Village Idiot

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...

I'm a Barça fan, I felt proud enough of knowing about Milburn to begin with So it's Shearer afterall. Should have guessed with you qualifying for European competitions regularly.

Our all-time record is 357 goals since the 1920s. That one is ways off, but César's league record of 195 is certainly within reach if he keeps that level and he sticks with us for a few years (Messi's on 101 league goals). That would be momentous since it's an ancient record too. Who's NUFC's all-time goalscorer? Milburn?

Their bid just doesn't make any sense. They have the population of a medium sized city, of course they can't support permanent stadiums. If a bid ever screamed "joint bid" is this one and not all the other gimmicky ones.

Isn't that list made up of 50+ players? Not that big of a stretch, have seen way worse.

That's my take too. I mean, I want it to be over here but I won't cry foul if you get it. But I really don't want it to go to Russia.

I'm not that sure we'll get it, for some reason I keep dreading it's gonna be Russia. Heck, you still have CONCACAF's votes sewn up, and it's almost as strong as CONMEBOL inside the committee. I will, however, tell my Portuguese friends that they are the Wales of Spain.

And it's voted by the FIFA Executive committe that has 24 members from different federations, not by every member nation.

That's 36 years when 2018 comes, hardly yesterday. Mind, I think it's getting to the point where England should host one, but I obviously want this one in Spain

Honestly though, I don't think there's much between England and Spain's bids regarding infrastructure, stadia, etc...

It sucks, but that's the good part of having a corrupt kleptocrat as head of the Spanish FA

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2010/11/25/2231265/fifa-plan-reforms-to-abolish-player-agents-by-2011-report I'll dance if this comes to pass. Players will still retain a single "intermediary" for all their business but it surely will thin the ranks of the cancerous leeches.

The SA votes were already sewn up when we supported CONMEBOL in the Rio bid. Dunno why it is news all of a sudden. Our press aren't even reporting it.

Van Der Saar was hardly a hidden gem either.

Again, like when it happened with the Eduardo dive, I don't mind UEFA getting involved in this kind of stuff if it gets done across the board. Which it won't.

Man, I just love American sports and their stupidly complex draft rules

Loved the guy in the comments asking what's wrong with long ball football. Stockholm Syndrome