating said complaint. That is very, very, very different to being charged.

Free speech means the government can’t limit your speech, not that anyone is obligated to give you a platform for you to say it. If I went to a major network and asked for time to give my opinions on stuff I’d be told to hit the bricks, as would you, because the media is not the government.

They’ll suffer a huge loss in income from television rights. They still get “parachute payments” which means they earn more than anyone else in the Championship, but those aren’t really intended to cope with a team with Chelsea’s overheads. If the contracts players are signed to were put together intelligently they’ll…

I disagree with the instinct part. Within a season, yes I imagine players are aware of their card tally. I would not, however, expect them to know about season roll over automatically, as well in differences in rules for various competitions.

This is a fucking weird season.

Chelsea were third when Di Matteo got sacked, and 4 points off first. But they’d crashed out of the Champions League I believe.

I assume no team is lowering their season ticket cost either?