Premiership 2007/08

[ONO]

At least Villa get their derby back. Back to back wins then.

[alldaws1]

Go on then, I'm listening.

Saying "Sunderland are shit" doesn't count either.

We didn't finish fifth again last season by fluke.

Ledley King's back and healthy and makes a fantastic partnership with Dawson. Couple that with England's #1 in goal and I can't see you scoring more than once if that. With Berbatov and Keane's chemistry we're going to score a lot of goals again this season, several Premiership teams' defenses can't contain us so I can't see how your defense can cope. Basically, our whole team is European competition quality, yours is Championship/bottom of the Premiership quality. Verdict: Spurs win.

This is of course with squads as they are, injuries and transfers could change my opinion to a draw at the worst.

[IAceI]

Isn't Ledley King having knee surgery and possible to miss the opener?

Also we made a meteoric rise from bottom to top of the Championship, which in itself is a very tough league because it was full of very good teams that can all push for play offs + Leeds. I expect we can continue playing brilliantly under Keane and succeed in the Premiership to a certain degree.

Tottenham are a good side, but they concede a lot. I feel that if Sunderland play their best, we can take a 1-0 victory. However I reckon we are well within a shout of getting a draw or at least something good out of the match.

I don't think its fair to say we're a bottom of the Premiership side before you've seen us play under this management in the Premiership at all. Also if you want to succeed in Europe, you need a defence that isn't as leaky as yours, so your whole team may be European quality, but they're not going to be winning a major trophy anytime soon. It's a shame, Tottenham were my favourite Premiership team last season, second this season because of our quick return. However you're labelling us befoe you've seen us play. Furthermore, because your team is a European quality side, and we've just been promoted, that's you won?

Wigan the season before last, Reading last season. They would all have been branded very much the same and in their first season in the Premiership coped admirably.

Edited June 14, 2007 by IAceI

[Lord Nibbler]

Hopefully United can wrap up the title before April, because the April fixtures are a bit tough.

[alldaws1]

Isn't Ledley King having knee surgery and possible to miss the opener?

Also we made a meteoric rise from bottom to top of the Championship, which in itself is a very tough league because it was full of very good teams that can all push for play offs + Leeds. I expect we can continue playing brilliantly under Keane and succeed in the Premiership to a certain degree.

Tottenham are a good side, but they concede a lot. I feel that if Sunderland play their best, we can take a 1-0 victory. However I reckon we are well within a shout of getting a draw or at least something good out of the match.

I don't think its fair to say we're a bottom of the Premiership side before you've seen us play under this management in the Premiership at all. Also if you want to succeed in Europe, you need a defence that isn't as leaky as yours, so your whole team may be European quality, but they're not going to be winning a major trophy anytime soon. It's a shame, Tottenham were my favourite Premiership team last season, second this season because of our quick return. However you're labelling us befoe you've seen us play. Furthermore, because your team is a European quality side, and we've just been promoted, that's you won?

Wigan the season before last, Reading last season. They would all have been branded very much the same and in their first season in the Premiership coped admirably.

I've only just now heard about Ledley, but I've heard nothing about him missing the start of the season.

I know Spurs conceded a lot last season but Ledley King was injured for the majority of that and our back four was all over the place with injuries. Both left backs were out, one of our back-up centre backs was injured as well. Plus, Robinson wasn't having the greatest of seasons but hopefully he'll be back to his best.

Sure, I haven't seen you play in the Premiership under Keane yet but neither have you. You don't know how you're going to handle Premiership competition yet, we're both going on what we saw last season. You 'expect' you can succeed in the Premiership, just like I 'expect' Spurs can beat a newly promoted team.

We managed to finish fifth even with the amount of goals we let in because we scored even more. If your defense as it is now can keep a clean sheet against the likes of Berbatov and Keane I'll be truly amazed.

[IAceI]

Pretty sure Sky Sports said he was having knee surgery and that could put him in doubt for the start of the season.

On paper, Spurs are far and away the better team and will be expected to win. But I think the whole buzz that will be going, we have home advantage, we'll have a great turnout like usual, we've got a new manager, new chairman, new sponsors, we've got money flowing. I think we can take that momentum and turn it into a point or three.

At the end of the day, it's the Premiership. You can lose to Derby, we can beat Manchester United on any given day. We'll just have to wait for August the 11th and see how it goes, but I'm quietly confident we can finish anywhere between 11-15 in the league, sheerly for the fact the teams that finished 13th or so downwards, could be put into the Championship and I don't think there's really any guarantee they will bounce back. For once we've got money to spend, we have a manager who knows what he's doing and has brilliant connections.

I have no fear of Tottenham, they score plenty, but then we can match that ourselves. Any of our attackers or midfielders are easily capable of getting on the scoresheet, last season we scored from all sorts of players as opposed to just needing one, so I think that shows we have capable players all around the park. We're being strengthened in the necessarry departments, we need to improve on the defensive side more, but I think our team has more than enough capability to play Man Utd's, Chelsea's, Tottenham's, Everton's etc. go out there and play a flowing, normal game as opposed to a cynical game where we rely on counter attacks etc.

We'll see what happens on the day, but I'm high on confidence for this season and think we can definately get something out of the match with Spurs.

[9 to 5]

Now, I am no fan of West Ham but this I did like.

[Crybaby Bunting]

So before the season begins i guess we've got more speculation as to whether people think Shefield United deserve to be relegated or not.

Teams have been relegated before and it's not neccessarily the end of the world (unless your team name has a leeds in it ) which makes me wonder why this is such a big deal in the first place. Sure Teves might have been illegal, but then again West Ham were punished, shouldn't that be the end of it? I'm sure if West Ham get docked points (which if the FA become forced to do, might just be one or two) then that would open up potential lawsuits from other teams who believe that they have been relegated wrongly, which would severely damage the credibilty of the FA as an authority over English Football.

However, even though I disagree with the reasoning behind it I would like to see Shefield United win their appeal mainly on the grounds that i'd really like to see the outcome of what would follow, and because of the FAs idea of standing firm and warning them that their efforts are worthless as they have the final say anyway. Yet with the prospect of Shefield United going to an even higher power to state their appeal then the FA must be concerned at least, for once they could end up being the ones who are powerless to do anything, and could result in some sort of heavy fine. This could pressure them to simply cave into Shefield Uniteds appeals and avoid any possible fines or damage to their reputation

I guess I also admire the balls that Shefield United have of taking on the FA as everyone seems to root the underdog in situations like these.

I guess there's nothing much else to talk about so what do you think of the situation?

[ONO]

Noel Gallagher has said he is considering buying Manchester City.

The Oasis frontman and famous follower of the club said he may take advantage of its poor state and launch a takeover.

He said he could team up with Mike Pickering, an M People member and music label boss.

Gallagher declared: "We haven't got a manager, we've not sold any season tickets, brilliant!

"I'm thinking of mounting a hostile takeover - me and Mike Pickering. I reckon we could scrape together about £400,000 in cash and I reckon we would get it for that."

[Matt]

I have to wonder what a club run like NoelGal would look like... Probably Leeds

[IAceI]

He should go into business with his brother, because it turns out good - it's just a rollercoaster ride to get there <_

[TheArsenal]

So before the season begins i guess we've got more speculation as to whether people think Shefield United deserve to be relegated or not.

Teams have been relegated before and it's not neccessarily the end of the world (unless your team name has a leeds in it ) which makes me wonder why this is such a big deal in the first place. Sure Teves might have been illegal, but then again West Ham were punished, shouldn't that be the end of it? I'm sure if West Ham get docked points (which if the FA become forced to do, might just be one or two) then that would open up potential lawsuits from other teams who believe that they have been relegated wrongly, which would severely damage the credibilty of the FA as an authority over English Football.

However, even though I disagree with the reasoning behind it I would like to see Shefield United win their appeal mainly on the grounds that i'd really like to see the outcome of what would follow, and because of the FAs idea of standing firm and warning them that their efforts are worthless as they have the final say anyway. Yet with the prospect of Shefield United going to an even higher power to state their appeal then the FA must be concerned at least, for once they could end up being the ones who are powerless to do anything, and could result in some sort of heavy fine. This could pressure them to simply cave into Shefield Uniteds appeals and avoid any possible fines or damage to their reputation

I guess I also admire the balls that Shefield United have of taking on the FA as everyone seems to root the underdog in situations like these.

I guess there's nothing much else to talk about so what do you think of the situation?

[IAceI]

Argh not this again

[ONO]

It isn't fair though, but since when has football been based on fairness?

[Sam]

This issue is going to last all summer unfortunately. It's not fair to have a 21 team Premiership either though as it means an extra team goes down and one less team goes up from the Championship.

It's all just a clusterfuck of a situation and you have to wonder how it will pan out. In a way I want the bid to be unsuccessful so that normality resumes and Sheff Utd just face the facts that in the latter part of the season they deserved to be relegated because they simply did not play well enough.

[ONO]

I don't think even having a 21 team division is even up for decision. That would cause far too many problems regarding sponsorship, fixtures etc. The easiest route would be to swap around, but that won't happen. It will drag on and on, and at the end of it West Ham will be playing Premiership football.

[Crybaby Bunting]

So before the season begins i guess we've got more speculation as to whether people think Shefield United deserve to be relegated or not.

Teams have been relegated before and it's not neccessarily the end of the world (unless your team name has a leeds in it ) which makes me wonder why this is such a big deal in the first place. Sure Teves might have been illegal, but then again West Ham were punished, shouldn't that be the end of it? I'm sure if West Ham get docked points (which if the FA become forced to do, might just be one or two) then that would open up potential lawsuits from other teams who believe that they have been relegated wrongly, which would severely damage the credibilty of the FA as an authority over English Football.

However, even though I disagree with the reasoning behind it I would like to see Shefield United win their appeal mainly on the grounds that i'd really like to see the outcome of what would follow, and because of the FAs idea of standing firm and warning them that their efforts are worthless as they have the final say anyway. Yet with the prospect of Shefield United going to an even higher power to state their appeal then the FA must be concerned at least, for once they could end up being the ones who are powerless to do anything, and could result in some sort of heavy fine. This could pressure them to simply cave into Shefield Uniteds appeals and avoid any possible fines or damage to their reputation

I guess I also admire the balls that Shefield United have of taking on the FA as everyone seems to root the underdog in situations like these.

I guess there's nothing much else to talk about so what do you think of the situation?

A few years ago there was a situation where Middlesborough played an ineliglble player and were docked points. I believe they went on to be relegated that season.

This year, the FA said they would not dock points from West Ham purely because it would most likely mean they would be relegated.

Where's the fairness in that? You do the crime, you do the time, and if that means relegation then that's the price you pay for breaking FA rules. You shouldn't be given a cushy deal just because you're team is staring in the face of the Championship.

[R.W.]

Bwahahaha, anyone surprised it was Allardyce & Souness named in the Stevens report?

[ONO]

Seventeen transfers and five clubs have been named in Lord Stevens' findings from his inquiry into alleged illegal payments by Premier League clubs.

Deals involving Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Portsmouth and Newcastle have been highlighted in the report.

They may face a further FA probe but there is no evidence of irregular payments to club officials or players.

Stevens has also expressed concern about 15 agents and managers Sam Allardyce and Graeme Souness.

There was a perceived conflict of interest with Newcastle boss Allardyce and his former agent son Craig and Bolton Wanderers.

Stevens also reported "inconsistencies in evidence" provided by the former Newcastle manager Souness and Kenneth Shepherd, son of Magpies chairman Freddy Shepherd.

Of the 17 transfers, four relate to Newcastle signings (Emre Belozoglu, Jean Alain Boumsong, Amady Faye, Albert Luque), four to Bolton (Ali Al-Habsi, Tal Ben Haim, Blessing Kaku, Julio Correia), three to Chelsea (Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, Michael Essien), three to Portsmouth (Collins Mbesuma, Benjani Mwaruwari, Aliou Cisse) and two to Middlesbrough (Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Fabio Rochemback) while one transfer has not been disclosed.

Lord Stevens said in a statement: "Many lessons have been learned and strict adherence to and enforcement of the recommendations should ensure that the game and the transfer market can proceed in an untainted and transparent manner."

The Premier League will now send the findings to the FA and Fifa.

An FA spokesman said: "Following the final report of the Premier League's Quest Inquiry, the FA will give full consideration to its contents and the documentation that is due to be passed on by the Premier League and Quest.

"The FA has provided full co-operation and support to the Premier League and Quest and will now go through their information as part of our governance and regulation process. This will determine what action is required."

[IAceI]

Barry Silkman - of the Fabio Rochemback deal - was just on Sky Sports shouting and screaming about sueing if they claim he didn't co operate in the deal etc. etc.

I love how they're all denying it though.

EDIT: And I don't care about West Ham staying up and Sheffield United going down. It's the fact we're going to go through the same damned discussions over and over again and nothing's going to change. So why bother? Yeah, it's not fair. I'm not a West Ham fan, believe they should have been relegated for what they done, it wasn't fair and was handled poorly, but there's really no need to go over the same discussions over and over and over.

RE-EDIT: Dave Whelan has referred to Antoine Sibierski, Titus Bramble and Mario Melchiot as "quality signings." He also claims that Wigan still have 3 more 'quality signings' to make. Well, based off their current record, they're going to have 6 new awesome players come the start of the season aren't they? All the more reason to think Whelan is a senile moronic old cunt and reason to hate Wigan.

Edited June 15, 2007 by IAceI