The Barclays Premier League thread 2015/2016

[Gazz]

I've always thought that John O'Shea should just be 10 in everything on FM. The perfectly average all-rounder.

[Plubby]

Marton Fulop has passed away. I didn't even know he'd had cancer. He was always a good target if you needed a keeper coming up into the prem on FM. (EDIT: he isn't in the prem this season, but I wasn't sure what other thread to post it in cos I only remembered him as a prem player.)

[Nerf]

As if Harry Redknapp needed to look any sillier, Ancelotti has revealed he would have taken the Liverpool job if it was offered, but the club made no contact with him. But what about your inside sources, 'Arry?

[The Lusophone]

I like the idea of Ancelotti at Liverpool and I think he'd have done more with your current squad than Klopp will. I expect Liverpool may well be the most active club in January.

[DavidMarrio]

I don't think Ancelotti would be doing anything different due to half the squad being crippled and that we seem to concede daft goals no matter who's in charge. 

[Just Joe]

5 hours ago, Plubby said:

Marton Fulop has passed away. I didn't even know he'd had cancer. He was always a good target if you needed a keeper coming up into the prem on FM. (EDIT: he isn't in the prem this season, but I wasn't sure what other thread to post it in cos I only remembered him as a prem player.)

He had a malignant tumor removed in 2013 but I'm sure he was given a clean bill of health a while back so it must have come back. Horrible news, only 32 years old, no age that .

Edited November 12, 2015 by FrostyPickle_3:16

[Cheeky Hughes]

He did a decent job at City on an emergency loan a few years ago. Always had a soft spot for him because of that. 32 is too bloody young.

[Cymbols]

That is so so sad. 

Ugh Jordan Amavi has dislocated his knee or done ligament damage on international duty. His season is probably over. Wonderful.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Younger than me. Bleugh. I remember him coming through at Spurs. Very sad indeed.

[Just Joe]

 

[Lineker]

Quote

Rio Ferdinand has pulled out of a charity match that would have seen the retired defender appear on the same team as his former England team-mates John Terry and Ashley Cole after suffering a calf injury.

Match for Children, which is being held at Old Trafford on 14 November to raise funds for Unicef, would have been the first time Ferdinand had lined up alongside Terry since the Chelsea captain was caught on camera shouting “fucking black cunt” at his younger brother, Anton, when Chelsea played at QPR in October 2011.

Terry was acquitted of the charge of racial abuse when he appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court in July 2012, where Cole gave crucial evidence on his behalf, but a later Football Association charge was proven and he was banned for four matches as well as being fined £220,000.

Terry is still scheduled to appear at the match, which will feature David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Great Britain and Ireland team against a Rest of the World XI, but a statement on the Manchester United website on Thursday listed Ferdinand as one of the absentees, with the 37-year-old understood to have sustained a calf injury.

“Players who were originally scheduled to play including Rio Ferdinand, Andy Cole, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta and Massimo Ambrosini can no longer attend Saturday’s match,” it read.

 

[Lineker]

Quote

Crystal Palace have agreed a deal in principle with the owner of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Harris, to sell a sizeable shareholding in the Premier League club, which should mean that ambitious plans to redevelop Selhurst Park edge closer to fruition.

Harris, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, has been seeking to invest in the English game for some time and, with his business partner David Blitzer, first entered into talks with the Palace co-chairman Steve Parish a little over a year ago.

Those negotiations stalled in the spring but contact has been revived, with the American investors’ interest in purchasing a stake in Palace as strong as ever, and there is confidence on both sides a deal will be done.

Under the offer Parish, who owns a 25% stake in Palace along with the three other members of the CPFC 2010 consortium – Stephen Browett, Jeremy Hosking and Martin Long – having bought the club out of administration five years ago, would continue to run the day-to-day operations at Selhurst Park.

Although the equal stakes held by the four owners would be diluted with Harris buying into the club, no one would have a bigger stake than Parish in shareholding terms with all parties signing up to a reinvestment programme aimed at stadium development.

The proposal is for Parish, Harris and Blitzer to have 18% stakes each and for the remaining 46% to be held by the other three co-owners.

“There are very serious conversations going on and I will remain the single largest shareholder along with David and Josh,” Parish told Sky Sports News HQ. “The day-to-day decision making control will remain the same. They will bring some fresh ideas and some fresh input which will be great. 

“But I think the guys recognise that having a UK partner retains the soul of the football club which is really important and it’s important to me that my three other partners will stay involved as well. It will be a much broader investment base and everyone is signing up to a commitment to improve the stadium. So it’s an exciting time and if it comes off I think we can make some major developments for the club.”

Parish made clear in an interview with the Guardian in September that he would need at least “£80m for the things I want to do to the stadium, maybe £30m for the academy”. There is a recognition that Palace need a new main stand and will have to make significant improvements to the Arthur Wait stand opposite, with progress having been made with architects on a phased scheme that would expand the capacity of Selhurst Park, the club’s home of 91 years, to 40,000.

Although there are planning obstacles to overcome, there has also been initial and positive dialogue with Croydon and Bromley councils, with any scheme to seek to regenerate that corner of south London.

Retention of Premier League status would allow the current owners to achieve such redevelopment incrementally over the long term, but Parish has admitted to being “a bit more impatient than I was when I was 20”, with the need for further investment therefore obvious. “We’d need the right investment, but with the right governance so that I can still make the decisions I need to make,” he said in September.

He and his fellow owners have built up a solid relationship with Harris and Blitzer over the past 15 months, with the Americans having apparently bought into the ethos promoted at Palace, who have tapped into the club’s community roots in south London. All parties are confident the joint local and American ownership model represents the best choice for the future.

A deal could be announced before Christmas if, as anticipated, negotiations are concluded smoothly in the coming weeks. Harris, who has an estimated worth of $2.1bn, and Blitzer added the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and their arena, the Prudential Centre in Newark, to their portfolio in 2013.

The private equity investor has watched Palace establish themselves in the Premier League over the past two seasons, with 11th- and 10th-place finishes, after two decades spent largely in the second tier. Alan Pardew’s team are eighth after Sunday’s 2-1 victory at Liverpool.

Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia could be out of action for five months as he recovers from a foot injury, according to reports.

A report in the Sun claims he damaged the bone above his left foot and may have caused further damage by playing on against City and not leaving the pitch immediately.

[Lineker]

The Premier League will issue new security guidance to clubs this week following the terrorist attacks in Paris in which a match at France’s national stadium was targeted.

League officials have been speaking to police, the government and security advisers and will provide a full briefing to the 20 member clubs on Thursday, and also issue a public statement.

A Premier League statement said: “We are actively engaged with our security advisers and the appropriate authorities, including the Home Office and senior representatives from the police, to assess current security guidance to Premier League clubs.

“There is a club meeting later this week where a full security briefing will be given. Following that, further guidance will be issued to the clubs as well as a public statement so fans are fully aware of what to expect when arriving at stadiums.”

Three bombs exploded in the vicinity of the Stade de France, where France were playing Germany in a friendly, during the attacks on Friday.

[stokeriño]

Got a ticket to the Leicester game (14th Dec)! Another one off the list.  

Now just Watford, Southampton, Norwich and Bournemouth to try for in the New Year.

[DavidMarrio]

You'll get to watch Jamie "chat shit get banged" Vardy score a pen against you

 

I've gotta wait till Thursday to try for Sunderland Stoke and Newcastle tickets  seen as though all the other games are members with 8+ games last season in the prem. 

I hate the ticket process with us cause you can never build yourself up for the higher category games as you are never eligible for them so you're stuck in a never ending circle of only being eligible for category c games  

[Nerf]

2 hours ago, David Marrio said:

I hate the ticket process with us cause you can never build yourself up for the higher category games as you are never eligible for them so you're stuck in a never ending circle of only being eligible for category c games  

Buy through supporter's clubs? I got my Kop seats for Palace through the Canadian supporter's group and they had tickets for the United game available too.

Edited November 17, 2015 by Social Justice Nerf

[stokeriño]

Rumour is that Jolly Badger, aka Djilobodji, who has played a grand total of one minute for Chelsea since arriving for £2m in the summer, is heading out to Besiktas in January for a 1.5 year loan.

Way to make the guy feel wanted.  

[Hobo]

The loan system is kinda broken, isn't it?

Klopp has been taking some of Liverpool's English based loanees back to Melwood for the international break to get a look at them.

[DavidMarrio]

Enrique has also been unbanished and is training with the team. 

Can't see it doing much for him, he'll more than likely not get his contract renewed and will be available for free in the summer  

[Lineker]

Anthony Martial leaving Wembley last night on crutches.