Village Idiot

First time I see him playing there, dunno what's going on Pellegrini's mind. Full backs are a problem position for them at the moment though, so he might be experimenting.

Yes. Real and Barça's support aren't very lively to be completely honest.

0-0 half time. Good I didn't end up putting that bet then, doesn't seem they are really going to put 5 past them. Real's line up, btw: Dudek, Lass, Pepe, Albiol, Arbeloa, Diarra, Gago, Higuaín, Kaká, Raúl, Van Nistelrooy

It works like this: the elected president names the board, and he names whoever he wishes, and he is fit to replace them as he wishes. Think of it as a Prime Minister and his cabinet. Then, every year during preseason, an assembly is held where members have to approve the budget and most major policies the board wants to conduct (for example the board had to obtain permission from the assembly in order to have a kit sponsor, the same when the name of the stadium was changed...). The assembly is made up of 4% (IIRC) of club members with more than a year of membership and over 18 years old, elected by lottery. I like the model since it gives free reign to the board to act as it sees best, which is the way it should be in my opinion, while giving fans a check and balance at the end of the season. It's rare that the board loses a voting in the assembly, but it's also rare that the board will put forward measures that they know are rejected by the fans. To be completely honest not many people show up at the assembly when things go well, but that's to be expected I guess. There are also mechanisms in place to impeach the president (and the board) if enough member signatures are collected (Laporta had to face a motion of no confidence last season, and only narrowly "won" it). All that said, good luck. One of the things I'm most proud of my club is the fact it is fan-owned, I wish more could follow that way.

Bah, odds for Madrid to go through are pretty shit, 11/10 on ladbrokes, 1.90 on bwin...

I was going to ask about Messi, I assume he holds Spanish citizenship, does that mean he has to pay it ? I looked around, and technically the law doesn't apply if you were a resident in Spain before it was enacted. That leaves out Alves, Messi, Eto'o (when he was with us), and any other foreigner that played in Spain before 2003 (can't think of any other big La Liga stars though)... I don't know if there's a loophole they might be exploiting, however.

Looking at the name, the most obvious conclusion is that it's been done to piss people off. There'll be other motives, but that was definitely one of them. Ashley flew in with his helicopter like the big boss, handed Hughton a contract, took the club off the market and gave the stadium a comedy name which has left fans up and down the country laughing at us again. He wants to prove he's in charge. Who's going to argue with him? Llambias? Hughton? Just to eliminate any doubt in your mind, I will remind you of our stadium's new name: Sports Direct @ St James Park Stadium. It's clearly a pisstake man, look at it. They have even tagged 'stadium' on the end of 'park' just to emphasize the name change. Ask fans of other clubs what they think and they will tell you it's clearly a pisstake, that's half the reason they're finding it so funny. absolutely. Ashley seems to have this siege mentality in whatever he does, ie 'parking the tanks on the lawn' of his opponents or calling his shareholders 'crybabies' or the dubai shenanigans or offering unqualified outsiders like Llambias, Hughton & Kinnear contracts. He does things his own way and revels in causing a controversy. I don't buy the line that he's ran the club into the ground out of spite - that makes no sense. And i genuinely think he wants to sell the naming rights to make some money. But the temporary naming, a move which gives the club absolutely no benefit whatsoever, is clearly a two fingers up at detractors. I'm an outsider, so god forbid me to know MA more than you do, but I think that the current name is just one of those "trying to please everyone" hackjobs that end up horribly. It seems to me that he just tried to tag a commercial name while being able to say he's kept the original name of the stadium and thus respected its history, and the result has been worse and more humiliating than if he just swapped the name outright.

"Barcelona on the Tyne", love it. Can't fault the NUST for trying. Has there ever been any fan buyout of a team in the Football League?

Hot chick in top less and body paint at Camp Nou. Forgot the game, still remember her breasts.

Sorry about that, read the general posting rules but didn't notice the "penalty threads" you have below.

Liverpool are a broken toy. They could probably play Peterborough and still lose at the moment. They need something to bring that confidence back up.

She's been kicked out of the league. I wonder what she's like in the bedroom. You shouldn't. She'd probaly rip it all off from your body. Would be unpleasant. Instead of giving you an STD, she would give you an ACL.

Una pena.

The derogation of the law won't be retroactive by the way, which means that players currently benefiting from it will still pay 24% tax for 5 years since the signature of their contracts. So Cronaldo and Messi won't be signing for ManCity yet (although I'm not sure Messi even benefits from the law, since he's been here for so long).

Spanish footballers already pay 43%. The law applies to any foreigner that moves to Spain and earns above 600,000€/year. It was enacted to entice foreign elite workers to migrate to Spain, like CEOs, financiers, researchers, etc... and we ended up with Beckham and Cronaldo.

Mandià sacked from Racing, who knows, this could give Xisco more playing time (he's still yours afterall, and it would be good if he retained some resale value). Navas called up for Spain, after he said he's overcome his homesickness problems and made himself available.

Atlético had this season where they were sponsored by a movie distributor, and they wore the logos of movies that were being released. I remember Spiderman, Hellboy, etc...

Highlights from the BYU - New Mexico game from the women's soccer league in the US. I shall make no more jokes about women playing football after seeing New Mexico's number 15 in play. She makes Roy Keane look like a sissy. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4628040&categoryid=2378529#

I'll admit it, I'm drunk.

Aaron Hughes, I have distant flashes of him playing against us in the CL. Sidwell is the ginger Iniesta.

Sidwell ain't bad, but he has that weird expression that seems to say "what the hell am I doing here" every time I see him.

...and Tom Huddlestone, that kinda came out of left field. Cahill from Bolton again in the squad, and still haven't got the cap. When we sold Cahill I was absolutely gutted. I still think he will be a top, top player. But yesterday against us, he was absolutely awful. The sort of performance which would have international managers running a mile. I watch Bolton often He is a bit streaky, but has the potential to be a top defender. Experience will bring consistency. I think that in your game he was too obsessed to prove a point and took too many risks (sometimes he seemed to spend more time in your box than in Bolton's)

...and Tom Huddlestone, that kinda came out of left field. Cahill from Bolton again in the squad, and still haven't got the cap.

I must say that I thought he was finished when he got that injury after moving out of Arsenal, but Pires still can get the job done.

Just realized that Everton has Heitinga, Hibbert, Yobo, Distin, Baines and Neill at the same time in the pitch. That's six defenders...