Taylor Swift

Holy shit. What a match.

It was a good finish by Walcott. He took it early, kept it low and surprised valdes.

Nice finish.

Almunia ducked up for the first goal but it was still an excellent finish from zlatan.

Disagree, johnny. Zlatan rifled that into the roof of the net. There's not much almunia could have done there.

Zlatan! Too easy.

Are you saying we're shit compared to barca?

Tis an excellent football match.

Barca keep possession so, so well. Exceptional football.

Quality goal.

Harsh yellow.

With bendtner up front, arsenal are too slow to counter attack.

No one really gives a shit about the inter match, do they?

Special football by barca in the first 20 minutes. Stunning stuff.

Hughton is the kind of manager that succeeds. He changes the team when players aren't performing, he gives every player a chance and if they are able to perform, they keep the shirt. His signings so far seem very astute and either by design or by circumstances, he hasn't gone for the older, more experienced pro who's usually not motivated enough. He's also rotated the squad well to keep the players fresh (we've played about 45 matches, I think), we play decent football and I just really like the fact that he's not afraid to drop underperforming players, even if they're experienced (Butt and Smith, for example). I think he's grown into the job and feel that he can do well for us because he's a modern manager. He's not Allardyce or Souness who stick to their formulas even if the results are poor. He's flexible with the team and our style of play, and this characteristic will be important next year.

Our best possible team, imo.

Its 96% apparently, so in effect they pay £6m a year to play in the stadium. Definitely a good deal though considering what it cost to construct and the revenue it brings in. If timeed32 is correct, then what I said above is wrong. I'll have to do some more research into it. I remember years ago a deal was agreed for NY to build new stadiums for both the Yankees and the Mets and I assumed that deal wasn't held up in anyway, but if timeEd is correct, then something happened to it. To be honest, I have a massive grudge against the Yanks so I have a lot of incentive to paint them in the worst possible manner Sports teams (franchises) in America, in general, receives a lot of support from the cities that they're based in. Many cities are almost pressured into building stadiums for their franchises because of the revenue that the franchise generates for the area (employment, taxes etc.). It's obviously not the same in England where you have 92 professional football clubs and a lot more semi-pro and amateur teams. In baseball, you've got 30 (I think) clubs. In the NBA, you have 30 as well and then in the nfl, you have 32 teams. The competition is much different and the rules that the govt set is also different (the NFL benefits from an anti-trust legislation, for example). I also want to add that the Yankees have also received subsidies to the tune of $500m, covering a substantial part of the stadium as well as other related 'perks' (such as the parking space that timeEd mentioned). The fact that the city supports the franchise gives them a serious competitive edge and obviously makes the financial structure of sports franchises in America in general much different to that from professional football clubs around the world.

The Yankees also didn't spend 1.5bn on their stadium but still receive, I think, roughly 95% of gate receipts and shit. Obviously that helps a team's financial position if you don't have to pay for a stadium but get to keep all the revenue that it generates.

All the Jews know each other though, so it's not that big of a deal.

Can't believe they play 162 games in a league season! I was wondering how they managed gate receipts of £145m last year It's not really about what the Yankees own, it's about what the Steinbrenners own.

Torres, 3-0.

Torres

Zlatan, 1-0.

The baseball teams in big markets (NY, Boston, LA etc.) earn more money from tv than they do from gate receipts and shit. The 275m that the Yankees earn is just the basic shit, they earn a shit load more on tv (but it's under the name of another company so it doesn't show up in the accounts). What I'm saying is that they make a lot of profit and can spend 200m a year on payroll, while Premiership clubs obviously cnanot sustain the amount of money that they're giving out in wages. The NBA also has a salary cap that is directly indexed to the revenue the league makes, so if the league's attendances drop, then next year hte salary cap would decrease, thus always keeping the % of money spent on wages consistent and manageable. THe NFL also has a salary cap and their tv deal is extremely lucrative (given that they only pay 17 games a year).