This nonsense needs to stop.

Hopefully, the new UEFA rules will mean that they can't just build a super team.

The financial fair play rules couldn't come any sooner.

Benitez was a good manager up until about 3 years ago, then he lost the plot with all the goings on at Liverpool. Inter appointing him was a joke, and was only ever going to end in disaster.

Would like Capello to go to Inter, and Harry to do the dirty on the Scum. Not because I think Redknapp's a particularly good manager, although he's not bad, but more because it would be hilarious to see the reaction form the Scum fans. Hilarious I tells ya.

Dream outcome would be Fat Sam ending up at the Scum! Or Chris Hughton, he's one of there's! 😆

The dream outcome for me is Spurs doing well in the Champions League, making noise about it, and then sobering up to realize they've finished the season in a UEFA Cup place/

The newspapers are mad. How can a player who struggles to get into the starting line-up ahead of an inconsistent Song and an 18 year old be worth 8 figures? There should be logic to rumors. If someone said Steve Bruce would like to stump 5 million pounds for Denilson, I could buy that.

😆 Fat Sam managing Tottenham. That'd be fucking mint.

Lol. That's not happening.

I reckon Sam's best bet is to wait for one of Leeds, Cardiff or QPR to be promoted, and join them. All of the clubs should have sufficient money to allow him to get some decent transfers in. It would give him an opportunity to allow him to re-invent himself. He must know by now that he will not get the England or Real Madrid jobs as long as he is considered a master of medieval football.

I'm in the wrong business, I should be a football manager. I could follow Benitez & Pardew's example and fail upwards. Get a job, get the sack, get the pay-out, get a better job, get the sack, and on, and on...

Ferguson says van der Sar will retire at the end of the season. Another Taibi please!

They've already signed Anders Lindegaard.

Presumably he'll be #1 next year.

That's the #2 to Roy Carroll aint it?

Good stuff.

Is that for real, Capi? It's fuckin mental if it is.

Benitez: "Back me or sack me".
Moratti:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/856929?cc=3436

Roy Hodgson wrote:

When asked if he would have pursued Cole if he had arrived at Anfield earlier, Hodgson replied: "It's a difficult one for me to answer. I was involved in the discussion with him, but the initiative and the desire to take Joe did come from Christian perhaps more so than myself because I wasn't in the position to say these are the players we should be targeting as I hadn't been offered the job at that point.

"I played my part in persuading him it was a good move, but I made it clear I couldn't promise him a certain position. I made it very clear Steven Gerrard was staying, and the competition for the one spot, if it was the one spot he wanted, was going to be very tough.

"He's not so much a player I can really take responsibility for. I'd have to share the responsibility for Joe, less so than for people like [Christian] Poulsen, [Raul] Meireles and [Paul] Konchesky, who are players I was quite happy to bring to the club."

Hodgson needs to stop making excuses (or talking about these issues altogether) and start taking responsibility. This constant buck-passing about how Liverpool is not "his" team is pathetic.

It's a bit of a shame things have worked out so badly for him, I really liked his Fulham side.

Still, his fault for joining the fucking scousers!

I think, Hodgson has been an unmitigated disaster at Liverpool and I hope that their owners continue with him for as long as possible in the name of stability before the inevitable happens. Liverpool fans are actually right on wanting him gone. To think that his name was suggested as someone who could do a better job than Wenger because he made the most of a "limited team" sounds very funny now.

He isn't even that nice a person anymore under pressure and made snide comments on how their must be a reason why Rijkaard got sacked by Galatasaray etc which is quite unlike his perceived persona. Benitez was a disaster in his last season, made mistakes throughout his tenure, played the fans, constantly whinged and took attention away from his own deficiencies, was a poor man manager, but despite all this he was still much better than Hodgson.

Captain wrote:

give it 35 seconds.

That is priceless 😆

5 days later

From what I read this morning, City are getting Dzeko.

Shame. He's quality.

This Abu Dhabi largess is now becoming annoying. We thought we were done with this Football Manager-style ownership when Roman insisted on sustainability at Chelsea. They have an amazing squad already, and can just keep adding more quality.

I can only take solace in the fact that they can't play Dzeko, Tevez and Balotelli simultaneously. And even if they could, Mancini's head would explode at the thought of not being able to field 8 defensive midfielders.

Never really been all that impressed with him. Although his game does look like it will suit the Premier League.

For me it's yet another player City will be adding to their squad who's good, perhaps even very good, but not world class, one of the very best players in the world level of player.

I don't think they have one player who fits that bracket. United have 2 or 3, Chelsea have 3 or 4, and we have 2 or 3 ourselves - and I think that's still where City fall short.

Tevez. I don't see how people can argue he isn't world class tbh. Silva is close to becoming a top player as well, and so is Yaya Toure in their respective positions, not to mention Hart...

Tevez is as close as I think they have. Silva is way too inconsistent, just doesn't directly impact games often enough either. Hart, no way, not even close - he has a long way to go. Yaya Toure hasn't been anywhere near that sort of level since about 2 or 3 seasons ago.

I'm talking Fabregas, Essien, Vidic, Rooney (before he turned to shit), Drogba, A.Cole, Terry, Vermaelen, Sagna, Lampard, van Persie - I think only Tevez has a chance of belonging on that list.

If Tevez is not world class, I don't know what is.

Silva is definitely in the next level of player (below the Tevez, Fabregas, Vidic types) which imight include the likes of Nasri

What they do have though are a lot of guys in the level immediately below that (probably equivalent to our Sagna).

something like
level 1) Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi. (that's a full stop)
level 2) Iniesta, David Villa, Eto'o, Sneijder, Fabregas, Tevez, etc
level 3) Nasri, Silva, etc
level 4) Sagna, etc
(lol)

12 days later

Former Kettering Town midfielder Richard Butcher, currently playing for Macclesfield Town, has died at age of 29. Shocking, and terrible news. That club hasn't had much luck over the past couple of years.

7 days later

Darren Bent to Villa as good as done apparently

Interesting to see that - could be a good deal for both parties.

Bent is a very good striker at that level, and will be very valuable to Villa - their current lot are goal-shy at best. Sunderland will need to replace him, but Gyan is doing well for them, so he could pick up some of the burden.

I suppose with Villa struggling it makes a certain amount of sense for them, but he's hardly a bargain at 16m. At best he'll prove adequate value. Looks more like the kind of transfer O'Neill would go for, not Houllier. A club with limited resources is never going to get higher than 5th to 8th with transfers like that.

He's not a bargain, but not all good signings are - he's got a great goalscoring track-record in this league, not always for particularly good teams, and Villa badly lack a striker.

Signing someone like that could make more sense for them than punting £10m on a foreign player who may or may not succeed.

£18 million rising to £24 million apparently. That's steep.

Of course it's very expensive, but as Asa said, Villa need a striker and desperately. You can't really knock Bent's goalscoring record wherever he's been and if he saves them from relegation (which I reckon he will) then that price is fair enough really. I think he'll be a good signing for them.

Stevo reckons it £10M plus Stephen Ireland - that's a good deal if true.

They could very well end up with Kyle Walker (on loan), John Makoun, Charlie Adam, and Darren Bent, for an outlay of £20-25M. Would be a great window for them.

Yep, I can definitely see them winning the Championship next season.