In this episode, Majid and Waseem offer a unique third culture perspective on Gary Neville’s proposition to stop Premier League transfers to Saudi Arabia. Listen as they challenge conventional wisdom and explore how this could reshape the soccer landscape. Whether you’re a soccer fan, a third culture kid, or someone interested in global affairs, this episode offers a fresh take on a hot topic.
Transcript
Majid: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whoever you are, wherever you are. Welcome to the third Culture Convos podcast. I’m joined with my boy, with I imagined. What’s up? What’s up, man? How
Waseem: you doing? I’m great. I’m a good,
Majid: spirit. I woke up in good spirits, but then as usual, the media and the news brought me down, brought me back down to Earth very quickly.
Oh this morning I woke up and the first like notification on my phone was Gary Neville has written an article X-Men United Player, a team I used to support a lot used
Waseem: to, huh. Oh.
Majid: That’s a different topic. That’s about just sports viewing in general. But Gary Neville says Premier League should stop Saudi Arabia transfers.
So we seem like what’s going on? Why would Gary Neville pick Saudi Arabia? You are our resident, Saudi, what’s going on? Why is he banning, why not France? Why not Spain? Why Saudi Arabia?
Waseem: Why, is he saying this? Why is he saying this? I think, look, just to put I, not I, don’t wanna put my cards on the table but I’ll put my cards on the table anyway.
Now I think. My initial reaction when Gary Neville said that, when I read that Gary Neville was talking first, when I read that Gary Neville was talking, I was like, shut the fuck up. That’s my first reaction when it came to Gary Neville. And the reason when they say, cuz I feel like any conversation about regulation, about money in the game only serves to benefit.
The established money in the game. So the money that was already in the game tries to protect the new money from coming into the game because they got the monopoly of the game. And so they don’t want other players coming in and taking a piece of their pie. It comes from a mindset of, scarcity.
Majid: So let me just take a step back for all the third culture kids who are in tuning in.
Why this is important is that like a British football player is asking, For the market, the free market, to stop selling to Saudi Arabia because they’re saying that basically Saudi clubs are buying bad British contracts very easily and bringing them into the Saudi League with the objective of promoting the league and football in Saudi Arabia.
But, Old school football traditionalists feel that this is just financial doping. You’re like, you’ve always got this weird safety net where you can buy, like you can offer as a British club, bad contracts for long time, knowing that you can just offload them to your mother company, which is owned by.
Saudi Arabia at some point, like it’s not directly Saudi Arabia, the country, but there are shell companies and not shell companies, but holding companies and stuff. Anyways, so like from a third culture perspective, there’s a lot of different cultures and different styles of communication and everything.
There’s a lot of worlds that are colliding. I just wanted to take a step back. Yeah. And we can go back into, and
Waseem: I think we’re, in an excellent position to, to see it. Having one of the things, I think the words that come to my mind whenever we’re talking about this type of stuff, and that, that, creates this type of reaction from me is arrogance.
So it is arrogance in a position. And I feel like when you’re a traditionalist and you have got a. Benefited from the tradition, either being in Europe or in football and whatever. Then your it’s difficult to separate where your reservations come because I can understand the reservations of which of are common throughout the game since it since the FA was established in 18 something.
Is that the game has changed, it continues to change and. And not back in my day when we used to play without gloves. Remember the, goalkeepers, you didn’t used to have gloves. Then they gave ’em gloves, and they’re like, what a farce. And then they told them, you know what, maybe you should stop smoking.
Maybe you should stop drinking before the game. And everyone’s man, I don’t wanna live in this
Majid: world anymore. Open the tackles. Like those are no longer, yeah, those used to be very commonplace. Yeah. Send a message. And
Waseem: And, people’s attitudes about that also follow a very common trend where, you know, back in my day it was better and now they’re trying to change it.
And usually you’re trying to find I think like leaders try to find a balance so that they can. Keep the the, core beauty of the game and what attracts people to the game and what makes people wanna watch, the game, and pay money towards the game. And also and, maintaining the integrity of the game while also addressing challenges within the game.
And that. That conversation usually leads to bringing technology in, how much technology you should bring in, how quickly you should phase it in. Var virtual assistant referees was a big part of this, and that took forever to bring apart. Like they literally had to change the entire leadership through scandal in order to put a new leadership that would accept that because the old guard was.
Was the old guard.
Majid: And, the implementation of it is still very questionable among football fans with var. Yes. Like they feel like it’s been implemented in such a way that it should fail and get everyone And
Waseem: so it can be removed. Get rid of it. Yeah. Yeah. There, there are controversies involved.
And so I feel like there’s that. But then, and but then also when you’re talking about either Saudi money or Qatari money, or Emirati money or anyone else’s money, anyone Russian money, they did the same Thai money. They did the same Chinese money. They do the same. It’s not just Gulf money, but it’s outside money.
And where, why do I say that’s rich, no pun intended, is because
the viewership of those, like a big part of the money making scheme of that game. Of the game of the sport, even though they’re the owners of the game, or at least the owners of the tradition and the history of the game comes from viewership. In Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, in Emirates, in China, in and on, in the summer when they tour, they take, they package up all the teams, r Madrid and nations leagues, all these like extra games.
So when it comes to player welfare when it comes to making sure they play all the time, making sure that they’re playing in one week in, California, the next week in Bali, right? And they just got them moving around the world doing all these games or in Jakarta and they do all this stuff.
Then it’s our like, it’s okay to make the money and to exploit those
Majid: audiences. It is funny that Gary Neville is saying this because Manchester United is currently, his former club that he loves is for sale, and one of the bidders is British, a local British fan, and one of the bidders is Qari. And he didn’t, he hasn’t really said anything against Qri.
It’s more the transfers to Saudi, like on a very technical basis. He’s, yeah, Kareem Zema and KLI Bali, and all of these people are now suddenly overnight. And we saw this, by the way, with the Chinese Super League a couple years ago, if you remember, for one, two years, everybody suddenly was moving to China.
They’re saying that this is different. The Saudi league is saying that we are not, that we’re much more sustainable. We’ve been around from the 1970s, we have a viewer base, we’re a growing league, and we just want to take advantage. Whereas yeah, English
Waseem: and you’re not so upset when the US does it. Like I don’t hear the same because I say the US doesn’t have as much money, but they also don’t have as much viewership.
The, like the Saudi League is, baked. It’s not a little league.
Majid: Because it’s not just the viewership numbers, it’s the viewership value as well. If you have high, if you only have a thousand fans, but those thousand fans are ready to pay $10,000 per ticket versus like cricket for example, where you have a billion fans, but they’re not ready to spend more than 15 bucks.
Yeah. So like it’s not just the sheer number. It is also there’s a quality in terms of just they spend on this sport. Yeah. The jerseys, the latest shoes, all of that stuff.
Waseem: Yeah. And they know the d like they are fans. They’re fans of the sport both local. So they got a local team that they support.
I, do too. In, Saudi Arabia. I have my local team. I, yeah. Who’s your team? I couldn’t be happier, man. I’m, And so we, not only did we win the league, we also signed Zema, who’s one of my favorite players. And then we signed Conte. So now we got also a midfielder. I, couldn’t be
Majid: happier when, Wasim is not supporting it had, he is supporting Kareem Zuma’s former team Royal.
Yeah. Real.
Waseem: So this really worked out for me. And so that’s why I said Gary Nell sit down
Majid: From the left pocket to the right
Waseem: pocket. Yeah. Some of us are quite happy about this man. And, maybe you, and this is why I say to Gary Nell, maybe you, if you were back in your playing days and you were at the twilight of your career, you would’ve taken one of these.
I think probably what people are most upset about is not the audacity, but I like the audacity of Saudi in this sense, where they’re offering the money. Like they’re coming and they’re like, Hey do you wanna come, do you wanna come, do you wanna come, do you wanna come?
And then the player, and I’m, surprised cuz usually when they do a project like this, they’re getting players that are at the, ends of their careers. So messy signs for Inter Miami, that’s for end of his career. The inter Miami ticket prices the day after go up in price and sell out immediately.
Like they like. It’s, this is star power. It’s, this is important for a league to be able to attract these types of players, especially in the world game where there are competing leagues. And especially where there is already like a, handicap in terms of Europe being the first movers, let’s say.
They’ve been in the game for longer. They do charge the highest prices. They do have the best products. The most polished product. Yeah, It’s great. It’s very nice. And so when I see other places with the support, like competing with them I’m a free market guy, right?
Competition is good and it’s very, and usually when they want to regulate it out oh no, they shouldn’t be allowed, but like, why shouldn’t they be allowed? Like why, not? Because they have too much money. You don’t like, you’re totally okay with the money. Like,
Majid: it’s a very British thing I’ve noticed to be very snotty about money, but also shameless about money at the same time.
At the same time. Yeah. I dunno how to, it’s almost because they’re so shameful of it, they’re so shameless about it.
Waseem: Yeah, you hold two positions at the same time and you’re looking and you go, okay. And, the thing is, there’s no. Then they have to go back and revisit the New Castle deal.
So Saudi Arabia has a stake in or not in Saudi Arabia. I think also the way this terminology is, used, it’s not just sa it’s not Saudi Arabia, it’s the public in the Saudi Public Investment
Majid: Fund. It’s the fund investment fund of, exactly.
Waseem: I’m sure if it’s go, if government run. Yeah. But it’s so easy, I think, to take this sort of orientalist view and be like that’s entirely run by the state and therefore it’s the state and we don’t want clubs.
Run by the state. And you say that unless the club wins, and then if the club wins, you’re like, oh, I’m happy that the, club, and even this logic, this this, these things don’t make sense because when Chelsea was owned by a Russian and Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Russian ownership had to end immediately as part like.
And that also I.
Majid: That’s what I mean about, that’s why I made my British statement earlier. I’m glad you brought this up. That’s what I mean. There’s a pattern, there’s a historical, and there’s, I have as a Pakistani, I have many other examples, but we’ll stick to football when Rome, it’s really weird.
As an American, I am speaking right now that if I have paid money for a certain good and we’ve all acknowledged for 15 years that I own this. Good. Everyone acknowledges this. How? Which free market system am I forced to sell because I’m guilty by association. Roman, as whatever you think about Abramovich, the old owner of Chelsea, he didn’t do anything himself illegal or wrong or anything.
It’s because he’s friends with this. He’s a Russian oligarch, so we’re putting pressure on him to sell and that like from a like. De Democratic viewpoint and like using de democracy where democracy and capitalism meet. It’s very weird that he was forced, Roman Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea. That the, even back then, this made no sense.
So you took the money. You were happy when he was signing checks, when he signing checks without your. And now you’re forcing him to sell his thing. It’s weird how you, so isn’t this now state run machinery with the fact that you forced him to sell? Isn’t there a state hand involved in this? Why are we not using the dark art language?
Yes. Sprinkling it
Waseem: on. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I think you, you said it. Very well. I think you said it very clearly and that’s the thing. That’s why I get I get triggered when I hear these types of comments from because of new money, right? And, new, this new, the story of new money versus old money is a story we’ve heard plenty of times, right?
Like
Majid: within new money there’s also dumb money. Yanni, there’s a big. Hands off policy about the fact that Chelsea went and bought a team that couldn’t perform. Everyone predicted that all these players that you’ve bought in the last year under the new ownership, they’re just a collection of players.
They’re not a team. They’re not gonna do well together, but they still like, where is the blame? Where’s the accountability for the decisions that were made? That brought us to the position where we need to go out and get new money. Yeah what happened
Waseem: to the old money and how much I know that in English clubs, right?
When you do look at the old money, right? And you look at like Newcastle, right? They were begging for someone to come buy the club, right? They were so done. I think it was Mike Ashley, right? They were so done with this guy, right? And, they even the Glas, right? The glas are, not necessarily I, don’t know how they fall as old money or new money.
I don’t know where, they’re categorized.
Majid: Because you know the family guy meme, the Peter Griffin border control meme? Yeah. Because they pass a certain skin tone. It’s considered old money they bought into a classy organization with old money, even though. They, even though the way they did it is like clearly they’ve abused the club.
They’ve used it as all the money they’ve taken out of it. They’ve put into their pockets. Yeah. Literally
Waseem: speaking, they’ve enriched themselves and then allowed the club to, to just fail. Allowed.
Majid: But there’s no cultural, like if there’s any, it’s that they’re individual bad owners. There’s no cultural.
Issues. It’s not that American owners. Whereas when it’s Saudi ownership or colored ownership, usually Arab ownership, if there’s one mistake, it’s like a whole, they’re all like this. It’s
Waseem: a whole thing. And then when I think a part of, another part of this, and this may be controversial, Is when, and because this is where every article that I read about either the Saudis always has a line on like human rights abuses and, human rights issues and, talking about it as if it’s a moral question.
And I, I think that’s rich, right? Again, I think that’s rich. Because where, does your, like, where you choose to bring up the moral question. Without, almost without actually having any, either firsthand knowledge or any knowledge of, what’s going on. Of what the, situation is.
But using that as the of course, because that means you are in support and I takes away the nuance of things cuz when you talk right. Like how many countries are at are currently like at war or have military bases or are doing things that are like, you wanna talk about morals?
We can talk about morals. All we all, we want, but we don’t use the same measuring stick on absolutely everybody. Like we don’t, we like, we’re not fair when it comes to that. And it seems quite unfair the way that stick is used to. To describe we’re like, okay, no, we won’t take that money cuz that’s dirty money.
And then usually that’s, that is tested and money, like money talks. Man, I’m sorry. Like I, this is every time it’s been tested, money wins. And this is not like I. I’m not saying this as I’m happy about it or that I’m sad about it or that I’m not trying to put an emotional element to it, but it’s just it’s, I feel like realistic every time I’ve seen it.
And then when you ask someone to regulate that, then it becomes sort of morality. And morality doesn’t. It depends on who’s in office and what morality you want to use. Because you’re not, you’re cl because you’re clearly not gonna apply it to yourself. I literally, I, one of the things I’ve been listening to now is because we’re running into US election season again and we got presidencies running and that, and the primaries are getting started and I’m listening to I’m interested in this stuff. So I listen to the Democratic like leadership. I listen to the Republican leaderships, and I, listen to what each candidate says about certain things. And honestly, I like one example is military spending. There’s no difference. Like they’re both on the same side on this debate, right?
Like they just say words differently. They’re all about in. I like increasing or maintaining, spending, military spending, like none of them is about decreasing it and none of them is about holding, even though we know that like military spending, like like you know how many reports come out where they’re like, we don’t know where all the money goes that you give us.
Like every time we do an audit, like billions. Yeah. I dunno. Or like secret, I don’t know if they call ’em even secret projects. They just say ah, secret projects. We can’t tell you where we’re spending this. No, they’re like, we don’t know. We can’t account for them. And so then, but no one’s talking about that.
Everybody talks about giving them more money in order to fuel more wars and to, let’s say weaken Russia, for example, but at the cost of Ukrainians, right? Call me crazy.
Majid: There’s a movie, it was released in 1998. It’s called The Pentagon Wars and it’s Stars, Kelsey Grammar. The Star of Frazier Sideshow, the Voice of Sideshow, Bob and Carrie Vis a really funny actor.
And this is just what it’s about, and it’s based on a true story. And at the beginning of the movie, it says, believe it or not, all of this happened. Major General Partridge is in charge of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle Project, which has been in development for 17 years at a cost of $14 billion. That’s the first line of the movie.
So and no one knows it’s over 17 years, 14 billion. They still had no result. By the end of it, they were just like, Halas, what you said, put it under like confidential, like yo, like whatever, your r and d, confidential, r and d, and brush it aside, and that money’s gone. Like what about, why couldn’t that money be used somewhere else?
Isn’t that. Could you not frame that in a human rights argument case that yo but this in general, the west is much more. Merciful towards financial crime than it is physical or violent crime. If you can get away with it on a contract, you’re okay. The morality issue doesn’t matter because you made a business out of it.
And Uncle Sam will get the, his cut from tax and will be able to market you that you’re getting employment. For example, your payday loans. These companies are basically. Legal loan sharks. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Like the only difference totally between loan sharks and them is that they have an L C and loan sharks is just sitting in the barbershop.
Waseem: They are providing an important service
Majid: At, 300% interest rate over two weeks kind of thing. No one else is offering. And they’re taking full advantage of the consumer’s gullibility or not reading the statements if you or, lack
Waseem: of options. Or lack of options.
Majid: That’s the thing. A lot of it, they, and they know this, the system is manipulated to bring it that way.
And so th this is where the definition of crime and human rights. Crime. And I’ll show you. My brother, Malcolm X in 1960s was starting a case. He wanted to present a case in the United States. In the United Nations against the United States for crimes against black people. So like, where is like what you wanna talk, what about Native Americans?
You guys, half of you guys don’t really accept that a genocide even took place. That’s considered a controversial critical race theory kind of thing. Yeah. Woke theory like I don’t know, I’m ranting right now, but it’s just generally, I think. The framing because these, a lot of these articles and opinions and views come out from your establishment media houses.
They have a very one world view look at things and they’re. Cultural context, the context from which they draw cultural things is just one way they refuse to look at any other thing. Ask the same people about the war in Afghanistan or the war in Iraq and the civilian casualties if we’re, if we wanna be real.
Waseem: Yeah. You wanna talk about it like and you and it’s easy and we’ve, talked about this a lot, I think or I feel like we’ve thought about this a lot and I kind almost put this to bed where it’s right, like when you’re fighting for freedom, Everybody’s a bad guy, right?
Like, you, when you are the freedom fighter and they’re the terrorist, it’s like you’ve already set up the situation so that there is a lack of nuance, right? Like you, you then literally today I was listening to, Mike Pence talk about his, like America as the leader with the, a soft heart, but the hand on the holster, right?
Like, ready to shoot. And I thought about that, like that. How can you put your hand out in peace? Really? Put your hand out to shake my hand in peace while your other hand is on the trigger. And I, think about that that that image of you doing that. And I go, even if I shake your hand because I don’t have, I don’t have a, pistol, right?
I don’t have a, trigger, but I shake your hand. Then is this is this freedom? Is this what freedom is when you are, like, when you are in charge, that’s the only way it works. But if, someone else tries to get into the game to get, into the play, oh no, Don’t put your head up too high or we’ll take it off.
And that, doesn’t sound very freedom to me. That sounds very tyrannical to me.
Majid: Are we the baddies, the meme? Yeah. Yeah, And this manifests itself again, what can I tell you? This manifests itself in American foreign policy, for example, which you said the same. The same mujahideen became the Taliban overnight, the same.
NRA Modi, who is visiting Mike Pence and company in Washington right now, he was banned 10 years ago as someone who perpetrated like a state, a bad state actor, he was banned from America. He was rejected for the visa, and today he is being given an honor to speak in Congress, which is a very rare thing for foreign leaders.
So that same individual that you banned 10 years ago for Crimes against Muslims at that time. Gura and stuff is today getting the big state honor. Yeah. And it’s wild, man.
Waseem: That’s wild. And of all people like that, that in the, they banned the B, that B C documentary that paints him in a bad light and India couldn’t like, it feels like they keep going further and further down this like path.
That is, is very like, oh no, no freedom of press,
Majid: no free. But the reason it’s tolerated the almighty. Economic income output, G D P, whatever, dollar. Yeah. At the end it’s all tolerated. That’s what exactly it is. That what you said about you can argue morality, all you want, money will win. And that you can see in yours.
We started with the Saudi League. We’ve ended up in the, in DC’s yeah. Senate House. But that’s the point is that if we go. If we start looking at your thing, if we investigate you, look at you right now. As of today, you have let in somebody who everybody knows kill is like the cause of killing people, and you are giving him state honors.
So what, like where do you come off? Telling us that we’re dirty money. What about this money? What about all the business deals that you’re about to do with India? Is that not dirty money where you talk about Jamal Khashoggi? What about the journalist just a few
Waseem: months ago? Remember those guys? All of this inflated money that wasn’t real, that like it was just scheme on top of scheme on top of scheme on top of like leverage.
On top of leverage, on top of leverage. And then it’s just a big bubble of money and everybody’s got money, but nobody’s got any money. Like a
Majid: Dani group, a thing that you would Yeah, Yes.
Waseem: Yes so, to me, like bringing it back, bringing it home what I think is interesting about the Saudi project when it comes to the soccer players, Is not necessarily that they’re doing it.
Like I think it’s interesting that the, like they’re, that sort of, the establishment is against it, like so much against it, even though they’re getting paid, right? One of the things was like one of the players at Atla at Atlanta, right? Like he was worth 40 million and like one of the European clubs was trying to get him for 40 million.
And then but because of the, this. His price has now, so at Atlanta has now set his price at 70 million as opposed to 40 million because there’s money coming in and they’re get, they’re upset because all of this money flooding in. But, and since it’s not a European league, so it’s different from Qatar using Paris Center man to buy players or, Manchester City buying players.
So it’s different so that it’s, I don’t like what, why would you re regulate another league? And also for the players that do end up mo that. Our offer, these offers. Everybody knows that the most competitive leagues in the world are in Europe and Western Europe specifically, right? And so these, the most competitive leagues, if that player at 28, 25, 26, 27 is, would like to spend the prime of his years making money as opposed to playing in the most competitive league, then that’s their prerogative, right?
That’s totally up to them.
Majid: If, they’re living in the west, it’s their prerogative, but the moment you decide to do it anywhere else in the world, it’s, oh my God. Like it’s poaching. You don’t read the terms and conditions. Yeah. If you do the same thing, like that’s the thing if, sorry to cut you off, but like N B A players do this all the time.
There’s. Peak n b a players who are just coasting on bad teams because they just wanna get paid. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s, the point, is why can’t these players just be free to take the money? What about free? Where’s your free market
Waseem: capitalism now? Yeah. And, if the prices go up who raised.
The play like at Atlanta, who raised the price of the player from 40 to 7 million. It wasn’t anyone but at Atlanta, it like, and so even when the smaller clubs, especially the, with the, we call the feeder clubs, right? So they’re not gonna go out and spend 800 million on a player, right? Because they don’t have that money.
So this, but the smaller clubs do ha the, they’re business model when it comes to raising funds outside of selling tickets. And even though they can’t sell them with such, with a hot, with such a, Like in the same sort of power as like a real Madrid or a Barcelona or an inter Milan, for example.
But they, because they don’t have that international base the same way that those other clubs do and can attract that kind of money. So the only way that they can do is to get them young, get them developed, and then. Increase their value and then sell them. And that’s how the club will build up itself and hopefully be performing.
And so it, it knows that it can’t hold onto play. They know that they can’t hold onto players at their peak, but they gotta make the most out of that player into financially because they’re gonna come get clipped off. And it’s just so funny when a rich a, really relatively rich Manchester United, a relatively rich like rich matches united because they, throw money around like it like, like it was popcorn.
Now get upset because the, at Atlanta has raised the prices of their players because there’s more money coming in. And so there’s more money going around. And so at Atlanta will get richer. So at Atlanta will be able to spend that 70 billion on whatever it sees fit. And so I don’t necessarily see it as a negative side of the game because also it does come down to the players and the player does choose.
All right, do I want to go play in like a, relatively more relaxed league, or do I want to go play in know, a, a. Sort of more competitive league and try to win the Champions League, right? And try to win the top honors and try to become the best of the best And not all players are created equally, right?
Not all, it’s not even, they’re not all the same. Some who knows what their background is. I’m, not judging them for any of the choices that they’re making, right? I would love to be in their position I don’t know what I would choose. I
Majid: Emma Radino, I think the British tennis player, female tennis player, she had a.
Interview recently, and she said that I there are days where I regret winning the US Open because it’s just added more pressure to my life, the burden of expectation as opposed to I’m a champion now I can chill. It’s more man, now every day I have to like the tension of the mental health aspect.
So yeah, if I can make money, if I can make double the money for half the workload. Are, you guys are just hating at this point, right?
Waseem: Yeah. And there are more, there’s more than just money. And this is what the thing that, that I, want to try to explain is that because once all right, money’s on top, money talks, and that’s what everybody wants to say and talk about, but it’s more than just money, right?
Like some people do. Like I got, I have enough skill. And have built enough of a name that like, I can now go to this league where I’m gonna be loved Reved. And, there are fan bases in this city, right? Zuma’s opening was huge. When he was unveiled to like the, to the stadium, ev there was no game.
Everybody drove up to the stadium, the place was popping right? To, welcome and and that’s amazing like that. I, that must feel. Unbelievable to get to come. And then there’s 50,000 people in a stadium like chanting your name, excited about you, you arriving and Right. And hanging on every word you say.
And that’s I, it’s not just the money that’ll make you do that. And you still will wanna perform and you’re still, because like you’re still human. And so I don’t. Even just reducing it on down to money at the same time and being like, okay, we gotta regulate the money, but also reduce it all down to money so that we dehumanize these people.
Then why, couldn’t, why there only supposed to be a few established players? And then everybody else doesn’t get, any help. And like the same way we made a big hubbub about the Super League a few years ago and now, and they’re still working on it. They gotta repackage it, rebrand it, kinda get it working properly to address some of the concerns that we had brought up with that leak with the Super League.
Then and I think they’re working on it, but they’re, they are addressing even the Super League was addressing a similar problem that it seems like that’s. With Saudi coming in and their league being pulled, you can call it what’s the key word that everybody loves to hear? It’s disruption.
And every industry requires disruption. Isn’t this a disruption that you were talking about that you really wanted?
Majid: It’s funny you mentioned the European Super League. In hindsight now with the Saudi emergence, they might look at that and be like, we should have done that. You know what? That might have actually protected.
That would’ve added. A layer of protection instead of the way we thought. Yeah. Even right now, the way they’re thinking, I think they’re going at this the wrong way. Instead of looking at this as a threat, they should look at it much more in a collaborative spirit in which the world of football, the literal football economy, is growing tenfold in front of us and we now, we should now be figuring out how to take advantage of this.
Does this mean we can now? As a European club, should we now invest more in our youth and start selling them? That actually might be even cheaper, by the way, than spending on,
Waseem: right? Yeah You and, that has a longer term like window, right? Because when you invest, you can only see the fruits of that labor in 20 years.
And so there’s, it takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of care. You gotta take it easy. You gotta trust in the process. It’s gonna cost a lot of money as well. So the, and there’s, and you gotta build a environment for players to, to practice, right? To go up. Like you need the under, that’s why you have an under 20 tournament.
That’s why you have an under 19 and under 17. That’s why you got them.
Majid: Even. This like partnering, get your, get assigned. M o u of Athletical. Madrids. Under 21 we’ll play two competition, two games against Al Tahad starting 11. Yeah. Yanni. This is all I’m saying is instead of looking at this
Waseem: Manas is doing a tour in Japan.
Playing against European teams. And that’s, also, that’s wild, right? Because why I’m not has Ronaldo, so you’re gonna have Ronaldo play against whoever arsenal, Manchester, United, whatever. In Japan. In Japan and
Majid: And within that you’re gonna have Saudis traveling to Japan.
Portuguese people travel. Like with Ronaldo alone, this is the other thing is the people that they have invested. It goes back to what you’re saying. They’re picking guys who have a cult-like following too. Benzema has this weird. Look at our father over here. Like, he’s got a cult of Zemo who follows him around west Side Yeah,
Waseem: yeah, He’s got his, he’s got his voice.
Majid: And so the guys they picked are smart. It’s not even the way Newcastle has been built. It’s a very smart, slow and steady kind of thing. I don’t know. I think this fear it’s one of the themes of our podcast is the fear of the other instead of fearing the other.
I think if they embrace the other, They would be much better for it. And they should have learned just by looking at your golf institution, the most establishment of sports at the end, money talked and you had to bow and you had to partner with the Saudi, the live tour. Yeah. And I think the same conclusion will end up here.
That you can’t fight it if you can’t beat, if you can’t beat ’em, join them. And I think they’re gonna have to join them at some point. These calls are ridiculous and they’re anti. Economics and they’re anti-democratic.
Waseem: Said, Maj running
Majid: for
Waseem: The, next, whatever it is they’re gonna run on next. And I, like it. I think making the shift from a a, mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance. Is, the challenge of the time, right? Like it with a lot of things. Like it’s, and if you operate under scarcity, then you know there isn’t enough for everybody.
And so then I gotta fight ’em all off. And when you operate under the assumption of abundance and that there is enough for everybody and the more there is, the more there’ll be. Then you, don’t feel as I’m not like, I’m not saying you don’t feel competitive, but because competition is, nice friction.
But you’re, in it together. You’re in it together. And so that’s what I tell, that’s what I’m telling the Gary Neville. We’re in this together, buddy. What’s matter, man? Come on, sit down, have some tea. Let’s go.
Majid: Take your hand off the holster and let’s make it a hug.
Waseem: What they’re looking for?
They’re looking for some English language commentators.
I think you, you get a, you get, get an offer, buddy.
Majid: I’ll update your resume, bro. Fantastic. Great, chat. Very good. Good fun. Saudi League, what do you the listeners think? Yeah,
Waseem: what are you think making? Is this all, are we off? Yeah, go ahead.
Majid: Go ahead. No, go ahead
Waseem: man. I dunno. Are we off?
Are we totally off? Are we totally on? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. I, would love to hear different people’s perspectives, obviously, because we I think it’s clear where we stand on this
Majid: And which team do you support in the Saudi League? We heard, I’m gonna go look at the league now.
I’m gonna find my own team. I’ll announce it at some point.
Waseem: Let’s see. No, you if you don’t say it, tahad, we’re gonna have some trouble, man. This is deeper man. This is deeper.
Majid: Football is life with that. For Wasim, I imagine. This is the third Culture Combos podcast. See you guys next week in Shala.