Village Idiot

http://i.imgur.com/tORk83e.png To be frank, I have always wondered whether parties close to a transfer do that. Seems a pretty easy way to make money and it's not like you will get done for insider trading.

Sherwood is correctly saluting the British way, at least. I don't know what that awful effort from Ramsay is, though. Fair enough then. I need to see more British war movies.

That picture makes me want to slap everybody in it Also, I hope they don't intend to join the SAS with that shitty saluting form.

Did he make some terrible pun or slated the young WBA defenders while scoring? Ah sorry, not that Kaka.

You probably haven't even replaced Perch or Leon Best.

Valdés just tweeted this. Last photo is him with the reserve squad, so I guess he means he did play for the reserves.

Not for long. That empty #1 shirt isn't gonna make many saves.

It's almost like one has been there over ten years and is one of our greatest ever players while the other is someone we brought in to help them rehabilitate less than a year ago. Oh, different managers too. It's not like Valdes was brought in under false pretense as well. It was clear as day he was #2. Do #2 stuff. Play for the f***ing reserves, you shitfucker. LVG is in the right here. Valdés - as much as I love him - has just got out of very lengthy layoff and he's the #2, asking him to play reserve games to get match fitness back is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

He was shit for us, too.

Same thing happened 12 years ago at Barça when Valdés was starting his senior career and LVG was manager. Valdés refused to be dropped back to Barça B, and LVG tried to get him sold (but was sacked before he could do it). Full circle.

They have massive running costs IIRC. Is it not because they only own a fraction of the player themselves, with agents and investors owning a majority stake, in many cases? Benfica do that a lot. Not sure about Porto. Swissramble had a pretty good article on Porto's finance. They really have massive costs compared to their turnover without player sales: http://swissramble.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/portos-buy-low-sell-high-strategy.html http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jLlqDrcSYeQ/TP9z0R2p5hI/AAAAAAAACoI/3z7ycl-0O-w/s400/3%2BPorto%2BProfit.jpg

Doesn't seem the most informed view. He'll probably end up being right though. They already sold Bacca and Vidal, two of their best performers. So they don't need the money, nor are they willing to further weaken the team before a CL campaign.

They have massive running costs IIRC.

What's this supposed fee?

Got hold of a friend from Sevilla and reckons the Banega rumor is bullshit since there's no way they'd sell him unless it's for a shitload.

Ajax youth manager responds to allegations nobody has ever made, about a player he's never worked with.

Unless you're Mike Tyson, I don't think so. I think certain parts of Spain pronounce it differently. For instance, you often hear of people saying "Thara-gotha" but rarely of people saying "Ibi-tha". I pronounce both the same, and I would say any Spaniard will pronounce both the same. What you may find is that some regions will make a stronger or softer "th". (Mine is naturally softer due to Catalan being my first language and I tend to overcompensate and indeed talk like Mike Tyson).

I had completely forgotten that Curtis Good existed.

Yeah, it's early preseason. Starting a player only usually means he has better fitness than others at this point. I guess I will need to cry foul when Lucho benches Messi in his first preseason game (and he will).

Good thing he plays for Sevilla and never worked under Cathro, then.

Danilo Barbosa signs for Valencia on loan from Braga. He is, of course, repped by Jorge Mendes.

He should be able to do better than that at his age and after this season's form. If he's doing it because he's a fan, kudos to him.

No resale value, surely? Anyway, he's excellent on his day. Just massively erratic. Needs a lot of managing off the pitch, too.

They seem to love our discarded prospects. He should be decent if he can make the switch to the PL though. Quick and with good feet.

I'm surprised that's not more common tbh. That's how it's done in Spain by most clubs. However there's an unwritten rule that it goes to the most senior player in the squad (understood as more seasons/games for club) and it's rarely broken. For example, the Barça squad are going to vote for captain in August, and I can tell you right now that it's going to be Iniesta, Messi and Piqué - our three most senior players. There's just a small chance that Masch could sneak in there - and he'd be the best captain of the lot. Club captains - at least over here - also represent the squad in talks with the managing staff or the board, so having the support and assent from the players is a must. Having a manager appoint the captain is very alien to our football culture and Mou, for example, created quite a stir when he tried to have Ronaldo appointed as Real Madrid captain.