Football 2011-2012

[pink_triangle]

Not surprised.

Be interesting to see if UEFA kick those who don't find loopholes out though.

[The Nal]

I suspect they will kick some teams out. While they will want to protect the big teams, they can easily sacrafice a smaller side to give the false impression they are protecting the financial integrity of the game

[eFestivals]

Hope not.

Whats the deal with his contract? Year left now is it?

Yeah, a year.

There were stories in the papers the other day that Wenger is demanding that he signs a new contract before the Euros or he'll be sold, cos Wenger doesn't want to be messed around as he was over Nasri & Fab.

He seems more likely to be loyal than Nasri. He's spoken a lot about how much the club and Wenger have done to help him. Back when he first moved over Feyenoord had tried to flog him for £5mn and noone wanted him due to a reputation as a troublemaker.

Yeah, he seems to have his head screwed on better than most footballers, and he's a little older too than Nasri & Cesc. His words after winning Player of the Year suggested he'll stay more than he'll go, but then again what sounded like 'thank you' might have really have been "thank you .... and goodbye".

[kaosmark2]

Yeah, a year.

There were stories in the papers the other day that Wenger is demanding that he signs a new contract before the Euros or he'll be sold, cos Wenger doesn't want to be messed around as he was over Nasri & Fab.

[The Nal]

I don't believe that. Nasri and Cesc had been itching to go and Wenger was trying to convince them otherwise. I doubt he'll demand a new contract, just ask him if he intends to sign one or not so he can start working on finding a replacement earlier.

I don't think Cesc would have gone if it hadn't been Barca coming in for him. It seemed like he loved Arsenal but just loved Barca more. Nasri just seemed greedy.

[kaosmark2]

Cant fault Cesc for leaving just as Utd fans cant fault Ronaldo. Barca and Madrid are "their" clubs a lot more than Arsenal and Utd.

Cant imagine Nasri grew up in Marseille in the 90s dreaming of playing for City?!

[The Nal]

Exactly. Although for Cesc it was his boyhood club where he grew up, he was far far more ingrained into there than Ronaldo is to Real.

[kaosmark2]

Indeed. But just as Irish players would dream of playing for Liverpool or Utd, players from Portugal or the general direction would dream of playing for Real Madrid.

[eFestivals]

Cant fault Cesc for leaving just as Utd fans cant fault Ronaldo. Barca and Madrid are "their" clubs a lot more than Arsenal and Utd.

I don't think it was the leaving that pissed Wenger off, it was how it happened and how that left Arsenal in the shit.

I can understand that Wenger would want to be in more control over RVP leaving if he's going to leave - but of course he would be anyway because there's no just-one-club destination if RVP was going to leave.

Have you seen his sad man 'tache, btw? Surely he doesn't think he looks good with that?

(I hope he doesn't keep it, else I might get tempted to paint one on the front of my van ).

[kaosmark2]

Have you seen his sad man 'tache, btw? Surely he doesn't think he looks good with that?

(I hope he doesn't keep it, else I might get tempted to paint one on the front of my van ).

Edited April 23, 2012 by kaosmark2

[The Nal]

Have you seen his sad man 'tache, btw? Surely he doesn't think he looks good with that?

[eFestivals]

No? Link?

Whos? Cescs?

it's sort-of like that, tho a deliberate tache rather than lack of shaving (so no stubble).

O#'d have been ashamed of a poor effort like his at 16.

[lost]

love this pic:

[pink_triangle]

all a club has to do is get the lawyers involved and it'll postpone things for years while they come up with a plan B.

Im sceptical about it working at all with the big clubs to be honest.

[strummer77]

I hope it doesnt work as well, seems unfair to me that the current big sides who took advantage before financial fair play and created a huge gap between themselves and the rest can then take advantage by bringing a rule that stops others closing the gap.

[pink_triangle]

To be fair that's only Chelsea. Man City still need investment to sustain what they have bought. The other big clubs, United (under Malcolm), Liverpool (mainly under H&G) and Arsenal (dunno why) have spent below their means.

[eFestivals]

My opinion is that the elite should not be protected and football clubs should be allowed to spend heavily to compete. My view is of a wealthy russian/sheik wants to spend his money on football then so be it. Howevver I also believe football teams should be allowed to fail. If this model sends a team bust than they should be liquidated, people talk about the effect it has on the fans. However if they are true fans they will still follow their side when they start up again in the non league and work their way up.

I agree with that, but there needs to be an extra bit - that any playboy who wants to play with a club is able to do so, but he's not allowed to only loan that money to the club.

The problems exist with the current model because the rich owners load the club up with debt - they're essentially saying that they're not investing because they want every penny back. And then when they get bored they can cripple a club by demanding back all they've put in.

So if the money they pump in was given to the club rather than loaned, then nearly all of the problems go away.

The financial fair play rules are rules that the existing big clubs pushed for as a way to protect their current dominance - and yet the likes of Chelsea, and probably the likes of Man Utd too, would not have been able to get that dominance without first doing what they want to stop other clubs from doing. It's the antithesis of the competition that football is meant to be.

[LondonTom]

In other news The championship automatic promotion race is back on . Here's to Coventry getting a final win in the championship!!

[Ed209]

predictions for the night?

I'm going with plenty of early pressure from Barca but with Chelsea hitting them on the break and the Drog scoring first. Then Barca to go ape shit on a tiring Chelsea in the second half eventually triumphing as 3-1 winners. Substitute Torres is going to miss an absolute sitter to win the tie, and some tears from a blubbering John Terry would be grand too ...

[The Nal]

2 nil Barca. Pitch is too big for Chelski to stifle them this time.

[eFestivals]

2 nil Barca. Pitch is too big for Chelski to stifle them this time.

Do you mean "too big" literally, as in bigger than Stamford Bridge?

I read an article somewhen recently that de-bunked that idea, on the basis that the difference between the pitch sizes is very minimal (I forget exactly what the differences are, but they are small).

Apols if you meant it in more general terms, in that Chelsea won't succeed in doing that twice.

I'm going for a Barca win. So if my predictions are as good as for the FA Cup semis, that's a Chelsea win.

[Ed209]

Do you mean "too big" literally, as in bigger than Stamford Bridge?

I read an article somewhen recently that de-bunked that idea, on the basis that the difference between the pitch sizes is very minimal (I forget exactly what the differences are, but they are small).

Apols if you meant it in more general terms, in that Chelsea won't succeed in doing that twice.

I'm going for a Barca win. So if my predictions are as good as for the FA Cup semis, that's a Chelsea win.

[The Nal]

Do you mean "too big" literally, as in bigger than Stamford Bridge?

I read an article somewhen recently that de-bunked that idea, on the basis that the difference between the pitch sizes is very minimal (I forget exactly what the differences are, but they are small).

Apols if you meant it in more general terms, in that Chelsea won't succeed in doing that twice.

[kaosmark2]

I think part of it is that the advertising hoardings are really close to the pitch at Stamford Bridge, so you can't be running off the pitch while keeping the ball on it like you can at the Nou Camp. That makes quite a difference, particularly when you've got players with the close-control ball skill of Barca's.

[The Nal]

Whats really interesting tonight is how Barca will react to losing two games in a row. Cant remember the last time that happened? If they lose tonight thats their season over in the space of 6 days.

How does Guardiola motivate them for next season? Freshen things up? Leave as hes been threatening to do?

Don't think he can leave while Mourinho is on top just as Ferguson didn't.