Village Idiot

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!

As usual, I refer you to the guy in my avatar. http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/17/rayo-vallecano-all-or-nothing-approach-sid-lowe

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.

Yeah, the problem is that he's coming from the opposite lane and tries to cut time by U-turning, so he ends up coming at it at an awful angle and he stubbornly tries to turn, instead of reversing and just coming at it at a better angle.

I hope Vermaelen turns faster in the pitch than he does with his car... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx8J-P1RdRA#t=64

Is that thread title a real quote? Absolutely disgraceful Stick a fork in him, he's done.

Ah nice but he can't be crying. Lad had just scored two goals in half an hour, he was buzzing. I like that, to be honest. He's scored in the WC yet still gets giddy after having a good game in the league.

Ah, what a nice day.

According to the Spanish commentary, Atlético haven't scored with a shot from open play since April.

Speaking of clean sheets, until today the last time we had three clean sheets in a row was in 1994 Anyway, good on you brummie, hope you enjoy football this year after some rather unenjoyable years.