Squeaky Bum Time (Well Almost)
The sound of wild grasping at straws is ringing out over the land as the multitudes dare to believe that the title race is back on following Chelsea's draw at Brum and United's win in The Reebok. The noisiest group of straw gropers are those in Isleworth trying to convince all and sundry that the Blues can be caught and that their final day parade of fixtures is not going to be a waste of time watching. When Van Nistelrooy stooped to conquer on Saturday afternoon, there were tangible sighs of relief at BSkyB that they may be able to screen a title decider in May rather than a relegation battle which attracts rather less viewers than normal. The only problem with their hopes are that United are still seven points behind Chelsea, face Arsenal this weekend and by the time they visit Stamford Bridge at the end of the month, they have to have overtaken Chelsea as it is United's penultimate game. Sorry Guys it isn't going to happen. Chelsea will retain their title and probably finish 8 - 10 points clear although I have to admit that it would hugely funny to see Mourinho's face if his squad were to turn into a bunch of Chokers.
It isn't often that I can claim to have outscooped the Red Tops but I did (for the first time ever). On 3rd March, your erstwhile host reported that Arsenal had provided for £0.7m of reclaimed VAT that HMRC wanted back. Turns out to be the tip of the iceberg as far as football is concerned as the News of the Screws reported that the Customs man is not at all happy with the relationship between football clubs, players and agents - perhaps the FA should have outsourced the bung enquiry to them. It seems that they believe that the clubs did not necessarily employ the Agents to work on their behalf - wise words, an agent only ever works for himself to maximise his take from any deal - and if they paid the bills on behalf of the players then they should not have reclaimed the VAT anyway. An aside is that if the Customs arm decides that the players employed the Agents, not the clubs, then there will be fines and penalties there. The Revenue arm will then come in and clobber the players with Tax Bills through benefits in kind being received, leading to fines, penalties and interest payments falling due on our poorly paid heroes. It is not the first, and nor will it be the last, time that HMRC have taken an interest in football - Dennis Bergkamp was famously codenamed "Henrietta" when The Revenue investigated his salary arrangements with Arsenal - but it is the first time that a joint operation will have got their claws into the clubs. It is believed that the bill could top £60m which will no doubt help to fund Uncle Gordon's Black Hole.
Transfer talk is rife at Highbury with Pyscho Midfielder supposedly off to Villarreal in the summer after Arsene re-iterated that at his age, Robert Pires cannot expect anything more from the club than rolling one year contracts...Thierry Henry has announced that by the time the World Cup starts, he will have decided his future - personally, I think that he is off to pastures new but it is not as clear cut as everyone thinks, with Real, Juve and Inter challenging Barca for his signature. He has stated that he wants the club to show progress (box ticked) and his match his ambitions (interestingly, he has never stated his ambitions publicly so how can we measure whether or not they are being matched?). But whatever, should he decide to go then I doubt that anyone will begrudge him anything given that all he has achieved in his time at the club...Which is more than can be said for young Master Cole. It emerged at the weekend in The Times that it is widely believed that he has a £16m escape clause in his contract so that it can be triggered by anyone who matches this valuation. It is expected that Chelsea and Real Madrid will both be in for the mercenary little sod once the World Cup is over. If he goes to Madrid, then fair enough you cannot argue with him testing himself in a new environment. If he goes to The Red Square then it is all about money. Pure and simple. Make no mistake, I expect Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to put in a stern challenge to Chelsea next season and it is one that I am not convinced that Chelsea can withstand. Take nothing away from them in the last two seasons but forget not that they have capitalised on their peers inconsistencies not blown them away with marvellous football.
Normally at this point, there are a couple of tunes tagged in but today is different as I am publicising another website which I consider to be worthy. The Mod Pop Punk Archive is exactly that. Forget the multitude of compilations from that proclaim to be the Number One Punk album, these guys have pulled together a vast array of choons from 1977 - 1984 which are far more deserving than some of the dross served up by Sony, Universal et al. MP3 downloads are available in their Sounds category.
It isn't often that I can claim to have outscooped the Red Tops but I did (for the first time ever). On 3rd March, your erstwhile host reported that Arsenal had provided for £0.7m of reclaimed VAT that HMRC wanted back. Turns out to be the tip of the iceberg as far as football is concerned as the News of the Screws reported that the Customs man is not at all happy with the relationship between football clubs, players and agents - perhaps the FA should have outsourced the bung enquiry to them. It seems that they believe that the clubs did not necessarily employ the Agents to work on their behalf - wise words, an agent only ever works for himself to maximise his take from any deal - and if they paid the bills on behalf of the players then they should not have reclaimed the VAT anyway. An aside is that if the Customs arm decides that the players employed the Agents, not the clubs, then there will be fines and penalties there. The Revenue arm will then come in and clobber the players with Tax Bills through benefits in kind being received, leading to fines, penalties and interest payments falling due on our poorly paid heroes. It is not the first, and nor will it be the last, time that HMRC have taken an interest in football - Dennis Bergkamp was famously codenamed "Henrietta" when The Revenue investigated his salary arrangements with Arsenal - but it is the first time that a joint operation will have got their claws into the clubs. It is believed that the bill could top £60m which will no doubt help to fund Uncle Gordon's Black Hole.
Transfer talk is rife at Highbury with Pyscho Midfielder supposedly off to Villarreal in the summer after Arsene re-iterated that at his age, Robert Pires cannot expect anything more from the club than rolling one year contracts...Thierry Henry has announced that by the time the World Cup starts, he will have decided his future - personally, I think that he is off to pastures new but it is not as clear cut as everyone thinks, with Real, Juve and Inter challenging Barca for his signature. He has stated that he wants the club to show progress (box ticked) and his match his ambitions (interestingly, he has never stated his ambitions publicly so how can we measure whether or not they are being matched?). But whatever, should he decide to go then I doubt that anyone will begrudge him anything given that all he has achieved in his time at the club...Which is more than can be said for young Master Cole. It emerged at the weekend in The Times that it is widely believed that he has a £16m escape clause in his contract so that it can be triggered by anyone who matches this valuation. It is expected that Chelsea and Real Madrid will both be in for the mercenary little sod once the World Cup is over. If he goes to Madrid, then fair enough you cannot argue with him testing himself in a new environment. If he goes to The Red Square then it is all about money. Pure and simple. Make no mistake, I expect Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to put in a stern challenge to Chelsea next season and it is one that I am not convinced that Chelsea can withstand. Take nothing away from them in the last two seasons but forget not that they have capitalised on their peers inconsistencies not blown them away with marvellous football.
Normally at this point, there are a couple of tunes tagged in but today is different as I am publicising another website which I consider to be worthy. The Mod Pop Punk Archive is exactly that. Forget the multitude of compilations from that proclaim to be the Number One Punk album, these guys have pulled together a vast array of choons from 1977 - 1984 which are far more deserving than some of the dross served up by Sony, Universal et al. MP3 downloads are available in their Sounds category.
posted by Yogi's Warrior at 11:23 am
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