Kate Foster on one of the strangest supporters clubs that you will find any place. Here is a clue - at one time the club was managed by a young man called Alex Ferguson.
Daniel Finkelstein uses a more statistical basis to pick his Player of the Year.
There will be a number of blog entries this week. The first in a series of Toronto FC Reports will be posted along with a review of the Premiership predictions that were made back in August. There will also be a “Premiership by the Numbers” column on Tuesday and on Friday there will be a recap of the road to the FA Cup where we will go from the first preliminary round that got underway in August right through to Saturday’s Final.
FA Cup Final Trivia.
How many times has a non-English team played in the final?
How many times has the final been played outside London?
On the two occasions Charlton Athletic played in the final ,something unusual happened ,what?
Q1 what do you make of fergie's claim that he wants to spends in the midfield and attack , publicly, even if l am not a manu fan l feel he is going to overpay because he is linked with every good finisher.even if he spend $100m l still feel hargreves is not wort $40m and berbatov is not worth $80m he is at most a $40m player,do you think it was a smart move?
Q2 what do you make of fergie's selection because it was awful, i felt it played into westham's plan and would not have been at the top of the table with that line up
Q3 l heard graham hunter and ian wright on talk sport saying wenger has summoned the board for another meeting on his transfer budget, he claims that , he is not happy with the amount given to him and feels that another season of fighting for fourth cesc and co might leave, do see wenger leaving if he does not challenge for trophies next season
And it is now my great privelege and honour to declare a winner in the ugly man poll.
And the winner is.........Eggert!!
Although in late developments ,the "gang of four" are launching an appeal based on his eligibility ,and the fact that "hanging chads" where not counted!
Bobby who owns tevez it seems westham do not own him, its not a loan everything around this guy is mysterious even after the commission, can you clarify the situation.
Nice to see the two sides on questionable sides of justice in the past few weeks combine to get West Ham up. I mean - I've never seen Manchester United miss so many shots on goal - shots that would have burned a hole in the back of the net and the subsequent advertising boards 3 weeks ago. It was Arsenal-esque. I guess SAF told his team to take it easy so his old pal Curbs would stay up.
I say this because I'm upset that we will be robbed of the interview gold that is Neil Warnock. I hope he doesn't fold under the pressure of the likes of 006 Sharpe and resign. Regardless, I think ultimately Sheffield lost because Paddy Kenny didn't wear his goal-stopping sweatpants this time.
On a somewhat related note - is AC Milan's Dida ever happy? I've never seen him smile. Even when they won to get into the Champions League final - he looked perturbed.
The FA Cup and the La Liga race look to be great drama! Any predictions on the latter?
Bobby
As the champions league approaches I cant help but look at AC Milan and wonder if they should be there? None of the other teams involved in "match fixing" were allowed to compete in Europe, even Lazio with less of a point deduction was kicked out of the lesser UEFA cup. If they cheated enough to have points deducted from there domestic league what does them making the final say about communiction between UEFA and domestic leagues in this case Serie A? Did they cheat in the 2005-2006 season or not? It seems as though you here no talk of this incident anymore eventhough a team that had points deducted for being involved in fixing games is going for the biggest trophy in club football. Im really not a big conspiracy guy but is this being kept quiet? and yes I am seeing someone on the grassy knoll
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I wrote earlier in the season that I thought the Bulgo-irish striker combination would be the ticket for Spurs now my question is, Spurs have shown that they can score with the best of the EPL what do they have to do to defend with them? Is a healthy Ledley King the answer or is the problem bigger than one man?
For the Serie A season 2005/06 Lazio, Milan and Fiorentina were each deducted 30 points from their season ending points tally. With that penalization Milan were still in the top four, wereas the other two were not. Combined with the eight point deduction this season, it was quite a harsh penalty. Furthermore I find it very hard to believe that anyone would be of the opinion that this Milan team and these Milan players are undeserving of their place in the final. A former club employee cheated and the club has paid dearly for it, but Kaka', Maldini, Seedorf, etc, not only deserve to be in the final, they deserve to win it.
As I've said in the past, if anything Milan are owed a UCL trophy which Marseille won against Milan in 1993. Marseille were later found guilty of bribing opponents to lose and not injure any players ahead of the final. Milan represented UEFA in the Intercontinental Cup that year, but Marseille got to keep the title.
It's relatively easy to pick a "Player of the Year," because it goes to the best player. But who would get an MVP award if one was given? Just a thought.
VVV...you should back off the comment that Milan deserve to win the CL. The final is still 8 days away and they haven't played anyone as defensively astute as Liverpool yet. Well done to them getting to the final, but they had an easier run-in to the final than Liverpool and are no more (or less) deserving of being in Athens.
Also, though I've joked about it in the past, I think people shouldn't bring up the ref-fixing scandal from last season in this season's context. The decision to allow them to play in the tournament this year was made and you can't go back and change it. Should Milan win, I'll talk about what happened during the game only and not sour grapes about anything that may or may not have happened that had no bearing on this season's CL.
V97:
I think that both Milan and Liverpool would be worthy winners of the UCL. All I meant was that Milan deserve to be in the final, and (if they win it) will be deserving winners. Liverpool would be equally deserving. I’m sure we could go back and forth all day about who had the toughest road to the final, but I think Milan had tougher opposition the last 2 rounds. Liverpool had a massive win, albeit on away goals against Barca, and the group stage seemed quite even. If Milan were to lose the UCL final I would much rather it be to Liverpool than any other top EPL team.
I think Big Dave may still be somewhat bitter about Celtic’s extra time elimination at the San Siro. Celtic produced a gallant effort over both legs, but also Milan somehow failed to score on their first 40 shots at goal too.
Okay ,I guess that answers my question.....You never did see a game there!
You don`t know what you missed!
I remember the first time I went there as if it where yesterday.
The 1975 FA Cup Final ,Fulham v West Ham...Walking down Wembley Way and looking up at the twin towers...100,000 people inside ,most of them standing behind the goals..the term "packed in like sardines" does not come close...and the noise!
I don`t care how nice ,new or shiny the new Wembley might be...It will never replace MY Wembley!
Tayport:
At the beginning of the season you had rebutted claims that Chelsea were not adequately staffed at the center back position after the loss of Gallas and Huth, replaced only by the Cannibal. Do you think they will be shopping for central defenders this summer, or stick with who they have?
Fair enough. I just didn't want you to count your chickens before they hatch. I'm looking forward to the game. I even had a very odd dream about it last night. I was playing in the game and was afraid to get the ball every time it was passed my way. I'm not sure what Freud would have thought about that, but I got up, went to the bathroom and fell back asleep having a much more pleasant dream about a girl I had a crush on in high school.
V97:
The last time I was counting my chickens was at halftime of the 2005 final! As I’ve said, Milan have not played particularly well all season. They squeaked past Celtic, showed some moments of brilliance against a struggling Bayern team, and took advantage of Man Utd’s injury problems and overconfidence (IMO). This season’s Milan side is not nearly as good as they looked in the semi-final. I am honestly amazed that they are in the final, but they have earned it and if they happen to win they would be deserving champions, just as Liverpool would be. Best of luck to both.
VVV
Milan, simply on there on field accomplishments without a doubt deserve to be in the final ,they have won the games, but off the field incidents are part of the game. Ask the Feyenoord players if getting kicked out of UEFA cup because of the actions of supporters is fair?
My problem with Milan being in the final has nothing to do with Milan, there a team i enjoy watching just not against Celtic. I will watch the final and hope for a hard fought match. My problem is with Serie A and UEFA. If you find a club "guilty" of being involved in match tampering for one game than you have to look at all there points from that season with a grain of salt. In my opinion none of the teams should have been allowed in Europe, just my opinion
Bobby:
A couple of very promising youngsters who I don't hear mentioned much, but I think show great promise and may well be on the move this summer. What do you think?
Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor, 20 years old, played hard all year, managed 9 EPL goals, combines speed, strength and technical ability. Could partner Rooney in 2010.
Giuseppe Rossi, is doing very at Parma scoring better that a goal every two matches in a league which is very challenging for young strikers. I'm sure Sir Alex is very pleased.
Daniel Agger, has relegated veteran Hyypia to the Liverpool bench, and in the UCL semi showed experience far beyond his years. Benitez proved he too can spot talent, even thouh $10m isn't exactly a steal.
Around Europe looking at the top scorers, in Spain David Villa and Freddie Kanute are having great seasons. In Germany Stuttgart's Mario Gomez (21) and Bayern's Lucas Podolski (21) will be Germany's strikeforce in 2010; the latter may be on the market due to possible restructuring at the club after a quiet season. Also in Holland, Heerenveen's Alfonso Alves has scored over 30 goals.
Big Dave:
I appreciate your point, and don't entirely disagree. However I do feel that the punishment has to, within reason, fit the crime. Also UEFA set the precedent a decade ago, which coincidentally, Milan were at the other end of, at the time.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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