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.

As a first-timer FPL manager, there are tonnes of valuable resources at your fingertips, I will name a few that I have recently discovered, cannot recommend them highly enough. Please note all of them I recommend are completely free of charge.
Please use the following template.
Name of the Tool/App/Site
URL
Why is it essential for you as FPL Manager?
PS: Any good ones, I will add to the list and name you as the contributor.

1. ​

Name	FPL Statistics
URL	http://www.fplstatistics.co.uk/
Why is it important?	The most accurate site to predict FPL price movements. I check it on daily basis.

2)

Name	FPL GAMEWEEK
URL	https://www.fplgameweek.com/#/
Why is it important?	Real-time dashboard to track your points, subs and rank compared to all other players in your mini-league, including your rival’s captain choice, key differentials, chip usage, transfer strategy, squad value, all in one view.

3)

Name	Understats
URL	https://understat.com/
Why is it important?	Free statistics to check xG, xG+A, all the essential stats for both clubs and player level.

4)

Name	myfplanalysis
URL	https://myfplanalysis.co.in/index
Why is it important?	Best analysis tool for top 10K managers, my favourite section is the "Rough and Smooth" of the Game Week.

5)

Name	Premier League > Player List
URL	https://fantasy.premierleague.com/player-list
Why is it important?	You can download the Points and Cost for all premier league players. One of the key metrics I use to determine best value players for Goalkeepers, Defenders, Midfielders and Forward is Av Points per Mil £.

6)

Name	A new planet FPL
URL	https://www.anewpla.net/fpl/
Why is it important?	Excellent to track live bonus points, live team line-ups, Live-League and your team statistics.

7) Contributed by PharaohLeo

Name	FBRef
URL	https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/Premier-League-Stats
Why is it important?	Full stats of teams and players powered by StatsBomb.

8) Contributed by PharaohLeo

Name	Premier League Fixture (2020/21 Season)
URL	https://public.tableau.com/profile/timbayer#!/vizhome/PremierLeagueFixtures2021/PLFixtures
Why is it important?	This fixture difficulty tool is based on 538's Soccer Power Index (SPI) model, intuitive and visually stunning.

9) Contributed by Wwdc4

Name	FPL Review
URL	https://fplreview.com/
Why is it important?	It is a great tool for point predictions and team planning, transfer suggestions, with some fun graphics.

10) Contributed by AngelKnives

Name	Who Scored
URL	https://www.whoscored.com/
Why is it important?	Good for live score, match reports including heat maps, team stats and player ratings (based on its unique algorithm).

11) Contributed by Mestiano10

Name	Fantasy Football Fix
URL	https://www.fantasyfootballfix.com/
Why is it important?	Potential Transfers, Price Prediction, Match Stats, Player Performance Report are included as free features, plus tonnes of premium features.

​

SOUTH KOREA via u/youngjabberwocker

About

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

• FLAG

• F.A LOGO

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
  

• FLAG

• 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
  

• FLAG

• 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
  

• FLAG

• 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!

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.

Kanye Omari West (/ˈkɑːnjeɪ/;[1] born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West briefly attended art school before becoming known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for artists such as Jay Z and Alicia Keys. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success, and founded the record label GOOD Music. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, and the following year he collaborated with Jay Z on the joint LP Watch the Throne (2011). West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016.
West is among the most acclaimed musicians of the 21st century, and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 32 million albums and 100 million digital downloads worldwide.[5][6] He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time and the most Grammy-awarded artist to have debuted in the 21st century.[7] Three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stone's 2012 update of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. He has also been included in a number of Forbes annual lists.[8] Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.
West was born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia.[9][10] His parents divorced when he was three years old. After the divorce, he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois.[11][12] His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor,[12] and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son.[13][14] West's mother, Dr. Donda C. (Williams) West,[15] was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University before retiring to serve as his manager. West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School[16] in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago.[17]
West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old.[20] His mother recalled that she first took notice of West's passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade.[21] Growing up in Chicago, West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene. He started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists.[22] At age thirteen, West wrote a rap song called "Green Eggs and Ham" and began to persuade his mother to pay $25 an hour for time in a recording studio. It was a small, crude basement studio where a microphone hung from the ceiling by a wire clothes hanger. Although this wasn't what West's mother wanted, she nonetheless supported him.[20] West crossed paths with produceDJ No I.D., with whom he quickly formed a close friendship. No I.D. soon became West's mentor, and it was from him that West learned how to sample and program beats after he received his first sampler at age 15.[23]:557
After graduating from high school, West received a scholarship to attend Chicago's American Academy of Art in 1997 and began taking painting classes, but shortly after transferred to Chicago State University to study English. He soon realized that his busy class schedule was detrimental to his musical work, and at 20 he dropped out of college to pursue his musical dreams.[24] This action greatly displeased his mother, who was also a professor at the university. She later commented, "It was drummed into my head that college is the ticket to a good life... but some career goals don't require college. For Kanye to make an album called College Dropout it was more about having the guts to embrace who you are, rather than following the path society has carved out for you."[23]:558
1996–2002: Early work and Roc-A-Fella Records Kanye West began his early production career in the mid-1990s, making beats primarily for burgeoning local artists, eventually developing a style that involved speeding up vocal samples from classic soul records. His first official production credits came at the age of nineteen when he produced eight tracks on Down to Earth, the 1996 debut album of a Chicago rapper named Grav.[25] For a time, West acted as a ghost producer for Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie. Because of his association with D-Dot, West wasn't able to release a solo album, so he formed and became a member and producer of the Go-Getters, a late-1990s Chicago rap group composed of him, GLC, Timmy G, Really Doe, and Arrowstar.[26][27] His group was managed by John "Monopoly" Johnson, Don Crowley, and Happy Lewis under the management firm Hustle Period. After attending a series of promotional photo shoots and making some radio appearances, The Go-Getters released their first and only studio album World Record Holders in 1999. The album featured other Chicago-based rappers such as Rhymefest, Mikkey Halsted, Miss Criss, and Shayla G. Meanwhile, the production was handled by West, Arrowstar, Boogz, and Brian "All Day" Miller.[26]
West spent much of the late 1990s producing records for a number of well-known artists and music groups.[28] The third song on Foxy Brown's second studio album Chyna Doll was produced by West. Her second effort subsequently became the very first hip-hop album by a female rapper to debut at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in its first week of release.[28] West produced three of the tracks on Harlem World's first and only album The Movement alongside Jermaine Dupri and the production duo Trackmasters. His songs featured rappers Nas, Drag-On, and R&B singer Carl Thomas.[28] The ninth track from World Party, the last Goodie Mob album to feature the rap group's four founding members prior to their break-up, was co-produced by West with his manager Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie.[28] At the close of the millennium, West ended up producing six songs for Tell 'Em Why U Madd, an album that was released by D-Dot under the alias of The Madd Rapper; a fictional character he created for a skit on The Notorious B.I.G.'s second and final studio album Life After Death. West's songs featured guest appearances from rappers such as Ma$e, Raekwon, and Eminem.[28]
West received early acclaim for his production work on Jay-Z's The Blueprint; the two are pictured here in 2011. West got his big break in the year 2000, when he began to produce for artists on Roc-A-Fella Records. West came to achieve recognition and is often credited with revitalizing Jay-Z's career with his contributions to the rap mogul's influential 2001 album The Blueprint.[29] The Blueprint is consistently ranked among the greatest hip-hop albums, and the critical and financial success of the album generated substantial interest in West as a producer.[30] Serving as an in-house producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, West produced records for other artists from the label, including Beanie Sigel, Freeway, and Cam'ron. He also crafted hit songs for Ludacris, Alicia Keys, and Janet Jackson.[29][31][32][33]
Despite his success as a producer, West's true aspiration was to be a rapper. Though he had developed his rapping long before he began producing, it was often a challenge for West to be accepted as a rapper, and he struggled to attain a record deal.[32] Multiple record companies ignored him because he did not portray the 'gangsta image' prominent in mainstream hip hop at the time.[23]:556 After a series of meetings with Capitol Records, West was ultimately denied an artist deal.[22]
According to Capitol Record's A&R, Joe Weinberger, he was approached by West and almost signed a deal with him, but another person in the company convinced Capitol's president not to.[22] Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella Records. Jay-Z later admitted that Roc-A-Fella was initially reluctant to support West as a rapper, claiming that many saw him as a producer first and foremost, and that his background contrasted with that of his labelmates.
West's breakthrough came a year later on October 23, 2002, when, while driving home from a California recording studio after working late, he fell asleep at the wheel and was involved in a near-fatal car crash.[35] The crash left him with a shattered jaw, which had to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. The accident inspired West; two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he recorded a song at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut.[35] The composition, "Through The Wire", expressed West's experience after the accident, and helped lay the foundation for his debut album, as according to West "all the better artists have expressed what they were going through".[36][37] West added that "the album was my medicine", as working on the record distracted him from the pain.[38] "Through The Wire" was first available on West's Get Well Soon... mixtape, released December 2002.[39] At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album called The College Dropout, whose overall theme was to "make your own decisions. Don't let society tell you, 'This is what you have to do.'"[40]
Carrying a Louis Vuitton backpack filled with old disks and demos to the studio and back, West crafted much of his production for his debut album in less than fifteen minutes at a time. He recorded the remainder of the album in Los Angeles while recovering from the car accident. Once he had completed the album, it was leaked months before its release date.[32] However, West decided to use the opportunity to review the album, and The College Dropout was significantly remixed, remastered, and revised before being released. As a result, certain tracks originally destined for the album were subsequently retracted, among them "Keep the Receipt" with Ol' Dirty Bastard and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with Consequence.[42] West meticulously refined the production, adding string arrangements, gospel choirs, improved drum programming and new verses.[32] West's perfectionism led The College Dropout to have its release postponed three times from its initial date in August 2003.[43][44]
The College Dropout was eventually issued by Roc-A-Fella in February 2004, shooting to number two on the Billboard 200 as his debut single, "Through the Wire" peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks.[45] "Slow Jamz", his second single featuring Twista and Jamie Foxx, became an even bigger success: it became the three musicians' first number one hit. The College Dropout received near-universal critical acclaim from contemporary music critics, was voted the top album of the year by two major music publications, and has consistently been ranked among the great hip-hop works and debut albums by artists. "Jesus Walks", the album's fourth single, perhaps exposed West to a wider audience; the song's subject matter concerns faith and Christianity. The song nevertheless reached the top 20 of the Billboard pop charts, despite industry executives' predictions that a song containing such blatant declarations of faith would never make it to radio.[46][47] The College Dropout would eventually be certified triple platinum in the US, and garnered West 10 Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and Best Rap Album (which it received).[48] During this period, West also founded GOOD Music, a record label and management company that would go on to house affiliate artists and producers, such as No I.D. and John Legend. At the time, the focal point of West's production style was the use of sped-up vocal samples from soul records.[49] However, partly because of the acclaim of The College Dropout, such sampling had been much copied by others; with that overuse, and also because West felt he had become too dependent on the technique, he decided to find a new sound.[50] During this time, he also produced singles for Brandy, Common, John Legend, and Slum Village.[51]
Beginning his second effort that fall, West would invest two million dollars and take over a year to craft his second album.[52] West was significantly inspired by Roseland NYC Live, a 1998 live album by English trip hop group Portishead, produced with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.[53] Early in his career, the live album had inspired him to incorporate string arrangements into his hip-hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, the money from his commercial success enabled him to hire a string orchestra for his second album Late Registration.[53] West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the album's co-executive producer for several tracks.[54] Although Brion had no prior experience in creating hip-hop records, he and West found that they could productively work together after their first afternoon in the studio where they discovered that neither confined his musical knowledge and vision to one specific genre.[55] Late Registration sold over 2.3 million units in the United States alone by the end of 2005 and was considered by industry observers as the only successful major album release of the fall season, which had been plagued by steadily declining CD sales.[56]
2007–09: Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, and VMAs controversy Main articles: Graduation (album) and 808s & Heartbreak Fresh off spending the previous year touring the world with U2 on their Vertigo Tour, West felt inspired to compose anthemic rap songs that could operate more efficiently in large arenas.[59] To this end, West incorporated the synthesizer into his hip-hop production, utilized slower tempos, and experimented with electronic music and influenced by music of the 1980s.[60][61] In addition to U2, West drew musical inspiration from arena rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin in terms of melody and chord progression.[61][62] To make his next effort, the third in a planned tetralogy of education-themed studio albums,[63] more introspective and personal in lyricism, West listened to folk and country singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in hopes of developing methods to augment his wordplay and storytelling ability.[53]
West working in the studio in 2008, accompanied by mentor No I.D. (left). West's third studio album, Graduation, garnered major publicity when its release date pitted West in a sales competition against rapper 50 Cent's Curtis.[64] Upon their September 2007 releases, Graduation outsold Curtis by a large margin, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 957,000 copies in its first week.[65] Graduation once again continued the string of critical and commercial successes by West, and the album's lead single, "Stronger", garnered the rapper his third number-one hit.[66] "Stronger", which samples French house duo Daft Punk, has been accredited to not only encouraging other hip-hop artists to incorporate house and electronica elements into their music, but also for playing a part in the revival of disco and electro-infused music in the late 2000s.[67] Ben Detrick of XXL cited the outcome of the sales competition between 50 Cent's Curtis and West's Graduation as being responsible for altering the direction of hip-hop and paving the way for new rappers who didn't follow the hardcore-gangster mold, writing, "If there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip-hop's changing direction, it may have come when 50 Cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album would claim superior sales."[68]
West's life took a different direction when his mother, Donda West, died of complications from cosmetic surgery involving abdominoplasty and breast reduction in November 2007.[69] Months later, West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term intermittent relationship, which had begun in 2002.[70] The events profoundly affected West, who set off for his 2008 Glow in the Dark Tour shortly thereafter.[71] Purportedly because his emotions could not be conveyed through rapping, West decided to sing using the voice audio processor Auto-Tune, which would become a central part of his next effort. West had previously experimented with the technology on his debut album The College Dropout for the background vocals of "Jesus Walks" and "Never Let Me Down." Recorded mostly in Honolulu, Hawaii in three weeks,[72] West announced his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where he performed its lead single, "Love Lockdown". Music audiences were taken aback by the uncharacteristic production style and the presence of Auto-Tune, which typified the pre-release response to the record.[73]
West performing in August 2008 on the Glow in the Dark Tour. 808s & Heartbreak, which features extensive use of the eponymous Roland TR-808 drum machine and contains themes of love, loneliness, and heartache, was released by Island Def Jam to capitalize on Thanksgiving weekend in November 2008.[74][75] Reviews were positive, though slightly more mixed than his previous efforts. Despite this, the record's singles demonstrated outstanding chart performances. Upon its release, the lead single "Love Lockdown" debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a "Hot Shot Debut",[76] while follow-up single "Heartless" performed similarly and became his second consecutive "Hot Shot Debut" by debuting at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.[77] While it was criticized prior to release, 808s & Heartbreak had a significant effect on hip-hop music, encouraging other rappers to take more creative risks with their productions.[78]
West's controversial incident the following year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was arguably his biggest controversy, and led to widespread outrage throughout the music industry.[79] During the ceremony, West crashed the stage and grabbed the microphone from winner Taylor Swift in order to proclaim that, instead, Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time". He was subsequently withdrawn from the remainder of the show for his actions. West's tour with Lady Gaga was cancelled in response to the controversy.[80]
2010–12: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and collaborations
Following the highly publicized incident, West took a brief break from music and threw himself into fashion, only to hole up in Hawaii for the next few months writing and recording his next album.[82] Importing his favorite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording, West kept engineers behind the boards 24 hours a day and slept only in increments. Noah Callahan-Bever, a writer for Complex, was present during the sessions and described the "communal" atmosphere as thus: "With the right songs and the right album, he can overcome any and all controversy, and we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire."[82] A variety of artists contributed to the project, including close friends Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Pusha T, as well as off-the-wall collaborations, such as with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.[83]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010 to widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom considered it his best work and said it solidified his comeback.[84] In stark contrast to his previous effort, which featured a minimalist sound, Dark Fantasy adopts a maximalist philosophy and deals with themes of celebrity and excess.[49] The record included the international hit "All of the Lights", and Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway", the latter of which accompanied a 35-minute film of the same name.[85] During this time, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday, a portion of which were included on the album. This promotion ran from August 20 – December 17, 2010. Dark Fantasy went on to go platinum in the United States,[86] but its omission as a contender for Album of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards was viewed as a "snub" by several media outlets.[87]
Following a headlining set at Coachella 2011 that was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "one of greatest hip-hop sets of all time",[88] West released the collaborative album Watch the Throne with Jay-Z. By employing a sales strategy that released the album digitally weeks before its physical counterpart, Watch the Throne became one of the few major label albums in the Internet age to avoid a leak.[89][90] "Niggas in Paris" became the record's highest charting single, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.[85] In 2012, West released the compilation album Cruel Summer, a collection of tracks by artists from West's record label GOOD Music. Cruel Summer produced four singles, two of which charted within the top twenty of the Hot 100: "Mercy" and "Clique".[85] West also directed a film of the same name that premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in custom pyramid-shaped screening pavilion featuring seven screens.[91]
2013–15: Yeezus and Adidas collaboration
Sessions for West's sixth solo effort begin to take shape in early 2013 in his own personal loft's living room at a Paris hotel.[92] Determined to "undermine the commercial",[93] he once again brought together close collaborators and attempted to incorporate Chicago drill, dancehall, acid house, and industrial music.[94] Primarily inspired by architecture,[92] West's perfectionist tendencies led him to contact producer Rick Rubin fifteen days shy of its due date to strip down the record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach.[95] Initial promotion of his sixth album included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances.[96][97] Yeezus, West's sixth album, was released June 18, 2013 to rave reviews from critics.[98] It became the rapper's sixth consecutive number one debut, but also marked his lowest solo opening week sales.[99] Def Jam issued "Black Skinhead" to radio in July 2013 as the album's lead single.[100]
On September 6, 2013, Kanye West announced he would be headlining his first solo tour in five years, to support Yeezus, with fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar accompanying him as supporting act.[101][102] The tour was met with rave reviews from critics.[103] Rolling Stone described it as "crazily entertaining, hugely ambitious, emotionally affecting (really!) and, most importantly, totally bonkers."[103] Writing for Forbes, Zack O'Malley Greenburg praised West for "taking risks that few pop stars, if any, are willing to take in today's hyper-exposed world of pop," describing the show as "overwrought and uncomfortable at times, but [it] excels at challenging norms and provoking thought in a way that just isn't common for mainstream musical acts of late."[104]
In June 2013, West and television personality Kim Kardashian announced the birth of their first child, North. In October 2013, West and Kardashian announced their engagement to widespread media attention.[105] November 2013, West stated that he was beginning work on his next studio album, hoping to release it by mid-2014,[106] with production by Rick Rubin and Q-Tip.[107] In December 2013, Adidas announced the beginning of their official apparel collaboration with West, to be premiered the following year.[108] In May 2014, West and Kardashian were married in a private ceremony in Florence, Italy, with a variety of artists and celebrities in attendance.[105] West released a single, "Only One", featuring Paul McCartney, on December 31, 2014.[109]
Having initially announced a new album entitled So Help Me God slated for a 2014 release, in March 2015 West announced that the album would instead be tentatively called SWISH.[114] Later that month, West was awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for his contributions to music, fashion, and popular culture, officially making him an honorary DFA.[115] The next month, West headlined at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK, despite a petition signed by almost 135,000 people against his appearance.[116] Toward the end of the set, West proclaimed himself: "the greatest living rock star on the planet."[117] Media outlets, including social media sites such as Twitter, were divided on his performance.[118][119] NME stated, "The decision to book West for the slot has proved controversial since its announcement, and the show itself appeared to polarise both Glastonbury goers and those who tuned in to watch on their TVs."[119] The publication added that "he's letting his music speak for and prove itself."[120] The Guardian said that "his set has a potent ferocity – but there are gaps and stutters, and he cuts a strangely lone figure in front of the vast crowd."[121] In December 2015, West released a song titled "Facts".[122]
2016–present: The Life of Pablo and Turbo Grafx 16
West announced in January 2016 that SWISH would be released on February 11, and that month released new songs "Real Friends" and a snippet of "No More Parties in L.A." with Kendrick Lamar. This also revived the GOOD Fridays initiative in which Kanye releases new singles every Friday. On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album from SWISH to Waves, and also announced the premier of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line at Madison Square Garden.[123] In the weeks leading up to the album's release, West became embroiled in several Twitter controversies[124] and released several changing iterations of the track list for the new album. Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo.[125] On February 11, West premiered the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line.[126] Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the track list once more before its release to the public,[127] and further delayed its release to finalize the recording of the track "Waves" at the behest of co-writer Chance the Rapper. He released the album exclusively on Tidal on 14 February 2016 following a performance on SNL.[128][129] Following its official streaming release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as "a living breathing changing creative expression"[130] and proclaiming the end of the album as a dominant release form.[131] Although a statement by West around Life of Pablo's initial release indicated that the album would be a permanent exclusive to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April.[132]
On February 24, 2016, West stated on Twitter that he was planning to release another album in the summer of 2016, tentatively called Turbo Grafx 16 in reference to the 1990s video game console of the same name.[133][134] On June 3, 2016, West premiered the first single "Champions" off the GOOD Music album Cruel Winter, which was six minutes and featured Travis Scott, Big Sean, Gucci Mane, Desiigner, Yo Gotti, Quavo, and 2 Chainz.[135][136] He told the radio host, Big Boy, that the beat had been in works for a year and a half.[135] In June, West released a controversial video for "Famous," which depicted wax figures of several celebrities (including West, Kardashian, Taylor Swift, president and businessman Donald Trump, comedian Bill Cosby, and former president George W. Bush) sleeping nude in a shared bed.[137] In August 2016, West embarked on the Saint Pablo Tour in support of The Life of Pablo.[138] The performances featured a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling.[138] West postponed several dates in October following the Paris robbery of his wife Kim Kardashian.[139] On November 21, 2016, West cancelled the remaining 21 dates on the Saint Pablo Tour, following a week of no-shows, curtailed concerts and rants about politics.[140] He was later admitted for psychiatric observation at UCLA Medical Center.[141][142] He stayed hospitalized over the Thanksgiving weekend stemming from a temporary psychosis stemming from sleep deprivation and extreme dehydration.[143]The current West seems to be based on trying to create a world that he wants his daughter, North, to grow up in. In an interview for Paper (magazine) West states that all that time, all the seemingly sporadic actions and outbursts, he was fighting for his daughter Nori’s future “‘Let's just tap back into the real world for a second we can have children. Let’s be thankful, we can raise our kids, let’s be thankful. But how about we raise our kids in a truthful world, not a world based on brands and concepts of perception? Perception is not reality. When I look in North's eyes, I'm happy about every mistake I've ever made. I'm happy that I fought to bring some type of reality to this world we choose to stay in right now, driven by brands and corporations.'"[144]
Early in his career, West made clear his interest in fashion and desire to work in the clothing design industry.[36][92] In September 2005, West announced that he would release his Pastelle Clothing line in spring 2006, claiming "Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and Late Registration is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring."[186] The line was developed over the following four years – with multiple pieces teased by West himself – before the line was ultimately cancelled in 2009.[187][188] In 2009, West collaborated with Nike to release his own shoe, the Air Yeezys, with a second version released in 2012. In January 2009, West introduced his first shoe line designed for Louis Vuitton during Paris Fashion Week. The line was released in summer 2009.[189] West has additionally designed shoewear for Bape and Italian shoemaker Giuseppe Zanotti.[190]
On October 1, 2011, Kanye West premiered his women's fashion label, DW Kanye West[191] at Paris Fashion Week. He received support from DSquared2 duo Dean and Dan Caten, Olivier Theyskens, Jeremy Scott, Azzedine Alaïa, and the Olsen twins, who were also in attendance during his show. His debut fashion show received mixed-to-negative reviews,[192] ranging from reserved observations by Style.com[193] to excoriating commentary in The Wall Street Journal,[194] The New York Times,[195] the International Herald Tribune, Elleuk.com, The Daily Telegraph, Harper's Bazaar and many others.[196][197][198] On March 6, 2012, West premiered a second fashion line at Paris Fashion Week.[199][200] The line's reception was markedly improved from the previous presentation, with a number of critics heralding West for his "much improved" sophomore effort.[201]
An advertisement for West's 2015 shoe collaboration with Adidas, the Yeezy 350. On December 3, 2013, Adidas officially confirmed a new shoe collaboration deal with West.[108] After months of anticipation and rumors, West confirmed the release of the Adidas Yeezy Boosts. In 2015, West unveiled his Yeezy Season clothing line, premiering Season 1 in collaboration with Adidas early in the year.[202] The line received positive critical reviews, with Vogue observing "a protective toughness, a body-conscious severity that made the clothes more than a simple accessory."[203] The release of the Yeezy Boosts and the full Adidas collaboration was showcased in New York City on February 12, 2015, with free streaming to 50 cinemas in 13 countries around the world.[204] An initial release of the Adidas Yeezy Boosts was limited to 9000 pairs to be available only in New York City via the Adidas smartphone app; the Adidas Yeezy Boosts were sold out within 10 minutes.[205] The shoes released worldwide on February 28, 2015, were limited to select boutique stores and the Adidas UK stores. He followed with Season 2 later that year at New York Fashion Week.[110] On February 11, West premiered his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line at Madison Square Garden in conjunction with the previewing of his album The Life of Pablo.[126] In June 2016, Adidas announced a new long-term contract with Kanye West which sees the Yeezy line extend to a number of stores and enter sports performance products.[206] The Yeezys will be seen in basketball, football, soccer, and more.[206]
West founded the record label and production company GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. John Legend, Common, and West were the label's inaugural artists.[208] The label houses artists including West, Big Sean, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, Yasiin Bey / Mos Def, D'banj and John Legend, and producers including Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Travis Scott, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, and S1. GOOD Music has released ten albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In November 2015, West appointed Pusha T the new president of GOOD Music.[209]
West, alongside his mother, founded the "Kanye West Foundation" in Chicago in 2003, tasked with a mission to battle dropout and illiteracy rates, while partnering with community organizations to provide underprivileged youth access to music education.[226] In 2007, the West and the Foundation partnered with Strong American Schools as part of their "Ed in '08" campaign.[227][228] As spokesman for the campaign, West appeared in a series of PSAs for the organization, and hosted an inaugural benefit concert in August of that year.[229]
West has been an outspoken and controversial celebrity throughout his career, receiving both criticism and praise from many, including the mainstream media, other artists and entertainers, and two U.S. presidents.[36][92] On September 2, 2005, during a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina relief on NBC, A Concert for Hurricane Relief, West (a featured speaker) accused President George W. Bush of not "car[ing] about black people". When West was presenting alongside actor Mike Myers, he deviated from the prepared script to criticize the media's portrayal of hurricane victims, saying:
I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They're looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They're looking for food.' And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help—with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way—and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!
Myers spoke next and continued to read the script. Once it was West's turn to speak again, he said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." At this point, telethon producer Rick Kaplan cut off the microphone and then cut away to Chris Tucker, who was unaware of the cut for a few seconds. Still, West's comment reached much of the United States.[243][244] Bush stated in an interview that the comment was "one of the most disgusting moments" of his presidency.[58] In November 2010, in a taped interview with Matt Lauer for the Today show, West expressed regret for his criticism of Bush. "I would tell George Bush in my moment of frustration, I didn't have the grounds to call him a racist", he told Lauer. "I believe that in a situation of high emotion like that we as human beings don't always choose the right words." The following day, Bush reacted to the apology in a live interview with Lauer saying he appreciated the rapper's remorse. "I'm not a hater", Bush said. "I don't hate Kanye West. I was talking about an environment in which people were willing to say things that hurt. Nobody wants to be called a racist if in your heart you believe in equality of races."[245] Reactions were mixed, but some felt that West had no need to apologize. "It was not the particulars of your words that mattered, it was the essence of a feeling of the insensitivity towards our communities that many of us have felt for far too long", argued Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons.[246] Bush himself was receptive to the apology, saying, "I appreciate that. It wasn't just Kanye West who was talking like that during Katrina, I cited him as an example, I cited others as an example as well. You know, I appreciate that."[247]
On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards while Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", West went on stage and grabbed the microphone to proclaim that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time". He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions.[79][268][269] When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.[268] West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst,[79][270][271][272] and by President Barack Obama, who called West a "jackass".[273][274][275][276] In addition, West's VMA disruption sparked a large influx of Internet photo memes with blogs, forums and "tweets" with the "Let you finish" photo-jokes.[277] He posted a Tweet soon after the event where he stated, "Everybody wanna booooo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture... I'm not crazy y'all, I'm just real."[278] He then posted two apologies for the outburst on his personal blog; one on the night of the incident, and the other the following day, when he also apologized during an appearance on The Jay Leno Show.[271][279] After Swift appeared on The View two days after the outburst, partly to discuss the matter, West called her to apologize personally. Swift said she accepted his apology.[280][281][282]
West began an on-and-off relationship with designer Alexis Phifer in 2002, and they became engaged in August 2006. The pair ended their 18-month engagement in 2008.[304] West subsequently dated model Amber Rose from 2008 until the summer of 2010.[305] West began dating reality star and longtime friend[306] Kim Kardashian in April 2012.[307] West and Kardashian became engaged in October 2013,[308][309] and married on May 24, 2014 at Fort di Belvedere in Florence, Italy.[310] Their private ceremony was subject to widespread mainstream coverage, with West taking issue with the couple's portrayal in the media.[311] They have two children: daughter North "Nori" West (born June 15, 2013)[312][313] and son Saint West (born December 5, 2015).[314] In April 2015, West and Kardashian traveled to Jerusalem to have North baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Cathedral of St. James.[315] The couple's high status and respective careers have resulted in their relationship becoming subject to heavy media coverage; The New York Times referred to their marriage as "a historic blizzard of celebrity."[316]