Harry Kane schadenfreude baffles as Man Utd accused of ‘pulling up the ladder’

Why the glee about Harry Kane not winning any trophies? One Scot is baffled. We also have mails on Newcastle, Man Utd, Chelsea and more.

Send your mails to theeditor@football365.com. Maybe read this on Goldilocks club Liverpool first.

The best time to be a Chelsea fan
The game hasn’t started yet, maybe I’ll email in after the match has finished.

My absolute favourite period of Chelsea’s history is between the 96-97 season and the 99-00. This has a mixture of nostalgia (I was 10) and the fact that this was CFC’s first taste of success for a long while. And it wasn’t done with expensive super stars. It was done with just unexceptionally joyous footballers.

Vialli, Zola, Tor Andre Flo, Di Matteo, Babayaro, Le Saux, Poyet, Eddie bloody Newton and of course Dan’s Pet Rescue.

Very few players of that time (Zola aside) might have gotten neutrals fans blood going, but god I loved them.

Boehly would likely never have bought players like those above. With pride to fight for their place and their club. Instead we have a bunch of mis-matched, overpaid players in their early 20’s kicking a ball about in a pretty poor to average way.

I’ve written in before about clubs losing their souls. Chelsea’s is long dead I fear. Both from when they were a crappy club occasionally overachieving, and when hugely successful at the cost of very questionable financing… But tonight at least I will remember how excited I was watching that 97 final. With all my CFC stickers (doubles of course) stuck on my dad’s rental TV. Good times. Innocent times.
Will (Ken Bates was a d**k too but perhaps less so than what followed…)

…Nice win, would still rather have Danny Granville than half these players….
Will

Harry Kane will be better prepared
As they say, timing is everything and Kane’s timing off the field is poor. That said, the four fewer league games in the Bundesliga, getting booted early from the DFK Pokal and the Bundesliga winter break may all prove beneficial to a 30-year-old Kane when he’s playing in the Euro’s this summer, in Germany, a country that he’s become accustomed to.

Messi’s two years playing for PSG are disregarded, but you could argue that playing and training in the athletic and physical Ligue 1 week-and-week out might have been the difference when he overcame the powerhouse French to finally win his World Cup.
Steve – Toronto

Why the Harry Kane glee?
I find the whole glee over Harry Kane not winning a trophy very strange. Everyone keeps saying “Lol, imagine if Kane leaves Spurs and still wins nothing. #topbantz” but I don’t really get it.

From what I can see, Harry Kane seems like a pretty decent guy. Works hard, dedicates himself to his sport and his team. Good captain, players respect him. As far as faults go, some might say he goes down easily, but no more than any other player.

Throughout his entire career he’s been pretty local to Spurs. Could have walked away years ago, but didn’t. Even signed a (ridiculous) 6 year contract because he wanted to win with Spurs. Eventually, when things weren’t going well, he angled for a move away, but when he didn’t get it he didn’t sulk or moan. He carried on working hard for the team. Eventually, after trying everything to win with Spurs, he choose to walk away.

The bit that really baffles me (as a Scot) is the fact that this is England’s captain, highest ever goal scorer and a key part of the team that will try to win the Euros this summer. He’s never given anything other than his best in an England shirt. Yet the general consensus seems to be that his misfortune is hilarious and lets all just have a big laugh at him. To be clear, I’m not saying that anyone should be cheering on Bayern, but the level of schadenfreude around the situation is just a bit odd.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

Is the Newcastle picture really that bleak?
Donal, Cork, Ireland, d*mn you and your rather reasonable case that Arsenal should grab Callum Wilson. Surely Arsenal would prefer Miggy Almiron? You should imagine me batting my eyes and assuring you with perfect sincerity that Miggy’s my favorite player. I love his every joyful smile and head-dipping defensive run. However, long-term, he’s probably the next first-team player that needs replacing.

I’d love to see him remain, like Jacob Murphy – and Jamaal Lascelles, who may also be on the block – an important squad player, but Almiron’s far more suitable for sale than either. I also think he’d make almost any squad better. And though I would definitely agree that NUFC have spent too much, too soon – Gordon and Barnes seem like a lot spent on one position, for example – I’m skeptical that the club actually has to sell in January to avoid FFP consequences.

On the other hand, cheers to James, NUFC for your rather reasonable defence of NUFC’s position. The proportion of NUFC supporters feeling massive anger at results is pretty tiny, so the only real pressure the board is feeling has to do with profitability. Villa, Blades, City, PSG, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United again, Sunderland – those are results enough for any good Toon season in the last 25 years.

The question isn’t whether Howe should be replaced right now, but whether he can navigate the path to a more balanced squad while remaining threatening. I do fear that your estimate of Newcastle’s available summer transfer funds is a bit optimistic, but then again, I’d imagine that PIF could encourage any number of low-key promotional deals among the companies they own. It’s probably not even shady, as long as they stick to Fair Market Value.

Still, I’m sorry James, but either Bruno or Isak will surely go in the summer, possibly along with Joelinton. Come to DC and I’ll buy the beers we cry into. But this is why I think the club will stick with Eddie Howe: he’ll get something better out of most any player while playing the kind of high-pressure, explosive football that St. James Park feeds on.

We might have lost at home to Luton, but even in our worst run of form, we can scare City. Big sales will let us buy and develop players who go on to sell for still more profit. That’s how City did it, right? They just didn’t have the same rules in place.

By the by, reporting from The Athletic alerted me that we shouldn’t just be discussing FFP rules for EPL clubs but also P&S — for Profit & Sustainability — rules. Evidently, English clubs playing in Europe must abide by FFP rules in addition to the Premier League’s own P&S rules, which are more strict and possibly more arbitrary than FFP, in that limits were assigned in GBP eight years ago with no attention to inflation in player costs.

I’m certainly not looking to assert that NUFC of all clubs deserve to have the rules changed on their behalf, but maybe Everton and Nottingham Forest do. I also find myself considering the armies of lawyers and accountants billing time to ensure compliance with these various regulations, giving Barca, City, PSG, et al the side-eye, and wondering who really benefits from it all.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (And yeah, how tf aren’t the FFP police all up in Barcelona’s butt?)

READ: Trippier second-best PIF signing: Ranking all 13 Newcastle buys made by those filthy rich Saudis

What about Manchester United?
So, due to current FFP (or whatever this week’s appropriate acronym is) rules, Newcastle (the club with the richest owners in the league) are having to sell to stay within “sustainable” limits

This is something I could understand, if it were not for the fact that another club ending in United have spent a fortune in recent years, all while being hundreds of millions in debt.

How is that fair play?

Surely it’s time to bring in league wide transfer and wage caps if fairness is the point?

I’ve no dog in the fight personally, but it absolutely stinks of the big boys pulling up the ladder behind them.

Ta,
Dave PVFC

Blue moon
Poor Levenshulme Blue is getting absolute pelters from fans of other clubs desperate for our guilty verdict.

But what he said makes sense, although I wouldn’t have written to mailbox to say it – clubs should do due diligence and even if they don’t, everyone knows about 115 charges so why appoint someone that may be implicated or banned from football (see Paratici, Fabio) ? unless you anticipate a not guilty verdict or the person was only minimally involved – but his CV will tell you how much he was.

So before you call him for delirium Dave, Manchester that’s how Man City will AFFECT ( Not effect) the Man United CEO – just like Juventus crime affected Spurs.

Chers (you believe in love after love?)
Keith

How to fix VAR
Just in case the debate around VAR has died down, I thought I would throw my idea into the mix. Basically, I think I can solve VAR and dissent in one easy rule change.

My idea is a build on the ‘3 challenges per team’ idea which has been floated before. However, instead of the challenges being reserved for the captain or the manager, any player can challenge. The way any player challenges is by shouting at the ref. If you think it was your throw in- shout at the ref. If you think you should have had a foul- shout at the ref. Any decision, no matter how minor, shout at the ref and VAR reviews it. If it turns out it was your throw, you retain the challenge. If it wasn’t, then you lose a challenge.

The way the game is at the moment, teams will either burn through their 3 challenges within about 5 minutes or they will stop shouting at the ref. Once you have burned through your challenges, VAR doesn’t intervene at all. Not on offside goals, not on penalties, nothing. If you concede a last minute goal that was offside- tough luck, you shouldn’t have burned through your challenges in the first 5 minutes by claiming a throw in you know came off you.

Also, once all challenges are gone any shouting at the ref is a booking.

If football did this, see how quickly the automatic claiming of throws, corners of fouls stops. Bruno Fernandes would be out of a job in seconds.
Micki ‘a game without rules is a game for fools’ Attridge