Village Idiot

These are the wage limits La Liga has imposed on clubs this season. They are not a fixed amount for all, but a percentage of available income after fixed costs, debt payments, etc... are deducted. So they are fair assessment of clubs financial strength: http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp143/ricardomb00/salarios_1_zpsaa4318cf.jpg I know, I know, inequality and all that. But I'm really surprised to see us above Real Madrid given we have slightly lower income. Maybe we aren't that badly run afterall.

Just watched the highlights - wow it looks like Dortmund bossed them thoroughly. Immobile's goal is great (and Arsenal's defence laughable).

Freaks me out when I see somebody younger than me getting this kind of sickness, by the way (and I'm not old).

Honestly, the Argie journo tries a couple times to fish for controversy regarding Newcastle's part in this, and Jonás doesn't bite. So either there's none or Jonás is being a gent. I'm fine with either.

In the interview Jonás says that it was his decision. He indeed says the club didn't pay a dime, but Jonás says that he "doesn't care about that" (he doesn't seem angry or anything). Imho it looks to me that he wanted to get as few "outer" people involved in it as possible, since he only told very few people about his sickness until this interview.

That quote is about when he returned and Pardew told him that it was better for him to search for another club.

Says he talked to the club and it was his choice to face it on his own, since he preferred to come to Argentina where he could talk to doctors in Spanish, etc... Has one chemo session left and then two months of recovery. He's pretty calm and optimistic, so seems everything is going ok. Says he had some of his sperm frozen before the op, since he still wants to have children. Contrarily to what some of the articles say, he found out the cancer had affected his nodes during this summer, not while playing for Norwich. He kept it secret from almost everybody, claiming that he had shaved his head because of a bet, etc... it's taken him a while to be open about it. Cites Colo, Heinze, Demichelis as some of the people that knew and supported him. Colo has visited him often.

I found the video of the original interview, gonna watch it and tell you if he says something relevant that's not in the articles.

Found another, more detailed, Argie article: http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1727744-el-duro-momento-de-jonas-gutierrez-que-pelea-contra-una-enfermedad Says Colo knew, and has supported him greatly. He's also kept it a secret to most people, even saying to friends that he had shaved his head "because of a bet".

The article says the club didn't support him during his illness, and he took care of everything by himself. It's a short sentence by the journo - not even a quote by Jonás -, so it doesn't clarify the circumstances around it (Jonás himself may have wished to do it this way).

Can you translate this bit please: En Norwich, Jonás jugó algunos partidos hasta que se lesionó el gemelo y cuando iba a volver a jugar descubrió un dolor en sus riñones, en los que le descubrieron ganglios. "In Norwich, Jonás played some games until he suffered a calf injury. When he was about to return he discovered a pain in his liver, and they found [it had spread to] his nodes."

Yeah, just read the article and I can confirm that sequence of events GeordieT posted is what transpires from the article. Mean cold stuff, this.

I hope he gets well soon. Thankfully, testicular cancer has pretty good survival ratio.

Atlético Madrid got out-Atlético'd That's gonna be their problem this season, by the way, they got some decent players to do it (Griezmann and Cerci) but Simeone doesn't seem too assured when his team has to take the initiative in a game.

That's one of the reasons he got stuck as false 9 too (not a good way to employ him, still). I think he excels as #10 or off the striker, like Wenger used him, but he doesn't have the patience or the discipline to truly succeed in a more traditional CM role.

Also, regarding the PR bit, it goes both ways. It raises awareness when somebody famous is seen supporting a given cause. There was this case when some Real Madrid players visited a lad with leukemia (even misguided souls are still capable of kindness) tweeted/instagramed about it, went viral, and caused a spike in bone marrow donations.

Kaka at SJP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwMfnTWl1w

They do it a lot in Spain - and we are continuously reminded of it. Casillas has his own charity, so does Messi... A lot of clubs have their own charitable organizations, not only Barça and Madrid. There's possibly a tax angle to it, I guess.

Yeah, I honestly don't care if footballers actually give a shit or they just do it for PR, or whether their donations are just pocket change for them. If it helps people in need, that's all I care about.

Didn't know that, but Bravo (our GK) gives out his shirt to charity every time he keeps a clean sheet. If more "A-list" footballers did things like that, that's a lot of money that could be raised, without any effort from their part.

Falcao on the bench, fuck my FF team yet again

Yup. Not a chance, based on our form so far in 2014 we'd be sitting on 8-9 points by boxing day, you recon Ashley would find certain relegation acceptable? Aye, I get the vibe your owner doesn't give much of a damn about your league placing unless relegation looks likely (see 2011-2012 season as exhibit). So he will act if your form persists.

Man, wanting Pulis as manager, the damage Pardew has done to you.

Carver already has experience with the caretaker gig

The sequence of events wouldn't make a iota of sense, though. 1) Ashley sanctions loaning out HBA to Hull, because Bruce wanted the player and Pardew didn't because of personal issues. 2) One game later, Ashley sacks Pardew after having backed him in his dispute with HBA. 3) Ashley gets Bruce, paying compensation (!!) 4) Now the manager that wanted HBA to play for him is managing Newcastle, while HBA is at Hull. Sounds very NUFC to me VI. Probably, you're the experts here!