Official Premier League 2010/11 thread

[Sam]

If they were willing to pay stupid amounts for Kaká imagine how much they would pay for Rooney, to be honest I really don't expect us to reinvest the money, although another central midfielder would be great, I would love it if Sneijder joined us.

The thing is he wasn't seeking assurances in March, something has changed in between then and no-one is saying what, me thinks someone has been telling him the type of money he could earn.

Edited October 20, 2010 by Sam

[stokeriño]

In which case, complain that you "bet he's lying and he really only cares about money". Don't complain about something else which isn't wrong.

[METALMAN]

General, can I just point out there is no 'e' in Hodgson so could you stop putting one in.

There is. It goes nicely with the g and the o and the n.

[Sam]

It's a silent e.

[9 to 5]

It's also invisable.

[Sam]

As is the a in invisible

[Noah]

So Wayne Rooney to Perth Glory to link up with Robbie Fowler?

Best one yet.

[Hobo]

Wayne Rooney to <insert any football club here>! THINK OF THE MATCHES!

[britneyspearsisgod]

I fucking love Ian Holloway

BBC Sport

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has criticised football's authorities for allowing Wayne Rooney to "manufacture" his exit from Manchester United.

Rooney, 24, is expected to switch clubs in January, ending the striker's impasse with boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

"I've got big problems with the people running football. They are so wrong it's frightening," Holloway said.

"I think the game is in trouble and you cannot have the Bosman ruling they've got at the moment."

The 1995 Bosman ruling allows players over the age of 24 - Rooney celebrates his 25th birthday on Sunday - to move for free at the end of their contracts, and in Holloway's view it unfairly penalises clubs.

Ferguson has confirmed Rooney will not sign a new contract, meaning he can walk away from Old Trafford for nothing when his deal expires in the summer of 2012 - effectively forcing the club to sell the player while he remains a valuable asset.

An impassioned Holloway added: "Manchester United have helped Wayne Rooney's career massively on and off the field. The manager, the club itself has invested in him. They bought him for massive amounts of money as a young man and they're helping him blossom into the player that he is.

"He's one of the best centre-forwards in the world. And if he sees his contract out he's going to be able to walk out of there for nothing. That's the people at the very top of the game's fault.

"What if he sits there for 18 months, throws tantrums, doesn't try, doesn't play, and someone's already said to him, 'We'll take you and we'll pay you some of that money we should have paid Manchester United because you can walk out on a free'?

"Do you want to sign a person like that? Do you want to play for a club that says that to you? How do we know it hasn't already happened? The game is wrong.

"If Alex Ferguson is being bullied by a player and his agent how wrong is the game? When are Fifa and Uefa going to listen to the people who are involved in the game?

"They say it's not fair on the player. Rubbish. The player has had his wages every week. They bought him, they worked with him, he belongs to them. It's so obvious. The world should change if it's wrong and football should look at itself.

"I'm looking at Alex Ferguson and thinking: 'What a magnificent manager'. Yet Wayne Rooney or his agent can now manufacture a situation like this."

Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, whose formative years as a player came as part of a previous Ferguson vintage at Old Trafford, said he found it "strange" and "unbelievable" that Rooney could question Manchester United's ambition.

Bruce added: "I remember in 1995 when Fergie sold Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes, we all scratched our heads and thought, 'Wow, what's this?'

"The introduction of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, the Nevilles and Nicky Butt produced a dynasty for 10, 15 years which hauled in trophy after trophy, so I would never, ever question their ambition, that's for certain.

[Colly]

Heard it on the radio earlier on, truly love Olly.

Actually agree with Steve Bruce as well too, you can half believe its the 'clubs lack of ambition' and wanting to progress your career when its Milner or Barry or similar moving from a midtable club, but when you're playing for a Man Utd team that have helped you win the Premier League and Champions League its absolute bollocks. Especially when you're the player who has underperformed since before the World Cup.

[Guest Jacob]

I firmly believe Hollyway will be manager of the year simply for his views on football.

His correct views might i add.

[Colly]

The unfortunate thing is that odds are he'll probably end up with another touchline ban for his comments on the refereeing of the City game, however cleverly worded they were to promote video technology rather than slag off the ref.

'Anyone sat at home with their bag of Doritos can see those decisions were wrong'.

[Shelty92]

Saw that earlier and my respect for Holloway grew even more. A great, great man.

And Rooney can now officially go fuck himself. After Fergie's press confrence I wasn't too sure what to think, but after reading what Rooney said yesterday I hope we could offload him right now. It's total and utter bullshit that we can't "match his ambitions" anymore. We've still got the team that was one point away from winning the league last season, we've got a couple of new up-and-comers in the squad and we'll continue to attract top talent. Sure, we can't compete with the likes of Mansour and Abramovich in terms of weekly salaries, but being the biggest and most recognizable club in England there will always be great players that want to play here. So instead of waiting for us to "match his ambitions", why wouldn't he lift his fat arse up and do something to help us then? He's done fuck all since his injury in Munich and yet he's the one complaining? And not only that, he insulted all his teammates by basically saying they're not good enough for his goddamn standards. Sure, everyone wants to win titles, yeah, we all know that - so fucking perform on the pitch so we can continue to win them. It's not your job to worry whether we've got enough superstars on the squad, it's your job to play and prove you are one. And if he's worried about the financial situation, and how that will affect our ability to bring in new talent, well fuck that. I bet he knew damn well what the financial situation was back in March when he said he's ready to sign a lifetime contract. The debts didn't pile up after that, that's for sure.

I mean, look at Fernando Torres. He's at Liverpool, a club currently playing in the Europa League, a club that has no chance of winning the Premier League. And a couple of weeks back they still had owners that were pretty much ruining the club from within. Yet you don't see him whine and bitch about it. Sure, he's not been good this season and one of the reasons surely must be his lack of motivation, but remember; there's no one delivering the ball to him. As a striker it's pretty hard to acchieve anything when you can count the times you've got the ball during the match with one hand. And yet he still does something good - or at least tries to - when he gets the ball, for example, the penalty and the free kick he won against United which resulted in Liverpool's goals. So he still puts in some effort, and did so last season when Liverpool's ship was starting to sink - you certainly didn't hear about him wanting to leave in October, did you? No, you did not. Instead you saw him score 18 goals in the league. I could've understood him wanting to leave in the summer when the Champions League was out of the picture and so on, but no, he stays, even though he probably could've been snatched up by a dozen of teams that play in the CL (and have a better chance of winning domestic trophies).

And then there's Wayne Rooney, the man who thinks he's bigger than the rest of the team. The main man, the big fucking star who can't be bothered to be a team player in the club that made him what he is today. Or is it just the money? 'Cause surely about £100,000 a week is not enough for him, oh no. He needs more and I bet there's more waiting for him on the other side of Manchester. Well off you go then 'cause I couldn't give two shits about you anymore.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Shelty92

[therockbox]

Fernando Torres might not be the best example to give. He was close to leaving in summer 09 (Hicks & Gillett were ready to accept a massive bid from Man City), and was even closer to leaving this summer until he was given guarantees that Hicks & Gillett would be gone by Christmas. That being said, there are still rumours that he wants to leave because he's fed up with Roy.

[Shelty92]

You're right, not the best example but the first one that came to mind. But at least he's still there despite all the setbacks Liverpool have suffered.

Meanwhile Rooney's ready to abandon ship before the first real blow has landed, should there even be one.

[Clawson]

Wait...so you guys are saying that if you had a job, say at McDonalds but you had a contract. That contract expired and Google wanted to hire you but you couldn't go work at Google unless they paid McDonalds $20 million. That seems fair?

If the contract is done then they should be able to go wherever they please.

[Gazz]

I would maybe see his point if he was heads and shoulders above the rest of the squad in terms of talent, but frankly, the way he's played since the summer and if his name wasn't Wayne Rooney, he'd be lucky to get a sub run out in the reserves.

[Shelty92]

Wait...so you guys are saying that if you had a job, say at McDonalds but you had a contract. That contract expired and Google wanted to hire you but you couldn't go work at Google unless they paid McDonalds $20 million. That seems fair?

If the contract is done then they should be able to go wherever they please.

But that's the thing; the contract is not done. It expires in 2012.

[stokeriño]

You're looking at this backwards. It's the concept of transfer fees that are the anomaly in football. Having contracts that players can buy themselves out of is the part which actually corresponds to the real world.

The papers are just full of randomness on Rooney this morning, thanks to United's "nothing to see here" yesterday which provided them with nothing new to go on. Some are talking of Rooney now wanting to stay at United. Some are continuing the speculation on possible destinations. The Daily Star (which, let's be honest, is typically no more or less reliable a source than the Daily Mail which said the opposite yesterday) is saying that Chelsea have no intention of bidding for Rooney.

I think my problem with newspapers is that, in the event they know nothing (the normal state of affairs), they could at least make their fiction more original or interesting. Get some proper novelists on board.

[Baddar]

It shows how little the media know when it took two months for any of this to surface.

...and now that they've been made aware of it, they think they know everything.