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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9 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.

  5. Tony, I think the OPTA problem is down to poor journalism. The OPTA figures seemed to be stating Arsenal’s current expected league position based on games played so far. OPTA’s expected current position for Arsenal was stated as eighth based on the matches we have played to date (two of them with 10 players vs. 11).

    The journalists have twisted/misunderstood the stats to mean expected league position after 38 games.

    Imagine these journalists interpreting the Man City ruling. It really is quite staggering.

  6. seismic

    It’s just all part of the endless attack on Arsenal. Whether the story has any relevance to Arsenal of today. Or it’s a story from years ago. As long as it has a negative context somewhere and you can get Arsenal into the headline that will do.

    These are the main stories that come up if you search Arsenal in Google this morning:

    The Mirror:

    “Arsenal set to face Man City accusation in emergency Premier League meeting”

    -Although it isn’t just Arsenal, it of course has to be Arsenal in the headline.

    The Evening Standard

    “Arsenal could be Man City rival hit hardest by Premier League rule change, warns finance expert”

    -Well, maybe the could, maybe they couldn’t. Who cares. It’s a negative Arsenal story.

    The Express:

    “‘I feel so happy after ditching Arsenal – I’m at home and getting called king of assists’ Nuno Tavares has spent the majority of his Arsenal career away from the Emirates on loan, and it looks unlikely that the defender will return to North London

    – A load of nonsense but it gets ‘Ditching Arsenal’ in the headline so it will do.

    Foot.lo:

    “I couldn’t be happier after Arsenal exit – I feel at home and am being called ‘assist king’

    -Same as above.

    The Metro:

    “‘He’s a monster’ – David James says Mikel Arteta made mistake selling Arsenal star”

    Yep, another story about Martinez. This despite the fact Martinez let in over double the amount of goals Raya did last year. Raya keeping more clean sheets than anyone. Raya winning the Golden glove. Raya pulling off two of the best double stop saves ever seen, already this year. This despite Martinez already letting in a third more goals than Raya this season already.

    The Express (again)

    “Arsenal counting on £27m transfer as Mikel Arteta handed double setback”

    Again, another absolute nonsense story recycling old news about Merinos delayed start due to his shoulder injury. But it gets ‘Double Setback’ into a headline so who cares?

    The Metro:

    “Another Arsenal star is skipping international duty as a precaution”

    -Of course Arsenal players don’t get injured over International weekends, they SKIP Internationals

    And all this despite the following record this calendar year:

    P = 25

    W = 21

    D = 3

    L = 1

    F = 69

    A = 15

    GD = +54

    Over the last 25 games:

    That’s 1 point BETTER than Man City

    That’s 1 goal MORE scored than Man City

    That’s 6 goals LESS conceded than Man City.

    That’s a goal difference 7 BETTER than Man City

    Effectively we are the best team in calendar year 2024.

    Now of course we all know that doesn’t win any medals. I am not suggesting it does. What I am saying is we are fantastic team, that has been playing at least as well as everybody else, including Man city, for the entire year, yet all we get is negative headline after negative headline.

    It is a concerted media agenda to turn everyone and everything against us. To constantly cast as as cheats, or lucky.

    DRIP DRIP DRIP every single day.

  7. I forgot we have 1 more point than Man City as well over the last 25 games. (It’s actually the calendar year really but Man City carried a game over into early Jan. so I’m not counting their extra match played in 2024)

  8. No mention of the Trossard red card on the latest edition of Sky Sports refereeing whitewash show. PGMOL wouldn’t want to go anywhere near that one after two Arsenal players were sent off for kicking the ball away in one month, especially when compared with the treatment afforded to other clubs committing the same (or worse) offences. Michael Owen can be relied upon to keep quiet in order to spare PGMOL blushes, but this would have been a can of worms too far*

    I agree with Terry

    Warning:- this video also mentions the “dark arts” 🤣🤣

    * Metaphors mixed to order.

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