Shopping
The World's Biggest "Bring and Buy" Sale begins in eleven days although it looks like the dealers have got their early to snaffle the best bargains. Starting with Tomas Rosicky's move to Arsenal, Chelsea appear now to be following suit with the arrivals at Stamford Bridge this week of Salomon Kalou from Fejenoord and Andrij Shevchenko from AC Milan. Not that the latter can necessarily be called a bargain at £35m, roughly €50m. It is a move that has been much touted in the last three seasons with Shevchenko's wife being close to Roman Abramovich's partner. That Chelsea are signing one big name, the Ukrainian's shirt will cost £40 in the shops with another £10 in letters for his name, and this seems to indicate that Hernan Crespo is on his way to pastures new despite his absurd claim that Chelsea have offered him a contract extension. It appears that he will not be going in the opposite direction as Milan are in pole position to sign Ruud van Nistelrooy once the World Cup is over.
By signing Shevchenko it would appear that Mourinho is signalling a change in tactics to having two out and out strikers on the pitch but this raises questions about how his midfield will be structured, or otherwise he expects Didier Drogba to leave England, potentially to Real Madrid or Barcelona. The latter would seem to be an odd choice whilst the former cannot realistically do anything until they appoint a new President and Head Coach, probably early in July.
What these transfers do show is that Chelsea will not be entering the race for Fernando Torres after the World Cup. That appears to be between Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Barcelona. Personally, I would love to see him at Highbury in tandem with Henry as he has the pace and touch to compliment the TH14, rather more guile than Adebayour. That said, the reports from the Dutch Training Camp are that van Persie is playing better than ever, so I would not be surprised if Wenger does not attempt to sign another forward. He will however be on the lookout for a new centre-half as Sol Campbell has been told that his face does not fit any longer, which with Cygan hopefully on the move as well, means a shortage of central defenders at the club. True to form though, Wenger is linked with Franck Riberry, a winger, and Morocco's answer to Theo Walcott, Adil Chihi - no, I'd never heard of him either but he is to make his international debut before he plays for his club side, 1FC Koln. And apparently, he is not a defender. Back to the days of you score four, we score five to win games then.
On the subject of two Spanish clubs, according to reports Cristiano Ronaldo has informed Manchester United of his intention to leave the club should either side show an interest in him. This is presumably just paper talk as I cannot imagine for one minute that Darth Ferguson will allow him to walk out "just like that", as the Late Tommy Cooper would have said. However, this kind of speculation does show that the Old Trafford Disneybucks are not a happy crew with even the Club Doctor getting the boot. The Phantom Menace would perhaps be a better nickname for the US based club given their failure to win the Premiership for four seasons.
Joan Laporta's outburst regarding English Clubs stealing Barca's best young players is as disingenuous as it is laughable. Still smarting over the loss of Gerald Pique to United and Cesc Fabregas to Arsenal, Laporta now faces a dogfight to keep hold of Fran Merida with Arsenal poised to swoop. That Merida has the same agent as the one who brokered the deal to take Fabregas to North London is no coincidence but it should be noted that this scenario is of the Catalan clubs own making, incompetence amongst the heirarchy seems rife as they failed to get the requisite number of signatures on the amateur contract signed by Merida. Laporta understandably is upset and wants the Footballing Authorities to stop the deal, overlooking the fact that they cannot under European Union Laws. Another aspect that highlights the hypocrisy of the Catalans is the multinational nature of their own Youth Squad. But then when has a fact ever got in the way of a good quote.
Laporta is still smarting from Fabregas' departure, urban myth has it that he walked into his office on the day after winning the Presidential elections to find a folder on his desk with Fabregas's details and a note saying, "Sorry, you will have to explain how this one got away". This time though, Merida is on his watch and is his own fault.
Terry Venables rehabilitation in the eyes of The Powers That Be at the FA seems to be complete when he will be appointed as Steve McClaren's Number Two later this year. I have no problem with this in footballing terms as he has enough experience to bring wider tactical knowledge to the England setup and this can only be a marked improvement on the lack of nous shown in the last two or three tournaments by the current incumbent and his predecessor. Where this will become a right royal pain in the arse is in the back pages of the media, as his detractors and supporters go toe-to-toe to slug out for supremacy. Already this week, Martin Samuel in The Times has put forward Venables' version of events regarding his departure after Euro 96. I do not dispute what may or may not have happened but I am heartily sick and tired of the so-called reporting that goes on around the team that has nothing to do with the events on the pitch. Just this morning we have more so called revelations that Sven's partner has been working in cohorts with the paparazzi to sell photos of them. Well, tell us something that we don't know already know - it's how half of the photos that appear in the Press are obtained.
Todays Tunes come from The Casbah Club. The band have a fine musical pedigree, comprising Simon Townsend, Bruce Foxton, Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki and are supporting The Who this summer, amongst other gigs they have lined up. Their album is coming out in June called Venustraphobia. You can find out more about the band at their website here or their myspace page here.
Vibrate
Any Way She Moves
By signing Shevchenko it would appear that Mourinho is signalling a change in tactics to having two out and out strikers on the pitch but this raises questions about how his midfield will be structured, or otherwise he expects Didier Drogba to leave England, potentially to Real Madrid or Barcelona. The latter would seem to be an odd choice whilst the former cannot realistically do anything until they appoint a new President and Head Coach, probably early in July.
What these transfers do show is that Chelsea will not be entering the race for Fernando Torres after the World Cup. That appears to be between Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Barcelona. Personally, I would love to see him at Highbury in tandem with Henry as he has the pace and touch to compliment the TH14, rather more guile than Adebayour. That said, the reports from the Dutch Training Camp are that van Persie is playing better than ever, so I would not be surprised if Wenger does not attempt to sign another forward. He will however be on the lookout for a new centre-half as Sol Campbell has been told that his face does not fit any longer, which with Cygan hopefully on the move as well, means a shortage of central defenders at the club. True to form though, Wenger is linked with Franck Riberry, a winger, and Morocco's answer to Theo Walcott, Adil Chihi - no, I'd never heard of him either but he is to make his international debut before he plays for his club side, 1FC Koln. And apparently, he is not a defender. Back to the days of you score four, we score five to win games then.
On the subject of two Spanish clubs, according to reports Cristiano Ronaldo has informed Manchester United of his intention to leave the club should either side show an interest in him. This is presumably just paper talk as I cannot imagine for one minute that Darth Ferguson will allow him to walk out "just like that", as the Late Tommy Cooper would have said. However, this kind of speculation does show that the Old Trafford Disneybucks are not a happy crew with even the Club Doctor getting the boot. The Phantom Menace would perhaps be a better nickname for the US based club given their failure to win the Premiership for four seasons.
Joan Laporta's outburst regarding English Clubs stealing Barca's best young players is as disingenuous as it is laughable. Still smarting over the loss of Gerald Pique to United and Cesc Fabregas to Arsenal, Laporta now faces a dogfight to keep hold of Fran Merida with Arsenal poised to swoop. That Merida has the same agent as the one who brokered the deal to take Fabregas to North London is no coincidence but it should be noted that this scenario is of the Catalan clubs own making, incompetence amongst the heirarchy seems rife as they failed to get the requisite number of signatures on the amateur contract signed by Merida. Laporta understandably is upset and wants the Footballing Authorities to stop the deal, overlooking the fact that they cannot under European Union Laws. Another aspect that highlights the hypocrisy of the Catalans is the multinational nature of their own Youth Squad. But then when has a fact ever got in the way of a good quote.
Laporta is still smarting from Fabregas' departure, urban myth has it that he walked into his office on the day after winning the Presidential elections to find a folder on his desk with Fabregas's details and a note saying, "Sorry, you will have to explain how this one got away". This time though, Merida is on his watch and is his own fault.
Terry Venables rehabilitation in the eyes of The Powers That Be at the FA seems to be complete when he will be appointed as Steve McClaren's Number Two later this year. I have no problem with this in footballing terms as he has enough experience to bring wider tactical knowledge to the England setup and this can only be a marked improvement on the lack of nous shown in the last two or three tournaments by the current incumbent and his predecessor. Where this will become a right royal pain in the arse is in the back pages of the media, as his detractors and supporters go toe-to-toe to slug out for supremacy. Already this week, Martin Samuel in The Times has put forward Venables' version of events regarding his departure after Euro 96. I do not dispute what may or may not have happened but I am heartily sick and tired of the so-called reporting that goes on around the team that has nothing to do with the events on the pitch. Just this morning we have more so called revelations that Sven's partner has been working in cohorts with the paparazzi to sell photos of them. Well, tell us something that we don't know already know - it's how half of the photos that appear in the Press are obtained.
Todays Tunes come from The Casbah Club. The band have a fine musical pedigree, comprising Simon Townsend, Bruce Foxton, Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki and are supporting The Who this summer, amongst other gigs they have lined up. Their album is coming out in June called Venustraphobia. You can find out more about the band at their website here or their myspace page here.
Vibrate
Any Way She Moves
posted by Yogi's Warrior at 9:25 am
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