Football

Funny? Everton?

Obviously no Everton fans are privy to Photoshop

Looks as though we are gonna take Patrick Bamford on loan until the end of the season. I know he's been scoring for fun in League One, but do Chelsea fans really think he will be a top striker?

Forest reject >>>>>>>>>

That's not really true though is it. Chelsea poached him for a small sum and have loaned him to MK dons since then for first team experience. He's obviously too good for League 1 now. Some of your lot are getting their knickers in a twist on Twitter about it...

Pony watches, shit haircuts, ostentatious sportscars, tanned up peroxide dollies, studded ripped Italian jeans, full sleeve tattoo's.....

Now it's 'the quenelle' footballers are going batshit over:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/10542383/Samir-Nasri-and-Mamadou-Sakho-pictured-performing-same-controversial-quenelle-gesture-as-Nicolas-Anelka.html

Seems they're all at it

My initial gist of this was anti zionism =/= anti semitism

#whats the deal?

Something along those lines I think. Pretty much all of those involved have the same religious background.

So, this Batshuyai matey that us and Arsenal are sniffing around. Never heard of him....any good?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-plot-transfer-michy-batshuayi-2968191

From the YouTube clip he looks quite tasty but most of it stems from wank defending

'Irregardless'? Really? Up there with 'hence why'...

Yup...it's used to add emphasis nothing more nothing less.

Thank you for your contribution

Transfer window opens imminently. Whats going to happen?

Have you seen who Liverpool are after in January?

Everton

I'll get me coat

City best XI :-

Hart

Zabaleta
Kompany
Nastasic
Kolarov

Nasri
Fernandinho
Yaya Toure
Silva

Aguero
Negredo

Can swap Clichy for Kolarov and Nasri for Navas as required.

What....no Milner or Rodwell?

#snigger

Milner is a fine player, but not quite starting XI, he'd get in pretty much any other prem team though. Rodwell is good when fit, but I suspect Pellegrini doesn't rate him.

RIP Gerald Mortimer.

Absolutely top bloke, he was and always will be an important part of DCFC history. I remember sitting in the Derby Telegraph newsroom as a kid if my mum couldn't get hold of a child minder when she had to work and I would always go over to the sportsdesk and talk at him about football until he told me to fuck off. It wouldn't take long as he had a short temper and I can be an annoying cunt. He always had the inside scoop and probably knew more about what was going on at the club than many of the staff at times. They don't make journos like him anymore.

nice rob

I see Eto'o has apologised for that tackle... he's got more stones than Maureen

Anyone else seen this snippet about Bolton being £163m odd in debt and blaming it on the drop out of the premiership, falling advertising and sponsorship revenue.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/31/bolton-wanderer-record-debts-163m-relegation

Thinking any club that is on the mid table/ bubble or the promotion/relegation yoyo, needs to think seriously about relegation clauses in contracts, guaranteeing revenue whatever league you are in, and live within their means, so that falling out of the premiership doesn't break you financially.

Or is that too depressing, should chairmen only think about staying in the premiership at all costs, rather than planning for the day that they may drop out of it?

Anyone else seen this snippet

Nah, don't need to read the Guardian - you do that for us.

There are numerous examples of what happens to clubs when they drop out the prem and the money dries up. Portsmouth may be the most severe, with Leeds coming close to liquidation too at one point. Realistically, if you don't bounce back within the first year then you are fucked and you need to act quickly to survive within your own means in the championship.

West Brom yoyo'd for a few seasons before becoming a bit more stable. Newcastle and West Ham are examples of bouncing back by keeping the nucleus of your Prem squad together and taking a big financial hit for a season to make sure of a quick return. Wigan and QPR have tried to do that this season with differing results. Wigan have a large squad by championship standards, due to wanting to compete in the Europa league, but their league results have been poor. QPR started well, but the wheels seem to be falling off and 'Arry will undoubtedly spend whatever he can get his hands on in January.

We have been back in the champ for 6 seasons now and are only just showing that we have what it takes to push for promotion again. The bounce back was never on with the shite squad we had when relegated. Players jumped ship and we had to strip our assets down and be crude with transfers and contracts. It's been a rocky ride, but we've stuck with it and it might finally pay off.

Some other clubs have wannabe oligarch chairmen who can't quite afford a prem team, but think they can throw money at a tinpot club and the shit will stick and they can get promoted. It has sort of worked for Cardiff and this is what happened at QPR when they got promoted, but the stability will never be there as the crazy businessmen chairmen seem to think they have paid enough for a push at European football straightaway.

There is talk that Leicester's money men may pull out if they don't get promoted this year leading to several of their main players entering the final 6 months of their contracts in January. They really need to go up this year. I'm sure they aren't the only ones in that situation.

TL;DR: if you don't bounce straight back up, it seems wiser to reduce costs rather than keep throwing money at a team that is underachieving.

I've just realised that I've answered a boring Corny post with an even more boring post. Apologies.

So, this Batshuyai matey that us and Arsenal are sniffing around. Never heard of him....any good?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-plot-transfer-michy-batshuayi-2968191

From the YouTube clip he looks quite tasty but most of it stems from wank defending

Kristof Terreur gives his verdict here

I believe that if there is a buyout clause in his contract that low, then it's crazy to not give it a go but would that be a fair chunk of Evertons likely transfer kitty?

I liked it.

You should try this style more often Rob.

What Phil Gartside is conveniently ignoring is that Bolton were already massively in debt before they were relegated after years of living beyond their means in the Premiership, chasing European places with BFS and paying out big wages for players like Campo when in reality they should have been building slowly with the money they had at the time. Relegation was obviously going to be catastrophic in such a case even with parachute payments and a massively reduced wage bill.

I'm sure Stoke could be in a similar position should they be relegated.

Roboto,

Would read again. More than one way to get back to the promised premiership land..

Don't know how reliable a source this is, but i just though i'd leave this here for pisti's enjoyment…

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2013/12/30/number-crunch-the-best-and-worst-of-english-league-football-in-2013-301201/