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Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012. Hardly performing below capacity.....It looks like the players were performing below capacity in two identifiable phases : Sep 2007-Feb 2009 and Jul 2011-May 2013.
Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012. Hardly performing below capacity.....It looks like the players were performing below capacity in two identifiable phases : Sep 2007-Feb 2009 and Jul 2011-May 2013.
I have a longer answer but in short, this win was when Chelsea FC was halfway to solving its problem. In the season following the performances dipped again and the manager was sacked before Christmas. If the club hadn't won the Champions League in 2012 it would not have qualified to play in the competition in 2012-13. It's final Premier League place was too low.Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012. Hardly performing below capacity.....
It does all sound a bit Machiavellian doesn't it? Poor performance will have a multitude of antecedents. To lay all the blame solely at the door of agents is a bit of a leap in my opinion.If a player isn't performing, for form or more nefarious reasons, they can and should be dropped. Easy.
In this world where the analytics are a guideline on a player's ability in terms of potentially lucrative transfers, it makes little to no sense for a player, on behalf of an agent or otherwise to intentionally underperform, thus bombing their own stats and potential future earnings.
What are you going on about?The reasoning for the thread has been carefully provided. Happy to see discussion on that.
As for alternative approaches .... well it IS a forum.
Even under very capable managers players in a team underperform...why? you originally ask.
Agents get percentages. Most of the contracts the top Prem players get negotiated, rely on fixed sums of money, not on performance.
(If it was on performance, the 'Marks out of ten' would have to be awarded by a Completely Independent Body, like e.g. a Football League Panel, and totally incorruptible).
So unless they are going for The Silverware -
Why try that hard ?
If a player isn't performing, for form or more nefarious reasons, they can and should be dropped. Easy.
In this world where the analytics are a guideline on a player's ability in terms of potentially lucrative transfers, it makes little to no sense for a player, on behalf of an agent or otherwise to intentionally underperform, thus bombing their own stats and potential future earnings.
There's a thread about the fan-led review with a link to the full report here.https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59406087
The article above describes the recommendations of a fan-led review of professional football. It is reported that 47 recommendations have been made. Has anyone seen that full list ? That might be interesting.
From the article: one key recommendation is that an independent regulator be set up to help govern football. There are multiple examples of why that is needed, some of which are very recent : super league, clubs folding, premier league to EFL 'gap'.
I'm mentioning this issue here because an independent regulator could, at some point, look into the currently unregulated activities that are carried out by agents. It might, for example, seek to define what is considered professional conduct.
What's your view ?
Can agents be regulated in practice ?
This is an interesting quote :
"Speaking to BBC sports editor Dan Roan, Crouch added that the recommendations were to remove "vested interests" from football to ensure it can "become sustainable for the long-term future".
"
The term "vested interests" could cover a broad set of entities.
1) Almost every North End manager has had to work against a backdrop of his best players being sold, Alex Neil was no different.
2) Alex Neil's football was dull and uninspiring to watch long before Covid and I suggest he had already lost a section of the fanbase before lockdown 1.
3) His better players may have been replaced by worse players, but if that is the case how do we explain those odd/rare outstanding performances by these players. Does this not point to the ability being there and it being up to the manager to coach it out of them consistently?
4) Agents are parasites.
5) If agents talk to each other about players behind the scenes, surely club owners are talking behind the scenes about the agents and could double down and rid the game of the worst offenders.
6) And here's my main point I thought all the way through your post. The only way that you can stamp this out is by having a strong dressing room. I've said it elsewhere that we created a lot of problems for ourselves off the pitch by releasing Tom Clarke. We currently seem to be doing the same with Huntington. Think back to Man united, you read so many times how Roy Keane and certain members of the class of '92 and others (Schmeichel) bossed that dressing room and made sure that new players joining the squad knew the standards that were expected of them. That baton seems to have at some point been dropped and now look at the state of them. There is not a chance in the world that Pogba would be allowed to mince around the pitch if Roy Keane was in that dressing room.
I'd suggest that the club need to immediately u-turn on their behaviour towards Hunts. We have Gally in position who can impose standards. John Welsh has been brought back in and this is what we need. Preston North End needs to have an identity. I'd suggest that Alan Browne, who's been with us for 7 years now, should be appreciated more. Take his wages out of the equation, as they will just be his market value. In the current squad him and DJ are the stalwarts, so they really need to be the ones to get a grip of the dressing room. Are they strong enough characters, I don't know. But I believe that that's what's needed.
Obviously I don't know the hierarchy of the dressing room, but if there is a strong dressing room, one player wouldn't be able to come in and unsettle them. Well you'd think not. When Ben signed, even Gally was still in there on the playing squad.Ben Whiteman is a former captain with some presence as a leader, which may have ruffled some feathers in the PNE changing room?