Village Idiot

CL games will hurt Spurs more than people think. They don't have such a big squad. I agree about City being much stronger, but Liverpool look stronger than last season too. They will grab 5th easily in my opinion, and a chance of 4th if Hodgson really makes them tick.

Been hearing about Özil for a while. People round here reckon it's a manoeuver to pressure Arsenal ("we aren't *that* desperate for Cesc, see?"). For sure we aren't signing both Cesc and him. I'm torn about Özil, he seems quite unconsistant but brilliant on occasion. Would rather hijack Madrid's move for Khedira.

I'm actually surprised that this doesn't happen more often and with more top level footballers, seeing how so many are addicted to twitter and similar.

He scored against us at Camp Nou, he looked great that game.

No chance as their bench is mid-table at best. That Jovanovic dude has looked decent the few times I have seen him, Carragher still can do a job, midfield replacements look bad though, and they essentially have no wide players. Pacheco is going to be a star though, we'll need to do a Cesc with him in 3-4 years time.

There were rumours here that Nadal would cover some of their debts? There was talk that he would become a shareholder and even enter the board, but I don't know if that's finalised or what amount is he supposed to put in.

To add insult to injury Mallorca's new president has been accused of sexual harassment by a former employee and will temporarily step down while he prepares his defence.

Probably they would have had the same problems with UEFA, but if they made the group stages most surely not. Their debt isn't stratospheric (€60m), just that a lot of it is short term and they can't refinance.

They will appeal, but given their predicament it's unlikely unless a regular tribunal overrules UEFA. Today they have presented an ERE (I don't know the English equivalent), which is what companies in crisis do in order to seek permission from the authorities to fire employees without paying them in full in order to balance the books. Rumor is that a few players are affected. If they don't go, Villarreal will net their spot.

90k? Are you sure? That's roughly what he's at Real Madrid (even a bit less)...

Reina Johnson Agger Skrtel New LB Kuyt Lucas Gerrard Cole Torres Huntelaar It's pretty tasty. If they somehow kept Mascherano I'd put money on them regaining top 4.

The Fairs Cup was the equivalent to the UEFA Cup we have today, just a different trophy. Whatever people say about it I'm immensely proud of our success in it. And you may as well be. Black and white photographs of your team competing for European trophies just proves you've been there from the start.

I know because the original is in our museum, we played a "final" against Leeds to decide who kept the trophy after it was replaced with the UEFA Cup. And no mocking the Fairs Cup anyway. Love vintage European competitions.

It's not.

Yes, but that's different to returning the product because you change your mind.

No. He still has his knack for getting in goalscoring positions and feeding off scraps, but his legs are gone and can't keep that intensity during a whole match. And due to his kind of game he isn't much of an impact sub. He's 33... To his credit though, he looked finished 4-5 years ago and still produced a couple great seasons.

Still believe that Raúl is secretly still an Atlético fan.

Same in Spain. Most stores only do credit. USA they refund you most of the time, though, in my experience.

I know it's shit, but I just wanted to post it here as soon as I read it

He's said that he wants to keep playing football at the best level he can, instead of warming the bench.

Still weird though, since in the same article they link Mahmadou to Villa (used my camera to upload it) http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7256/img4854n.jpg Again, it's an awful newspaper.

They printed Lass Diarra. Might have it wrong since Mahmadou has been linked with a move away for quite a while. If my scanner wasn't broken I'd scan the article, since "Sport" don't publish all their articles in their website.

I will point out, that a blind boy drawing names off a hat probably has more credibility than "Sport". These are the same guys that brought you the "Puyol to Newcastle" rumor.

Man, I can finally contribute to this thread meaningfully "Sport" reports today that Real Madrid are close to sell Lassana Diarra to Newcastle for €6m.

To be honest, I don't think Ben Arfa would be a good signing in your predicament. Too much risk and you don't seem to have the money to make these kind of bets. But I admit is always nice to have *that* player in the pitch that can always do something fun when the ball reaches his feet. Until Carroll twats him (Arfa seems to get in a row with all his teammates).