Village Idiot

Henry to Barça was a friendly transfer. You played hard to get but as you say Wenger wanted to sell him. Actually the Chamakh transfer has probably more grounds for wrongdoing. Players and board venting out in the press is meaningless. You got that player for free after obviously agreeing to wait his contract out last season, screwing Bordeaux in the process. And yes we are being pretty annoying with Cesc. But I think that's the only case of us being arsehats (and a big deal of it it's because we still consider him to be one of us, that's not our general modus operandi).

And you made good business and sold us a dud. Hence, suckers. Henry wasn't even starting for you.

Honestly, apart from the Cesc saga, I don't think we haven't been cuntish in the transfer market (more like suckers).

Happens pretty often. There's a difference of one year where British clubs are allowed to offer professional contracts and Spanish ones can't. I have to say that I think that Cesc is a bit of a c***. When he left us Arsenal were a bigger fish than Barça, and now that things are reversed and we are the ones racking in the trophies he wants back.

Arsenal poached him from our academy before we were allowed to offer a professional contract under our labor laws.

Over here we still consider him stolen property so yeah, we have been a little arsey.

Cronaldo isn't anyone though. It's not like they would formally retire it anyway, and other big Madrid legends have worn it in the past (Amancio, Juanito, Butragueño...), so it's more a case of finding somebody big enough to fill in. Khedira is sadly a very good signing for that lot. I hope they at least pay him that rumored €7m wage.

Villarreal have agreed a fee of €8m with Atlético for Godín. They still have to reach an agreement with his agent who holds 30% of the player's rights, however. Him and Filipe Luís are/would be great signings, considering how much of a joke their backline has been.

"As" claiming Khedira's signing for Madrid is done too (but Marca said the same like two weeks ago). On other news, Cronaldo has quickly grabbed Raúl's #7, so they'll call him CR7 again.

My bro (who lives in Cesc's town and knows his family and others in Cesc's circle), tells me he's been told the deal is done, but will be kept under wraps a few days so both clubs can do some pantomime. Yeah yeah, ITK and all that. But I will say it in case he's right and I get internet brownie points.

Anything other than Real Madrid would be weird, really. Honestly I would have retired. He's 33 afterall. Pretty sure he'll be able to put together a manager career if he wants to keep attached to the game.

Apparently it's €450m, not €550m. €550m is the loans we have. I'm not a financials expert by any stretch, but that's what they are saying. There's more to it, it seems that Laporta's board used creative accounting to disguise the losses, since according to our law the boards of fan-owned clubs have to answer for the losses incurred during their time. With the revised accounts they can be forced to put up €45m (although it's going to be a long process if the club decides to pursue it). Well, €450m is huge but is what it has been said for the last year or so that our real debt was, so I'm actually somewhat relieved that they haven't found a bigger hole. And given our revenue it's manageable if the new board behaves like they say they will. And imho all teams not named Manchester City will be going that way so I'm not that scared that it will hurt our sporting success. We have done some crazy transfers too. Chygrynsky for €25m, Zlatan for €45m+Eto'o, Hleb/Keirrison/Henrique/Cáceres for around €10-15m apiece... Our wage bill % is around 60-65% of our total revenue IIRC which isn't that bad (although more detailed accounts will be released in the Fall). That includes the wages of all the other professional sections (basketball, handball, futsal, roller hockey, athletics) which all lose money and always have.

Acceleration is more important than top speed in the 100m actually. Sol Campbell isn't running at 22mph from the start.

In athletics, you see many sprinters competing at top level at 30+ years. I think the issue is not his raw speed, which is probably still there, but if he can keep it up over 90 minutes. That's what makes old players "slow", I think.

Our new board revealed the results of the audit today. According to them we lost €77m last season, and we are €550m in debt. Apparently the main point of contention is that the Laporta board included some future revenue (TV, sponsorships, etc...) in the accounts of last year (and possibly the years before that). Actually not as bad as I thought, as ludicrous as it may look. But hopefully Rosell will be more sane than Laporta.

My Real Madrid friends (yeah I have some!) tell me he is a decent prospect. Puzzled they let him go given their lack of personnel in that position. (Drenthe + Arbeloa, one of which is shit and the other isn't a natural LB).

Meh, if from all the crap Redknapp has done over the years the only thing you dig up is the s*** he bought at the end of his Wham reign... poor article.

I rate Carlton Cole and he'd mold perfectly at Stoke, but no way he's worth 14m.

I'd love us to sign him. Moyes would turn him around. Shall I give you our phone number?

25-man squad sizes will do a lot towards this. Last time I checked City had 36 players in their squad so some will have to go unless they are happy in the reserves for all the season.

Great summary of Jenas' career then.

Marcos Alonso from Real Madrid to Bolton for €3m. Player is in Bolton apparently waiting for the final agreement.

We are reportedly talking to Fulham and Brum regarding a Hleb transfer. Rumoured fee is €5m.

Must be on about Rosenborg now, as I don't think we've ever played Real Madrid? Do you remember the games against AIK? We played you in the cup-winners-cup in '97 I think, and then again in the Champions League in '99. Only got vague memories of us playing against eachother in the cup winners cup, but our home tie in the Champions League, I'll never forget. We were 1-0 up after a beautiful chipped goal and then you equalised on a corner, when we were half way into making a substitution and none of our players were ready for the ball to be played. Even though you went on to win the game 2-1, it's one of my biggest moments in football that game. Why was I posting about Rosenborg with that big ass AIK shield below your signature I do remember that 1-2. Remember celebrating that cuntish goal indeed, you got a man sent off and went into disarray, which pretty much handed us that injury time winner. I will point out that the Camp Nou tie finished 5-0 to us, though!