2011/2012 English Premier League thread

[d_phaneuf]

Very interested in who dispatches comes out with tonight

first thought was Carroll, very obvious, but if it was an England international that would be the lead on their press release for more coverage

Thought Torres possible as well, but someone from the BBC said its a UK player

going with Alan Hutton as my guess

[Barnet Flame]

I will laugh for the rest of my life if it is Nasri.

[Barnet Flame]

Apparently it's Gary O'Connor, the former Brum player, now at Hibs. Liberal use of 'top' player once again.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Apparently it's Gary O'Connor, the former Brum player, now at Hibs. Liberal use of 'top' player once again.

Never heard of him. Very liberal use.

As for Torres, the whole thing is hilarious. As a Liverpool fan its kind of fun watching someone who bailed on you in order to 'win titles' totally fail.

He's been dropped by Spain and only rates the bench for Chelsea. I mean, he hasnt even scored for Spain in over a year! Seriously? I could score for Spain.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

For this alone, I love the guy. Pretty convinced he could have taken all of them on, and decked 'em.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14828585

The guy is a top quality nutter.

He is insanely talented but the issue is I think he may also be part insane. If you watch interviews with him he just seems out of it most of the time and in his own little world.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

He is insanely talented but the issue is I think he may also be part insane. If you watch interviews with him he just seems out of it most of the time and in his own little world.

Its crossed my mind that he might be genuinely ######ed.

[d_phaneuf]

he's an enigma wrapped in a riddle

one day he is throwing darts at youth players, the next he is personally visiting a school in manchester to stop a kid being bullied

I want him to never leave

[Locke]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

he's an enigma wrapped in a riddle

one day he is throwing darts at youth players, the next he is personally visiting a school in manchester to stop a kid being bullied

I want him to never leave

I never heard the bully story.

Also, does he even play for Italy anymore? Or have they just resigned themselves to the fact that hes completely psychotic and stopped calling him?

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Locke

I never heard the bully story.

Also, does he even play for Italy anymore? Or have they just resigned themselves to the fact that hes completely psychotic and stopped calling him?

He was named to the squad for qualifiers last week and IIRC came on as a sub in both games.

There was some controversy that he had an IPad on the bench and was using it during the game but that report was denied by team officials.

He actually usually plays quite well and behaves himself when on duty for the National team.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Locke

I never heard the bully story.

Also, does he even play for Italy anymore? Or have they just resigned themselves to the fact that hes completely psychotic and stopped calling him?

imagine the look on the headmasters face when Mario shows up

Manchester City star Mario Balotelli has become an unlikely hero after rescuing a bullied schoolboy from his tormentor.

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The Sun reports that the Italian striker was asked for an autograph by the young fan at City's training ground, but turned the tables on the lad by asking him why he was playing truant from school.
The boy explained that he was absent because he was being bullied - sparking an incredible reaction from the 20-year-old superstar.
The City ace drove the boy and his mother to the school and demanded to speak to both the headmaster and the bully, during which he apparently mediated as the two boys buried their differences.
The unlikely knight in shining armour - who has hit the headlines all season for a string of on- and off-pitch controversies - then made the pair shake hands before he sped off in his Maserati.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

imagine the look on the headmasters face when Mario shows up

There are actually quite a few stories and interviews with Balotelli where he seems like a good guy who really is just not fit for the limelight and has the mentality of a confused child.

I think the racism he had to put up with coming through the ranks in Italy, and the confusion with his biological parents led to him being a head case now.

I don't think he is a bad person, or a cancer to the team, but he really just has that confused child mentality and lacks maturity.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

There are actually quite a few stories and interviews with Balotelli where he seems like a good guy who really is just not fit for the limelight and has the mentality of a confused child.

I think the racism he had to put up with coming through the ranks in Italy, and the confusion with his biological parents led to him being a head case now.

I don't think he is a bad person, or a cancer to the team, but he really just has that confused child mentality and lacks maturity.

completely agree with that

he's basically where Wayne Rooney was around Euro 2004 when everyone was anointing him the future savior of the country, except in Mario's half his country hates him because of the color of his skin

He also had a really strange upbringing, his parents were extremely poor so they put him in foster care, and then when they found out he was going to be a rich footballer they tried to get him back. He called them glory hunters

I think like you say he has the mentality of a child because of his upbringing, so he's immature and varies between doing things like helping the boy with the bully, and other times where he acts like he thinks a footballer is supposed to act

[d_phaneuf]

A YOUNG Liverpool FC striker was today under investigation by the club after claiming 9/11 was not the work of terrorists.

Reserve team striker Nathan Eccleston, 20, has caused outrage after his posting on Twitter on the 10th anniversary of the atrocity.

In it, he claimed the attacks were "an accident" and that he believed the "Illuminati" – a shadowy society spread across the world – were responsible.

Eccleston, who has so far made nine appearances for the Reds, wrote: "I aint going to say attack don’t let the media make u believe that was terrorist that did it. #O.T.I.S."

OTIS stands for ‘Only The Illuminati Succeed’.

Now senior officials at the US-owned club have told the Manchester-born player he faces an investigation into his posting.

Today, the Tweet had been removed from his site.

...

[Locke]

What. An Idiot.

[CofR]

As a Bucs fan and a Redsox fan I've often wondered the feelings that Man U fans and Liverpool fans regarding the owners that we share?

There's quite a bit of disappointment and anger towards the Glazer's from Bucs fans regarding the lack of spending this past off-season, but I personally think that it was a management decision and not one from ownership. Sox fans are quite pleased with John Henry, no real reason not to be. He doesn't seem to interefere with team operations at all and gives Epstein full control.

Thanks in advance!

[d_phaneuf]

There is a very vocal group of Man United fans who hate the Glazers, mostly due to the leveraging of debt that they have done to the club

I believe Liverpool fans are very happy with John Henry after the money that was invested in the club this summer

[CofR]

Ya, I imagined that the debt that the team has would be a reason for fans to dislike the Glazers.

[Locke]

When you have a club that is that leveraged it only becomes a matter of time before the bottom falls out.

I'll post more about that tomorrow, but its basic economics; while borrowing is available, the higher the degree of leverage the smaller the required shift in interest rates in order to make the borrowing prohibitively expensive.

Not to mention, you need Bank Confidence. If their confidence in the ability to repay is lost, all loans of that magnitude are 'demand' and the bank simply calls in their demand and gives an arbitrary timetable for repayment.

Its incredibly unstable.

[Nuje]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

There is a very vocal group of Man United fans who hate the Glazers, mostly due to the leveraging of debt that they have done to the club

I believe Liverpool fans are very happy with John Henry after the money that was invested in the club this summer

Pretty much it. There was that article a short while back that the Glazers were looking for outside investment (but not enough to push them out of the majority). Hicks and Gillett apparently attempted something similar, but just like when they were trying to sell the team outright, they were greedy on the asking price and it bit them in the ass.

I wouldn't say the Glazers are much different than Hicks and Gillett. However with Old Trafford among other revenue streams, MUFC basically prints money for its owners. You'd have to pull a financial equivalent of Patrik Stefan skating towards an empty net to somehow screw that up.

Now if the Glazers are honestly in some sort of trouble and need that money to help out, all they need to do is not be greedy with the asking price (and one would wonder how much a potential missed NFL season had to do with their search for extra money).

I don't think anything bad will happen to them, but I would have a huge grin on my face if the Glazers ran them into the ground.

[d_phaneuf]

As Nuje said they basically have a license to print money because of the stadium and the brand, their revenue stream is double any of the other premier league clubs

Also, they are about to offer an IPO for about 1/3rd of the club

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2ca76...#axzz1XstTCOhw

with only 12% actual voting shares

which should raise them about 1 billion, that covers their debt easily