Football Focus

[Jah Lush]

Gareth who?

Townsend's ready to step up.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/dinamo-tbilisi-0-tottenham-hotspur-5-all-goals/

[Jah Lush]

Otta Wrote:

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> Looks like Chelsea have snatched Willian from under Spurs' noses.

I hope he breaks his leg and is out for the season. And it's long overdue we gave Chelsea a bloody good hiding. Want to wipe that smirk off of Mounrinho's smug gob.

[bon3yard]

Ah, Chelsea. An excellent piece by journalist Matthew Syed outlining Abramovichs toxic effect on English Football:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCtci6cen8

[Jah Lush]

Spot on Matthew.

[red devil]

What Wayne Kerr said :)...

[Otta]

Bloody hell, good work Cardiff!

[Millhaven]

bon3yard Wrote:

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> Ah, Chelsea. An excellent piece by journalist

> Matthew Syed outlining Abramovichs toxic effect on

> English Football:

>

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCtci6cen8

Mostly hysterical hyperbole. Not one mention of Abramovich's work in Chukotka but then again that wouldn't have suited Syed's agenda. Ho hum.

[Parkdrive]

Millhaven Wrote:

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> bon3yard Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Ah, Chelsea. An excellent piece by journalist

> > Matthew Syed outlining Abramovichs toxic effect

> on

> > English Football:

> >

> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCtci6cen8

>

> Mostly hysterical hyperbole. Not one mention of

> Abramovich's work in Chukotka but then again that

> wouldn't have suited Syed's agenda. Ho hum.

The man is a bloody crook, regardless of his so called "good deeds", the owners of City are hardly squeaky clean either.

[Millhaven]

As pointed out by Cascarino, hardly new amongst the wealthiest people in the world, nor is it new to football.

I also find it difficult to take seriously any journalist that works for a Murdoch publication trying to take a moral high ground.

Not saying that we should accept corruption wholesale, but to point to Abramovich as some sole corrupter of squeaky clean football is laughable.

Is Liverpool FC buying up neighbouring homes to Anfield (on the cheap) with help from a complicit council leaving the area a slum of boarded up houses all for the sake of a now failed ground extension any less or more a corrupting influence on British football?

As is the usual course of action in this country, it is easier to blame the wicked foreigners.

[Parkdrive]

Abramovichs sins are far worse than the purchase of council houses and if you don't already know that you should, as for Citys owners they have been linked to human rights abuses back home. Still think its ok for these people to be involved in football?

[Parkdrive]

As for tonights game, I can't believe the co commentator on Sky said it was a "good watch"! Yeah, so good I switched to the Granada v Real Madrid game.

[red devil]

I never thought it would be a good game, especially after seeing Chelsea's team sheet. People forget how negative Mourinho can be, his line-up effectively strangled the game, but it also highlighted why a creative midfield player such as Fabregas/Ozil is needed by Utd to replace Scholes...

[El Pibe]

fantastic, an enthusiastic fan has videoed the games and made the goals available to the website.

Having a 1 and 3 year old in tow, I managed to miss 2 of the four goals, so bravo.

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet/videos/dulwich-hamlet-3-v-1-carshalton-athletic-goal-by-mathieu-boyer-on-the-2482013-43231.html

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet/videos/dulwich-hamlet-3-v-1-carshalton-athletic-goal-by-erhun-oztumer-on-the-2482013-43232.html

The second one is a doozy.

In fact it was a pretty good game though the second half lagged under the monsoon conditions. Anybody know if the striker was ok as he was stretchered off then carteed off in an ambulance.

ok, found it, ouch http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/dulwichhamlet/news/ottaway-injury-latest-1022738.html

[Otta]

United will probably not be happy (abd understandably so to be fair) but I did like the challenge to man up Rooney to state his intentions one way or the other.

[Otta]

Good start to the season for Liverpool compared to recent years. Sturridge and Coutinho are looking excellent together, Saurez will need to earn his place back in the team if those 2 keep this up! I hope they keep him on the bench for a bit.

Don't want to speak to soon, because we're never consistent, but I feel cautiously optimistic that we'll be in the 4th place mix this season.

[red devil]

Otta Wrote:

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> United will probably not be happy (abd

> understandably so to be fair) but I did like the

> challenge to man up Rooney to state his

> intentions one way or the other.

Rooney's smartest move has been to say nothing publicly. That way he can cover his arse if he stays, by saying he never asked to leave. In a way Mourinho has dropped him in it by intimating that Rooney's camp initialised contact with Chelsea, and therefore they should close the matter one way or the other. It will be interesting to see how Rooney's camp respond to this 'ultimatum'.

I think Utd fans have now taken a pragmatic approach to the whole situation, in that there's no point giving Rooney grief whilst the club are adamant that he is staying and won't be sold, especially to Chelsea.

Although he's been a sulking git behind the scenes during the summer, once he's crossed the white line in a Utd shirt he's been nothing but professional and committed to the team, and fans of most club will appreciate that. Maybe Monsieur Cabaye should take heed...

[Alan Medic]

Maybe Monsieur Cabaye should be sued for breach of contract.

[Otta]

Apparently he's said he won't submit a transfer request, so by Mourinho's own words, that should be an end to it. He was by far the best player in last night's bore fest.

Cabaye is seriously lacking class.

[Millhaven]

if there have been Human rights abuses then that should have been addressed by the fit and proper persons panel who obviously don't care about these matters as much as you or I do. Secondly you seem to think there should be a sliding scale as to whose sins are worse than others. I imagine people struggling to find affordable housing in Liverpool whilst the club just leave the area to become a uninhabitable slum probably think that Liverpool FC's sins are quite major or maybe they don't have any rights. Still, while there is a foreign bogey man/men to blame we can ignore it in the same way the FA and Premiership ignore human right issues.

[Otta]

LFC is owned by foreigners.

[Alan Medic]

Even if Rooney stays United need to buy. They hardly created anything. Rooney was good, though selfish nearing the end where he choose to shoot from a fair distance with RVP unmarked to his right.

[Parkdrive]

Millhaven Wrote:

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> if there have been Human rights abuses then that

> should have been addressed by the fit and proper

> persons panel who obviously don't care about these

> matters as much as you or I do. Secondly you seem

> to think there should be a sliding scale as to

> whose sins are worse than others. I imagine people

> struggling to find affordable housing in Liverpool

> whilst the club just leave the area to become a

> uninhabitable slum probably think that Liverpool

> FC's sins are quite major or maybe they don't have

> any rights. Still, while there is a foreign bogey

> man/men to blame we can ignore it in the same way

> the FA and Premiership ignore human right issues.

Nothing to do with Johnny Foreigner, I'm from immigrant stock myself, its do with with robbing your own people and commiting human right abuses such as torture which I find unsavoury. Or perhaps because you support one of the particular clubs in question you find it hard to take and therefore need to defend? Arsenal were linked with a company which were also linked to human rights abuses and I screamed blue murder on the the blogs and fans websites about it, as I have no wish for a club I've supported for 45 years to get involved with such despicable behaviour. You're pasing the buck by saying it's down to those who decide who is "fit and proper", do you not have a conscience and mind of your own?

[Millhaven]

Otta Wrote:

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> LFC is owned by foreigners.

Indeed. Those properties were purchased years before our American cousins pitched up and carried on the good work. And don't even get me started on the Stanley Park debacle which saw Everton's request to move to the site turned down on spurious grounds only for Liverpool council to then give the go ahead for Liverpool to move there. This was then scuppered as the new owners baulked at the cost.

I'd like a good look at LFC's and Liverpool City Council's bank accounts. ;-)

[Millhaven]

>

> Nothing to do with Johnny Foreigner, I'm from

> immigrant stock myself, its do with with robbing

> your own people and commiting human right abuses

> such as torture which I find unsavoury. Or perhaps

> because you support one of the particular clubs in

> question you find it hard to take and therefore

> need to defend? Arsenal were linked with a company

> which were also linked to human rights abuses and

> I screamed blue murder on the the blogs and fans

> websites about it, as I have no wish for a club

> I've supported for 45 years to get involved with

> such despicable behaviour. You're pasing the buck

> by saying it's down to those who decide who is

> "fit and proper", do you not have a conscience and

> mind of your own?

Firstly, Syed was talking about Chelsea through Abramovich being corrosive for football. He is wrong, total opposite has happened. His naive argument was based upon how Abramovich made his billions. Which is a totally different argument altogether.

Secondly, I am not passing the buck, they already have it, that is their job to define who is or isn't a fit or proper person to own a club. You or I cant make that decision for them. Frankly the fit and fair panel have been found wanting. We can blog about it but I suspect it is going to take a bit more than that. If you think your club is run by arms dealers, torturers, pension thieves or even pornographers then it is down to you to stop giving that club your cash.

Arsenal. Oh the irony. The club that bribed their way into the football league. Helped by, surprise surprise Liverpool FC, who'd thunk it eh?!

I think football is mostly governed by crooks, fiends and incompetents and always has been by the looks of it. The only way things will ever change is if we all stopped attending matches. Then they might sit up and actually listen.

[El Pibe]

nice post, I tend to think we get exactly the football clubs we deserve.