The 2026/27 Football Season

[mr.bluesky]

115 that was years ago surely with inflation this must have gone up ?
The PL showing how strong they are having engineered rules & regs to limit clubs like Villa & Newcastle especially the latter
They dish out fines to clubs who they know won't fight back - enter Everton & Forest
Chelsea get a slap on the wrist for historic rule breaking & their accounting hotel & wendy ball bollox crack on
[thought i would summarize for those mildly interested lest we forget]
Yet for the elephant in the room ? 
Thought i'd back you up 

Not so sure on Brentford upsetting the big 6 they weren't that good against Leeds on Sunday [who were shite in the 1st half]
KA the GK coach supposedly doomed as the new manager
Me thinks he added more to Thomas Frank than outwardly visible & when he [TF] on his own the wheels fall off
I reck about the same as last season finishing 9th
Above Bell End i'll take 10th 

As for Newcastle they've fucked off the players who wanted out - Tonali & Guimares hardly outstanding.  Thanks for the ££
Looked a mare some good signings
Get players in who want to play for the club
AG made it known he wanted to play in Spain & an early transfer organised [it would have been more after the WC but then again he could have got injured & both him & Newcastle lose out]
A minute from 3 points 1st match & 6 points total why the substitution ? 

Brighton Bentford peas in a pod
IMHO
OK Leeds 11th no problemo MOT

Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth are three teams who consistenly punch above their weight. Hats off to them 

[webpunter]

Well didn't Chelsea and Everton Royally fuck it up !
They make the rest of the premier aspirants look amateurs.
 

Everton right royally
There was something on TalkSport that the fan association has disowned the club - 18 first team players
[maybe they could borrow some from Cov who have 31]
Chelsea on the moral high ground with Enzo not cancelling the transfer
Having sooo many players with transfer inflation they look to have got things right with profits generated in a rising market
No need for accounting fiddles just as well no more cards to play
With no european footy they can wait until January see if Enzo replacement needed 
You can guarantee that they will have people looking at Monaco's finances - who needed to sell - waiting to fuck them over on whatever the UEFA equivalent of SCR is
This re-inforces that the french are cunts
& with the most boring predictable league in europe

[webpunter]

Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth are three teams who consistenly punch above their weight. Hats off to them 

Bournemouth especially
An 11,000 capacity stadium 
How do they do it ??
In October they are welcoming AC Milan in the Europa 
I reck that Bournemouth attract good players who can play for supposedly better teams however are attracted by the living environment for them & their families
Sandbanks not the worst place to live ask Arry
Its a lovely beach eating drinking parking reassuringly expensive & the scumbag english others & migrants thankfully only know about Bournemouth & the pier 
I'm pretty sure that there is a sign showing that blinged up old mercs & beemahs will get towed 

[TomTank]

United leaving it until 2 hours before the deadline to beg their rivals for Rayan Aït-Nouri on loan is peak banter. 😂

United are a fucking joke.
It's a disgrace what the Glazers have been allowed to do to us.

And it's a joke what city's owners have been allowed to do.
The answer is not to get rid of PSR and let Newcastle and Villa catch them up.
The answer is to ban countries and hedge funds from owning football clubs.

[Private Parts]

Tim Sussex....
"Great move by Turkey to have a window open till Friday enabling them to look for players nearing their sell by date ."

Or nobody wants

[john122350]

Everton right royally
There was something on TalkSport that the fan association has disowned the club - 18 first team players
[maybe they could borrow some from Cov who have 31]
Chelsea on the moral high ground with Enzo not cancelling the transfer
Having sooo many players with transfer inflation they look to have got things right with profits generated in a rising market
No need for accounting fiddles just as well no more cards to play
With no european footy they can wait until January see if Enzo replacement needed 
You can guarantee that they will have people looking at Monaco's finances - who needed to sell - waiting to fuck them over on whatever the UEFA equivalent of SCR is
This re-inforces that the french are cunts
& with the most boring predictable league in europe

Chelsea set to sign another 35 yrs old Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum as free agent for Enzo replacement 

[john122350]

United are a fucking joke.
It's a disgrace what the Glazers have been allowed to do to us.

And it's a joke what city's owners have been allowed to do.
The answer is not to get rid of PSR and let Newcastle and Villa catch them up.
The answer is to ban countries and hedge funds from owning football clubs.

Poor transfer window for you lot given you will be playing champions league football, Ipswich Town splashed more cash then united this summer 

[webpunter]

Poor transfer window for you lot given you will be playing champions league football, Ipswich Town splashed more cash then united this summer 

 
The only thing that Utd splashed was h2o
There was an unexpected monsoon towards the end of the match on sunday
You could hear it on the box
Niagra falls made an early appearance
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And for the prawn sandwich brigade too
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[daviemac]

Chelsea set to sign another 35 yrs old Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum as free agent for Enzo replacement 

He did alright when he was at Newcastle and at least he went about leaving the right way, as it happens he wanted to go to Liverpool just like Isak, but unlike that cunt he didn't go on strike, he took full part in preseason before his transfer. I think his last game for Newcastle was a friendly against Doncaster.

[webpunter]

United are a fucking joke.
It's a disgrace what the Glazers have been allowed to do to us.

And it's a joke what city's owners have been allowed to do.
The answer is not to get rid of PSR and let Newcastle and Villa catch them up.
The answer is to ban countries and hedge funds from owning football clubs.

You are a complete idiot of the highest order 
Who do you think lent the Glazers the  money one way or another which was leveraged against the Utd balance sheet with the club making the payments ?
Its way too late banning hedge funds for Utd, over a decade
You've said it out loud about your deepest worries Newcastle & Villa
Not forgetting the noisy neighbours
PSR is no more unless you haven't realised
I'm assuming you've had a skinful @ the local wethies 

[Malvolio]

Last season I complained about Coventry having a small squad for the championship, now we have signed 10 or eleven new players but only 2 have gone out on loan for a season. Goalkeeper Dovin to Leyton Orient and Kitchen to Sheffield Utd on loan. I just can't understand how we are going to have with such a big squad and still be within the regulations   

I believe you're allowed an unlimited number of home-grown players.  I think you can also reshuffle the playing squad in January.

You'd hope Cov (and every other PL team) has someone who is completely on top of player registrations and ensures you don't sign players who are then ineligible.

[webpunter]

Chelsea set to sign another 35 yrs old Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum as free agent for Enzo replacement 

Please remind us which club you support
Its not immediately obvious
If i've missed this apologies
Await your update
TTFN

[daviemac]

Last season I complained about Coventry having a small squad for the championship, now we have signed 10 or eleven new players but only 2 have gone out on loan for a season. Goalkeeper Dovin to Leyton Orient and Kitchen to Sheffield Utd on loan. I just can't understand how we are going to have with such a big squad and still be within the regulations  . I can only assume Doug King and Frank Lampard are building our squad to push for promotion from the Championship once more after we have been relegated from the Premier League. We have spent in the region of £127 million which is a massive amount for a club like Coventry but not compared to the likes of Man City and Liverpool who can spend £120+ million on one player 

The squad size is a maximum of 25 senior players (over 21) of which 8 must be home grown, home grown is any nationality registered with an English or Welsh club for 3 years before 21.

Under 21 players can be used as much as you like in addition to the 25 man squad.

[foreverchanges]

Ian Wallace was only good when he played alongside Mick Ferguson, they formed a great partnership. You should have signed both of them , one without the other was no good. 

For some season our manager Len Ashurst played Wallace ahead of Colin West in the 1985 Milk Cup Final v Norwich and he may as well not have been on the pitch (mind you that could be said about the whole team that day ). What made it even more ridiculous was that West had scored three goals over two legs in the semi final v Chelsea including  one at the infamous 'Battle Of Stamford Bridge' where he was marked by two coppers and a Chelsea hooligan in the penalty area.

[TomTank]

You are a complete idiot of the highest order 
Who do you think lent the Glazers the  money one way or another which was leveraged against the Utd balance sheet with the club making the payments ?
Its way too late banning hedge funds for Utd, over a decade
You've said it out loud about your deepest worries Newcastle & Villa
Not forgetting the noisy neighbours
PSR is no more unless you haven't realised
I'm assuming you've had a skinful @ the local wethies 

Sounds more like you're the idiot that's had a skinful.

What has who lent the Glazers money got to do with it?
Unless you mean United?

They bought up £170m of shares, and were worried about the value of them plummeting after Fergie fell out with Coolmore.
So they took a big gamble and bought another £517m of shares (which cost £604m with interest and fees) and loaded all that debt on United because they didn't have any more cash.

Yep, it's too late, city and Chelsea have ruined football.
I don't care about Villa or Newcastle - it would be a good laugh if they outspent city and opened the door for Bezos to buy Wrexham or Rotherham and get them to win the treble.

[timsussex]

Interesting Times article on the latest window
Once again Premier League spent more than the other 4 top European leagues put together
Hull  made six new signings on the last day to take their total number of recruits to 18 since winning promotion via the Championship play-offs.
Hull — along with their fellow promoted clubs Ipswich Town and Coventry City — recorded a higher net spend than Barcelona.
Twenty players joined Premier League clubs for fees of £50million or more; only four of them arrived from a non-Premier League club.
The raiding of Ligue 1, in particular, has been remarkable. France’s top tier earned about £957million from player sales this summer; Premier League clubs accounted for about two thirds of that, with the headline transfers being Liverpool signing Barcola and Manchester City buying Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for £86million.

[john122350]

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[TomTank]

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The game is fucked.
Cunts with their noses in the trough have turned a blind eye to the ridiculous ownerships we have in English football.

[webpunter]

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'Strategic investors who can help push the club forward' 
Sounds to me that The Friedkin Group are running out of money out of ideas or have changed their outlook
What an opportunity for Everton with the banging new stadium pretty much sold out & many more money generating corporate hospitality seats
Yet there's still a problem
& Moyes left to pick up the pieces with a depleted squad
Sell your best player especially middle of the park & there could be problems

[TomTank]

I was aware of the ownership situation in the Premier League, but when you actually look at the list in "print" it's fucking disgusting:
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Even the Championship and League One are full of dodgy / American owners.

I give it 10 years before promotion and relegation are abandoned for an NFL style closed shop, and probably a European Super League.

[timsussex]

An NFL style closed shop would not work - it only works in NFL because of 2 things
1) NFL has a rapid turnover; few players last more than 5 seasons so new players are required to fill the 53 player club rosta each season
2) there is a feeder system  (college football) and most importantly the bottom clubs in the NFL get first choice of the new players

Given that the current PL system is just about as effective for the top 6 or so clubs - esp given sales of womens teams/hotels. ignoring 115 outstanding charges and other fiddles why would they bother changing it ?

A true European league (without home league fixtures) of say 3 divisions with 20 clubs in each - with promotion & relegation  with the bottom 4 clubs playing off with the top 12 challengers wouldnt IMHO be a bad thing - never happen though  !

edit
those of us that are sufficiently long in the tooth will remember the closed shop which the league ran until 1986
The bottom club had to apply fro re-election - relying of course on their fellow chairmen to back them esp with gentle reminder that they supported their re-election last year and would do so in the future

For example Hartlepool United, were reelected  fourteen times  between 1924 and 1984, and was never voted out of the league

[shaft10]

edit
those of us that are sufficiently long in the tooth will remember the closed shop which the league ran until 1986
The bottom club had to apply fro re-election - relying of course on their fellow chairmen to back them esp with gentle reminder that they supported their re-election last year and would do so in the future

For example Hartlepool United, were reelected  fourteen times  between 1924 and 1984, and was never voted out of the league

Correct - my local team (Workington Reds) were one of the last teams to be voted out of the league in 1977, being replaced by Wimbledon, who went on to win the FA Cup a few years later against Liverpool.

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Everton have a fantastic new stadium but it seems to me that their owners are more interested in the revenue streams from said stadium than the actual football club. The Yanks don’t seem to understand that the two go hand in hand and that it’s a cycle. Success on the pitch improves revenue streams which enables them to charge more which leads to more investment in the playing squad which should lead to more success.

I can see a future where Everton are back playing at Goodison Park and the new stadium is used for everything but football. Why would you spend hundreds of millions on a new stadium that’s only used 20/25 times a year? They will want to maximise other revenue streams from conferences, concerts  etc even weddings. If the football club doesn’t perform or improve then these hard nosed business types will look very closely at their profit and loss sheet. That’s why they brought the club in the first place, to make money and if it doesn’t then they are likely to jettison the under performing parts of the business, the team.

The trouble with this model is that the conference and events market is highly competitive and in many cities there are already several large venues chasing the same business. It’s unsustainable and eventually the owners will pull out.

Football at the highest level is fucked.

[daviemac]

Everton have a fantastic new stadium but it seems to me that their owners are more interested in the revenue streams from said stadium than the actual football club. The Yanks don’t seem to understand that the two go hand in hand and that it’s a cycle. Success on the pitch improves revenue streams which enables them to charge more which leads to more investment in the playing squad which should lead to more success.

I can see a future where Everton are back playing at Goodison Park and the new stadium is used for everything but football. Why would you spend hundreds of millions on a new stadium that’s only used 20/25 times a year? They will want to maximise other revenue streams from conferences, concerts  etc even weddings. If the football club doesn’t perform or improve then these hard nosed business types will look very closely at their profit and loss sheet. That’s why they brought the club in the first place, to make money and if it doesn’t then they are likely to jettison the under performing parts of the business, the team.

The trouble with this model is that the conference and events market is highly competitive and in many cities there are already several large venues chasing the same business. It’s unsustainable and eventually the owners will pull out.

Football at the highest level is fucked.

Newcastle have just spent over £16 million on St James park, £10m of that was on improvements to the hospitality suites, then safe standing areas plus another 500 seats added, all designed to increase matchday revenue. That £16m doesn't count in PSR but any extra income generated because of it does which shows how fucked the system is.

It defeats the oibject when clubs can spend millions on infrastructure with little chance of getting it back but can't spend on players.

[mr.bluesky]

Everton have a fantastic new stadium but it seems to me that their owners are more interested in the revenue streams from said stadium than the actual football club. The Yanks don’t seem to understand that the two go hand in hand and that it’s a cycle. Success on the pitch improves revenue streams which enables them to charge more which leads to more investment in the playing squad which should lead to more success.

I can see a future where Everton are back playing at Goodison Park and the new stadium is used for everything but football. Why would you spend hundreds of millions on a new stadium that’s only used 20/25 times a year? They will want to maximise other revenue streams from conferences, concerts  etc even weddings. If the football club doesn’t perform or improve then these hard nosed business types will look very closely at their profit and loss sheet. That’s why they brought the club in the first place, to make money and if it doesn’t then they are likely to jettison the under performing parts of the business, the team.

The trouble with this model is that the conference and events market is highly competitive and in many cities there are already several large venues chasing the same business. It’s unsustainable and eventually the owners will pull out.

Football at the highest level is fucked.

 Rugby League's magic weekend round of fixtures and an International match between England and Australia have already been staged there. I would not be surprised if the Super league grand final is moved from Old Trafford to this stadium in the near future especially as Old Trafford is looking it's age now.

[Private Parts]

Jumpin' you commented
"
It defeats the object when clubs can spend millions on infrastructure with little chance of getting it back but can't spend on players"

      Ought in ought out

I was taught.

They have no sense of responsibility these yanks.
IMHO 

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Jumpin' you commented
"
It defeats the object when clubs can spend millions on infrastructure with little chance of getting it back but can't spend on players"

      Ought in ought out

I was taught.

They have no sense of responsibility these yanks.
IMHO 

They lack, or don’t understand the emotional ties that we all have with our own clubs.

[Private Parts]

JJ
"They lack, or don’t understand the emotional ties that we all have with our own clubs."

I can still smell the waft from the HP factory across the street Aston Cross.

[Jumping Jack Flash]

JJ
"They lack, or don’t understand the emotional ties that we all have with our own clubs."

I can still smell the waft from the HP factory across the street Aston Cross.

Mix that in with the smells from Ansells brewery and Saltley gas work and that was a unique “scent”.

[TomTank]

The important thing about the NFL is that it is there to make money not sport or community, that's what the Americans are trying to bring to our football.

For the Arabs it's about sports washing and dick swinging.

There's a bright future for the Bezos Rotherham franchise, and city fans will be the first to moan about being outspent.

[timsussex]

The important thing about the NFL is that it is there to make money not sport or community, that's what the Americans are trying to bring to our football.

For the Arabs it's about sports washing and dick swinging.

There's a bright future for the Bezos Rotherham franchise, and city fans will be the first to moan about being outspent.

You know even less about the NFL that you do about the premiership !

Green Bay Packers - a top NFL side  are owned by their fans - 538,000 of them at the last count No-one is allowed to hold more than 200k which is about 4%  of shares

How far down the FA football pyramid do you have to go to find a fan owned club ? and what is the chance of them staying that way if they make the premiership or even the Championship?

[mr.bluesky]

You know even less about the NFL that you do about the premiership !

Green Bay Packers - a top NFL side  are owned by their fans - 538,000 of them at the last count No-one is allowed to hold more than 200k which is about 4%  of shares

How far down the FA football pyramid do you have to go to find a fan owned club ? and what is the chance of them staying that way if they make the premiership or even the Championship?

NFL and NHL (ice hockey) clubs are franchise clubs with very little loyalty to the cities they are in. If crowd levels drop they just up sticks and move the club to another city as the Los Angeles Raiders did, moved to Las Vegas and became the Las Vegas Raiders.

[Malvolio]

There's a lot of doom and gloom here - I would say football, and in particular top-flight English football, has never been more popular.  Look at the attendances and the TV rights deals if you don't believe me.

But if it's all got too much for you, do what I do and watch your local non-league team.  You can turn up at the turnstile at five to three on a Saturday and watch the match whilst drinking a beer.

[timsussex]

NFL and NHL (ice hockey) clubs are franchise clubs with very little loyalty to the cities they are in. If crowd levels drop they just up sticks and move the club to another city as the Los Angeles Raiders did, moved to Las Vegas and became the Las Vegas Raiders.

True in some cases - usually due to a city offering them a new stadium at a subsidised cost or tax deal - but not all cases
as I said Green Bay is owned by the fans - unlike any UK Premier or Championship team
I'll bet Coventry win the Premiership and the European cup before the Packers  move    and I'm sure you havent forgotten where MK Dons came from ? 

[TomTank]

You know even less about the NFL that you do about the premiership !

Green Bay Packers - a top NFL side  are owned by their fans - 538,000 of them at the last count No-one is allowed to hold more than 200k which is about 4%  of shares

How far down the FA football pyramid do you have to go to find a fan owned club ? and what is the chance of them staying that way if they make the premiership or even the Championship?

I know that it's not been called the Premiership for 19 years, and I've probably forgotten more about football than you know.

Fan ownership wasn't being discussed, but anyone happy with the ownerships and direction of English football is a fool.

And by the way, in 1960, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle instituted a policy (often called the "Green Bay Rule") that banned future public or non-profit ownership like the Packers, which illustrates my point about US sport.

[john122350]

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[daviemac]

Well I'll take the draw with the way we played, Bournemouth were the better side. Typical it had to be a Newcastle Academy reject that opened the scoring. 

[TomTank]

Well I'll take the draw with the way we played, Bournemouth were the better side. Typical it had to be a Newcastle Academy reject that opened the scoring. 

I watched the 1st half ..... Bournemouth are a great side, but got away with a few robust challenges and 2 lucky goals .....

[Stevelondon]

I watched the 1st half ..... Bournemouth are a great side, but got away with a few robust challenges and 2 lucky goals .....

But they showed attacking spirit and I’m not going to say their goals were flukes.
I watched the game and at one point I thought that Newcastle passed the ball to an opposing player just as much as Bournemouth players passed to each other.
As Davie says. On that performance I’m more than happy to take the drawer. Need to keep the ball for longer and bloody stop giving it away.
Even Hall……….. taking a fuckin throw in near the end. Threw it straight at a Bournemouth player. 🤷🏼

[john122350]

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[mr.bluesky]

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I'll take a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Manchester City, I was half expecting them to put at least 4 or 5 past us 

[timsussex]

There was lot of muttering (esp on here) when it was announced that  the championship playoffs this season would be expanded
Now its early days but Hull - who scraped in partly thanks to an idiot with an iphone - are doing OK
In fact in the last 5 years;  the clubs that got promoted via the playoffs (Sunderland, Forest and Brentford) have done better than most the champions  (esp Leicester, Burnley  & Norwich)

Now those that have been paying attention will have noticed that Sunderland, Forest and Hull share something in common - they replaced most of the team that earned promotion. They didnt sign big stars but they did sign a lot of slightly better players (Hull have signed EIGHTEEN players since promotion)

Now we all know that fair play rules are bullshit and I'm assuming that Hull have conformed but is that they way to succeed ?

If you win the championship are you hamstrung by the spending needed to achieve that while the team that scrapes in has more leeway?
or
has a manager & directors that realise they arent strong enough to survive without a major influx
or
perhaps realise they wont be as lucky again so this is their only chance ?
 

[mr.bluesky]

What the fucks going on at Leicester City, not so long ago Premier league and FA cup winners, now languishing near the bottom of League 1 after successive relegations. Not that as a Coventry fan I have any sympathy for them 
Thumped 4-0 at home by the mighty Oxford Utd 

[webpunter]

There was lot of muttering (esp on here) when it was announced that  the championship playoffs this season would be expanded
Now its early days but Hull - who scraped in partly thanks to an idiot with an iphone - are doing OK
In fact in the last 5 years;  the clubs that got promoted via the playoffs (Sunderland, Forest and Brentford) have done better than most the champions  (esp Leicester, Burnley  & Norwich)

Now those that have been paying attention will have noticed that Sunderland, Forest and Hull share something in common - they replaced most of the team that earned promotion. They didnt sign big stars but they did sign a lot of slightly better players (Hull have signed EIGHTEEN players since promotion)

Now we all know that fair play rules are bullshit and I'm assuming that Hull have conformed but is that they way to succeed ?

If you win the championship are you hamstrung by the spending needed to achieve that while the team that scrapes in has more leeway?
or
has a manager & directors that realise they arent strong enough to survive without a major influx
or
perhaps realise they wont be as lucky again so this is their only chance ?

An idiot eh ?
Oh dear ... ouch

You can thank Bell End for the punishment dished out
Q/ Marcelo - which teams have you / do you spy on ?
A/ all of them, obvs
Cant say fairer than that !
& the EFL introduced crystal clear rules
Your lot decided that these didn't apply, oh dear

Hull provided much amusement opening match of the season
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Then all the trains got cancelled 
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Hull in 2nd spot 

Sunderland, Forest and Hull share something in common - they're in the PL

You really have left the goal wide open ! 

[john122350]

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[mr.bluesky]

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I can only assume Mrs Vardy got fed up of living in Italy to swap that for Burnley. 

[mr.bluesky]

I saw a cpuple of season tickets nailed to the wall outside Tottenham Hotspurs stadium. I thought, I'm having these, after all you never know when you're going to need a couple of nails 

[Blackpool Rock]

I saw a cpuple of season tickets nailed to the wall outside Tottenham Hotspurs stadium. I thought, I'm having these, after all you never know when you're going to need a couple of nails 

[john122350]

The 30 nominees for the BALLON D'OR 2026.

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[mr.bluesky]

The 30 nominees for the BALLON D'OR 2026.

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It would be good if Harry Kane won it but he won't.