Village Idiot

Málaga about to be sold to a relative of the Emir of Qatar for €25m. They are currently owned by Fernando Sanz, who famously bought the club a few years ago while he was the team captain. I have been to some Málaga forums and they are fantasizing about being the new Chelsea or ManCity... For some reason I don't think it will be the case...

Two ManCity's envoys were spotted yesterday at the Real Madrid offices. Cue wild rumors about what they were talking about (Van Der Vaart, Higuaín and Gago the supposed targets).

Interesting, five clubs involved in the relegation fight from our Second Division have asked La Liga to change its rules so teams are banned of fielding players from their reserve sides during the last 5 games of the season, unless forced by injury. This comes after Numancia (midtable second division team) played with 8 boys from their reserve side and surrendered 3 points against relegation-threatened Real Unión.

Manuel Fernandes has said that Valencia are trying to sell him, too.

In England, he was a laughingstock for Madrid and Spain. Spain's Titus Bramble. Elena had a discreet NT career, not bad enough to merit a spot on that XI.

You need a Spanish cell phone and text what they say there. "MARCA BOTAS MILITO SIN PUBLICIDAD" Alternatively, you can register to Marca an enter through their website (what I did), but they still ask you a Spanish number to tell you if you win, so not worth it.

Something for djmattis to drool: Marca are raffling the boots Milito used in the CL final. http://www.marca.com/participa/concurso/botasmilito/ I entered, not sure you can if you aren't a Spaniard though.

Sevilla fans can't wait to see the back of him, that I know. He's looked poor and has a terrible, terrible, fitness record. I remember some good games last season, though, so there might be something there.

Spain's in my lifetime: Contreras Otero Ríos Campo Berges Aldana Ito Bango Cembranos Catanha Pier There's a lot of strength in depth in our strikeforce though... Claudio , Oli , Arizmendi , Javi Moreno , Juanele

El Mundo Deportivo opening tomorrow with an alleged offer of €35m+Huntelaar for Zlatan. They are the most credible of the Barcelona rags so I assume their interest is at least legit. Huntelaar is useless though.

Inter will release him, and Real will condone the rest of the Sneijder transfer and throw a few extra million in the Maicon transfer. Not a big deal.

Bam Bam was ace. Even when he put three past us I couldn't bring myself to hate him

Most fans have been whining it won't. It's probably too big and the stands are further away from the pitch, which has always been one of the strengths of San Mamés (built mimicking English grounds). They say it's going to be safer but it's not like there's ever been trouble in that place. For all their passion they are a very welcoming set of fans. And it's the second oldest pitch in Spanish professional football, a piece of history. But I guess they have their reasons for tearing it down instead of just remodelling. Part of the grounds are going to the municipality to expand the neighboring university in exchange of investment in the new stadium.

Athletic have broken ground on their new stadium. They expect it to be ready for the 2012-2013 season. Will be sad to see San Mamés go.

Absolutely. Mourinho is such a great hate figure, will help us motivate too Hope he doesn't stay at Real for long so I don't end up hating him though! Honestly I find him immensely enjoyable as a fan.

There's a lot of animosity towards him amongst Barca fans after Chelsea beat them, when Mourinho and his Chelsea side behaved with their customary class. They call him the Translator. There's probably nothing that would please the Dr-Evil-like Mourinho more than beating Barca as manager of their most hated rivals. Why not? They'll pay him silly money, 'cos he's this year's galactico, and Perez might just maybe possibly let him do his job for the same reason. Even if he gets booted out after a season like everyone else, it doesn't reflect badly on Mourinho: everyone but Real fans knows Perez is to blame for their woes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I88VYnpJUR0&feature=player_embedded Don't think he particularly cares about us as much as people believe. He uses it to motivate, though. But yeah, most of our fans hate him because of that tie and some things he's said over the years. Although he's also said nice things about us. As said, he just boils the kettle when he needs it.

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.