17/04/2023–23/04/2023
The worst is yet to come for gambling companies..
- Gambling firms have become increasingly prominent as sponsors in the English Premier League in recent years. In fact, nine out of the 20 Premier League clubs for the 2021/2022 season had a gambling firm as their shirt sponsor, including big clubs such as Manchester United, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur. This trend is not unique to the Premier League, as gambling sponsorship has become prevalent in other sports leagues as well.
- While the revenue generated by these sponsorship deals can be significant for the clubs, it has also raised concerns about the normalization of gambling and its potential impact on fans, particularly young fans. Various critics argue that the prevalence of gambling ads and sponsorship in the game could contribute to gambling addiction and other negative consequences associated with gambling
- As a result, there have been calls for tighter regulations on gambling advertising and sponsorship in sports. In 2019, the UK government introduced a ban on gambling advertising during live sports events before 9pm and On April 13, 2022, Premier League clubs agreed to ban match-day front-of-shirt sponsorship deals with gambling companies from the summer of 2026. The ban was described as a voluntary measure aimed at reducing the visibility of gambling advertising in football, and the Premier League became the first sports league in the UK to take such a step.
- The question now will be who are the winners and losers in a situation like this ? The ban will certainly have an impact on the clubs and leagues that currently rely on such sponsorships for additional revenue. The immediate losers will be the mid-to lower clubs that have existing sponsorship deals with gambling companies, as they will need to find new sponsors to replace the lost revenue once the ban comes into effect, and if they struggle to it may affect the quality of players on the pitch. An example of this would be, Stake.com currently provide Everton FC with £10m a year and with the side currently facing a relegation battle it will be very difficult to see where they would be able to replicate this source of funding.
Tough Decision for Andrea to make…
- It certainly seems like a complex situation for Andrea Radrizzani and his potential bid for Inter Milan. This is because his bid for Inter Milan is contingent on selling his 56% ownership stake in Leeds FC to the 49ers enterprises consortium, but this is dependent on Leeds retaining their Premier League status. With the club currently battling against relegation, it’s unclear whether this condition will be met.
- Furthermore, while Inter Milan is a historic and prestigious football club, their financial situation has been concerning in recent years. The club has been making significant losses, with a loss of €245.6million for the 2020/2021 financial year and a projected loss of €140 million for the 2021/2022 financial year. These financial struggles have led the club to seek external funding from Oaktree Capital Management.
- Given these challenges, it may be wise for Radrizzani to proceed with caution when it comes to his bid for Inter Milan. While the club may have significant potential in the long term, the current financial situation could pose a significant risk. Ultimately, any decision to pursue the bid will likely depend on a careful assessment of Cost-Benefit Analysis, as well as the availability of financing and other resources.
What does winning the Champions League actually tell us?
AC Milan, Manchester City, Inter Milan, Real Madrid
Only one team there has not won the UCL before, and yet according to any sports better, according to most fans of English footballer, with the Premier League as the best in the world, Manchester City step into the semi-finals of the Champions League with the best striker in the world, the best midfielder in the world, and the best coach in the world. Surely this time? Surely?
It would be fun to pretend that Manchester City have some innate quality or lack thereof that means they won’t win it this time round, because they’ve been closer than they currently are, against weaker opposition and still floundered. Why would this time be different? Haaland? A fully integrated Grealish? Julian Alvarez off the bench?
Following the game against Bayern, during his interview, Pep Guardiola mentioned that last year when his side lost to Real Madrid that he didn’t feel that his side was worse than Real Madrid, saying in games like this “it’s a coin toss”. So maybe, none of those individuals will ultimately determine what happens, maybe it boils down to good fortune more than anything else when teams of such high quality come up against one another. Bayern Munich’s performances over the two legs won’t be what remains in the collective memory, what will however remain ingrained in all of our minds is what we saw from Dayot Upamecano, two mistakes that led directly to Bayern conceding and a goal from 30 or so metres from Rodrigo Hernandez. A tie ultimately decided by big moments more than it was the tactical setups the two coaches used to try unsettle one another.
So perhaps Pep is right? Maybe in all these moments where his side hasn’t won, you could suggest that he was just terribly unlucky. When he lost the Champions League Final in 2021 to Chelsea, considering who the goal scorer was and his fortunes thereafter, maybe Kai Havertz was lucky, certainly luckier than Chelsea have looked in the seasons thereafter, that season now looks like a blip more than anything else, Chelsea no longer look a side capable of being crowned European Champions, yet if Manchester City or Real Madrid win the title this season both their fanbases would be entitled to claim that their team is “the best in the world”. Yet it is also entirely plausible that neither side would end the season even being crowned the best team in their own countries. Real Madrid, we know definitely won’t.
The idea that the best team in the world is the winner of the Champions league is a funny, one, I understand why the argument is made but it truly is something so dependent on so many factors.
If Milan won the Champions League this year I don’t think it would be ridiculous to argue that they were lucky to play Inter and Napoli instead of the oppositions that they might have been less familiar with, they lost to Chelsea in the group stages home and away, and you could argue that there was a lot luck in having played that game when they did instead of later on in the tournament, maybe then we’d be talking about Chelsea as lucky, if Chelsea somehow navigated their way to a final this year, it would be harder to point to it as simple good fortune. At a certain point quality is the ultimate decider.
Pep is right as we know it is a game of fine margins, decided by subtle, extremely subtle moments, but if they somehow don’t win this year having beaten Bayern it would reflect some kind of ineptitude that Pep has a coach, a level of game management perhaps? To call it overthinking would be lazy, but the idea that with the tools at his disposal he simply cannot win this one trophy is baffling. I don’t think it’s something that even he could fully make sense of if you asked him.
If AC Milan won the Champions League this season it represents the rise of a once fallen giant, the end of the dark days, a year after ending their decade long wait for a Serie A title, they’d have reclaimed their status as Italy’s top side, somehow in the same year that they’d have lost their Serie A crown. A much simpler narrative than the one that exists in a world where Manchester City win or lose the Champions League, or the Premier League, even if Milan did not win the Champions League their European campaign is a success, the same can be said of their rivals and direct opponents Inter Milan, the side who makes their way to the final get there as underdogs regardless of who they face, the two of them face the remainder of this tournament with far less pressure than the two sides on the other side of the bracket. The idea of what success looks like is so subjective it has become slightly humorous.
Los Merengues enter a semi-final attempting to defend their title against the side they beat last season and still describing them as underdogs isn’t too far removed from reality, such is the mystery around Real Madrid and this competition. Vinicius, Benzema and co, still maintain this air of invincibility despite being anything but that domestically. A side that plays to the level of their opponent is always a dangerous one but also a vulnerable one, my head says they’ll win but there’s a level of decisiveness that City seem to have finally found that suggests to me that this is where the European giants are slain by Pep once more. Whether that results in a win in the final is a different conversation…
Special mentions for the performances this week..
Nico Barella, without him I don’t think Inter Milan would have qualified for the Champions League at all, let alone the semi-final.
Another for Antonio Silva. 19 years old starting in a Champions League quarter final at CB is an impressive achievement.
Lastly Kingsley Coman. He’s scored the winner in a Champions League final, he’s won the league in every year he’s played as a professional and somehow it feels he’s underlooked in that Bayern side. Special, special footballer.
