Will we finish in the top 4?

[Guest TK-421]

If we keep Alonso we will win the league, if we sell him we will struggle securing automatic CL football.

 

How does Xabi's poop taste today?

[Brownie]

Without a shadow of a doubt. If we buy the correct player(s) this summer and Gerrard/Torres can stay fit then we'll win it, IMO.

[hamstrung]

Pretty sure we had this thread last summer, during one of the annual two week transfer window panics.

[wiiksie]

If we keep Alonso we will win the league, if we sell him we will struggle securing automatic CL football.

You are insane. No player in the top 4 is worth the 27 points difference between 5th and 1st.

[Guest TK-421]

You are insane. No player in the top 4 is worth the 27 points difference between 5th and 1st.

 

If I read it correctly it means struggle to finish 2nd, i.e automatic CL qualification. So Alonso would be the difference between 1st and borderline 2nd/3rd. Still an odd thing to say, basing the future success of the club on one player.

[Code]

If I read it correctly it means struggle to finish 2nd, i.e automatic CL qualification. So Alonso would be the difference between 1st and borderline 2nd/3rd. Still an odd thing to say, basing the future success of the club on one player.

 

The top 3 gets automatic CL qualification now while the 4th placed team will be up against some rather tough opponents in the qualifiers.

 

The UEFA Champions League, UEFA's most prestigious club competition, will undergo a series of significant changes from 2009/10 following a decision from the UEFA Executive Committee in November 2007.

 

The main points are:

 

• No changes to the format of the main competition, which will still involve 32 teams, split into eight groups of four in the group stage, followed by the knockout phase. The eight teams that finish the groups in third place cross over into the knockout phase of the new UEFA Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup.

 

• The 2009/10 access list has been changed according to the following principles: 22 teams (21 teams + the titleholder) qualify directly for the group phase instead of 16. The three national associations with the highest UEFA coefficient ranking will each have three teams who gain automatic entry to the group stage, with the countries ranked 4 to 6 in the standings having two automatic qualifiers and the associations ranked 7 to 12 having one.

 

• As from the 2009/10 season onwards, there will be four qualifying rounds (including a play-off round), to be played in home-and-away ties, to complete the 32 participants in the UEFA Champions League group stage. There are two qualifying routes; the Champions Path and the Best-placed Path.

 

• Champions Path: The first qualifying round comprises three two-legged ties involving the champions of the countries ranked 48 to 53 in UEFA competition. The winners of those ties progress to the second qualifying round where they are joined by the champions of the 31 countries ranked 16 to 47 (except Liechtenstein). The victorious sides from those 17 ties join the champions from the associations ranked 13 to 15 in the third qualifying round, with the winners of those ten pairings reaching the play-off round. These five play-off ties will take place on a home-and-away basis with the winners qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

 

• Best-placed Path: The third-placed side from the sixth-ranked member association, plus the runners-up from the associations ranked 7 to 15, start the competition in the third qualifying round. The winners of these five ties progress to the play-off round, where they are joined by the fourth-placed sides from the associations ranked 1 to 3 and the third-placed teams from the associations ranked 4 and 5. The victorious teams from the five play-off ties qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

 

• Teams from the Champions Path and the Best-Placed Path cannot meet in UEFA Champions League qualifying.

 

• The losing team from each of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round ties will go into the UEFA Europa League play-offs.

 

• The losing team from each of the UEFA Champions League play-off ties will go into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

 

• The team who finishes in third position in each of the UEFA Champions League groups goes into the UEFA Europa League Round of 32. The four best third-ranked teams will be seeded for the Round of 32 with the group winners of the UEFA Europa League group stage.

 

• The matches in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round will be split over four weeks instead of two, using dates reserved for the UEFA club competition in February and March to maximise live match opportunities.

 

• The final is to be played on a Saturday, with kick-off time at 20.45 CET.

 

• The UEFA Champions League play-off rounds will be centrally marketed by UEFA in accordance with the concept already used for the group stage.

 

uefa.com - UEFA Champions League

[Guest TK-421]

Thanks, I didn't know the specifics of the new rules.

 

Do you think Alonso is the difference between three league placings? I love Xabi and don't want him to leave but if he does go life will carry on!

[Trucker Paddy]

We will next season, but after that i'd doubt it, Hicks And Gillete will sell off major players if there here in 12 months time, and as long as we stay in the premier league they'll stay.

[Code]

Thanks, I didn't know the specifics of the new rules.

 

Do you think Alonso is the difference between three league placings? I love Xabi and don't want him to leave but if he does go life will carry on!

 

Off course I do, if not why else would I want to keep him.

[Kevin D]

Pretty sure we had this thread last summer, during one of the annual two week transfer window panics.

 

Agreed. We are staying up , said we are staying up.

[King Emlyn]

Obviously things can change quickly, but the way things are looking at the minute i can honestly only see Liverpool falling away. The chance to grasp the nettle was presented two years ago and we (Moores) blew it massively. It's my opinion that Liverppol football club has been destroyed by David Moores's and Rick Parry's naked greed.

[Guest TK-421]

Off course I do, if not why else would I want to keep him.

 

I don't know, but I can't see one player having such an impact.

 

By the same token will Real Madrid win la Liga if they sign Xabi?

[Code]

I don't know, but I can't see one player having such an impact.

 

By the same token will Real Madrid win la Liga if they sign Xabi?

 

They will have a better chance than if they dont.

[Hermes]

I remember a similar poll this time last year decrying our lack of spending, we ended up being the 4th highest spenders in the world during that season.

 

The time to assess our squads and the opposition squads is 1st September, not one week after the transfer window opens.

[Hermes]

Anyone who says no is a big woman!

 

 

"Ifithadnabeenfortheredshite":

 

[meijer 09]

what a ridiculous thread we'll finish in the top one

[Catch22]

I remember a similar poll this time last year decrying our lack of spending, we ended up being the 4th highest spenders in the world during that season.

 

The time to assess our squads and the opposition squads is 1st September, not one week after the transfer window opens.

 

 

This isn't the Daily Mail- England isn't the world, you know.....

 

We were the 4th highest spenders in our cold,little island & the world also contains those dastardly foreigners in places like Barca or Madrid

[Hermes]

This isn't the Daily Mail- England isn't the world, you know.....

 

We were the 4th highest spenders in our cold,little island & the world also contains those dastardly foreigners in places like Barca or Madrid

 

The world:

 

The largest investments in players 2008/2009: Football Finance

[Yozzer]

Of course we'll finish in the top 4, City are gonna be languishing mid-table by the end of the season (2-3 players doesn't win you the league incase they haven't noticed). IMO we will again fight for the title and win on the last day with a 4-1 at Old Trafford with Dossena scoring a beautiful lob - unless he's gone which in that case Lucas can score the lob!

[Unrighteous]

I think we'll finish top 4. We might challenge for the league but we seriously need to strengthen the squad.

[Catch22]

The world:

 

The largest investments in players 2008/2009: Football Finance

 

You know full well that is turnover-based which is meaningless unless you consider sales.

 

You also know full well that wages dwarf fees paid since the Bosman ruling.

They are recurring & of a much higher magnitude.

 

Why quote obscure internet publications with no reputation & limited skills when a major accountancy firm does an annual report?

 

No-one has yet found fault with Deloitte's numbers & they have had us 4th in turnover & 4th in spending in England every year Rafa has been here.

[Hermes]

No-one has yet found fault with Deloitte's numbers & they have had us 4th in turnover & 4th in spending in England every year Rafa has been here.

 

Spending? Really? show us the figures. Or any other publication that shows it. You won't find one, anywhere. Because it isn't true.

[rondeco]

Net spend is about to rear it's ugly head..

[Catch22]

Spending? Really? show us the figures. Or any other publication that shows it. You won't find one, anywhere. Because it isn't true.

 

The BBC article on it

BBC NEWS | Business | Premier League 'defies downturn'

 

The original Deloitte link

Deloitte's Annual Review of Football Finance 2009 - Safety in numbers - Deloitte LLP

 

You can buy a full copy for £60 using any student friend you have- it will save you many more times than that at the Bookies!

 

All the infomation it collates is from legal accounts filed at Companies House- you could go thru them individually yourself if you want

 

There are links there to every other season as well.

 

These links have been posted many times- Kop started a thread on them this year as well.

 

The only possibility that they ae wrong is that a club in the list is practicising an Enron style fraud in which case people will go to jail.

 

Other than that they are definitive & accepted as such by everyone involved in the football industry clubs,agents, gamblers etc.

 

If Rafa is as poor a boss as you make out, you should be able to use the correct numbers & still make a case against him.

[Juan Galonso]

The BBC article on it

BBC NEWS | Business | Premier League 'defies downturn'

 

The original Deloitte link

Deloitte's Annual Review of Football Finance 2009 - Safety in numbers - Deloitte LLP

 

You can buy a full copy for £60 using any student friend you have- it will save you many more times than that at the Bookies!

 

All the infomation it collates is from legal accounts filed at Companies House- you could go thru them individually yourself if you want

 

There are links there to every other season as well.

 

These links have been posted many times- Kop started a thread on them this year as well.

 

The only possibility that they ae wrong is that a club in the list is practicising an Enron style fraud in which case people will go to jail.

 

Other than that they are definitive & accepted as such by everyone involved in the football industry clubs,agents, gamblers etc.

 

If Rafa is as poor a boss as you make out, you should be able to use the correct numbers & still make a case against him.

 

In laymans terms what does that post mean Catch?