Village Idiot

When everybody thought that Manzano would be Sevilla's next manager, Del Nido has confirmed caretaker Antonio Álvarez in the post. Wonder where will Manzano go then, there aren't any free posts in the top half teams of La Liga. Would be great to see him abroad. Incidentally, I found out he has an abandoned blog with some cringeworthiness value http://www.gregoriomanzano.es/

USA's forward line looks, well, quite shit. Strong midfield and decent defense though. Guess Dempsey and Donovan will chip in.

Still need to agree release terms from Inter though, Moratti wants €16m

Pedro and Raúl Albiol agreed to change their jerseys so finally Pedro will wear #18 and Albiol #2

Don't buy Guti really, just don't. Waste of time and money. If he has problems not partying and turning up for his boyhood club, what the hell is he going to do for fucking Blackburn.

Not sure this can be applied easily. For example both Barça and Madrid routinely post profits, which are just accounting craftmanship as the debt (sorry, investment) keeps growing for both. I'm sure there will be lots of ways to circumvent this rule.

The press conference after the win, man, that would go down on history

They are €600m in debt, almost as much as Real Madrid. And they have a quarter of Madrid's turnover. They need to cover their short term debts, stall on their stadium sale so the market picks up and they get a decent price so they can clean up the balance sheet and move to their new place.

Guti would be a terrible signing. Great player on his day, which is once every two months. I'm sure he'll demand huge wages.

The Spanish Secretary for Sports has said the government won't legislate to force a common TV deal upon La Liga clubs, as the majority of them had asked in a meeting two weeks ago.

Pedro has said that he doesn't like wearing #2, but was the only number he had available after the Spain veterans got theirs. Arbeloa or Capdevila should be wearing #2.

For some random reason blue-yellow-orange are the colors we use in our away kits (well, the orange is an homage to Holland's NT) http://www.barcaloco.com/page/show/138040-kit-history The Kappa kits in the 1990s, I have a few of them I have the centenary one with Rivaldo on the back and the 05/06 flourescent away shirt. '06 Champions league final I remember all the ridiculous yellow mixed in with the traditional Barca colours amongst the fans, it looked great. The yellow one is great, I wear it when riding my bycicle instead of a fluorescent vest

For some random reason blue-yellow-orange are the colors we use in our away kits (well, the orange is an homage to Holland's NT) http://www.barcaloco.com/page/show/138040-kit-history The Kappa kits in the 1990s, I have a few of them

He's also said that he doesn't know nor care about Real Madrid's history. No talk about "living the dream" etc... like all other signings (which is mildly refreshing to be honest).

http://www.as.com/encuestas/encuesta/Real-Madrid-14645 Again, internet polls have always to be taken with a grain of salt.

Zigic has never been given a fair crack of the whip at Valencia either. Granted he's probably not the level of player for them, but every time he's given a run has performed adequately. Plus he's always been immense for Racing, who don't play it on the floor like Valencia do.

They probaly wanted to play Joe cole more, but his constant injuries and ineffectual play when he was fit have prevented that. Not only should Chelsea not give him his requested salary, they should offer him any sort of contract whatsoever as his services are no longer required. This is insane if you ask me. Parachute payments should go and the money redistributed more equally between the Championship clubs. I'm not sure I'm understanding you fully, but when you get rid of parachute payments, you end up with Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad. Is that a bad thing? It's not like they have done a Leeds either.

Real Madrid fans are very divided on the signing. Most of my Madrid friends plainly dislike him and are revolted by the thought of being managed by him. Plus they actually liked Pellegrini and how he quietly went about things and by all accounts he had a great league campaign. This is anecdotal evidence, of course, but some polls ran by Madrid sites show the fanbase are 50/50 on him. But they'll shut up if he produces the goods. What ultimately got Capello is their failure in Europe, they will look away if he wins them the CL.

This is insane if you ask me. Parachute payments should go and the money redistributed more equally between the Championship clubs.

I might. What do you want?

Saw the Mike Basset film some years ago, it's very uneven but some bits really funny. Love the scene at the airport with the Scotland and Ireland teams.

I saw Portugal couldn't win against Cabo Verde, I bet lots of fists have been held in anger in the betting thread. Truly awful result, even in a friendly.

I know most people don't care, but this is a huge pet peeve of mine: Pedro given #2 in the Spanish squad. A forward playing with a fullback jersey

Winning the Copa Del Rey and qualifying for the Champions League not enough for the caretaker to win the job then? Oh and Rodwell has signed a long-rumoured (locally) new 5 year deal to the surprise of nobody except national newspaper journos. Shame that £20m transfer to Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal/City didn't go through eh. To be frank he's not ruled out Álvarez (the caretaker), just that he wants the managerial spot "sorted" this week. Everybody assumes it's going to be Manzano who's just left Mallorca due to their financial problems, but he's denied an approach so far. Incidentally... http://estaticos02.marca.com/imagenes/2010/05/24/futbol/equipos/sevilla/1274707832_extras_portadilla_0.jpg Del Nido looking smooth

Spain have banned the usage of social networks by the players and staff for the duration of the WC.