Rob McColl

Why the USA will never be a football superpower. Pay to play. In England, from 10 to 16 I payed junior football. The teams were mostly started by a parent who wanted, for free, to give kids a team to play in. Those teams then joined FA sanctioned leagues ( Lichfield league, Walsall league in my case). Subs were about 50p a game ( subs are a fee for admin, pitch hire, referee). The model in England hasn't changed much, save for the fact there's fewer teams and fewer leagues. But the cheap to play model, meaning the poor and rich can play equally, holds. I'm staying with one of my best mates in Miami. Had a late night conversation 2 nights ago. 2 kids that play football. $4000 per season, per child to play for a team. Why? US junior leagues are private enterprises (shock). The US equivalent of the Football Association offers no grassroots football, no level 1 to 3 cheap badges for Moms or Dads to take so they can coach the basics, no structure locally or nationally of organised leagues, just profiteers who start up a league, charge a fortune, and if you're a poor Messi-esque talent from the wrong part of Miami, sure you can buy a ball and play on a patch of grass, but forget organised football, you can't afford it. So imagine, in a nation of 350 million, how many kids they're missing out on and will continue to after this successful World Cup for them. Money, greed, pay to play. 99.9% of greats to play the game wouldn't have made it in America. Because they couldn't afford $4000 ( plus) to play. In subs my Mom probably paid £200 total over 6 or 7 years of junior football. America, it's not all about money you know, it's about opportunity for all too. And you're pricing generation after generation out of the chance to be a part of this incredible sport you've seen first hand. To the US Federation. Do fucking better. Organise local and national junior leagues, van profiteering, offer cheap coaching badges for parents who want to give their time for free to America's kids. Football. Accessible to all.

🤓Why Newcastle don't HAVE to sell more this summer I've been asked a lot about Newcastle's financial position (UEFA Football Earnings, UEFA SCR etc) including on this week's Talksport overview and specifically whether they need to sell Guimarães and/or Hall. Arsenal (and Arsenal fans) would love you to believe they do and they are over a barrel. The problem with Guimarães is that he wants to go, not that Newcastle have to sell. The first thing to note is that the Gordon sale is almost certainly in the 2026/27 accounts, not 2025/26 even though the deal was announced on 29 May. Newcastle had no particular need for a further, say, £42m of player trading profit in 2025/26, as the Isak money was already in there and PL PSR was comfortably passed due to the intra group sales in the prior year. From a UEFA perspective, the Gordon profit is far more valuable in the later years, because the club had already breached football earnings (the PSR-like UEFA test) for the period ending 30 June 2025, which is what triggered the settlement agreement. We don't yet know the full details of that settlement, but we do know the total fine was €10m, with €7m conditional ie only €3m unconditional. That implies a significantly smaller breach than even Aston Villa's the year before. The standard settlement structure gives a club leeway above the €60m acceptable deviation in the early years, before regulating back to a €60m cap over the full three-year period covering 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28. A €60m cap over 3 years is a challenge for Newcastle but it bites a long way into the future. If Gordon was finalised in 2026/27, Newcastle are on course for a modest overspend (say, €20m depending on league position and total commercial revenue - matchday is unlikely to materially exceed £60m whatever happens next season) which would be permitted under the settlement. Remember the usual base allowance in the settlement is €5m, topped up to €60m with owner equity contributions, which the ownership can comfortably provide. That leaves allowable leeway available for 2027/28 too - a year that's impossible to forecast at this stage, not least because nobody knows whether there will be any European revenue at all. It's also worth remembering that the Gordon and Tonali sales take maybe £15m of annual amortisation off the cost base, plus two sets of relatively high wages. Depending on the replacements, the net increase in amortisation and wages needn't be significant at all. So if there is a crunch, it likely doesn't come before the end of the three-year period - the 3 years ending 30 June 2028 and assessed in 2029. So there should still be capacity for investment before then. UEFA SCR is not a huge issue either. We know that the breach to 31 Dec 2025 was small because the fine was only €3m. This implies a miss of only €10m. In any event, there is no SCR check in for December 2026 for UEFA and the PL SCR test is easily met as it is 85% for the club in 26/27. Newcastle have a battle to keep Guimarães because the player wants to leave. But the idea that they'd be forced to sell in this window in particular is fanciful.

Haaland is what Americans mean when we say our bigger, stronger, faster athletes play other sports instead of soccer but if they focused on it they’d be elite.

🚨⚠️ OFFICIAL: Belgian Federation statement on Folarin Balogun red card case, saying they are “astonished”. “The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) is astonished by FIFA's decision to declare suspended United States player Folarin Balogun eligible to play in the USA–Belgium match on Monday, 6 July at 5:00 p.m. (Seattle time). FIFA bases its decision on Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code. This provision states that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee may decide to suspend the enforcement of a previously imposed disciplinary sanction. However, Article 66.4 of the same FIFA Disciplinary Code clearly provides that a red card (sending-off) automatically results in a suspension for the team's next match, as has been the case for all previous red cards issued during this FIFA World Cup. Furthermore, and irrespective of the above, the decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations, as set out in Article 10.5: "If a player or team official is sent off as a result of a direct or indirect red card (second caution), they will automatically be suspended from their team's subsequent match. In addition, further sanctions may be imposed.” The automatic nature of such a suspension was also explicitly reaffirmed in FIFA World Cup 2026 Circular No. 16, which was distributed to all participating member associations on 12 May 2026. The same rule is reiterated at every FIFA World Cup 2026 Match Coordination Meeting prior to each match and is included in all FIFA World Cup 2026 workshop presentations. ❗️In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.”

One of the most overrated CBs the prem has seen. Mediocre at best. 😂

Gabriel is one of the few remaining CBs who loves the physicality and the problem for him is Haaland is one of the few remaining strikers who loves it even more

As a reminder, it was primarily Infantino who, whilst at Uefa, facilitated Man City and PSG escaping any real sanctions for massive amounts of cheating…. more than once too.