Henry Winter reminisces about Heriot Watt University's Celtic Supporters Club annual Tommy Burns Night.
The legend and tragedy of Hughie Ferguson who scored the winning goal for Cardiff in the 1927 final.
We may argue about them until we are blue in the face but the reality is that the referee’s decision is final.
The Aussies are going to bid the right to host the 2009 and 10 the FIFA Club World Cup. I would have thought that a US proposal would be a natural for this tournament.
MF – Ronaldo (Manchester United) MF – Mascherano (Liverpool) MF – Barry (Aston Villa) MF – Downing (Middlesbrough)
FW – Cruz FW – Berbatov
Best Three’s – 60s and beyond Manchester United • Best • Law • Keane
Chelsea • Zola • Cooke • Osgood
Liverpool • Dalglish • Callaghan • Barnes
Arsenal • Bergkamp • Pires • Henry
Spurs • Ardiles • Hoddle • Gilzean
Everton • Lineker • Young • Ball (Alan not Michael)
Manchester City • Bell • Kinkladze • Lee
Rangers • Baxter • Gascoigne • McCoist
Celtic • Jimmy Johnstone • Henrik Larsson • Danny McGrain
Serie A Predictions Revisited (Actual – Prediction)
Inter 1-1 Staggered to another title rather than cruised.
Roma 2-4 Refused to give up despite a squad that lacked the depth of others and pushed Inter to the last round.
Juventus 3-3 A surprise for many that Juventus managed to finish so high. Fiorentina 4-5 There is a lot to admire about Cesare Prandelli’s charges as the coach showed again an ability to extract maximum effort and results from the squad he is given. Looked as if they had blown a Champions League but Milan’s round 37 loss to Napoli opened a door that looked to have been bolted shut.
Milan 5-2 A stumbling start – particularly at home – put Milan behind the eight ball. A late season run seemed to have almost guaranteed Champions League football next season until a crucial 3-1 loss to Napoli. It will be an interesting summer as Milan must now rebuild.
Sampdoria 6-8 While Antonio Cassano provided the spark an impressive home record (only two losses) saw Samp finish in a very credible spot in Serie A.
Udinese 7-7 Eleven points and three positions better than last season. If Udinese can keep this team together and hold on to coach Pasquale Marino (former Catania) next season may bring further improvement.
Napoli 8-15 A tremendous return to Serie A for the Neapolitans who beat Milan, Inter, Udinese, Juventus, Fiorentina and Sampdoria at the Stadio San Paolo. Of the teams that finished above them only Roma left with anything to show for their efforts.
Atalanta 9-12 Little difference from last season – two fewer points and one position lower than a year ago.
Genoa 10-16 The third of the promoted sides and none finished lower than 10th. Only four consecutive losses at season’s end clouded a fantastic performance from Genoa.
Palermo 11-9 Poor away form and a failure to win more than two consecutive games saw Palermo drop back a top six position last season.
Lazio 12-6 A team that has punched above their weight for the last few seasons but limited resources caught up with them this season.
Siena 13-20 The frequent coaching changes in Italy are often a source of mirth but Siena was another team that turned their fortunes around after making a change in the front office. Up until the firing of Andrea Mandorlini in mid-November Siena had picked a single win and nine points from a possible thirty six on offer. Former coach Mario Beretta who had been cut loose last summer after just escaping relation by beating Lazio in the last game of the season returned and with thirty-five over the remaining twenty-six games Siena were safe with games in hand. Seventeen draws made Siena this season’s Serie A draw specialists.
Cagliari 14-18 The Sardinian side looked dead and buried but the appointment of Coach Davide Ballardini just before the New Year saw a spectacular turnaround in fortune. Thirty-two of their forty-two points were earned post- Ballardini and only suffered two losses in their last eleven league games. Home form was key with twenty-four points out of a possible thirty-three coming with the new coach in charge.
Torino 15-17 Turin’s other team finished on the same points as last season but that was enough to move up two places. In 2006/07 Torino only scored 27 goals – this season 36 so it has been slightly more interesting for the fans, particularly at home. Despite a home record of only five home wins, seven draws and another seven losses only two of the games were decided by more than one goal and both in Torino’s favour.
Reggina 16-13 Last May it took a win against Milan in round 38 to ensure another season in Serie A for Reggina; this time they made sure of another Serie A season in round 37. Thirteen points from a possible last 18 did the trick.
Catania 17-19 As they did last season it took Catania until the last round of play to escape demotion. They finished tied with Parma with the worst away record (7 points and no wins) but a respectable thirty points at home (one one fewer than Milan) was pivotal to their top-flight survival.
Empoli 18-10 Fifty-four points and seventh position last season; relegation this season and an attack that scored only 29 times must bear the responsibility.
Parma 19-14 No escape this season after sailing close to the relegation rocks for a few seasons. Winless away from home and defence not let in more goals than any other brought a long-avoided demotion to Serie B.
Livorno 20-11 Last season’s 11th place finish was slightly deceiving in that Livorno was only four points out of the last relegation spot. This season only four points in their last twelve games had Livorno in a death-spiral that they could not escape from.
1. whose career do you think has sunken lower? Beckham playing an exhibition game somewhere in Alberta against the Vancouver Whitecaps, or Ronaldo trying to pick up a tran-prostitute in Rio de Janeiro?
2. I've heard there is an exhibition match between CANADA v. BRAZIL on May 31st. But to my amazement, the game is set to be played in seattle! did I hear it correctly? what do you make of it. shouldn't the game be played somewhere in Canada?
3. Your predictions for euro 2008 would be appreciated.
Come on Arsenal! I want a signing this week! Kinda lukewarm on the final this week. I will definitely watch but after last years FA cup final I really wouldn't be shocked if it was a cagey affair that I fall asleep on my couch watching. I dozed off watching the Uefa cup final first half. Woke up for the second though and Arshavin is on the move, no idea where but he already has ARS in his name.
Here's Alan Hansen's Premiership XI as published in the Daily Telegraph
GK -- David James
RB -- Wes Brown
CB -- Rio Ferdinand
CB -- Nemanja Vidic
LB -- Patrice Evra
HM -- Javier Mascherano
MF -- Cesc Fabregas
MF -- Steve Gerrard
MF -- Christiano Ronaldo
S -- Fernando Torres
S -- Wayne Rooney
You can read the whole article explaining his selections
Hey Bobby, Ian Callaghan is a friend of the family, shame he succumbed to the dark side.
Ian has the following:
1 World Cup Winners Medal.
2 Champions League (European Cup) winner medals.
2 UEFA Cup winners medals.
5 English Titles (Pre-Premier League)
2 FA Cups.
Aston Villa 17.57%
Arsenal 15.64%
Tottenham Hotspur 15.53%
Everton 15.24%
Manchester United 14.63%
Birmingham City 14.60%
Chelsea 14.32%
Manchester City 13.93%
Newcastle United 12.53%
Liverpool 12.52%
Reading 12.35%
Middlesbrough 12.25%
Blackburn Rovers 11.88%
Portsmouth 11.68%
West Ham United 10.97%
Bolton Wanderers 10.62%
Fulham 10.35%
Sunderland 10.06%
Wigan Athletic 9.37%
Derby County 6.94%
Shooting accuracy
Manchester United 47.53%
Everton 46.81%
Tottenham Hotspur 46.12%
Birmingham City 45.40%
Aston Villa 44.80%
Manchester City 44.27%
Arsenal 43.97%
Bolton Wanderers 43.95%
Blackburn Rovers 43.94%
Chelsea 43.83%
Middlesbrough 43.02%
Newcastle United 42.90%
Fulham 41.96%
Derby County 40.28%
Liverpool 40.00%
West Ham United 39.95%
Reading 39.76%
Portsmouth 38.93%
Wigan Athletic 38.84%
Sunderland 38.27%
Goal Machine?
Wayne Rooney? Michael Owen? Jermain Defoe? Dean Ashton? Pah, if Fabio Capello was doing his job he'd know England's finest finisher is ... Joleon Lescott, who this season recorded a phenomenal goals-to-shots ratio of 42.1%, way ahead of the Premier League's next best (who, as it happens, was also an Evertonian - Yakubu, with 28.3%).
I'm sure Flamini will enjoy playing in the UEFA Cup. It'll be a new experience for him, playing in a competition he knows his team actually has a chance of winning.
Flamini will make $35m over the next 4 years playing football in Milan. Poor Mathieu, he's messed up. Wish I was messed up.
Well they have just as many winners of the league as do the Bundesliga, Liga and Serie A in the past five years.
France has become a one horse race.
Scotland is a two horse race.
As for the bottom three being predictable...Yeah I'm sure Mr. Townsend saw Fulham with 4 games to go escaping the drop....
And United and Chelsea were tied on points going into the last day of the season. Yes very dull stuff but lets look at the other competitions real quick:
In the FA Cup not even one of the Big four reached the semifinals. Barnsley knocked out Liverpool(at Anfield!) and Chelsea. Three of four in the semi's were teams from Championship sides.
Oh and Tottenham knocked out Arsenal(emphatically I might add) and Chelsea to win the other silverware.
So Arsenal and Liverpool(and maybe Chelsea) could finish without silverware.
If there's anything thats becoming predictable its the Champions League. After another summer of strengthening, and as long as they aren't drawn together, there should be 3 if not 4 English teams in the semifinals again. What a bore...
Two top class defenders signed in HEITINGA and UJFALUSI atleti. Congrats to your club for having a spot in the CL next season. First Parma got relegated then Real Zaragoza.
All credit to Fiorentina (especially considering where they were four short years ago), but I, for one, will miss Milan in the Champions League. And if you love the game, you want to see the likes of Kaka, Seedorf, Nesta, et al play against the best. They are class act, on and off the pitch. The respectful applause to Arsenal's performance at the San Siro belied the emerging stereotypes about Italian supporters in the British media, who are quick to point out fan violence but glossed over the sporting attitude of the rossoneri faithful.
As for Flamini, I wish him well. He came to the club on a free under controversial circumstances from Marseilles. He's leaving on a free. He and club owe each other nothing.
Given Diarra's performance in the FA Cup, I'm wondering whether Wenger may have inserted a clause giving first refusal rights on repurchasing him. I'd put him in the same bracket with Flamini. Any thoughts on this, Bobby?
Bobby, thanks for including Leeds is your blog. The mighty Whites will be one step closer to returnig to the Prem come next Sunday evening. And for those that think Leeds aren't a big club...
A Football League statement issued on Thursday morning confirms: "This season saw Coca-Cola League 1 record its highest set of attendance figures for 36 years with nearly four and a half million fans going through the turnstiles.
21 percent of all league fans we're at Elland Road and 21 of the 23 clubs set record attendance for the visit of Leeds. Leeds averaged 7000 more fans than second place Nottingham Forest.
Leeds best 3 players since 1960's
1. Billy Bremner
2. Jackie Charlton
3. Johnny Giles (although Gordon Strachan comes close)
GK - James (Reina)
LB - Evra (Clichy)
CB - Ferdinand (Yobo)
CB - Carvalho (Vidic)
RB - Sagna (Brown)
HM - Mascherano (Barry)
RW - Ronaldo (Bentley)
AM - Fabregas (Gerrard)
LW - Young (Petrov)
F - Fernando Torres (Yakubu)
F - Adebayor (Roque Santa Cruz)
I didn't bother confining myself to the McMahon rule of one player per club. I'll note, though, there's three United, three Arsenal and two Liverpool players in my first XI, but only one from Chelsea (I should probably find a spot for Michael Essien, who is the best box-to-box midfielder and best right back in the league whenever he's picked in those positions -- and he's a useful centre half, too). Therefore my manager of the year is Avram Grant. Think about all the doom and gloom predicted for Chelsea upon Mourinho's departure and the antipathy shown towards him by the club's own supporters (including death threats and a lot of anti-Semitic rubbish). Just missed the title and has taken Chelsea to the Champions League final, something neither Ranieri or Mourinho could do. Top job.
I predicted Chelsea will lift the Big Cup in Moscow. After that, you'll see the transfer action really hot up because Drogba will depart. His signing should set the dominoes tumbling.
Premiership boring? I do not think so. There will always be seasons of lack and seasons of plenty just ask a Leeds or an AC Milan fan.
A visit to the Premier league website tells the story of the last 16 seasons. 40 different teams have played in it and 11 different teams have finished in the top four at some time or other, including the likes of Notts Forest and Norwich City.
The last little while has been dominated by money and it will be money and only money that will change who will finish in the top slots. Villa, Citeh, Pompey, Everton, Newcastle, Spurs etc all have wealthy owners, but do they have the 200 million (ref Harry Rednapp) to spend in order to make a challenge? Time will tell.
I wonder if there is enough room in one division for so many millionaires? With Eastern Europe open for Business and the Russian teams starting to make an impact in Europe I can see some moneyed owners may be moving eastward. The money linked to the champions league is a big temptation.
I think the time will come in the next 10 years when all the top associations in the football world have three to five clubs all owned by millionaires or billionaires and these clubs will be the core of continental leagues and cup competitions.
Oh well enough philosophising! This transfer window will give a few clues and raise not a few hopes for next season. LGB, I cannot agree with you on the CL. Anything but boring and I do not think we will see three British teams in the semis next season. I doubt Arsenal will get past the group stages.
Last edited by redfan4ever on May 19th at 10:08 AM.
I associate it with predictability, and on that score I find it fairly dull, although not as bad as some critics-- relegation battles do raise the interest level a little at season's end. But overall ...
You focus on league winners, and on that basis Scotland and France have indeed been worse-- if all one cares about is league winners. But what if competition across the whole league is of interest?
This goes to the point from a while ago that La Liga was claimed to be generally more competitive top to bottom than the PL. Consider this: in the past 5 seasons, only Everton has cracked the PL top 4 once in that time. Otherwise, always the same four teams ...
In the same 5 seasons in Spain, the league top 4 has included, besides the usual Barça and Madrid, also Villarreal, Atletico, Valencia, Sevilla, Osasuna, Betis, and Deportivo. A total of nine teams. So who is more predictable?
Another way to look at this is by the dispersion in league point totals. The more competitive the league, the less "spread" there will be-- because there is less o####ap in quality across the league, team point totals will tend to bunch more around the mean-- and the opposite for the more predictable leagues.
Results for the just-completed season, as sample standard deviations (with median point total in brackets):
England: 19.7 (47.5)
Italy: 15.6 (47.5)
Spain: 14.3 (50.5)
France: 12.9 (51.5)
(Germany and Scotland not included because they are not 20 team leagues)
This past season, the PL was tied for the lowest median team point total (where half the teams have higher, and half lower points), but had by far the greatest dispersion in point totals. The conclusion is obvious: the PL in general did not have many good teams, by comparison with the top teams in the league.
The other three leagues all had lower dispersions and higher medians, indicating that teams outside the top few were generally more competitive-- and thus the league standings as a whole were less predictable ... and to me that means less dull ...
"In the FA Cup not even one of the Big four reached the semifinals."
The FA Cup results this year attracted so much attention, precisely because they were so exceptional in all of the "Big 4" teams (I hate that expression, but for convenience ...) getting knocked out before any reached the final.
In other words, this year was the exciting exception that proved the general rule about the dull dominance of the "Big 4" ...
LGB:
"If there's anything thats becoming predictable its the Champions League."
Perhaps, and yet this year is only the first time in three years that a PL team will win the trophy.
Funny how those pesky quality foreign sides like Barça and Milan keep sneaking in and winning the whole thing, despite the so-called PL "dominance" ...
In any case, whether PL, FA Cup, or CL, we are all just looking backwards in time to what has already taken place, and discussing how to interpret it-- as Redfan points out, for the future all we know is that "time will tell".
Last edited by Ursusarctos on May 19th at 11:43 AM.
Bobby: The season is done and dusted and a long summer awaits with two months of tranfer wheeling and dealing to watch over while we find some sun somehwere.
What's your off the cuff, gut feeling for the Premiership next season? I will qualify the question some what by adding the following:
Which of this seasons survivors will struggle next term and do you think any of the three teams coming up will survive against those that have struggled this year?
Do you think the top will change much?
Obviously we will have slightly altered opinions in August when we know who has been bought and sold, but most of us must be wondering already how next season will go so I thought I would ask you here.
Last edited by redfan4ever on May 19th at 5:07 PM.
Ursus-The PL is predictable? So because you know Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will most likely to be in the top four its predictable?
I thought predictable would be the fact that you knew that the order would've finished Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and then Liverpool(assuming you knew it would finish in that order).
I know Barca or Madrid are going to finish in the top four every year and either of them are going to win Liga. Liga is what the PL was about 7-10 years back when there were three spots and they would go to Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea or Liverpool and either Arsenal or Man U won the league every year. Its not that much difference.
As for Barca and Milan winning the CL competition the past years, how does that mean that the PL isn't dominating? One great team from another league doesn't take away from four other teams performing well consistently in the competition.
As for the FA Cup and League Cup, I was showing how english football is anything but predictable.
Hell people forget that Tottenham was one game(and one good meal) away from qualifying for the CL at Arsenal's expense.
RF-Well I disagree about whether the PL "dominance" will continue or not in the CL, I was just being sarcastic when I said the CL is boring. Even when the Serie A and La Liga had their runs of dominance, it was still interesting. They had the best players. As Juande Ramos pointed out, its all cyclical.
"The PL is predictable? So because you know Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will most likely to be in the top four its predictable?"
I did not say the PL was predictable because "Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will most likely to be in the top four"-- you just did.
I said the PL was predictable because, as I showed, it was the least competitive of the big three leagues plus France during the past season (and I would bet on similar results for the last several seasons): there are very few legitimate contenders to unseat the top four teams, and (with due respect to Everton et al) none of these are really close yet. And worse, after the couple of pretenders, team quality rapidly falls off a cliff.
Unless all you care about is who wins-- your choice if that's true, but it's not mine-- that relative lack of across-the-league competitiveness makes the PL as a whole fairly dull (although specific matches or situations can, of course, be exciting).
This compares to the situation where La Liga is claimed to be more competitive top to bottom than the PL-- a position supported by the much narrower dispersion of team point totals in Spain than in England, and the higher median point total result, that I found by comparing the final standings.
"I know Barca or Madrid are going to finish in the top four every year and either of them are going to win Liga. Liga is what the PL was about 7-10 years back when there were three spots and they would go to Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea or Liverpool and either Arsenal or Man U won the league every year."
You should look more carefully at the Primera results for the past 10 years. I see, for example:
Two titles by Valencia and one by Deportivo;
Both Villareal and Real Sociedad finishing second;
Both Barça and Madrid finishing out of the top four;
A total of thirteen-- 13!-- different teams finishing in the 4 CL places during that period.
The PL could only dream of similar, even accounting for the dominance of Barça and Madrid-- of the 20 Primera teams this year, 11 have had CL experience in the past 10 years (and two more in the Segunda) or will next year!
The corresponding total from the PL (counting fourth place as a CL spot when England only had three places) is 6, and Leeds makes only 7 teams in total over the past ten years ...
These examples illustrate nicely the effect of greater across-the-board competitiveness-- more teams have a greater hope of challenging on any given day, and if the stars align just right, going even further ...
You seem in general to judge predictability based on the ability to guess winners, but without caring much about the depth of the pool from which they are drawn. If so, that is your choice, and so be it. Mine is different.
Last edited by Ursusarctos on May 19th at 10:02 PM.
Aight, been gone 2 weeks (not that anyone noticed!), gone fer another 2 Sat., so not trolling, just throwing quarters around belatedly. (c: Here goes:
Bobby: "I defy gravity by jumping and losing height"
You watching a lot of Brian Budd lately? That's his favourite quip regarding Crouch (c:
Thanks for the great wrap-ups. Can you tell us why you'll no be covering Euro08? Other business commitments? Love to tune in to you during the media circus for some straight dope
MasMaz: "Flamini is more of a rich man's Mascherano"
Possibly the most uninformed thing I've ever read on this blog. Your inability to synthesize reality from yer retinas to yer brain never ceases to amaze. That, or ye share the trolling gene w/TH & greendelta
verbal97:
- I would take Babel over Theo, but there's no way RB has more pace. Yer just not on there, sir
- Yer fave 3 ManUre players made me LOL. Thanks!
woodusa:
Just so I'm clear; LFC is going to do the double next season & win the BPL by 5-10pts? Who's yer pharmacist & do you live near Vancouver, BC?
Flash: "Atta boy, TH, cheering for the #### Youth. Bet you would have been a great citizen of Vichy France."
Again, thanks for the LOL!
I found this blog after the whole Jol shenanigans took place. I was wondering yer thoughts on Jol, the job he did, the treatment he received, and yer assessment of WHL now that the season is over? I'm a fan of Jol & the job he did there, but I'm hardly an expert on BPL or Tot'n'am....
Our Portugese speakers:
Could you tell me how to phonetically pronounce these? I hear them said different ways over the years. TIA: Joao Moutinho, Gomes, Quaresma, Conceição
craigy: "A Liverpool fan talking about the dominance of LFC In the 70's and 80's is just as much an irrelavent windbag ... as a Blackpudlian who talks of the "matthews final" or Rover waxing about "three on the trot and five cups in eight years"
Spoken like a true Bitter (c;
"Linked to Huddlestone :("
And this troubles you why???
"Osman or Pennant?"
That's bullet v. noose. JP cuz he's the devil I know. Bah, TBH I like JP, except for his non-scoring-goals issue.
"ALL THE NICE THINGS I WROTE ABOUT STATS DOESN'T INCLUDE THE ASSIST STAT
That's just made up bollocks for idiots!"
I feel the same way aboot the table, so from now on, LFC is the 07/08 BPL & CL champs
"2) SHEEDY / ARTETA"
REALLY? Arteta is co-2nd best ever blue you've seen?
"SILLY SEASON, ALREADY? (The Sun)"
I thought you had Red in your family?? I'm ashamed of you
ABG:
re: Ade
We've been down this road before, so I'll just say upfront that I couldn't be asking this stuff in a less confrontational way.
Ade leaves me wanting more (but then again so does Drogba, just in a different way). Mebbe it's that you see him as the finished article he will be with stats/results that affirm that progress & I see him as still a work-in-progress on a team with great service? I dunno. But here goes:
"[Newton Heath] and [LFC] have older squads than Arse"
Not sure this is to a statistically relevant level tho, & counting only the usual 16-18 players. I'm too lazy to do every team & Google wasn't co-operating, but LFC = Sami, ManUre = Scholes/Giggs/VdS, Arse = Lehmann. I wouldn't think the difference is more than a year or so. Plus, LFC's only *cog* older than 24 is SG
"FT might be slightly more clinical than Ade but he is not [...] Eto'o or Ruud"
IMO the jury is out on this one, as FT hasn't had the service/squad that RvN & Eto'o have enjoyed their whole careers. FT had probly the most clinical striker season I can remember (sans 2 CL games v. CFC) since... Henry? Circa 2004?
"FT [is] much physically smaller than Ade"
Only if you count the 'fro! (c: Ade: 6'3, Fern 6'1 (according to Wiki & LFC.tv) That isn't 'much' IMO & FT has goals from the air too. It's just that LFC sucks at set pieces/crossing so he doesn't get the chances Ade does
ABG: "Torres, Rooney and Tevez [are] world-class but Ade is merely a good player on a run"
Fee probly plays a part (cheap == flawed). Mebbe Ade's reactions? His body language can be as bad as DD's. Mebbe it's quality of misses? Anecdotally, I would say only Rooney comes close to the important, sitter-type misses of Ade. Lastly, the fact that almost every Arse game is televised and/or important, and it's not hard to see why it's a common belief.
I noticed one name missing from all the discussion: what about Djibril Cisse? (c;
As for comparables I'd take over Ade? Admittedly, I don't watch much football outside the BPL anymore so there'll be dewdz I miss cuz I've not watched them (Benzema, Guiza, Aguero, Borriello, etc.) & thus my mind will change by, oh, July. Also I think it's important to distinguish 2 different questions re: strikers & their value...:
#1. If age/health status is irrelevant (or, say, a 1-game final we're picking for *today*), in order: Ronaldo, Ruud, Klose, Torres, Drogba, Toni, Anelka, Berbatov, Santa Cruz, Zlatan, Trezeguet, Fabiano, Fowler
#2. If I had to buy a dewd to build a BPL team around for the foreseeable future & money was the same/irrelevant, in order: Torres, Berbatov, Drogba, Agbonlahor, Balotelli, Pato, Santa Cruz
Best I can do. Need sleep.... [/flame retardant on]
"only one Englishmen make the list for buys of the season"
Assuming yer not taking the ####, I think that's due to English-player-fee-inflation....
Ursus-You must not like many sports then as they become predictable over the course of time.
As for what I said about Liga, I'm talking about where they are now. I looked up the past 10 years in each league as well but football has changed much since then so it wouldn't be a good reflection on today's positions.
As for who's the better league....well if you say its because there are more teams getting into champions league spots and its less predictable then I can see why you would say Liga is. If its head-to-head results then you can see why I say the Premiership is.
And your last paragraph kind of sums us up. For me, without the giants there is no bar to be set and nothing to look forward to. And when that team comes in and knocks out one of the "big four" out of one of the CL spots, its going to be a very exciting chase to the end. More exciting than when certain leagues have 13 teams vying for one spot.
First signing of the season is a right full back from Dortmund and Swiss International named Degen. Signed on a free transfer and we won't get him until his team are knocked out of Euro2008.
Anyone know anything? Perhaps Gongatore with his immense knowledge of the German game...
Joao Moutinho - Not sure how to break down Joao its a strange one to say so just call him John. and the last name would be something like Moo-Teen-New.
Gomes is easy its just Gome-sh. Just add the sh sound for the s really.
Quaresma is the same way really but with the sh in the middle. Quar-sh-ma.
The S is pretty easy when its on the end its Sh pretty much always. My last name would be pronounced Alve-sh.
Conceição- Con-say-sao.
Also there is Justice! Joey Barton off to jail for 6 months! god I hate him and this make me so so so happy. Will make me even happier if the courts don't bend to his career like they do in America and jail him right in the middle of a season. Edit: Apparently the sentence has begun now so potentially he could miss no to little time maybe with good behavior assuming Newcastle even want him back.
