Haha, City are so hateable.

Price tag is £20 Million, unless your called Man City then it's £30 million.

 

And the fools will buy it.

 

City better hope the "rumoured 50%" rule doesn't come into play for another few years

Cheap at half the price to get out of the CL group stages

For anyone who's wondering what's going on in Geordieland, last week Joe Kinnear announced that Mick Harford (Who worked with JK at Wimbledon) would be joining the coaching staff, coming over from Millwall to deal primarily in transfer deals, it seems pretty obvious that Pardew and Graham Carr (Current head scout and responsible for 90% of the talent we've signed over the last few years- without spending much) had no idea, and weren't informed, and it turns out that Harford wasn't informed of this either. He had agreed only to meet Kinnear and Mike Ashley, which happened yesterday, and he's subsequently turned down their offer.

 

Possibly Harford was up for it until he went to speak to these 2 crackpots and realise he's getting himself into a huge mess, at the end of the day it must be a gigantic mess if people are choosing to work with Millwall over what's seen (Or were seen) as a big Premier League club.

 

Meanwhile Pardew is getting more and more desperate to make it clear how bad we need at least 2 strikers, possibly 3, with Shola Ameobi probably leaving, and the situation with Papiss Cisse refusal to wear the shirt with the new sponsor Wonga seemingly being a stagnant situation as he's now missing their tour of Portugal over it (This type of issue has happened a handful of times in Europe and the clubs always compensate someone's religious beliefs with just allowing them to play without the sponsor on it- but not happening with Newcastle). That would leave us with 3 strikers, Gouffran, and 2 juniors (Who can develop but it won't happen by next month), and this said even if Ameobi stays I don't know where the goals are coming from, his strike-rate is very poor and he's past his prime now- he's scored 3 goals in 40 matches in the Premier League in the last 2 seasons yet we still rely on him, how does he get away with it?!

 

Actually I just looked it up and his moves that were talked about by either Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff have fizzled out, so it looks like we get to keep him. Yaaay. At least if he pissed off we could try and replace him with someone who might score once in every 10 matches, that'd be something. They're looking to get Gomis from Lyon, which looks promising, 2 other deals that don't seem as promising- there's also been talk of Remy who we wanted in January but QPR somehow got there, as well as Darren Bent, who I really don't like the idea of but hey, beggars can't be choosers. And he does score goals, I don't know how, but he does.

 

Bent also openly told a fan who came up to him with a mobile phone (Bent was in his car and wasn't looking up while he signed shirts, I actually think he didn't realise he was being recorded) that he's leaving, saying he's waiting on either Fulham or Newcastle. Well Newcastle's in Portugal right now, have made no mention of signing Bent for over a week, so I'm guessing he could be talking to Fulham.

Gerardo Martino is the new manager of Barcelona, who, you ask? Only the main man at Newell's Old Boys. Who, you ask? I have no idea.

 

From lazily looking into it, it makes at least some sense when you consider he's maintained a close friendship from the man he apparently learned about management from- Marcelo Bielsa (Previously managed Argentina from 98-2004 and then Chile, he's just left Athletic Bilbao at the end of last season) who is considered quite influential (Pep Guardiola reportedly looked for guidance from him at times) and brought Martino to the attention of Serie A teams such Real Sociedad and Malaga who had approached him, but he turned them down as Newell's Old Boy's were still in Copa Libertadores.

 

But he is also known as being Paraguay's manager for a handful of years leaving in 2011. Should be interesting...

 

Meanwhile Pardew is getting more and more desperate to make it clear how bad we need at least 2 strikers, possibly 3, with Shola Ameobi probably leaving, and the situation with Papiss Cisse refusal to wear the shirt with the new sponsor Wonga seemingly being a stagnant situation as he's now missing their tour of Portugal over it (This type of issue has happened a handful of times in Europe and the clubs always compensate someone's religious beliefs with just allowing them to play without the sponsor on it- but not happening with Newcastle). That would leave us with 3 strikers, Gouffran, and 2 juniors (Who can develop but it won't happen by next month), and this said even if Ameobi stays I don't know where the goals are coming from, his strike-rate is very poor and he's past his prime now- he's scored 3 goals in 40 matches in the Premier League in the last 2 seasons yet we still rely on him, how does he get away with it?!

 

.

 

Get Rid... or just let him play without the shirt.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LxTO5WvL-Q]Clément Grenier Amazing Goal vs Real Madrid (Lyon vs Real Madrid 1-0) HD |Club Friendly 24-07-2013 - YouTube[/ame]

Get Rid... or just let him play without the shirt.

incoming city bid? He'd love to play in Manchester given there are some really good casinos around Piccadilly. And city are still well short of strikers, they only have 4.

Man City have won a trophy!

 

It's the world famous "Barclays Asia Trophy", beating the mighty Sunderland 1-0.

 

Don't worry Daryl, when you finish the season without winning one of the big 5 trophies you can show off that you are in fact winners ;)

In the womens Euro 2013 final the German goalkeeper made TWO penalty saves (Not during a shootout of course, one in 1st half and one in the 2nd), they won 1-0.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/jul/30/manchester-city-human-rights-accusations

And now for the inevitable troll response of Daryl saying how City fans don't give a shit because they're minted and spent £90m this summer and where the fack is United Ereb Amirates anyway.

Bring on the Championship!

 

Who will win, who will come 2nd?

Who will drop down to League 1

 

Pretty open contest,

That's it, summer is over. Football has started. Damn.

I'm going to see AIK - Manchester United on Tuesday and Malmö - Swansea on Thursday. :D

I always thought (And probably said on here) that Bale wouldn't leave Spurs last summer or even this summer, I couldn't see it happening until the end of next season, however I didn't take in to account that Madrid could offer an insane £100m (It's currently believed to be £83m but that's not at all accepted and Levy is going to Madrid looking to get it up to possibly the £105m mark). I thought maybe 40 or 50 million would be the highest offer, and that wouldn't be accepted, it looks like it's definitely happening now.

 

Who would've thought that kid who came from Southampton, who was only a decent prospect in the first few seasons at Spurs, would be a world record signing for Real Madrid? I don't think anyone could have imagined within a reasonable amount of time that Ronaldo's record fee being beaten unless Messi was on sale, football is very unpredictable.

^I was waiting for someone to weigh in on Bale. I've heard from Spurs fans who are still adamant (mostly because of Levy's comments) that he's staying or ought to stay, but surely they're getting the better end of the deal. For half of that price, they could add a world class left back and attacking mid to put them head and shoulders above Arsenal.

 

:edit: Welp, Villas-Boas says it ain't happening.

 

In related news, they've given Dempsey over to the Seattle Sounders just a day or two after twitter convinced us that it was a farce: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/08/02/night-twitter-convinced-us-clint-dempsey-was-going-seattle-sign-sounders-exc

 

As for Fulham: It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to sign Darren Bent (over Newcastle) who is probably a better signing then it sounds considering his goal record after Aston Villa made us all forget he exists, certainly better than Petric or Rodallega. We've also signed a decent (and desperately needed) center-back and DM, both of which are good on paper, but haven't impressed much in friendlies. Bids are being made left and right for another defensive-minded midfielder with what's left of the less than heavy funds that our new owner has given us.

I dont think the Bale thing will work with Madrid off the pitch.

Bale is not a person that sells himself like Beckham and Ronaldo off the pitch.

 

The fee that Madrid have paid in the past for the marque signings have been off set by the shirt sales...This will not be the case with Bale.

 

 

---

 

I am quite optimistic now after watching us play Bayen we seemed to have a set up that will be creating a lot of chances.

 

 

Jesus Navas youre so fast fast fast... Jesus Navas youre so fast fast fast... Jesus Navas youre so fast fast fast... Jesus Navas youre so fast fast"ast... Oye

Yeovil beat Millwall in their first game in the 2nd tier of English football.

 

They are technically my 'local' championship team so I'm following them as a neutral, spending within their means.

 

Roberto Soldado: Tottenham sign £26m striker from Valencia

 

Tottenham Hotspur have completed the £26m club-record signing of striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia.

 

The 28-year-old has signed a four-year contract after passing a medical and becomes Spurs' third summer signing. Soldado has 11 caps for Spain and scored 30 goals in 46 appearances for Valencia club last season.

 

A Spurs statement said: "We are delighted to confirm the signing of Roberto Soldado from Valencia after he successfully completed his medical."

 

Soldado is expected to be available for Tottenham's final pre-season friendly, which is against Espanyol at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

 

The club's previous transfer record was the signing of midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians for nearly £17m earlier this summer. Spurs have also added winger Nacer Chadli from FC Twente for a fee thought to be around £7m.

 

Soldado was born in Valencia but began his career at Real Madrid, scoring 63 goals in 120 league appearances for their B side, Real Madrid Castilla. He joined his hometown club three years ago after a spell at Getafe and went on to score 80 goals in 146 appearances for Valencia.

 

Soldado has also become an established member of the Spanish national squad and helped his country to the runners-up spot at this summer's Confederations Cup.

 

His arrival will boost an attack that has only Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor as recognised first-team centre-forwards.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23578515

How many points will Celtic win the Scottish league by this year?

Is that league still going?

Rooney, Bale and now Suarez all 'injured' at the same time, fancy that.

Is that league still going?

 

If you live here, you will always know at least one Celtic fan who doesn't shut up about them, and meeting them you always want to steer away from anything to do with football, because they'll always have some link back to Celtic.

 

It's actually kind of a fun game.

If you live here, you will always know at least one Celtic fan who doesn't shut up about them, and meeting them you always want to steer away from anything to do with football, because they'll always have some link back to Celtic.

 

It's actually kind of a fun game.

 

Sounds more fun than the SPL.

 

Kilmarnock are my second team, for the only reason that I used to be them on a computer game because they had McCoist and Durrant who were technically awesome but about 39 years old.