Grounded Wingman

It seems simplistic but surely any team, particularly an international one (due to the limitations on player and coaching time), should begin by having a defined philosophy and a strong leader.

Take the Germans as an example. Klinsmann chose how he wanted to play, and stuck to his principles, even if it involved upsetting big name players. Low has done similar since replacing him.

Spain chose their way of playing and Aragones also stuck to his principles, with his replacement (Del Bosque) doing the same.

Klinsmann and Aragones are both strong characters, so that helped as they shaped the redefinition of their teams. Their replacements were a little less charismatic, but just continued the work that had already begun.

I'm not sure that Hodgson is strong enough to do that for England, and nobody talks about defining how England play - just who should play. There is also the fact the England don't really have a plan how to win, meaning victories against teams of a similar level are more by luck than judgement.

Suarez has said he wants out - I just can't see you getting 50 million for someone who wants to go. The longer the window goes on, maybe you're more likely to get something for him, but I get the feeling Rodgers would rather have the money to spend early on. Maybe I'm wrong. But there are a few risks with Suarez, his personality being one, the guy's missed over twenty games worth in suspension. That's a substantially risky statistic when looking to buy someone, and I'm sure that will knock his price down.

Not if Madrid play their usual game. The standard Madrid transfer tactic is to noise up the player, try to get him to spit the dummy and refuse to play, so they can swoop in near deadline day and pick him up cheaply (all while reminding the world what a classy club they are).

I'm fairly certain that Suarez would play his part in those shenanigans, so the question is whether Liverpool's board have the stones to say no to a fee of around £30m for a player who would refuse to play if he is made to stay, and let him rot for the remainder of his contract. Moneyball/Soccernomics says they won't.

Spurs/Liverpool isn't on tv? That's rubbish :/

It's on Sky Sports 1

Any attempt to blame the problems in Scottish football on the clubs outside the Old Firm are ridiculous. Those are the clubs that play the game in the right spirit, the clubs that voted Rangers out of the league despite the dire consequences it might hold for them. These are the clubs that don't base their existence upon hatred.

On the other hand, Rangers and Celtic have spent the last few years bullying the other clubs in Scotland. They have conspired with TV companies and sponsors to create deals that drastically favour them to the expense of the other clubs. Whenever a promising young player is unearthed at Kilmarnock or Motherwell, chances are that he'll both off to Rangers or Celtic sooner rather than later, more often than not in receipt for ill-gotten money.

What do you expect the other clubs to do? Especially if at least one of them was actively cheating to maintain their position.

That being said, it's not that bad. The league was a bit of a dead bogey, but the cup competitions were endlessly exciting - Celtic beaten finalists in one, no old firm sides in the other. It could be worse.

I'm not blaming the problems of Scottish football on the non Old Firm clubs. In fact, it'll be interesting to see how Celtic react to any SPL re-structure proposals without the Old Firm buddy system to help them manipulate the 11-1 voting nonsense, for a few years at least.

I know that Killie lost some good players to Rangers over the years (Boyd, Naismith). Hell, I remember when Saintees lost Momo Sylla to Celtic a number of years back, pretty much because he played a blinder when we beat Rangers, but clubs can still put good teams together, and Neil Lennon hasn't done much shopping in Scotland for players since he took charge.

I remember, in my younger days, thinking that if a team can put together a squad that can beat the 9 non Old Firm clubs most of the time then they'd be challenging for the title regardless of results against Rangers or Celtic.

The cups have been good, because Rangers and Celtic have been getting worse over time (it's not as if Larsson and Laudrup quality players are in Scotland anymore). That means there is all the more reason to believe you can beat them. I just think some clubs should extend that belief beyond one off games and into the league overall.

Also - it's not clubs like Motherwell, Kilmarnock, St Mirren and St Johnstone that need to take a look at themselves. It's clubs like Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs.

It'd be awesome if Celtic failed to win the league now.

It would help if the other teams had the ambition to win it - from what I've heard this week they are all saying that Rangers' demise means they can aim to finish 2nd now.

It's part of Scottish football's problem - clubs just aiming to be the 'best of the rest' in the league, and the national team happy to lose as long as they don't get embarrassed and the fans can have a party.

In recent years the likes of Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hearts and have almost run themselves into the ground trying to get on a par with Rangers Celtic. It's hardly a lack of ambition. It's a lack of means.

I understand your point, but I don't think the clubs have used their means well enough anyway and, apart from Hearts for one season, none of the 3 teams mentioned talked of themselves as title challengers.

Logically, Celtic and Rangers can offer more money to buy players from clubs and more wages to entice them, but they can only play eleven players at a time, and let's not kid ourselves into thinking that either side has been awash with top class individuals in recent years. Hearts proved that a title challenge is achievable, before Burley left.

You can see in other leagues that they are not always won by the richest sides. Montpellier won the French league last year, AZ and Twente have recently won the Eredivisie, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart the Bundesliga.

Even in the less rich leagues - Molde, Stabaek and Brann have won in Norway, when common sense dictates that Rosenborg should walk that league. Genk won the Belgian league ahead of Anderlecht, Club Brugges and Standard Liege. Bursaspor won the Turkish league in 2010.

I just think that the first step into making something possible is to believe that it's possible. That doesn't mean living outwith your economic capabilities, it just means maximizing them and daring to aim big.

It'd be awesome if Celtic failed to win the league now.

It would help if the other teams had the ambition to win it - from what I've heard this week they are all saying that Rangers' demise means they can aim to finish 2nd now.

It's part of Scottish football's problem - clubs just aiming to be the 'best of the rest' in the league, and the national team happy to lose as long as they don't get embarrassed and the fans can have a party.

Really? Well, Lille probably got the better end of that then. Money to buy some future players and an experienced Premier League player for nothing except whatever wages he's got. Not bad at all. Going to start watching ligue 1 games next year, so hopefully Lille can bolster a bit more and they and PSG can run wild.

I'm sure I read that Lille signed Marvin Martin from Sochaux for €10M, which is a good bit of business for them.

Just announced that England will play Scotland in August 2013, as part of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations.

Elmander starting he looked out of sorts last game so I see that as a good sign.

He'd struggle to be worse than Rosenborg was in the first game.

Rangers need 7 of the other 11 clubs to vote them in and, as I've said before, the clubs will vote them in for purely financial reasons (both tv deal and higher gate receipts).

The 11 SPL clubs won't do what's best for the game, and certainly won't feel they have responsibility beyond protecting their own interests.

Hell, those in charge of the game won't do what's best for it - they'd rather sit in their closed shop/old boys club and line their pockets, so why should the clubs be any different?

What odds on Everton going for Howard Kendall?

West Ham want to try and sign wantaway wingers Elia and Krasic...yeah, like that will happen! Big Sam needs to be looking at wingers though, as they will be they key to a counter game. Although with a center midfield pair of Noble and Nolan, the back line will certainly take a beating too.

I know Sam is the master of grinding out a result and surviving relegation battles, but I still am pessimistic over the side so far.

I'd definitely want to strengthen the West Ham midfield, and Elia and Krasic, whilst out of Big Sam's range you'd assume, would give better movement on the counter. Insanely quick, can take on men and are willing to drop back (usually) to help give the midfield more numbers and better solidarity.

I did love the rumour that Big Sam is only after Elia and Krasic because Wolves have turned down bids for Jarvis and Kightly. It's a bit weird when your back up transfer options are significantly better than your first choice ones.

I wouldn't be surprised if Harry will be off. Telegraph reporting he is going to hold a meeting with Daniel Levy, is considering offers from the middle east, and talks have stalled on his new contract deal.

He won't go to the Middle East. I just can't see him and Kevin Bond travelling from Sandbanks to Qatar, and back, every day.

Daniel Levy just needs to turn up on Sky Sports News claiming he's not wanting to talk about the rumours, but that David Moyes is a terrific manager and he'd love to have him at Tottenham, but he doesn't want to be accused of tapping him up.

When did this view that Lampard is a twat become prevalent? I can't think of a single reason why he gets considered as bad or worse than the likes of Cole, Terry or Gerrard.

I think he just fits in a group of senior players at some clubs where they seem to be all powerful. Sort of player/manager/chief executive/referee hybrids - Liverpool have Carragher and Gerrard, Man Utd had Gary Neville and Roy Keane, Chelsea have Cole and Terry with Lampard lumped in as well.

Joey Barton IS better than Henderson and would probably be a better option to call up as a squad player, but part of the reason why England are fun to get behind this tournament is because there seems to be a definitive lack of cuntish and overhyped players in this squad. Lampard isn't there, Ferdinand isn't there, Barton isn't there, Rooney for the most part isn't there... there's actually a pretty good balance going for once.

Barton is arguably not a better option than Henderson as a squad player, because he is liable to get sent off and banned within moments of coming on. Then, when England lose and he doesn't get a medal, he can copy and paste a quote into his twitter feed saying that "All possessions are fleeting" or some such pish.

If a new club is formed I assume they'll have to sign a whole new team and it'll be a whole before the new Rangers could challenge Celtic again?

As I understand it, it's not a new club, it's a new company. So Rangers Football Club PLC will cease to trade but Charles Green will form a new company which will take over Rangers assets (which I would guess would basically be Ibrox and the staff contracts, and possibly Murray Park)

Well you'd like to think 3-4 teams would think they've got a chance of taking the second champions league spot and maybe that Celtic would become weaker without any real competition, leading to a more competitive league in a few years time... highly unlikely but I'd like to think that clubs would think as idealistic as that.

What percentage will be needed to pass the vote? I'd hope it's 75%, in which case they'd need 9/11 teams to vote for it.

From the last meeting, Neil Doncaster quoted “Most of the votes in the SPL are 8-4. A few issues are 11-1. In the event the voting structure is changed at our AGM on July 16, it would make everything 9-3.”

When Rangers are liquidated and reformed, then they are out of Europe for 3 years, so the Champions League spot opens up anyway. What would be interesting would be to see a non Old Firm club get to the group stage, because that could generate enough income to make them think about competing, rather than the standard practice of giving up and aiming for third before the season has even started.

Of course, the team would go into the Best Placed playoff, and wouldn't be seeded. So, this year, for example, Motherwell could end up having to eliminate Dinamo Kiev, and then one of Udinese, Malaga or Lille, just to get into the groups.

Rangers will be finished by Friday.

They'll get out of it somehow. The SPL clubs will probably vote that a newly formed FC Rangers can play in the SPL or some bollocks.

It's pretty much guaranteed that will happen - because it's an SPL vote, not one across all leagues, and SPL clubs will generate a lot more income playing against Rangers three or four times a year than they will against Raith Rovers or Dundee.

LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!

It's been a bad week for him - CSI Miami got cancelled as well.

Only a yellow!

He got the ball.

Raul is leaving Schalke at the end of the season as his contract isn't being renewed. Surely with his recent for he'll get picked up by someone?

He's said he won't be staying in Europe and is looking for a lesser quality league, where there is a league structure that means he can spend more time with his family. I wouldn't be shocked to see him in the MLS.

Or because it didn't get nominated. Nazis!

That's not convenient for my argument, so I chose to ignore it.

Ravanelli's shirt over the head should win, but isn't in there because the powers that be want to outlaw fun and emotion, so they made it a cautionable offence - so they'd want Shearer to win.

Only 7th, as there's only 3 Europa spots (think someone got a Fair Play one last year, Fulham?), and only if Everton aren't the losing FA Cup finalists. Basically we pray Liverpool win next weekend and we're pretty much there, if not we probably have to finish 5th.

I think that UEFA changed the rule so that beaten finalists don't get into Europe anymore.

The FA Cup winner, Carling Cup winner and 5th placed Premier League team qualify, and if either cup winner makes the Champions League then the extra Europa League spot goes to the league.