Village Idiot

Espanyol are reportedly in talks to sell a controlling share to an American investment fund. That would be a terrible move for them, imho. Investment funds are there to make money, not to win things.

Looking forward to watching this; game times are much better than the last time for us Europeans

I suspect the club will probably pay some poor wages to managers/staff and they make up for it by dangling the carrot of a long contract. Carver got 1 million for 5 years of contract? 200 000/year seems quite on the low side for the assistant manager of a premier league side, and a quite established one at that.

If only he had some kind of influence in a decision-making body of the club that could change this. Something like a board of directors maybe?

Real Madrid have now denied releasing Casillas.

Good piece. Love that Fairs Cup trophy photo.

One of my favorite ever players

I remember a game we played in this very same stadium (Zorrilla), a decade ago, with a thick fog you couldn't see s***, yet it wasn't called off. You probably need a Mad Max apocalypse scenario to get a game called off around here. Being physical is Valladolid's game. Get up close and personal and make things rough for the opposition. I think they went a tad overboard today though, I guess it's the occasion.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If Araujo and Viera can keep up the form they've been in over the past month or so, we'll have a great chance. I'm a tad wary of Girona but I think they way they blew it yesterday will have affected them massively. Araujo just scored after 10 min in the away leg against Valladolid. Looking good. The pitch How has it not been called off? Lack of dates, I presume. Still, it's pretty rare that we call off a game in La Liga; I have seen games being played in far worse conditions.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If Araujo and Viera can keep up the form they've been in over the past month or so, we'll have a great chance. I'm a tad wary of Girona but I think they way they blew it yesterday will have affected them massively. Araujo just scored after 10 min in the away leg against Valladolid. Looking good.

We have a similar setup, where a committee of three people run the football side of things, and report to the board proper which takes care of finance, marketing, PR, etc...

Two football men and two stooges; I guess Charnley gets the tie breaker vote so not much will change, but at least there will be some interesting voices in the board meetings.

Such a comically contemptible organization.

Apparently Bilic wants Barça B's Halilovic on loan.

De Gea had already starred in an EL final FFS

Casillas agrees to terminate his contract with Real Madrid, according to our public telly. Obviously making room for De Gea, but I wonder where he'll end up.

Haven't watched women's football in a long time, and I saw the game yesterday expecting it to have come on a fair bit. Was right behind it/hoping for the best until the action started. It was far worse than I remembered it. Struggle to see any significant commercial investment ever getting behind it. I think people underrate the physical demands of football. It's one thing being technically and tactically competent, and another being technically and tactically competent during 90 minutes covering a pitch so big as a football one. I watched a fair bit of women futsal, for example (I love futsal); and it's a much better show than regular women football. I think the pitch size has a lot to do with that.

Alexia Putellas - not the Alex Morgan type sexy, but there's something about her I really like. She scored a wonder goal a couple years ago that made the headlines. She's cute, but with a very unfortunate surname for a Spanish woman. Thought about that myself. Is it a word with a meaning though, or just resembling one? It resembles our word for "little whore" (putilla). You don't want to be a woman and go to school with a surname like that.

Alexia Putellas - not the Alex Morgan type sexy, but there's something about her I really like. She scored a wonder goal a couple years ago that made the headlines. She's cute, but with a very unfortunate surname for a Spanish woman.

I disagree, ultimately each club employs a manager and supposedly trusts their opinion and knowledge of football, so back that trust by letting him have the final say on the players he will be working with day in day out. If you don't trust the managers opinions on football to that extent why the f*** are you employing him then. That's silly. Clubs trust their manager's opinion, and that's why a properly run club will have a manager's input on what are his perceived needs for the squad. But a specialised Football Director will have more time and knowledge to go and comb the market, and then come back with a list of players which the manager will again get to comment on. And no responsible DoF will ever sign a player that a manager doesn't want, it never works. That's how it works in Europe, and it's not like European clubs suck compared to English ones. Also, separating player recruitment from the figure of the manager allows the club to have a stability in footballing philosophy. Look at us, we have had several managers in the past 10 years, and all have put its stamp on the team, but the overall approach to how we play has been essentially the same.

No conference? Was looking forward to listening to what McClaren has to say. I guess he'll release some statement at least.

Aye, he's the proper example of a hard-working wideman. http://www.themag.co.uk/assets/Yoan_Gouffran_Newcastle_United_NUFC_600_05.jpg I was going to add "as opposed to Gouffran" The fact you work hard for the team doesn't necessarily mean you aren't productive near the goal.

Aye, he's the proper example of a hard-working wideman.

Our last two presidents (elected as part of the current board) have been indicted for tax fraud, for which the club is liable to pay €30m. Then there's also the transfer ban, which occurred under their stewardship. Also sponsored by f***ing Qatar. It's not all about trophies, under their stewardship the club's name has been dragged through the mud.