nPower Football League Thread 2011/12

[Adam]

Relegations: Bristol City, Doncaster, Peterborough

I am completely baffled by your heinous prediction!

As if you think Bristol City will go down!

[Lineker]

Birmingham chairman Peter Pannu has insisted the club is financially secure after owner Carson Yeung was charged with money laundering.

Yeung, who took over at St Andrew's in 2009, has been released on bail in his native Hong Kong.

"This has got nothing to do with the club and there is no impact on the operations over here," said Pannu.

"Understandably the fans are worried about this but they have nothing to worry about. The finances are OK."

Yeung faces five counts of money laundering, with the amount involved totalling £59m.

He has been ordered to surrender his travel documents and report regularly to the Hong Kong police until his next hearing, which is scheduled for 11 August.

Pannu, who is flying to Hong Kong on Thursday, is adamant that the charges against Yeung are not linked to Birmingham.

"I've spoken on a couple of occasions to Carson and his lawyers and they've assured me there is no link whatsoever," added Pannu.

"I've had it explained to me that the charges relate to the 2001-2007 period. That is two years before Carson invested in this club so there is no connection there.

Birmingham, who won the Carling Cup in February, were relegated from the Premier League last season.

Alex McLeish resigned as Blues boss earlier this month, with Chris Hughton appointed as his successor.

[Lineker]

Peter Ridsdale is set to become Plymouth's new owner/chairman. And Leicester have renamed their stadium to the King Power Stadium (brilliant name).

[Lineker]

Wales footballer Ched Evans has been charged with rape.

The 22-year-old striker, who has 22 caps for his country, was arrested after an alleged incident in Rhyl, Denbighshire on 31 May.

North Wales Police confirmed he and another man will appear before Prestatyn magistrates on 8 August.

Mr Evans made a statement through his legal team on his club Sheffield United's website, although the Blades would not comment further.

The £3m-star's legal team said: "We wish to confirm that Ched Evans has this week been charged with an offence of rape by the North Wales Police.

"Ched has decided voluntarily to make this information public as he wishes to express his extreme shock and disappointment at having been charged with this offence."

The statement added that he wished to strenuously deny the charge, would be looking to clear his name and was confident he would be acquitted and entirely vindicated.

The St Asaph-born striker made his Wales debut from the bench and scored the winner in the 1-0 friendly win over Iceland in May 2008.

He came through the trainee ranks at Premier League side Manchester City before spending time on loan at Norwich City.

After returning to the Etihad Stadium, he was later sold to Sheffield United in 2009 for £3m but could not save the club from relegation to League One last season.

The club are prepared to sell Mr Evans for less than their £1.5m valuation to reduce the club's wage bill and has been linked with Championship sides Ipswich, Cardiff and Middlesbrough.

He was not involved in Sunday's pre-season friendly with Blackpool.

A North Wales Police spokesperson said: "A 22-year-old man from Crewe and a 22-year-old man from Rhyl have both been charged with rape.

"Both men were arrested on suspicion of rape on 31 May and were charged with the offence on Tuesday, 26 July.

"Both have been bailed to appear before Prestatyn magistrates on Monday, 8 August."

Footballers. :/

Also, season gets under way on Friday! Hull vs. Blackpool is on in the evening on Sky Sports.

[MGW]

It happened in Rhyl, nothing that happens in that pkace supprises me. All the footballers from up here are cunts

[IAceI]

Less than a week until the new season! And then everyone can crawl out the woodwork and say "this is real football, WE'RE PROPER fans." Because they support Rochdale or whatever.

Looking forward to getting into the swing of things though, Carlisle v Notts County first game on Saturday 6, should be able to pop down to Brunton Park and see how the lads are shaping up for the season. Probably another season of mid-table mediocrity.

It's quite sad that mid-table League 1 with the odd push for the play offs is the most the team can really achieve, and then my Premier League team will be hoping for mid-table if not 7th at best. No room for expansion it seems at the minute, so just going to have to enjoy watching the matches and hoping for the best really.

[9 to 5]

FT: Alfreton Town 14 0 Sheffield Wednesday

This actually happened, youth team or not, that is shocking.

[Lineker]

The owners of financially troubled Championship side Birmingham City have raised £6.2m from a new investor.

British Virgin Islands-based Inkatha Group Limited, which is owned by Yang Yuezhou, also has an option of becoming the club's second biggest shareholder.

Yuezhou can convert his loan notes - glorified IOUs - into a 14.06% share any time within the next two years.

The investment will see parent company Birmingham International Holdings Ltd pay an annual interest rate of 5%.

The club's owner and largest shareholder with 26.31%, Carson Yeung, is currently fighting five charges of money laundering in Hong Kong, covering a six-year period from 2001.

The 61-year-old, who has had his assets frozen, is due to appear in court on 11 August.

The club's parent company has not traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange since Yeung's arrest in June.

[Adam]

I'm fully expecting an 8-10 hour round trip to be utterly worthless on Saturday...I can see Brighton doing us over, as I can West Ham the week after. That said, I am very excited for the new season, I'm not sure I can live too much longer without regular football to go and watch!

[IAceI]

It's nearly here! Was talking over with my friend in the pub yesterday what we think the Carlisle line up will be, I aired my views and then he corrected me and told me what would actually happen.

Collin; Simek, Michalek, whoever else at CB, whoever else at LB; Thirlwell; Berrett, Taiwo/Noble, McGovern; Zoko, Loy

The old fashioned narrow diamond formation. The problem with Carlisle is I didnt' see them much after January last year and we all know in l1 you have two teams each year, your loan team to the first window and the loan team to the second window.

That and Sean McDaid getting injured and ending his career immediately after joining isn't much help at the left back spot. It's all about Frank Simek anyways, even if he is 140 years old now. Still awesome.

[Matt]

Finally, today's the day that football's back. And I can see something like 6 out of our first 11 games without having to leave the comfort of my own home/cough up any money. Awesome.

[Lineker]

It's back!

Reckon Rickie Lambert is worth a punt for top goalscorer? He's been a machine everywhere he's played and has only got better and better since joining Southampton.

[Matt]

It's back!

Reckon Rickie Lambert is worth a punt for top goalscorer? He's been a machine everywhere he's played and has only got better and better since joining Southampton.

Depends on the odds, if he's 40s or so, yeah, worth a quid or two, if he's 16s I wouldn't bother. I did a top goalscorer accumulator earlier: Hernandez, Maynard, Rhodes, Le Fondre - £1 down returns just short of £8000 which I thought was pretty awesome given that they're all top strikers in their divisions.

Also, this game needs some goals second half otherwise I'm already one bet down this weekend.

[therockbox]

Love the chant Hull had going earlier in the game. 'His dad is Leroy, his dad is Leeerooooy, Liam Rosenior, his dad is Leroy!'

[Lineker]

This has been a fantastic end-to-end match. Robbie Brady really looks a Premiership player in waiting.

[Lineker]

Gary Taylor-Fletcher nets the first goal of the new domestic season. Lovely volleyed finish after a great little one-two dink over the Hull defence. Ten minutes to go.

[jack95]

Cracking match to open the season, one that really could have gone either way, and was settled by a great goal from Taylor-Fletcher. Both sides looked like they could be contenders this year.

[Matt]

Bah, that's my first bet of the season down then. Should've known better than to bet on a game I planned on watching having more than 2.5 goals.

And completely disagree, Jack, on the basis of that, I'd be surprised to see either of those in the top 10. Hull especially.

[jack95]

Bah, that's my first bet of the season down then. Should've known better than to bet on a game I planned on watching having more than 2.5 goals.

And completely disagree, Jack, on the basis of that, I'd be surprised to see either of those in the top 10. Hull especially.

I thought Hull looked strong! Brady and Cairney had great games, they hit the woodwork with the early free-kick, and Fryatt had a couple of chances that he really should have taken. They might need another striker especially with Adebola going off at half-time, but I thought they were consistently dangerous. Blackpool were probably the weaker team, but that finish from Taylor-Fletcher was outstanding and if they can keep pulling results out the bag, they could go places.

[Colly]

Bah, that's my first bet of the season down then. Should've known better than to bet on a game I planned on watching having more than 2.5 goals.

And completely disagree, Jack, on the basis of that, I'd be surprised to see either of those in the top 10. Hull especially.

Mine too, Hull broke my mini accumulator...

Cracking goal from GTF though.