Village Idiot

Off to the pub! (yes, I didn't get tickets, it's impossible)

Actually we'd have been better off buying true world class players, instead of spending €15m-ish apiece in the likes of Hleb, Gudjohnsen, Keirrison, Cáceres, etc...

Di María has been rather meh in his general play, but has had an habit of popping up with some rather important goals for them.

That's why I said "And there's Zlatan". I still consider him a quality player. But we spunk some idiotic money on him.

Again most of the debt is still what we were carrying from the Gaspart board (left us with €300m in the red in 2004). Our current debt is €450m. We spunk some money on some dross the past two seasons, mind. And there's Zlatan too.

The Spanish Cup has been trampled and mangled beyond repair. It's a joke. The only thing the federation cares about is to ensure big teams reach the final and get as much tv money from the latter stages as possible. And the big clubs acquiesce since it makes it easier for them.

It's only for professional teams. I think it's 80odd clubs taking part.

Mou tends to burn the hell out of his players, he relies a lot in experienced players that he plays and plays and plays. There was a stat in the Spanish press this week that showed that the same 11 Madrid players have played 82% of total minutes this season, across all competitions. And yes, the bricking is cuntish.

Yep. Benzema has been rather good in his guest appearances of late though. They'll be fine.

I don't know, 3 out of 4 Clásicos are usually not up to the hype. Not that I won't be biting my nails every fucking minute of it. But usually both teams approach those games rather cautiously. I suppose Madrid will set up for hitting in the counter and knowing this we will try to shore up at the back more than we usually do (Real Madrid is the only team I have seen Guardiola line up rather conservatively against)

At least you still have a decent cup. In ours top teams get a bye until the last 32. There was a point where teams playing in Europe got a bye until the last 16

Hasn't he got a court case against the new board to fight as well. Seen that he's been banned from the corporate area's at the club as well. Yes. Hence why him being an MP is going to be fun. He isn't going to have any kind of influence in the actual lawmaking but he'll surely give headlines.

Somewhere, Messi sighs in relief.

Just seen this. What Barca suburb? I was over there (Gava) a while back visiting a friend and they were burning a massive effigy of some sort. Badalona. It's done in May. Didn't know they did it in Gavà too.

Laporta is now an MP in Catalonia. This is going to be fun.

Yeah, their president was either astute/foolish/a cunt depending on who you ask, but got them competing with managing to get some very impressive names in their teamsheet over the years. And it seems they have "landed" safely after flirting with financial trouble these past years (still think they should dedicate a street in La Coruña to NUFC for the money you gave them over the years).

Come on, every time somebody in La Liga manages to not get more than 5 points adrift of Barça/Real they get built up as "title challengers". It's just paper talk and the media needing to BIG up anything they talk about.

My FF allegiances demand a Spurs victory. VdV hat trick with Lennon assisting all of them.

Yes, average midtable s***. They started out the season quite horribly but have bounced back to what I would consider their level. They are a rather small team when it's all said and done, the fact they managed to compete in the upper reaches of the table (and brought home some silverware) was a bit of an anomaly (which almost bankrupted them too). Great for the fans, mind.

He sort of disappeared from the Spanish newspaper he writes for, but seems to have resumed normal service this month. Guess he wanted to take a breather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2FpDtqUQIo&playnext=1&list=PL60BBC5F3A5EEBDDE&index=24

Rumor is the draw was fixed to make the match fall just before the vote. Which makes sense given this is like the 2000000000000th time in a row where the Clásico happens around this date and the law of large numbers is screaming for justice.

I read they got in some preschool-level row where Gallas stole Henry's seat in the French team bus and Nasri stood by Thierry. I promise I'm not making this up, will look for a link. EDIT: The opposite, it was Nasri sitting on Henry's seat. Read the full dramatization here: http://www.oleole.com/blogs/france-road-to-world-cup-2010/posts/the-fight-between-samir-nasri-and-william-gallas

I was never a fan of it because I knew they couldn't ever gain control of the club, and I knew that they knew it aswell. It was always just a con, yes a few people might have believed it at first, but they have shown that they are just like armchair fans. They always know whats right and won't listen to other supporters, if they stick their hands over their ears and shout "La la la, I'm not listening" for long enough then they tend to believe their own crap as fact. That is why supporters should never own their football club, yes they should have say and be consulted, but they should never ever be the ones to make the decisions. Oh and btw, what kind of t*** believes a bunch of guys who drink in an Irish social club could at any point be successfull in running a multi millions pound business? That's why I think the Spanish model is the least bad (a bit like democracy). Makes the board accountable to the fans but ultimately they run the club.

Apparently we are sending in Cronaldo to Zurich to convince the judges on Thursday. Not sure how to feel about this...