Saudi Football

[Loyal72 11,053]

I think it's a subject we're going to talk about over the coming season, possibly years, a lot of the big names in football are heading there, so as well having a thread for it.

What are people's opinions on the super rich league anyway? I'm actually quite happy to see the EPL squirm.

Some news from the league today:

 

 

 

 

 

[RFC55 108,970]

It’s exciting can’t wait to watch the big derby match 

[MacBoyd 5,443]

Certainly getting alot more than the Chinese league did

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

I cant see anything other than it falling flat on its arse to be honest.

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league where you have 'superstars' on £700k a week playing next to locals who would be lucky to get a game for Raith Rovers.

They wont be able to compete in the big Euro competitions like the CL and EL (unless Uefa get even more corrupt).

I have no idea what their fan bases are like, but I imagine it will be utterly shite atmosphere wise.

I think it will soon pretty much just revert to being a place for a final payday for some washed up stars once they discover there is little interest in the league. 

[blaudrup 5,348]

I'm a bit alarmed given what they did to golf, and now basically own the sport.

[Loyal72 11,053]

11 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

I cant see anything other than it falling flat on its arse to be honest.

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league where you have 'superstars' on £700k a week playing next to locals who would be lucky to get a game for Raith Rovers.

They wont be able to compete in the big Euro competitions like the CL and EL (unless Uefa get even more corrupt).

I have no idea what their fan bases are like, but I imagine it will be utterly shite atmosphere wise.

I think it will soon pretty much just revert to being a place for a final payday for some washed up stars once they discover there is little interest in the league. 

There's a part of me thinking that a club world competition is the next thing on the Horizon from UEFA/FIFA, incorporating the rich from the Americas, Asia etc into one competition.

Globalising football effectively under one brand.

Ps I know there's the FIFA CWC - but that's not taken as seriously for example. I'm meaning replacing the UCL.

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

1 minute ago, Loyal72 said:

There's a part of me thinking that a club world competition is the next thing on the Horizon from UEFA/FIFA, incorporating the rich from the Americas, Asia etc into one competition.

Globalising football effectively under one brand.

Yea, I do feel that that might be on the cards to be honest.

Lets face it though, with the mockery of the FFP rules with clubs like Man City, there is possibly no real road block for the Saudis just getting the rule books ripped up and if something like the CWC replaces the CL, then all bets are off.

[graeme_4 34,537]

Honestly have zero interest in watching it, regardless of who they sign.

Barely even watch the UCL anymore, never mind this shite. 

Can’t buy history.

[maverick1200 2,828]

37 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

I cant see anything other than it falling flat on its arse to be honest.

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league where you have 'superstars' on £700k a week playing next to locals who would be lucky to get a game for Raith Rovers.

They wont be able to compete in the big Euro competitions like the CL and EL (unless Uefa get even more corrupt).

I have no idea what their fan bases are like, but I imagine it will be utterly shite atmosphere wise.

I think it will soon pretty much just revert to being a place for a final payday for some washed up stars once they discover there is little interest in the league. 

The difference with China and Saudi is the amount of wealth the Saudis have. Currently they can't spend what is incoming so if they can keep the investment they could build a reasonable alternative to European football. 

However your right, the atmosphere will always be shit. Although I have no idea what it's like over there, young footballers should be weary of moving there considering the stupid shit they get up to. 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

I cant see anything other than it falling flat on its arse to be honest.

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league where you have 'superstars' on £700k a week playing next to locals who would be lucky to get a game for Raith Rovers.

They wont be able to compete in the big Euro competitions like the CL and EL (unless Uefa get even more corrupt).

I have no idea what their fan bases are like, but I imagine it will be utterly shite atmosphere wise.

I think it will soon pretty much just revert to being a place for a final payday for some washed up stars once they discover there is little interest in the league. 

They have some huge fanbases in the country

Most Saudis support a local team and then a European one

Al Hilal have a 65k seater stadium which sells out , they're the most successful team in the country and have won the AFC Champions League 4 times

They have a significantly bigger market in their own country than we do with our clubs. Comment on their sportswashing and buying high profile players all you want, but most of your post is pretty ignorant of that region

You might not care (and tbh neither do I) but there are millions who do

 

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,792]

Clubs in Europe have become utterly obsessed with signing younger players who have room to develop, improve and then possibly be sold on if they are at smaller clubs and it’s almost left the big name “veterans” with nowhere to go because bigger clubs don’t want them because their main targets are guys who are 22-26.

You don’t really see guys who are 29-30 moving for massive fees anymore like you did 20 years ago and once guys get older they seem to become even less desirably commodities.

Saudi gives those guys an option to make more money than they’ve ever made in their lives, and even if you don’t agree with the sport washing aspect of it, you can’t deny that the Saudi’s have found a massive gap in the market to exploit and they are doing so very successfully.

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

24 minutes ago, psb07158 said:

They have some huge fanbases in the country

Most Saudis support a local team and then a European one

Al Hilal have a 65k seater stadium which sells out , they're the most successful team in the country and have won the AFC Champions League 4 times

They have a significantly bigger market in their own country than we do with our clubs. Comment on their sportswashing and buying high profile players all you want, but most of your post is pretty ignorant of that region

You might not care (and tbh neither do I) but there are millions who do

 

I think it is a bit unfair of you to claim most of my post is ignorant to be honest.

Al Hilal, currently have an average attendance of less than 10k for this season, last season it was 13k. They are currently planning on moving to a new 40,000 seater stadium. No idea if their capacity is currently reduced due to work getting done or if its just shite.

This season there are 4 clubs with an average attendance greater than 10k.

Steven Gerrards team who are paying Henderson £700k a week have an average attendance last season in line with St Johnston's average home attendance. This year it has climbed a bit to rival that of Kilmarnock's.

There might be millions who care, but no that many of them are actually turning up to watch. 

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

I think it is a bit unfair of you to claim most of my post is ignorant to be honest.

Al Hilal, currently have an average attendance of less than 10k for this season, last season it was 13k. They are currently planning on moving to a new 40,000 seater stadium. No idea if their capacity is currently reduced due to work getting done or if its just shite.

This season there are 4 clubs with an average attendance greater than 10k.

Steven Gerrards team who are paying Henderson £700k a week have an average attendance last season in line with St Johnston's average home attendance. This year it has climbed a bit to rival that of Kilmarnock's.

There might be millions who care, but no that many of them are actually turning up to watch. 

Quote

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league

They have the fastest growing economy in the G20, a young population absolutely obsessed with football and money to burn. Look at the social media following of some of these clubs you've mentioned. We have 700k. Al Hilal has 10 million

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

21 minutes ago, psb07158 said:

They have the fastest growing economy in the G20, a young population absolutely obsessed with football and money to burn. Look at the social media following of some of these clubs you've mentioned. We have 700k. Al Hilal has 10 million

You said my post was ignorant, while claiming 'They have some huge fanbases in the country'.

Last year, their second highest attended club had a smaller average attendance than fucking Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen.

I think when I state the atmosphere is likely to be shite when we are talking about low to mid level SPFL attendances, in big fucking stadiums, most with huge fuck off running tracks round them, im safe to say that I think my point is fairly fucking valid.

 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

You said my post was ignorant, while claiming 'They have some huge fanbases in the country'.

Last year, their second highest attended club had a smaller average attendance than fucking Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen.

I think when I state the atmosphere is likely to be shite when we are talking about low to mid level SPFL attendances, in big fucking stadiums, most with huge fuck off running tracks round them, im safe to say that I think my point is fairly fucking valid.

 

I quoted the part of the post that was ignorant but I'll repeat it here since you seem to have ignored it:

Quote

No-one is gonna give a fuck about teams no-one has ever heard of, playing in a shitey league

Al Hilal - 11.1m X followers
Al Ittihad - 4.7m X followers
Al Nassr - 4m X followers
Al Shabab - 520k X followers
Al Ahli SC - 2.2m X followers

I think a few people might have heard of them.

 

[The Dude 20,026]

4 minutes ago, psb07158 said:

I quoted the part of the post that was ignorant but I'll repeat it here since you seem to have ignored it:

Al Hilal - 11.1m X followers
Al Ittihad - 4.7m X followers
Al Nassr - 4m X followers
Al Shabab - 520k X followers
Al Ahli SC - 2.2m X followers

I think a few people might have heard of them.

 

For comparison

Rangers - 783k
Celtic - 902k
Aberdeen - 129k
Hearts - 115k

 

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

7 minutes ago, psb07158 said:

I quoted the part of the post that was ignorant but I'll repeat it here since you seem to have ignored it:

Al Hilal - 11.1m X followers
Al Ittihad - 4.7m X followers
Al Nassr - 4m X followers
Al Shabab - 520k X followers
Al Ahli SC - 2.2m X followers

I think a few people might have heard of them.

 

You actually stated 'most of your post is pretty ignorant of that region'.

I genuinely dont give much of a fuck about their social media following when they are drawing crowds that are shat on by Hibs ffs.

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

4 minutes ago, The Dude said:

For comparison

Rangers - 783k
Celtic - 902k
Aberdeen - 129k
Hearts - 115k

 

Wrexham - 1.94m

Absolute powerhouse of world football.

[The Dude 20,026]

3 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

Wrexham - 1.94m

Absolute powerhouse of world football.

Certainly not a powerhouse but mental to suggest they aren't getting attention since average attendances in their division varied from 10k to 1200.

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

2 minutes ago, The Dude said:

Certainly not a powerhouse but mental to suggest they aren't getting attention since average attendances in their division varied from 10k to 1200.

They are getting attention because they are owned by a couple of Hollywood guys and have a TV show.

As soon as they fuck off the attention will quickly vanish.

Just as the social media following of Ronaldo's team will no doubt drop off the day he retires.

Forgive me for wanting to differentiate that I would take attendances in a clubs football ground to indicate their stature in the game over some cunt taking the effort a few years ago to click 'follow' on twitter cause a washed up Ronaldo moved over there.

Maybe im wrong, it might be absolutely jumping in the 62,000 seater King Abdullah Sports City stadium with its average attendance of 15k.

Abha Club must be fucking intimidating with its 20,000 capacity stadium with its average crowds being that of a Dunfermline home match.

Give me a fucking break, the Saudi League is an absolute diddy league which is only in the picture due to the oil, nothing more.

[The Dude 20,026]

7 minutes ago, mitre_mouldmaster said:

They are getting attention because they are owned by a couple of Hollywood guys and have a TV show.

As soon as they fuck off the attention will quickly vanish.

Just as the social media following of Ronaldo's team will no doubt drop off the day he retires.

Forgive me for wanting to differentiate that I would take attendances in a clubs football ground to indicate their stature in the game over some cunt taking the effort a few years ago to click 'follow' on twitter cause a washed up Ronaldo moved over there.

Maybe im wrong, it might be absolutely jumping in the 62,000 seater King Abdullah Sports City stadium with its average attendance of 15k.

Abha Club must be fucking intimidating with its 20,000 capacity stadium with its average crowds being that of a Dunfermline home match.

Give me a fucking break, the Saudi League is an absolute diddy league which is only in the picture due to the oil, nothing more.

That would have Atlanta United being on a par for size with us.

Al-Ittihad - the only team to play there  - had an average attendance of 40,000 last season

[mitre_mouldmaster 21,509]

5 minutes ago, The Dude said:

That would have Atlanta United being on a par for size with us.

Al-Ittihad - the only team to play there  - had an average attendance of 40,000 last season

I have significantly more respect for a team getting an average attendance of 47,000 fans over the course of a season and would quite happily say that they are a far bigger club than one with an average attendance of about 5k but happen to have a couple of million followers on instagram. I would be incredibly surprised if many would disagree with me.

Actually Al-Ahli SFC also played there, after being surprisingly relegated when being considered one of the big 4 in the country. I used their attendance figures from 21/22 for this reason to indicate their top flight attendances.

Want me to exclusively use examples from 22/23? Fine, how you think the atmosphere is in the 56k seater King Fahd International Stadium when Al-Hilal SFC are filling it to almost the rafters with their average attendance of 9.8k?

[Moody Blue Legend 61,505]

I’d go in a heartbeat.  My morals are in the gutter though.

[blaudrup 5,348]

2 minutes ago, Moody Blue Legend said:

I’d go in a heartbeat.  My morals are in the gutter though.

Also if you staple a photo to the front of the wife's niqab it's a bit like having an affair.

[maverick1200 2,828]

13 hours ago, Moody Blue Legend said:

I’d go in a heartbeat.  My morals are in the gutter though.

Same. 2 years is nothing when you are on that kind of money.