Alright.
-30 eh? Unbelievable scenes. Poor old Nick Owen. Seriously though I do feel a bit for Luton in so far as the new owners are being punished for crimes others have committed. I understand that this is the third time the club have nearly gone to the wall in a decade and then there's the issue of payments to agents but there's something in me that thinks that a 30 point deduction is a bit like punching Jesus repeatedly in the face as he's nailed to the cross. I could understand it all the more if a 'Ken Bates' had happened and the previous owners had taken the club into administration and then repurchased the assets etc for a mere pittance. Anyway, Luton are now going to have to show promotion form to have any real chance of avoiding another relegation.
In a shock transfer deal Robbie Fowler has signed for Blackburn. He can't play a big part for them this season because his arse grows bigger and bigger by the week.
Ronaldo is out for 3 months and has called to be allowed freedom to transfer from Man United. He didn't have to sign the contract United wofted under his nose...
Norwich's takeover talks have broken down.
David Beckham surprisingly makes the MLS All-Star side.
Hearts are in talks with Laszlo Csaba, the current boss of Uganda.
Mike Ashley would welcome investment at St James' Park
Leicester sign Kerrea Gilbert from Arsenal.
Man City and Aston Villa are locked in a battle for Brad Friedel's signature.
Rangers are in pole position to sign Danny Shittu now after having an improved bid accepted by Watford.
Coventry want to sign Freddy Eastwood.
Peterborough are likely to add Sergio Torres of Wycombe to their squad in the next few days. I remember him playing for Basingstoke. He was quality.
Leo Roget, who started last season in the most comical of fashions at St Albans and ended the season at Harlow Town, could sign for Gillingham after impressing Mark Stimson in training.
Ricky Shakes signs for Webbsfleet United from Brentford.
Hendon youngster Iavor Guentchev is on trial in his native Bulgaria with a professional club that probably isn't Levski Sofia.
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING LAMPARD
I really hope Keane doesn't go to Liverpool.
*ARE
ARGHHH
The Luton thing is a mixed bag, I agree.
Something needs to be done about a team that has gone into administration three times in ten years, purely to overspend and live beyond their means immediately afterwards. But seeing a club die pains me, even if it is a club that gets a lot of shit for having beach huts down one side of the ground and formerly playing on plastic. I hope they get through this and stay up, I really do.
Steve Foster, Brian Stein, Mark Stein, Alec Chamberlain: I salute you.
Oh Mark Stein
Former Chelsea god
the unsung transfer saga
milner to villa
please tell me its not going to happen
Also, I don't think it was mentioned when it happened but
Lincoln have signed Frank Sinclair. Excellent stuff.
Oh Frank Sinclair
Former Chelsea god.
Actually, he was proper shite.
It was mentioned
I think but please don't make me find the thread...
Soz, I must have missed it.
My mate used to be Burnley press-officer, and has some brilliant Frank Sinclair stories. Most of them revolving around pre-season in Austria and him getting bedded by three women before boarding the team coach smoking a cigar, but I think that's a decent start to any story.
:D
Brilliant.
Uganda manager goes to Scottish club eh?
JOKE ABOUT THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Read the Guardian much?
The made this EXACT joke.
"Headline writers across the land are digging out their finest Last King of Scotland puns after Hearts confirmed they have approached Uganda boss Laszlo Csaba about becoming their new manager."
Hang your head in shame.
i hate you
'reliable sources'
say Garcia and Bentley to Spurs today. I'm not sure who these reliable sources are. But fuck that, I'll shoot Rafa Benitez in the eye if he steals our Robbie.
I have high hopes for Garcia
he could be another one that one of the top 4 want to sign off us by this time next year :S
Not so sure about Bentley though, he'd better have a brilliant start to the season if he does sign...
I don't rate Garcia
Bentley would be a very good signing for you, though. imo.
w.h.a.t.t.h.e.f.u.c.k...?
Roque or RF - Roque
Benni or RF - Benni
Roberts or RF - Roberts
Derbyshire or RF - Derbyshire
Ummmm.....?
jobs for the boys innit
yep Spice Boys reunion
Jamie Redknapp to be tempted out of retirement
Okay, so he hasn't actually signed
(yet - fingers crossed for it to stay that way)
But with the speculation about Brad as well as this, I'm not convinced Ince is going to be especially popular when it gets to August...
Arsenal confirm Nasri signing
it's true, you know
Ferguson should haul Ronaldo into his office
and bum him 'til he cries.
I thought that said bum
him rather than burn him.
Oh, it does say bum...
yep
but either would do the trick I'd imagine. Seriously though, I wish Ronaldo would just piss off.
errr
West Ham sign
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00527/Balint_Bajner_527630a.jpg
alreay ordered the new away...
with his name and number on the back.
I'm gettung my ears cut into the shape of his
Is there somewhere that you can it done?
I asked the local tattoist but they were hesitant.
that linke wont work for me
who is it?
Balint Bajner
Hungarian superstar from the Romanian second division.
What happened to all that money you were sposed to be getting?
When?
How did you hear about Iavor so soon?
While Luton flounder
the "Big 4" in the Premiership get richer. A sad sign of the times as far as modern day football is concerned.
Were you saying this when Accrington went under in 1960whateveritwas?
A wonderful website.
You may have heard of it.
www.hendonfc.net
Oh
I should really know what's on my own website, shouldn't I.
:)
pfff
www.clubwebsite.co.uk/hayeslaneultrasfc/
that's all the footballing godliness any man needs
fine, here:
"Genuinely, genuinely, I am not looking for Newcastle shareholders in a cave in Afghanistan," he said. "Good morning Bin, how are you in your cave in Afghanistan? Would you like to come and sit next to me at the Toon army? Clearly not. Is that a rucksack you've got with you? Oh good."
Mike Ashley, the new Martin Jol
Is that an actual quote?
yep:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jul/10/ashley.binladen
I read this earlier
Amazing. Like Manager, like owner, evidently.
Sadface...
I really hope Luton manage to stay up, it's ridiculous. Though not a supporter as such, they are my local team, the only half decent team in the county, and my uncle used to take me to a few games when I was younger.
If they go down again they're fucked beyond all recognition. If they, somehow, manage to stay up, there is at least a little glimmer of hope, however small, which they can cling to.
"Footballers are the modern day slavess"
Seriously, how fucking stupid is Sepp Blatter? And how daft is Ronaldo for agreeing with this gimp
Any other job, and Ronaldo would have been sacked for breach of contract
Utd should get rid for 80mil and buy in 4 replacements
Real Madrid can't afford him...
and Ronaldo is as thick as pigshit to be honest.
It's not just stupid
it's outright offensive.
sepp blatter is such a mong
I'd like to see
Manchester United fine Ronaldo 2 weeks wages every fortnight for being a gobshite and speaking out of turn, playing him in the League Cup until his contact ends.
yeah
sepp blatter said something about players being more important than clubs and their positions need to be strengthened i.e the whole "slavery" thing. i disagree 100% with his position, clubs pay contracts and players sign them for whatever length they want within reason, and legally they should honour the people who pay their astronomical wages!
Absolutely
I really want to see the arse drop out of football financially. I would love to see TV companies refuse to bid for TV rights for the Champions League and Premier League. Of course it's not going to happen is it? In the meantime I'm going to lose more and more interest in the game at the top level whilst people whinge about being 'undervalued' or compared to slaves whilst being paid more in a week than I earn in 7 years.
Blatter is a corrupt hypocrite
and it wouldn't surprise me if he was on Madrid's payroll. How else do you explain this:
http://sport.scotsman.com/spl/Webster-rule-will-be-39very.3734436.jp
'FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised the Court of Arbitration for Sport's judgment in the Andy Webster case and claims it will prove "very damaging" for the world game.
Webster appealed against a fine of £625,000 which was imposed on him by Fifa's dispute resolution chamber for breaking his contract at Hearts to join Wigan in 2006.'
'Blatter said: "The decision which CAS took on 30 January is very damaging for football and a Pyrrhic victory for those players and their agents, who toy with the idea of rescinding contracts before they have been fulfilled.'
'Fifa insists that breaking a contract without just cause remains "unjustified" and defended its right to decide on £625,000 as appropriate compensation, even though the CAS, in the Webster decision, insisted there was no straight-forward reason why the governing body would reach that sum.'
The man is an epic cunt.
actually
he is. kind of.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/releases/newsid=107760.html
ffs
you just wouldn't credit it.
Everyone, it seems, is a massive twat today
http://www.itv-football.co.uk/story/0,19239,6145_3804767,00.html
Beckham in 'boring soundbite' shocker
I just wish he'd say fuck all
rather than something like that.
I actually just want him gone now. Let Rooney have the limelight. Don't even care if we don't spend the squillion quid he'd cost either.
oh yeah, I agree
but for a global megastar, Beckham is a deeply dull man. Don't think I've ever heard him say anything that could be construed as interesting.
But yes, the Ronaldo situation has become the most boring and protracted saga in a long time. United have handled it reasonably well, but I just want it put to bed. If he's that desperate to leave, fuck him. He'll be in for a shock when they start going after Messi in a few years.
He's another epic twat
He didn't say that
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos SLAVEiro
If the Leicester papers
don't have the headline 'Gilbert Street' tonight I shall be very disappointed.
Don't think I've seen Sergio Torres play
If you say he's quality, that's good enough for me.
He should fit in well
with Posh's style of play.
Free flowing and sexy?
good good.
The news i've enjoyed most this week...
Arsene Wenger's blatant admition that Arsenal are nothing but a selling club. That's pretty amazing considering they charge the price of a comfortable holiday for tickets and are full to the rim every single week. I still have a great deal of time for them, but realistically they're never going to achieve anything without accepting the dirty money. Noises coming from the club say that both Hleb & Adebayor will definitely leave, that's two of their three best players. Good luck. He better make his signings good because they're a Fabregas off being a mid-table team. Players like Nasri will take at least a year to settle, i think Wenger would take 4th and a cup if you offered it him now.
They seem to be a team
constantly in transition at the moment...
Absolutely.
As a neutral i like it, because they're always good to watch for various reasons. But Wenger's admittance that they have to sell £20m+ of player every season to balance the books just doesn't add up to me. I admire the man a lot, but they seem to constantly be chasing their tail.
they're a Fabregas off being a mid-table team.
Previous years have heard;
they're a Henry off being a mid-table team.
they're a Viera off being a mid-table team.
I'm not worried about the new season at all.
^ This exactly
Last year the silly season began with the Spurs top 4 twaddle, Arsenal being the team who would make way etc. They'll be fine, top 4 or better no problem, with or without the aforementioned players.
Hleb one of our three best players?!
I think not. I don't want Adebayor to go, but everyone has their price. Hleb's woeful scoring and assist record is well documented, so he's very much replaceable (and with Nasri, we have)
Also, we have Vela coming back, who will act as another new attacking option
Flamini was a blow, for sure
And any way, I very much doubt Wenger said those things about having to sell players at a profit every season. If you're sad enough to know how our debt is structured, and how much we now get from gate receipts and the imminent windfall from the old Highbury development, you'll know that selling players is not crucial to the running of the club
Wenger has a very clear idea on how a club should be run, and now the long term interests of Arsenal, THE CLUB, are paramount over individual players. According to reports Adebayor is looking for around 100k to stay. Fucking get rid of him then
...
"The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players. We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions — national and European — while having to free up - for 17 more years - an annual surplus of £24 million to pay for our stadium."
Yep, I know what was reported
I just don't believe that he said it. In what interview was he supposed to have said it?
It doesn't exactly make good business sense to go out and tell all potential suitors that Arsenal are looking to sell every year. What position does that put the club in when negotiating transfers such as Hleb and Adebayor? Wenger's not an idiot
More likely this stems from the Spanish press
^
buying and selling *was* vital to the success of Arsenal while at Highbury, but the necessity of this has decreased massively with the move to Ashburton Grove - their income's been boosted by a huge amount, and while there's a new debt to service the additional income more than covers that now.
They're only going to get stronger financially at the moment.
Exactly
Our loan repayments are 13m a year. They may sound like a lot, but it's completely manageable considering the income the club now self-generates
Yeah
of course since last year we finished only 4 points off Man Utd and that was even after being bloody useless for the last three months of the season. If we'd beaten Man Utd at Old Trafford when we took the lead (and even when losing that was probably our best league performance in those last few wretched months) we'd have won the league. We didn't win anything in the end but hell considering this time last year everyone said we'd be behind Spurs it wasn't bad going.
'a Fabregas off being a mid-table team' - bollocks.
That'd mean they need over 70 points to stay up which is a good season ordinarily.
LUTON TOWN
fucking fucking FA fucking fucking cunts fucking fuckin fucking cunts
We didn't get one player in the MLS All Star XI
RUBBISH
DESPITE HOSTING THE BLOODY GAME
RAAAAAAAAAAAGE
i really want arsenal to buy crouch.
i think villa will be good with him
Luton Town
will need approximately the equivalent of 80 points to stay up this season. With the situation theyre in, and i cant imagine them having a particularly strong squad, it isnt going to happen.
Surely the easiest thing to do would be to relegate them further instead. I suppose its a bit late for that now, but to summerise...
...they are fucked.
It looks like Cov
have tied up Eastwood and are now trying to get Clinton Morrission too...i'll take that as for a Championship strike force!
Too late
deal done at Pompey.