Other football

[bizzle10]

Carlton Cole. Who would have turned out in a Liverpool shirt if Hodgson had his way.

dark dark days

[Dr Nowt]

I eagerly await that ridiculous hog saying afterwards that West Ham losing tonight is only perception rather than reality.

[Elite]

No Booo's at the Emirates for a change.

[deiseach]

Luton promoted. Still hate the cunts.

[spider-neil]

4th + FA Cup = success

 

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Stickman]

Luton promoted. Still hate the cunts.

Me too and they still ain't paid for all those pies from 87 .

[Elite]

4th + FA Cup = success

 

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

To be fair, if you would have offered Liverpool that at the start of the season, most fans would have bit your arms off.

[Major Tom]

4th + FA Cup = success

 

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

As with everything, success is relative, and we would have happily called that success over the past few years.

[deiseach]

I'd consider any year you win the FA Cup to be a good year.

[Guest davelfc]

Carlton Cole. Who would have turned out in a Liverpool shirt if Hodgson had his way.

 

[scudger99]

Carlton Cole isn't fit to pick dog shite out from between the studs of any of our front line.

He personifies what that owl cunt would have turned us into.

Utter shite.

[Strontium]

I'd consider any year you win the FA Cup to be a good year.

Not sure we'd have called it a good year if we'd done what Wigan did last season.

 

But I take your point.

[dandyman]

Carlton Cole isn't fit to pick dog shite out from between the studs of any of our front line.

He personifies what that owl cunt would have turned us into.

Utter shite.

He should take Carlton cole to Brazil instead of studge, give him a good rest for next season (coughs- ***to defend our title*** )

[deiseach]

Not sure we'd have called it a good year if we'd done what Wigan did last season.

 

But I take your point.

Standard caveats apply.

[No2]

And therein lies the problem... you see City fan and can't see beyond that.

Ajax were having these issues before City.

Real Madrid's Galacticos were bankrolled way fore City too.

 

At least TRY and be objective about matters.

 

Of course the money's an issue, but you're kidding yourself if you think that PSG / City / Chelsea were to stop existing tomorrow, the problem would be cured. It wouldn't. 

 

The issue isn't those clubs, it's the knock on effect of CL and PL success that screamed for money to arrive into clubs.... now it has, UEFA are found wanting in how to deal with it in a proper manner.

 

Liverpool's own books haven't been pretty reading in recent years? is that the fault of other clubs? no. Is it Liverpool's fault? not entirely. It's a European wide problem affecting ALL clubs.

Players wages skyrocketed in line with PL TV rights. Sugar daddy owners are not helping the problem, but it's simply wrong to believe they are the cause. They are a symptom.

First of all I can see past city quite easily, in fact I hardly took any notice of them until the money rolled in. My beef with your original post was you comparing the sponsorship of a world renowned club by 2 reputable companies to a sheikh throwing money he was born into at a nothing club. Its chalk and cheese, not comparable in any shape or form. Two companies held accountable by shareholders and revenue/eu etc, they expect and demand value for money, the only time city's owners look for value for money is when their paying immigrant's pittance to build their country.

 

I'm not claiming city or chelsea ruined football but they certainly gave it a few boots up the hole, nor am I claiming that banning them will fix the problem. It would be a start though. Two examples I will use are 2 players I thought had great potential, jack rodwell and marko marin. Both young with their careers ahead of them and they where stock piled by clubs that have no respect for players or money. They have ruined them lads, they may well retire filthy rich but I'm sure if given the chance they would swap the 2m or 3m extra they earned for a chance to actually play football.

[Megadrive Man]

. Two examples I will use are 2 players I thought had great potential, jack rodwell and marko marin. Both young with their careers ahead of them and they where stock piled by clubs that have no respect for players or money. They have ruined them lads, they may well retire filthy rich but I'm sure if given the chance they would swap the 2m or 3m extra they earned for a chance to actually play football.

 

The saddest thing about the City takeover is that before it happened City were a club renowned for producing good young players, yet now it seems almost impossible to break through. 

[FanchesterCity]

Fans are hypocritical.... 

 

They say they want the youth to come through, but they aren't prepared to give them time... no matter which club, it's the same. Only when there's little option are fans a bit more tolerant, and even then the patience wears thin when things aren't going well.

 

It's a sad indictment of the modern game in general.

 

As for Rodwell, I'm absolutely sure he was bought with every intention of playing him, but he came with a track record of injuries, and I think City took the risk (hoping they could do something differently). They failed. He's had loads of injuries (as has Richards).

 

In City's defence, they've not truly stockpiled loads of players and loaned them out, they've sold them when it's not worked out. Sinclair / Johnson  being decent examples of that.

 

I find the modern game so incredibly fucked up...

 

City are slagged off for the money, but have the cheapest season tickets in the PL (and it's still too much for a lot of working class fans)

Arsenal are praised for their financial acumen, but their fans pay a huge price

United are praised for their global brand, but are owned via a leveraged buyout that helped the Glazers far more than their fans.

Leeds tried to make a fist of it in the CL and paid a seriously high price for attempting it

 

Football was fucked in the 80's, and it's fucked now. It just seems to be in a different hole that's all.

[FanchesterCity]

The saddest thing about the City takeover is that before it happened City were a club renowned for producing good young players, yet now it seems almost impossible to break through. 

 

That was donkey's years ago really. It was over long before the Sheik came in...

 

I kid you not, City were paying off debts from the late 70s / early 80's right up until the mid 2000s. That's what happens when you make (seemingly) small mistakes that turn out to be huge ones. 

Had G&H stayed much longer, it could have happened to you.

 

That's what's sad about the game. You can be a Ranger supporter and pay your season ticket money for 30 years, and then all of a sudden, your club is gone. Yet you did nothing any differently than a Man United supporter. The fans did nothing wrong. Liverpool fans did nothing wrong and had a near miss with G&H who make ALL the right noises when they came.

 

You just don't know what's around the corner. Just as City fans might think "how did THIS happen?", I'm sure Rangers fans are saying the same thing. Surely that's not good for the game?

[A_S]

Melbourne Heart, now owned by Manchester City, are applying to have their red-and-white stripes changed to sky blue. Sydney FC, who already play in and are known as the Sky Blues, are opposed to it.

 

Taking the term 'feeder club' to the extreme.

[Lee909]

Piece to go along with the money issues on Chelsea youth team. One of the CB is on 20k week and is nowhere near the first team. The money involved in football is at disgraceful levels.

 

 

 

 

Meet Andreas Christensen, the 18-year-old Chelsea defender on £20,000 a week who has never played for the first team... and won't do any time soon

 

At the Emirates on Thursday evening the highest-paid player in the history of the FA Youth Cup will play for Chelsea in the second leg of the semi-final against Arsenal.

 

Andreas Christensen, described as a ‘gazelle’ by pretty much anyone who has ever watched him play, turned 18 on April 10. He earns £20,000 a week and has not made a first team appearance.

 

Something, somewhere, is going wrong when youth team players are walking around with that kind of money.

 

One in a million: Christensen earns £20,000 a week despite never having played for the first team

 

Potential: Christensen is a classic ball-playing centre half and streets ahead of his contemporaries 

 

He is an exceptional young player, a maturing centre half with plenty of ability on the ball. No-one disputes his potential.

 

The former Denmark Under 17 star, who came off the bench for Chelsea’s Under 21 team in their 4-2 victory at Aston Villa on Monday evening, makes time for himself drives into midfield positions in the way classic, ball-playing centre halves can. At his level, he is streets ahead of his contemporaries.

 

On £1million a year you would think that it is only a matter of time before Christensen, one of the youth team's most important players who was signed from Danish club Brondby a couple of years back, is a first team star in waiting.

 

If only it was that straightforward.

 

He was an unused substitute in Rafa Benitez’s final game in charge against Everton last season, but the standards are high at Chelsea.

 

Wrong: Something has gone awry when youth teamers like Christensen are earning £1m a year

 

When they signed Christensen in 2011, they were feeling pretty pleased with themselves after fending off interest from European football’s leading clubs.

 

Manchester United and Manchester City hovered, but walked away when the money came rolling in from Chelsea. Barcelona went the same way when they were also outbid.

 

Ask around the game and everyone will tell you that Christensen is perhaps the biggest talent in European football for his age.

 

And yet, at the age of 18, there are still no guarantees.

 

Take a look at another Chelsea academy graduate, striker Islam Feruz. Three years ago Chelsea wanted him so badly they paid Celtic some heavy duty compensation to bring him south of the border.

 

Now 18, he is still at Chelsea, but word around the club is that he is unlikely to make it to the very highest level.

 

Not quite in the running: Christensen has been named in the first-team squad once

 

Patrick Bamford, scoring goals for fun at Derby (on £8,000 a week), is expected to travel with the first team when they play a series of friendlies in pre-season. He is one of 28 Chelsea players out on loan this year.

 

When top clubs - not just Chelsea, because there will be others who are just a culpable - are paying big sums of money to a youth team player it is time to re-assess.

 

There are people at Stamford Bridge who are not even sure that Christenen, who is already 6ft 1in, will make it as a first-team player.

 

The FA Youth Cup is often seen as a barometer by mainstream clubs in England and Chelsea have certainly established themselves as a powerful name in the competition.

 

When they won it in 2010, for the first time in 49 years, Chelsea were convinced that Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran, Fabio Borini, Gael Kakuta and Patrick van Aanholt would soon be filling first team berths.

 

Bruma, originally signed from Feyenoord, is now back in Holland with PSV Eindhoven.

 

McEachran, who was loved by Carlo Ancelotti, is with Wigan on loan. Last August, he turned down a loan move to Malaga and nobody ever expects him to play for Chelsea again, even though he earns a staggering £38,000 a week.

 

Borini left for Roma in 2011 and is now back in England with Sunderland; Kakuta is on loan with Lazio; van Aanholt, the left back, is on loan with Vitesse Arnhem and it says everything about his first team chances that Chelsea are in the mix for Luke Shaw.

 

Nemanja Matic played against Aston Villa that night and has since returned to Chelsea after a loan spell with Vitesse and three years under contract with Benfica.

 

Of the 2012 team who beat Blackburn 4-1 in the final, none of them are ready for the first team.

 

Nathaniel Chalobah, the Youth Cup final-winning captain, was on loan at Watford last season and was watched in the play-off final by Jose Mourinho. He is now on loan at Middlesbrough.

 

As things stand the five players who stand the best chance at Chelsea are Christensen, Bamford, Nathan Ake, plus midfielders Lewis Baker and John Swift. Next season they are likely to be sent out on loan.

 

John Terry, who continues to captain the club, signed a professional contract with Chelsea in 1998 and remains the last player to successfully come through the youth academy and establish himself as a first-team regular.

 

Even on £20,000 a week, it feels like a long way off.

 

 

[PestiRed]

I can't wait for Putin to turn on Abramovich and watch all of this collapse. Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. Mourinho has spent £115m so far and constantly whinges that he inherited a shit team and needs money this summer. Coaching through some talent from the vast player resource at his disposal is apparently beyond him.

 

And he plays shite football

[Dr Nowt]

Having watched a lot of True Detective recently, I am now haunted by the prospect of Chelsea beating us to sneak the league.  That would be the real 'Carcosa'.  'Dark stars'; that one's obvious.  'The King In Yellow'; a reference to Mourinho's clothes stinking of piss now he looks like a tramp.  It's all there if you would but look!

 

All I can do is imagine Rodgers butting the toxic little rat 3 or 4 times in the face before blowing the top corner of his head off.  That's all.

[Tyler Durden]

They should bring in a blanket cap in wages for under 21s, that might help players develop a bit more before jumping ship for big money. You can't blame them really when clubs are throwing crazy figures at you when your 18. Might also bring some of the clubs transfer/wage spending under control.

[Ne Moe Imya]

I actually like the way Chelsea has their youth team set up (speaking as a Liverpool fan).

 

They have some absolutely frightening talent in that academy; they mention 5 players there who might have a chance of someday playing for their first team without including the best 16-year old I've seen since Messi, a little genius named Jeremie Boga who tore our U21s to absolute shreds last season.

 

However, there's virtually no chance he'll ever play for their first team, so none of it matters.  If they had a manager like Rodgers (without the pressure from Abramovich to constantly spend money) they would be terrifying, as it is it's a very good thing for us that they're run in such a way as to waste all that money and talent.  None of those players will ever get into their team ahead of the 3 or 4 £20m players ahead of them.

 

Try to imagine a scenario where John Flanagan or even Sterling would be playing for Chelsea right now.  No chance.  Flanagan they'd have cut ties with 3 years ago and Sterling would be floundering on loan at Vitesse giving come-and-get-me interview pleas to the likes of West Ham.

[Trumo]

Since the current chat on this thread is about spending and wages, here's an interesting little article.

 

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1787462/manchester-city-players-best-paid-world-sport-according-espn-sporting-intelligence-survey?cc=5739

 

 

Man City pay sport's highest wages

 

Manchester City have been revealed as the best-paid team in world sport in a survey conducted by Sporting Intelligence and ESPN the Magazine.

 

The Capital One Cup winners’ first-team players earn on average $8.1 million (5.3 million pounds) per year, putting them just ahead of two baseball teams, the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

 

City’s overall team payroll, of 202 million dollars, is the third highest, behind the Yankees and the Dodgers, who spent 241 million dollars on salaries, but the 2012 Premier League champions’ average income is the highest.

 

It represents a 256 percent increase in salaries over the last five years at the Etihad Stadium, although the mean wage for a first-team player only rose 0.6 percent in the 2012-13 season.

Their biggest earners that year, when they were runners-up in the Premier League and the FA Cup and failed to get out of the Champions League group stages, included Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, David Silva and Yaya Toure.

 

The survey comes at a time when City’s finances are under scrutiny amid reports they will fail UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations, although the club are confident they will pass the test.

 

After City, the football clubs with the highest average salaries are Real Madrid and Barcelona, where players’ incomes of  $7.58 million and $7.44 million respectively put them fourth and fifth in the sporting world, while Bayern Munich are seventh.

 

Manchester United are the second Premier League club to feature on the list. They stood eighth after the average wage went up to $6.56 million per year when they acquired Robin van Persie.

 

However, Chelsea dropped two places to 10^th on the list after a three percent reduction in the average wage to $6.05 million.

 

Arsenal, at $5.92 million per player, were ranked 11^th while the current league leaders Liverpool, at $5.17 million, were only 20^th.

 

Wigan, who won the FA Cup and were relegated last season, had the lowest average payroll of any Premier League club in 2012-13, with wages of $1.75 million per player putting them 166^th in the table.

 

The survey took into account 294 teams in seven sports, across 15 leagues and 12 countries, and covered 8,663 sportsmen who earned a total of 16.15 billion dollars between them.