Yeah, that is what worries me.

And I can't get a feel as to whether their signings have been good enough. They struck me as a sum is greater than the parts team last year as well, and all this turnover can't be good for that.

I can see a repeat of the Ipswich situation, brilliant first season and then freefall, thou they are marginally better then Reading/Sheffield United/Watford so maybe they'll stay up.

That sounds like the realistic assessment. But If I'm going to root for them, I'll have to hope for the best. Along those lines - it was pretty clear even last season that they really didn't belong on the top of the table, they kept getting spanked by the top teams. They just did a good job picking up points against the middle and lower sides. If they can do that again....

And otherwise I'll spend my time rooting for anyone who is <> Chelsea.

Carricks gone

For 18M thats nutty money. Ah well at least Spurs have thinned out what used to be a seriously crowded midfield. What players does Jol have his eye on now that he can splash the cash?

Looks like the Carrick money has been earmarked.

http://www.football365.com/news/story_189728.shtml

They'd be good buys.

Yeah, a Right back, and a left winger is what we need right now. We still have quite a surplus in centre midfield though.
The money we are getting for Carrick is silly money, but the guy only seems to be motivated by money. And getting rid of him now is the best thing, so we dont have another Cumbell situation.

my brother just saw the bayern munich team in Japan today/yesterday depending on your time zone

he said oliver kahn looked very imposing... but not as tall as he imagined...

[img]http://www.myejournal.net/japan/media/berühmtedeutsche/kahn.jpg[/img]

So how much of a problem is this for Tottenham?

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... 51&cc=5739

"Tottenham captain Ledley King will miss the start of the season and faces up to eight weeks out of action due to a knee injury"

King is a pretty influential man in the Spurs set-up but they do have decent cover. Oh how I wish for the pre-Jol days when Tottenham were a defensive shambles.

Not too much of a problem I hope, he missed the start of last season . . . and the end of last season. We didnt fare too badly without him.

To be honest we were pretty dire. Doherty at CB I remember them days

The judge in the Italian appeal trial was a former attorney for firms like TIM and Capitalia, who (not so) incidentally are sponsors of some of the teams involved in the scandal. The consumer association tries to get his softer verdict nullified. They have my support...

Something I would like to know, (Levy?) How did the Bayern fans/board react to Ballack deciding to let his contract run itself out and leave on a free, when a year or two earlier the team could have got over £20million pounds for him?

Well, the management badmouthed him through the end of last season, which let to many fans booing him during his final game for Bayern. They were sore losers in that regard.

Ahh. I can sympathize somewhat with the board/fans then. We had a similar situation a few years ago with Sol Campbell. Well kind of similar, but Campbell promised he would stay/sign a new contract. He never did and left to our most hated rival, Arsenal. He is very hated

Well even thou I'd agree that Campbell is a very greedy little man I do think that amount of abuse he got was uncalled for. Same with cases of Barca and Real Madrid players switching I think the vitriol gets a little out of hand.

I mean I love football (and Arsenal ) but its only a game at the end of the day, and while the players will fade out in the end, the club you support will always remain.

The Ashley Cole saga continues

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1703 ... 88,00.html

The sooner they sell him the sooner Arsenal can look for a decent replacement. Just sell him already Arsene.

Viera is set to move to Inter:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/s ... index.html

Thank God for that. I was afraid Man United would snap him up. I'm sure Ferguson would have as well if he wasn't financially cripplied.

By the way, I just heard on the radio that the #1 single in France right now is Cour de Bout, which is French for headbutt. It's a Zidane parody song, some guys created it out of boredom on their PCs a couple days after the World Cup, and then it exploded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWAJhUNj ... de%20boule

brilliant. so tacky.

Carp.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... 60&cc=5739



Hopefully they will follow through on the promise to insure the situation can't recur.