Village Idiot

Wasn't it the local council that bought the training ground off them? Yes, after changing the soil qualification so it became more expensive for them to do so

Real Madrid have never been bankrolled by the king. For starters, he's a well known Atlético fan They've been helped with stuff like the training pitch sale, mind. EDIT: Some serious media are starting to carry the Valencia news, so it seems legit.

Word that the Valencia regional government has been forced to take over Valencia CF after they defaulted on debt that was guaranteed by the administration. Fucked up to see government taking over a football club; but this is Spain.

Did a so-so job with Espanyol before getting sacked after a horrible start to this season. Had virtually no resources though. He'd lost the dressing room though, before that he'd done brilliantly with the (s***) team he head. He plays simple but effective counterattacking football, setting his teams to be hard to beat, etc... I suppose he should fit in the PL. But it's always a risk changing horses midstream. Southampton were really improving. You know if he even speaks English? No idea, to be honest. But he's pretty articulate so he should be able to learn it if he doesn't.

Did a so-so job with Espanyol before getting sacked after a horrible start to this season. Had virtually no resources though. He'd lost the dressing room though, before that he'd done brilliantly with the (s***) team he had. He plays simple but effective counterattacking football, setting his teams to be hard to beat, etc... I suppose he should fit in the PL. But it's always a risk changing horses midstream. Southampton were really improving.

Shocking decision, they'd been steadily improving since their shaky start to the season.

Only person in football with seemingly less personality than Michael Owen. Not true btw. Funny guy and a true gentleman. Santon really needs a competition for the place. And if Debuchy is out he can swap to RB Pity he didn't click at Barça, injuries plagued him and to be frank we really didn't have a role for him in the team. But our transfer policy at the time was just to reproduce Ajax's CL winning team. Aye. He wasn't the only big name to flop at Barca around that time either. How much did yous pay to buy Gerard back again? €20m IIRC. Don't get me started. That era almost bankrupted the club; failed season after failed season that was patched up with big signings that then flopped because we really didn't follow a cohesive plan. I think people aren't aware how close we were to slip into mediocrity in the early-mid 2000s. Quick fact: NUFC had a bigger turnover than Barça in 2003. That's just 10 years ago.

Only person in football with seemingly less personality than Michael Owen. Not true btw. Funny guy and a true gentleman. Santon really needs a competition for the place. And if Debuchy is out he can swap to RB Pity he didn't click at Barça, injuries plagued him and to be frank we really didn't have a role for him in the team. But our transfer policy at the time was just to reproduce Ajax's CL winning team.

The UEFA Cup was a much bigger deal, and at least in La Liga it was open to most clubs to challenge for it. Of course there were the relegation battlers too.

Indeed, was Keegan's first stint a failure? Or Sir Bobby's? Pretty sure not.

So not "real" success then on two fronts, qualifying for another competition you have no chance of winning and winning nowt. Dunno, they played great football, with some world class players plying their trade there, like Riquelme or Rossi; challenged for La Liga and got far in the cups, even getting to the CL semis... I think any Villarreal fan will look back at that with pride.

Dunno, if you managed to qualify for the CL, for example, I'd call that a success. Villarreal were a successful club in the mid-late 2000s without ever winning a trophy.

Winning, but I'll be the first to admit it wouldn't feel as good. Then again, it's not like the we haven't bought our way to success in the past or present.

STs and matchday revenue for us is €150m - a bit under 30% of our total revenue -, and that's with low prices compared to other big European clubs. Don't underestimate the money that a stadium still provides.

I'll sit this one out.

Joel Campbell is such a neat little player... but he's the kind that Arsenal already have buttloads of.

4.5m is really tempting, but he'd bury his career there imho, unless the Russian league really comes to the fore.

I don't think Courtois is it; he's pretty poor when leaving his line, and given the way we play, we need a keeper that's good at 1vs1 (which was Valdés' main strength). Our biggest GK prospect was snatched by Málaga recently, and there isn't really anything of note at Barça B. We'll probably have to get the chequebook out. Some rags are suggesting ter Stegen, but so far it's just people throwing names out.

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. But he's been on the decline for a couple seasons already and this will force the club to finally take a look at finding a successor. He's been quite poor this season. My first thought is that one of the oil clubs is offering him big money for a last contract.

Valdés has told the club that he won't sign a new contract Daniel Bryan Wins YES YES YES....No No No?

Still can't believe he doesn't even speak basic English. How many years has he been in England already? Almost seven?

I'm set to have a so-so week given the fixtures in it, so you have a good chance of that.

Same, now on the brink of breaking the N-O top 100 finally.. I climbed back up to 97

You can probably add a couple or three mil to that and get somebody more exciting, though.