French league..

Poch v AVB in a cup final on the 13th

 

No excuse for him not to win things now, but I wonder how much credit he’ll get. If it’s not the CL does it even count?

 

Interestingly his contract is only until June 2022 (option of an extra year).

That's really short. Very different project for him.

 

Nope.

 

It seems like winning the Champions League is the only measure of success, Tuchel won every domestic trophy and reached the Champions League final and it wasn't enough.

 

We have zero strategy. Never had any. The moment we stop being obsessed by the CL, the better. Not getting any hopes up.

 

About the broadcasting rights, this may be the first example of the football bubble bursting. Never thought it would come from France. Oh well.
Mediapro signed a ridiculously over-the-top 1,2bn-deal but refused to pay the clubs months after signing said deal so the league had to ask for another round of bids from the parties interested (we all assumed that Canal Plus, the historical broadcaster who didn't get zilch last time out, would save the day at a massively discounted price but they don't look bothered (probably taking orders from stockholders who are losing money after 20 years of showing Ligue 1)). Amazon Prime, DAZN and some other firm made bids that didn't meet the league's 300M€ minimum. Meanwhile, the clubs aren't getting paid and are emptying their bank accounts to pay the players and running costs but that certainly won't last. I fully expect some club to come out and not pay the players' wages in April/May (my money is on Rennes who spent loads in the summer). The league better get a broadcaster in there and fast otherwise an awful lot of clubs are going to go bust and jobs will be lost. Trying times in this pandemic era.

AVB offering his resignation is no surprise given how badly managed the club is. Marseille were supposed to play Rennes last Saturday evening but the game was postponed because ultras entered the club's training camp (La Commanderie) and started burning it (literally). Swapping managers is the least of Marseille's worries, believe me.

 

To be honest the French league is one of the leagues I would have predicted to be one of the first to have problems with shrinking TV revenue. Ligue Un is in an awkward position where it sits below the elite leagues like the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga in terms of neutral interest and TV revenues. But outside of those top leagues it's clearly stronger than the next batch of leagues below it like the Dutch and Portuguese leagues. It sort of sits in it's own category with some very big clubs with big histories, but with the exception of PSG with their oil money the clubs struggle to compete with the clubs from the big 4 leagues.

Consequently those clubs over stretch themselves a bit both to keep up with PSG and to try and compete in Europe, but the neutral interest in the domestic league isn't great enough to bring in big enough TV deals.

There's going to be a big squeeze on TV revenue in the next few years in my opinion, and the 'fringe' leagues like Ligue Un will be the first to start suffering. The subscription numbers for traditional TV sports channels are dropping like flies as people generally are ditching traditional pay tv services like Sky and cable and switching to online streaming which is far cheaper. It's also very easy and cheap to view top quality illegal streams online now through things like IPTV which are virtually as good as the real thing. You can get a years IPTV subscription for little more than the cost of one month of Sky Sports now and you can not only watch all those premium sports channels, you can watch all the matches that aren't broadcast live in this country too including every single football league match and European games. And on demand TV series and films too.

The next round of contract bidding will see big falls in the value of the bids in my opinion, even in the Premier League and I think it's a trend that will continue to accelerate because the rise of online streaming is unstoppable and even if things like Sky Sports starts to move into online only streaming, it's far less profitable than traditional TV subscriptions. They are inevitably going to have to cut their subscription costs at some point to compete more effectively with illegal online streaming, and that will massively affect the amount they'll be prepared to pay for football rights.

 

Perhaps but I think the average guy will be quite happy to fork out say £20/month and have the assurance that he'll be able to watch his game no problem whereas an illegal stream needs to be found and it's sometimes not flowing or with pop-up ads all over the place and so on. I think we may come to your scenario if Sky Sports is unbelievably expensive (how much does it cost incidentally? Surely not £100/month?). I pay 3 networks for 50€ which I think is a pretty good deal given the amount of games available.

Btw, Canal Plus got the rights at 700M€. French football is saved. For now.

 

Watched Bordeaux-PSG midweek and PSG won by a Sarabia goal early on and hung on by the skin of their teeth 1:0. While PSG looked the better side in the first half, Bordeaux did threaten them several times later on, most notably with a good Jimmy Briand header, denied by a good Navas save. I wasn't expecting Bordeaux to put up so much of a fight against the side that just trashed Barca, as it's been long since the days they were feared in the 90s, but like Phil says, there are reasons PSG aren't dominating this season.

I heard there's some strange dilemma at Bordeaux, with concerns about fielding Briand too often, as they're reluctant to trigger a clause in his contract granting him an automatic renewal. How comical professional football is at times.

Nice to be reminded by the DAZN commentator that this was the nice new stadium the Germans knocked out Italy in, back in Euro 2016. The old Bordeaux stadium was rather scruffy, despite its central location.

 

I was watching this game on the box while enjoying Leipzig/Gladbach on my phone (the only way to watch the Pokal in France for some reason via OneFootball). We scored then did nothing and hoped for Bordeaux to be shit. As it turned out, we almost lost two valuable points for the title while Lille scored two late goals to defeat Marseille.
Went to the Bordeaux ground for Euro 2016 (Belgium v Ireland), didn't like it. In the middle of nowhere. Never did Lescure but don't think I missed much. Rugby territory anyway.

 

Right from the start, I expected Marseille to underwhelm this season (I saw them in a few games at the beginning of the season and was disappointed).

I've been to Bordeaux several years ago on vacation with my family and seen the old stadium from outside. It's one of those grounds you get an impression of from outside. Apart from that, I've obviously seen it often on TV and in pictures, ever since France 98, and it always looked a lame stadium. The new stadium I've only seen on TV, and looks quite nice. I really like Bordeaux's architecture though! Gorgeous city I would gladly return too! Not to mention the fantastic landscape and nearby Atlantic.

 

Beautiful area round there. Love France as a country to be honest. Even the French aren't as rude as they used to be . Especially with my shit French, they should be ruder

 

Lyon take a dent to their title hopes, taking only a point away at Reims. It could've been worse though, as Reims were leading the entire game until Kadewere's last minute equalizer.

Yes, I like the Landes forest around Bordeaux too. I also like the countryside in central France. I get the impression they're friendlier now, but with their lackluster economy, they really didn't have much of a choice than opening up to others. In Paris, I think the rudeness is them basically fed-up of millions of tourists, although other places handle the same problem with more grace.

 

Parisian are ****s, simple as. Naze hoch if you will. Provincial folk are lovely but don't speak English. You can't have it both ways.

 

Not really. The robbery took place during the game so ADM had no idea his house was being robbed. Also, that robbery was not "very violent" as his wife and daughter only noticed the incidents once the evildoers fled the scene; Marquinhos' robbery was violent with his dad being hit.

 

I'm now more confident in Bayern's ability to beat PSG again, after the Parisians were deservedly robbed at home, 2:1, by relegation candidates, Nantes. With Lille three points clear in first, PSG share 60 points with Lyon, but are ahead on goal difference in second place. Interesting encounters with PSG in Lyon tonight at 21:00 CET, and at home to Lille after the international break may shake things up further.