Here is a lovely video from Tottenham’s banned Christmas Party.
Dec 172011
The UEFA Europa League round of 32 draw in full:
FC Porto v Manchester City FC
AFC Ajax v Manchester United FC
FC Lokomotiv Moskva v Athletic Club
FC Salzburg v FC Metalist Kharkiv
Stoke City FC v Valencia CF
FC Rubin Kazan v Olympiacos CF
AZ Alkmaar v RSC Anderlecht
S.S. Lazio v Club Atlético de Madrid
FC Steaua Bucure?ti v FC Twente
FC Viktoria Plze? v FC Schalke 04
Wis?a Kraków v R. Standard de Liège
SC Braga v Be?ikta? JK
Udinese Calcio v PAOK FC
Trabzonspor A? v PSV Eindhoven
Hannover 96 v Club Brugge KV
Legia Warszawa v Sporting Clube de Portugal
Dec 122011
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football throws up a heavyweight clash between two clubs who have tried to buy success, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Chelsea were the club to change the face of the transfer market by throwing money at players in the form of massive wages and other clubs to secure whoever they wanted, effectively buying trophies. Domestically this approach was successful but the Champions League has continued to eluded them and now they have an ageing side that is in need of change.
Shaun Wright-Phillips is plying his trade at QPR but do you remember Chelsea paying £23 million for him when many people felt his only attributes was that he could run in a straight line fast? Steve Sidwell trebled his wages going to Chelsea from Reading and spent the season hardly ever playing. Scott Parker such a revelation at Tottenham this season didn’t get a look in at Chelsea either. So for the Frank Lampard’s and Didier Drogba’s there were plenty of failures as well.
More recently of course they gave Liverpool £50 million for a totally out of form Fernando Torres and don’t have a side that can even play to his strengths.
Manchester City have copied this approach paying ridiculous wages to players who naturally kick up a fuss and want to leave their existing club for “footballing reasons.” Nobody believes that of course but it is always amazing how these players then complain when they are sitting on the bench.
Monday Night Football
Anyway onto the Monday Night Football game and how do we think it will go?
Well Manchester City are unbeaten, playing at home and look at times invincible. They have the best English goalkeeper by a county mile between the posts and exceptional talent throughout the side. Their Champions League challenge may be over and if Chelsea have taken note of how Napoli and Valencia handled Manchester City then they have a chance, however, I fear there are to many of the old guard still playing for Chelsea and whilst it won’t be easy for City I can see no other result than a Manchester City win.
For me Manchester City will win the Premier League easily and Chelsea are playing only for 3rd, 4th or 5th unless they do something in the upcoming transfer window.
Oct 312011
Monday Night Football
Monday night football see Stoke City taking centre stage against Newcastle United in the Premier League. This is an interesting tie with Stoke a very tough team to play away against, indeed they haven’t lost at home yet despite playing Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool. You can’t argue with form like that especially as they are also playing in the Europa League for the first time in the club’s history.
Stoke have gradually build since getting into the Premier League and staying up. They have improved their defense during the summer buying two England internationals in Upson from West Ham United and Woodgate from Spurs. Adding Crouch to their front line and Palacios to their midfield both also from Spurs gives them strength throughout the team.
In Europe Crouch is a handfull as clubs don’t see his like every day but Premier League defenders are more adept at dealing with him, often doubling up and nudging him away from the flight of the ball. They get away with it constantly as referees don’t give him the free kicks that he really ought to be getting but we could chat all day about dodgy refereeing decisions.
Newcastle are this seasons surprise package at the moment but have only played Spurs of any real note so this will be a tough test for them. Expected to be lower middle table they are surpassing expectations by sitting fouth in the table one of only two teams unbeaten, the other being Manchester City.
Again Pardew has bought well whilst reducing the age bill and they have some unheralded quality in their midfield, Cabaye looks an excellent player. Couple this with the fighting spirit that they showed against Spurs coming back right at the end of the game to snatch a draw, will stand them in good stead for the rest of the season.
Stoke do not concede many goals at home 1 in 4 league games whilst scoring only 4 and Newcastle in 4 away games have similarly scored 4 and conceded only 2. It all point to a low scoring affair with one goal nicking it.
Stoke to come out on top 1-0.
There is plenty of Monday football from 26 countries around the globe. Albania, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and of course the Premier League game.
Of the more major leagues I see Seville (Spain) and Fenerbahce (Turkey) both winning their Monday night football matches, nothing appeals outside these.
Aug 162011
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is upon us again with the first leg of the qualifying round which Tottenham Hotspur came through last year in thrilling fashion against Young Boys. Pity they are not in it again to light up the competition and take the mundane fare normally served up away. Still we have Manchester City to watch this year but with an Italian intent on defence away from home at the helm I don’t thin k it will be pretty to watch.
None of the sides in the qualifying round should hold any pretensions to win the tournament, die hard Arsenal fans might but realistically these teams need to qualify and get out of their groups to earn the money a run offers, which after all is what the whole Champions league is all about, guaranteed money for Europe’s top clubs.
Arsenal v Udinese
Anybody who watched the Newcastle United v Arsenal game saw Arsenal pass the ball around again, have the lions share of the ball and do nothing with it, one shot in the first half from 61% possession tells you all you need to know and for their game tonight they are without Van Persie.
Udinese are the visitors to the Emirates tonight who must fancy their chances having only lost Sanchez to Barcelona whilst Arsenal no longer have the influential Fabregas, also now at Barcelona. The former Arsenal captain was an important cog as looking at Premier League stats when he played they won 61% of the time but only 34% when he was not. His replacement in waiting was Wilshire and he is not playing along with Eboue. Gail Clichy has left for Man City, Nasri looks like following him and is not playing tonight either.
If Udinese want to get through this tie then they must be looking to take something from the Emirates and I would not rule them out winning.
In the other ties Rubin Kazan are a tough side to beat, very organised and do not concede many goals. Lyon are quite frankly an ordinary side and I can’t see where the goals are coming from in this tie so I’ll sit on the fence with a draw, possibly 0-0. BATE Borisov are a strong side at home and I think they may beat Stum Graz 1-0 or 2-0 in the remaining two ties I expect to see one goal victories for the home sides FC Copenhagen and Twente Enschede.
The Last of the Big Spenders
Have we seen the last of the big spenders when this transfer window closes? Fabregas, Modric, Tevez and all expected to go for big money, despite Chelsea ridiculous attempt to get Modric for half price. When the new financial fair play rules kick in will that put a stop to them and transfer fees return to something more sensible?
Remember under these new rules you have to live within your means to pay for transfers and wages. This is designed to stop billionaires just pumping in money, paying transfer fees and wages to artificially hold a club up as in the case of Chelsea and Manchester City. Of course there are always ways round these things, City shoved two fingers up at the powers that be and invented a new type of sponsorship deal to continue to try and buy success.
This does mean any player going to Manchester City has priced himself out of the market as nobody else will pay the inflated wages their agents falsly think they are worth. Look at Adebayor on £170,000 a week, small compared to some on £250,000 a week, nobody wants to pay those wages and he can’t get a game. players in his situation then winge and moan but what did they expect! A few years back Shaun Wright-Phillips went to Chelsea for £23 million when he was worth probably only £10 million at best.
Barcelona have been chasing Fabregas for 3 years and are now making noises that the price has to come down. Arsenal know Fabregas no longer wants to play for them having given them an extra 2 years service from the time he first wanted to leave and have reluctantly entered negotiations, could the fact be that this might be the last opportunity to command a large fee?
Modric wants to treble his wages, this has got nothing to do with wanting to play in the Champions league, that’s just a smoke screen but to spit the dummy while a club puts in a half price offer is hardly the way to go about things. £40 million and he may be off but Levy has rather dug a hole for himself and can’t really back down now so this one could go either way.
Tevez says he wants to be near his family yet goes off on holiday without them! Jamie Carragher said on Soccer Saturday half way through the season that Tevez was off to Real Madrid at the end of the season, he seems to stay 2 years at a club and then move on. Well that can only be motivated by money so is it he that is after it or his agent?
Clubs in recent years have all been about money and buying success. A big stadium and successful commercial side is fast becomming essential to get in and stay in the top four. Arsenal take £100 million on ticket sales with clubs just outside the top four only getting half that. Will the clubs, players and scurge of the modern game, agents, have to decide between a bigger transfer fee coupled with lower wages or higher wages with a reduced transfer fee. Clubs simply won’t be able to afford both under these guidelines.
Will loan deals become the norm? We see a lot of players bought now merely as a commodity that clubs harvest out to other Premier League clubs to develop them and increase their resale value. This is not something I agree with, if you are not going to play them, don’t buy them. Personally I would outlaw all loans to sides in the same league. Would this mean Championship clubs being able to hold onto their better players and develop them so they can command a larger fee when they do go? Would that help re-distribute some of the wealth in the game today?
Only time will tell the effect of these new rules but I cast my eyes to France where this already exists and who qualifies for the Champions League every season, the club with the biggest income Lyon. So personally I doubt much will change which is exactly what the major clubs in Europe want and why the Champions League was set up in the first place to stop them forming a breakaway league.
Jul 152011
Anyone trying to make money out of football betting needs to examine how they go about it. Do you choose guesses? Do you take into account team information? Do you enlist the help of an expert? Do you use a staking system? Do you put to many teams in an accumulator hoping for the big win?
For me it’s about reducing not trying to pinch to much. Little and often with doubles and trebles thrown in can produce a consistent profit if they are staked correctly.
A little double for me today Sligo Rovers to beat Galway (Irish Airtricity League) and Woodlands Wellington to beat Hougang United FC (Singapore S League). Both of these would be normally be maximum bet singles but as a double I’ll be looking to use half stakes.
Now is the time to be thinking how you will approach the new season to make it a profitable one. Determine not to have a bet for the sake of it, not to do massive accumulators or plenty of bets. Put your stake together for less bets, give them a strength value and stake accordingly.
Jul 132011
Manchester City have basically put two fingers up at the Financial Fair Play rules, in my opinion, by cleverly arranging the stadium naming rights sponsorship to include the area surrounding the stadium, which is to be developed as part of this deal over the next 10 years. Let’s be honest, to the man in the street they are trying to pull a fast one, but it has good chances of succeeding.
Under the Financial Fair Play rules a club has to live within it’s means when dealing with transfers and wages in an attempt to stop billionaire owners just pumping in their own money to artificially prop up clubs. It looks as if Manchester City have found a way around this with their sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, a company which has been in existence 7 years and has failed to make any yearly profits. Man City is of course owned by Sheikh Mansour a member of the Adu Dhabi Royal Family who has close links with the government. Etihad Airways was set up by his brother!
Under the rules money can be spent on ground improvements, training facilities and infrastructure. This deal is designed to pump money into the club for just that, which in turn creates a nice balance sheet figure in theory allowing Man City to keep paying over the top wages. The last financial figures showed Man City to make a “121 million loss with the next set making the situation worse.
Naming rights are generally excepted to be worth £10 million a year for a team in the Champions League, the Man City deal is basically takes this figure to £40 million. I do not always agree with Arsene Wenger but on this occasion he is spot on in my humble opinion, he has had the guts to come out and state what everyone else is thinking.
“This is Platini’s big test. It raises the real question about the credibility of the financial fair play. That is what this is all about. They give us the message that they can get around it by doing what they want. It means financial fair play will not come in. It is as simple as that. I can understand how they do it but it raises the real question. The difficulty and the credibility of the financial fair play is at stake.
Plus, if the financial fair play is to have a chance, the sponsorship has to be at the market price. It cannot be doubled, tripled or quadrupled because that means it is better that we don’t do it and we leave everybody free. That can be defended as well, but if they bring the rules in they have to be respected.”
There is a system in place that looks at sponsorship deals to make sure they are fair and not distorting the rules so this deal will be looked at. However it is a unique deal, there is nothing to compare it with. The fact that it includes a campus will mean any club who owns land around their ground could come up with a similar deal, those that don’t won’t be able to compete.
I suspect this deal will be approved leaving UEFA and FIFA with ever diminishing credibility.
These are personal views and not the views of Jeff Stelling.
Times are tough at Liverpool Football Club these days, they have had to make their staff take on secong roles to make ends meet. Kenny Dalgleish from a range of option chose to be a Chauffeur. Part of his job description is to convince players liverpool would be a good place to go whilst he takes them to get their shopping and if they need to see a doctor “I know a good man, leave it to me sir,” he knows just where to take them.
And so it was that Charlie Adam, having just popped out for a tin of beans, told his driver he has a bit of a twinge. Next thing he knows he finds himself being driven to Melwood, where they don’t take any chances and give him a full medical. Impressed with the full medical to treat a common code Charlie signs on the dotted line. Of course on the way to Melwood the chauffeur come recruitment officer come counsellor come Manager was selling the idea of joining Liverpool FC and how Sir would fit in a treat with the new boys he had collected from his travels.
King Kenny Dalgleish, Manager, Recruitment Officer, Chauffeur and Team Councillor. You would have though they would let the poor guy rest a bit, mind you I can just see the Unions organising picket lines with the banners “One Man One Job.”
The bookies have had Charlie Adams at 1/10 to complete the move that everyone inside football and outside knew was going to happen eventually. But let’s just wait for the ink to dry before we make if official OK.