Village Idiot

Erwin Koeman

I was actually happy for you lot when you went 0-2 and deflated when you came back to equalize. That's all kinds of fucked up.

They need to fund the stadium's renovation.

According to "As", Real Madrid will sell the naming rights to the Santiago Bernabéu to Fly Emirates. "Bernabéu" to stay part of the name. Florentino will have a hard time getting the approval from club members, to be honest.

Iván Zamorano is in a dire financial situation. Banks have impounded most of his property, and he's still nearly €3m in the red. Apparently his investments have all gone south, mostly a sports complex he built in Santiago.

Great little player that sadly has taken too many stones to his head.

idle curiosity but is that a bailed out bank so under political pressure to get its money back? Yes. Largest bailout in Spain's banking history, actually.

Between this, the media bans, the "release a statement about Jonás after every club on Earth has already done it but his own" I'm starting to believe the press area of your club is run by either a) monkeys b) the lad in the "Scumbag Steve" meme or c) a fifth column from this forum.

Sticking points seem to be that Bankia wants senior debt status, and to have a say in how the club's run.

Valencia sale on the verge of collapse after Lim and Spanish bank Bankia (largest creditor of the club) have failed to agree on debt restructuring, after reaching an agreement in principle a few months ago. Lim has ordered his people to go back to Singapore - which I suspect is a tactic to put pressure on the bank.

The midfield wasn't well balanced. Xavi and Samper tend to go deep and this created a gap between the midfield and the strikers, and Roberto isn't much of a creative force. Anyway, we played our second string + Messi / Neymar, so I'm not too worried.

We've been poor upfront, but I will take the three points. Ter Stegen had a solid debut, despite not being called to action much.

Why is the ref in our game wearing white shorts? Is that a ref thing now?

Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Bartra, Adriano; Sergi Roberto, Xavi, Samper; Messi, Neymar, Munir

RCD Mallorca released a statement in support of their former player, too. http://www.rcdmallorca.es/principal_new.php?nombreModulo=noticiasDetalle&idnoticia=33871&idmenu=3

Iniesta with his birthday cake http://img02.mundodeportivo.com/2014/09/17/Iniesta-una-vida-en-el-Barca-T_54415114382_54115221154_600_396.jpg

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".