Sunday Fulham Stuff - 11/10/20...

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Premier League Pay Per View

FST Chair Tom Greatrex discusses the recently announced Premier League pay per view plans and the frustrations felt by supporters of all top flight clubs.

A week is certainly a long time in football.

A few days after the Premier League, along with the EFL and the FA, get behind a push to enable fans back into grounds as public health advice allows, and exhort supporters to join the calls as a Parliamentary petition quickly reaches 100,000 signatures, they turn around and think they are doing supporters a favour in charging £14.95 to watch each individual match. If ever the prevailing attitude of the Premier League towards fans needed illustrating, there it is. Football is nothing without the fans; who else would be so complicit in paying over the odds?

For the past few weeks, and increasingly since it became clear that the option for a limited return of fans was not going to happen in October, Supporters' Trusts of the Premier League clubs have been part of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) push to find a way of letting fans watch games they would normally go to. While the EFL have, through iFollow, got something that works for every club on a match by match basis, Premier League rights are complicated by being shared across a plethora of domestic and international platforms. So it was always going to be a complicated thing to pull off, but we have somehow ended up in a situation that is almost worse than nothing at all.

The reason for that is pretty simple – the collective tin ear of the Premier League clubs to what is acceptable or reasonable.

Had they bothered to engage with supporters ahead of setting the price point – the fans who football is nothing without, remember – they would have realised that there is a tipping point between a potential source of much needed revenue from an increased group without the restrictions of a ground capacity, and driving people towards illegal streams or, and this you would think they would be more worried about, to doing something else with their time and money instead. This is even without any sort of acknowledgement or understanding that job losses, business collapses and reduced incomes are, and will continue to, impact on many of those self-same fans expected to pay £14.95 for each match.

Watching a game on TV is not the same as being there, and particularly so when played in all but empty grounds with only the football equivalent of canned laughter for atmosphere. At present, though, it is the best that is likely to be available. It does not mean that the pricing of the two should be comparable. To their credit, Fulham have not sold season tickets while other clubs have and some are being slow to refund. There was an opportunity, in these difficult, uncertain and hopefully temporary times, to actually build a revenue stream with a broader group of people for as long as restrictions on actual attendances are in place.  Instead, we have a price point that is too high and as the reaction has shown, something that could have been a positive has become a PR flashpoint for the Premier League. A lower price would not only be fairer, but potentially also a way of building a bigger base of supporters to appeal to when tickets can be sold again. For both reasons, the FSA is right to call for a review of the price and I expect that if that doesn't happen, the take up will be less than Premier League clubs may have anticipated.

There is also an inherent unfairness between clubs; those who are likely to be less often picked for TV coverage – everybody outside the traditional big six plus perhaps Everton and Leeds this season – will be expected to pay more. To see each game, when going is not an option, requires a subscription to Sky, to BT, to Amazon Prime and now a pay per view on top for perhaps fifteen to twenty games. This is way beyond the cost of most season tickets without the additional, and for many integral, aspects of being at a game that is part of the overall attraction. And that is just for League games.

While the underlying issues are not new, the context is important. Continuing to behave as an out of touch behemoth will do the Premier League no good at a time when allowances for and compromises with business-as-usual has had to become the norm in many other aspects of life. While the difference between £14.95 and, say, £10 may seem relatively trivial, it is the message it sends that is more damaging. As a collective, the Premier League have shown themselves to be dangerously out of touch and decoupled from the reality of the lives of many of its 'customers'.

What should happen next, is what should have happened before, and the Premier League should sit down with supporters to get a better approach as soon as possible, and certainly by the time this is reviewed at the end of the month. The thinking of the Premier League may be to ride this out, let the noise from a vocal minority wash over them and carry on. If that is the case then they may well find out the hard way just why football without fans is nothing.



https://www.fulhamsupporterstrust.com/news/2020/10/premier-league-pay-per-view/

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Premier League pay-per-view plan will 'drive fans towards illegal streams'

Premier League clubs voted 19-1 in favour of this "interim solution" - with Leicester City the only one to vote against it

Broadcasting Premier League matches on a pay-per-view basis will lead to fans watching on illegal streams, says a football finance expert.

Games not already picked to be shown live will be available on BT Sport Box Office or Sky Sports Box Office.

The Premier League clubs see the "interim solution" as a way for people to still watch their teams, but some fans have criticised the £14.95 charge.

"It is going to drive people towards piracy," said Kieran Maguire.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the Price Of Football author described the Premier League's pricing scheme as a "public relations disaster", adding: "It discriminates against the clubs that don't tend to be on Sky Sports or BT that often."

Spectators have been unable to attend Premier League games since football was halted in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

When the 2019-20 top-flight season resumed in June, the remaining 92 matches were shown live via the Premier League's broadcast partners, and that has been the case so far this term.

Some fans have criticised the planned price - a similar scheme for English Football League clubs costs £10 per game, others are already paying subscription fees to BT Sport and Sky Sports, and season ticket holders at some clubs are paying for tickets despite not being allowed into the stadiums.

"The Premier League's argument, which is EFL clubs are charging £10 so we should be charging more because we have more cameras, is also flawed," said Maguire.

"The cameras were already going to be there because the matches would have been shown on Match of the Day anyway, so the set-up costs would be minimal."

Top-flight clubs voted 19-1 in favour of the pay-per-view scheme on Friday - with Leicester City the only one to vote against it - but Maguire says it "goes against the grain" of government advice.

"Families and friends are going to gather together, which completely goes against what we are trying to achieve by discouraging people from going into other people's houses," he added.

"If they got the pricing right it might have been fine, but nobody actually knows what is happening with the money.

"Is it going into a central pot? Is it being used to bail out lower league clubs? Or is it going to be kept by the individual clubs who are playing these particular matches?

"It all seems to be a bit ill-thought through."

The Premier League would not comment on the issue of piracy. However, last month it announced it had obtained "enhanced" powers to shut down illegal streaming services,

known as a "Super Block".

'People have not got the money'
The Premier League has said it and its clubs "remain committed to the safe return of fans as soon as possible".

The Premier League and UK government had hoped to bring supporters back into stadiums from 1 October, but those plans were scrapped following an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Former Manchester United and England right-back Gary Neville, now a Sky Sports pundit, said on social media it was a "really bad move" by the Premier League.

Those comments were echoed by West Ham United independent supporters' association member, Sue Watson, who told BBC Radio 5 Live that the scheme is "not going to fly".

"It in no way reflects the financial realities that a large number of supporters find themselves in, with fragility of jobs," she added.

Former Premier League winner and BBC Football Focus pundit Chris Sutton said it was a "terrible look".

"We are in the midst of a pandemic. People are losing their jobs. We have seen the money the Premier League clubs have spent on transfer fees, the money they have spent on agents. It doesn't sit right with football supporters," he added.

"Leicester come out of it well, but it is baffling to the football supporter that they are being charged extra in these times.

"The Premier League has got this one really badly wrong."

How you reacted
Friday's story about the Premier League clubs' decision drew lots of comments from fans. Here is what some of you said:

Sebastian: It will encourage people to watch it illegally online.

Joe: Squeezing every last penny out of the punter - think I'll be sticking with the radio!

Emmsea: Put them on for free, or at least for an optional payment. It is not the time to squeeze money out of loyal fans.

Gild-Ath: Premier League clubs should organise their own coverage and stream it to their own fans for a decent price.

Marcus: To be fair, the traditional Saturday 3pm games were never watchable and that is always annoying when your team is playing then (especially back in the day only seeing score by vidiprinter or on the radio), and so if you want to watch your team it's a great idea... IF IT WAS A FIVER!

SCDFanatic: Perhaps a good thing. I'm a Sunderland fan and maybe more PPV Premier League games will free more airtime on Sky and BT for League One and League Two clubs who need the money from TV coverage more.

One Horse Town: Sky Sports would normally have had 128 games this season, BT 52 - so you're not losing out, you're just not getting the bonus additional games that we've got used to seeing since football came back.

cpaulc: Trying to figure what the complaints are on pricing. You would pay double minimum to go to the same match live and that's without travel.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54491180

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Fulham and Crystal Palace linked with Bournemouth forward King

King could make an immediate return to the Prem with numerous clubs interested in a deal.

Fulham and Crystal Palace are reportedly linked with a move for Bournemouth forward Joshua King.

The Norwegian international is looking for a move out of the Championship after the Cherries got relegated last term.

They finished 18th in the Prem under Eddie Howe, one point off safety.

According to the Daily Mirror, Fulham and Crystal Palace are the favourites to sign the player before the end of the domestic transfer window.

The window shuts on Friday 16th October, meaning the two London sides have just under a week to begin negotiations.

Aston Villa and Brighton have also been linked with King in the past, although Villa recently signed Ollie Watkins to lead their front line.

Palace's current attacking options include Wilfried Zaha, Michy Batshuayi, Connor Wickham and Jordan Ayew. King could provide an extra burst of pace and squad depth to Roy Hodgson's team.

Fulham manager Scott Parker is believed to be open to the idea of signing another forward.

They're yet to win the in the new Prem season after losing to Wolves 1-0 in their most recent match.

Fans will be hoping that last season's top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic can revive some of his form which saw him score 26 goals in 41 league appearances.

King is a former Man Utd player who was also linked with a return to the Old Trafford club. However, a deal failed to materialise as United focused their attention on Jadon Sancho and Donny van de Beek during the summer.

The 28-year-old has played in just one of the Cherries' Championship fixtures so far. They've started the season strongly, registering three wins in their first four games.

New manager Jason Tindall is aiming for an immediate return to the top flight where they spent five seasons in total.

Bournemouth's next league game will be against QPR on Saturday 17th October, although it's not yet clear whether King will still be at the club to play.



https://www.football365.com/news/fulham-crystal-palace-linked-bournemouth-forward-joshua-king

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Tony Khan has already betrayed his own words at Fulham

Things don't seem to be going right at Fulham at the moment.

Yes, they had an exciting transfer deadline day, bringing in the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tosin Adarabioyo and Joachim Andersen, but they're still bottom of the league and yet to pick up a single point.

Of course, there are plenty of people to blame for this, the current players and the manager haven't done their bit as of yet, but one man who certainly deserves some criticism is Tony Khan.

The Director of Football has been slammed in the press, with Jamie Carragher calling him a clown, and Scott Parker questioning his social media usage, but one thing that has somehow slipped everybody's attention is how he's blatantly ignored his own words and broken his own transfer vow.

Indeed, earlier this summer Khan spoke in an interview with the Times, and this was around the time Ryan Sessegnon was being linked with a loan move back to Craven Cottage.

Khan shot down this rumour, while also adding that he doesn't want to fall into the trap of developing other people's players by loaning them in when they're not getting a game.

"I am not interested. Ryan already played for us in the Premier League and he didn't do enough to keep us in there. We get two [Premier League] loans and I can't be in the business of developing other people's players when they don't have time to play them," He said.

Not wanting to develop other people's players sounds like a fair approach, after all, his main focus should be Fulham's long-term future, not aiding other clubs' players in their development.

However, Fulham's transfer business directly contradicts everything he said back in August.

It started well enough, signing an experienced outcast in Mario Lemina on loan with an obligation to buy if Fulham stay up, then Alphonse Areola, a Champions League regular who would add a lot to the squad followed.

Ola Aina then came in with an option to buy, but then Khan started to renege on his words.

Ademola Lookman, RB Leipzig's 22-year-old winger who started just one league game last term, came in with no option to buy, and his arrival was followed up by Chelsea fringe player Loftus-Cheek and Lyon's out of favour record signing Andersen, both aged 24, joining on loans with no purchase options.

What are these signings if not loans that help develop other team's players when they don't have time to play them?

Yes, all of the above players will add something to Fulham's first-team, but Khan didn't want to do this type of business at the start of the summer, and now the core of his XI may be made up of that exact profile of signing.

U-turns happen in football, and personally, we believe Lookman, Loftus-Cheek and Andersen to be good signings, but Khan is just leaving himself open to criticism by spouting these empty words and going back on his plans just a couple of months later.

Unfortunately, it makes it look as though he's making it up as he goes along.



https://www.footballfancast.com/fulham-fc-transfer-rumours/tony-khan-fulham-transfers-interview-rlc-andersen-lookman

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Fulham's Lookman was like a 12-year-old sent to bed – Euell on RB Leipzig loanee

The Anglo-Nigerian forward's career has not gone the way he desired so far

Former Charlton Athletic forward Jason Euell has given an account on how new Fulham signing Ademola Lookman had expressed his frustrations when things didn't go his way in the past.

The 22-year-old Anglo-Nigerian – who is on loan from RB Leipzig, had struggled when he left Charlton for Everton in 2017.

After failing to be a regular at Goodison Park, he moved to Leipzig on loan during the second half of the 2017-18 season and after 11 appearances, five goals and four assists, the German outfit purchased him permanently for £16.2 million in the summer of 2019.

Things weren't smooth again with just 13 appearances in all competitions, most of those were off the bench with no goals or assists and now he finds himself trying to redeem his career again, this time at Craven Cottage.

Euell who tutored Lookman as manager of the Charlton under-23 squad says Lookman has great talent but managing his frustration was one of his duties.

"He's [Lookman] a very, very quiet, shy boy," Euell told The Athletic. "What I had to manage with him was just his frustration. His performance or his moments in a performance, or the team's performance, were just a frustrating thing for him. But you take that away, he's got a smile on his face. That's just him, he's got one of those beaming smiles because he's just a happy guy. He's humble without a doubt. It was just frustration when he didn't play well, you could just see a face on him straightaway.

"I got one of those faces in a pre-season game once. He played for me, against Dulwich Hamlet's first team, as a second-year scholar. He came on for 20-25 minutes. He came on and this is how he is as a player: the first thing he did was get the ball in the centre of the park, run across the pitch, play the ball out wide and we've gone on and scored from it. Five minutes later, he's done the same thing, come across the pitch, nutmegged someone, and you hear the crowd go 'oooh', and then plays it simple.

"Then after that, he made a couple mistakes, you know... so what? But he came in after the game and his face was like he's had the worst 25 minutes of a football match. It was because he dwelled on what he didn't do well, rather than the things he did do well. So he overanalysed things. I told him that and said, 'Why do you forget the things you did do well? The others, OK... next time, put it right'.

"But the face on him! He was like a 12-year-old that had been sent to bed! That's just him, that's just his personality. He wants to do well all the time."

Lookman has already played two times for Fulham and Euell believes he's more mature now in handling those frustrations. The 43-year-old Jamaican also asserts that Lookman's hunger to prove a point will be of help to Fulham who have lost all their opening Premier League games so far following their promotion from the Championship last season.

"I've been speaking to him while he's been out in Germany, where he's been frustrated," Euell continued. "He's not playing football, that's all he wants to do, just wants to play.

"If we go back a couple of years to when he was at St George's Park, and I was with England at the time. I met up and had a chat with him and he wasn't playing at Everton. We had a good chat then. I said, 'Look, this is the first time you're not playing regular football. Now you're playing by coming away with England instead. So, you've got to get your game time in your training and with England here'. And I think that was the hardest moment for him because it had never happened before.

"Now that it's happened again, being a bit older, he has more understanding of the game. I still believe he's frustrated, like any player who wants to play. But it's what you do from that. You've got someone who's hungry to play, and getting him will be Fulham's gain."

Lookman will hope to play a pivotal role towards Fulham's first Premier League win of the season when they travel to Sheffield United on October 18.



https://www.goal.com/en/news/fulhams-lookman-was-like-a-12-year-old-sent-to-bed-euell-on/1p5vraz527t1o1qm95hmq32fut

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Ex-Fulham Youth-Teamer Adebayo Saves Walsall From First Defeat Of 2020-2021

Former Fulham youth-teamer Elijah Adebayo saved Walsall from their first defeat of the new League Two season as the Saddlers and Colchester United shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw at the Banks' Stadium on Saturday afternoon, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

Prior to today's fixture, Darrell Clarke's side were unbeaten in the opening three games in the division, winning one and drawing the others.

Twenty four minutes in, Callum Harriott dribbled his way through the Walsall defence and slotted under Liam Roberts to open the scoring, before Adebayo restored parity at minute 53.

The Anglo-Nigerian curled the ball past the goalkeeper, taking his tally in the league to two for the season, having opened his account on the opening day win vs Grimsby Town.

Two minutes later, he missed a glorious opportunity to snatch all three points for the home team, with his effort well saved by the goalkeeper.

Irish-born midfielder of Nigerian descent Emmanuel Osadebe played the last five minutes for Walsall while Colchester United's giant center back Omar Sowunmi was a non-playing substitute.

Adebayo was one of four Walsall players nominated for the official Man of the Match accolade.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel



https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=37672

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David McGoldrick injury with Ireland adds to Sheffield United selection problems for Fulham

The Blades forward has been ruled out of his country's remaining international fixtures

The curse of the international break looks to have hit Sheffield United once again with the news that David McGoldrick has returned home from being on duty with the Republic of Ireland.

The Blades forward was one of the standout players in Ireland's Euro 2020 play-off semi-final in Slovakia on Thursday, creating a host of chances and leading the line superbly.

However, he has been ruled out of the UEFA Nations League fixtures with Wales and Finland due to an abductor injury.

It is not known how serious the injury is and how long he will be out for.

The news comes just days after Oliver Burke was sent home from Scotland's camp through injury.

The Scottish national team released the news on Wednesday.

It said: "Scotland squad injury update: Liam Palmer, Scott McKenna and Oliver Burke have withdrawn from the squad."

The injuries will come as a huge blow to manager Chris Wilder.

McGoldrick is the only player to find the net this season, scoring both United's goals in league and cup, while Burke's pace has been a real asset.

Wilder will be sick of the sight of international breaks, having seen Sander Berge sent home with an injury during the last one.

He looked to have picked up a bad one at the time for Norway, but he has since recovered and returned to United's starting line-up.

It's now an anxious few days for the Blades boss as he waits to find out the true extent of the injuries to his two strikers.

Lys Mousset and Jack O'Connell remain longer-term absentees with a foot and knee injury respectively.



https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/david-mcgoldrick-ireland-injury-slovakia-19084990