Village Idiot

http://estaticos02.marca.com/albumes/2011/02/15/milan_tottenham/1297808254_extras_albumes_0.jpg http://estaticos02.marca.com/albumes/2011/02/15/milan_tottenham/1297808485_extras_albumes_0.jpg

Good thing for Milan if they ban Gattuso, don't get why they insist on playing him.

Imho, one of the important things about playing in Europe is getting your name out there again. It says your club is going places, and it will help attract better players. The UEFA Cup was a great springboard for Villarreal and Sevilla.

Congratulations on staying up, time to look forward

Dzeko replaced by Zabaleta. Mancini going all out

Oooh Balotelli on the bench. Hope he comes in.

Yeah. I don't doubt Pelé's standing in the game, but just putting him on reputation and youtube clips didn't feel right so I went with just players I watched with some regularity during my lifetime.

I think most young'uns around here haven't seen them play. I never saw Pelé and that's why I left him out.

Did you get paid upfront for Carroll? That would hugely distort your turnover.

Atlético linked with Benítez if Quique is finally given the boot

65m turnover is really poor if you take into account TV rights are probably 45m+ of it.

Only saw both Matthews and Bobby Mitchell play in testimonials but the old folk used to say that Mitchell was the better of the two. Bobby seemed to get more goals but can only rely on other older fans to verify or disagree as to who they favoured. The question of Stanley Matthews does raise the issue of how to compare players from different eras. Matthews was a teetotal fitness fanatic at a time when such players were rare. As a result he was able to play at the top level into his 50’s, which would now be completely unthinkable. He was able to skip past defenders who were considerably less mobile than those of today. I’m only going by footage, but I’m not at all convinced he’d now have anything like the same impact. Besides, a lot of the older guys will tell you that, of the two, Tom Finney was the better player. On a related issue, Moore and Beckenbauer were converted midfield players who were able to bring a lot of class to the centre back position, but again, I’m not sure whether that would work today. Centre backs now need to be a lot stronger and quicker to cope with the modern player. Well, one can also say that these players would have benefited from modern training. Look at Xavi and Guardiola, both are the same "type" of player yet Xavi is way fitter even if he isn't an athletic player in the grand scheme of things. http://www.fanfootball.co.uk/images/pep-guardiola1.jpg http://www.futbolreal.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/xavi-hernandez-450x304.jpg

Nothing in the Sevilla forums about this. He lashed out at their fans last week and there seems to be a bit of a fallout though.

Anyway, gonna dwell in the Sevilla boards a bit to see if there's something to this.

Incidentally, how do you always catch these seemingly offhand NUFC links in the foreign press? I'm genuinely impressed.

Perotti is very good and still very young. Would be an ace buy if true. I guess they want to cash in after buying Rakitic?

IIRC Non-footballing costs are not included in the calculations. Also, owners can't buy businesses and add them to turnover, UEFA have a list of what is considered to be part of a club's turnover.

And u need good hands to manage them and to prevent clubs overstretching themselves ? Same as in the film business, studios pay the big bucks to actors, not the writers or directors. Ultimately it's the faces who sell tickets in the entertainment business (and that's what football is).

ManCity already a hair under Chelsea after just two seasons of oil money Wonder what Real Madrid's net is. They made the papers this summer after breaking €1000m in incoming transfers since Florentino first took over, but sales should temper that a bit.

That boy is surely a cunt, but is that an arrest-worthy offense?

No quotes, so I don't know how true it is: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-s-Dimitar-Berbatov-set-to-be-handed-new-175k-a-week-deal-as-reward-for-fine-form-article697437.html ManU put themselves into a corner when awarding Rooney those stupid wages, particularly given his performance this season. Can see people like Nani et al wanting some significant raises soon.

How is that beyond you? Batistuta isn't even top 100 for me. That'd be due to your strong Brazilian bias. He was an absolute goalscoring machine. If Shearer didn't play for us and wasn't a geordie, people wouldn't be choosing him ahead of Batistuta. My comment was aimed more at the people who have chosen teams based upon players that they've seen, as well. Well, I do rate him as a great striker, just not as good as the likes of Ronaldo/Van Basten/Romario at their peaks. I might be biased because of his relative lack of flair, mind, his game always revolved around effectiveness and simple choices.

The Scirea-Gentile partnership was like Jekyll and Hyde. What legends.

You might not rank them as the best all time but I don't see how Nesta + Maldini + Baresi could be controversial picks. Not controversial at all, Catenaccio rules Gentile, man, most unappropiately named footballer of all time

Love how almost everybody is picking Italian-based defences