British football gossip

We've signed another player i've never heard of.

West Ham refuse Tevez medical at Man U.

So this sage continues, what we seem to know -

1. West Ham say they own the players registration and they havent received an offer from Man Utd for Tevez.
2. Joorabchian says he still owns the players economic rights and has agreed a deal with Man Utd.
3. The FA says the deal must be done between West Ham and Man Utd and not a 3rd party.
4. Joorabchian says he never agreed to terminating the agreement between him and West Ham.

I dont feel sorry for Sheff Utd for being relegated the way they were, over the course of 38 games, they werent good enough to stay up, but West Ham should have been relegated for this. I'd say Sheff Utd have a strong case for compensation.

Robben agrees terms with Real Madrid.

ha ha ha!

Punish WHU by all means but compensation to SU, no for what?

If it turns out that Tevez is still not eligble to have played at all last season for WHU, then they should have been relegated and not Sheff Utd. WHU are now guaranteed a minimum 30m just for being in the Prem League, where as Sheff Utd get nothing. Sheff Utd cannot over turn that decision, but I do believe they are entitled to the same amount of money that WHU will get from the Premiership.

One wonders if another great footballer's career is again to be compromised by unhealthy wheeling and dealing the same way that damaged Andrei Kanchelskis'.

Read this and felt sad on both counts

Hi guys

So of the new Premiership boys, who do you think is gonna make a good job of it? Who will bite the bullet? Who are you looking forward to playing.

At last Becks has found a team to match his own ability just look at that bench!

Hmm... I watched Real quite a lot last season, and Becks most definitely helped considerably Real to pip Barca to the title.

As for the new boys, am looking to see how Hargreaves deals with the Prem, and how Torres hands the physical side of Prem football.

Barton Out for 6 weeks, absolutely gutted for the gobby shite

Sven's signed another three.

Looks like he doesn't like any English players though after being the boss.

Or more likely they all turned him down, for obvious reasons!

Joey Barton charged with assault
What a wonderful role model this fine, upstanding member of the community is turning out to be...

Champions League Draw :

Full draw:

FH Hafnarfjordur or BATE Borisov v Zaglebie Lubin or Steaua Bucharest
Tampere United or Levski Sofia v Astana or Rosenborg
Spartak Moscow v CELTIC
Werder Bremen v NK Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb
FK Ventspils or FC Salzburg v Pyunik or Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax v MSK Zilina or SK Slavia Prague
Valencia v Debreceni or IF Elfsborg
Genk or FK Sarajevo v Dynamo Kiev
Fenerbahce v Anderlecht
RANGERS or FK Zeta v FK Crvena Zvezda or Levadia Tallinn
Toulouse v LIVERPOOL
Benfica v FC Copenhagen or Beitar Jerusalem
Lazio v Dinamo Bucharest
Sparta Prague v ARSENAL
FC Zurich v Sheriff or Besiktas
Sevilla v AEK Athens

two legs to be played on 14/15 and 28/29 August

UEFA Cup Draw

Otelul Galati (Romania) v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bulgaria)
CFR Cluj (Romania) v Anorthosis (Cyprus)
Rabotnicki (Macedonia) v Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)/Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) *
Slaven (Croatia) v Galatasaray (Turkey)
Uniao Leiria (Portugal) v Maccabi Netanya (Israel)
Hajduk Split (Croatia) v Sampdoria (Italy)
Besa Kavaje (Albania) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) v Kayserispor (Turkey)
Atletico Madrid (Spain) v Vojvodina (Serbia)
Siroki Brijeg (Bosnia) v Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel)
Omonia Nicosia (Cyprus) v CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria)
Basel (Switzerland) v Mattersburg (Austria)
Ried (Austria) v FC Sion (Switzerland)
MIKA (Armenia) v Artmedia (Slovakia)
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v Belchatow (Poland)
Honved (Hungary) v Hamburg SV (Germany)
Young Boys (Switzerland) v Racing Lens (France)
Tobol Kostanai (Kazakhstan) v Groclin (Poland)
Austria Vienna (Austria) v Jablonc (Czech Republic)
Zlate Moravce (Slovakia) v Zenit St Petersburg (Russia)
Rapid Vienna (Austria) v Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
MyPa Myllykoski (Finland) v Blackburn Rovers
Drogheda United (Ireland) v Helsingborg (Sweden)
Metalurgs (Latvia) v AIK (Sweden)
HJK Helsinki (Finland) v AaB Aalborg (Denmark)
Ekranas (Lithuania) v Valerenga (Norway)
Dunfermline Athletic (Scotland) v Haecken (Sweden)
Brann Bergen (Norway) v Suduva (Lithuania)
Haka Valkeakoski (Finland) v Midtjylland (Denmark)
Dinamo Minsk (Belarus) v Odense (Denmark)
Kaerjeng (Luxembourg) v Standard Liege (Belgium)
Fredrikstad FK (Norway) v Hammarby (Sweden)

(First leg ties to be played August 16, second legs played August 30.)

Who will be this year's biggest disappointment?
28036 votes since Mon 30 Jul

Answer Result Percentage Number of votes
Bianchi 9% 2447 votes
Eduardo 10% 2682 votes
Hargreaves 15% 4019 votes
Pizarro 15% 3969 votes
Torres 38% 10379 votes
Tuncay 17% 4540 votes

I was pretty sure Torres would get the vote on that one. Especially after the Morientes disappointment. I have to say that he is one signing I am extremely worried about

Smith at the Toon?

Watched the Charity Shield yesterday, not very thrilling, in fact I fell asleep for the last 10 minutes! I dont see the point of going to penalties. The charity shield was never about making sure someone won, if there was ever a draw, then both captains would collect the trophy and it would be shared that year between the clubs.

Looking forward to seeing Citeh this year, if Sven gets it right, I reckon you wont see a lot of attractive football, but you will see a lot of 1-0 wins and cleansheets.

My Relegation tips for the Prem - Derby, Wigan & Bolton

So Leeds will likely have to start the season with -15pts as a punishment for trying to avoid the initial -10pt penalty they would have got if they hadnt done it at the end of last season. This will severely dent any chances of being promoted this year unless they play absolutely perfectly all year, but with Wise at the helm, can they do that?

Oldham have been busy in the transfer market and we've picked up a few decent strikers. Will have to see how fit/sharp Hughes is after his release, if he's anything like he was, then we may have a chance this year.

Who will win the Premier League?
8599 votes since Tue 07 Aug

Answer Result Percentage Number of votes
Manchester United 44% 3746 votes
Chelsea 17% 1422 votes
Liverpool 20% 1658 votes
Arsenal 14% 1201 votes
Tottenham Hotspur 4% 311 votes
Other 4% 261 votes

So, my telephone bill voting for the Mighty Blues was totally wasted then?

Changed my mind, I want Sunderland to go down. 9M for a goalkeeper!? Sunderland better keep more than 2 clean sheets this year. This beats the 7.8M Man Poo paid for Barthez and he was SHIT, even playing for a half decent team!!!

You have to remember that Keane learnt some of his craft under Cloughie and he claimed that Shilton was worth several points a year when he signed him. Only time will tell.

Bleedin' Nora. Rooney fractures foot in opener

Guess that's what happens if you let that lump Duberry land on you. Its also what happens if you wear ballet shoes with studs on them to play a man's game. A sensitive soul like wayne should wear pit boots to protect himself. Blues off to a flier. Perfect weekend.

Arrest warrant issued for Man City owner.
Oh dear!!

What can his motivation for lashing a load of money on new players for City possibly be?

How long will that motivation remain?

How is the investment in these players being funded? e.g. does it create a receivable from City to him or companies/funds owned by him?

What happens when he steps out/is prosecuted for human rights violations/has his assets sequestered?

What's he getting out of it?

Those are questions I would be asking as a City fan (were I not a speech-impaired, slack-jawed Manc simpleton ).

Referee Rob Styles dropped for next game after Liverpool v Chelsea Debacle.

The assistant referee from the Fulham-Middlesbrough game has also been dropped after David Healy was denied an equaliser when the ball seemed to cross the line.

Too fucking right he should be dropped. Regardless of whether that was a penalty or not, he had no control of that game whatsoever and was totally out of his depth.

Jol is surely screwed now after this 'leaked' report.


Add that to the Vote of Confidence Jol has already received from the Spurs board and it's just a matter of time.

Heinze to Real Madrid.

BBC - Heinze to Real Madrid

Chelsea agree Robben sale to Madrid
robben to real

Bad news for the Red Sox fans, the baby faced assassin retires.

Lee Hughes has been released from prison and has officially signed for Oldham Athletic today.

Arsenal just tearing Pompey apart ! Only 2 nil at the moment but Harry Redknapp knows he's lucky at that score.

Probably the most shocking news to come out of England for a while.

McClaren recalls Heskey

Ah well. Looks like Steve will be looking for a new job soon. I hear Phil Neville and Chris Sutton are looking for some games too.

I'm not even going to watch England play next Saturday and the following Wednesday. My heart can't take it anymore.

Possibly both Gerrard and Lampard out for the first game too.

...and Rooney and Lennon and Bridge and Neville and (hopefully on current form) Beckham. Even if we had our first team, what's the betting McGinga would screw it up anyway.

On the other hand, some of us have been waiting for ages to see how England would do without Lumpard and Beckham... On current form, I think we're better off without them.

I'd rather see what we can do without McGinga. That time may be happily nearer than I had previously hoped.

True! On Sky's Sunday Supplement this morning they had Matt Dickinson from The Times and others saying that they know for a fact that the players absolutely dread playing for England now, and there are even some who fake injuries to avoid it. It's a sorry state of affairs. If all they did was sack McLaren and promote el Tel they'd save themselves an awful lot of time and bother and things would improve... At least Tel can string a sentence together.

Probably a stolen sentence.

Hopefully he'll give SWP a full game, he's on tremendous form lately.

You've got to start Micah Richards at right back and SWP as right-sided midfield. Joe Cole has to start. The James v. Robinson decision is one I'd rather not take. I have to say that neither Ferdinand nor Terry have been inspiring of late. But you never know, maybe Ashley Young will play a blinder.

What ever happened to that, as we were told, sensational wonderkid? What was his name now? Damn! Got signed by The Arse. Totally forgotten his name.

Theo?

I agree Cole should start, but I'm not too sure about Ginga's reported plan to pair him up front with Owen. Mostly because that would involve having Downing on the left!

Ok here's my team to start :-

Playing 4-4-2

Goal : James

RB : Richards

CH's : Terry and Ferdinand

LB : Shorey

RW : SWP

CM : Hargreaves and Gerrard

LW : Cole ( Joe )

Strikers: Johnson and Owen

Let Johnson run the channels for first half or for first hour and run the buggers ragged and then bring on Jermaine Defoe to partner Owen for 2nd half or last half hour and hopefully take advantage of a tired opposition.

I would try and fit Bentley in somewhere. He is a player that is proven to be able to change games and win them. Attitude may be off but I would given him the chance.

I was thinking of Cashley, Lescott, Bentley, Defoe, Carson and Carrick for the bench.