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News thread for the 2017-2018 season

Wolves have pulled away, with a 12 point lead on Villa. But only 7 points separate 2nd from 6th.

Wolves have been the class of the Championship pretty much right from week one. Villa had their struggles early and still aren't exactly an offensive force, but they finally stabilized the back end and that helps a lot. Weirdly enough, moving Grealish to a deeper, more central position has made a huge difference.
 
It also looks like Sunderland may be headed for a 2nd consecutive relegation. They're 23rd, 3 points from safety. Hull may meet the same fate, they're 21st, only 1 point clear. Middlesbrough are 9th, 4 points out of the last playoff spot.
 
The free fall is real. Hull has shown a surprising amount of fight given their clownish ownership, but Sunderland has just been bad all season. Villa did the same crap last year only to finally catch themselves in February. Maybe the Black Cats will do the same. Middlesborough were built to bounce. They'll be fine and probably back competing for promotion next season.
 
Ellis Short is giving Sunderland away for free. But the new owner has to assume the debt. They have about 137 million pounds in debt, split roughly in half between what's owed Short personally and what is owed to Security Bank Corporation. Interest payments run about 8 million pounds per year to Security Bank.

They're looking at a 2nd consecutive relegation, currently at the bottom of the Championship table with 26 points in 33 matches.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43157628
 
Ellis Short is giving Sunderland away for free. But the new owner has to assume the debt. They have about 137 million pounds in debt, split roughly in half between what's owed Short personally and what is owed to Security Bank Corporation. Interest payments run about 8 million pounds per year to Security Bank.

They're looking at a 2nd consecutive relegation, currently at the bottom of the Championship table with 26 points in 33 matches.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43157628

Honestly, that just shy of criminal mismanagement in my book.
 
Cleaning up some misc. news .... Celtic won an unprecedented "double treble" in Scotland this past week. They wrapped up the Scottish Cup with a win over Motherwell this weekend after having previously beaten the same side in the league cup and having clinched the league title with a resounding butt whoopin' of Rangers a couple of weeks ago. Last season they managed to win the same three trophies and never actually lost a match in the process. This year was less decisive but pulling the triple in consecutive seasons has never been done in Scotland.

Biggest feat of all ... this run has firmly resuscitated the career prospects of Brendan Rogers after his miserable failure at Liverpool.
 
Speaking of Liverpool, Steven Gerrard is taking over as boss at Rangers. As if The Old Firm needs more drama...
 
The European leagues have all completed so the Champions League participants are set. In only their 10th year of professional football, 1899 Hoffenheim qualified for the Champions League by finishing 3rd in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim will also become the smallest city to participate, population 3,011 in the 2011 census. But they play their matches in Steinsfurt.
 
Speaking of Liverpool, Steven Gerrard is taking over as boss at Rangers. As if The Old Firm needs more drama...

The Old Firm, my friend, veritably LIVES on drama. Celtic fans are almost as giddy as their Rangers counterparts to see a big name on the other touch line. The general line seems to be "why beat up on nobodies when you can beat up on Hall of Famers?"
 
Arsenal will name outgoing PSG manager Unai Emery as the new manager later this week. He won 3 consecutive Europa League championshps with Sevilla in 2014-16 before leaving to coach PSG. He won Ligue 1 by 13 points this year and both domestic cups the last 2 years.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44203679
 
Umm ... he's going to need an entirely different kind of roster or he's going to have to abandon that soft pressure and then spring defend/counterpunch thing he did at Seville for years and sort of had PSG doing. The Arse just isn't set up for that.

But I guess Arsenal was going to have to overhaul that roster no matter what. Nobody else was really still trying to play the free flowing stretch the seams and then run through them stuff anymore. Shame too. I've always liked that brand of football.
 
49ers Enterprises, the investment group that owns the San Francisco 49ers has purchased a 10% stake in Leeds United. 49ers Enterprise President Paraag Marathe has also joined Leeds' board of directors. Leeds Chairman Andrea Radrizzani says the additional capital will be used to "improve results on the pitch". Leeds haven't played in the Premier League since being relegated after the 2003-04 season.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44236885
 
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