Random Premier League Thoughts
We love the Premier League at Beacon of Speech.
But there's a huge shadow across the league this year, namely Manchester City's 114 (out of a possible 115) Premier League financial and non-cooperation violations.
What is a fair punishment? Oh, you've come to the wrong place for that.
If you go by past league precedent, it would be a 160 point deduction. You deduct 80 points this year, City is relegated, then you deduct 80 more points when they return. What would that look like in reality?
2027 - Relegated (80 point deduction)
2028 - Promoted back to Premier League (tentatively)
2029 - Relegated (80 point deduction)
2030 - Promoted back to Premier League (tentatively)
2031 - Punishment over.
That will never, ever happen. I have a better chance of winning the PowerBall on Monday evening.
What do I THINK will happen? I don't think the Premier League will vacate cups and victories like they did for the Tour de France champions:
Since nothing will make the other Premier League Owners happy except for cold, hard cash, I expect an eye-watering monetary penalty, coupled with minor point penalty. What would that look like in reality?
30 point deduction - City stays in the Premier League, can't play in European competitions next year.
$1 billion in penalties - Look for a formula that's heavily weighted toward payments for the others in the Big 6 and nominal payments for minnows that were relegated long ago.
City owner Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is worth around $25 billion and will scream from the rooftops how unfair the penalty is, then quietly cut that check and drop his appeals. (If City stays in the Premier League without relegation.)
Other thoughts:
Speaking of money, at the beginning of the season, we made this declaration: "I really wanted Tottenham to get relegated last year, not because I didn't like them, but to prove that money doesn't buy wins. But cash will buy them out of past mistakes. Tottenham fans will be ecstatic with mediocrity this year." Tottenham's position today? Dead last. Will they buy their way out the basement? Maybe not.
Caught the Wrexham/Preston game yesterday. Wrexham will not be promoted to the Premier League next Fall. Rob and Ryan will have lots of time to finish that Kop Stand Expansion.
Brighton & Hove Albion finds itself in third along with most of the other Big 6. How did they do it? They built their team from the back end forward around the pillar of defense, Lewis Dunk. He recently played his 500th game with Brighton and is vastly underrated when it comes to soccer coverage.
Chelsea finds itself near the top of the table, but with Emiliano Martinez breaking his jaw yesterday, their position could be tenuous. They need Martinez back in weeks, not in months.
Right now, all 3 teams that were promoted last year are in the middle of the pack. They are all playing with optimism and a new found euphoria. Look for Coventry and Hull to sink back down to the bottom 5 by Christmas.
Only 2 of the top 10 goal scorers in the Premier League (Morgan Rogers and Dominic Calvert-Lewin) are from England. Is that a problems for ENGLAND's Premier League?
Back in my playing days, my teammates mocked my propensity for hitting the posts. The top 3 teams in hitting the post this year are also at the bottom of the table. Is that a coincidence? Manchester United (13th), Nottingham Forest (18th), and Sunderland (19th) are all tied with 6 plunks each.
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As a lark, I ran Tottenham through an AI image generator and came up with 2 of the WORST examples of AI art I had ever seen.
Both made me laugh out loud:
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