Chris

My tweets are my own

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Imagine the amount of good that football could do with £50m? For the same amount that it reportedly spent on lawyers last year the Premier League could fund 100 3G pitches, five in the vicinity of each of its 20 clubs. Imagine the impact on local residents’ physical and mental health, possibly even on talent ID?

Imagine what good football could do with £50m in making ticket prices more reasonable, especially for particular age-groups like 18-24s who generate much of the atmosphere (and TV rewards clubs handsomely for atmosphere). Fans, many struggling with rising prices during a cost-of-living crisis, would feel better about the Premier League and feel less a cash machine to be plundered at will by the elite. Imagine loyalty being rewarded. Imagine if even £5m was earmarked for subsidised away travel.

Imagine what £50m, which is paid out of the central PL pool, would do if invested judiciously throughout the football pyramid, especially in EFL academies which nurture those who go on to star for Premier League clubs like Raheem Sterling (QPR), Jadon Sancho (Watford) and John Stones (Barnsley).

The Premier League spent £15m more on lawyers in 23/24 than its admirable Charitable Fund distributed the previous season to 90+ club community organisations from National League to Premier League. The Fund’s a fantastic initiative, one of the biggest sporting charities in the world, and the Premier League is rightly proud of its impact, including supporting a workforce of 6,200 people “dedicated to improving the lives of people in their local area”. Imagine how many more lives they could improve if legal disputes were handled more swiftly and without battalions of barristers. If only brief meant brief.

The Premier League could be spending the same amount on lawyers in an 18-month period as it has invested in the life-changing Kicks projects over the past 18 years. Kicks tackles crime levels and youth disenchantment. More than half a million kids across 4,900 venues have benefited to date. That helps the country more than pouring millions into legal disputes. That also helps the country by providing a platform, and free coaching sessions, for those who end up playing for their country like Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice.

The Premier League, of course, needs legal representation which doesn’t come cheap. Ditto the clubs. Increasingly some of the legal battles involve Magic Circle law-firms. Big club owners want big-name lawyers. The Premier League has to follow suit. The level of legal expertise is impressive, and some of the finest minds in the country are involved, but everyone seems to have forgotten that it should be a sport. That's not naivety. That's frustration that the game is being taken away from fans and communities.

English football has badly lost its way. It's worth all involved in the myriad disputes remembering that football should be about those striding out of the dressing-room, not those heading into the courtroom.

Heaven knows what the Manchester City case will cost in legal representation. On both sides. When the dust finally settles on this lengthy case, and ongoing expensive PSR disputes elsewhere, the Premier League and its constituent clubs have to agree some form of truce on legal battles, especially on time involved which inevitably adds to the lawyers’ bill.

The 20 clubs and the executive are stronger together. All the in-fighting within the Premier League comes at a price, to unity, to the authority and credibility of the league and to funds which could be more constructively spent elsewhere. The Premier League is a magnificent sporting competition, and the community departments do transformative work, but bad blood between members, and some with the executive, damages it. Just stop it.

The astonishing amount spent on lawyers provides another reason why there is widespread support for a regulator to bring sanity to proceedings. And that will be led by a top legal mind, too. Lawyers are increasingly taking over English football when the game should be about players and supporters, and when £50m could do so much good for the game and the community. #EPL #EFL

[Chris @cch_chris]

@LewisCox_star That is a shocker!

[Chris @cch_chris]

@GuzKhanOfficial Nearly missed the show tonight, arrived just at the end of the interval, but was worth every moment of the 2hrs queuing to get of the A38! Fantastic show.

[Sandford Police Commentary @Sandford_Police]

Public Service Announcement

If you cannot attend a football match without behaving like a hooligan then just stay at home, look yourself in the mirror and repeat the words

“stop being a massive twat”

[Chris @cch_chris]

@LewisCox_star Stuff like this makes me ashamed to be a football fan, it is so pathetic! I’m Albion through and through, but any idiot involved in this, wolves or Albion need banning

[AG Cranes: Overhead Cranes & WBA. @gantrycranes]

#WBA TICKET COMPETITION.
AG Cranes are offering a pair of #WESTBROM tickets for the Halfords Lane stand directly behind the #Baggies dugout for the game against @LUFC on the 29th of December at the #Hawthorns, 8.15pm KO.
Simply FOLLOW us and RETWEET for a chance to win. #COYB

[AG Cranes: Overhead Cranes & WBA. @gantrycranes]

#WBA TICKET COMPETITION.
AG Cranes are offering a pair of #WESTBROM tickets for the Halfords Lane stand directly behind the #Baggies dugout for the game against @stokecity on the 17th of December at the #Hawthorns noon KO.
Simply FOLLOW us and RETWEET for a chance to win. #COYB

[AG Cranes: Overhead Cranes & WBA. @gantrycranes]

#WBA TICKET COMPETITION.
AG Cranes are offering a pair of #WESTBROM tickets for the Halfords Lane stand directly behind the #Baggies dugout for the game against high flyers @LCFC on the 2nd of December at the #Hawthorns
Simply FOLLOW us and RETWEET for a chance to win. #COYB

[Tes magazine @tes]

The proportion of school and college staff (78%) and senior leaders (89%) reporting stress is the highest ever recorded by @EdSupportUK in new Teacher Wellbeing Index
https://t.co/dOTrSLy62r
https://t.co/dOTrSLy62r

[Richard Thorndike @richthorndike]

What a load of time wasters.
This is a massive club and if someone runs it right they’ll wake up the biggest of sleeping giants.

Hope Gray and Shep make the right appointment.

[Chris @cch_chris]

@SportingFC @AFCSudbury Looks a tiny bit damp..

[Ofqual @ofqual]

Parents – do you have a child with exam resits or assessments coming up? 📝

It’s important they look after their physical and mental wellbeing.

Here are some helpful tips from Prof David Putwain of @LJMU, an expert in exam pressure:

https://t.co/eBQcDOMkUE

#Exams2023

[Dave Throup @DaveThroup]

This really is embarrassing, end of days stuff.

Creating culture wars and magnifying local issues.

If there genuinely are significant policy problems, this Government has had 13 years to sort them.

[Bromsgrove Sporting Ladies @LadiesSporting]

We are through to the second round qualifying of the FA cup!! Excellent game and brilliant performances all round👏🏼👏🏼

Details for the next round will be posted soon..⚽️

#vitalitywomensfacup #footballmatch #bromsgrovesportingladies #bromsgrovesporting

[Albion Independent Supporters' Trust @Albion_IST]

Baggies,🧵 1/5

Today is the day of “For Sale-Full Sale”.

We know the transfer window has been difficult, we have all watched in despair as our great club released without replacing, whilst others around us invest to move forward.

#FullSaleOnly #LaiOutNow #wba

[Albion Independent Supporters' Trust @Albion_IST]

Final call 👍🏻

#FullSaleOnly
#LaiOutNow

[Martyn Ziegler @martynziegler]

Fans’ pressure building on WBA owner

[Georgie Bingham @georgiebingham]

Repeat after me

I love football. I love decency and fairness

I stand with Jenni Hermoso

@Jennihermoso

Now you. Tweet the same thing.

[AG Cranes: Overhead Cranes & WBA. @gantrycranes]

#WBA TICKET COMPETITION.
AG Cranes are offering a pair of #WESTBROM tickets for the Halfords Lane stand directly behind the #Baggies dugout for the game against @Boro on the 26th of August at the #Hawthorns
Simply FOLLOW us and RETWEET for a chance to win. #COYB
Good luck @WBA fans.
Who will you will take if you win? @ if possible.

[Albion Independent Supporters' Trust @Albion_IST]

Morning Baggies!!!!

Its here - we’re back at our beloved Hawthorns.

145 years of history is at stake.

Join together at 12 minutes to shine a light on the harm they’ve done & tell Guochuan Lai to GET OUT OF OUR CLUB

The clock is ticking ⏳

#LaiOut #FullSaleOnly #wba