Petrodollar sports washing, or a Hollywood actor vanity project?
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- Thread starter Ford Fairlane
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Petrodollar sports washing, or a Hollywood actor vanity project?
- Apr 27, 2008
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- Chael Sonnen: Moral Champion
Neither! Good old fashioned grass roots soccer people
God I hope they make it back to the premier league so we can get another Sunderland Til I Die series where I can watch them getting smashed back to the Championship
Seeing them present their upcoming game at Anfield like we're a villain team in the Mighty Ducks
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
I think the Ange Postecoglou fairytale might be over. Tottenham are 10th after losing to previously winless Ipswich Town 1-2 and their 5th loss out of 11 in the EPL. They lost during the week in the Europa League
I think the pommie press/media will come after him hard after a pretty good run from them so far since he signed up with Spurs. He's stubborn, has said he wont change the way he will have his team play so he leaves himself wide open for them to come after him.
I think the pommie press/media will come after him hard after a pretty good run from them so far since he signed up with Spurs. He's stubborn, has said he wont change the way he will have his team play so he leaves himself wide open for them to come after him.
Has 'Angeball' been used yet? They only had to win to be third on the ladder, as other results panned out - they're still only 3 points off third with a good goal difference (despite losing 5 out of 11 games) but they're away to Man City next, and surely City will turn their form around sooner rather than later.
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
They have lost 5 games so they wont win the title. The title winner usually only loses between 2 and 5 games for the season.
They will lose at least 4 or 5 more in the remaining 27 games so that probably means they miss the Champions League again in 2025-26. It has to be a big turn around to only lose 4 or 5 out of the next 27 games.
They are doing Ok in the Europa league. Might need an FA Cup or League Cup title to keep the wolves from the door.
Unlike Ports, Spurs are losing to the teams they should beat - they've given Crystal Palace and now Ipswich their only wins for the season.
Ten Hag going down probably expedites this conversation too. In terms of spending I'm pretty sure they outspend Pool but don't look likely in any competition right now.
Shame for Ange - I'm confident he gave it his best.
It's official - Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup.
Qatar (2022) Morocco... (2030), Saudi Arabia (2034). I'm seeing a trend here. Petro Dollars at work.
And I understand any journalists criticising the decision on humanitarian grounds will be invited to a special briefing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Qatar (2022) Morocco... (2030), Saudi Arabia (2034). I'm seeing a trend here. Petro Dollars at work.
And I understand any journalists criticising the decision on humanitarian grounds will be invited to a special briefing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
KSA have invested massively in football and have successfully put on international events in golf and WWE for example, so I actually think this is fairly reasonable. I don't feel the same about Qatar who should never have gotten it.
It's the Mecca of football.
RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
Morocco doesn't have petro dollars (yet, huge undeveloped oil shale reserves) and it is a minor part of Spain-Portugal bid, plus for FIFA's centenary WC they are also playing games Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.
2030 was Europe's turn to host the WC and Spain and Portugal bid was clever to thrown in an African nation, that is Spain's and Portugal's neighbour and the South American nations to celebrate the first WC in 1930.
Given it was Europe's turn to host 2030, it was a great way to get votes from CAF confederation nations and the CONMEBOL confederation nations over the other Euro bidders.
But FIFA will always sell to the highest bidder when they get the chance. It's their normal MO. Russia won the double WC announcement in 2010 along Qatar as they bribed their way in, just like Qatar. Then FIFA say we better go to a more democratic country - FBI and DOJ arrest a whole lot of FIFA officials, so a USA led 3 nation bid win.
China will be the next Asian host when the AFC's turn to host a WC comes around again in 2046. They will buy their way in, either directly, or indirectly via the size of the market and the opportunities for FIFA and its sponsors.
And FIFA love to BS, just like the AFL, about all the social agenda changes it can champion thru sport, by bringing the WC to a non democratic host. Its just on a whole lot different scale compared to the AFL's BS.
The MBS doco series currently on ABC, The Kingdom: The World's Most Powerful Prince - has been an interesting watch.
A ruthless leader who wants to modernise his nation, get rid of religious dogma holding back his nation, but wont have anyone take the spotlight for the change away from him. Wont tolerate those who disagree with him. Hard to watch and accept, but the nation has been an absolute monarchy, where the King's word is the law and cant be disputed by courts or parliament, for centuries, so its nothing new to their citizens, just bloody tough to navigate. With King Salman in poor health, MBS steps up and becomes the effective absolute monarch.
Western nations easily say how disgusting some things that happen are, but all western nations come from the roots of an absolute monarchy, either directly as part of their history, or indirectly as conquered parts of the new world by nations who stemmed from absolute monarchies. Its just luck of the draw where you are born and when you are born if you can avoid this shit.
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