The battle lines are drawn, but the Premier League has the winning hand.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

 

By Tony Attwood

When there is a legal bayttle between two big hitters it is often difficult to work out what is really going on, largely because the big boys will know that the little boys (ie the journalists) will repeat without question anything the big boys say.  So the media’s reponse us to go and say anything you like to make a story.

And when one of the media outlets in the midst of mulling over the results of a legal case that is not only beyond their readership but also beyond their writers, meanders off into another arena, it merely confirms they really have lost the plot.

So here we have a situation rather like that 32 years ago when the 22 clubs making up the First Division voted to resign from the Football League and set up the Premier League.  Some said it couldn’t happen then, others that it can’t happen now .  But most not mentioning any possible actions as a result of the ruling.   Which is a bit of an omission.

Instead, they are going off for a meander onto another planet (as for example with the Mail telling us today that a “Supercomputer” [which doesn’t exist] predicts the final Premier League table with new champions crowned, Arsenal finishing MID-TABLE and Man United set for another disastrous points total.”  (Their caps not mine).

So why is Opta, whom they always quote, predicting Arsenal to finish mid-table?   Well, actually they don’t tell us.   But they do have the headline “The Premier League final table has been predicted by Opta’s supercomputer” just to make sure we get what is being talked about.

That comes under the double heading… 

  • New champions have been tipped to lift the Premier League title this season
  • PREDICTED PREMIER LEAGUE TOP 10

where we see the table with “Liverpool as champions, Chelsea as runners’ up, ManC in third, Tottenham in fourth, Aston Villa slipping to fifth, Fulham a respectable sixth, Bournemouth what would be for them a very pleasing 7th and Arsenal eighth.”

The continue, “At the other end of the table, Wolves, Leicester and Ipswich have been tipped to be relegated to the Championship after struggling in the opening weeks of the Premier League.”

Now why are we going to see this gigantic Arsenal collapse not only from the results of this season but also last season?  We are not told.

But with such a bonkers prediction I obviously did go back and check that I wasn’t misreading it or maybe looking at last year’s newspaper by mistake (it has been known).   But no, “| Updated:

And really this is not just the prediction of some semi-skimmed journalist after a night celebrating with ManC’s owners.   This is on the Mail website today.  (Actually, maybe I’m wrong about the semi-skimmed journalist, but I think we should hold onto this).

As we have often pointed out before, the media chatters ceaselessly about supercomputers and claims that Opta has one, when in fact it doesn’t.  

But I knew the answer, because we have been down this road many times before.  Still once more I looked up Supercomputer and found the answer “A supercomputer is a computer that is at the top of its class in terms of performance. They are used for tasks such as weather forecasting, nuclear simulations, and aircraft design. The cost of making a supercomputer can range from $100 million to $1 billion.”

And just in case you think I have picked a report from someone who actually knows about supercomputers, I looked up “supercomputer” on the internet with the question “How much does an AI supercomputer cost?”

The answer came back “Try $100 billion”   Which is the estimated cost of Microsoft’s new “Stargate.” computer.  I am not sure that at the price, Opta will be able to buy much time on it to get predictions of the football results.

And I mention supercomputers and the football league table because we get this each year – the claim – often from the Sun but from other publications as well, that it is actually a supercomputer being used by them to predict results.

The cost of hiring a super computer to do this would be greater than the cost of running the Premier League – and that is just for a computer prediction, and assuming that you would be able to buy the time.

So generally, forget sports journalism.  Forget ManC’s supposed victory.  If the clubs are worried they can do what they did 32 years ago, and resign, leaving ManC and any other club that wants to be allied with them, and go and form their own league.   The Premier League is, we are often told, the most-watched league in the world, and the most wealthy.  Who exactly is going to stop them?   The FA?

And oh yes, there is a bonus point here.   The new league wouldn’t have the ultrasecretive PGMO running the refereeing either.

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4 Replies to “The battle lines are drawn, but the Premier League has the winning hand.”

  1. Like almost everything else in the Mail, complete nonsense. My only surprise is that they didn’t predict a win for their much loved Spuds.

  2. Man City are now throwing a hissy fit because the Premier league don’t see these rulings as quite the victory for Man City they do. Apparently they’ve written to every club expressing their outrage that they’re not all joining in the celebrations.

    Honestly, is there no depth to which this abhorrent regime and it’s odious fans will sink to?

    You know what, I don’t think there is.

  3. Graham Day

    It’s the Daily Mail. Is there any surprise that they support and admire a club that flaunts obscene, unlimited amounts of un earned wealth to the detriment of everybody else?

    It underpins everything this disgraceful rag stands for.

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