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Why does the lad have so many excuses? My fair guess being once the team started dropping points to the little fish, chances for achieving title were slimming rapidly. Does it seem a bit ironic that a club trying to avoid labeling themselves “turbulent” is drawing, what it seems like, the most media attention through its own players?

The team seems to be backing Rafa, and I think the constant media exposure by the man himself, Steven Gerrard, will only help grease the cogs in Rafa’s favor to having more money for transfers.

How do you feel about the Liverpool pseudo-crisis?

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Is this the worst idea ever? The English Premier League is considering playing some matches overseas.

At a meeting in London on Thursday, all 20 clubs agreed to explore a proposal to extend the season to 39 games. Those 10 extra games would be played at venues around the world, with cities bidding for the right to stage them.

The only reason for this is money. There is not one sporting motive behind this and while most of us can accept money is a huge factor in football these days it’s generally been making more from what’s already available (increased TV revenue, more live games etc).

To extend the season just so games can be auctioned to rich countries and promoters is an abhorrent idea. And can you imagine being the first team to lose the league because of this extra game? Over a 38 game season you’re top of the league but, fatigued from travel and everything else, you lose the final extra game allowing your rivals to overtake you, while all your fans sit at home in pubs going mental.

It is definitely the worst thing I’ve read in a long time and would be seriously damaging to the game. I don’t give a fuck about showcasing the game in Asia or America. I suspect most fans don’t care either. And do fans abroad want to see Derby vs Wigan at the Hong Kong Bowl, or wherever the fuck? No, they want to see the big teams.

I don’t even have the words to express how wrong I think this is. When clubs are already fleecing fans for tickets, TV channels, merchandise, even access to their websites and all of this on top of a record TV money deal, to even consider this circus of an idea is thoroughly objectionable.

I say no. What do you say? And how loudly are we going to have to say it?

Update: It seems the clubs ‘unanimously’ supported the plan, not sure if the original article said that but it bears repeating.

Reaction - Whoateallthepies. One says yes, the other says no. I honestly don’t know how any fan can give their support to this idea. I would have commented there but you have to register to comment so no thanks (open it up again, lads).

I think it’s great that people all over the world love Premier League football but I think if those people want to see Premier League football live then they should make their way to England.

Realistically speaking I don’t suppose any of the clubs would turn down the £1m or £2m they’ll earn for just one game but it’s a real shame not one of them had the morals to stand up against this. Plus, on a sporting level it is unfair. How do they decide who will play who? The impact on relegation and title winning is massive. Leaving the money aside it makes no sense whatsoever.

More reaction - James Lawton - Harry Redknapp

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It’s difficult to feel anything towards Radio 5’s Dj Spoony. To be charitable, I do enjoy the fact that he removed the Dj from the beginning of his name in an ill advised and ultimately doomed attempt at gaining credibility as a serious football broadcaster (as if it was the ‘Dj’ and not the ‘Spoony’ that were the problem), but other than that, the man operates on a default setting of ‘just kind of there’ and directing anything other than mild indifference at him feels like a gigantic waste of time, he is a Sunday afternoon repeat of the ‘don’t tell him, Pike!’ episode of Dad’s Army, you might groan ‘not this one again’, but it’s not something you’re likely to waste any real anger on. He is your mate tutting and telling you he forgot to save the default settings on Championship Manager, he is the barmaid saying they’ve ran out of cheese and onion and ready salted is going to have to do, he is the very definition of the word ‘nothing’, a notoriously tricky philosophical concept that Plato could have sorted out in five minutes if he’d ever heard Spoony present 606.

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I have this sneaking suspicion, going back years now, that Gary Lineker, contrary to his positive media image, is, in actual fact, a bit of a git.

Nobody in the rest of the entire Western World appears to agree with me though, oh he’s lovely they insist, and witty, and charming and good looking and probably the greatest thing to happen to civilization since the Human Genome Project, this one is very much my own personal battle, I have pitched up to an Al Gore lecture in my off road SUV, stinking of Lynx Africa, with notes headed ‘What’s the big deal? We’re going to be dead anyway’, and if you all want to shout me down and explain to me how wrong I am then fine, but this needs saying, and I’ll be damned if any other fucker is going to say it before me.

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Why does the media constantly refer to position of England manager as ‘the top job’?

It’s so far removed from the top job in football I don’t even have the words.

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In a scene that is highly reminiscent of the one in Dangerous Liaisons when John Malcovich reminds Michelle Pfeiffer that what has happened is ‘Beyond my control’, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez faced the press yesterday. Check out the question and answer session with the journalist.

How much will you have to spend in January?

“As always I am focused on training and coaching my team.”

Are there assurances you’ll have what you want?

“As always I am focused on training and coaching my team.”

So what is the long-term plan?

“My plan is training and coaching the team.”

Is there anything upsetting you?

“As always I am focused on training and coaching my team.”

Do you have anything to say?

“As always I am focused on training and coaching my team.”

Even off the record?

“No.”

It’s clear something is up.

“You have my answer.”

You’re very different from normal.

“You have my answer.”

You said after the Bayern story you were happy to stay here a long time. Is that still the case?

“As always I am focused on training and coaching my team.”

Weird. Apparently Benitez feels he’s not getting the full backing of the new owners and wants more money to spend in January. They seem reluctant to provide that money.

There’s definitely something going on here behind the scenes and you wonder, if it was a case that Benitez was to leave or be sacked, just what kind of expertise the new owners would bring to the table when making a new appointment.

Bruce Arena for Liverpool!

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This is an editorial from El Mundo Deportivo.

“Dear Rangers supporters, never come back to Barcelona again. And not because your players themselves aren’t a legitimate team. No, it’s not because of that - the Nou Camp frequently hosts teams who are lazy, boring, who only defend, who run and kick their opponents, and who shouldn’t be in elite competition. On top of this, Rangers merely defend, run at the opposition and play dirty. Their defenders are butchers, their midfielders, heavy-footed; and their strikers just stand there like the furniture.

“But even apart from the footballing aspect, the best thing would be for Rangers never to return to Barcelona, because every time they do, they make a mess of the place. 35 years ago, you (the Rangers supporters) destroyed the seats at the Nou Camp. This time we have enjoyed no less than 48 hours of brawls, provocation, rackets, fights and common drunk women throughout the whole city, which you have fouled however you pleased.

“Stay at home and vomit in your own living-room, urinate in your sitting-room corners, fight with your neighbours, the Celtic supporters (who deserve a prize just for putting up with you) and foul the streets of Glasgow instead. Don’t come back here again, because it is not a laughing matter. And, by extension, don’t play in the Champions League either. You are not at that level neither in a sporting nor human sense”

Erm, there you go then.

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Here’s a cartoon from El Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan sports paper the day after Barcelona beat Rangers 2-0.

The translation is:

“They say Barcelona scored two goals!”

“Great! I was so drunk I thought they scored four.”

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If you don’t already know about 101 great goals it’s a fantastic website which provides links to football clips on YouTube and other video hosting sites.

For many fans it’s the only way they can see their teams in action. However, in this piece the gaffer over there expresses his concerns over the future of the site, and it’s understandable that he has them.

I commented recently on why streaming was so popular and the backlash that was emerging against it.

Let’s be clear here now though. 101 great goals does not upload or host videos on its site, it merely provides links. That may not be enough to save it if the lawyers get their way and it would be a real shame.

Again it merely highlights that where there’s a huge demand for a service the authorities and the bigwigs are more concerned with stopping someone providing that service than trying to figure out a way of doing it themselves. Like the record companies, like the people who close down the streaming services, they’re so focussed on the negatives they’re blind to the positives.

I hope 101 great goals doesn’t fall foul of these people. Keep it up as long as you can, Sir. We’re right behind you.

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Forward to about 4 minutes in, listen to RTE presenter Bill O’Herlihy *nearly* say the word most Irish football fans associate with manager Steve Staunton.

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