NEW INFO 5 Results from share redemption are posted. Less than .2% redeemed. Very bullish as investors are showing extreme confidence in the future of PLBY.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/playboy-mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-120000721.html
NEW INFO 4 Definitive Agreement to purchase 100% of Lovers brand stores announced 2/1.
https://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Playboy+%28MCAC%29+Confirms+Deal+to+Acquire+Lovers/17892359.html
NEW INFO 3 I bought more on the dip today. 5081 total. Price rose AH to $12.38 (2.15%)
NEW INFO 2 Here is the full webinar.
https://icrinc.zoom.us/rec/play/9GWKdmOYumjWfZuufW3QXpe_FW_g--qeNbg6PnTjTMbnNTgLmCbWjeRFpQga1iPc-elpGap8dnDv8Zww.yD7DjUwuPmapeEdP?continueMode=true&tk=lEYc4F_FkKlgsmCIs6w0gtGHT2kbgVGbUju3cIRBSjk.DQIAAAAV8NK49xZWdldRM2xNSFNQcTBmcE00UzM3bXh3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&uuid=WN_GKWqbHkeSyuWetJmLFkj4g&_x_zm_rtaid=kR45-uuqRE-L65AxLjpbQw.1611967079119.2c054e3d3f8d8e63339273d9175939ed&_x_zm_rhtaid=866
NEW INFO 1 Live merger webinar with PLBY and MCAC on Friday January 29, 2021 at 12:00 NOON EST link below
https://mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/press-release-details/2021/Playboy-Enterprises-Inc.-and-Mountain-Crest-Acquisition-Corp-Participate-in-SPACInsider-ICR-Webinar-on-January-29th-at-12pm-ET/default.aspx
Playboy going public: Porn, Gambling, and Cannabis
!!!WARNING READING AHEAD!!! TL;DR at the end. It will take some time to sort through all the links and read/watch everything, but you should.
In the next couple weeks, Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp is taking Playboy public. The existing ticker MCAC will become PLBY. Special purpose acquisition companies have taken private companies public in recent months with great success. I believe this will be no exception. Notably, Playboy is profitable and has skyrocketing revenue going into a transformational growth phase.
Porn - First and foremost, let's talk about porn. I know what you guys are thinking. “Porno mags are dead. Why would I want to invest in something like that? I can get porn for free online.” Guess what? You are absolutely right. And that’s exactly why Playboy doesn’t do that anymore. That’s right, they eliminated their print division. And yet they somehow STILL make money from porn that people (see: boomers) pay for on their website through PlayboyTV, Playboy Plus, and iPlayboy. Here’s the thing: Playboy has international, multi-generational name recognition from porn. They have content available in 180 countries. It will be the only publicly traded adult entertainment (porn) company. But that is not where this company is going. It will help support them along the way. You can see every Playboy magazine through iPlayboy if you’re interested. NSFW links below:
https://www.playboy.com/
https://www.playboytv.com/
https://www.playboyplus.com/
https://www.iplayboy.com/
Gambling - Some of you might recognize the Playboy brand from gambling trips to places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Cancun, London or Macau. They’ve been in the gambling biz for decades through their casinos, clubs, and licensed gaming products. They see the writing on the wall. COVID is accelerating the transition to digital, application based GAMBLING. That’s right. What we are doing on Robinhood with risky options is gambling, and the only reason regulators might give a shit anymore is because we are making too much money. There may be some restrictions put in place, but gambling from your phone on your couch is not going anywhere. More and more states are allowing things like Draftkings, poker, state ‘lottery” apps, hell - even political betting. Michigan and Virginia just ok’d gambling apps. They won’t be the last. This is all from your couch and any 18 year old with a cracked iphone can access it. Wouldn’t it be cool if Playboy was going to do something like that? They’re already working on it. As per CEO Ben Kohn who we will get to later, “...the company’s casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth.” Honestly, I stopped researching Scientific Games' sports betting segment when I saw the word ‘omni-channel’. That told me all I needed to know about it’s success.
“Our SG Sports™ platform is an enhanced, omni-channel solution for online, self-service and retail fixed odds sports betting – from soccer to tennis, basketball, football, baseball, hockey, motor sports, racing and more.”
https://www.scientificgames.com/
https://www.microgaming.co.uk/
“This latter segment has become increasingly enticing for Playboy, and it said last week that it is considering new tie-ups that could include gaming operators like PointsBet and 888Holdings.”
https://calvinayre.com/2020/10/05/business/playboys-gaming-ops-could-get-a-boost-from-spac-purchase/
As per their SEC filing:
“Significant consumer engagement and spend with Playboy-branded gaming properties around the world, including with leading partners such as Microgaming, Scientific Games, and Caesar’s Entertainment, steers our investment in digital gaming, sports betting and other digital offerings to further support our commercial strategy to expand consumer spend with minimal marginal cost, and gain consumer data to inform go-to-market plans across categories.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tMDAA1
They are expanding into more areas of gaming/gambling, working with international players in the digital gaming/gambling arena, and a Playboy sportsbook is on the horizon.
https://www.playboy.com/read/the-pleasure-of-playing-with-yourself-mobile-gaming-in-the-covid-era
Cannabis - If you’ve ever read through a Playboy magazine, you know they’ve had a positive relationship with cannabis for many years. As of September 2020, Playboy has made a major shift into the cannabis space. Too good to be true you say? Check their website. Playboy currently sells a range of CBD products. This is a good sign. Federal hemp products, which these most likely are, can be mailed across state lines and most importantly for a company like Playboy, can operate through a traditional banking institution. CBD products are usually the first step towards the cannabis space for large companies. Playboy didn’t make these products themselves meaning they are working with a processor in the cannabis industry. Another good sign for future expansion. What else do they have for sale? Pipes, grinders, ashtrays, rolling trays, joint holders. Hmm. Ok. So it looks like they want to sell some shit. They probably don’t have an active interest in cannabis right? Think again:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/09/24/playboy-gets-serious-about-cannabis-law-reform-advocacy-with-new-partnership-grants/?sh=62f044a65cea
“Taking yet another step into the cannabis space, Playboy will be announcing later on Thursday (September, 2020) that it is launching a cannabis law reform and advocacy campaign in partnership with National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Last Prisoner Project, Marijuana Policy Project, the Veterans Cannabis Project, and the Eaze Momentum Program.”
“According to information procured exclusively, the three-pronged campaign will focus on calling for federal legalization. The program also includes the creation of a mentorship plan, through which the Playboy Foundation will support entrepreneurs from groups that are underrepresented in the industry.” Remember that CEO Kohn from earlier? He wrote this recently:
https://medium.com/naked-open-letters-from-playboy/congress-must-pass-the-more-act-c867c35239ae
Seems like he really wants weed to be legal? Hmm wonder why? The writing's on the wall my friends. Playboy wants into the cannabis industry, they are making steps towards this end, and we have favorable conditions for legislative progress.
Don’t think branding your own cannabis line is profitable or worthwhile? Tell me why these 41 celebrity millionaires and billionaires are dummies. I’ll wait.
https://www.celebstoner.com/news/celebstoner-news/2019/07/12/top-celebrity-cannabis-brands/
Confirmation: I hear you. “This all seems pretty speculative. It would be wildly profitable if they pull this shift off. But how do we really know?” Watch this whole video:
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/playboy-ceo-telling-story-female-154907068.html
Man - this interview just gets my juices flowing. And highlights one of my favorite reasons for this play. They have so many different business avenues from which a catalyst could appear. I think paying attention, holding shares, and options on these staggered announcements over the next year is the way I am going to go about it. "There's definitely been a shift to direct-to-consumer," he (Kohn) said. "About 50 percent of our revenue today is direct-to-consumer, and that will continue to grow going forward.” “Kohn touted Playboy's portfolio of both digital and consumer products, with casino-style gaming, in particular, serving a crucial role under the company's new business model. Playboy also has its sights on the emerging cannabis market, from CBD products to marijuana products geared toward sexual health and pleasure.” "If THC does become legal in the United States, we have developed certain strains to enhance your sex life that we will launch," Kohn said. https://cheddar.com/media/playboy-goes-public-health-gaming-lifestyle-focus Oh? The CEO actually said it? Ok then. “We have developed certain strains…” They’re already working with growers on strains and genetics? Ok. There are several legal cannabis markets for those products right now, international and stateside. I expect Playboy licensed hemp and THC pre-rolls by EOY. Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/842996758/10-playboy-pre-roll-tubes-limited?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=pre+roll+playboy&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&organic_search_click=1 Maintaining cannabis operations can be costly and a regulatory headache. Playboy’s licensing strategy allows them to pick successful, established partners and sidestep traditional barriers to entry. You know what I like about these new markets? They’re expanding. Worldwide. And they are going to be a bigger deal than they already are with or without Playboy. Who thinks weed and gambling are going away? Too many people like that stuff. These are easy markets. And Playboy is early enough to carve out their spot in each. Fuck it, read this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimosman/2020/10/20/playboy-could-be-the-king-of-spacs-here-are-three-picks/?sh=2e13dcaa3e05
Numbers: You want numbers? I got numbers. As per the company’s most recent SEC filing:
“For the year ended December 31, 2019, and the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s historical consolidated revenue was $78.1 million and $101.3 million, respectively, historical consolidated net income (loss) was $(23.6) million and $(4.8) million, respectively, and Adjusted EBITDA was $13.1 million and $21.8 million, respectively.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Licensing segment contributed $44.2 million in revenue and $31.1 million in net income.”
“In the ninth months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Direct-to-Consumer segment contributed $40.2 million in revenue and net income of $0.1 million.”
“In the nine months ended September 30, 2020, Playboy’s Digital Subscriptions and Content segment contributed $15.4 million in revenue and net income of $7.4 million.”
They are profitable across all three of their current business segments.
“Playboy’s return to the public markets presents a transformed, streamlined and high-growth business. The Company has over $400 million in cash flows contracted through 2029, sexual wellness products available for sale online and in over 10,000 major retail stores in the US, and a growing variety of clothing and branded lifestyle and digital gaming products.”
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
Growth: Playboy has massive growth in China and massive growth potential in India. “In China, where Playboy has spent more than 25 years building its business, our licensees have an enormous footprint of nearly 2,500 brick and mortar stores and 1,000 ecommerce stores selling high quality, Playboy-branded men’s casual wear, shoes/footwear, sleepwear, swimwear, formal suits, leather & non-leather goods, sweaters, active wear, and accessories. We have achieved significant growth in China licensing revenues over the past several years in partnership with strong licensees and high-quality manufacturers, and we are planning for increased growth through updates to our men’s fashion lines and expansion into adjacent categories in men’s skincare and grooming, sexual wellness, and women’s fashion, a category where recent launches have been well received.” The men’s market in China is about the same size as the entire population of the United States and European Union combined. Playboy is a leading brand in this market. They are expanding into the women’s market too. Did you know CBD toothpaste is huge in China? China loves CBD products and has hemp fields that dwarf those in the US. If Playboy expands their CBD line China it will be huge. Did you know the gambling money in Macau absolutely puts Las Vegas to shame? Technically, it's illegal on the mainland, but in reality, there is a lot of gambling going on in China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierhasse/2020/10/19/magic-johnson-and-uncle-buds-cbd-brand-enter-china-via-tmall-partnership/?sh=271776ca411e “In India, Playboy today has a presence through select apparel licensees and hospitality establishments. Consumer research suggests significant growth opportunities in the territory with Playboy’s brand and categories of focus.” “Playboy Enterprises has announced the expansion of its global consumer products business into India as part of a partnership with Jay Jay Iconic Brands, a leading fashion and lifestyle Company in India.” “The Indian market today is dominated by consumers under the age of 35, who represent more than 65 percent of the country’s total population and are driving India’s significant online shopping growth. The Playboy brand’s core values of playfulness and exploration resonate strongly with the expressed desires of today’s younger millennial consumers. For us, Playboy was the perfect fit.” “The Playboy international portfolio has been flourishing for more than 25 years in several South Asian markets such as China and Japan. In particular, it has strategically targeted the millennial and gen-Z audiences across categories such as apparel, footwear, home textiles, eyewear and watches.” https://www.licenseglobal.com/industry-news/playboy-expands-global-footprint-india It looks like they gave COVID the heisman in terms of net damage sustained: “Although Playboy has not suffered any material adverse consequences to date from the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has been impacted both negatively and positively. The remote working and stay-at-home orders resulted in the closure of the London Playboy Club and retail stores of Playboy’s licensees, decreasing licensing revenues in the second quarter, as well as causing supply chain disruption and less efficient product development thereby slowing the launch of new products. However, these negative impacts were offset by an increase in Yandy’s direct-to-consumer sales, which have benefited in part from overall increases in online retail sales so far during the pandemic.” Looks like the positives are long term (Yandy acquisition) and the negatives are temporary (stay-at-home orders).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921006093/tm213766-1_defa14a.htm
This speaks to their ability to maintain a financially solvent company throughout the transition phase to the aforementioned areas. They’d say some fancy shit like “expanded business model to encompass four key revenue streams: Sexual Wellness, Style & Apparel, Gaming & Lifestyle, and Beauty & Grooming.” I hear “we’re just biding our time with these trinkets until those dollar dollar bill y’all markets are fully up and running.” But the truth is these existing revenue streams are profitable, scalable, and rapidly expanding Playboy’s e-commerce segment around the world.
"Even in the face of COVID this year, we've been able to grow EBITDA over 100 percent and revenue over 68 percent, and I expect that to accelerate going into 2021," he said. “Playboy is accelerating its growth in company-owned and branded consumer products in attractive and expanding markets in which it has a proven history of brand affinity and consumer spend.”
Also in the SEC filing, the Time Frame:
“As we detailed in the definitive proxy statement, the SPAC stockholder meeting to vote on the transaction has been set for February 9th, and, subject to stockholder approval and satisfaction of the other closing conditions, we expect to complete the merger and begin trading on NASDAQ under ticker PLBY shortly thereafter,” concluded Kohn.
The Players: Suhail “The Whale” Rizvi (HMFIC), Ben “The Bridge” Kohn (CEO), “lil” Suying Liu & “Big” Dong Liu (Young-gun China gang). I encourage you to look these folks up. The real OG here is Suhail Rizvi. He’s from India originally and Chairman of the Board for the new PLBY company. He was an early investor in Twitter, Square, Facebook and others. His firm, Rizvi Traverse, currently invests in Instacart, Pinterest, Snapchat, Playboy, and SpaceX. Maybe you’ve heard of them. “Rizvi, who owns a sprawling three-home compound in Greenwich, Connecticut, and a 1.65-acre estate in Palm Beach, Florida, near Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, moved to Iowa Falls when he was five. His father was a professor of psychology at Iowa. Along with his older brother Ashraf, a hedge fund manager, Rizvi graduated from Wharton business school.” “Suhail Rizvi: the 47-year-old 'unsocial' social media baron: When Twitter goes public in the coming weeks (2013), one of the biggest winners will be a 47-year-old financier who guards his secrecy so zealously that he employs a person to take down his Wikipedia entry and scrub his photos from the internet. In IPO, Twitter seeks to be 'anti-FB'” “Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia looks like a big Twitter winner. So do the moneyed clients of Jamie Dimon. But as you’ve-got-to-be-joking wealth washed over Twitter on Thursday — a company that didn’t exist eight years ago was worth $31.7 billion after its first day on the stock market — the non-boldface name of the moment is Suhail R. Rizvi. Mr. Rizvi, 47, runs a private investment company that is the largest outside investor in Twitter with a 15.6 percent stake worth $3.8 billion at the end of trading on Thursday (November, 2013). Using a web of connections in the tech industry and in finance, as well as a hearty dose of good timing, he brought many prominent names in at the ground floor, including the Saudi prince and some of JPMorgan’s wealthiest clients.” https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/technology/at-twitter-working-behind-the-scenes-toward-a-billion-dollar-payday.html Y’all like that Arab money? How about a dude that can call up Saudi Princes and convince them to spend? Funniest shit about I read about him: “Rizvi was able to buy only $100 million in Facebook shortly before its IPO, thus limiting his returns, according to people with knowledge of the matter.” Poor guy :(
He should be fine with the 16 million PLBY shares he's going to have though :)
Shuhail also has experience in the entertainment industry. He’s invested in companies like SESAC, ICM, and Summit Entertainment. He’s got Hollywood connections to blast this stuff post-merger. And he’s at least partially responsible for that whole Twilight thing. I’m team Edward btw.
I really like what Suhail has done so far. He’s lurked in the shadows while Kohn is consolidating the company, trimming the fat, making Playboy profitable, and aiming the ship at modern growing markets.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-ipo-rizvi-insight/insight-little-known-hollywood-investor-poised-to-score-with-twitter-ipo-idUSBRE9920VW20131003
Ben “The Bridge” Kohn is an interesting guy. He’s the connection between Rizvi Traverse and Playboy. He’s both CEO of Playboy and was previously Managing Partner at Rizvi Traverse. Ben seems to be the voice of the Playboy-Rizvi partnership, which makes sense with Suhail’s privacy concerns. Kohn said this:
“Today is a very big day for all of us at Playboy and for all our partners globally. I stepped into the CEO role at Playboy in 2017 because I saw the biggest opportunity of my career. Playboy is a brand and platform that could not be replicated today. It has massive global reach, with more than $3B of global consumer spend and products sold in over 180 countries. Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct to consumer capabilities,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy.
“Playboy today is a highly profitable commerce business with a total addressable market projected in the trillions of dollars,” Mr. Kohn continued, “We are actively selling into the Sexual Wellness consumer category, projected to be approximately $400 billion in size by 2024, where our recently launched intimacy products have rolled out to more than 10,000 stores at major US retailers in the United States. Combined with our owned & operated ecommerce Sexual Wellness initiatives, the category will contribute more than 40% of our revenue this year. In our Apparel and Beauty categories, our collaborations with high-end fashion brands including Missguided and PacSun are projected to achieve over $50M in retail sales across the US and UK this year, our leading men’s apparel lines in China expanded to nearly 2500 brick and mortar stores and almost 1000 digital stores, and our new men’s and women’s fragrance line recently launched in Europe. In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
Also, according to their Form 4s, “Big” Dong Liu and “lil” Suying Liu just loaded up with shares last week. These guys are brothers and seem like the Chinese market connection. They are only 32 & 35 years old. I don’t even know what that means, but it's provocative.
https://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/1832415.htm
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mountain-crest-acquisition-corp-ii-002600994.html
Y’all like that China money?
“Mr. Liu has been the Chief Financial Officer of Dongguan Zhishang Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd., a regional designer, manufacturer and distributor of LED lights serving commercial customers throughout Southern China since November 2016, at which time he led a syndicate of investments into the firm. Mr. Liu has since overseen the financials of Dongguan Zhishang as well as provided strategic guidance to its board of directors, advising on operational efficiency and cash flow performance. From March 2010 to October 2016, Mr. Liu was the Head of Finance at Feidiao Electrical Group Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese manufacturer of electrical outlets headquartered in Shanghai and with businesses in the greater China region as well as Europe.”
Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., commented, “Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions. I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201001005404/en/Playboy-to-Become-a-Public-Company
These guys are good. They have a proven track record of success across multiple industries. Connections and money run deep with all of these guys. I don’t think they’re in the game to lose.
I was going to write a couple more paragraphs about why you should have a look at this but really the best thing you can do is read this SEC filing from a couple days ago. It explains the situation in far better detail. Specifically, look to page 137 and read through their strategy. Also, look at their ownership percentages and compensation plans including the stock options and their prices. The financials look great, revenue is up 90% Q3, and it looks like a bright future.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1803914/000110465921005986/tm2034213-12_defm14a.htm#tSHCF
I’m hesitant to attach this because his position seems short term, but I’m going to with a warning because he does hit on some good points (two are below his link) and he’s got a sizable position in this thing (500k+ on margin, I think). I don’t know this guy but he did look at the same publicly available info and make roughly the same prediction, albeit without the in depth gambling or cannabis mention. You can also search reddit for ‘MCAC’ and very few relevant results come up and none of them even come close to really looking at this thing.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gOvAd6lebs452hFlWWbxVjQ3VMsjGBkbJeXRwDwIJfM/edit?usp=sharing
“Also, before you people start making claims that Playboy is a “boomer” company, STOP RIGHT THERE. This is not a good argument. Simply put. The only thing that matters is Playboy’s name recognition, not their archaic business model which doesn’t even exist anymore as they have completely repurposed their business.”
“Imagine not buying $MCAC at a 400M valuation lol. Streetwear department is worth 1B alone imo.”
Considering the ridiculous Chinese growth as a lifestyle brand, he’s not wrong.
Current Cultural Significance and Meme Value: A year ago I wouldn’t have included this section but the events from the last several weeks (even going back to tsla) have proven that a company’s ability to meme and/or gain social network popularity can have an effect. Tik-tok, Snapchat, Twitch, Reddit, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter. They all have Playboy stuff on them. Kids in middle and highschool know what Playboy is but will likely never see or touch one of the magazines in person. They’ll have a Playboy hoodie though. Crazy huh? A lot like GME, PLBY would hugely benefit from meme-value stock interest to drive engagement towards their new business model while also building strategic coffers. This interest may not directly and/or significantly move the stock price but can generate significant interest from larger players who will.
Bull Case: The year is 2025. Playboy is now the world leader pleasure brand. They began by offering Playboy licensed gaming products, including gambling products, direct to consumers through existing names. By 2022, demand has skyrocketed and Playboy has designed and released their own gambling platforms. In 2025, they are also a leading cannabis brand in the United States and Canada with proprietary strains and products geared towards sexual wellness. Cannabis was legalized in the US in 2023 when President Biden got glaucoma but had success with cannabis treatment. He personally pushes for cannabis legalization as he steps out of office after his first term. Playboy has also grown their brand in China and India to multi-billion per year markets. The stock goes up from 11ish to 100ish and everyone makes big gains buying somewhere along the way.
Bear Case: The United States does a complete 180 on marijuana and gambling. President Biden overdoses on marijuana in the Lincoln bedroom when his FDs go tits up and he loses a ton of money in his sports book app after the Fighting Blue Hens narrowly lose the National Championship to Bama. Playboy is unable to expand their cannabis and gambling brands but still does well with their worldwide lifestyle brand. They gain and lose some interest in China and India but the markets are too large to ignore them completely. The stock goes up from 11ish to 13ish and everyone makes 15-20% gains.
TL;DR: Successful technology/e-commerce investment firm took over Playboy to turn it into a porn, online gambling/gaming, sports book, cannabis company, worldwide lifestyle brand that promotes sexual wellness, vetern access, women-ownership, minority-ownership, and “pleasure for all”. Does a successful online team reinventing an antiquated physical copy giant sound familiar? No options yet, shares only for now. $11.38 per share at time of writing. My guess? $20 by the end of February. $50 by EOY. This is not financial advice. I am not qualified to give financial advice. I’m just sayin’ I would personally use a Playboy sports book app while smoking a Playboy strain specific joint and it would be cool if they did that. Do your own research. You’d probably want to start here:
WARNING - POTENTIALLY NSFW - SEXY MODELS AHEAD - no actual nudity though
https://s26.q4cdn.com/895475556/files/doc_presentations/Playboy-Craig-Hallum-Conference-Investor-Presentation-11_17_20-compressed.pdf
Or here:
https://www.mcacquisition.com/investor-relations/default.aspx
Jimmy Chill: “Get into any SPAC at $10 or $11 and you are going to make money.”
STL;DR: Buy MCAC. MCAC > PLBY couple weeks. Rocketship. Moon.
Position: 5000 shares. I will buy short, medium, and long-dated calls once available.

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Name	Fantasy Football Fix
URL	https://www.fantasyfootballfix.com/
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Good morning from the UK. Happy St Patricks day. It'll be a woeful one for many Irish people around the world with pubs and bars shut in multiple US states, several European countries, several Asian countries and worst of all, Ireland itself. Here in the UK you can still go to the pub, although as of late yesterday afternoon the UK government advised against it says the BBC.

Virus statistics
Several comments from redditors in past days complained the WHO stats I C&P'd did not come very close to reflecting stats being quoted by national media wherever they lived. As a result, I'm abandoning the WHO stats and going back to the John Hopkins University tracker stats for all countries. If it's good enough for the likes of Forbes, Business Insider, FT, USA Today to regularly cite it then it's good enough for me:-

Region	Today (John Hopkins Stats at time of writing)	Yesterday (John Hopkins stats not the WHO's)	% daily change
Global	182,424	169,387	+7.7%
China	81,053	81,020	+0.4%
Italy	27,980	24,747	+13.1%
Iran	14,991	13,938	+7.6%
Spain	9,942	7,844	+26.7%
South Korea	8,320	8,162	+1.9%
Germany	7,272	5,813	+25.1%
France	6,655	5,437	+22.4%
USA	4,661	3,774	+23.5%
Switzerland	2,330	2,200	+5.9%
UK	1,553	1,395	+11.3%
Netherlands	1,414	1,136	+24.5%
Norway	1,347	1,256	+7.2%
Sweden	1,121	1,032	+8.6%
Belgium	1,058	886	+19.4%
Austria	1,018	860	18.4%

All other countries with under 1000 identified infections not listed (sorry Denmark), yesterday's threshold was 750. Total countries infected worldwide = 155, an increase from yesterday of 9. Source for all countries (as discussed above): the John Hopkins University dashboard (Link). (Personal note: Western countries infection counts are increasing each day much faster than Asian countries but that may be due to cultural differences or it may be that they're doing my testing, if anyone can shed light on this please do).
Reminder, these are identified case counts and medical experts are reporting this virus has a long incubation period with people being infections despite displaying no symptoms; the true infection figures are likely to be much higher. Note that some countries are reporting shortages of test kits which further skews the data available; assume true cases are much higher.
Finally, no, I don't believe China's official statistics either.

Selected Virus news

Warnings of shortages of regeants (ingredients) to make test kits in the US - the Fool (a high quality finance website despite the name) reports that FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn stated last week in testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee that there could be supply chain issues with reagents needed for novel coronavirus diagnostic kits. He noted that the supply issues specifically apply to RNA used in testing for coronavirus disease COVID-19.

Shortages in US supermarkets likely to continue until panic buying eases - The LA Times says that shortages will continue until people calm down in their shopping habits. The major chains usually get shipments overnight, or perhaps twice a day, to restock essentials such as paper towels, toilet paper and water, but “manufacturers in some cases are having trouble keeping up, and that’s where the void is, they’re not able to keep up with demand,” said Bob Reeves, vice president for the West at the Shelby Report, a research firm that tracks the grocery industry. “We’re seeing shipments coming into the stores sometimes without any of those products, and it will be like that until people calm down a little bit,” he said. In some cases, chains are sending their delivery trucks directly to manufacturers — bypassing warehouses and distributors — to get the items to the stores faster. (Personal note: the same applies for all supermarket supply chains globally)

Pa. hospitals are rationing protective gear as the number of coronavirus cases grows - (Personal note, this is an example, there seems to be a general global shortage of medical PPE (personal protective equipment) - The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that hospitals across Pennsylvania are drastically limiting the use of key protective gear out of fears that a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases could diminish reserves and cause a dangerous shortage. The rationing comes as the state Department of Health maintains that it has personal protective equipment available and is working with health systems to make sure they have what they need. The gear includes eye protection, gowns, and N95 respirators, which are essential in preventing a health care worker from breathing in infectious particles when in close contact with someone who has COVID-19. In Philadelphia, two doctors who work at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania said it’s barring the use of N95 respirators “except in extraordinarily limited situations.” Penn Medicine declined to comment. Another city doctor, Daphne Owen, said in a tweet Thursday her clinic “for uninsured and undocumented patients” was out of masks. Two days later, the clinic, Puentes de Salud, said it was closed due to the pandemic.

Other Virus news in brief
- The Scottish courts and tribunals announced today that no new criminal jury trials would be commenced or new juries empanelled until further notice.
- Iran has temporarily freed a total of 85,000 prisoners, including political prisoners, a spokesman for its judiciary said on Tuesday, adding that the prisons were responding to the threat of a coronavirus epidemic in jails.
- Britain had “no time to lose” in changing tactics in order to prevent thousands of deaths and the NHS being overwhelmed, scientists providing guidance to the UK government have said. The Imperial College Covid-19 response team – which is one of several scientific teams advising UK ministers – published a paper (I've put it in the addendum below) showing that 250,000 people could die if efforts were focused only on delaying and slowing down the spread of Covid-19.Separately, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, could not rule out the strict measures having to last for a year but predicted they would last at least “several months“.
- Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Australians to return home as soon as possible by commercial means because overseas travel is becoming “more complex and difficult” as countries impose travel restrictions and close their borders.
- Leaders of EU states were expected on Tuesday to suspend all travel into the passport-free Schengen zone by non-EU nationals for at least 30 days in a bid to instil uniformity across the bloc after some member states, including Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, unilaterally began imposing border checks.
- China has issued an angry reaction (by diplomatic standards) to the US president Donald Trump’s characterisation of the disease as “the Chinese virus.” (he tweeted late last night "The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!"). China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the US president should take care of his own matters first and not seek to “stigmatise” China.
- The postponement of soccer’s Euro 2020 Championship may already have been decided after Uefa last week cancelled its hotel bookings in Copenhagen.
- The UK just advised its citizens against all non essential travel worldwide in the past 10 minutes
- Mobile phone networks are struggling in some areas of the UK with significantly increased demands according to down detector. For sure a lot of people seem to be home working, my commute in this morning was like it was the middle of August and everyone else was on holiday.
- Alitalia, the Italian airline flag carrier is to be renationalised by Italy
- Cinema chains are closing in multiple countries due to shutdowns
- Kazakhstan is closing down its two largest cities (despite only having 32 cases so far)
- A preliminary calculation by a US expert suggests that tens of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution may have been avoided by the cleaner air in China, far higher than the 3,208 coronavirus deaths.
- Jordan: the army has said it will deploy at entrances and exits of main cities in the kingdom in a move officials said was ahead of an imminent announcement of a state of emergency to combat the spread of coronavirus.
- In a joint statement, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit and YouTube said they would help ensure people could stay connected to each other during isolation as well as fight any misinformation and fraud linked to the outbreak. “We are working closely together on Covid-19 response efforts,” the statement said. “We’re helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in co-ordination with government healthcare agencies around the world.
- Almost all Germans shops are about to close by government decree; supermarkets, pharmacies will remain open (including on Sundays when they are usually closed). Separately, government press briefings there have gone online only.
- Olympic organisers in Japan are asking people not to create crowds along the route of the Olympic torch relay and not to gather near the route if they feel sick. A Boeing aircraft flew to Greece on 15 March to bring the torch to Japan.
- France: No movement allowed except for essential work or health reasons. “There can be no more outside meetings, no more seeing family or friends on the street or in the park. We must slow the spread of this virus by limiting the number of people we are in contact with each day to the strict minimum. If we do not, we endanger the lives of those we hold dear.” said the French President Macron.
- Israel’s government has approved emergency measures to track people suspected or confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus by monitoring their mobile phones, immediately raising privacy concerns in the country. The cabinet unanimously approved the use of the technology, developed initially for counter-terrorism purposes, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said providing the country’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, with new secretive powers was a “dangerous precedent and a slippery slope that must be approached and resolved after much debate and not after a brief discussion”.
- Indonesian president Joko Widodo said on Saturday that he had withheld some information about cases to prevent the country from panicking, the Jakarta Post reported. He has rejected calls for a lockdown to be imposed on hard hit areas.
- Malaysia has announced it's closing its borders prompting neighbouring Singapore's citizens to panic buy (90% of their food is imported from Malaysia).
- New Zealand on Tuesday deported its first unruly traveller flouting the country’s mandatory 14-day self-isolation rule for almost all arrivals, the health ministry said. The tourist, who had checked into a backpackers hostel in the city of Christchurch, was removed from the accommodation by the police after officials learned she did not have clear self-isolation plans.

Economics

Goldman Sachs doesn't think the stock market drops have finished - BusinessInsider says that Goldman Sachs thinks that the S&P 500 might plunge as low as 2,000 before recovering through the rest of the year, the investment bank wrote Friday. The level is the benchmark index's lowest since early 2016 and implies a 20% decline from Monday's open. Such a tumble would also place the index more than 40% below its February 19 peak. The coronavirus outbreak is responsible for "unprecedented financial and societal disruption," the analysts said, and equities have so far served as accurate leading indicators before the release of relevant earnings or macroeconomic data. That said, the analysts pointed out that "The lesson of prior event-driven bear markets is that financial devastation ultimately allows a new bull market to be born,".

U.S. factories are likely to close because of the coronavirus’ supply-chain shock - Marketwatch reports (link) that there is a very real chance that companies from auto makers to electronics manufacturers will soon begin to cease or limit production. With a downed China as the headstream of global manufacturing, mercantile America simply can’t function as it’s accustomed to. We’re starting to see this happen in official reports: The New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index, released Monday, plunged by a record 34.4 points to minus 21.5 in March. And Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Sunday he expects a contraction in GDP in the second quarter. (Personal note: I expect similar problems across all G20 countries). The article goes on to explain that many supply chain directors may understand their first tier suppliers but often do not have full visibility of the status of their 2nd or 3rd tier suppliers

Supply impact of the coronavirus outbreak is waning, but demand shock will linger, economist says - CNBC says that in January and February, industrial output fell by 13.5% from the same period a year earlier, the weakest reading since January 1990 — when Reuters' record began. China's industrial production is likely to improve in March over a slump in January and February due to the coronavirus outbreak, but consumer demand will take longer to recover both in the country and globally, an economist said Monday. "We will see some recovery, but this recovery, I think, is being undermined by the global spread as well," said Bo Zhuang, chief China economist at TS Lombard. Meanwhile, retail sales in January and February shrank 20.5% from a year ago, compared with a 8% growth in December as fearful consumers avoided crowded places like malls, restaurants and cinemas. "We were worried about supply-side issues, but now it's becoming a demand shock issue," said Zhuang. Smaller outfits like restaurants and service-oriented businesses have "resumed work but there are no customers," said Zhuang. "I think we are going to see a delayed V-shape (recovery), and this V may be a tilted V or W, or even U. We are not sure," he added.

Coronavirus Impacts Every Sector of the Supply Chain - Supply and demand chain executive reports that the global supply chain continues to experience disruption. "We have seen that in the way that it’s spreading across into different hubs where we see alternative routes to be overly burdened, such as the rail system,” says Koray Köse of Gartner. “Now with the crisis and the hubs being closed and product movements are still active to some extent, but not necessarily from those regions, will become crowded and impacted. This means that there’s an additional strain on the overall network to move material.” Some products have experienced significant upticks including Chicken noodle soup (+37%), Hand sanitizer (+65%), Disinfecting Wipes: (+353%) and Cold & Flu medications (+197%) amongst others.

Coronavirus pandemic worse than 1997 financial crisis, Malaysian ex-PM Mahathir warns - The Strait times reports on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the former premier who steered Malaysia's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, expects the current coronavirus pandemic to hit the global economy even harder. "This is worse than the financial crisis," he said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "This is really a terrible blow to the economies of the whole world." Dr Mahathir joins other world leaders in warning that the virus impact may be worse than past periods of upheaval (Personal note: I pointed out yesterday the NZ PM also saying this).

Supply chain news relating to Covid-19

For Global Supply Chains the Worst Is Yet to Come - Supply Chain Management review says (Link) that most industrial companies have 30-60 days of parts and raw materials either on hand, in-transit, or obtainable on short notice. After these supplies run out, we will start to see shortages of finished products as well as parts needed to produce other goods. Shortages will start to become more evident toward the end of March and beginning of April. Production in some non-Chinese factories will have to be put on hold for lack of parts. Partially finished products will remain in suspension until all parts are available to build finished products. Some companies are pressing their engineers to redesign parts that can be sourced in the U.S., or at least outside of China. Other companies are giving 3D printing a serious try for the first time. The article goes on to point out delays in sea freight ex-Asia and extremely high airfreighting costs are exacerbating the situation.

U.S. Suspends Truck-Driving Limits to Speed Coronavirus Shipments - The Wall Street Journal reports as of 2 days ago that maximum working hours for truck drivers in the US have been suspended. This applies to truck drivers moving emergency supplies such as medical equipment, hand sanitizer and food in response to the nationwide coronavirus outbreak. It comes as hospitals report shortages of medical masks and as retailers and manufacturers are straining under surging demand for everything from hand sanitizer to staples such as toilet paper and rice. As anxious consumers stockpile goods, grocers have turned to rationing, imposing purchase limits on disinfectant wipes, cleaning supplies and other high-demand products. The move is the first time the FMCSA has issued nationwide-wide relief from hours-of-service regulations, although regional declarations have waived those rules in response to disasters such as hurricanes. Federal regulations limit most commercial truck drivers to 11 hours of driving time in a 14-hour workday, restrictions intended to reduce accidents caused by highway fatigue.

For supply chain companies, U.S.-Mexico border closures could be catastrophic - Marketplace points out that Mexico’s deputy health minister says he’s worried about people coming into Mexico from the United States; currently the U.S. has far more cases of COVID-19 than Mexico. The Mexican government even said it might consider restricting access at its northern borders. For businesses that operate on both sides of the border, any shutdown could be catastrophic. The article gives a case study of a manfacturer employing 150 people in Texas. The company president says before anyone considers closing the border, President Donald Trump and Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, should discuss a coordinated response to the virus. As for now, he says all of his people can work from home, if the situation calls for it. Everyone here has a laptop, he said. But he says the independent truck drivers and contractors who work on the loading docks, they have to be on site to run things. Those people also only get paid if they show up for work. So, for now, they’re glad the COVID-19 hasn’t shut this part of Texas down, yet.

It won't be long before Coronavirus shuts down local African supply chains - The major Kenyan newspaper daily nation reports that there are imminent difficulties facing Kenyan pharma firms due to the industry importing 70% of its ingredients from India and China, both of whom have restricted exports. Studies show that the Kenyan pharmaceuticals market is worth Sh100 billion ($965m USD), 80 per cent of which is prescription drugs. Although Kenya exports 50 per cent to the COMESA region and 75 per cent to East African Community, most of these exports are re-exports from India and China.

European automotive factories shutting down - Ferrari and Lamborghini have both suspended almost all production (says the Express and Star) whilst Yahoo Finance reports that Fiat Chrysler said in a statement on Monday 16 March that it would halt operations at most of its European plants, from now until 27 March because of an “interruption in market demand.” The Italian-American automotive group said the manufacturing stop includes six factories in Italy, the EU country worst hit by coronavirus. Italy has had over 24,700 infection cases so far, and more than 1,800 people have died from the virus. The PSA group, which includes Peugeot, Citroen, and Opel, said today it will close all its European plants, including in the UK, France and Germany for the remainder of the month too. German car giant Volkswagen is also suspending production at a number of manufacturing bases in Europe, including in Slovakia and Spain. VW-owned Seat has shuttered its main factory near Barcelona for at least the rest of the month. Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, Volkswagen may also be forced to curtail production at the main factory in its home town of Wolfsburg, because of running low on parts.
Useful parcel courier current operational status links for anyone else in eCommerce:Canada Post, DHL Express, DPD, Fedex, Parcelforce, USPS. If anyone has any other major courier links for service status, please let us all know :)

Good news section
Amazon to hire 100,000 more workers and give raises to current staff to deal with coronavirus demands - CNBC says that Amazon is hiring an additional 100,000 employees in the U.S. to meet the surge in demand from online shopping amid the coronavirus outbreak, the company said Monday. The company is looking to add extra full-time and part-time positions for warehouse and delivery workers. Through the end of April, it will raise pay for these employees by $2 per hour in the U.S., £2 per hour in the UK, and approximately €2 per hour in many EU countries. Amazon currently pays $15 per hour or more in some areas of the U.S. for warehouse and delivery jobs. Amazon encouraged employees in other industries whose jobs were "lost or furloughed" as a result of the coronavirus to apply, including members of the hospitality, restaurant and travel industries. "We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back," the company added.

Educating in denial older relatives anecdote
Personal story time; my 69 year old Aunt is very grumpy because despite me telling her for well over a month, it is finally dawning on her that her dream guided coach bus tour of the West USA national parks in 10 weeks time is rapidly going up in smoke whilst my 75 year old Dad has realised his third cruise of the year (this time around the med) in 5 weeks time is also about to be toast. My Aunt complained on Facebook yesterday that nobody is mentioning the 46,000 people who have recovered from the illness and that "it's just a bit of flu". It isn't, otherwise governments around the world would not be reacting as they are.
If you have an elderly relative like mine who relies far too much on social media anecdotes rather than good quality fact based mainstream media, maybe point them at this businessinsider article here where it points out that 1) flu mortality rates are 0.1% vs. Covid-19 is 3.4% and 2) for 70-79 the mortality rate is 8% and for over 80's it's 14.8%. Hopefully they might just realise the seriousness of the situation; my Aunt dismissed it as "a website I've never heard of and won't believe" despite the article clearly citing CDC figures.

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Donations
Several asked if they can send me $/£/€ via Patreon (in some cases because I've saved them time or money, others for no reason at all). I don't need the cash (that's lovely though) but food bank charities are getting really hit hard with all this panic buying. Please consider giving whatever you'd have given me to a foodbank charity instead:
UK: https://www.trusselltrust.org/
France: https://www.banquealimentaire.org/
Germany: https://www.tafel.de/
Netherlands: https://www.voedselbankennederland.nl/steun-ons/steun-voedselbank-donatie/
Spain: https://www.fesbal.org/
Australia: https://www.foodbank.org.au/
Canada: https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
USA: https://www.feedingamerica.org/
Thanks in advance for any donations you give. If there's foodbank charities in your country and it's not listed above, please suggest it and I will include it going forward.

EDIT: Missed out virus news in brief, added as of 12:45. EDIT 2: Added in the Dutch foodbank link (hat tip siliconfrontier)

Reverse chance a british future anthro student!

Chance a British future Anthro student!

How to Take Advantage of the Mobilewins Free Bet

Streaming industry news and highlights - week of June 15, 2020

r/Soccer 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group C Profile: South Korea, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Philippines [3/6]

SOUTH KOREA via u/youngjabberwocker

About

Nickname(s): Taegeuk Warriors
AFC Asian Cup Appearances: 14
Best Finish: Winners (1956, 1960)
FIFA Ranking: 53
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Introduction

Hey there, ladies and gents. Merry Late ~~Padoru Padoru~~ Christmas to y’all!
Here’s another issue of my rantings and ravings on the ~~dysfunctional funhouse of Korean football horror~~ prospects for the Korean National Team in the 2019 edition of the Asia Cup. As per usual, I will go over a brief history of the country, coupled alongside a synopsis of Korea at the Asia Cup, and end with an analysis of our players and coaching staff. So without futherado, here is my mental vomit about Korean football.

A Very Quick and Unsatisfying Sparknotes of Our National History:

As with before, the history of Korea allegedly begins with Gojoseon (although this is very much based in partial mythological roots) and a She-Bear called Ungnyeo. Where we start to see our first real bit of history is in the period of the Korean Three Kingdoms (not to be confused with the Koei games since that’s the Chinese Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty, although I’d give up my arm off to get a game of that). These three kingdoms were Shilla, Baekje, and Goguryeo who went through periods of war and peace lasting from 57 BC to 668 AD. With the help of the Tang Dynasty, Silla ended up unifying the kingdoms and creating the Korean nation, albeit they would later declare war of Tang over issues of military-governorship by the Tang over portions of Korea. Silla would rule for nearly 1000 years until it was overthrown by Goryeo/Koryo from whom we get our modern name of Korea. Goryo would lose much of its power shortly after its conquest by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, eventually being replaced by the final dynasty called Joseon. The most notable event during this time period was the Imjin War of 1592 where Japan led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi attempted to invade Korea. He was repelled by Yi Soon-Shin, who was tragically killed in the final battle after telling his men not to report his death and to keep beating the battle drums. Admiral Yi remains one of Korea’s most well-known, if not most popular and universally beloved, hero. Joseon would go on to last for a couple centuries more afterwards, going through relatively long periods of stability with a few hiccups here and there via the invasions by the Manchu/Qing. This dynasty lasted a little over 500 years before eventually being overthrown by the Japanese shortly after our annexation in 1910.
Much of our modern history revolves around three things: our time as a colony of Japan, the Korean War, and the dictatorship of Park Chung-Hee. To briefly go over each event, these time periods have some pretty serious modern implications in that they very much play into modern perceptions of certain countries. For instance, our colonization by Japan contributes to the anti-Japanese sentiment that arises whenever issues regarding the comfort women, Yasakuni Shrine, or the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands comes up. On that note, the Korean War and China’s support and intervention regarding North Korea similarly plays a role in anti-Chinese sentiment in Korea, in addition to certain issues such as our alliance with the United States and the THAAD missile systems. These nationalistic sentiments have been thankfully waning in recent years due to cultural exchange and mass tourism. Personally, I do not associate with nationalism to an extent outside of rooting for my country at sporting events, but it is important to understand where certain animosities and hostilities behind certain games comes from. The last event, the dictatorship of Park Chung-Hee, is a rather controversial topic as while many attribute Korea’s modern industrial miracle to him, he did so via the suppression of human rights and expression during his reign up until his assassination by his own Korean Central Intelligence Agency Director. Regardless, there are people on both sides who either revere him as the father of modern Korea or as a tyrannical despot who suppressed human rights.
Thus, you have your very rough and quick summary of Korean history. Congratulations! You are now eligible to make a clickbait Youtube video called, “Ten Facts YOU WON’T BELIEVE about Korea!”

An Even More Depressing Overview of Our Asia Cup Performance

So before we begin, it’s worth giving a brief overview of how the Asia Cup works since this has confused the living hell out of my on how many times it’s been overhauled. Since it’s found in 1956, the Asia Cup has more or less included a small number of teams (most recently featuring 16 teams), though this upcoming edition of the 2019 Asia Cup will feature 24 teams. There are six groups with four teams each. In addition, qualification for the Asia Cup also plays into qualification of the World Cup. The reward for winning the Asia Cup is a spot in the FIFA Confederations Cup. In general, the elite teams in the Asia Cup have been South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Australia are the current champions and one of the most recent additions to the AFC.
Depending on who you ask, our performance at the Asia Cup has been either very successful or absolutely shambolic. Many Koreans tend to lean towards the latter as our status as one of the most elite teams in Asia would otherwise imply that we have won this tournament countless times. The stark reality is that we last won in 1956 and 1960. Yup, over 50 years ago, immediately after the Korean War practically wrecked everything in our country and split it in half.
Let that sink in.
Now, I’m not a particularly pessimistic person as watching Incheon United continually shit the bed for over 15 years does things to a person’s expectations. But Korea’s performance at the Asia Cup and last winning literally only after the Korean War is ~~a disaster on par with the Korean Overwatch team ever losing the World Cup~~ disappointing, to say the least. This will be Paulo Bento’s first real test as a coach, and there is a mixture of optimism and pessimism regarding as our coach for the 2015 Asia Cup, Uli “Shitlieke” Stielke made it to the finals and lost to Australia before hiring a masseuse as a coach on our team, which is to say that the Asia Cup isn’t necessarily a reflection on how a coach will perform in the long term. Regardless, Bento’s first few matches have shown promise and he has been willing to shed some of our liabilities over the past few months. For the first time in a while, I feel like I’m actually watching some coherent and watchable football. Not supermodel hot, but it’s more like a “girl next door” cute type of football.

Manager and Squad

Manager: Paulo Bento (Portugal)
Goalkeepers: Kim Seung-gyu (Vissel Kobe) , Kim Jin-hyeon (Cerezo Osaka) , Jo Hyeon-woo (Daegu FC)
Defenders: Kim Young-gwon (Guanzhou Evergrande) , Jung Seung-hyun (Kashima Antlers) , Kwon Kyung-won (Tianjin Quanjian) , Kim Min-jae (Jeonbuk) , Lee Yong (Jeonbuk) , Kim Moon-hwan (Busan IPark) , Hong Chul (Suwon Samsung Bluewings) , Kim Jin-su (Jeonbuk)
Midfielders: Ki Sung-yueng (Newcastle) , Jung Woo-young (Al-Sadd) , Koo Ja-cheol (FC Augsburg) , Hwang In-beom (Daejeon Citizen) , Ju Se-jong (Asan Mugunghwa) , Lee Jae-sung (Holstein Kiel) , Hwang Hee-chan (Hamburg SV) , Na Sang-ho (Gwangju FC) , Lee Chung-yong (VFL Bochum) , Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)
Forwards: Hwang Ui-jo (Gamba Osaka) , Ji Dong-won (FC Augsburg)

POTENTIAL STARTING XI

Players to Watch

Son Heung-Min: Not much else needs to be said about this man, practically already considered one of the greatest Korean and Asian footballers to play. His finishing and precision at Tottenham have proven him to rank amongst the upper echelons of football players in Europe. Of minor concern is whether or not this transitions over to the national team level as many notable Korean footballers have had issues with this. The major issues lies in how much we rely on our European players to pick up the slack of other players. This issue is further amplified by how our finishing and positioning on the offense end has been traditionally ineffective in comparison to how the rest of our team tends to function.
Of course, Son has a large supporting cast at Tottenham to take off a lot of heat, but the hope is that Korean can also provide a bit of relief from the inevitable amount of manmarking and pressure he will be receiving not only on the pitch but from bearing the expectations of an entire country on his back. The good thing at this point is that Son has little to worry about in terms of military service as he has already won the gold medal at the Asian Games. However, winning this tournament would do wonders for the legacy of the man who revitalized Korean football after Park Ji-Sung left. While I would not yet put him in the tier of Cha Beum-Kun, Son is certainly capable of reaching that mark in the coming years if he continues on his current pace of progression.
Kim Min-Jae: A young and promising player who has come up and revived a faltering Korean defense (no thanks to Jang Hyun-Soo). He currently plays for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, which has been one of the better teams in the K-League for the past few years. He would have been at the World Cup had it not been for an injury that sidelined him before he could participate. His last game against Australia cemented his place in the starting line-up as he proved that he has the speed and finesse that is required for a centreback. Add the fact that he is 190 cm, and you have one tall and strong player who can head away balls and create an imposing presence for corners.
Unfortunately, the current Wikipedia description of Kim Min-Jae’s international career is an unnecessarily long and in-depth storytelling of his own goal against Northern Ireland. The hope is that this Asia Cup turns some eyes towards his way so that he can secure a move to Europe and develop even further.
Hwang Ui-Jo: (Right) Hwang Ui-Jo isn’t necessarily young in footballing terms as he is currently 26. His career has been somewhat of a rollercoaster here and there as he occasionally has shown flashes of being a great striker and then reverts to a normal level. However, the past Asian Games saw Hwang literally turn into a gatling gun of goals where he was scoring left and right. Given, the Asian Games is a U-23 tournament, but the fact remains that Hwang has somehow rebooted his career and become a serviceable striker once more. In addition, he has shown the same level of consistency over at Gamba Osaka in Japan. The only question that remains is whether or not he can maintain this form not only during the Asia Cup but for the years to come to help Son with our often sputtering offensive woes.

Points of Discussion

Positive and Negative Points (Or How I Learned to Force Zombieland Saga Into Everything)

POSITIVE:
Coaching
I’m aware of the irony that Korea knocked out Paulo Bento’s Portugal in 2002 via Park Ji-Sung’s beautiful goal. Bento wasn’t Korea’s first choice, but anyone would’ve been better than the human embodiment of a horse’s gonorrhea-infested swollen anus in the form of Uli Stielke. Bento has made strides by not selecting old and fairly ineffective players who are no longer in form such as Kim Shin-Wook (no more random crosses into the box) or Jang Hyun-Soo (although that was a weird situation as shown below). In general, Bento has shown that he is knowing what he is doing, and he has selected a fair number of young players who show promise. This is definitely a transitional and developmental period of the Korean national team, so I’m looking forward to riding this ship with our Portuguese captain.
The Bento Train is coming for that ass
No More Jang Hyun-Soo
For people unfamiliar with the tale of this utter moron, let me tell you. Jang Hyun-Soo was a defender who, for some unfathomable reason, kept starting for our national team and was one of the central (if not the main reason) why we conceded easy goals in Russia. Whether or not he had some secret nudes of the coaches or something is beyond me. Now, if that was the extent of his incompetence, that would be fine and I would generally refrain from attaching any inference on his character. But then he decided to break the number one taboo in Korean society: skipping on military service.
Jang Hyun-Soo won exemption by winning gold at the 2014 Asian Games. From that point, he just had to do about 500 hours of community service over 3 years and do four weeks of basic training, a lot better than the forced two years of mandatory service while basically committing career suicide. This is the sort of stuff that Son Heung-Min almost lost his career over and fought hard to win. Jang proceeded to mindboggingly falsify his records by allegedly doctoring a photo or forging document. This subsequently got him banned for life from the Korean national team. The upside to this is that we opened up room for far better younger players, which I am looking forward to seeing during the Asia Cup.
Remember kids, don’t forge government documents or you’ll have a bad time
Easy Group
I just know this is going to bite me in the ass, but our group is fairly easy to go through (no offense to the other teams). The hardest team in our group is China, who has been a rising power in terms of effectively shutting down our offense. Add the fact that the Big Mac Daddy Guus Hiddink is coaching in China for the U-21 team, and you have a recipe for a potential upset if Hiddink has been advising China. For those familiar with Asian football, China has been more or less causing us issues when we face them, most notably (and still seared into my memory), our 3-0 defeat where we had Kalbi AKA and old and overweight legendary Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-Jae in goal.
I can’t speak much for Kyrgyzstan or the Philippines aside from saying that I am a bit concerned about the Filipino goalkeeper, Neil Etheridge, who is very clearly one of the best in Asia. That being said, he’s only playing one match which is a bit disappointing but understandable. That being said, I’m looking forward to Korea testing their skills against Asia’s best teams.
Woohoo for high expectations!
NEGATIVE:
Coaching
This is also a negative because, in short, Bento is a new raw coach in terms of the national team setup for Asia. If he can bring the same sort of initial success that he did with Portugal before he was dismissed, I think he’ll be able to survive and succeed in Asia. Ultimately, the World Cup is the biggest metric for a coach’s performance in Asia, but the Asia Cup is a pretty good starting spot. However, as I stated before, it’s not an absolutely certain measure.
Inability to perform at the Asia Cup
Really just a repeat of my above points, but to recap, our performance at the Asia Cup has been historically shambolic in recent years. I would say winning this tournament would easily be one of the great achievements in terms of our status in Asian football, next to beating Germany in 2018. If we can shake this off of our backs, we can perhaps try to reclaim the crown as the Kings of Asia rather than just shaking our canes and talking about the good old days when Korea didn’t play 뻥축구.
Random Facts:
In spite of our major differences, the common cultural influences amongst Korea, China, and Japan is pretty evident. All three countries utilize Chinese characters to an extent with different interpretations. In addition, we tend to circulate the same myths, most notably the Legend of the Monkey King (called Sonohgong by Koreans) where the most famous figures the hero Sonohgong/Wukong/Goku (Korean/Chinese/Japanese names, respectively) and Samjang/Xuanzang/Sanzang (once again, Korean/Chinese/Japanese) who is better well known today in games as the Titty Monk in Fate Grand Order.
There are many large overseas Korean communities around the world, ranging from those in China called Chosonjok (조선족), Japan called Zainichi Kangokujin (在日韓国人), America simply called Korean-Americans (한국계 미국인), and Central Asia called Koryo Saram (Корё сарам). For Japan, many of the Koreans were sent to Japan during the period of colonization. The ones living in China are mostly a byproduct of our borders. The Korean-Americans are mostly from late 19th to mostly 20th century immigration. Koreans in Central Asia are a bit of a sadder but interesting story where many were forcibly sent to Central Asia by the Soviet Union. In all, the Korean community is fairly strong across the world.
We have some pretty baller ass flags. I would fully endorse having a unified Korea have one of these flags ranging from Goryeo , Joseon, or the Empire of Korea. So, with that preview, here’s to hoping Korea does well and finally shakes off the boogieman this Asia Cup! Let’s go, 화이팅!
Korea is coming for that Asia Cup booty

CHINA PR , via u/75r6q3 and u/CrebTheBerc

About

Nickname(s): Team China , Team Dragon
AFC Asian Cup Appearances: 12
Best Finish: Runners-Up (1984, 2004)
FIFA Ranking: 78
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F.A LOGO

Introduction

China is the world's largest nation population wise with an estimated 1.4 billion people in 2016. However they’ve had trouble turning that into success in soccer as their population seems to focus primarily on either academic success or a more individual sports like at the olympics. An average of 1 field for every 260,000 people does not help either, although their current president Xi Jinping is trying to change that by encouraging investment in the sport.
~ via u/CrebTheBerc
Having in 11 Asian Cups since first qualified in 1976, Team China have never lifted the trophy once — even when they played at home in 2004 where they lost 1-3 to Japan. At their 12th attempt, the Dragons aim to lift the trophy with Marcello Lippi as their manager. After the failure to qualify for WC 2018, China would need to bounce back from the recent form to advance in the Asian Cup. Being placed in the same group with South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, and Philippines, China are expected at a minimum to advance to the knockouts, but only if they play to their full potential and show some consistency.
~ via u/75r6q3

Manager and Squad

Manager: Marcello Lippi (Italy)
Goalkeepers:Yan Junling (Shanghai SIPG) , Wang Dalei (Shandong Luneng) , Zhang Lu (Tianjin Quanjian)
Defenders: Feng Xiaoting (Guangzhou Evergrande) , Zhang Linpeng (Guangzhou Evergrande), Liu Yang (Shandong Luneng) , Shi Ke (Shanghai SIPG) , Yu Yang (Beijing Guoan) , Liu Yiming (Tianjin Quanjian)
*Midfielders: Zheng Zhi (Guangzhou Evergrande) , Wu Xi (Jiangsu Suning) , Hao Junmin (Shandong Luneng) , Chi Zhongguo (Beijing Guoan) , Yu Hanchao (Guangzhou Evergrande) , Jin Jingdao (Shandong Luneng) , Zhao Xuri (Tianjin Quanjian) , Zhang Chengdong (Hebei China Fortune) , Piao Cheng (Beijing Guoan)
Forwards: Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG), Gao Lin (Guangzhou Evergrande), Yu Dabao (Beijing Guoan), Xiao Zhi (Guangzhou R&F), Wei Shihao (Beijing Guoan)

POTENTIAL STARTING XI

Players to Watch

Wu Lei: The 27-year-old forward is in terrific form this season and is defiantly the most anticipated Chinese player for the tournament. Crowned champion with Shanghai SIPG in the league, Wu Lei displayed his excellent eye for goal with 27 goals and 8 assists in 29 matches. Pace, clever runs, and creativity, he is definitely THE player to watch. However, his performances in international matches have always been criticised for his finishing touch in one-on-ones. Would he recover his form and be able to win some silverware for his country?
~ via u/75r6q3
Zheng Zhi: The 38-year-old veteran is still the backbone of the squad, and will be the oldest player at the tournament. The captain has made 102 appearances for China since 2002. He is probably most remembered by European fans for his spell at Charlton and Celtic from 2007 to 2010. Zheng Zhi still has incredible stamina for games and certainly still is the engine for the Chinese midfield with his defensive and attacking abilities. Though not being a guaranteed starter in club games last season, he still played 17 games and started them all, playing 1348 minutes in total with a pass success rate at 84%. His farewell to WC wasn’t the most glorious with a last-minute red card in the last game for qualification to stop a goal scoring chance, but he still has the Asian Cup to mark his career. This sure would be his last major tournament, and 1.3 billion people would wish him good luck.
~ via u/75r6q3
Yu Hanchao: The 31-year-old winger doesn’t have the most amazing stats, but definitely is one of the most creative players on the pitch. A quick and skillful dribbler, Yu Hanchao is a workhorse on the left wing. He made 10 assists from his 47 key passes in his 26 league games last season. He sure would be the key player to break the deadlock in games with his quick feet and pinpoint crossing abilities.
~ via u/75r6q3

Points of Discussion

Lippi's Swansong
This is the last tournament that Chinese fans would enjoy Marcello Lippi as the manager as he stated that he would leave after his contract expires. But to be honest, some aren’t really satisfied with his performances. After regularly calling up young talents to friendly games, no solid system hasn’t been formed in the plays. Recent friendlies with India and Qatar are actually embarrassing to watch. Some fans are starting to question Lippi’s tactics. But we can only watch and hope they perform their best. With many young talents (Jin Jingdao, Wei Shihao, Shi Ke, etc.) being discovered recently, fans are most excited to see them perform well alongside the veterans. The more experienced players are mostly in their late 20s or early 30s, which would be an ideal age to face such a tournament. Fans certainly wish this tournament could also leave some great legacy for Chinese football.
~ via u/75r6q3
Formation/Setup: Lippi has mixed up formations a bit since earlier in the year. He’s implemented a 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 with decent success, but seems to have also found a bit of success with a 3-4-3 in recent friendlies.
~ via u/CrebTheBerc
** Questionable Defense**: Based off of recent matches China’s defense does not look all that confident. They should be ok against some of the smaller teams, but against teams like South Korea they are really going to be tested.
~ via u/CrebTheBerc

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC , via u/BuzzBuzz01

About

Nickname(s): The White Falcons
AFC Asian Cup Appearances: Debut
Best Finish: Debut
FIFA Ranking: 90
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F.A. LOGO

Introduction

The Kyrgyz Republic, a.k.a Kyrgyzstan, qualified for their first ever AFC Asian Cup in emphatic style, finishing with 14 points and coming second in a group containing India, Myanmar, and Macau. Kyrgyz football has been on the uptick since the start of the decade. The evolution in the country's football began with the appointment of Russian Sergey Dvoryankov as manager in 2012. Under Dvoryankov, Kyrgyzstan began naturalizing foreign footballers such as Daniel Tagoe of Ghana, and[Edgar Bernhardt and Vitalij Lux of Germany. Along with getting more Kyrgyz-born Russians into the squad, Kyrgyzstan experienced relative success in the past years, including their best ever World Cup Qualifying campaign this past cycle, where they notched 14 points and only two points behind second place Jordan in the second round of qualifying. They even gave AFC giants Australia a run for their money in Bishkek where they only lost 2-1, and arguably should have came away with at least a point despite them being ranked 177th in the world at the time. With only losing 5 of their last 16 matches, including wins over Syria and India, can the Kyrgyzs produce a fairytale run in one of the more difficult groups in the tournament?

Manager and Squad

Manager: Aleksandr Krestinin (Russia)
GK: Pavel Matiash (unattached), Valery Kashuba (Dordoi), Kutman Kadyrbekov (Dordoi)
DF: Valeri Kichin (Yenisey Krasnoyarsk), Baktyiar Duishobekov (Bashundhara Kings) , Tamirlan Kozubaev (Dordoi) , Mustafa Yusupov (Dordoi) , Aizar Akmatov (Alga Bishkek) , Daniel Tagoe (Chittagong Abahani Ltd.)
MF: Viktor Maier (SC Wiedenbrück), Edgar Bernhardt (GKS Tychy), Anton Zemlyanukhin (unattached), Aziz Sydykov (Dordoi) , Farhad Musabekov (unattached), Bekzhan Sagynbaev (Dordoi), Kairat Zhyrgalbek Uulu (Dordoi) , Odiljon Abdurakhmanov (FC Alay) , Murolimzhon Akhmedov (Dordoi) , Akhlidin Israilov (unattached) , Tursunali Rustamov (Alga Bishkek)
FW: Vitalij Lux (SSV Ulm), Mirlan Murzaev (Serik Belediyespor) , Ernist Batyrkanov (Dordoi)

POTENTIAL STARTING XI

Players to Watch

Anton Zemlyanukhin: The country's top goal scorer with 12 goals, he can play on either wing or through the middle as a creative midfielder. Expect him to all over the place in the final third when Kyrgyz have the ball as he has freedom to roam wherever he wants. He's also on set pieces and penalties.
Daniel Tagoe : The naturalised Kyrgyz, the Ghanaian will anchor the back line attempting to limit the likes of Hwang Hee-Chan, Wu Lei, and Phil Younghusband. It's likely that the Kyrgyz's could line up with 4 CB's across the back four, looking at set pieces as an opportunity to score. So look for Tagoe to be the primary target and chip in with some dangerous headers towards goal as well as shifting in and out between midfield and centre-half.
Milan Murzaev: An experienced player in the lower divisions of Turkey, Murzaev is a striker but will most likely be deployed on the wing for Kyrgyzstan. His ability to drift inside and help Lux out in the attack will critical to whether they can get some goals on the board.

Points of Discussion

Switch to a Defensive Approach?
In one of the tougher groups in the competition , expect Kyrgyzstan to be defending in their own half quite a bit. As previously stated , it's possible that Krestinin could go for the Pulis approach and stick two centre halves at fullback. Essentially playing with a flat back 4.
Though recently in a 4-0 friendly loss against Japan , they went with a 5-4-1 formation , with Tagoe acting as one of the centre-backs and using two taller, but natural fullbacks in Yusupov and Shakirov. So if they go with 4 at the back, Tagoe and Duishobekov can easily slot in an out between the centre-halves or back into midfield, and making the odd run into midfield and picking out a pass.
When not defending in their final third , they maintained their block of 5 and 4 very well, with the lone striker trying his best to press the back line. It's when Japan started to near the final third that things got dicey, with the plan usually being that one centre back stepping to the ball really aggressively while two others try and cover behind him if the step doesn't work out. If they opt to go defensively , they will need to be able to accept the lack of attacking opportunities that they will have as well. In the Japan match they registered only 26% of the ball and only 2 shots in 90 minutes , and neither of them were on target. So if they're committed to defending for large chunks of match , they need to be prepared to look for an outlet on the wings. The thing is though, they do have a gameplan, as Krestinin is a man for details. Meanwhile, for example China, don't appear to have a real gameplan in their matches, they kind of just rely on their talented players to pull something out of the bag.
The Unexpected
Obviously this is Kyrgyzstan's first major international tournament, and all three matches will be a special occasion , they got to the finals for a reason, and now it's a matter of showing some bottle and putting on a good first showing. Will they rise up and go toe-to-toe and leave everything out on the pitch? Or will they just go out there to "make up the numbers" and be happy they just qualified , getting trounced by several goals every match? They have the potential to go for a little cinderella run , but the White Falcons need to show that they are up for it on Asia's biggest stage.
Nationalised Recruits
Reaching from former USSR nations , to African born players who play in the Kyrgyz League, or other European nations, the technical standard has been upgraded significantly with the nationalised players. As previously mentioned there’s Ghanaian centre back/midfielder Daniel Tagoe (now married to a Kyrgyzstani), Edgar Bernhardt who grew up in Germany, who captains the national team, while striker Vitalij Lux returned to bolster the attack of the country he left as a 6-year-old. It’s been a tough pursuit, that has cost the the Kyrgyz FA plenty of time, negotiation, scouting, research etc., put it seems all of that is paying its dividends now.

PHILIPPINES via u/BuzzBuzz01

About

Nickname(s): Azkals (Street Dogs)
AFC Asian Cup Appearances: Debut
Best Finish: Debut
FIFA Ranking: 116
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FA LOGO

Introduction

The Azkals enter the 2019 AFC Asian Cup as one of the three tournament debutants, alongside Yemen and fellow Group C mate the Kyrgyz Republic. Drawn into a final qualifying group consisting of Yemen, Tajikistan, and Nepal, there was a great sense of belief that the country could qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. And so they did, with an undefeated record at that. For time, the Philippines were one of the laughingstocks of not just Asian football, but world football, at one point even being ranked as low as 195th in the world. With the introduction of foreign based players with Filipino ancestry such as the Younghusband brothers along with some success in regional competitions, football has grown tremendously in a country where basketball is the overwhelmingly more popular sport. After a semifinal exit in the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup, the Philippines while hope they can continue their momentum into the UAE

Manager and Squad

Manager: Sven-Göran Eriksson (Sweden)
Goalkeepers: Nathanael Villanueva (Kaya FC-Iloilo) , Michael Falkesgaard (Bangkok United) , Kevin Ray Hansen (Horsens)
Defenders: Álvaro Silva (Kedah) , Carli de Murga (Ceres-Negros) , Daisuke Sato (Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe) , Stephan Palla (Buriram United)
Midfielders: John-Patrick Strauß (Erzgebirge Aue) , Luke Woodland (Suphanburi) , Iain Ramsay (Sukhothai) , Manuel Ott (Ceres-Negros) , Adam Tull (Davao Aguilas) , Kevin Ingreso (Ceres–Negros) , Stephan Schröck (Ceres–Negros) , Miguel Tanton (Ceres–Negros) , Paul Mulders (Ceres–Negros) , James Younghusband (Davao Aguilas)
Forwards: Mike Ott (Ceres–Negros) , Jovin Bedic (Kaya FC-Iloilo) , Phil Younghusband (Davao Aguilas) , Patrick Reichelt (Ceres–Negros) , Curt Dizon (Ceres–Negros) , Javier Patiño (Buriram United)

POTENTIAL STARTING XI

Players to Watch

John-Patrick Strauß: A recent foreign recruit for the Azkals, Strauß elected to play for his mother's country. the German born central midfielder has already proven himself a key man in Eriksson’s line-up, in which he started every match (which he was available for) for at the recent Suzuki Cup. Alongside Schrock, Ingresso and the Ott brothers, Strauß might feature in all German-born midfield.
Phil AND James Younghusband: The two brothers who began the integration of foreign players with Filipino ancestry into the national team, alegedly after someone who was playing Football Manager discovered and notified that the Younghusband's were eligible for the Philippines. Born in Ashford, England, the Younghusband brothers are considered both greats of the national team, going through the highs and lows of Filipino football since they're commitment to the Azkals in 2005.
Phil (left) is the country's most capped player (105 caps) and top scorer of all time (52 goals). With Chelsea for 11 years until 2008, Younghusband plays as a striker and is the national teams captain has a fantastic goalscoring record in the Filipino league, with a >1 goal/game ratio.
James (right) is more of a wide midfielder, flirting in the lower divisions of the English game until 2010 when he then went to the Filipino League. Now with 100 caps to his name, he and his brother will shoulder the goalscoring responsibility for the Philippines.

Points of Discussion

(Initially) Unusual Neil Etheridge Exclusion
Neil Etheridge , who arguably has the broadest set of shoulders in football (alongside Moussa Marega), was born in Enfield, and is the only ASEAN international currently playing in one of Europe's top 5 leagues, doing it with recently promoted Cardiff City in the Premier League. With an already a staggering 62 appearances for the Azkals, Etheridge is an experienced goalkeeper who provides a much needed security blanket for a defense that can be leaky and unorganized at times.
A part of both Chelsea and Fulham's academy at one point, Etheridge bounced around the EFL looking for a team to give him a real opportunity. In 2015 he got his breakthrough with Walsall in League One, until two years later Warnock signed him for the Bluebirds on a free after he rejected an extension at Walsall.
So WHY is he excluded from the AFC Asian Cup you may ask? The reasons were unknown initially. It has nothing to do with Etheridge's desire, since he's already played plenty for the national team and expressed his interest. Though in a recent presser by Warnock, it was stated that Etheridge didn’t want to lose his starting place at Cardiff, and that electing not to go to the Asian Cup was a big decision for him. And so far it’s worked! Keeping two consecutive clean sheets against Crystal Palace and Leicester City.
HEAVY integration of Foreign based players with Filipino ancestry: As previously stated, the Philippines have a heavy emphasis on recruiting players from all over the world with Filipino eligibility/ancestry to play for the national team. Overall, these additions have heavily improved the quality and progress of the Azkals on the Asian scene. Only FOUR of the 23 players in the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup squad were born in the Philippines.
- Phil and James Younghusband: Born in England
- Curt Dizon (FW): Born in England
- Adam Reed (MF): Born in the England
- Stephan Palla (DF): Born in Austria
- Iain Ramsay (MF): Born in Australia
- Álvaro Silva (DF): Born in Spain
- Carli de Murga (DF): Born in Spain
- Manuel Ott (MF): Born in Germany
- Kevin Ingreso (MF): Born in Germany
- John-Patrick Strauß (MF): Born in Germany
- Stephan Schröck (MF): Born in Germany
- Mike Ott (FW): Born in Germany
- Patrick Reichelt (FW): Born in Germany
- Michael Falkesgaard (GK): Born in Denmark
- Martin Steuble (DF): Born in Switzerland
- Paul Mulders (MF): Born in the Netherlands
- Luke Woodland (MF): Born in UAE to English father + Filipino mother
Also also Many others from Canada, Belgium, Sweden, the USA, Italy, and Japan

Have a great New Year's eve and day, and tune in on Wednesday when u/FlyingArab will be posting Group D! Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, and Yemen

Don't forget to participate in the Predictions Game in the comments below!

/r/Championship's Championship club by club season preview - part 1!

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

On Friday at 8pm UK time, Reading and Derby County will kick off the 127^th season of the English second division - also known as the Championship! 24 clubs will compete for 3 promotion spots to the Premier league (2 via automatic promotion and 1 via playoffs) and to avoid the 3 relegation spots to the third tier a.k.a League One.

Its looking like a really tight and competitive season. The league is absolutely full of ambitious player and managerial talent - the more time goes by the more it looks like a Premier League 2. If you want a competitive league with proper English football, that also has the spice of skilful players and forward thinking managers, it really is the place to go.

This is guide written by the fans who have come together on /Championship - an absolutely huge thanks to them. Do check out the sub, we try to keep it a good place to discuss the EFL, away from the rancid gloryhunting shithole that is /soccer (just kidding - I like this place). Lots going on, including a score predictor thread which is running all season.

This guide is in table order with the PL demoted sides first. Only 5 clubs today (because the Swansea one is a fucking novel and I can't fit any more in), the rest will be submitted tomorrow and Friday. Do bare in mind that not all the transfer news will be up to date as these guides were largely written a week ago. Point out to me if there are any clear errors with formatting or spelling.

Championship info, links and media

/Championship's 17/18 player of the season review

Season previews: The Guardian | Sky Sports | The Mirror
EFL focused podcasts: Not the Top 20 | The Totally Football League Show
The 17/18 table - Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham went up. Barnsley, Burton and Sunderland went down. This season West Brom, Swansea and Stoke join from the PL and Wigan, Blackburn and Rotherham join from League 1.
These are the bookies' favourites for promotion (via Oddschecker):

Club	Odds
Stoke	2.75
Middlesbrough	4
West Brom	4
Nottingham Forest	4.5
Leeds	4.75
Swansea	5

And relegation:

Club	Odds
Rotherham	2.2
Bolton	2.25
Ipswich	4.5
Reading	5
QPR	6
Hull	6

How to watch in the UK: Live rights are owned by Sky Sports. They are upping the number of televised matches this season. Reading v Derby on Friday is televised. The weekly highlights show previously on Channel 5 is moving to Quest TV, which apparently is on Freeview.
How to watch abroad: Depends, but in most territories, the iFollow Service is available, which is £110 to watch all a single club's matches. Bargain. I think the clubs that aren't on iFollow have their own similar streaming services.
Check out club Youtube channels - quite a few of them post extended highlights now with their own commentary, including Derby, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford and more. (You may need VPN to watch if you're abroad.)

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

Location: Swansea, Wales
Nickname: Swans, The Jacks
Major honours: Football League Cup (2013), Championship Play-off Winner (2011), League One Winners (1925, 1949, 2008)
17/18 finishing postion: 18th (Premier League)
Transfermarkt squad value: €115.5 mil NOTE: This number is as of July 22nd, when we still have Mawson (€15 mil), A. Ayew (€15 mil), Bony (€10 mil), Clucas (€8 mil) and Fernandez (€8 mil), who are all pretty much expected to be sold, or loaned out, before the season starts. Without all of these players except Bony (who's injured for a while so it makes it unlikely he'll be sold soon), the squad value would be around €70 mil.
Manager: Graham Potter joined the Swans on 11th June 2018. In 2010, he became head coach of Östersund, who were in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 5 years later, he got the club promoted into the Swedish top flight and in 2017, they won Svenska Cupen which qualified them for the Europa League where they managed to get through the group stage. He’s been applauded for what he did at Östersund and the way he managed to build the club up from nothing. The year after his success in the Europa league he signed a 3 year contract with Swansea.
Potter is well respected by The Swans and after a few years of poor managerial and financial decisions his appointment is seen as a step in the right direction to bringing us back to our old ways of being a well-run club. Potter has been recognised for his "progressive" and "unconventional" coaching methods. At Östersund, he encouraged his players and staff to engage in community activities, such as performing in theatre and music productions which was designed to take them out of their comfort zone. Potter describes his style of football on the pitch as "tactically flexible, attacking, and possession-based". At Östersund, he deployed a flexible 3–5–2 formation centred on ball possession.
Best player(s)/ talisman:With many of our best players being rumoured with a move away what good players that remain at the start of the season is yet to be seen.
Alfie Mawson is probably our standout player. He’s been amazing for us since we got him and was a bargain at about £3m. He’s great in the air and is just an all round tank. Keeping him will be a huge boost for us and should be solid in the championship.
Federico "El Pajaro" Fernandez has also been strong at the back with Alfie. The pair played with each other for the majority of last season and together became a solid unit. We will most likely sell him to reduce wages though.
Jordan Ayew put in a great shift last season and was our top goal scorer. His work rate was immense and was able to drop back and defend when needed. He’s fast, able to beat a man and a decent finisher. Sadly all these players are transfer targets for other clubs and might not even be here at the start of the season. If we can keep a lot of our players we should have a decent season but who knows who'll be left by the end of the window…
Rising star: Swansea’s U23 had a great season last year and with Potter wanting a young and fresh squad, a handful have moved up into the first team.
Our standout youngster, Oliver McBurnie, joined Barnsley on loan in January last season where he went on to win a Championship player of the month award after 6 goals in 8 games and went on to win Barnsley’s Player of the year award. While only 22, he’s struggled to break into our first team but will most likely be our main striker for the coming season. Be on the lookout for his long legs, miniature shinpads and ridiculous sock length! LEGS LEGS LEGS!!!
Connor Roberts performed well at RB last season and adapted quickly to the premier league where he battled Kyle Naughton to be in the starting line up and did great when given the chance. Decent at going forward and professional at the back. Hopefully potter puts him ahead of Naughton.
What happened last season?: What Happened last season?: After our great escape the season before and with Paul Clement at the helm there was optimism that the 17/18 season could be our turning point where we start rebuilding 'The Swansea Way". How wrong we were.
After a disastrous transfer window where we sold Sigurdsson and never replaced him and started panic buying the week before the transfer window closed we were left an obvious hole in our team. We had no creativity in midfield and no one could kick the ball into the box to save their life. And just to rub it in further Renato Sanches turned out to be more disappointing than Bob Bradley. With the team sitting bottom of the table Clement was sacked in late December.
Then along came the wise talking Carlos Carvalhal who managed to rebuild the confidence the team had lost. Our results took a turn for the good, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Burnley and West Ham consecutively at home. He pulled us out of the relegation zone and things were looking good. However, the good times were quickly followed by the bad times. Our form turned and we didn’t win a single one of our last 9 matches. We were quickly relegated after pitifully losing to both Southampton and Stoke in our last 2 games of the season.
Highlights (Or lowlights):
The pass by Renato Sanches that summed up his and our season
Swansea City 3-1 Arsenal
Summer transfer business (so far): At the end of last season, it was clear we needed several transfers, both in and out. However, this would all depend on the manager we got.
Yan Dhanda (Free, Liverpool): A 19 year-old Midfielder, Yan Dhanda left Liverpool this summer and joined the Swans in a free, before we even hired Graham Potter. At one time one of the most promosing youngsters in Liverpool's Academy, injuries slowed down his progress, and ultimately made him fall behind other players. Citing lack of first-team playing time, Dhanda decided to join us this summer in hopes of getting regular playing time in the senior squad. Through 3 pre-season games, Dhanda has been one of the brighest and most impressive players in the squad, even scoring a game-winning goal and smashing a penalty in a shootout against Genoa. With our current injuries and shenanigans involved in our midfield, Dhanda has a good chance of becoming a starter and hopefully guide our midfield during the season.
Jordi Govea (Free, Real Madrid): Another 19 year-old from Ecuador, Jordi was the first signing under Potter. Not much can be said about the lad, but this is what Real Madrid had as his bio:

Jordi is an Ecuadorian defender who possess three key qualities for a player in his position: he's skilful, is able to go past a player and has a good shot on him. He's left footed and is able to send in good crosses on the run.

With Martin Olsson currently as our starting LB, and Kyle Naughton as the backup, the hope is that Jordi can develop on our U-23 squad and hopefully move up to the senior squad in coming years. Also the only man I've seen do a medical while wearing jeans (https://twitter.com/SwansOfficial/status/1015251916132057089)
Joel Asoro (€2 mil., Sunderland): Yet another 19 year-old, a Swedish winger who has represented his country in the younger levels, he was Potter's first senior signing. With world-class speed, and some impressive skills, Asoro was able to score 3 goals and get 2 assists last season in 26 apperances for Sunderland. While these numbers may seem a bit disappointing, many of these games were sub appearances on a very dysfunctional team. Along with Dhanda, Asoro has been one of the most impressive players during preseason, constantly beating his man with either speed or skills, and whipping in good balls to Legs. At the current rate, Asoro appears to have a good chance of starting on the right wing spot, with Nathan Dyer and Luciano Narsingh backing him up.
Predicted starting XI: NOTE: This is gonna be assuming Mawson, A. Ayew, Clucas, and Fernandez are all sold by the start of the season. If by some reason they end up staying, they are pretty much guaranteed to start. Based on the pre-season games so far, a lineup looking like this would be plausible, with Rodon most likely to be replaced by a CB (possibly Scott McKenna) when we buy one. Our second unit is looking something like this.
Best case scenario: Graham Potter is able to motivate and make sure our senior players (Fer, Carroll, etc.) stay fit, along with our youngsters being able to make an impact as expected, and also we retain Mawson, Fernandez, and Clucas, we can finish in the top 2 and get promoted automatically.
Worst case scenario: Our worst case scenario, and something many of us fear of happening, consists of primarily 3 things. 1. Graham Potter isn't given enough time to build an identity with our squad and is sacked by the midway point of the season by the greedy, dumb American owners. . 2. We end up not replacing the players we sold properly like last summer, therefore having a squad with holes everywhere and no chemistry. 3. Our youngsters such as Asoro, McBurnie, Dhanda and company don't pan out and progress at all, thefore becoming mediocre players. This would all culminate in us looking like Sunderland, and making relegation a probability.
Prediction: Realistically I see us selling Mawson and company in the last days before the season starts and not replacing them properly until later on. Because of this, as well as our current injuries with Fer and Clucas, I can see us initially struggling to build an identity but over time, we will start playing like Potter wants us and finishing the season strongly.
8th place, missing the play-offs by 4 points
What will happen to your closest rivals?: The scum that is known as Cardiff City will break the record for lowest points ever accumulated in a Premier League season, getting 5 points all from draws, and will therefore get relegated with 17 games to spare.

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Location: The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, West Midlands
Nickname: The Baggies, The Throstles
Major honours: 1x League title, 1x League Cup, 5x FA Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 20th in Premier League (relegated)
Transfermarkt squad value: £101.16m
Manager: Darren Moore or Big Dave as he's known to Albion fans. A club icon as a player in the early 2000s, he returned to look after our U23 squad before being promoted to assistant manager by Alan Pardew in January. Following the end of Pardew's horrific reign, Moore took temporary charge with Albion facing inevitable relegation. He led us to wins over Newcastle, Spurs, Man Utd and a draw with Liverpool, somehow taking our futile battle for survival to the final week of the season. Following this he earned the head coach role permanently. Moore is loved among the Albion faithful, largely due to his reputation as a player here. He heavily favours a 4-4-2 formation and at the back end of last season, tended to soak up pressure and play on the counter attack. It will be interesting to see how his approach differs in a league where we are one of the favourites, not fighting to survive (hopefully)
Best player(s)/ talisman: It's an interesting situation for Albion currently. There are plenty of Premier League quality players still in the squad. A lot depends on if they are picked off before the deadline shuts. Chris Brunt is a club stalwart and likely to be reappointed as captain. He is adored by the fans and in my opinion will be an incredible asset in the championship. His set pieces alone will bring 10+ goals to the side. Kieran Gibbs is a high quality player who appears to be set to stay and should make a big difference. Jay Rodriguez, Craig Dawson, Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli should all make a big difference in this division IF they stay. In all honesty I expect to lose a few of the above. Sam Johnstone appears to be an astute signing to replace the outgoing Ben Foster.
Rising star: Sam Field he's one of our own! He looked completely at home against some of the top Premier League sides last campaign. A box-to-box midfielder, he's full of energy and looks so comfortable on the ball. I expect him to be a major part of our side this season, having just signed a new long-term deal.
Kyle Edwards is an exciting attacking midfielder who has been impressing in pre-season. He may have a part to play following a loan spell at Exeter last campaign.
Jonathon Leko looked like a potential world-beater when he first came through a couple of years back. A lightning quick winger full of tricks. A loan spell at Bristol City and limited appearances later he seems to be losing his way. Will be an interesting one to watch.
Finally, the enigma that is Olly Burke. After signing with us last summer for £15m, he failed to impress any of the four managers we had over the season. He looks exciting when he comes on, without any end product so far, and was unfairly blamed for a loss at West Ham by Alan 'Coward' Pardew. We all know the talent he's got. Hopefully we can see it this season.
What happened last season?: Let's not talk about it... We finally escaped the stranglehold of Tony Pulis, only to opt for the human joke that is Alan Pardew and duly hurtled towards relegation. Four of our players stole a taxi and then played (and lost) the following weekend.
Pardew was sacked about 3 months too late, and Moore took over, restoring pride with some notable wins over Man Utd and Spurs.
This season we also lost the great Cyrille Regis, and the outpouring of emotion and the coming together of the club during the weeks after his passing was something special.
Summer transfer business (so far): We started by releasing Claudio Yacob, Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley. Yacob and McAuley will be greatly missed but it is perhaps the right time for them to go.
Jonny Evans departed for Leicester for a cut-price £3m, Ben Foster left for Watford and James McClean has departed for Stoke City.
Sam Johnstone has been bought in to replace Foster, with Jonathon Bond arriving as backup. Kyle Bartley has joined from Swansea City and it appears that Harvey Barnes will soon be arriving on loan from Leicester.
Finally, James Morrison is currently out of contract but still with the club. His future is uncertain.
I am very happy with Johnstone and Bartley. It has been a quiet window for Albion so far but that is largely a good thing. The squad is packed with Premier League talent and the window is more about keeping hold of them.
There is major interest in Dawson and Rondon, along with interest in Rodriguez, Hegazi and Chadli. If any of the above go, then we would need to replace. Otherwise I would be happy with another striker and another CB.
It is also worth mentioning that every player in the Albion side suffered a 50% wage cut upon relegation which means that we are financially sound despite relegation, but may lead to more big names leaving.
Predicted starting XI: This is my best attempt. It will undoubtedly be 4-4-2. We may see Nyom in at right back and perhaps Barry in for Field.
Obviously about half of this side could leave, so we shall see.
Best case scenario: The bulk of the side remains and the quality in the side shines through as we breeze to automatic promotion.
Worst case scenario: The better players leave or do not put the effort in. Moore cannot transfer his great start into his first full season in management. We become embroiled in a relegation battle
Prediction: It will be somewhere in the middle. I'd like to think we'll go up automatically but I think play-offs are more likely. 6th
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Villa won't go down but will settle into mid-table, despite the recent takeover.
I think Wolves will do well in the PL, although I don't know how long Nuno will last before a big club comes in.

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Nickname: The Potters
Stadium: bet365 Stadium, 30,089 seats
Major honours: 1972 League Cup
17/18 finishing position: 19th, Premier League
Squad value: £127.8 million
Manager: Gary Rowett signed from Derby in May. His honest attitude has brought lots of optimism to fans, who are looking forward to an overhaul of the Club. His style of play seems to change based on the squad he has available.
Best Player: Joe Allen was vital to the Club last season, giving us hope that we would avoid relegation. His massive new contract signed this summer shows how loyal and committed to the Club he is, and will be a vital player this season.
Rising star: Tom Edwards is a local lad who has won the Under 18 Player of the Year award twice in the Club. In the latter parts of last season he played some good first team football.
What happened last season: A pathetic attempt at a season that had been coming for a while under Mark Hughes. Paul Lambert was appointed in January, but a win rate of just 2 in 15 matches wasn’t enough for him to keep his job and miss out on the million pound bonus offered to him.
Transfer business so far: So far this has been a decent transfer window. Peter Etebo had an amazing World Cup for Nigeria and Benik Afobe looks really promising. Adam Federici has also been appointed to replace Lee Grant. Xherdan Shaqiri has left along with a few players like Stephen Ireland and Glen Johnson who will not be missed. Badou Ndiaye also looks to be on his way out, but it looks like Jack Butland will stay with us, which is massive. Perhaps most surprising are the new contracts signed by our 2 best players last season, Joe Allen and Moritz Bauer.
Predicted Line up: Here is our predicted squad. I’m not sure what formation we will have. EDIT: This is a new version, complete with our rumoured new signings and in the right formation.
Best case scenario: Stoke will finish top with an all-time Championship points record.
Worst case scenario: A mediocre start to the season will see Rowett sacked and Stoke with a disappointing mid-table finish.
Prediction: I think with our squad and our new manager, we will finish 1st.
What will happen to our closest rivals? Port Vale will be relegated to the Vanarama National League.

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Location: Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham B6 6HE
Nickname: The Villans, The Villa, Prince William's Club, David "Twat" Cameron's Second Club.
Major honours: 7 First Division wins, 7 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 1 European Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 1 Intertoto Cup
17/18 finishing postion: 4th
Transfermarkt squad value: £67.77m and dropping fast
Manager: Steve Bruce (for now). Former Man Utd playing legend who's been a fixture of English football for decades. He joined Villa in 2016 after successful runs at Hull, Sunderland (yes they were good once) and Birmingham City. A bit of a promotion specialist, he's taken Championship clubs up to the Premier League 4 times in the past and just missed out last season, losing 1-0 to Fulham in the Playoff Final. Tactically, he's fairly old school who prefers 4-4-2 or a 4-1-4-1, usually involving a big man up top. Fun fact: while managing Huddersfield in 1999 he wrote three novels, "Striker!", "Sweeper!" and "Defender!", which focus on main character Steve Barnes, a football manager. Barnes solves crime and takes on terrorists, and the books have become prized rarities. The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast managed to get a copy and read out some of the copy - suitably awful.
Best player(s)/ talisman: There's only one Jack Grealish. A Villa boy through and through, he's been with the club since 2001 (aged 6), and made his way into the first team in the 2013-14 season. He's been the centre of controversy a few times, most notably getting on the beers and passing out on a Tenerife street. Playing as a number 10, his quick feet and dribbling skills provide a number of goals and assists, as well as fouls. He probably went down a bit too easily when first in the Premier League, but time in the gym has noticeably toughened him up and he's a much more solid player as a result. One of the better players in the Championship, and due to Villa's abject finances, a transfer target for the likes of Leicester.
Rising star: Keinan Davis could possibly be it, potentially Andre Green and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy as well.
What happened last season?: Have you ever walked into a casino, spotted the roulette table and popped £10,000 on red? It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off. You've doubled your money if you win, but look like a right git if you lose. Villa figured this was a good way to approach 2017-18: spend millions on players, get in lots of loans, gamble everything on achieving promotion. After a so-so start, Bruce got the team playing well, stringing together a number of wins and moving through the playoff spots. Unfortunately they ran into a few teams playing out of their skin - champions Wolves ran away with the league and boasted a squad that included several Champions League players. Neil Warnock's Cardiff couldn't stop winning and grabbed the second automatic promotion. In the playoff final Villa came up against a Ryan Sessegnon-led Fulham and were just pipped at the post 1-0.
Summer transfer business (so far): It's one-way traffic, due to absolutely abysmal finances. Loan spells for Lewis Grabban, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Sam Johnstone have all ended, which is almost the spine of the team (Johnstone in particular - he was arguably the best keeper in the Championship and personally bagged a number of wins). Plus clubs are circling to pick off whatever assets we have left (eg. Jack Grealish, James Chester). With no prospect of anyone new coming in, it looks like the youth academy will be getting a lot more game time.
Predicted starting XI: Possibly this, but half these players could be gone before the first match.
Best case scenario: Mid-table anonymity would have to be best case - Villa are a mess and could go down this time around.
Worst case scenario: Our finances are the real issue - they are dire. Villa need to find £9 million this month to avoid going into administration. Owner "Dr." Tony Xia is a billionaire, apparently, but tax bills went unpaid and the question remains if he's able to support the club as generously as he has in the past. Administration, points deductions and potentially relegation to League One are all real possibilities right now. It's not looking good.
Prediction: Due to financial irregularities in the 23 clubs above us, Villa will get into the Champions League and take out the likes of Atletico, Bayern and Real Madrid on the way to our second European Cup. "Taylor, Green, prepared to venture down the left. There's a good ball played in for Jack Grealish. Oh, it must be and it is! It's Keinan Davis!"
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Unfortunately the Scum managed to avoid League One in the final rounds of the season. Here's hoping they go one better. Agbonlahor to re-sign for one game: the Derby. And score the winner, again.

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

Location: The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough
Founded: 1876
Nickname: The Boro (Or just Boro)
Major honours: The League cup 2003-2004 season
17/18 finishing position: 5th
Transfermarkt squad value: 79.34m
Manager: Tony Pulis became manager of us in late December 2017, replacing the sacked Garry Monk after a pretty lacklustre few months of the campaign (despite where our league position was). Pulis is known in England for being the man that is never relegated when in charge of someone in the top flight. We are all aware of Tony Pulis' style of football. You start by having a strong and massive defence and maximise your use of set pieces to gain an advantage. Pulis is a lover of all set piece plays, whether that is crossing the ball in from a corner or free kick, or launching a ball into the box from a throw in, they're all in his arsenal of weapons. 'Pulisball' as it is pretty much known. Pulis has achieved promotion from the championship once before with Stoke, and I hope he achieves it again with us this season
Best player(s)/ rising star: I mean, where else do I begin. Adama Traore. Arguably the best player in the championship on his day and is one of the most frightening dribblers in English football, maybe even world football. The winger is known for his speed and dribbling ability although is usually criticised for his lack of end product. Before last season I would've agreed, however 5 goals and 10 assists, with all but 2 assists coming before Pulis' arrival show the progression of the Spanish winger.
As for other members of the squad, Ben Gibson, the prodigal son. Boro through and through he's progressed into a commanding centre half with the ability to play out from the back thanks to Karanka. He gained attention and emerged as one of the few given credit after our disappointing premier league campaign but was only the subject of one bid upon our relegation, from now manager Tony Pulis. It remains to be seen whether he'll be here come the first game of the season, but I hope he will be.
As for future stars, Dael Fry, already has played 2 championship campaigns for us and looks as assured as a veteran of the game. Another centre half produced by our academy and he is being played in cdm this pre-season by Pulis, to add to his versatility. Hopefully a standout season for him, especially if Gibson does end up leaving. Finally, yes, he does always look as confused as images of him show.
What happened last season?: Well, the first half of the season was tragic under Monk. We played really poor football at times and looked like we hadn't defended a day in our lives. There was also no consistency in the team, we'd win one game then lose the next. A key theme under both managers however, was our inability to beat those around us in the table. After Pulis' appointment the results picked up and it ended with us finishing 5th in the table. We ultimately lost in the playoff semi finals to Aston Villa but honestly, we didn't think we'd even be in the top half around Christmas.
Summer transfer business (so far): Just the three deals to talk about so far. We've acquired Paddy McNair from Sunderland who looks like a decent player. He's been utilised in right back and midfield during pre-season so it looks like they'll be his positions for the season. I imagine he'll play alongside Clayts and Howson in a midfield three.
Aden Flint was signed from Bristol City and I think I'm in the minority when I say I don't like how much we paid for him. Obviously the man is a Pulis player but I'm a bit unsure about his defensive ability. That being said he's looked strong during pre-season and I'm sure Pulis will get the best out of him. Fabio departed our club for Nantes so we'll need more full back cover.
As for the rest of the window, I expect Gibson to leave but will be delighted if he doesn't. One of our strikers will also leave and Braithwaite should follow after his decent World Cup performances. We'll probably bring in a striker and a winger and hopefully hold onto Adama. That'd be a successful window in my eyes.
Predicted starting XI: My best guess The only other guess I could make is that Gibson might leave and then Ayala would start, but he's injured at this point in time. Britt might play over Gestede too if Pulis is feeling fancy.
Best case scenario: It has to be top of the pile right? It's not out of the question to imagine us up there and if everything clicks then we've got a chance. A defence that scores more than some teams' strikers, Adama channelling his inner Messi and finding consistency, Rudy/Britt/Bamford scoring for fun. It could be carnage.
Worst case scenario: I can't see us finishing outside the playoffs, if we did then that would be gut-wrenching. But if we did then that would most certainly be the worst. Realistically, it'd be losing in the playoffs... again, and if it were in the final again then god help me. Although saying this, now losing Bamford and maybe Traore will be a worst case scenario in itself, definitely if they're not replaced.
Prediction: Have to be confident, although it always kills me. 1st or 2nd. Tony Pulis and his nice white trainers carry us to the promise land. That being said, we never do it the easy way.
Best Match of Last Season Sorry Leeds fans, but it had to be. "Hattrick Bamford" as our Twitter account tweeted, 3-0 against Leeds with Adama running the show. Leeds clearly found some positive from the game as they're set to sign him off us. This was the sign of what we should've done more last season. Showed what Paddy could've been too if given an even more extended period in Striker by himself. Oh well.
What will happen to your closest rivals?: Who even are our closest rivals in this league? We're in geographical purgatory. Can't say Sunderland anymore so what? Leeds? Bielsa either turns them into the well oiled machine they hope for or he succumbs to the old Leeds ways and is sacked by December. As for the Mackems, probably promoted from League 1.

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Streaming industry news and highlights - week of June 15, 2020

r/Soccer 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group C Profile: South Korea, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Philippines [3/6]

SOUTH KOREA via u/youngjabberwocker

About

Introduction

A Very Quick and Unsatisfying Sparknotes of Our National History:

An Even More Depressing Overview of Our Asia Cup Performance

Manager and Squad

Players to Watch

Points of Discussion

Positive and Negative Points (Or How I Learned to Force Zombieland Saga Into Everything)

POSITIVE:

NEGATIVE:

Random Facts:

CHINA PR , via u/75r6q3 and u/CrebTheBerc

About

Introduction

Manager and Squad

Players to Watch

Points of Discussion

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC , via u/BuzzBuzz01

About

Introduction

Manager and Squad

Players to Watch

Points of Discussion

PHILIPPINES via u/BuzzBuzz01

About

Introduction

Manager and Squad

Players to Watch

Points of Discussion

Don't forget to participate in the Predictions Game in the comments below!

/r/Championship's Championship club by club season preview - part 1!

Part 2 here - Part 3 here - Part 4 here

Championship info, links and media

Swansea City by RafiakaMacakaDirk and my_knob_is_gr8

West Bromwich Albion by Joelwba

Stoke City by mrmariomaster

Aston Villa by trueschoolalumni

Middlesbrough by OneSmallHuman

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