Village Idiot

We've also been linked with Gargano (Napoli) and Ledesma (Lazio) which I admit to not knowing too well. All paper talk anyway, but it is true that we are looking for a physical midfielder since we'll be losing Touré and Keita because of the ACN in January.

I think in England is up to the clubs to release players while in most others (like Spain) it's mandatory. So any half-decent player won't make your squad. Atlético Madrid lost their first choice goalkeeper for the tournament! (And Barça had to release Bojan even though he's recovering from injury)

England *is* in there, isn't it? With a half-assed squad though. EDIT: Manager Brian Eastick Goalkeepers Elliott Parish - Aston Villa Mark Oxley - Hull City Jason Steele - Middlesbrough Defenders Ben Mee - Manchester City Martin Kelly - Liverpool Jordan Parkes - Watford Nana Ofori - Chelsea Gavin Hoyte (pictured) - Arsenal Kieran Trippier - Manchester City Matthew Briggs - Fulham Midfielders Adam Clayton - Manchester City Josh Walker - Middlesbrough Paul Marshall - Manchester City Michael Woods - Chelsea Andrew Tutte - Manchester City Matthew James - Manchester United Gary Gardner - Aston Villa Forwards Febian Brandy - Manchester United Sam Baldock - MK Dons Jon Obika - Yeovil Town Alex Nimely - Manchester City

One of Barça's vice-presidents has admitted to hiring a detective agency to follow and investigate other fellow board members for "their own safety". Since we have elections at the end of the season, it's understood it might have been used to gather damning information about potential rivals for the presidency. People's already calling it "Barçagate". Can't wait to get rid of the current board...

Guy's a real talent though, he probably needs to play in a team in a truely boring city (like Ipswich?), or having a manager with good discipline. I always felt we were a bit too quick to get rid, but he doesn't seem to have fared better at Tottenham.

They are not dug in I think, I remember the goal post going down at Bernabéu in a CL game some years ago, which would have been impossible if it was dug in. Although when I was a goalie at shite league level, they were dug in, so i'm confused...

Actually we got rid of him because of his awful attitude and ummoderate nightgoing habits.

Also forbidden in Spain. Funniest thing, though, is the lower you go in the Spanish football pyramid, the less the law is observed. I have bought whisky in some regional stadiums.

Emirates Stadium Campbell This guy is a genius.

I guess my memory is fuzzy then. Fair enough.

I remember watching the UEFA semifinal between OM and Newcastle, and Woodgate turning Drogba into a whole pile of nothing. Of course I didn't watch the other leg, where I think you got spanked, and maybe he was dire there... Really, I was pissed off when he signed for Real (although his tenure there was truely dreadful)

Jonathan Woodgate made a complete joke of Didier Drogba, how many people can say that? I understand that he didn't get a good run in your team, but he is still immense if by any odd chance he manages to stay fit.

Yep, that. He only used it sparingly when he was with us (Spanish league enforced a 1-11 starting lineup), but it became attached to him nonetheless. Since then, it has only been worn by his son Jordi, Ammunike (don't laugh), Ezquerro (who ended dropping it for 17), Gerard and Henry. Bar Cruyff himself, everybody up to Henry have been notorious flops, so the talk was that the shirt was cursed.

In my opinion, number 9 goes to whoever wants it the most. A striker has to want to be a striker, and by nature they should be hungry and ambitious players. Whoever is ballsy enough to carry on the legacy of Newcastle's number 9 should get it, if you ask me. (For Barça, our "big deal" shirt is #14 and there's a lot of seasons where it has gone unassigned)

Rumour going round that Abel is close to getting the sack, and Bernd Schuster the first choice to replace him at Atlético de Madrid (which would be a nice managerial upgrade)

Sol Campbell Although I didn't recognize who were the masks from?

Your friend needs new shooting boots! He often played DM and at the back, to be fair to the lad. Heh, just looked at their site again and they come to play against one of my town's colleges this Saturday.

Middling managers. PSV has had as good players as Ajax and has got Hiddink and Koeman managing them, while Ajax has been a bit of a hot seat with lots of overphyped managers (Van Basten, Blind) or simply not good enough (Ten Cate was a great Ass Man but not manager material in my opinion). We'll see how Jol does, I rate him.

Florentino Pérez said today that he wants to build a Real Madrid theme park outside Madrid

It has surfaced that we were interested in signing Luís Suárez as Eto'o's replacement, and scouted him before going for Villa and ultimately Zlatan. Now, the rag reporting it says that we are still in for him for the winter market, given our lack of replacements upfront, but that's less substantiated.

Valencia's chairman has come out and said that Unai Emery's post as manager is not under threat, which in Spain it usually means it is.

Arteta.

Your friend needs new shooting boots!

They barely avoided relegation last year, but their start of the season has been very impressive and not in a flukey way, but playing very very nicely. They could have easily got in front when Barça played them a couple weeks ago. Let's see if they can keep that up. For now, they offed Valencia 3-1. Also, with Bilbao's defeat today 1-0 against Tenerife, Barça and Real are already the only teams with a 100% record.

Messi has 5 in 3, yes. If either Villa, Cronaldo or Messi keep something close to that average, they are going to blow the 50+ years old La Liga goalscoring record (38, although in 30 matches)