Village Idiot

But the president of UEFA voted for Qatar and stands by that decision, these reptilian f***s don't care about some peasant workers dying in the desert. Let's not forget Russia is part of Uefa as well. It's not like UEFA aren't to blame. Platini only wanted the Prince of Jordan there because he's his friend and he'd get his idea through. None of these guys even care about the sport, they're making a big fuzz about it now to increase their powers. Figo should've stayed in the election and he'd probably have been the best option for transparency in the organization, but what UEFA federations were willing to back him? Can't have been many. There's no way UEFA is a great organization either. If I'm not mistaken VI said Spains FA president might be under investigation as well. UEFA is a damnable organization, and they are certainly fond of money. I'm lucky to be a fan of a club that has come out on top, but look at the state of European football versus 20 years ago and tell me it's better.

Is he on holidays now? Mankind needs a Squires cartoon of the FIFA arrests.

People are f***ing dying in the hundreds building f***ing football stadiums in the middle of the desert. It boggles the mind how this can be brushed aside so easily with fluff talk.

Wanted to make myself clear Great buzz in the city overall. Wish we submitted the Camp Nou to host more finals - even if we don't end up playing in them, but over here it's considered a bad jinx to host a final in your own stadium.

Just had a stroll and the city is brimming with Athletic fans. Amazing atmosphere. They probably want this more than us, there's talk they will outnumber us tonight. I still want it, though.

Four domestic cup finals today FA Cup DFB Pokal Coupe de France Copa del Rey

When he took Evra on and went flying down the wing. THE GREYHOUND THEY SAID Goodluck Jonas, thanks for getting us back to the premier league, and for keeping us up this year I remember when he was still at Mallorca, and they came to Camp Nou. He stole the ball in midfield and went down a lightning run down the wing, leaving players behind with that weird running gait of his, until Puyol ultimately fouled him in the box. Penalty! He then asked to take it and proceeded to shot the tamest penalty I have ever seen, the ball rolling weakly into Valdés' hands. Jonás in a nutshell. Love the guy, somehow.

Gonna miss his hilariously melancholic faces. http://www.shieldsgazette.com/webimage/1.6476913.1393951764!/image/1528191343.jpg "I'm happy"

It's not surprising, our president is also a FIFA vice president. I suppose you can guess who appointed him.

Weighting vote by population or number of FA-licensed players seems fair and would have nothing to do with "eliteness" while filtering out micro-nations or nations that really don't care for the sport.

Our government has been trying to poke into how the Spanish FA does things for a while, only for FIFA to scream "political interference!" every time and threaten to block spanish sides from tournaments. Hell, one of the real motivations of the aborted strike in La Liga is the fact that the Spanish government wants to audit the Spanish FA's accounts.

Not a bad thing. Our FA is corrupt to the bone. Still hoping Villar gets arrested and sent to Gitmo.

KaKa yearns so much for happiness; breaks my heart, man.

Ooooh... this means they will be playable in the next FM.

If you sign him this needs memeing of some sort: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D-qaQ2aHMDk/TbCzBPMRmkI/AAAAAAAAPCY/xcsrBDBw_V0/s1600/Jocelyn+GOURVENNEC.png

It's been known we have some pretty rotten business partners in Brazil, the company we subcontracted the Brazilian branch of the Barça school is apparently involved in the investigation too.

Played in the Europa league and didn't get relegated. He must look like a miracle worker to Charnley.

As usual the debate around here has already evolved into how it will affect Madrid and Barça.

The voting procedure is a total joke mind. CONCACAF having about 11 less votes than UEFA or whatever it is plus those you mention and its little chance he would be f***ed off. Its about time votes were linked to the FIFA rankings so New Caledonia dont have the same voting rights as Brasil, Germany or Spain. Utterly mental how much value is put on these backwater nations just to help swing the vote I'd rather we had no vote at all, bunch of corrupt oldies sitting there collecting bribe moneys. Rather Spain wouldn't either. Be better if World Cup could be hosted everywhere but only northern European countries could vote for a president Harsh, but fair.

Well said. The world needs more love for Kingpin.

He played some decent, on-the-deck possession football with Swansea but his managerial record is rather uninspiring and I feel like he's an even bigger c*** than Pardew was. He was a success in Spain. It's the fact he falls out with everybody after a year or so what worries me.

Bielsa's teams always implode after one year or even less. Which is a pity, I utterly adore him.

I'm hoping that it's too early to tell. Conditioning and fitness have clearly improved - we have one of the best injury records in the division for the first time I can remember. He has shown some faith in youth - we have comfortably the youngest first team in the Premier League. The one might well have led to the other. In certain games, we have looked terrific: the home games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton were excellent. We simply outplayed Arsenal, and took Chelsea apart. You could argue that the emergence of Kane baled (arf) him out, but Poch did coach Kane, picked him (eventually), and built the team around him. There are just too many issues to ignore, however. He persisted with several players who were clearly out of form/ability/position/energy. He saw what worked so well tactically against Arsenal, and ditched it (and Dembele along with it). We were poor for long periods - not all that surprising given the number of young players. Substitutions were mixed, at best. We let in loads of goals, and I think much of this is down to issues in front of the defense. IIRC, he had similar problems at Southampton. Ultimately, he finished 5th. Our spend is 6th, therefore you could argue we're slightly above par, and this was his first season with somebody else's squad. We spent pretty much nothing in the Summer, and pretty much nothing in January, so we have plenty of money available and plenty of dead wood to clear out. Next year will be the test. On face value, he has been fairly successful, but some of the specific decisions he has made have been unfathomable. That's our major concern. Thanks, he was a bit hard to appraise in Espanyol too. He had stretches where they were brilliant combined with ones where they were useless. He didn't have the players that he has at Spurs, though. I guess we'll wait and see.

Leffe, what's your appraisal of Pochettino? I was talking with an Espanyol fan yesterday and he believes he's done great. I think Kane's explosion has masked a rather indifferent season though.

If they were going to sack Carver quickly for being terrible they would have done it already. I have thought the same many times with Pardew as well. You think, surely this guy can't get through this terrible run without being sacked. Then the spin begins. The manager starts putting blame onto the players, bad luck and other factors. All of a sudden the previous transfer window is brought into question and it's a different narrative about how new players are needed, then all will be fine and dandy. Carver has already been doing that this time around. He's talked about needing his own players, a summer to prepare and then the team will be better next season. He's making a narrative that a moron above him can buy into as an easy and safe appointment for the club. A similar but altered narrative will then be wheeled out if he wants to keep the job. It seems to be the only thing Carver has learned from Pardew. I think Pardew could probably write a book on how to keep your job when consistently demonstrating gross incompetence. I really really dread to think what Carver's ''own players'' would be.