Wikio Blogs - football

[Football] Nereida was dumped, Paris can’t get any (The Blemish)

The Blemish — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:33:00 GMT

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has dumped hot piece of ass Nereida Gallardo. A friend says it’s because he grew “bored” with her like a cat with a ball of yarn. Nereida, of course, is in denial. “This is all nonsense. I spoke to him today, like always. We are together. He told me he loves ...

Daily Mail : EXCLUSIVE: Ronaldo snubs Paris Hilton during late night frolics at Hollywood club ...
Dlisted : Cristiano Ronaldo Is A Smart Bitch ...

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(10 posts, last update: 17/07/2008 20:33)

[Football] Hleb & Gilberto set to leave whilst Ronaldinho leaves Ade in the lurch (Gunnerblog)

Gunnerblog — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:40:18 GMT

Aleksandr Hleb’s departure from Arsenal has been so ludicrously drawn-out that I would not be surprised if he now fails the medical that Barcelona have scheduled for him this evening. Assuming, however, that he manages to get through a spot of jogging and spell his name correctly on the contract, we will receive a fee rising to [...]

Skysports.com : Gunners make Alonso 'contact' ...
the-cannon.com : Hleb has Barca medical, Ronaldinho to Milan…what about Adebayor? ...

blogs : Gunnerblog,TEAMtalk,the-cannon.com,Skysports.com ...
(4 posts, last update: 16/07/2008 13:40)

[Football] HORSE BOLTS - DOOR NEEDS REVIEWED? (Tangled Blog)

Tangled Blog — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:30:00 GMT

It is only stating the bleeding obvious. Rapid immigration has damaged community relations in (many)parts of England, a report by the Commons communities and local government committee says. In three areas with very high immigration - Peterborough, Burnley, and Barking and Dagenham - community cohesion is among the lowest in the country, the MPs say. The report said there was "significant public anxiety" over issues such as pressure on public services. Ministers said action was being taken to minimise the impact of immigration. The key conclusion of this report is that ..guess what..yes, we need to spend more public money to "ease the transition"of this immigration. Too late. These areas have been over-run and the societal damage is done. The politicians that presided over the problem now dare to tell us how it can be solved! The answer is simple; mass deportation of all illegals; the insistence of full integration into British society and the total acceptance of British laws; and the putting in place of rigid border controls. Oh - and leaving the EU would also assist.

BBC News : Immigration 'harming communities' ...
Ranting Stan : Government confirms that immigration is damaging the nation ...

blogs : BBC News,Tangled Blog,Race Relations,Ranting Stan...
(4 posts, last update: 16/07/2008 13:30)

[Football] Addicks Anger Iranian Football Squad (Londonist)

Londonist — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:38:47 GMT

Lowly Charlton Athletic have raised the hackles of officials in Tehran. How so? Through military brinkmanship and the threat of sanctions if the country doesn't start toeing the official nuclear line? Nope. They've cancelled a football match against the Iranian national team. The friendly was scheduled to be played this Saturday in Spain, but Charlton pulled out at the last minute. We can't help think their decision may have been influenced by Iran's spectacular own goal when it launched a clutch of missiles in a test last week. Iran say the Addicks cited the tests as one of the reasons, and dismissed the political nature of this "perfidy" (as the Tehran Times , in no way a biased organ, put it), while Charlton claimed that the game had never officially been confirmed. Iran is set to sue the Championship club, but this may not appease the terraces: Iranians love their football, and this latest news won't quell rumours that the gaffer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has lost the fans along with the dressing room (and his marbles, surely). Who knows, supporter unrest could influence the chairman, Ayatollah ali-Khamenei, to issue the dreaded 'vote of confidence' to his beleaguered boss. Image courtesy of Ewan-M's Flickrstream under the Creative Commons Attribution license

BBC News : Iran protests over cancellation of football match with British team ...
Eye On The World : Iran complains about allowing politics into sport. ...

blogs : Londonist,BBC News,The Earth Times Online Newspaper,Eye On The World...
(6 posts, last update: 16/07/2008 13:38)

[Football] All-Yellow Is The Color Of My Love News (du Nord)

du Nord — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:49:02 GMT

West Ham keeper Robert Green spent his offseason in Africa doing what he could to help those in need. Incredible story he wrote for the Independent. See England News section. SuperLiga Official match reports and video highlights etc. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Matchday 1 Ejections : Dwayne De Rosario - Houston - Red Card Javier Munoz - Atlante - Red Card Juan Pablo Rodriguez - Santos - Red Card ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Matchday 2 Group Stage Matches & Scores: -Tue Jul 15 DC v Atlante - 7pm central Houston v Guadalajara - 9pm central -Wed Jul 16 New England v Pachuca - 7pm central Chivas USA v Santos Laguna - 9pm central ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All games can be seen live on TeleFutura. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS Scoreboard Week 17 Matches & Scores: -Thu Jul 17 Columbus v Kansas City - 7pm central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes -Sat Jul 19 Toronto v San Jose - 2pm central on HDNet New York v Los Angeles - 5:30pm central on FSC & FSE Dallas v Colorado - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick Chicago v Salt Lake - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick -Tue Jul 22 DC v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Latest Standings ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS 2008 All Star Game News New England Revolution Coach Steve Nicol has added his 5 picks to the All Star squad: -Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls -Jim Brennan - Toronto FC -Christian Gomez - Colorado Rapids -Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids -Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS Commissioner Donald I Garber has added 2 players to the team: -Edson Buddle - Los Angeles Galaxy -Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Those are some seriously sentimental picks except for Buddle. The other 6 guys are NOT in the best players in the league right now. Disappointing. Let's break it down: -Juan Pablo Angel over Luciano Emilio??? Are you kidding me? -Jim Brennan is not even the best guy on his won team - that would be Amado Guevara by a mile and half. -Christian Gomez - look, I love the guy, but he has been yesterdays news for most of this season. His replacement at DC Marcello Gallardo is far superior right now. Not to mention Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Come on guys! -Pablo Mastroeni - has been decent this season, but younger guys on his own team have been as good as him at the same position, that’s why Colorado is ok with selling him now. And you are really lining up with no Steve Ralston. I have him down as a candidate for league MVP right now! -Pat Onstad - love him too, but please Jon Busch deserves this and we all know it. -Dwayne De Rosario - having one of his worst halves of a season since he became a big time player. I don't care if he is Canadian. And he make this list at the expense of a guy having a huge season, Javier Morales, who has lead Real Salt Lake out off the trash heap. -Chicago defender Gonzalo Segares (no relation to either DC defender Gonzalo Peralta or Gonzalo Martinez) also got the screwgee. -What a sham. The guys who got jobbed should be pissed off. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS News CHICAGO FIRE Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to defender Gonzalo Segares who says his ankle is fine . He subbed out of last weekend's game against Toronto after giving it a good wrenching. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CD CHIVAS USA Goal.com figures Carey Talley has been a great pick-up for CUSA this season. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise on the departure of El Guzano . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ COLORADO RAPIDS With Marcelo Balboa unavailable for his own radio show tonight in Denver, Raps coach Fernando Clavijo will be one of two people filling in . How great is that? See link in the right hand column to down load it tomorrow. I stole this from George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his blog FC Rocky. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DC UNITED Steven Goff of the Washington Post with an article on the teams newest player Craig Thompson . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ HOUSTON DYNAMO Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle on the Dynamo's SuperLiga opponent Guadalajara Chivas . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ KANSAS CITY WIZARDS Pete Grathoff of the Star talks to Argentine star Claudio Lopez about his first season in KC . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RED BULL NEW YORK Soccer By Ives reports that Claudio Reyna has retired . The injuries just kept piling up and he did not see an end in sight, so he called it a day. Adios Claudio, you were one of America's greats! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ NYRB has signed a loan deal for Venezuelan defender Gabriel Cichero from Deportivo Italia in Caracas. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer hands out his midseason grades for the players on the team. Not surprisingly it's mostly ugly. -I agree that Dave Van Den Bergh has been the teams best performer so far this season. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REAL SALT LAKE Sulaiman Folarin at Soccernet looks at the job Jason Kreis has done in making this team respectable . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ TORONTO FC CBC with an article on youngster Abdu Ibrahim . They are excited about him. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ GENERAL Chicago midfielder John Thorrington was named MLS Player Of The Week. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Steve Davis at Soccernet with 10 things to note from Week 16 . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Davis also has his great weekly notes for MLSnet. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America looks at the wave of Argentine players the league is currently riding . Via Sports Illustrated. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nick Green of the Daily Breeze looks at two players with a bright future if they keep playing like they are - Brad Guzan & Edson Buddle . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star with his weekly notes . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his weekend league wrap up . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS Friendlies Matches & Scores: -Tue Jul 15 Toronto v Independiente (Argentina) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro! Toronto has signed forward Paul Dickov to a ridiculously high salary. Rumors swirling say it's between $500,000 & $750,000. Insanity. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Others say Dickov has signed with no one, and that TFC is now chasing Turkish striker Hakan Sukur from Galatasaray. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Steven Goff on his blog Soccer Insider reports that if no MLS teams want Carlos Ruiz he could end up being sold to a club in his native Guatemala . That would be a huge drag. I bet if his price was lower he could be traded in a heartbeat. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Dallas has linked up with former USA star Earnie Stewart, who is the technical director of his long time club NAC Breda to bring a player to Dallas for a try out. He is Dutch midfielder Victor Sikora. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ USL First Division News Anne Ramzy of Soccernet with a wrap up from the 1st Div this week . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Minnesota Thunder The Thunder play a friendly against English Championship division team Burnley tonight. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer has posted audio of interviews with several people involved in tonight’s match - Thunder coach Amos Magee and midfielder Dale Weiler, and Burnley coach Owen Coyle, fan Jonathan Barren & PR guy Darren Bentley. Great stuff. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ US Soccer Youth Development Academy The last days U18 games will all be broadcast live on ESPNU, with the Championship (1 v 1) being shown live on ESPN2 at 10pm central on Fri Jul 18. All 4 U16 final day games will be shown Sat Jul 19 on ESPNU. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Here are the 8 regional winners and their groups . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ U18 Matches & Scores: -Sat Jul 12 Chicago Fire 1-4 Baltimore Bays Colorado Rush 1-1 FC Westchester CASL 0-2 Columbus Crew Concorde Fire 0-6 LAFC -Mon Jul 14 Chicago Fire 0-4 Colorado Rush Baltimore Bays 3-0 FC Westchester CASL 1-4 Concorde Fire Columbus Crew 1-1 LAFC -Wed Jul 16 Chicago Fire v FC Westchester Baltimore Bays v Colorado Rush CASL v LAFC Columbus Crew v Concorde Fire -Fri Jul 18 Finals ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ U16 Matches & Scores: -Sun Jul 13 Albertson 3-4 LAFC Carmel United 2-1 Schulz Academy Chicago Magic 1-1 CASL Real Colorado 0-1 PDA -Tue Jul 15 Albertson v Carmel United LAFC v Schulz Academy Chicago Magic v Real Colorado CASL v PDA -Thu Jul 17 Albertson v Schulz Academy LAFC v Carmel United Chicago Magic v PDA CASL v Real Colorado -Sat Jul 19 Finals ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Standings: A U18 - 2 Played 6 Baltimore Bays (GD +6) 4 Colorado Rush (GD +4) 1 FC Westchester (GD -3) 0 Chicago Fire (GD -7) B U18 - 2 Played 4 LAFC (GD +6) 4 Columbus Crew (GD +2) 5 Concorde Fire (GD -3) 0 CASL (GD -5) C U16 - 1 Played 3 LAFC (GD +1) 3 Carmel United (GD +1) 0 Schulz Academy (GD -1) 0 Albertson (GD -1) D U16 - 1 Played 3 PDA (GD +1) 1 CASL (GD 0) 1 Chicago Magic (GD 0) 0 Real Colorado (GD -1) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Soccer In America Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has an interview with one of those people who are the secret weapons of our growing game: Hugo Salcedo has been involved on many levels , top to bottom, for a long time. He is the guy who helped Michael Orozco find his way to a team in Mexico. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pitch Invasion with an article on ESPN's improved soccer coverage . I agree it has gotten better, but calling them jingoistic during USA World Cup games is asinine. Every country in the world has homers calling their national team games. Why would you expect anything else. And if you watch any game in England, no matter what foreign country or players are on the pitch the English announcers find ways to relate it all back to the Premiership. The author needs to get over himself a little bit here. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Americans In Europe Soccer America reports that DaMarcus Beasley has suffered a hamstring strain in preseason training. Not good for Run DMB. He could be out up to a month. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ How are our Americans in Scandinavia doing this summer: Norwegian Tippeligaen: -Adin Brown - Aalesunds - did not play as they lost 1-3 at home to Tromso. -Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - was not on the bench as they drew 0-0 at home against Viking. -Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - did not play as they lost 1-3 at home to Tromso. -Troy Perkins - Valerenga - played all 90 and won 1-3 at Stromsgodset. -Brian Waltrip - Molde - was not on the bench as they drew 2-2 at Bodo Glimt. -Brian West - Fredrikstad - was not on the bench as they won 4-0 at Lillestrom. Norwegian Adeccoligaen: -Matthew Allen - Bryne - didn't play at they drew 1-1 at Sandnes -Clarence Goodson - Start - went the distance and got a Yellow Card but won 2-3 at Notodden. -Joseph Lapira - Nybergsund - played the full match as they drew 2-2 at home against Sparta Sarpsborg. -Jay Needham - Alta - played all 90 minutes and lost 1-3 at home to Lov Ham Bergen. -Chris Rodd - Bryne - scored an Own Goal as they drew 1-1 at Sandnes. -Kyle Veris - Hodd - was not on the bench as they lost 3-1 at Sogndal. -Cam Weaver - Haugesund - started and went 90 scoring the only goal of the game as they won 0-1 at Sandefjord. Swedish Allsvenskan: -Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at Goteborg today -Charlie Davies - Hammarby - scored his teams 1st & 3rd goals in a 2-4 winner over Malmo. -Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at Goteborg today ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ RUMORS Today it's Brad Friedel to Aston Villa. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CONCACAF News FIFA.com reports on Costa Rican's heading off to play in the Australian A League . Not good. These are the guys who should be playing in MLS. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ FIFA.com also has a short Q & A with the head of the football federation in the Bahamas . They are trying. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Olympic Soccer News NBC has announced that they are showing every minute of ALL men’s & women’s soccer games. Multiple cable channels will be used. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ South American News The word from Brazil is that the real Ronaldo is about to sign with Flamengo. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ England News West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green writes an article for the Independent about his weeks spent in Africa during this offseason . Fantastic. A must read. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kevin Mitchell of the Observer with an article on Cristiano Ronaldo, who he describes in two words: Witless & Bonehead . Hahahaha. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ European News GERMANY Schalke has signed Dutch midfielder Orlando Engelaar from Twente Enschede. He had a really good Euro 08 performance. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hamburg has released long time Argentine star defender Juan Pablo Sorin. He has suffered a string of injuries that have kept him sidelined for too long. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ITALY The Italian Referees Association says they are going to crack down this season "excessive protesting and simulation". We shall see. -Getting your Diving Italians shirt here: Caution Azzurri . From Blue Sky Soccer! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Milan have preseason friendlies set up against Juve, Man City & Sevilla. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ La Gazetta talks to Juventus midfielder Momo Sissoko about the upcoming season . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SPAIN English papers today ran with a story saying Samuel Eto'o was leaving Barcelona to play in Uzbekistan. Ha. Our main man Brian Quarstad just happened to speak with Mr Eto'o himself today because the great striker is in the Twin Cities for a youth clinic. Eto'o says that story is completely false. Read it here at Blue Sky Soccer. Good work BQ. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sid Lowe of the Guardian pimps Real Madrid & Spain keeper Iker Casillas for this years Ballon d'Or . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Former Real Madrid boss Vicente del Bosque is all set to take over as the next national team coach. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OTHERS Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian on the reclamation of the once fabled Hungarian club Honved . Now owned by an American businessman. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ World News Pitch Invasion with the story of Nigerians playing their football in Finland ! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Guardian with an article on the national team of Kurdistan . Yes, Kurdistan. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Gavin Hamilton at World Soccer with a very interesting article about citizenship and national teams . The story involves a Brazilian, Qatar & Iraq. So why does it start with a little blurb about England? Why does it have to always be about England with some of these writers. The rest of us are sick of it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Telegraph with an article on how money has changed the game . This is about nostalgia, which does no one any good. Yes, the old stories are great, but its the past and will always stay there. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ African News The BBC shows young African players being ripped off by con-men . Very sad story.

BBC News : A BBC probe exposes how Nigerian fraudsters con African players ...
Global Voices Online : Nigeria: Football coaching scams ...

blogs : Pitch Invasion,Global Voices Online,du Nord,BBC News...
(4 posts, last update: 16/07/2008 07:49)

[Football] Two In (Dolphin Hotel)

Dolphin Hotel — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:02:19 GMT

Not quite the high-profile , world superstar signing I had in mind, but at least nobody's heading in the opposite direction. For now.

BBC News : Guthrie set for move to Newcastle ...
The Bubbler's babble : BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Newcastle | Guthrie seals move to Newcastle ...

blogs : The Bubbler's babble,BBC Sport,BBC News,Dolphin Hotel...
(4 posts, last update: 12/07/2008 21:02)

[Football] Nasri - Arshavin - Barry - Adebayor + Saturday round-up (Arseblog)

Arseblog — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:25:36 GMT

Good Saturday to you all. A fair amount going on so we'll get right into it. New boy Samir Nasri says he's not the new Zidane . Well, here was us thinking we're getting the new Zidane and he spoils it straight away. He says: I don't think it's fair to have that sort of pressure on a young player. There's only one Zidane, just as there was only one Platini. I'm me, a novice, who's trying to get better. Which we have to admit is a far better attitude than someone who actually thinks they're the new Zidane. There's all kinds of stuff about him on the official site so go have a look. I suspect that he's going to play left hand side for us but I suppose pre-season will tell us a lot. Meanwhile Andrei Arshavin , having said only last week that Barcelona was his dream move and that he only wanted to play for them, has changed his tune somewhat. According to his agent Yuri Bolokov : Andrei would love to play for Arsenal. Their style of football would be perfect for him It might well be but if Zenit are looking for £19m he might as well eat a load of cheese before bedtime because the only place he'll be playing for Arsenal is in his dreams. Funny how quickly footballers change their tune though, isn't it? I suppose Arshavin's turnabout came when Barcelona looked like they were going to sign Hleb. The Spanish press are reporting that the deal is 'nearly' completed and Hleb could be unveiled as a Barcelona player early next week. Not much else happening in Spain though. Adebayor - no day would be complete without some more Adebaybore stuff and our old pal Vicenzo Morabito has been centre-stage again . Talking on Italian TV he said: We are going towards more reasonable figures that are within Milan’s reach, as they had placed a ceiling on the bid they were willing to make. It is much, much lower than the £32m initially requested. In fact, it’s a little bit more than half that figure. The signs are very positive. Perhaps the reason for the reduction in price is the inclusion of Yoann Gourcuff in the deal but that matter is complicated by Gourcuff's loan deal with Bordeaux. The other reason for the lower price might be that Morabito is talking out of his big, fat arse. Who can say? The Telegraph , via the Sun, links us with a move for Gareth Barry, saying a cash + Hoyte deal could be on offer from Arsenal, although we've made no official bid as yet. We could do a lot worse, in my opinion, and Barry's defensive style would probably compliment Cesc's more attacking instincts in the same way that Flamini did. Interesting. Charles N'Zogbia says he's been dreaming of playing for Arsenal since he was a kid. Join the fucking club, pal. So it's all beginning to get a bit busy now. One or two deals beginning to happen across the transfer market and once the ball gets rolling I'm sure it'll gather no moss and the stitch in time will judge a book by its cover. Oh yes. Right, have a good Saturday. More tomorrow.

The Telegraph : Arsenal linked with Gareth Barry move ...
Gunnerblog : Monday Morning Weekend Catch-up ...

blogs : footy247,Gunnerblog,The Telegraph,Arseblog,the-cannon.com...
(5 posts, last update: 14/07/2008 02:25)

[Football] NASRI SIGNS: New look squad starting to take shape (Gunnerblog)

Gunnerblog — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:48:53 GMT

Arsenal have needed a player like Samir Nasri for a good while now. Since the decline of Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires, our wide midfielders have never quite made the grade. Tomas Rosicky has been too injury prone, Aleksandr Hleb too indirect, and Emmanuel Eboue has been Emmanuel Eboue. Judging by Arsene’s comments at the announcement [...]

Young Guns : Samir Nasri Player Biography + Career Pictures ...
the-cannon.com : We’ve finally signed Samir Nasri! ...

blogs : Gunnerblog,Arsenal FC Blog,the-cannon.com,Young Guns...
(4 posts, last update: 12/07/2008 00:48)

[Football] Poor old Luton Town Football Club (Norfolk Blogger)

Norfolk Blogger — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:53:00 GMT

I noticed last year a lot of Leeds fans bemoaning their 15 point deduction of points which was down to the decisions of those who ran the club. So have a little honest sympathy for Luton Town who appear to have been deducted 30 points next se ason (that is on top of the ten they were deducted last season) for misdemenours carried out by the previous owners (not the current owners as was the case with Leeds. Whilst I can see the need for rules and punishments, the Football League's system of punishment on top of punishment on top of punishmean seems very unfair. The Football League have effectively relegated Luton Town already out of the Football League (one more League down and they will be non-league) and may ultimately put them out of business. This hardly seems fair and it devalues the 90 minutes of football that they will play every week to nothing more than a sideshow.

BBC News : Luton to face 30-point deduction ...
For Girls Who Can't Do Football : It's A Disgrace ...

blogs : thisislondon,The Guardian,Argie-Bargie,TEAMtalk,BBC News...
(10 posts, last update: 10/07/2008 23:53)

[Football] Hleb's quotes + Ramsey's quotes + win tickets to the London Masters (Arseblog)

Arseblog — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:37:45 GMT

Some very strange comments from Alexander Hleb to kick the day off. The Belarussian has been linked with a move away from the club all summer and stories this morning suggest he's not going to be the most popular man in town. He is reported as saying : My view of how I should be playing didn’t coincide with the manager’s. I told him last season I wanted to leave and think he was quite upset about it. I don’t know where I’ll be next season but I’d prefer Barcelona. It is being negotiated and, hopefully, will be decided soon. Now, from what I'm told these quotes are simply a rehash of ones that were around a couple of weeks back. What's happened is they were picked up by a Moscow agency yesterday, rejigged and sent to the papers. As for Barcelona there has hardly been a word about him in the Spanish press for ages and given the money Barcelona have already spent this summer I'd say there's no chance of him going there now. Then, apparently, he's had a go at Cesc, saying: When we get scoring opportunities, Fabregas is much more selfish than me. Given a chance to shoot, he always goes for it — unlike me. Now, I'm no big fan of Hleb but it's easy to read that quote and take the negative view of it. We all love Cesc and anyone saying anything 'bad' about him makes us all protective. The fact is though that quote is absolutely right. Cesc is a bit more 'selfish' in front of goal, like any player who scores goals is, and to me it's more to do with Hleb's completely inadequate goalscoring record. Cesc's 'selfishness' is productive. If he was saying 'I don't score as many goals because Fabregas never passes to me because he's selfish' then we'd have a problem. As it is it's almost complimentary. Anyway, I think it's well known that Cesc and Hleb are good friends. Less than two weeks ago Cesc was talking about how incredible Hleb was as a footballer and that he hoped he'd stay at Arsenal so while it's easy to interpret what Hleb reportedly said in a bad way I wouldn't get too

BBC Sport : Parlour looks set for retirement ...
Gunnerblog : The sensationalist media has outdone itself ...

blogs : Gunnerblog,A Cultured Left Foot,BBC News,ArseSpeak,BBC Sport ...
(10 posts, last update: 09/07/2008 10:37)

[Football] PHW on Adebayor and Hleb - thoughts (Arseblog)

Arseblog — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:34:49 GMT

Morning all, hope you had a fine weekend. It's a busy start to the week as Chairman PHW has been talking about Adebayor and Hleb. The two have dominated Arsenal news in the last month or so. Speaking about Adebayor firstly he says: We want him to stay, definitely. Adebayor still has a long time left on his contract, and we have absolutely no intention of releasing him from that contract. You want to keep your best players and Adebayor is one of those. At the same time though he admits that the situation has been created by Adebayor's demands for more money after one good season. He says: It's annoying, but it is modern football. The idea that you are going to have a number of your team playing for you for 15 years, as one used to have, has disappeared. It makes it harder for the manager, but he is fully aware of what is happening. And let's not forget that the reason there's speculation around Adebayor is because of Adebayor's agent and the player himself with his statement last week about the board needing to meet his demands. Of Hleb the Chairman said: Hleb has made it clear he wants to go. I think maybe he will go. I'm told there was a very real feeling that Hleb would do a Webster at the end of the season but for whatever reason that didn't happen. However, his desire to leave the club has been well known for some time. It's interesting to read what he's saying here though. For the player in which there is genuine interest (Adebayor) he's saying we don't want to sell. And there's probably some truth in that despite the fact that if he stays he's going to find himself rather unpopular with a lot of fans. But it strikes me that there's a certain amount of poker-face going on here. Say we're not interested in selling and get the best possible price we can. With Hleb it's different. Had Mourinho not taken over at Inter Milan I suspect Hleb would be gone by now. But the Special Cunt's arrival in Italy put paid to the that transfer and while there has been talk of Barcelona I've always found it a bit odd that they'd be interested in him. That we're openly admitting that Hleb wants to leave suggests, to me at least, that we're making as many clubs as possible aware that he's up for sale. Arsene Wenger says the transfer system is making 'mercenaries' out of players and while players have always been out for the best deal possible the new regulations make moving and picking up more cash easier than ever. To me the increase in football media plays its part too. Not so long ago the news sources around football were limited to the traditional newspapers and tv/radio stations. Now the internet has brought websites, blogs, fans forums, and the the more information there is out there the more people want. It's easier than ever to hype a player, for a player to become the next superstar when he's actually no such thing. Agents, horrendous cunts that they are, generally aren't stupid and have become adept at striking while the iron is hot. We can see this with Adebayor. A player who, on the back of a fairly mediocre season, was given a new contract because the club had some faith in him and his ability. After one good season he makes extortionate demands for a new contract and threatens to leave if he doesn't get what he wants. How can you deal with that? If it were any other business, any other kind of employee, you'd tell them to go fuck themselves and get on with their work on the contract you just gave them a year ago. But football isn't any other business and the devious machinations of agents and other clubs will ensure that the player, despite acting like a spoilt cunt, will generally have a way out. It's kind of depressing really. As much as I love football and as much as I love Arsenal I find it more and more difficult to connect with footballers the way I did in the past. Maybe it's me just getting older and more cynical, maybe it's players being more cunty than they were. Adebayor was your archetypal badge-kissing, hard-working, say-the-right-things player who really did win over a lot of fans who doubted his ability as a player and his character. Then he did an absolute about-face and got ideas above his station. Some from himself, no doubt, but I suspect mainly driven by an agent or advisors who knew that after a 30 goal season they could get silly money for him in today's crazy football climate. I have no doubt that Arsenal will do the best thing for Arsenal and ultimately that's the most important thing. What Adebayor does, or Hleb does, I no longer really care about because I don't care about these players. The whole thing is just so distasteful. They way they behave and/or have people behave for them is just unsavoury. You have Ian Wright using his column in the Sun to make sure everyone knows his son, Shaun Wright-Phillips, is open to a move from Chelsea this summer, complaining that he didn't get a fair crack at Stamford Bridge. But everyone knows he went there for the money, not for footballing reasons, so it's a bit fucking much giving out about it now. Anyway, the point is they're all fucking cunts, really. With a few exceptions, and thankfully we have some of those on our team at the moment, most footballers are greedy twats living in a different world from the rest of us. It's a difficult job for any manager to keep a squad together but I hope AW manages to weed the cunts out as much as possible. Adebayor - sell him. Hleb - sell him. Move on. Quickly, please. I've had enough. Not much else going on bar a spurious link to Real Madrid's Ruben de la Red , a Flamini style midfielder who we could probably do with. Justin Hoyte says he wants £100,000 a day to stay with Arsenal or he'll leave and take some towels from the training ground with him. No, he doesn't. He says he wants to stay and fight for a place and good luck to the lad. I think the players are back for pre-season training today. Not 100% sure on that yet but generally there's a feature on the official website showing them running around trying to shed the summer pounds they put on eating fish and chips and drinking pints of ale while on holiday in Santa Ponza. We'll see. More tomorrow.

The Telegraph : Arsenal stand firm over Emmanuel Adebayor ...
Gunnerblog : My take on PHW’s transfer talk ...

blogs : footy247,Gunnerblog,The Telegraph,A Cultured Left Foot,Arseblog...
(5 posts, last update: 07/07/2008 12:34)

[Football] Wenger's News of the World quotes smell a bit whiffy to me (Arseblog)

Arseblog — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:02:01 GMT

Morning all from summery Dublin. By that I mean it's a typical Dublin summers day, damp and grey. Some rather strange quotes from Arsene Wenger have emerged this morning. In a News of the World article linking us with an £18m move for Klaas Jan Huntelaar, the boss is reported to have said: The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players. We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions — national and European —while having to free up - for 17 more years - an annual surplus of £24m to pay for our stadium. The club’s strategy is to favour the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game. Now, bar the first line of that it makes sense. Yes, we have a debt which we are managing well. The club's policy for the last few seasons has been to develop youth. It's something Arsene admitted a long time ago - that with the new stadium he felt he would have to take a different approach. There was no Chelsea on the scene at that time though, inflating the transfer market, and throwing around money like someone had just landed on their purple with 4 houses and a hotel in Monopoly. So he chose very deliberately to build his squad in a different way. However, I am very, very dubious about the first line where he says the strategy of the club is to sell each summer and buy less expensive players. To make something like that public is almost suicidal as other clubs would come after our players and our negotiating position would be seriously weakened because of this admission. I don't think Arsene Wenger would say something like that. I really don't. It's interesting that the quotes don't come from any particular interview, or 'Wenger said at a meeting on Tuesday'. To have said something like this would be the football equivalent of Gerald Ratner. Ratner was the Chairman of large chain of jewellery stores who famously admitted most of their merchandise was 'crap', comments which very nearly destroyed

The Telegraph : Arsenal lead the race for Andrei Arshavin ...
Gunnerblog : Arsene holds the key to Europe’s transfer merry-go-round ...

blogs : Gunnerblog,The Telegraph,Goodplaya,A Cultured Left Foot,SoccerBlog.com...
(8 posts, last update: 07/07/2008 12:02)

[Football] Wenger and Friar plot great transfer swindle + Arsecast 82 (Arseblog)

Arseblog — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:27:12 GMT

Morning all, it's another Adebayor focussed morning as reports from various sources (or perhaps one report repeated across various outlets) say that Barcelona have made a final 'take it or leave it' offer of £30m for Emmanuel Adebayor. Take it! Seriously. £30m is fucking brilliant money for a guy that's had just one good season and who obviously wants to leave the club. Now, the Spanish press are really getting stuck in this morning. They say that Barcelona made a €30m offer and Arsenal said 'No, €40m' but apparently Laporta said that was totally unacceptable. But you know what's coming, don't you? Yeah, it's the patented Spanish press player agitation move. Sport says: Adebayor must demonstrate, unequivocally, that he wants to play for Barcelona for the seasons ahead. If he does that, if he shows his committment to the ' blaugrana ', there won't be any kind of doubts of his respect [for Barcelona] Heh, they really are a hilarious bunch of bastards. Something I cover in today's Arsecast is the fact that one of the reasons Adebayor (and Hleb too) is so attractive to Barcelona is that they see him earning relatively a low salary so they won't have to pay him that much more than he's on at Arsenal. Might be a bit of a shocker if he's expecting Thierry Henry wages. Certainly the next few days are going to be interesting. Will Adebayor sit and beg like the lapdog Barcelona want him to be? Will Arsenal continue to play hardball, if that's what we're doing, over his transfer fee? Ultimately though, if we get anything close to £30m for Adebayor it will be as canny a piece of transfer business as we've ever done. With Ken Friar and Arsene Wenger managing the deal then it's certainly not impossible. Let's wait and see. Who comes in to replace him remains to be seen. Does it mean more time for Bendtner? Is Roque Santa Cruz the answer? All these questions, and more, wil be answered in time. And really that's the only Arsenal story around this morning. Thank God for Adebayor turning into a silly twat this summer, I'd have had nothing to write about at all. Now though, Arsecast. In today's Arsecast I talk to Tim Payton from the AST about Stan Kroenke, you can find out more about the Arsenal Stadium Mystery , but not the film, the book, plus there's the usual crap from the usual gadabouts and reprobates. To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here , to download this week's arsecast directly - click here ( 16mb MP3 ). You can find the arsecast archives here . And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page. Right so, have a good one. More tomorrow and happy July 4th to all our American Gooners out there.

Mirror.co.uk : Exclusive: Barcelona make final £30m offer for Emmanuel Adebayor ...
Young Guns : Kroenke Helping Arsenal With American Academy ...

blogs : footy247,A Cultured Left Foot,Mirror.co.uk,Arseblog,Young Guns...
(5 posts, last update: 04/07/2008 19:27)

[Football] And the Winner is... (Unprofessional Foul)

Unprofessional Foul — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:20:01 GMT

The SFL voted today on which team would replace Gretna. Early favorites Spartans of Edinburgh polled poorly and dropped out. Finally, in the third round of voting, with all of the Central Belt teams having dropped out, it was down to Annan Athletic in the South and Cove Rangers in the North. Annan Athletic won the vote 17 to 12. What I labeled as, at best, a sentimental choice won out in the end. It seems that there were four factors leading up to their admission. 1) Location-This team is located in the under-represented South of the country, where Gretna were also from. The sentiment here is that this area had lost a team, and needed another team to replace it. 2) Stadium-This may have been the top reason for Annan's inclusion. While the other four teams had various approvals in place for expansion, Annan's ground was the only one deemed immediately up to snuff and ready for play. 3) Central Belt glut-When Edinburgh City joined the race, that made for 3 of 5 squads in the Lothian area running for inclusion. Presumably, though vote totals have not been released yet, these three squads split early vote totals causing them all to drop out. 4) Anti-Northern Bias-So when it came down to Annan and Cove Rangers, teams took into account travel distances and cost, and that had been Cove Rangers achilles heel from the start. Traditionally, Northern squads have had a tough time gaining entry into the league, and this time was no different. So, the club that enters the league is the one that had the poorest season of all the contenders last term, finishing seventh in the East of Scotland league, behind all of their Edinburgh-area counterparts, as well as Cove, who finished first in the parallel Highland League. There has been some mention of an England-style non-league promotion into the SFL in the coming years, which would have favored Cove or the non-running Whitehill Welfare this past season. However, since any such setup would require the approval of member clubs, don't look for a unanimous passing any time soon.

BBC News : Scots prepare to vote in new club ...
Love and Garbage : Still ill, still on holiday - but football, eh? Bloody hell ...

blogs : Edinburgh Evening News,Love and Garbage,BBC News,Scotsman.com,The Arm Chair Blogger...
(12 posts, last update: 03/07/2008 22:20)

[Football] New Away Kit Poster (the-cannon.com)

the-cannon.com — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:23:15 GMT

I’ve just come across the new poster for the away kit, and I thought I’d share it with you. Basically, I’m too tired to write a post. I quite like the kit, I mean, most of you will probably have seen it before but this is the first time I’ve seen the team wearing it. It’s [...]

Arseblog : Ade's agent talks crap + Wenger the cunning fox ...
Arsenal FC Blog : Arsene Wenger is a cunning fox - another Adebayor blackflip - funky new away kit ...

blogs : Arseblog,Arsenal FC Blog,the-cannon.com...
(3 posts, last update: 03/07/2008 09:23)