Re: EPL

I have sympathy for him as I’ve already said but he was certainly struggling this year. While the Argies may have been an unsettling influence he wasn’t complaining from the rooftops when they signed in the first place.

I still think he’s been harshly treated by the new owners though - they haven’t given him much of a chance at all and strung him along a bit.

I liked the fact that he said what he thought especially when it involved the bigger, more experienced and successful managers. Who the fook is Arsene Wenger to say the West Ham manager can’t celebrate a last minute winner in his technical area? That Wenger prick really grates on me as do Mourinho and Ferguson. Benitez seemingly is the only manager of the top 4 sides with a bit of decency and class. Getting back to Pardew they’ve been poor this season but there has been mitigating factors. I think the Ashton injury is the biggest one - I had been singing his praises since very early on in his Crewe days. A wonderful, wonderful footballer. Sometimes these new overseas consortia/owners have a preconceived idea of the manager they want. Somebody like Pardew who’s still relatively young and unproven often doesn’t fit the bill and they want a ‘name’ like Sven. Cruel on Pardew but that’s the way it goes.

Good post there Bandage

I never liked Wenger - I recognise his achievements but he is one bitter bastard

No time for Wenger or Ferguson to be honest (and for Mourinho either obviously). Wenger talking about his Under 21 team yesterday as though he was compelled to get rid of Pires etc. in favour of younger guys. It was his choice to adopt the “footballing philosophy” at Arsenal so it pisses me off when he complains about it. Plus I don’t like the way they buy up young guys from all over the place (16 and 17 year olds - not young pro’s) though United and Chelsea do it too and Liverpool tried it.

A funny one from MOTD2 on Sunday night:

The roving reporter guy’s piece this week found him starting the day on Oslo where he was flying to Liverpool with a group of Norwegian Liverpol supporters to watch the game against Fulham and spend the day with them.

All fine and above board so far. He then asked a few of them about this potential Dubai investment and they were all very sceptical about it with most of them being firmly against it. One lad said he was totally against it as ‘you need a local running the club as these foreigners don’t have the club’s best interests at heart’.

This coming from a fanatical Liverpool supporter…from Norway.

Norway - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Don’t know much about the Liverpool take over but the Maktoums are alledgedly behind it? Saw them at work in the horse racing industry and must say from my view point was very impressed by their operation.

Very deep pockets but everything must be accounted for and straght down the line aswell. Seems important to them to support the local areas in which they operate. Think they are keen on soccer but horse racing is by far their number one “hobby”. They were/are embroiled in a bitter feud with Coolmore(Magnier) at foal sales etc, who also had and sold their share in United through Cubic expressions. Doubt that has anything to do with it though.

Funny yesterday. I was on tfk and the huddleboard posting about Celtic and steamboatsam and cesc4 were watching West Ham-ManU. Some guy stuck a thread up on the hb saying he thought West Ham could win it (there was 70 mins gone) so I asked the lads what they thought. It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility they said so I bet in running on them, a tenner at 15/2 and then the next attack they score. A nice little 75 euro for doing sweet fook all.

Can’t believe Mourinho is going on about diving again today. He’s really getting beyond a joke at this stage. Johnson goes down at times but no more so than about 5 of the Chelsea side and there was definite contact in the instance he’s moaning about. As Mpyes said when players hurdle the keeper he moans and when players don’t (like at Reading) he moans also.

2 outstanding late goals by Chelsea yesterday. It could be a seminal day in the title race.

Paul Lambert’s Wycombe have knocked Charlton out of the League Cup. That guy Les Reed seems to be a bit clueless. I saw the last 30 mins of their game against Liverpool at the weekend and Pool could have had about 10. Pretty sure they’ll be relegated. Fair play to Lambo though.

Ref postponed Pool-Arsenal tonight cos of fog. Dodgy enough decision but Sky were doing their big inquisition and making a drama out of it as they do. Anyway, the reporter guy is interviewing the ref about why he made the call and the Pool players are having a 5-a-side game on the pitch in the background. Then they all pause and start rifling balls over trying to hit the ref and the reporter. One smacked the camera and another hit the ref on the back. They were all lined up lashing balls over - quite funny so it was.

I can’t say I was shocked to see Lord Stephens’ enquiry into ‘bungs’ in football hasn’t really found anything at all. Oh well…

Comlete whitewash. The EPL couldn’t have asked for anything better. Get a corporate intelligence firm to investigate their dealings and produce vague conclusions and recommendations. Don’t blame individuals or name clubs. Stevens seems to have been told by Richard Scudamore (the EPL CEO) not to name the individual clubs involved in the questionable dealings - “No comment” was Stevens’ reply when asked if Scudamore told him not to name names.

Germany and Italy have had (relatively) effective inquriries into corruption in football in the recent past. England would rather believe that George Graham acted alone in accepting a bung for a transfer. It’s ludicrous to think his behaviour wasn’t part of a wider trend.

Now the FA, the EPL and Lord Stevens can all pat themselves on the back at the consensus they’ve reached.

From the Guardian today, already some suggestion of a whitewash. Also, it’s very questionable that the Premier League CEO Scudamore clears the clubs and club personnel and says it’s only agents that are now under investigation when it should be Stevens and his team to say when they have all been exonerated or not:

Premier League in row over bungs report

Scudamore memo suggests clubs had influence on text
Stevens recommendations anger Football Association

Matt Scott

Richard Scudamore was last night involved in a row over the report into corruption in football after it emerged that he sent a memo to Premiership club chairmen yesterday which suggested that Lord Stevens’ text had been influenced by Premier League representations.

The memo, which was leaked to Channel 4 News last night, included the following passage: “… in respect of the [Stevens] recommendations we did feed back in the strongest possible terms the sentiments expressed by the clubs in our meeting of November 9. It would appear that these have been taken on board … save for the concern regarding the agents of managers not being allowed to act for players at the same club. Lord Stevens was ‘not for turning’ on this and we will have to consider it in due course.”

Earlier in the day Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, had been asked whether Stevens’ report had been watered down under Premier League influence. He replied: “Certainly the FA and ourselves have had no discussion about the wording of this report. It is Lord Stevens’ report.”

A Premier League spokesman confirmed that the email was genuine but stressed that at the November 9 meeting of Premiership chairmen no recommendations had been formulated and discussions revolved around Stevens’ observations rather than any findings he may have made. The spokesman explained that Scudamore’s “technical advice” had been requested by Stevens.

“Clubs have had no opportunity to influence or water down Lord Stevens’ recommendations,” said the spokesman. “It is an independent report, full stop.”

A spokesman for Quest, the corporate intelligence agency run by Stevens, echoed the sentiment. “At no time during the process have the clubs tried to lobby Lord Stevens or anyone in the Quest team,” he said.

The intrigue will bring some relief to the Football Association, whose relations with the Premier League had been significantly strained by suggestions in the Stevens report that it is failing to execute its duty as the the game’s regulator.

Stevens said he retains concerns over 17 transfers of the 362 Premiership deals over a two-year period investigated by Quest. This number has been reduced from 39 in October. The Premier League has granted Quest, who have been paid 750,000 for the inquiry, additional time to probe those deals, which involve eight “major agents”.

Details of a number of the transfers have already been forwarded to the police and tax authorities for further inquiries. Stevens’ team has no power of subpoena but it has built a sufficiently detailed picture of each of those transfers to request the assistance of the criminal authorities. Asked for his “gut feeling” over whether he sensed that people are making money through crooked practices in football, Stevens said: “In relation to some of the activities, yes.” He then added: “The Quest team has handed certain material to the authorities but because of the law they cannot comment further on this.”

Stevens added that Premiership clubs had displayed “scant disregard for the rules and regulations of this great game. It is unacceptable.” Indeed, three of those interviewed stated that they did not know the rules. Nevertheless, and though almost 5% of Premiership transfer activity from January 1 2004 to January 31 2006 remains suspicious, Scudamore sought to exonerate his clubs from culpability.

Instead he focused on the recommendations for the future governance of the game, maintaining that no indication would be given as to how many of his shareholder clubs remain under suspicion. “The concentration is now on agents and a number of other parties, not clubs or club officials,” said Scudamore. “In one sense [the clubs] are in the clear in that the investigation into them has finished. The whole purpose of this inquiry is not only to bring forward any evidence but to bring forward recommendations for how processes and practices can be improved.”

The report principally considers the numerous flaws in the historical procedures of the FA’s compliance department and provides 39 recommendations tailored to professionalise regulation of the transfer market. The FA responded last night by deriding what turned out to be the central tenet of yesterday’s news conference.

I see the League Managers Association has come out and welcomed Stevens’ report. Another huge surprise! If he had have implicated any managers rather than pointing the finger solely at agents then I wonder would they have taken the same stance. Like fook they would!

Les Reed just got the sack or should I say ‘left the club by mutual consent’!

Alan Pardew is in. That’s a big job he has on his hands. Perhaps should have waited until the summer before jumping straight back into a relegation battle.

This is pretty funny:

Super Deluxe Bumper Christmas Awards 2006 Special!

Barry Glendenning
Guardian Unlimited

THE FIVER CHRISTMAS AWARDS 2006
Welcome to the sixth Fiver Christmas Awards. Or is it the seventh? Oh, we don’t know, but if you just wait behind that velvet rope while Ashley and Cheryl pose for photos, then we can get on with the fun.

TEAM OF THE YEAR

Few squads can overcome infighting between dressing-room cliques, tabloid kiss-and-tells, a thinly-disguised drinking culture and the loss of a key player sent home in disgrace, and go on to punch above their very light weight at a World Cup. Coleen, Victoria, Abi, Alex, Carly, Elen, Cheryl … we salute you.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

We were going to give this to Luis Felipe Scolari, but he refused to accept it as he wasn’t comfortable with all the media attention. Second-Choice Steve it is, then.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Cristiano Ronaldo. Anyone who can get Tabloid Wayne sent off by forcing him to stamp on Ricardo Carvalho’s swingers, before slyly waving an imaginary red card that was so imaginary only $tevie Me and Frank Lampard saw it, must be a bit special.

THE BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN BEST OF FRIENDS AWARD

Garth Crooks and Sven-Goran Eriksson. Such was the obsequiousness of the BBC reporter’s interview after England’s feeble victory over Ecuador that RTE pundit Eamon Dunphy claimed it was “the first time I’ve seen $ex between two men on the BBC”.

THE PRESS FREEDOM AWARD FOR BRAVERY IN THE FACE OF JOURNALISTIC DUTY

Put 100 hacks in a room with a free buffet and they’ll pick it clean in seconds. Put 100 in a room with John Terry and not one of them will have the guts to pick over the bones of a contentious sending-off and ask: “So John, what did you say to Ledley King?”

BRAZIL 1982 AWARD FOR BEST ATTACKING PERFORMANCE AT A WORLD CUP

Sven-Goran Eriksson. When asked a long, disjointed question by the Sun’s Steven Howard, he cut him in half with a scornful: “Do you write as well as you talk?” Svennis also snapped at the Sunday Mirror’s Paul Smith, asking him: “How do you live your life?” When Smith said he was sorry if he’d caused offence, Sven added sarcastically: “You don’t upset me.” If only England had shown half as much aggression in Germany.

THE RUSSELL BRAND AWARD FOR EXCEPTIONAL AMUSEMENT

Graham Poll. If he wins it twice more, he’s off.

THE THERE-ARE-NO-EASY-GAMES-AT-THIS-LEVEL AWARD

Republic of Ireland manager Stan “Steve” Staunton. San Marino are “difficult to break down,” he said. “It’s just a case of being patient.” San Marino had shipped 20 goals in their previous two games.

THE LORD HUTTON AWARD FOR SERVICES TO WHITEWASHING

After nine months, and an inquiry costing 800,000, Lord Stevens still can’t name a single agent, manager or club who takes bungs. Alastair Campbell, sign this man up!

THE OSCAR DE LA HOYA AWARD FOR ONE-TWO OF THE YEAR

John Motson: “We have an Abel Xavier lookalike in the crowd.”
Mark Lawrenson: “Eh, that is Abel Xavier.”

THE MADAME WHIPLASH AWARD FOR MOST OUTRAGEOUS PUNISHMENT

Marco Materazzi’s two-match ban. His crime? Being on the receiving end of a butt from Zinedine Zidane in the World Cup final.

THE JEREMY BEADLE AWARD FOR MERKER OF THE YEAR

Rio Ferdinand, whose World Cup Wind-Ups featured the defender and his team-mates duping gullible members of the public into believing that England could win Germany 2006, with hilarious consequences.

THE BOOKER PRIZE FOR SERVICES TO FOOTBALL LITERATURE

A vindictive, unauthorised hatchet-job couldn’t have portrayed Ashley Cole in a worse light than the player himself did in the self-pitying howl of anguish that was My Defence: Whining, Losing and Scandals on the Road to Germany 2006. Everyone knows what he said in it, but it’s still sold fewer than 5,000 copies.

THE BAFTA (BALD AND FAT TYNESIDER AWARD)

Freddy Shepherd. Again.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR AWARD

Stanley Victor Collymore in early October: “A month from today I guarantee I will be able to stand side by side with any striker in the country.”
Stanley Victor Collymore today: Sitting side-by-side with Blur bassist Alex James and Ann Summers chief executive Jacqueline Gold in promo pictures for preposterous new reality TV show, The Verdict.

EMMELINE PANKHURST AWARD FOR SERVICES TO FEMINISM

Mike Newell. Railing against institutionalised injustice perpetrated by men against women and advocating the elimination of that injustice by challenging the various structures that legitimise male prerogatives in a given society is all well and good, but it won’t get the dishes done.

THE DAVID CAMERON AWARD FOR BEING ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN

With Fifa’s presidential elections coming up in 2007, Sepp Blatter displayed a mastery of the art, telling Italian newspapers: “Italy proved that superior skills, teamwork and individual determination are the ingredients that lead to World Cup glory,” just days after insisting to an Australian broadcaster that the Sheilaroos had deserved to beat the “cheating” World Cup winners in the last 16.

NOTIONS ABOVE THEIR STATION AWARD

Nigel Reo-Coker, who attempted to convince a judge to overturn a driving ban on the grounds that sulky, out-of-form midfielders playing for clubs in the Premiership’s relegation zone are prime targets for assassins and kidnappers, and therefore can’t trust chauffeurs.

JOHN LESLIE AND MICHAEL BARRYMORE IF I SHOULD FALL FROM GRACE WITH GOD AWARD

David Beckham. From England skipper and Real Madrid galactico to England outcast and Real Madrid bench-warmer in the time it takes to say: “Thump!”

AND FINALLY, THE SIDESHOW BOB WILSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR SERVICES TO AUTOCUE READING

Five’s Colin Murray, who put in a marathon seven-hour stint anchoring three Euro Vase matches nobody wanted to see, before dashing off to present a radio show nobody wanted to listen to. Napalmed orchards have enjoyed more fruitful days.

From the Guardian’s minute-by-minute:

‘46 mins: Kalou finally completes a pass, nudging the ball to Drogba to restart the game.’

Boring enough game really. Chelsea are functional, organised, mechanical and rigid but don’t have enough class at all. They will not win the Champions League this season. I wouldn’t rule them out of the league though as their strength, physical and mental, might be enough to haul back ManU.

I must say there’s no need for O’Neill to be all over Mourinho at the end. Mourinho is a dick. Shake his hand dismissively and don’t speak to the fook.

Was thinking about whether Chelsea or United would win the league the other night and I decided United would. Chelsea’s squad is poorer imo which is amazing given their resources. Letting Gallas go for A.Hole was ridiculous business and they’re feeling it now. Bouhlarouz (sic?) is shi’it and I wouldn’t be convinced by Kalou, Mikel etc. With Cole out and Mourinho having some strange dislike for SWP they’re limited on the flanks. Lampard ain’t contributing goals due to a midfield four being employed more often than not and they’re very reliant on Drogba at the mo.

United on the other hand are playing some attractive football, are confident, and I would suggest can go up another gear. Ronaldo’s chipping in with more than his fair share of goals, Saha’s an excellent footballer and Rooney hasn’t really played well yet and presumably he will sooner or later. They’ve got decent cover in every area of the pitch too - Brown, Silvestre, Heinze in defence, O’Shea, Fletcher, Park, Richardson in midfield and Solskjaer (and if necessary Rossi) up front. Most of these guys aren’t great but they can do a job for a couple of weeks.

My imaginary money is on Utd for the league. Chelsea have a better shot at the CL imo.

Agreed on Chelsea but I don’t think United have better cover.

I’m not sure that O’Shea, Fletcher or Richardson are good enough to hold their midfield together - even for a couple of weeks. I know they’re after Hargreaves but they will badly lack creativity in midfield if Scholes gets injured. Against Celtic all they had to bring on are the names you’ve mentioned above and none of them are likely to create a chance or get a goal. Up front they’re sorted now with Larsson and Solksjaer as options not just if Saha/Rooney gets injured but if they’re having an off day. They don’t have any similar choices in midfield and if they don’t do something about it I think Chelsea will reatain the league.

Quote from Jamie Redknapp at half-time in the Pool-Arsenal Carling Cup game:

‘I have to put Robbie Fowler in the category of a genius’.

Sometimes I just have to laugh at these people.

Seems not even MO’N rates him anymore. Once his attitude became questionable it was a massive downhill plunge for a guy who was once a decent player.

Agathe leaves Villa
11/01/2007 - 17:21:54

Aston Villa have parted company with midfielder Didier Agathe.

Agathe, who had played for Villa manager Martin ONeill at Celtic, was signed on a short-term contract in September after impressing during an initial trial period.

But the 31-year-old was restricted to just six appearances as a substitute - the last of which was in the goalless draw at Wigan on November 19.

Villa have decided not to extend the contract of the Frenchman, who had a trial period at Blackburn earlier in the summer.