Tom 🦅

@CPFC. Holmesdale lower - block F. Adam Wharton enthusiast.

[Crystal Palace F.C. @CPFC]

At the end of the day, we always win...

[Aston Villa Updates @avfcbreaking]

There was a time when a European final belonged to the supporters who dragged their club there.

Not anymore.

When Aston Villa were handed roughly 11,000 tickets for a Europa League final in a 70,000-plus stadium, the number itself told the story. UEFA can package the event however it likes — “festival of football”, “European showpiece”, “global celebration” — but the modern European final is no longer built around supporters. It is built around clients.

The supporters fund the journey. The corporates inherit the destination.

Villa fans will have spent thousands following the club across Europe. Flights, hotels, time off work, loyalty schemes built over years. Yet when the final arrives, huge sections of the stadium are reserved for sponsors, hospitality guests, executives, delegates and “neutral” allocations that often end up on resale sites within hours.

And supporters are expected to accept it.

UEFA’s defence is familiar. Sponsors fund competitions. Broadcasters need space. Hospitality drives revenue. All true. But football crossed a line when the event surrounding the final became more important than the supporters inside it.

The optics are awful because fans can see it themselves.

A finalist gets 11,000 tickets while corporate packages costing thousands remain available. Genuine supporters scramble through ballots with lottery-like odds, while neutral areas fill with tourists taking photos during the warm-up.

And UEFA wonders why resentment grows.

Supporters are constantly called “the lifeblood of the game” until ticket allocations are discussed. Then they become an inconvenience to work around premium inventory.

Football did not become Europe’s dominant sport because sponsors created atmosphere. The noise, colour and emotion UEFA sells globally every season is generated by match-going supporters — the same people increasingly pushed aside at the biggest games.

The “neutral fan” concept is perhaps the biggest fiction of all. In theory it promotes access. In reality it fuels resale markets, inflated prices and thousands travelling ticketless out of desperation.

UEFA could change it tomorrow. Finalists could receive 70 per cent of the stadium combined. Corporate sections could shrink. Hospitality would still exist.

But that would mean sacrificing revenue.

And modern football has shown repeatedly which side wins that argument.
#AVFC #scfreiburg

[Tom 🦅 @PalaceTom]

@sethsfilmreview Accents / language a big part of it I think… i also think the world doesn’t look particularly gritty or ‘lived in’. Even the costumes (I don’t want historically accurate) but I think it all contributes to a lack of immersion. It’s Nolan though so I’m sure it will be fantastic.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

You want the NATO allies to join you in a war you started without ever consulting these allies about the war or explaining your war aims. We’re meant just to meekly fall in line.
You recently supported a US invasion of a NATO ally (Denmark/Greenland) but now you want these same allies to join your war.
Your president disparaged and misrepresented the role of NATO allies in Afghanistan. But now you want them to join with you again in a war of your making.
You went to war with Iran without a thought of how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and without involving your allies in the matter. But now you want the NATO allies to bail you out, even though there’s still no plan for Hormuz.
You want the NATO allies to join you in a war in which you still cannot articulate the endgame. Or what victory would look like.
You went to war thinking the Iranian regime would quickly topple, that Tehran would not attack the Gulf States or close Hormuz. Why would we align with such Epic Stupidity?
You and other know-nothing blowhards started this war all on your own. You can finish it on your own. If you’re able to …

[Tom 🦅 @PalaceTom]

@deanhenderson I love you so much

[Tom 🦅 @PalaceTom]

@ValueBetSpotter Barca

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Jurgen Klopp spoke of wanting to win titles with “a team full of Scousers”.

Eddie Howe described the Geordies in his Newcastle United side as “very special… they bring a uniqueness about them”.

“He’s one of our own,” sing dozens of fanbases around the country.

Yet that number is beginning to shrink. On Sunday, the first Premier League Manchester derby of the season takes place. Though Manchester City have a nucleus of local players — Phil Foden, Nico O’Reilly, Rico Lewis — with Kobbie Mainoo out of favour, no Mancunian is likely to be in Manchester United’s starting XI.

Go back 30 years and it was a very different story...

@jwhitey98 on the decline of local players, and why it matters in soccer's most global of leagues:

https://t.co/4e9yuxopFK

[Otto English @Otto_English]

Note to British politicians.

THIS.

ALL OF THIS.

#FarageDestroyed

[James. @afcjxmes]

Can I just say that it also sets the precedent that waiting until deadline day to force the selling team’s hand is a risky move. If Liverpool bid more earlier in the window I’m sure the deal would’ve gotten done.

[Palace Retro @palaceretro1]

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Available now to order @ https://t.co/uGHGSqkQEF

Retro Palace Tracksuit 🔥

Limited Edition - 50 available

To win a random shirt from us free

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@PalaceReport

[Crystal Palace F.C. @CPFC]

At a time when we should be celebrating our victory in the Community Shield at Wembley, the decision by UEFA and followed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport shows that sporting merit is rendered meaningless.

Full statement 👇

#CPFC

[mooms : family man @Danny_McMoomins]

What a day this is. You can't move on the streets for people, old and young, just being completely indifferent about this.

[Holmesdale Fanatics @ultrascpfc]

Two major games. Two displays. Please donate via the link below.
https://t.co/TyYevQdMxO

[Tom 🦅 @PalaceTom]

RT @PalaceReport: 🚨 "All football fans, RT this and let’s show UEFA the support from all clubs to reinstate Crystal Palace FC in the Europa…

[Chuck Taylor @BoozeBlogsChuck]

Hell, and I don’t mean this lightly, fuckin yeah

[Archie🦅 @Archie21867494]

@AW_CPFC Eze to Arsenal bomb vs my ex gf cheating on me with 4 guys at a Halloween party when I was 15 I know what is gonna hurt more

[Tom 🦅 @PalaceTom]

@maxpalace03 Surely can’t be europa league pull, PSV literally have champions league football

[Acyn @Acyn]

“Tasted a little tear gas— tasted like fascism”

[evan loves worf @esjesjesj]

Elon
called
Trump
a
pedophile
thus
revealing
he
knowingly
supported
and
befriended
a
pedophile
and
only
said
something
when
he
thought
it
would
make
him
money