Although as an addendum to my moral below, just checked for the Brooklyn Nets for around the same time and they're doing resale tickets for $27

REPD - also, there will be holders of corporate tickets which they got given for free selling them to make a few easy quid…

Afternoon all. I reckon if you go to the World Cup you'll be able to get into most games a lot cheaper if you wait a day or two beforehand as they find they can't shift tickets. Although let's face it - plenty will buy them at full whack.

Trouble is Bush it’s a bit like trying to predict the future and not knowing if and when anything will change. Could be 50 years or more before any significant change.

I wonder what barmy army fans are paying for Ashes tickets - anyone know?

DD - I agree… I’ve never followed England abroad, but I’d be furious if I was a regular travelling fan - the frustrating thing is that a lot of seats will be empty anyway because so many are given/sold as “corporate” for people who don’t even bother to turn up… 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

Completely disgusted by those WC Final prices. Doesn't affect me as I don't attend international fixtures and have no intention of visiting the USA for the foreseeable future. But that is a total slap in the face towards supporters who loyally follow their national team.

Trigger - following up on point yesterday about very few L1 clubs getting into severe financial difficulties in last 20-25 years. That's true, but i think probably more has changed in the last 5 years than did in the 20 years previous. Average spending on players has doubled in the last 5 years. I think now 9 of the 24 L1 teams are foreign owned, the majority US. There are also lots of clubs that have been looking for investment for a while (whether minority or majority) and seemingly not finding many takers. You could make a hypothesis that lots of rich foreign investors buy lower level EFL clubs in the hope of "doing a Wrexham". Then finding that doesn't happen and you need to lose several millions pounds a year just to stand still. Then at some point you might want to stop that and struggle to find someone else to take it on. That happening at the same time the regulator comes in may offer some hope. I certainly can't see the Premier League bubble bursting any time soon but I think it could be a different matter at L1/2 when the rewards/glamour are so much smaller. There was an excellent discussion around some of this stuff (broadening out from observations about L2 getting much older) on NTT20. Would highly recommend a listen: [Link]

🚨New episode available now🚨 Lee Finch and Ollie Lewis 🔵Exeter and the Flu 🟡Cope - has he failed this season? 🔵Busy Christmas period. 🟡Mansfield preview. Like, share and listen. By the fans. For the fans. [Link]

Driza - of Australian origin, I believe.

The bone debate, the monica refers to a brand of waterproof coat which was my overcoat of choice during non league.

Exactly that Nick. With the global reach of football there is no route to universal spending caps which is immune from legal challenge or unethical misconduct. I admire those who seek to make it a fairer game but as we’ve seen even in that small pond* the calibre and trust is low. What hope when the bar is so low it’s below pitch level?

To have an effective salary cap (as you do in most North American sports) you really need two things (1) a sport that is only really played in one country, or where that country is so dominant that its league can set the rules for the rest of the world (2) specific exemption for the relevant sport from rules ensuring competition and preventing collusion. Neither of those apply to football in the UK or have any prospect of doing so.

$6M man - totally agree with what you say below - the idea of sustainability rules (essentially limiting the losses which a club is able to incur, even if those are funded by the owners) is a reasonable one but it is never going to work, as there are always enough owners/ potential owners who don't want to follow the rules (because they want on-field success over everything else) and it is very easy indeed to get around any set of accounts-based rules and restrictions, quite apart from the fact that any rules which actually did work would be unlikely to sustain legal challenge.

Amen to that.

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought the whole premise behind this sustainability malarky was to stop clubs getting themselves into a mess by overstretching themselves in pursuit of promotion and all the riches they think will come their way, falling short, the owner's pockets being empty and they are lumbered with excessive player salaries and other outgoings they can't afford. Yes, it happens all the time, most of the time a club will then eventually get bought by somebody else and the cycle repeats itself. My challenge is it is thought having sustainability rules is a good idea, then actually make them about sustainability, otherwise don't bother.

Yes you can’t punish us if, as well engaged, well informed and respected owners, we are willing to put money into the club to keep things sustainable.

Tom Beere wasn't that special at Carshalton Athletic

The Football League is sustainable as long as there are people willing to cover losses, for whatever reasons they are willing to cover them. If the Stevenage guy is complaining it is hypocritical as the clubs are losing that much because people like him cough up. It appears unsustainable for fan owned clubs, the sooner we address that the better.

Because sustainable is until it is not. You can’t punish a private owner for being willing and able to out money into a club.

Tom Beere went down a few rabbit holes - he’s got his own “narrative” on various things… Pity really, I imagine he had potential, but he took a different path… 🤷🏻‍♂️

These sustainability rules make me laugh in that clubs can take into account money the owners pump in. Presumably that is just for donations (p&l) and not buying more shares (capital) but nothing would surprise me. How is taking into account what an owner puts in sustainable when they could just decide to stop? Ridiculous.

They'll just hand World Cup tickets to kids and locals if they aren't selling. There is probably a secondary sale to locals at lower prices for group matches at least.

Those World Cup ticket prices are disgusting. If they don't backtrack and prices more sensibly then I hope the games are played in half empty stadiums, especially the final. It will be full of corporate client entertaining, not supporters who have spent years following their country's football team and get priced out. Shameful.

As per Peter Fear and Joe Kinnear, Dazzer