something to break the mood:

A european superleague would be the worst thing to happen to European football in forever IMO. Great for th clubs invited but a slow death for the rest.





Yea we robbed them pretty much, the people at Mansion who made the deal have been let go for incompetence.

And now (apparently) we are approaching them for more money to supplement the wages of signing Samuel Etoo. He wants 100k a week but our wage structure has a top tier of 60k, and it is thought Mansion might be willing to pay the extra for the privilege of having such a player wearing their logo.

I really don't care if it would benefit the smaller clubs, to be honest.

And Rangers and Celtic not joining the Premiership has more to do with ENglish clubs not wanting to potentially give up lucrative European invitations than it does with the impact leaving would have on the smaller scottish clubs.

Perhaps, but the sad fact is without the Old Firm Scottish football shrivels and dies like an untreated, diseased testicle.

Rangers/Celtic's average gate ~50000. Everyone else ~3000 and that's being generous!

For the record though Old Firm > than a lot of the Premiership and I'd reckon they could hold their own, not challenging for Champions League but certainly UEFA places.

basically with this post you are saying that you don't like football. the non big sides are a neccessary and everything is cyclical. 25 years ago, Stoke, Watford, and Forrest were the better sides in the League while Chelsea and newcastle were in the second division and ManU was a mid table side

Rangers and Celtic wouldn't be able to leave the Scottish prem anyway because they would need a major vote to be allowed to leave, and the scottish clubs won't do that. Actually, there's a lot of English Clubs that would welcome the Old Firm as it would mean big gates for them





This is without question and anyone who argues otherwise is an idiot. In fact, I think that Rangers would've qualified for the CL this year over the boys from beatletown and the old firm would certainly challenge for those spots on a very consistent basis

Rangers or Celtic wouldnt crack the top four consistently, they have nowhere near the quality. They would be fighting for the UEFA Cup spots with teams of similar ability such as Everton, Blackburn, and Villa. (and Spurs apart from this season )

I agree with this, but after 2-4 years in the Premiership the Old Firm would be genuine CL spot contenders. They are massive, massive clubs. Just look at the support they took to their UEFA cup finals. Rangers ~100000 to Manchester and Celtic ~80000 to Seville. Mental. They would definately attract top quality players if they were CL sides playing in Europe's top league.

Also, to anyone from Manchester, any word what happened with the Rangers fans last night? Lots of "they were a credit to their club" but similarly "they rioted". Plus, the fact that a Zenit fan got stabbed makes me sick.

Agree, it wouldnt be long before their gate sales + the extra TV money from the Premiership helped them move up the ladder. But then again they could have all these things, spend a lot of money, and still end up like Newcastle.....shit.

Bwahahaha! Newcastle are the worst run team in the Premiership, nay, the Universe! It's comedic to watch their inevitable slide to the Championship, anyone want to take the over/under on them being down by the next Olympics?

They ****en disgraced themselves, have a look on the video on Skynews below, they manage to isolate one police officer and as he trips up the dickless wonders all kick the shit out of him.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1316114,00.html

Then they set upon ambulance crews etc

I saw this on the BBC website. It's horrifying when they all fly on him, poor guy must have been terrified. I see a UEFA investigation and more trouble for Rangers. Remember they were warned after poor behaviour at Villareal last year?

!) The money in the game is different now, than it was 25 years ago... the Cycle is over. There is too big of gap between the mega teams and the second division. Chelsea is never going to be in the second division again, and Stoke and Watford, baring a crazy russian buying them, are never going to the top.

2) I Do not see at all why non big sides are necessary at all. I think there is nothing necessary about 8-1 games, and games than Man U plays 1 normal starter, because their bench can easily beat the teams on the lower end of the tables.

3) I like football. But I like good football. maybe I'm selfish, but I'd like to see evenly matched, great teams play each other, all the time. I want to see Liverpool play AC Milan, Barca play Chelsea, Real Madrid play Man U twice a year. Are you really telling me you'd rather See Man U's backups crush Stoke twice a year than battle Real Madrid twice a year?




I guess what I'm saying is I don't give a damn what happens to Hearts and Hibs... If I grew up in Edinburgh I might feel different, but I didn't so I don't. The gap between Rangers and Celtic and the rest of the Scottish league is obscene. It would be like the Yankee's playing the toledo mud hens and the durham bulls. I'd prefer to watch competitive soccer than bloodbaths.

Yea shame theyve ruined it for all the United fans who dont get big screens for the CL final next week now tho.

And a Zenit fan was stabbed inside the ground, really hope that doesnt come back to haunt the English fans in Moscow next week. Dont see Russian hooligans being smart enough to make the distinction between who to get back for it.

Bump!

It's going to be great. Please let Drogba and Ronaldo shine on the main stage.

If only someone started a champions league thread... I'm going to post my prediction in there.

Dammit!!

I went into the champs league thread thinking thats where I bumped, seen your bump and got so confused and a bit freaked out

LOL!

This isn't Premiership related, but I had to bump a thread to post this... Drunk Referee In Belarus!

Drunk ref in a Belarus game... so hammered he can't even walk un-aided.. lmao this cracked me up. Check out the wave to the crowd on .59 sec too. Classic.

One thing though, surely someone would have noticed this before he was let out onto the pitch???

anyone else hyped up for the upcoming season? my roomates and i are moving into a new house and getting directTV for setanta and gol tv to go along with FSC

Ronaldo to Real.. oh, man, I love that idea.

?

I can't work out what you mean here. You've just heard about this... or you've just decided that you like the idea?


... because if it's the former, this has been going on since the day after we won the CL. In summary, the most ridiculously drawn out transfer/request/non-request/drama/bs ever in the history of football. No-one has come out of it looking good, especially Ronaldo himself (and Real Madrid and Sepp Blatter, the twat.. but that's another story).

Now it looks like he's staying, and ALL things considered... I wish we'd just sold him. For c£75m.

I think you should sell him now, its gonna turn into anelka all over again when he was at arsenal.

Mind you could all be press

Obv the press will have made up/embellished certain stories and details, but the main issues are clear and true.

Who knows what will happen come the opening day of the season, apparently Fergie met him on Monday and said there's no way he's going.. but jeez, Ronaldo's proved himself to be a bit of a shit tbh, so I'm not sure. We're bigger than one player and Fergie's triumphed after getting rid of Ince/Hughes/Kanchelskis (season when Hansen said we can't win anything with kids, lol)... Cantona, Schmeichel, Stam, Beckham, and other great players have come and gone. So maybe it's time to thank him for everything he's done, remember the good times and move on.

Because it'll be hard to cheer for him next season if he's at OT. I know football's changing and loyalties are different these days with agents basically running the game, but Man Utd seem to have avoided such issues so, as a fan, it's a new thing to me.

And wtf with the 'slave' talk. Cristiano, you signed a ****ing contract for £100,000+ per week, for 5 years. Get a clue.

i know what you mean, i used to be a big football fan but all the money in the game ruined it for me, still watch now and again but rugby is my main thing now.

i work next door to the ospreys stadium, and were going to the nou camp this year in the euro cup should be good.

No, it's just that no one has been talking about it in this thread, so I wanted to bring it up and gauge the red devil fanbase's reaction.

I thought Ronaldos mother handled herself very well

I would like to handle his gf

Who knows what will happen come the opening day of the season, apparently Fergie met him on Monday and said there's no way he's going.. but jeez, Ronaldo's proved himself to be a bit of a shit tbh, so I'm not sure. We're bigger than one player and Fergie's triumphed after getting rid of Ince/Hughes/Kanchelskis (season when Hansen said we can't win anything with kids, lol)... Cantona, Schmeichel, Stam, Beckham, and other great players have come and gone. So maybe it's time to thank him for everything he's done, remember the good times and move on.

If you guys can get the £68 to £80 Mil thats being talking about It might be worth considering cashing in. There is no point having a player there that doesn't want to be there and the longer he is unhappy at the club the more his value will go down. Besides for that kind of money you could buy Stewart Downing, Berbatov and Arshavin and still have money left over.

Robbie Keane to Liverpool!

Didnt see that one coming especially for 18m. Lots of interesting points from this.
Wonder how the spurs fans will feel about him, but he spent 6 seasons there.

He went to Liverpool basically because hes supported them all his life(and the small matter of 80,000 pound a week)

Being Irish I'm happy as I like to see our players get extra attention etc so I'll be following his form and really hope he can have a great partnership with Torres and Gerrard.

Robbie Keane's is a good move both for him and Liverpool. He will do well and they have a good strike partner for Torres now. If only they had good wingers...

What's the deal with Spurs? Are they trying to buy everyone in Europe? Reports are suggesting Arshavin is a done deal. Pavyluchenko is also being strongly linked. After Gomes, Giovani and Modric I would have thought their transfer kitty would be dwindling. Apparently not. Does this mean Berbatov is going?

this will just be another typical season for spurs, buy some new names and cross your fingers in hopes they perform..i dont see them cracking the top 4 and after giving up a 20 goal a season player they will need the others to step up although d bent is killing it i hope he can stay healthy..as for berbatov i hope he becomes a red devil

Liverpool looked good today. The roster looks nice for this season.

Manchesters first game is against Newcastle.

I have only recently began following the English Premier League (and football in general), so please inform me as to why this makes you sad.

You're not missing anything, just me on a personal level. I'm a Newcastle fan and they put 11/12 or goals past us in two matches last season.

Not a good way to start our season.

Bets I'm considering for this season:

7/2: Fernando Torres top goalscorer.

5/1: Kevin Keegan to be first manager fired.

5000/1: Hull to win the league (value).

9/4: Wayne Rooney to become a father.

All odds from Paddypower.

lol I love PaddyPower

Another one they have may interest you. Newcastle are 12/1 to finish 5th.

I'd probably need better odds. Not optimistic at all really.

At paddypower you can also bet on Carly Smithson(sp) from America Idol to win the Euro Vision

Sorry, where's the value?

Hell, £1 to win £5000 and find out if God has a sense of humour? Valuetown lol. I lose £1 down the back of sofas all the time. When I find it again imagine it had another £5K attached to it.

Lol.. I think I'd need about 100,000-1 to find the value in that... it's Hull!


Anyway, I'm getting exited about the start of the season for the first time since the end of last. I think the Ronaldo saga drained my interest somehow, for a while. I think we could see almost a repeat of last season for Man Utd though, with a slow start. However, will Chelsea slip up enough this year to let us back into it? I think not, tbh.

Following the fortunes of Man City will also be interesting this year. I like your Keegan bet, but another to consider would surely be Hughes. The Thai owner (I won't attempt to spell his name), seems a little hot headed and spontaneous at times, and also has a warrant out for his arrest.

Something else I'm going to be keeping an eye on this year, outside Prem, is QPR... Wonder what's gonna happen there, with Briatore and Ecclestone in charge? Could be interesting. With the money and contacts they have, something huge COULD happen you never know. Also, Lakshmi Mittal (4th richest guy in the world) bought 20% of the club at the start of this year.


Top 6 predictions for this season:

1 - Chelsea

2 - Arsenal

3 - Man Utd

4 - Liverpool

5 - Aston Villa

6 - Portsmouth

Wow James. No blind loyalty to Man U. I'm impressed.

QPR are 6/1 with PP to win the Championship. I think they'll do it, even if not I can't see them not being promoted this year.

Man City's owner apparently missed his court hearing. He might find it hard to sack anyone while on the run lol. Might just save Hughes' job. Ince could be a shout too, I heard rumblings that he isn't the easiest guy to work under and the Blackburn players aren't too happy with him.

Also, I saw you have Chelsea for the league. They are at evens to win nothing this year...

Manchester United squad is more stronger than last year...but Chelsea and Lpool are stronger also....Tottenham also has really impressing names but I guess that their defence is really crappy..

My prediction:


ManUtd
Chelsea
Liverpool
Tottenham
Arsenal
Man city/Portsmouth

Mark Hughes may quit in the next week or two cause that owner has no money

But he keeps his blind liverpool hate intact.

I noticed this as well. I think Liverpool has a real shot to win the league this year. And I would make a completely uninformed bet at even money that they finish top 2.

You obviously didn't watch last nights CL qualifier. Liverpool were bad, and lucky to get out of Liege with a draw. Still sure they'll qualify but until they purchase two decent wingers and another good defender they will not be Premiership challengers.

Side note: Signing Gareth Barry for £18m is not a good thing. He will be Liverpool's 4th best central midfielder, yet most expensive, irony...

the thing with QPR is that they have all this money but the players they have brought in are average at best, lots of serie B and C players - plus Dowie is a decidedly dodgy manager living off the back of a good season with Palace a few years back. I could see them making the playoffs but there are some much stronger squads in the Championship, imo Birmingham will walk it.

As far as the Prem is concerned (i'm a gooner), i dont think you can look past United especially if Berbatov comes in. They havent lost anyone - discounting Ronaldo for 2 months which is a huge loss in that time span - and have the best defence in the prem by a street. If they are less than 5 points off top by the time Ronaldo comes back then they'll end up champs i believe.

In spite of last nights performance, i like Liverpool to finish above Chelsea - possibly on goal difference. They have the firepower upfront to rival any team and once Torres and Keane find a spark they should fire them above the blues. Chelsea just dont excite me at all, even with the new manager. That said, they have the experience to see them above Arsenal who are one/two more years away and one CB and CM from mounting a serious title challenge again.

Villa will finish 5th i think, Tottenham in 6th. Villa will likely lose Barry but have brought in a couple more experienced full backs in Shorey and Young which were underrated deals, and their youngsters like Agbohlahor and Ashley Young will have improved under the tutilege of Martin O'Neill. They could also be a decent outside shout for the UEFA cup. Tottenham have lost their talisman in Keane and will likely lose Berbatov in the coming weeks, Modric was a good addition but not enough to make up for those two. Plus Ramos had an almost identical winning percentage in comparision to Jol so i really dont see much extra improvement this term.

Everton in 7th, Pompey in 8th, West Ham 9th, Newcastle in 10th to round out my top ten.

Results in CL qualifiers certainly don't define how your team will fare during the season. United have ground out results before at this stage... players just returning, refocusing on football etc. And look at the start to our season last year, bad run of results, but still ended up double winners.

That said, I don't think they're ready yet, and will be bottom of the big 4.



Another Arsenal fan writing off his team. I really find this surprising...

They've progressed immensely during the last 2 seasons, and remember, they finished only 4 points behind us last year. Even though they were unlucky to have Van Persie, Eduardo and Rosiky all out at the same time. We only managed to knock them off top spot, basically when this happened.

This season, Fabregas will be back soon (your opening 4-5 fixtures are very favourable too, so you shouldn't miss players so much), along with Eduardo in late September, and probably Rosiky too. Walcott will be included more this season too.. he's growing into an elite Premiership striker more and more each month. Your defense is also still very strong, even though most Arsenal fans seem to be over critical of it - esp Senderos - and if Arsenal can avoid some of the bad luck they had last season, then you are very much genuine contenders.


I'm not going to, but they're a tempting bet @ 6-1. There's also 2 weeks left until the transfer window closes, so still time to add a little strength in depth if Wenger sees fit.

i agree with all that you've said right there but you kinda of made my point for me when you mentioned the injuries that we had when you overtook us last year. we have a fantastic first team, and can compete with every team in europe - case in point was leading united and chelsea with 20 mins left of both games at the end of last season. however we dont have the strength in depth that united, chelsea and even liverpool have. we have players who will progress to give us that depth but right now denilson, ramsey, bendtner and vela arnt the same impact subs that anderson, carrick, saha and giggs are. there is a reason that we lost both those games despite leading both with 20 minutes left and its that experience and depth.

having said that, i have faith and always will that arsene will find the right players to fill the few holes there are and i am certain we will be proper contenders in a year or two max. 6/1 is probably a decent price and if we can get and stay healthy plus get some luck then we definitely have a chance to win this year.