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2010-2011 Football Thread

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Fizzoid said:
Looks like another American will be joining the EPL :)
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Bradley is one of USA's better players, I think he's Premier League quality. Gladbach really can't afford to get rid of him, though, as takao pointed out.

Fizzoid said:
So, a £30m bid from Liverpool for Carroll, with rumours now circulating of an improved offer. Bearing in mind he's currently injured and out for a while, that's a strong bid considering David Villa only cost Barca about €40m
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daneoni said:
£35m for an injured Carroll? even if it is largely coming out of Romanski's pocket that is still insane! Thats more than Tevez, Dzeko, Suarez, Villa & Berbatov!
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It's too much. It's the stupid "English player surcharge". Obviously the high valuation is mostly based on potential rather than proven numbers, he could turn out to be a huge performer but Kenny & Damien are taking a big, expensive gamble here. This is not necessarily good value for money, though Carrol & Suarez looks like a pretty solid pair on paper. Only time will tell (assuming the move goes through). EDIT: Looks like Newcastle have accepted the £35 million bid for Carroll. Oof, that is a lot of money for an injured young headcase of a striker...

I understand why Liverpool are making the move though. I think they were somewhat blindsided by Torres' transfer request (though I imagine they suspected this might happen), but Torres is worth so much that they might be able to turn the move to Liverpool's advantage. We get Suarez and Carroll for £8 million or so when you factor in the Torres money, which means the owners still have plenty of transfer money left for the summer to pick up a midfielder, a defender or two and a goalkeeper (I worry about Reina staying now :eek: ).

It's a gamble, but it might work out. The bottom line is, if Torres wants to go, all we can do is make the best deal possible for him and then spend the money effectively.

Silencio said:
£35m for Carroll? I guess nobody's laughing about Darren Bent's deal anymore. Crazy business, especially when their squad has so many other needs as you say.
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Meanwhile, £30 million man (in 2002) Rio Ferdinand has been agreeing with you about insane transfer prices on Twitter. Or maybe he's just sour about losing his status as the most expensive English player. ;)

Silencio said:
Charlie Adam to United? Hmm. He would go from being The Man to just another squad player, albeit one who decidedly would strengthen United's midfield. He'd definitely jump ahead of Gibson and Carrick in the pecking order on current form. United have been so poor at set pieces for a while, his deliveries would be a big upgrade there.
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United's midfield is so average at the moment that a slightly above average player could slot in and make a good contribution. Heck, if Jimmy Bullard didn't have dodgy knees I could even see him playing there. United's back four look even more impressive this season when you consider how little protection they get from their midfield. As long as Rio & Co continue playing well back there, they seem easy favorites for the title though.
 
Ah, Lord Blackadder, you're still reticent to get enthusiastic I see. This is the beginning of the Liverpool Renaissance. You'll win the title in the next two or three years I'll wager. Or at least finish higher than Man Utd because Arsenal will win all the titles. ;)

Lord Blackadder said:
Meanwhile, £30 million man (in 2002) Rio Ferdinand has been agreeing with you about insane transfer prices on Twitter. Or maybe he's just sour about losing his status as the most expensive English player. ;)
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Some big money moves have been total flops. Most so-so, get their money back on resale. But some have been really smart. Rio's been well worth it for Man Utd I reckon. He's pretty much their lynchpin, whenever he's out injured they are beatable. Other big buys have also paid off like Shearer. And whoever buys Bale will get their money's worth too. In regards to the 'English premium' on the prices, they make up for it in shirt sales etc, which is something Liverpool will need until they build a new larger ground.

Oop, it's done. BBC saying Torres is going to Chelsea. Let's consider that - he'll be partnered with Drogba or Anelka? Will Lampard be better for him than Gerrard?

And Chelsea have just forked over £25m for Luiz. Roman's blowing through his savings account like he owns an oil well...
 
awmazz said:
Ah, Lord Blackadder, you're still reticent to get enthusiastic I see. This is the beginning of the Liverpool Renaissance. You'll win the title in the next two or three years I'll wager. Or at least finish higher than Man Utd because Arsenal will win all the titles. ;)
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I sincerely hope you're right. In the meantime, I'll let you be the enthusiast and I'll play the secretly hopeful skeptic. ;)

awmazz said:
Some big money moves have been total flops. Most so-so, get their money back on resale. But some have been really smart. Rio's been well worth it for Man Utd I reckon. He's pretty much their lynchpin, whenever he's out injured they are beatable.
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I agree. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Rio Ferdinand is Alex Ferguson's most important player.

awmazz said:
Oop, it's done. BBC saying Torres is going to Chelsea. Let's consider that - he'll be partnered with Drogba or Anelka? Will Lampard be better for him than Gerrard?
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I can hear the dull sound of an epic Anelka sulk beginning as we speak. This seems to indicate that Drogba will be Torres' partner. ;)

awmazz said:
And Chelsea have just forked over £25m for Luiz. Roman's blowing through his savings account like he owns an oil well...
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By the way, what the hell happened to EUEFA's fiscal control rules?
 
Lord Blackadder said:
The extra "E" was for "eedjits". ;)
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How may do Fifa get?

Lord Blackadder said:
True, but won't this expenditure still be on the books next season? I doubt all the money will be paid up front.
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They've got to break even over the following three seasons. Don't worry though, I'm sure there will be plenty of loopholes to help the big spenders fiddle their balance sheets. :rolleyes:
 
I suspect this is why there were sticking points negotiating his contract, ie £150,000 a year instead of £220,000 and taking the rest as 'image rights' in an annual payment. I suspect 'image rights' payments can come from outside the club where UEFA has no fiscal control.

I imagine you'll see every salary cap trick in the book being deployed in the next few years. And eventually some clubs getting caught and punished for it, like happened here in Australia with the rugby league champions caught running two sets of books.
 
OllyW said:
They've got to break even over the following three seasons. Don't worry though, I'm sure there will be plenty of loopholes to help the big spenders fiddle their balance sheets. :rolleyes:
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awmazz said:
I imagine you'll see every salary cap trick in the book being deployed in the next few years. And eventually some clubs getting caught and punished for it, like happened here in Australia with the rugby league champions caught running two sets of books.
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I have no confidence the spending controls will really work. All they will prevent are the most outrageous spending activities, but when Real Madrid have the banks in their pocket, and the Italian PM owns a team, and when FIFA are proven crooks who will do anything for a bribe, who really believes anything will change?
 
awmazz said:
What's this? Holloway gets a cut of any transfer fee for Adam? When did managers start getting percentages of transfers? George Graham got done for taking his cut in brown paper bags, but now it's okay?
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Holloway's not unique in that, apparently – it should be said though that contractually having a percentage is a little different from getting a backhander to grease the wheels of a transfer.

I think Sky Sports News have missed a trick, one of their presenters used to be on Blue Peter so you'd think he'd be the perfect choice to man the Transfer Totaliser...
 
Lord Blackadder said:
United's midfield is so average at the moment that a slightly above average player could slot in and make a good contribution. Heck, if Jimmy Bullard didn't have dodgy knees I could even see him playing there. United's back four look even more impressive this season when you consider how little protection they get from their midfield. As long as Rio & Co continue playing well back there, they seem easy favorites for the title though.
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Defensively, United's midfield is pretty decent. Fletcher has not had a great season but he can still break up opponent's play pretty well. Carrick is also pretty competent in that role. The problem is in attack / creativity: they are still relying very heavily on Giggs and Scholes to create and make things happen. A guy like Anderson should be a creative force, but he's still finding himself. Fletcher and Carrick appear to have lost whatever attacking nous they formerly possessed. Maybe SAF was on to something when he played Michael Owen as a CAM this weekend. Tom Cleverley has the potential to be an excellent creative / scoring midfielder, but we'll have to wait until season year to see it at United.

Looks like United and Liverpool are in a bit of a bidding war over Adam? If the asking price goes over £8-10 million then it truly is silly season out there.

And it's very, very hard to argue that Rio wasn't worth all that money. Vidic is now the more important central defender, but together they make a fantastic pairing.
 
I'm soo looking forward to the Chelsea/Liverpool match on Sunday now.

Liverpool confirm they have agreed a fee (the full £50m) with Chelsea for Fernando Torres, who has been given permission to speak to the London club.
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Silencio said:
Looks like United and Liverpool are in a bit of a bidding war over Adam? If the asking price goes over £8-10 million then it truly is silly season out there.

And it's very, very hard to argue that Rio wasn't worth all that money. Vidic is now the more important central defender, but together they make a fantastic pairing.
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If Adam goes, Balckpool are going to get more than he's worth. The Torres deal seems to have opened the floodgates.

I think Rio was certainly worth 30 million. I just find it a bit rich that he is so flabbergasted with the current "crazy" spending, as I don't recall him saying that when United sold Ronaldo for all the money in the history of the world. :D

daneoni said:
I'm soo looking forward to the Chelsea/Liverpool match on Sunday now.
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Not me. Our defense is still terrible, and we will lose. It will be sickening to watch Torres score against us while Carroll is knackered and Suarez is just finding his feet. It will be a huge morale-killer.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Not me. Our defense is still terrible, and we will lose. It will be sickening to watch Torres score against us while Carroll is knackered and Suarez is just finding his feet. It will be a huge morale-killer.
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Hahaha, have a little faith. Chelsea still haven't quite gotten there yet and Liverpool have been playing decently recently and now have two good strikers that can cause any defense problems. Torres whilst finding his feet isn't fully back either and your defense has trained with him for years.

At the very least you can pull off a draw or even nick a win.
 
daneoni said:
At the very least you can pull off a draw or even nick a win.
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In the end, it's still Liverpool's darkest hour. The team is a shadow of it's former greatness, and even victories over other top teams merely rob those teams of the means to combat Manchester United's stuttering shamble to a record title and an undefeated season. Blackadder Manor is in mourning. :eek:

The best I can hope for is that we've finally been through all the false dawns, and a true resurgence is on the horizon. We'll have to wait till next season to really assess (especially the stadium question). The early signs from our new owners and manager are encouraging.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
In the end, it's still Liverpool's darkest hour. The team is a shadow of it's former greatness, and even victories over other top teams merely rob those teams of the means to combat Manchester United's stuttering shamble to a record title and an undefeated season. Blackadder Manor is in mourning. :eek:

The best I can hope for is that we've finally been through all the false dawns, and a true resurgence is on the horizon. We'll have to wait till next season to really assess (especially the stadium question). The early signs from our new owners and manager are encouraging.
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I was gonna say, the new owners seem to be making their intent known and also seem to fully back King Kenny. I wonder what Hodgson is feeling right now.

On another note, Villa have sent Ireland to Newcastle and Bradley has completed his move.
 
It would appear that John Terry is about to (or may already have but you don't know it) hit the headlines again, nothing to do with the transfer window.
 
daneoni said:
I was gonna say, the new owners seem to be making their intent known and also seem to fully back King Kenny. I wonder what Hodgson is feeling right now.
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Can you imagine the uproar if it was Hodgson holding a press conference announcing we were selling Torres - he'd be lynched :p

Still can't quite believe we're going for Carrol - from a Geordie friend "in the know" ;) it's a bit like signing a Woodgate/Barton combo....loads of off-the-field baggage as he still mixes with a bit of a bad crowd (allegedly).

Does make me wonder if Kenny is now buying for himself with a long term view to the future...?
 
pivo6 said:
I'm not near a computer, so I haven't seen anyone mention who Andy Carroll will be living with. Anyone?
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Maybe we should buy Kevin Nolan just as a housemate. :D

More rumors circulating now that the Torres transfer fee is indeed £50 million, but still no confirmation. Given the price we are supposedly paying for Carroll, I am inclined to believe it.
 
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