Village Idiot

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!

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.