Village Idiot

You really don't have much to choose from in that position. Our press too are reporting Walcott being left out as the "big surprise". I'm a bit mistyfied since I really don't rate him. I'd have taken Johnson and not SWP though, he provides something different than Lennon.

Yes. The Cartagena-Hércules this weekend is going to be a decider.

Seems daft, who is the spot going to? Its how it normally happens in England. Atlético qualified via winning the Europa League and finished 11th, though. I guess that's the difference.

UEFA have denied Villarreal an Europa League spot. They finished 7th in the League and since Atlético and Sevilla (the cup finalists) are both already qualified for Europe, they asked the cup spot to go to the league.

Gai Assulin seems to be heading to Arsenal or City after contract talks with Barça have been stalled for a while. He's had a poor season in our B team but he was very highly rated, dunno what his contract demands are, though. We are also looking for new destinations for Henrique, Hleb and Cáceres.

Marca can't stop posting articles about Moratti getting Guardiola after our elections. But well, they are Marca.

Haha, he must be s*** like I just wikied that Turkish club... What the...? "Hey, let's do this, we'll call Arsenal Tottenham, and Tottenham will be Arsenal"

Higuaín has agreed a new contract with real Madrid, tying him until 2016. Rumor is that he'll now be on €3,5m/year which is still veeeeeeeeeery low compared to other earners at the club. But power to him.

The West Ham owners are starting to look like a peniless version of Florentino Pérez. Van Nistelrooy, Henry, Joe Cole, Beckham...

I used to buy La Gazetta in Barcelona from time to time, I can read Italian pretty well (not that a big deal for someone who speaks Spanish) and I love those pink pages. Plus they have great cycling coverage and I follow that a lot.

I remember a case a few years ago in Spain, where a small but well-off club bought a higher-ranked but bankrupt club, and took their place in the higher league. Yes, Ciudad de Murcia in the Second Division was bought by a guy from Granada and took it there and became Granada 74, with the old Granada 74 becoming the new one's feeder team. The Spanish FA opposed it but the Spanish courts ruled in favor of Granada. They became football pariahs and chained relegation after relegation and eventually dissolved, although the original Granada 74 still exists. There are, however, several examples of Spanish clubs wound up and reformed on the lower echelons: Logroñés, Oviedo, Málaga... a lot of times what happens is the former reserve teams are able to retain their place in their division, and become the new "senior" club. That obviously can't happen in England.

Pretty sure Betis were after Montero last year.

Hehe, fair enough Still, Hugo Sánchez was like a 1000 pound gorilla stepping on my toe.

The fact your aims are higher or lower doesn't necessarily change the passion for winning or losing. And those are our main rivals, of course it sucks when they piss all over you every season, no matter if it's in the top division or League 2.

Parmalat > Teka http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/1486/madrid1989vv4.jpg Ridiculously talented team, I grew up suffering their iron grip on the Spanish league for years. Five on the trot, I still have nightmares.

I don't know, it's not because it's Real Madrid, but I always find plain white shirt designs utterly boring and unappealing. It's a decent shirt if you ignore the sunbeams, which I find ridiculous but I guess some people might like them. I dislike the white patches on the sleeves though, I hate when they put those. Plus the lines should be purple, not blue. Teka used to sponsor a lot of sport teams in Spain, but they seem to have stopped doing it recently. I don't think they do well in the Spanish market anymore so I guess that's the reason.

Well, it's a white shirt, not much to play around with. Except the Real Madrid badge enlightening the world of football.

Real Madrid home http://estaticos01.marca.com/imagenes/2010/05/30/futbol/equipos/real_madrid/1275223583_extras_noticia_foton_7_0.jpg

Most of our current setup (Xavi, Silva, Casillas, Cesc, Iniesta, Marchena, Torres, Ramos, Mata, Piqué... just off the top of my head probably more), have won medals in youth championships this decade.

All three goals scored by English players

googled jose enrique messi to see if there was any pics from his la liga days and i found that its a few pages in We still put four past them in the game in your avatar though José Enrique was immense in the second "leg", though. Jose has only played once against Barca in a 2-0 win. The other game that season was 4-0 at the Camp Nou, because he wasn't in the starting XI or even on the bench. Silly Villareal. :colo: Oh, you're right. For some weird reason I thought that was our home (4-0) game since we are wearing the home shirt.

In addition to Mascherano, we have been linked to Alou Diarra and Moussa Sissoko to replace Touré Yaya if he leaves. I have heard lots of good things about Sissoko, although personally never seen him play. Alou Diarra is a bit meh, but could do the job I guess, particularly in a squad role which is what Touré doesn't want.

ta. Some classy posters there, seen a few plastered around the city but not all of them. England's made me laugh.

Aye, like we were supposed to be at this point last season when they spunk €300m on players. It ended up pretty well. But that's just what Mourinho loves, the underdog status, you're just playing into his 'Us against the world' mentality. The fact he's got under performing stars, and problems is what he thrives in, I've never seen a manager bond a team like him. The players now all know they have the best in the business right now, and he knows he has some of the best talents and in Ronaldo arguably the joint best player in the world. I'm not saying get ready to give the trophy over. But Barca didn't cruise to the title this year, they were kept right down to the wire with Madrid. Have you read the Madrid press? Underdog my arse, they are talking like they have already won the treble. Exactly like they did last year. They always do that. And I love it, it motivates us. Some headlines culled from Marca: "What won't Mourinho win at Real Madrid?" "Europe already fears Mourinho's Madrid" "Florentino's cleverness gives Mourinho's Madrid its first victory" "Mou, the trophy collector" Mourinho quite sensibly is actually trying to reign in their arrogance, since Florentino wanted a Galactico unveiling like Cronaldo got last year but Mou's asked for a traditional unveiling at the press room.

Aye, like we were supposed to be at this point last season when they spunk €300m on players. It ended up pretty well.