Village Idiot

I think it's the fact he still hasn't managed to complete a season firing on all cylinders (mostly due to injuries), so in my mind I keep pegging him as a prospect.

Found this interesting article on Arsenal's wage structure. Wasn't aware their spending was actually comparable to ManU's, but the fact it's more "egalitarian" prevents them from competing at the top wage brackets. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2011/10/19/2717231/cash-rich-arsenal-can-afford-to-give-robin-van-persie-the-200000- Also took me by shock that Van Persie is already 28. One of those players that for some reason I keep thinking they are still hot prospects.

Couple of interesting games today in La Liga: Málaga - Real Madrid FCB - Sevilla Will be interesting to gauge the strength of two candidates to become "best of the rest" against the two big guns. I'm really curious to see how Málaga measure up, although they are missing some important players (Caballero, Baptista, Duda). I expect us to defeat Sevilla, they have caused us problems in the past but mostly at their place.

Today the Spanish press is publishing that the members of group I in the Europa League: Celtic, Atlético, Rennes and Udinese were called up yesterday to assess the possibility of reinstating Sion as a fifth team in the group, and finding dates for the necessary eight (!!!) additional games until the last 32 are played in February. According to our media this show that Platini is pretty scared about losing the case. Apart from the obvious farcical component of the case, if UEFA end up losing this it would be another Bosman. And as much as I generally dislike UEFA/FIFA, the consequences wouldn't be good.

The Rangers owner has instructed his lawyers to take legal proceedings against BBC Scotland apparently. What's the gist of it? It's "not available in your area".

Ah, found the table with the baseline amount of compensation per year of training, depending on the category of the purchasing club: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/43/76/84/zirkularnr.1264-regulationsonthestatusandtransferofplayers-categorisationofclubsandregistrationperiods.pdf It's on page 4. Rather low amounts to be said. If I understood the legalese correctly, you multiply those amounts (it's safe to assume Premiership clubs are Category I) by the amount of years the origin club trained the player.

Thought there were FIFA regulations governing compensation? Page 34 onwards, although no figures are given. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/06/30/78/statusinhalt_en_122007.pdf I think we have additional regulations in Spain, with payments triggering as players get professional games under their belt, but I'm no expert.

Qs are rater common in Spanish. I have one of them.

Always good to see Salzburg c***s f***ed over. Vettel.

Look at both "pens", daylight robbery there to be frank Blatant dive for the first and the second is truly hilarious. Amorebieta pushes a Salzburg defender who then handballs as a result of that

Just saw the replay. The biggest of all ironies would be if Sion ends up actually reaching further in the Europa League than Celtic.

Salzburg winning 0-2 at San Mamés. Wow. Athletic are actually playing decently, but the Austrians are destroying them in the counter.

And another one, 2-0 Flores.

And another Spanish team concedes a late goal in Europe this week. Deserved, though. Atlético have been awful.

What a dire game this one, at least if Di Natale was playing I'm sure he'd have put one away. Both teams are terribly toothless as is stands.

Great save by Courtois, he's been great for Atlético this season. He still looks raw some times, but looks like Chelsea have a great keeper on their hands.

http://miraqueproductos.com/img/p/10-392-thickbox.jpg

Atlético have an uncanny ability of putting out a bunch of actually talented players, and year after year still look absolutely average.

Sort of fun that Atlético has played both Granada and Udinese (they have the same owners) in less than a week.

Aye, he played well at the U21s 4 years ago. Along with Maceo Rigters. Though I'm sure you already knew that, given that we're reminded every single time he gets on the pitch. He had a rather good start to his Hércules season until shit hit the fan in Christmas, too. There's still a player there, but you have to wade through a lot of crap to reach and take it.

This is not true Okay, it was only Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. But still, the country was in the middle of a war and their participation was a huge deal.

Both Koreas paraded together in the 2008 Olympics, the Yugoslav nations competed under the Olympic flag in 1992, but no, the Scots can't play football with the English.

I didn't see the game, but my Chelsea supporting mate said he played very well. Looks a hard man. You don't see that too often in players from Spain. Thanks, he's highly rated here, and playing for Chelsea is a great chance for him. Hope we use that buyback option down the line.

Anyone watched the Chelsea game? How did Oriol Romeu play?

Iniesta has been steadily growing as a player this past year, particularly his composure in the opposition box. His current form is amazing. Today he got tired after the first half, which is understandable given he's just been back from injury, but I'm really looking forward his run this season if he manages to stay injury-free.