Jim White tells you how you can own a team or at least part of one. I heard Will Brooks being interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Service two weeks ago and meant to post a link…… but didn’t get around to it.
An article on Jack Warner's best buddy -not - investigative sport journalist Andrew Jennings.
An audio story from Stefan Fatsis, sportswriter for The Wall Street Journal, that was on National Public Radio.
And finally one of the blog's regular readers is looking for some help and is hoping that some of you might take a couple of minutes to complete a fan survey that will be used for classwork.
Before you waste your time reading the Simon Barnes article here's the first paragraph, "On Wednesday night, AC Milan beat Liverpool by accident. As a result, they won the Champions League. Just think of it: the biggest prize in European football went to Milan because a ball accidentally hit a chap."
He's right, that's exactly how Milan managed to win the UCL - great article Simon!!! Here's my favorite definition of luck: Luck is a word losers use to describe winners.
Joe Lovejoy is definately an ####. And by the way, in Zagreb, McClaren played with a 5-3-2 formation (not a 3-5-2) because he was scared of losing. His biggest problem is he doesn't have the stones for the job and everyone can see it.
If you want the opposite view on Beckham to that of Lovejoy ,read Nick Webster`s latest blog.I notice Lovejoy accuses Mclaren of picking him without seeing him in person ,and then compares MLS to the conference ,he`s obviously never seen MLS!
When Simon Barnes says there are four trophies in european club football ,he must think the cup-winners-cup is still played.
Today`s game.
Both teams and their supporters probably belong in the EPL ,but West Brom have the better and more experienced players ,3-1 to the Baggies.
The big wild-card in the game however ,Graham Poll in his last game before (forced?) retirement.Will he go out with a ####!
And I wonder what the over/under is on hearing the words "it`s the richest game in football".
The only thing more cruel than a $100m winner take all match, is a penalty shootout to decide the match. It'll take something very special now for anyone to manage a goal in this one.
l have a couple of things to say. I do not know if its your company policy Bobby that you are not supposed to say that mls is poor , because if you read nick ' article you would have thought mls is like the prem.l do not see becks in the near future, because in my opinion the mls is more of a leauge that is based on passion and euphoria rather than quality.the defending and general play is gennerally appalling, the leauge is just not good enough as fantasy manager with jan pablo angel will testfy
the second thing is that as much as l despise roman , l have to agree with him stopping to splash cash for a number of good reasons. the demands that frank and terry are putting are unheard of and even Bobby might say they are worth every penny l think roman is begining to notice that every business partener is taking advantage of him in any deal as far as soccer is concened.these guys want contracts for life, which is something that l have not heard of.there is no guarantee that frank and john will be at their best in 5 years time and the claim for terry for $280k + a close to be manager of chelsea is ridicolous
cont... chelsea almost won the quadrupple without terry for the key parts of the season and many could argue that cech was the difference between them having a double and a quadruple, so why should they pay this guy that amount of money, when the team has moved to have other key players as well.roman has also noticed that he is being taken for a ride kaka, ronaldhino, eto'o, ronaldo are probably the 4 best footballers on earth but non of them earns anything above $240k a week , so what would make frank and john think they are worth $280k a week , l just feel these guys need to get real
my third issue is that roman has made a blunder if he is not at least paying reasonable amounts to get at least a forwad.rumour has it that alex and pizzaro will follow siddwell.l think these are bad signings for both parties involved as l feel sidwell will only play in january when essien and mikel are away, pizzaro is like defoe , can be as good as they get for 4 games and horrible for the next 15, and as for alex l am not so sure how he will adapt to pace and power of the prem, he got a lot of accolades for that arsenal game, but lets face it adebayor is never going to score with any descent ratio and baptista was just an arbotion, so since he was against the poorest forwads anyteam can have l would not jump to say he is great, and l all see them as bench players at most
Bobby:
What is your take on the goings on at Stamford Bridge? What will Chelsea look like in three months time, will they sign anybody important, who will leave?
Reportedly during a strategic meeting last week to discuss summer transfer targets etc., Abramovich apparently drastically cut spending, removed himself from day-to-day operations of the club, Lampard and Terry still don't have a new contract, and Mourinho wasn't even in the meeting. I guess just like a spoiled kid, his new expensive toy isn't as much fun anymore, and is amazingly making a mess of a very fine football club.
Poll exits with another clanger... Derby player made contact with ankle before ball in the early going. Very close to call though. Derby already practicising penalty area dives for the premiership. A victory for old direct football over unrealized potential. Sorry West Brom, not tough enough for this game. So I picked another result correctly, but I think West Brom would have been slightly less bad than Derby in the EPL. We shall see.
Bogberly would be a better name given this pitch.
Last edited by LosAngelesChelseaFan on May 28th at 2:41 PM.
Correction ,I meant to say 1-0 to Derby!
But they will have to keep their best player ,Giles Barnes ,and sign a couple of goalscorers ,because Howard and Pesky will not get it done , to stand any chance of staying up.
And I apologise to Graham Poll ,he probably had his best game for a long time.
Don`t you think it is cruel and unusual punishment to make the losing team walk up those 1,007 steps!
It's actually 2,847 steps, three twists, a pike and a double hitch. It reminds me of the Robin Williams golf video. "Now when their completely exhausted and in deep dispair, we'll make them go on freaking mountaineering obstacle course, great idea."
As someone I knew (actually from Derby) once said "It's the kind of thinking that gives idiots a bad name."
H14 ,and others.
You need to stop getting your info from the Sun (and why has Foxsoccer started quoting them?) ,the only part of the Sun worth "reading" is page3 (sorry ,Atleti!).
I read that Henry is going to Barcelona, van Persie is going to Bayern Munich and Wenger to Real taking Fabregas with him. Arsenal is also going to struggle to keep Flamini, who'll they'll be desperate to keep after Wenger leaves and they'll have to appoint Graeme Souness who will be announced in July. It's the end of an era at Arsenal who will now be eclipsed by their North London neighbors as well as Everton, Newcastle and Villa. They'll be battling with the likes of Blackburn for an Intertoto Cup spot.
flamini is the closest thing to owen hargreave , a vey whole hearted player but desperately limited and hence he should go , and we have diaby, denilso, song and gilberto all ahead of him to start along cesc.
verbal. l was agaist rafa 's claim for cash only and have nothing against liverpool.l personally would not mind see henry go if wenger can bring not as much a player like him , but a 25 goal striker to play along rvp .the other thing is that wenger had offered reyes, freedy and 7m pounds for torres at atheletico, but they want adebayor or rosicky in place of freedy
Very puzzling article by Simon Barnes, considering his article before the final he was hoping Liverpool could get 'lucky' and win the final.
Here's an excerpt from his article published the day of the final entitled:
Why the gods will smile on Liverpool only as underdogs
"But logic never takes you that far in football. That is the nature of the game and the insanely high value of its currency, the goal. In no other sport does David so often slay Goliath, does the underdog so often bite. Circumstance, emotions, spirit, a single moment of inspiration, a single moment of folly; a football match – any football match – can change forever in an instant of time.
That’s what I mean with this fancy talk about gods, that football doesn’t work in logical and predictable ways. It is more violently and perversely changeable than any other sport in the calendar. Do Liverpool need to be taken down a peg? Do Milan deserve a change of luck? Such ideas may not come from literal gods, but they are still the sort of thing that affects players and determines the course of football matches. I’ve seen too many football matches to believe otherwise.
If Liverpool wish to win, I suggest they make the appropriate sacrifices, wash themselves clean of expectation and clad themselves humbly in hope."
He knows how it works, so I don't understand what he's moaning about now! I guess we all hope for a bit of good luck, but never manage to accept a dose of bad luck.
Link to referenced article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp ort/columnists/simon_barnes/article 1826792.ece
Don't sweat it, my friend. You guys won. Maldini gets to go out on top (he is retiring now, right?) - and all is well.
Milan's second goal of the night was pure class as well, and you have previously stated that Liverpool's was offside.
I'll never give you that first Milan goal, but overall it should have been 1-0 Milan anyways - karma got it right. And in terms of luck, perhaps pippo was unlucky it hit him in the arm, when it could have hit his hip, leg, head - anywhere else less controversial.
Besides, you've got no points deduction for next year now, Inter's going to jettison some players, Ronaldo looks hungry again (for trophies, not pies), it's all good.
-I hear that lunatic Rafa wants to clone Cruyff, Maradona and Henry. He claims that is the only way he can compete with the big spenders in the prem.
-Flamini is a great player and next season when injuries cause holes and there is no Flamini to stick in, we'll see how much Arsenal miss him.
-It's a shame Wenger must not think he is dynamic enough, I think he is a great player very good at everything, very stable just the type of player we need to keep. He deserves more games, but I am sure he can get them at Ashburton Grove. Arsene please don't sell our utility man, please. Ask Chelsea what happens when you sell your utility man.
-Freddy can go, I love him but it is time, he could be the man somewhere else, I wish he would go to Newcastle.
-Diaby= Sissoko clone, no thanks maybe in a few years.
-Song- No thank you, maybe in a few years.
VVV
Ignore that #### in the Times ,in the words of Mr.Soprano "fah-ged abaad id".
And repeat after me -CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE....CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!
(If you say it in a scouse accent ,all the better!).
-Bobby are you absolutely certain that this survey is for a college kid? the questions are pretty tricky, sounds like a government/corporate profile to me. The last question might as well be, Are you now or have you ever been a communist?
Hah! I answered the survey using one of my alternate email addresses. I'm a graduate student, so I'm accustomed to answering surveys for students of other academic disciplines. The bulk of the questions are football-related, so no big deal.
Last edited by atleti_female on May 28th at 12:56 PM.
Prediction: Brazil humiliates England--how about that for going out on a limb? Does England even have a striker besides Rooney? Don't give me Crouch--he's great at the airial stuff if the officals let him jump without calling foul. Dunga was the right man for the Brazilian job. It looked like Brazil needed discipline and some new faces and from what it sounds like Dunga has put the hammar down and even found some tough to find Brazilian talent (sarcasm). If they play like they did against Argentina (in England) look out.
Davard:
Maldini is actually having knee surgery tomorrow, and will be back for next season, which will be his farewell season. He is closing in on his 1000th match, and could move into sole possession of the record for most UCL finals played and titles next season. I hope there are no points deductions for next season, there are rumblings of more investigations, but I hope they learn from other leagues and just sweep it all under the rug.
Inter will still be the team to beat next season. Figo is having second thoughts and is trying to wriggle free of his contract with Al Ittihad. (Who would've thought Figo would be weaseling out of a contract!?). They are very strong up front with Ibrahimovich, Crespo and Adriano. Milan need reinforcements and are being linked with some big names, we'll see.
RINGO, I can't do a scouse accent but it sounds good anyway.
I sent in the survey already. I liked the question : How do you feel when your team loses? anger, sadness, dissappointment, bitterness, frustration, disillusionment, rage, paranoia, betrail - I hope it's not going in my FBI file.
-I was only half joking, but the questions aren't softballs, they start nice and sweet but then become more psychological, this survey can't do anything Google isn't doing already.
Evra has not shown he can handle the rigours of the prem physically, Neville is falling apart and Vidic is injury prone it seems the last 2 years. ManU need to keep Heinze.
I have actually met Ringo. I swear. Under interesting circumstances when I was in High School. If you can give me the name of a certain high end drug rehab clinic in southern Arizona. I will verify your identity.
-No I was not in rehab.(not that young anyway.
-I met Ringo, Don Johnson and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
-I hope you are the real Ringo as I was always a big fan, very underrated percussionist, his solo albums were great too.
I became a chelsea supporter back in the early sixties ,after partying with Mick (Jagger ,I hate to name drop) and the boys in the Kings road ,a particular favourite haunt of ours was the Chelsea drugstore (appropriate name ,don`t you think?) ,I remember Paul wasn`t much fun at the time ,Linda was to blame.
But John was always the life and soul of the party ,Imagine that!
Don`t seem to remember George being around that much ,he was always talking to some Indian chap.
And NO ,Paul did not not beat up Heather ,the old witch fell over switching out her wooden leg.
Gotta go ,me old mucca (macca) ,is calling long distance!
Glad I could clear that up for you all!
Dear Bobby, I must complain
Your Bloggers have all gone insane
Instead of talking soccer
They’ve gone off their rocker
I wish they would desist and refrain.
With just summer transfers to spot
They’ve seem to have all “lost the plot”
With leagues all but decided
They should take up (like I did) A sport that's fit for a Scot
Last edited by LosAngelesChelseaFan on May 28th at 3:44 PM.
BOBBY! I just have one question and one question only this week.
who do you think deserves to win La Liga this year?
and please don't say whoever has the most points and head to head records =D
also, when is rupert murdoch going to give you your own show? i think you've paid your dues and are ready for the big time. and my blog compatriots would agree with me i imagine.
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.
Thank you to all who take time to visit this blog and especially to those of you who post your comments and thoughts.
PS - If you have questions please post them on the regular Monday blog. I am unable to answer e mails posted to the inbox on this site.
And one more thing. If you have questions or complaints or compliments about programming please contact Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports World Canada directly. I have no control over what the stations televise.
