Ah the fickle fans of hate. This ever-so-slightly adapted pic is a bit harsh IMO…yes there have been “odd decisions” for want of a better phrase, and selling the rights to rename St James Park is the latest, but has anyone stopped to thing where the Toon might have been without Mike Ashley?
As a Gooner , I wasn’t best impressed when the name Highbury was hi-jacked for cash, but you soon get used to it. The world changes, football is business, the FA talk about “the brand” and a bunch of previously deprived kids can now find a path to unimaginable riches – without even having to tackle – but at the end of the day John, it’s still a game. And we love it.
We might only get 4 Premiership kickoffs at 3pm on a Saturday, we might still wonder why one man in black is given the responsibilty to make a decision worth millions and we are all bought up to hate traffic wardens, but we’re still here, right?
The biggest (sic) indicator that the rumours of Ronaldo leaving Manchester United for Real Madrid this summer might actually have some substance. Is this what Carlos meant when he said that he hadn’t been made to feel part of the family? All he had to do was turn his head slightly. D’oh!
Hot on the heels of the Top 50 Highest Paid Footballers comes a list of the 25 most expensive transfers in world football up to 2009. Yes I know this will probably soon get muddled up when Man City sign Eto’o, or Super Cesc hops back to his native land, but for now, here are the most expensive transfers to date. Read the rest of this entry »
moreNB: See how you can watch the Ukraine vs England game on October 10th online for free!
I came across the following Top 50 salaries for footballers around the world (as at January 31st 2009) while browsing for something related. Although salaries are changing all the time ( I suspect Beckham’s new deal at AC Milan is probably right up there now), it’s very interesting. For example, I had no idea John Terry (£140,000) earns more a week than Ronaldo (£125,000) and was surprised to see Arshavin (£90,000) of Arsenal on the list bearing in mind their strict salary policy. No sign of Cesc on the list either.
Interestingly, Arshavin gets paid exactly the same weekly salary as Paul Scholes & Dimitar Berbatov (both Man Utd) and the two Chelsea strikers, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. Interesting because I would put them all roughly on the same plain in terms of class. And Michael Owen earns more than Robinho too! Now admittedly Robinho is a bit of a Homer, but stilll. Hmmm.
Less surprising to see a lot of Barcelona & Real Madrid players there – half of each team in fact – and probably also not surprising to see La Liga and the English Premiership dominating the list. Although I noted that Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan in Italy’s Serie A is top of the pile with close neighbour Kaka (AC Milan) and a few players from French side Lyon too.
Anyway, below is the full list (Source: Futebol Finance)….the top 50 highest paid footballers in the world. Try not to spill your beer whan you read it!
NB: If you live in the UK, you can use the TVSmash TV Listings site to receive advance email alerts whenever your favourite football team is on the telly! Read the rest of this entry »
moreI recently blogged about the scheduling of English Premier League fixtures and how the lure of TV money from around the world was potentially alienating the English footie fan. Well guess what?! This Saturday there is only one 3pm kick-off in the Premiership. Yup ONE! West Brom vs Hull! Wow. Can’t wait.
So a message to the FA: Screw you! Take your bloody Premier League, go get your millions and don’t worry about the fans. Like you did anyway – d’uh. I’m off out.
I’v always loved Saturdays. For years, it’s been footie day…from Noon through to 5pm it’s my “me time”! But more and more, Saturday premiership games are dwindling. 3 or 4 games at 3pm is not uncommon and often the smaller clubs. Speaking personally, I’m losing interest.
I guess the reason is money. The lucrative overseas markets mean many games get scheduled to times that suit those audiences. At the expense of the home Read the rest of this entry »
I take part in the FA Premier League Fantasy Football every year…if you haven’t tried it then you really must, it’s excellent and beats all other fantasy football games hands down. I’ve been playing this one for 5 years now, since it was run by a couple of guys off their own back and before the FAPL bought it over.
The thing I really like about this fantasy game is that there are few restrictions. While many games limit you to 1 or 2 subs and once you’ve made the changes, that’s it, you can spend hours on this one (if you feel so inclined) chopping and changing your team around every week. Every Friday I’m there, doing my subs, and every Saturday from 3pm to 5pm I have it open and watch the points accrue in real-time.
There are of course a number of tips I can offer if you play it (over 1,000,000 others do!) . So here are my Top 3…just don’t Read the rest of this entry »
This week’s heated media coverage over the broadcasting of the England football matches on Pay-TV channel Setanta raises an interesting sub-plot IMO. That of sport and the patriotic togetherness that International matches (in any sport) create is being sacrificed to make more people richer than they need to be.
I’ll be fair here though. If someone waved £10 million in my face and said I couldn’t wave the Union Jack anymore, I’d take it without a second thought. But then I don’t have something that the Nation wants! Probably.
I remember years ago, we used to sit in the pub and discuss who won the boxing, take an interest, get some mates together and often even watch it. Now? I haven’t heard anyone outside the media even mention it. I couldn’t begin to tell you who the big name fighters are now. I do know that Amir Khan fought on Saturday, and I found out a couple of days later he lost. No idea who to though. And all this is because Sky and whoever runs boxing these days charges £15 a pop to watch the fight. Quite simply, you’re either a big fan or you don’t bother, but I guess it’s become a minority sport now and the interest just isn’t Read the rest of this entry »