Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Thank you Russ I missed that one and would have expected more posts.;)

They deserved to get spanked 2 - NIL did they not.;)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

City's holding a press conference at 5pm today to introduce the new manager

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Wonder how long until he is fired.

Most of us expected Hughes to be fired in the Summer, and it looked as if the owners were going to patient team builders rather than attempting to simply buy the league. Now it looks as if they were after the latter despite all their lip-service to the former.

I feel sorry for Hughes but he must have seen the writing on the wall. His ruthless pursuit of Lescott (who has been worse, this season, than Dunne who left the club to make room), the fact he was allowed to spend £18 Million on Toure (whom Arsenal replaced, at half the cost, with the far superior Vermalen) were not the actions of a team concerned with slow, stable team building like Arsenal or United. It was a total of £200 million I believe he spent.

He also thought he could stop Adebayor from being the lazy, disruptive player he was at Arsenal but after Adebayor impressed in the first few games and Man City dropped off the pace he lost interest again and even Hughes simply dropped him for his final game at the Weekend. Tevez also showed why he was not a first team regular at United!

Bellamy and Given were his best signings and they were the ones who tried to stop him being fired.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

There isn't much to say really that hasn't been known since the Wolfsburg game. Fletcher / Carrick are decent tacklers etc but they have no sense of positioning in the defence. That was obvious against Wolfsburg just they failed to take the chances (they missed a sitter seconds before Owen scored his third).

If you have a "defence" that is all over the place you're going to concede and especially against a team in form like Fulham. The defeat wasn't down to a bad performance or poor team selection or poor decisions by Fergie so there isn't much to complain at. We only have 1 defender who knows what to do (De Laet is too young/inexperienced) and as he spends more time going forward we effectively have no people in defence who know what to do.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

if you defence is weak then you should control the ball in midfield which again is something we failed to do.

For the biggest club in the world it seems all our reserve and youth players are so bad that we have to play CMs in defence rather than use them.

Think this season we have a very weak squad and are having to rely more and more on squad players who aren't good enough. We have very little world class talent any more.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Why can't he donate his own money instead of doing some shady deal behind the club's back? I'm sure he can spare a few quid of his £160k a week.

And he'd obviously tell the charity it was his own money to make him look good.

lol@ Chelsea denying it even though it's on film.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

You'd think so but a hell of a lot of footballers are just really tight :(

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/...5875-21195336/

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

£2K? Disgusting.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Am I allowed to guess the premier league boss that visited a brothel allegedly.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

No need to guess it's all over the place, with a bit of luck he wont be in the premiership much longer though....

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Could somebody list a list of bosses who have NOT been suspected of visiting brothels :D

---------- Post added at 08:56 ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 ----------

I think I know who it is. Some people just take their position for granted.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

More dropped points for Chelolsea. Will be a tough game against Villa but i reckon we can nick all 3 points.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Arsene Whinger at it again.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle6968662.ece

Next he'll be whinging some teams have an unfair advantage because they have better strikers.

And does he really have to complain about Stoke having an unfair advantage when they are 9 places and 17 points below them?

Even if I was a **** fan i'd be embarrassed by him.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I don't agree with him but I am not 'embarrassed' by him. It's just part of his character. All managers have their quirks I guess. He just complains a lot, better than some other managers idiocies.

Anyway, Very pleased with Arsenal's performance today. 3 - 0 against Villa is a nice result. Moves us away from them (with that perpetual game in hand) keeping us in the top 3 rather than the 4 teams fighting for 4th.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Fabregas = God.

Man Yoo drawing 1-1 right now \o/

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

And donkey makes it 3 :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Nothing to say about Songs dive, Damien? ;) :)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Fabregas for me has to be the best player currently in the premiership, and probably has been for a while.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2009/12/22.jpg

Fantastic performance by him today !!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/8423583.stm

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

He is one of the best but in my opinion the best is Drogba at the moment.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I'm in France, didn't see it. However winning by 3 - 0 is a good result regardless. (Didn't see it in any of the match reports either)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Thought City`s performance against Wolves was pretty good, allthough in patches the defending was still not up to scratch.
The De Jong->Petrov->Bellamy->Tevez move was an absolute belter if only Carlos had put the ball in the net it could have been up there for goal of the season.
Brian Kidd seems to be having an effect in the shape and tactics of the team, how long was he Ferguson`s side kick and in what era?
Things certainly seemed to improve for City when they made the switch to 4-4-2 with Bellamy going up front with Tevez and Petrov moving to the wing. Petrov really seems to have found a new lease of life under Mancini, lets just hope it lasts because when he`s injury free and playing well not many full backs can live with him, whips in an excellant cross as well.

Tevez is finally playing like a £25 Million player, his movement and off the ball play is outstanding, almost as good as Rooney ;)
Still think the chance of finishing top four is out of reach unless the other teams start dropping points. The beauty of this years premiership is that most teams can get a result against anyone on a good day.
Roll on 2010 :Yes:

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

If Wolves had a goal scorer they would, and should have, made it 1-1. Having said that its a shame tevez didn't score after that awesome move, more so because he's in my fantasy footy team lol.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Lucky Liverpool.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Megson sacked

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...rs/8434719.stm

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Really hope this goes through, looks the best deal for the club

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8434880.stm

Amazing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8434698.stm


BREAKING NEWS

Sky Sports News are reporting Portsmouth have had a winding up order issued by Customs and Revenue

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Ramsey is the British Fabregas. Great performance tonight.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

He was good, god knows how Song got man of the match. He impresses me this season but Ramsey was better in that match.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Perhaps, but there have been many times Song has been our best player yet the bigger names have been man of the match. Against Liverpool a few weeks ago being the most recent example.
Behind Fabregas, i think Song has been our best and most consistent player this season.

Have you listened to the "It's Up for Grabs Now" podcast? It started last month and is pretty entertaining; www.arsenalupforgrabs.com

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I was at the United game and was very pleased with the 5-0 result :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Song really has turned into a quality player. Long may our run continue!

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Song is very good, I agree he is under rated but I thought he was relatively poor yesterday, he gave away possession in important places. Ramsey however won the ball a lot, worked hard, made some good crosses, and scored the best goal of the game (after winning back the ball himself).

Diaby has also been good this season! I'll check out the podcast cheers

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Wenger made a good point that, despite Van Persie being injured, we don't have much of a problem scoring goals. Yet the team still feels like it's missing something.

What/Who do you think Arsenal need to buy?

I personally think Van Persie did a lot more than score goals so we don't need a 'striker'. Maybe an attacking midfielder.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I think we need a striker just to take away some of that scoring pressure from other players, and so we have that extra option when and if we need it. Arshavin wasted playing up the middle.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Apparently we've agreed deals for Wellington Silva (Striker) and Zezinho (Attacking Midfielder), the latter being pictured with an Arsenal shirt:

http://youngguns.files.wordpress.com...enal-shirt.jpg

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...nsfers&cc=5901

http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2010/...-bid-accepted/

If true, maybe Wenger has been taking some advice from David Moyes, as both these players are known as "wonderkids" and future legends in FM 2010.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

So your saying Wenger gets his scouts to play FM?

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I doubt it, but it's possible and probably quite a good idea.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Oh my, Utd down by a goal.

Looking at the odds looks like Leeds are fovoured to win it.

---------- Post added at 14:55 ---------- Previous post was at 14:38 ----------

The mighty Utd down & out even with fergie time.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

This is a great day for football, Leeds are back to win a cracker, Fergie got his usual five minutes added time, and the dirty tricks by United still could not beat Leeds, well done lads.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Having 7 usual players out plus having donkey up front might have played a part in it.

Hopefully SAF will now be forced to admit we need a striker to accompany Rooney.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I'm surprised you called him donkey in one sentence but then by his last name in the same sentence as Sir Alex Ferguson

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Well, it's a great day for the FA Cup, but probably not for football - if this result means that Fergie finally accepts he needs another good striker, it doesn't bode well for everybody else (well, if he ever gets a fit defender anyway...).

EDIT: Ooh look - Ralph's back :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I didn't use Dimitar's name - that's why I say donkey :confused:

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

But surely Donkey is the natural partner for Rooney?

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Oopsy.

Might need something to wash those words down. ;)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

:Oh: oops: :o:

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

l have seen some great football today, l have seen the biased Old Firm game, with some nasty tackles going in some great misses, Celtic need a tougher manager, and sadly Mowbray isn't the man to push Celtic, Then we had the Leeds cracker, and now we just want a another shocker - brilliant football.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Out injured or rested because it was "only leeds"?

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Was quite a shock for Leeds to win, but having watched the game they deservered at least a draw.

Will be looking forward to the game on Wednesday ;)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

WOOO Arsenal get though! Phew!

---------- Post added at 18:12 ---------- Previous post was at 18:10 ----------

That leeds result was shocking. Bearing in mind it was at United and they have a strong team (although not in defense).

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I wouldn't be surprised if City win by a 3 goal margin. The league cup is something SAF doesn't care much for while City want to win anything they can get their hands on. A full strength City side against the usual United league cup team is likely to only end up one way.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I shall be supporting United for that game! COME ON YOU REDS! Why don't we have enough injury time? and so on. :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

So you won't be having any eyesight problems on wednesday? ;)

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I think the game showed how poor our squad is at the moment. We started with no midfield at all. Only one there who looks ok is Obertan and he is only young anyway.

We brought on Valencia who I don't rate either and Mr experienced didn't do anything either.

We didn't get the match won in 90 mins and hardly had a shot on target so complaining about how long was added on is just deflecting from the fact we lost to a side 2 divisions below us

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

You think SAF would allow City to walk all over him? Even before the FA cup loss pundits were suggesting that MU would field a strong team against City..

It'll be interesting to see who is playing

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Phelan confirmed it after the match as well.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Both 1st legs of the semis have now been postponed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...up/8440292.stm

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

United's debt looks set to rival Liverpool's problems.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereport...utd_spend.html

Further to that I heard today that this year United's interest payments will reach £80 million. Up from the £70 mill in 2008. Will the board allow Fergie to again add to his team with that in mind? That article points out that in 2008 they had 70 million in interest to pay and £88 million in income but spent £40 million on players.

It seems that SAF want's to continue to buy buy buy regardless of the clubs finances. His successor will have to deal with the consequences.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

They'd better let him spend. We need a reliable keeper and a striker who can score. Rooney alone is not enough.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

If he spends it will catch up with you eventually. It's insane the debt United have. £80 million on interest? It's unmanageable. If United were to drop out of the Champions League places it would be a disaster. :erm: Fergie can spend now, it will just make the problem worse. I predict he will continue to spend but his successor will deal with the fall-out.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I wonder if Utd came up for sale if there would be any buyers for the club?

From the outside it looks like The Glazers are landing MU in a whole heap of doggy doo which could potentially take years to emerge from. Everything is probably fine and dandy as long as results are forthcoming but surely if the debt is getting bigger every year that means the amount owed is.
Or is it some sort of rolling debt where interest changes from year to year but the debt still gets chunks paid off?
Maybe The Glazers have it all under control and SAF has plenty to spend, it just doesn`t seem that way!
Ronaldo=Interest on debt! :shocked:and:spin:

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

The debt is increasing! Ronaldo's sale might have helped matters but considering the interest payments it would be a drop in the ocean. United need a rich buyer or it's going to get worse. At some point it needs to be assessed.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

the bigger problem is the fact Platini is planning to stop clubs in debt from entering the Champions League. That was the story behind the Chelsea accounts released last week that said the club wasn't in debt.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Well, there Roman could easily "loan" the club the money to put their accounts in credit.

Even here, Doughty hasn't actually given the club anything. He just loaned it, and he is guarantor to the club's debts and most of it is to him. So he's unlikely to call it, the club's finances are fine, but he could sell off players to get some of his money back if he wanted. But then promotion would make a huge difference there.

Maybe us getting rid of practically all the **** from the squad, not spending, going down and back up again was good for the club? The financial position is probably - rarely - good.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Juan Sebastian Veron has been linked with a shock £7million move to Manchester City.
Full story: Daily Mail

Do they know how old he is now? 34 year olds don't go for 7 mil especially when they have already failed spectacularly twice in this country.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

This article in The Guardian for me just about sums up the underlying problems at United....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...chester-united


The team of 4 or 5 seasons ago United would have ripped Leeds apart.
Berbatov has not lived up to expectations, Rooney looks lost up front on his own, I could go on..........

Time for the Glazers to go methinks, all the profit United make to serve the Glazers debt is now taking its toll on the club

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Well Arsenal are technically in debt. I think it's that the playing side needs to balance, basically the club's finances are stable and balanced. I think it's more to stop teams like Man City spending money to win trophies where all that investment is from external sources.

I.E If Chelsea or Man City lost their rich benefactors they would be screwed because by themselves they are losing millions and millions.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

and this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/davi...d-glazers-debt

The debt does seem to be becoming a issue which can no longer be ignored.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

i've said it before we have too many mediocre players in the squad and with the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez these are the players we have to rely on more and more this season. We now have no wingers at the club at all :shocked:

if the top four weren't so far ahead of the rest we would be in serious trouble.

None of the new players coming through are good enough. Rafael and Fabio may be good at going forwards but if they are defenders then their primary ability should be defending something they can't do.

Gibson, Wellbeck, Macheda and Tosic aren't good enough.

Add in Nani, Park, Valencia, JOS and Anderson and an aging Giggs , Scholes and Neville and things don't look very good at all.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

And let's not forget the £30m rated donkey.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

To be honest, I wasn't upset about Tevez going at all. A lot of running around, but no end result. Berbatov's goal per game ratio was better than Tevez, but that was ignored.

To be fair to Tosic, we have only seen him play twice, both as a sub, so it's a bit too soon to say he is a flop. Both of those times, he looked promising but needs a proper chance to impress.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

:LOL: :gpoint:

Admit it Russ you :romance: him really! :angel:

IMO United are lacking impact players, there has for the last decade or so allways been players sat on the bench who would stroll into most other premiership teams. These would come on and the game would change, plus the 10 outfield players knew if there game wasn`t up to scratch they would be hauled off and probably dropped for a few games.
But Man U are still up there challenging for the title, so it`s not exactly a complete crisis like at Liverpool :p:

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

No Liverpool are very funny :D United are not in crisis by any means but the makings of a crisis are brewing and no one is doing anything about it. The debt has the potential to cripple the club seriously if they were to lose out on the top 4 (which they won't, at the moment).

SAF will leave at the board will choose to act upon the debt at the same time as his replacement. The replacement will have no funds and he will get the blame.

As for the team SAF will just need to do with what he has got.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

You've just listed the players that won the carling cup last season and have got us to the semi-finals this year, they are far better than most teams reserve/squad players.

Ferguson hasn't got the club in debt. Since the Glazers took over he has a net spend of £4.6million per season, that is not a lot for one of the biggest clubs in the world, who have won multiple trophies in that time. The only reason for the debt is the Glazers, the sooner an arab/asian billionaire comes and buys the club the better.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Talking about financial matters, City have posted a huge loss of £92.6m

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8443316.stm

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

The Glazers are to blame but Ferguson has had a habit, especially in the last decade, of big signings to replace problem areas in his team. Now he and United need to adapt. If this were 3/4 years ago there would have been a handful of signings to fix the awkward positions in the team. He would have brought players like Ribery last summer for example.

The fans and manager seem to have become used to star buys for their problems. SAF will need to make cheaper, smarter buys and use his current team as best he can. Man City, Real Madrid and Chelsea have greatly distorted the market and priced United out of the best established players.

The net spend is a skewed point. He didn't have a lot of money to create his first winning team, most of his spending was for the subsequent teams.

He still has had a a good amount of investment in this current team. Now the board won't allow him to continue spending to correct some of those problems (Berbatov anyone?). He'll have to deal with it. Part of a good manager is the ability to operate with limited funds. Ask Wenger or Martin O'Neill. Both have created strong sides without stupid amounts of investment. We know SAF can do it, he's done it before.

All of which needs to be balanced by the fact that United are still 2nd in the league and are in the Champions League. It's not as if they are Liverpool. All of this crisis talk is because they lost one game to Leeds. Hardly a crisis. Football is 11 men vs 11 men. No one in the game is super-human, you can still lose. Madrid lost to a team 2 divisions below them late last year by 3/4 goals! That's football.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

A loss and having debt is two different things.. Plus that although the operating costs developed a loss you still have the assets of the players to off-set it on the books

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Basically they have tried to keep their little Champions League club exclusive, it's alright to have £300 million bank loans to blow on players like Real Madrid but you can't have a rich owner do the same for you anymore.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

The players are not worth what Hughes spent on them. Man City don't have debt though, it's just masses of money from it's owners.

---------- Post added at 15:56 ---------- Previous post was at 15:53 ----------

Bank Loans catch up with you eventually and need to be paid back, Look at Liverpool. Rich owners just create a situation where the money is written off in order to win titles for respect/glory/promotion of your city. Uefa's proposed rules are designed to stop that. It's a conspiracy either, Chelsea would have been affected.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Can't really say I rate any of those players and compare who we field to Arsenal. We have to field a few fringe players too whereas Arsenal can field a complete youth line up and still win.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

In other news i was watching La Liga earlier and they touched on quite an interesting little deal between Man City and Real Madrid.
From what i understand the clubs have a "Gentleman`s agreement" that if one of the clubs is looking to buy a certain player, the other will make it 100% clear that they do not wan`t to sign said player. If circumstances occur where the initial inquirer pulls out (for whatever reason) then the other club can make a move so to speak.
Apparently Barcelona and Real used to, or still have a similar thing going on!

To me this sounds like a good thing as it means that the clubs don`t get dragged into a bidding war in the future which could cause acrimony with regards future deals.
I seem to recall a premiership club having a not to rosy relationship with a foreign club (can`t remember which) over some underhand transfer tactics and now the 2 clubs won`t do business!

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

No they aren't designed to stop it, you can still be mortgaged up to the hilt to banks

Platini added: "If a club can get loans from a bank to buy players and is able to pay back bank loans then it is not a problem.

Not a conspiracy, Chelsea are in on it pffft

"It's mainly the owners that asked us to do something - Roman Abramovich, (AC Milan's) Silvio Berlusconi, (Inter Milan's) Massimo Moratti. They do not want to fork out from their pockets any more," added Platini.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/8225941.stm

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I said it was to stop clubs just getting buckets of money from wealthy owners (who write it off because it's the cost of buying the trophies) not to stop bank loans. In theory there is nothing unfair about bank loans because they are secured against some assert and have to be paid back. The club can't just get, say, £300 million to buy a new team without a drawback.

It is funny that Chelsea asked for it though. LOL.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Of course they can, Real Madrid do it every few years and when it costs to much they'll just sell of their training ground to a government stooge again for £300 million and Man City's Shiek isn't just giving the club money, he has turned his investment into shares which is a hell of a lot better way of doing things than just "loaning" the club money like most owners seem to do these days.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Real Madrid are a bunch of crooks anyway. I don't understand the City thing but I thought he completely owned the club anyway? Shiek is pretty much giving the club money, they won't make that back, so he can make the club league winners and in turn prompt Abu Dubai or where ever it is.

Is the way football going that billionaires compete against each other by putting money from other ventures into the game?

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

He does but by turning the money he puts in into extra shares he doesn't burden the club with debt, unlike what Abramovich has done.

It's the way football has always gone, it used to be local millionaire business men putting their cash in, now the game has grown it's foreign billionaires, imo they aren't the problem, the problem is people trying to make a quick buck from the game, the Glazers and Hicks of this world and the people that never had the cash in the first place like at Pompey, they are the problem UEFA should be addressing.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Those clubs eventually suffer as a result. Leeds got massive bank loans to try and become a massive force and they almost destroyed the club, 2 relegations, lost ownership of the stadium and training ground, and all their players. There is a incentive to be responsible with their credit because it will limit a clubs options in future. There is a kind of balance there that allows clubs like Arsenal/Villa/Spurs to compete.

Man City and future clubs with the same system can spend, spend, spend without any natural limitation because profit and sustainability are not concerns for their owners. Winning titles is the main concern. Any time a player is better than a existing player in their team they will simply buy them.

No other club will be able to compete at all. Football will be the playthings of billionaires who spend their own money. It doesn't matter if you get champions league football money, it will be a drop in the ocean of what these teams will pay.

I agree UEFA also need to stop scammers from coming into the game to make a profit. Owners need to be responsible and run the club probably, so no stealing from the club when you first arrive and no spending excess sums of money just to distort the league. All clubs should be business with the responsibilities that entails.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I am wondering who this guy Stan Kroenke is, he seems to invest in Arsenal bit by bit, just like the Glazers did with United, if he had the money, why not just make a bid to take the club over from the outset?

I woudn't mind betting that he has a debt to service from the profits of another company, but I hope I am wrong.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...ons-clear.html

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

I don't buy that argument, Man City can only play 11 players at one time and you only have to look at Barcalona and Arsenal to see what can be achieved with lesser financial means, imo when those clubs win things it makes the achievement even more specia.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

The board seem happy with him. I would prefer he take over than Usmanov who has seem past troubles and scandals. Part of the reason for the slow buying of shares is the board are very reluctant to sale, another part is that Kroenke would have to spend out a bit to buy everyone out.

From what I have heard he is not like the Glazers. He runs other sport companies fine and subscribes to the idea that a club needs to be well-managed. He has a close relationship with Dein and likes Wenger's philosophy when it comes to developing players.

So he won't invest millions in the club but he won't pile debt onto it either. Maybe part of the reason he won't just take over is that he doesn't (seem) to have any great plan for the club.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Here is a good question, I feel really sad for Pompey, but what l don't understand if a foriegn billionaire sheik has taken over the club, why is there a problem on paying wages, l read an article in the press today, that the Sheik has told Peter Storrie to ' scrape the money together' he can't be that rich can it.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

There seems to be a trend of Shieks with no actually money buying clubs. Heaven knows why, maybe they underestimated the scale of the debt and required investment and got caught out. Some appear to be fantasists of the highest order. Deals are accepted because they are hoped to be loaded like Man City's owners.

The FA should be conducting a fit-and-proper persons test but the question of if the owner can actually afford to both buy the club and eliminate the debt seems not to be a priority for them.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

the problems seems to be that unlike in the past when a local weathly business man would invest \ own a club purely because they wanted to pour their money into it and wanted the club to prosper, we now get people own clubs for profit. A football club is no longer an extension of the local community but a means of people to make money.

Personally I think all English football clubs should be English owned and not on the stock market either.

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ty/8448330.stm

Bwahahahaha!!! :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Portsmouth, Notts County and now Cardiff! Few other clubs struggling as well. :( When do Portsmouth go to court again?

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Yeah, but Cardiff though :D

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

well they are run by Peter Risdale who doesn't have the greatest track record

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

Togo pulling out of the AN cup, anyone blame them..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8449978.stm

Means City gets Adebayor back for the MU games

Re: Football : Season 2009/2010
 

If he is up too it. People were shot right in front of him. n:erm: