brummie

A few weeks ago, and very. "Prepared", so is mustard. Almost as bad as the change of Spurs to that Pelican standing on a Volleyball. "Prepared" has been the club's motto since the 19th century. I think the meaning (back then) would have been "prepared to face all adversity", which was a cunning foreseeing of the beginning of the Ellis era 70 years later.

Fucking hell. They who made it must of been drunk while using illustrator or whatever program they use... Sounds like it was a team effort by Brummies, probably drunk link If only 42% of fans voted to replace the striped background shouldn't they have kept it? so 58% said keep it and they said no? No, the questionnaire wasnt quite as clear as that. General response to the badge is that we fucking hate it. But we're more interested in what the new shirts are like, to be honest. Although we wont see them till July as the deal was signed late.

I think with some clubs there is still potential to make money. It isn't that long since the Glazers bought Man United, and they're still going to make money out of it. I think there are certain clubs out there which have long been run, shall we say, with a small time, provincial businessman mentality (Villa, Man City, Newcastle - although to a smaller degree, Everton) - mainly because the traditional chairman WAS a provincial businessman. You'd have to be daft to think that as a billionaire you couldn't make some money out of them. You're maybe not going to make your second fortune, and even if you don't make a profit out of them, you get a cool hobby which is almost self funding. I'm not imagining that is how all these new owners are looking at it, all will have their own individual motives, but you can bet that's how a lot of them are seeing it.

That's a somewhat risky thing to venture on a public forum.

Nope. Subject of much bitterness with the new regime is the fact that Ellis' negotiation of the last sponsorship deal (last year was the first of two years) was awful, undersold massively. Incidentally, a few of my friends work for Mansion in Gibraltar. The gist of what they tell me is that the company spends money like it is going out of fashion. Which might explain that deal.

But the sheer bittrnesss towards Spurs shown here don't make you sick? Took the words right out of my mouth. I feel justified in anything negative I say about Spurs, half my mates are spurs fans and although I obviously like them in general (as they are my mates) when it comes to football they are a deluded bunch of twats! I'm not commenting on whether the bitterness is justified or not, just pointing out that it seems to be there from both sides.

But the sheer bittrnesss towards Spurs shown here don't make you sick? Took the words right out of my mouth.

My boyhood hero. From your part of the world, too.

That's absolute bollocks. That's good to know. I don't know what perturbed me most, the fact that Bramble could be on that kind of money, or the fleeting thought that I actually believed it briefly.

Talking of overpaid defenders, I was listening to a local sports phone-in down here, and the presenter was talking about the rumoured interest of Birmingham's least evolved football club, Birmingham City, in the legend they know as Lord Titus of Bramble. Presenter said the main sticking point would be his wages, rumoured to be *67k* a week at Newcastle. Now, said presenter is known around these parts as being a moron, so he could have got it wrong, but even so, had I been drinking at the time, I'd have expelled it at high speed through my nostrils. That can't be right, can it? 67k?

Not yet. His stock is way too high here. He's done very well this season having been parachuted in late.

It is a gesture by Hayward, who is possibly the best intentioned chairman in any league. He wants the club in safe hands and with decent investment, so he's given it away to make sure it happens. He's much respected round these parts (and there aren't even any Dogheads in my part of the midlands)

Regardless of the annoying, gobshite fans (and to be honest, the fact that that 5 times song must annoy ManUre fans immensely almost makes up for the trauma of hearing them sing it all the time), a Liverpool win will only go to further stretch the financial gap between the big four clubs and the rest, so I'm supporting Milan. That's not the only reason why, but is one of them

Come on, if silly money is offered - he'll be off. We all know this. EVERY player in every team has his price. If Chelsea offered, for arguments sake £26m, could any chairman turn it down? Yes. Any chairman wanting to get his club into the big four is going to have to do that at some point. It would be good for football if Spurs did turn down stupid money for Berbatov, otherwise nothing ever is going to change. Other than my own club, I personally don't care which club does it, but someone needs to breach the big four at some point soon, it can only be good for the game. Witness the crushing predictability and national non-interest in the cup final yesterday, for example.

Doesnt tell me much more than Leverkusen were Champions League finalists and a very good team when the G14 was formed and they havent expanded since Chelsea became "big" tbh. .. which shows the folly of basing an elite league on a snapshot of football at any given time.

They must hold some sort of importance to there criteria if they're going to ask Newcastle to join. Because I really don't see how we fit into there big plans at the moment outside of our big stadium and high Uefa ranking. Then again I'm sure they'll find some way to ignore this if they ever decide they really need Chelsea in there group. I'm certainly not going to assume that greasy russian has refused an offer to join them at this point though. The fact that Chelsea are not in the G14 and Bayer Leverkusen are tells you all you need to know about G14.

There is no real criteria for joining the G14, that is what makes it so laughable. Look at the presence of Bayer Leverkusen for the best example. They used to laughably suggest that the clubs within the G14 were the most successful in European competition, which is a joke, given that by their own scoring system, Nottingham Forest had more points than Arsenal. There's no two ways about it, the only criteria that matters in admitting clubs is whether they fit in with plans to satisfy the never-ending greed of the clubs already there.

The only reason they aren't is because they don't meet the criteria..... Which criteria don't they meet? I suspect it is the criteria of not being a threat to the long term income stream of Manchester United and Liverpool. Greed, greed, greed.

Martin Samuel, whilst been imho a bit of an idiot most of the time, has a habit of occasionally coming up with an article which smacks the nail very firmly on the head.

Good point, that. The huge TV money plus the influx of billionaire owners is starting to create a more level playing field. In a league where everyone has cash, things like whether players want to play for the manager at the club play a large part. I can't imagine any player particularly wanting to play for Roeder, but I could imagine SA swaying a lot. I'd also expect things like club facilities (training and other) to play a large part in persuading players to move, too (as well as the obvious lure of CL football, although that goes without saying). Unfortunately, I also think that with a more level playing field, players will also get swayed by things like location, so you'll have people like Bent or Sidwell not wanting to leave London, and foreign players seeing London clubs as more attractive

There'd also be pretty much zero away fans, thus taking away the traditional element of confrontation in the game, there'd be no local rivalry, there'd be no common binding factor through the country (frankly, if your team isn't in the SL, why are you going to give a shit - even with the CL it is interesting because you are watching teams you play week in week out). There'd also be no promotion and no relegation, and no European spots to aim for, so unless you're in the uber elite (and have no doubts, do you think Spartak Moscow are goint to compete with Barcelona), the huge majority of all your games are utterly pointless. Personally, the only positive thing about this breakaway league idea is that we get left with a more competitive, interesting league at home.

This is a good thing? You'd get absolutely murdered. Every fucking week. If this organization creates their own European Super league the money they will recieve will be enormous. And every week Newcastle will be playing with clubs like Milan,Inter,Barca,Real Madrid while Manchester City will be playing with the likes of Birmingam,Sunderland,Wigan and Fulham Still think its not a good thing to be involved in this? Yep just think of all the banter on the Monday morning in the office with all the Barcelona and Inter Milan fans .... Oh

The G14 is an evil, evil cabal which will contribute largely to the downfall of football, mark my words. And the only reason Chelsea aren't in it is because they won't let them join.

I like Fulham. Nice traditional ground in the best setting of any ground in the country. One of the best away days.

I too think Bolton will really struggle next season. It was clearly SA's club from top to bottom, and even if some of the backroom team are still there, they will find it very hard. I'd expect Liverpool to start making a proper, serious challenge for the league. I'd expect Newcastle to become much, much harder to beat. I'd expect Villa to start turning some of those draws into wins. I'd expect West Ham to have another tricky season, based on the fact they're lumbered with all those arsey, expensive panic buys from last season. And the possibility of points deduction, obv. I'd expect Everton to do the same or slightly less well, depending on how they buy. I'd expect Spurs to have another good season and improve again. I think the newly promoted clubs will all find it hard, but suspect West Brom may stay up. I think Reading may well be next season's Wigan and find it much harder, again, depends massively how they buy.