The Football Thread 2008/09 (Soccer)

[immortal]

I've heard Hleb is going to barça

[mugatiya]

[quote author=rudeboy_1987 link=topic=19177.msg307016#msg307016 date=1212724763]
now im worried!

guess if he wants to go, theres no stopping him and we might as well smash the record for the biggest fee!

no point ever keeping a player that doesnt want to stay as ur not gonna get 100% out of them!

maybe fergie can convince him otherwise?
[/quote]nah he is a goner imo rude.. think thts why we r looking for a good forwards etc.

useless git.

[rudeboy_1987]

[quote author=Damith link=topic=19177.msg307025#msg307025 date=1212727459]
nah he is a goner imo rude.. think thts why we r looking for a good forwards etc.

useless git.
[/quote]

guess there are negetive effects with winning the champs league!

well we might as well start planning for a massive fee and how to buy a player or couple that are gonna replicate the 42 goals ronnie scored this season!

[gihan]

GALLIANI COY OVER ADEBAYOR



Milan chief Adriano Galliani has refused to rule out the possibility of landing Arsenal star Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Rossoneri vice-president is in buoyant mood after sealing summer deals for the likes of Gianluca Zambrotta and Mathieu Flamini.

Milan also want a big-name striker this summer, and having seemingly cooled their interest in Ronaldinho, Didier Drogba and Adebayor are reported to be their top-targets.

Drogba could also be a target for Internazionale with Jose Mourinho now installed at their helm, so Adebayor could very well be the option Galliani opts for.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti has already admitted he would take Adebayor or Drogba, with a return for Andrei Shevchenko also a possibility.

On Adebayor, Galliani told Gazzetta dello Sport: "There is a rule that states that you can't make a private agreement with a player who is under contract with another club.

"I don't know whether a new striker will arrive from England - we will see."

Adebayor, speaking in his homeland of Togo, also admitted was quite open about what motivates him.

"If you move, it is about money. When we were young we played because we love the game and we were passionate about it. But now, when you reach this stage you are thinking about the Champions League and big things like that," he told the Daily Telegraph.

"Whenever I come back to my country people love me. If I didn't go to Europe for money, what else would it be for?"

"If you gave me the option of playing beautiful football and winning nothing, or playing ugly and winning then obviously it would be the latter. You are judged on what you win.

"We play in a great team with a great manager, but we don't want to play beautiful football just to put smiles on the faces of the fans."

Reports in Italy suggest Galliani will lead a delegation to England on Tuesday when he will look to push ahead with a deal for one of their targets.

Meanwhile, Milan have confirmed that they have brought striker Marco Borriello back to the club after he enjoyed a fruitful season on-loan at Genoa.

"We have brought back a striker in Marco Borriello who scored 19 goals last season and I don't think that is less important than a signing," Galliani added.

"Then we have brought home goalkeeper Christian Abbiati and purchased wing-back Gianluca Zambrotta and a great midfielder in Mathieu Flamini. Now we will see if we can achieve our objective of signing another great striker."

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...656017,00.html

[gihan]

Ronaldo`s Ego Talks Louder Than Money





'Why would Ronaldo want to leave the champions of Europe?' asked one perplexed Mailboxer this week. Only the man himself can produce the definitive answer, but it is probably precisely because Manchester United are the champions of Europe and England that Ronaldo wants to leave.

As a Manchester United player, he has nothing left to prove or win. If he has concluded that two Premier League titles, one FA Cup, one Carling Cup and one European Cup amount to a satisfactory haul from his five-year haul in England, then who can argue? He has become a visitor from his own success.

The wording of the statement with which he finally confirmed his intention to leave Manchester this summer depicted money as fundamental to his choice. Yet what is money to Ronaldo, already a multi-millionaire at the age of 23? If simple greed was paramount in his outlook then his representatives would currently be in negotiations with United over a new deal, striving to engineer a bidding war between United and Madrid.

A £300,000-a-week wage - the amount Madrid are supposedly offering - is a sum that would capture anyone's attention, but the status that such a deal would confer on Ronaldo is equally persuasive. The supreme egoist, Ronaldo wants to be regarded as the best player in the world. Is there a more trenchant cause to claim that title than becoming the best-paid player in the world as well as the most expensive? Note that his statement stipulated that he was willing to join Madrid only if they "pay what Manchester United ask of them". Money matters to Ronaldo but not necessarily in the way that his detractors claim.

Not that labelling Ronaldo the supreme egoist is necessarily a rebuke either. Ronaldo's game is based on confidence and arrogance in much the same way as Thierry Henry's is/was on pace. Without belief, the tricks and outrageous showmanship would be redundant. Madrid's trick has been to feed that swollen ego by making Ronaldo the subject of the summer. He is, it is reasonable to presume, loving the attention as well as the blatant implication from Madrid's pursuit that only he alone - the greatest player on the planet - can save the Spanish giants from becoming also-rans on the continent (they may have won La Liga in successive years but it is four years since they progressed beyond the first knock-out stage of the Champions League).

There was a telling sight in the immediate moments after United's Champions League victory in Moscow. As the rest of the squad rushed forward, seemingly joined at the hip, towards Edwin van der Sar, Ronaldo stood alone before throwing himself to the turf. Perhaps it was an instinctive reaction of relief following his failure to score in the penalty shoot-out. Or perhaps it was the response of a showman still striving to hog the limelight, unable to share the drug of adulation. Only Ronaldo himself really knows, but the moment was memorable in so much as it was the first public indication that he had bought into the notion that he was the core individual in Manchester United's legendary one-man team.

Regardless of the money involved, Madrid's approach, dressed up as a plea for a one-man rescue act, has thus become too good for Ronaldo to turn down. Without it, another year, and the risk of relative failure, at Old Trafford would await. He may lack the modesty to ask himself such as question, but how could Ronaldo realistically improve on a season of 42 goals, a Premier League title, Champions League glory and another Player of the Year award? The challenge of resurrection that awaits in Spain is the one that his ego craves and requires to sustain itself.

United have repeatedly and strenuously insisted that they will not sell their prized asset and the issue now becomes collision of two truisms: the first that Sir Alex Ferguson never sells a player he wants to keep and the second that clubs, even the biggest kind, never keep players who want to leave. The likelihood is that Ferguson will eventually be worn down by Real's resolve and Ronaldo's agitating into accepting a deal. United will surely eventually follow Ronaldo's example and regard Madrid's offer as too lucrative to refuse. With the fee bound to exceed £70m, Ronaldo's departure would finance at least two high-profile signings, most probably either Dimitar Berbatov or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and, given Carlos Queiroz's increasing influence, Porto's Ricardo Quaresma.

Although Quaresma would be a like-for-like replacement for Ronaldo, the arrival of a second striker would also enable United to move in a new direction. The flexible, interchanging 4-3-3 formation of last season was designed in part to reflect Ronaldo's evolution into a forward who was neither a winger nor a striker. As such, their development was reliant on his. Independent and once again masters of their own collective destiny, United could revert to a 4-4-2 system that would instead make Wayne Rooney and partner its centrepiece.

The question is whether Ferguson, now openly discussing his retirement, still possesses the energy for another rebirth. The 'Ronaldo team' should have been the last of his reign. Suddenly, and without warning, that plan has been scotched.

Yet the doom-mongers should tread carefully. Queiroz has already accepted the bulk of Ferguson's day-to-day responsibilities and the loss of Ronaldo will no doubt be offset by headline-grabbing arrivals. The temptation will be to depict Ronaldo's departure as a 42-goal reduction. It will be no such thing. Just as the £2bn supposedly lost by the British economy in the wake of England's elimination from Euro 2008 didn't go up in smoke at a giant bonfire, the player(s) who replace Ronaldo will provide their own number of assists and goals. It may not equate to the amount he produced in 2007/08 but it should suffice.

Regardless of whether Ronaldo stays or goes, Manchester United will still begin 2008/09 as the favourites to retain their domestic and European crowns.

Pete Gill

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...656372,00.html

[ramster93]

to be honest lads i want ron to go hes a Fu*k*ng dick if hes not comin straigh out with an answer all he has to say is yes or no.

if this is still going on by the end of euro's it is gonna effect the whole team so i think we should get rid of him hes acting like an immature baby

[xxfabregasxx]

Hahaha! talk about united loyalty!
stupid Ronaldo..
shows how much he cares for the club n fans! If he doesnt go, it'll only be because ferg won't let him..

Looks like hleb outta here too! fool lol, how much real use will he be in barca? but there might be a chance of us swapping him with yaya toure.. which could be handy!

[mugatiya]

[quote author=ramster93 link=topic=19177.msg307107#msg307107 date=1212751026]
to be honest lads i want ron to go hes a Fu*k*ng dick if hes not comin straigh out with an answer all he has to say is yes or no.

if this is still going on by the end of euro's it is gonna effect the whole team so i think we should get rid of him hes acting like an immature baby
[/quote]exactly let the idiot go. we have an excellent squad n im sure a couple of right signings n we will b fine...seriously annoying tht he wont give a proper answer..

have a half a mind to drop him from my fantasy team ..grr.

[BlackHawk6582]

[size=10pt] Scolari named as Chelsea manager[/size]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ea/7449627.stm

[gihan]

CHELSEA CONFIRM SCOLARI APPOINTMENT
Posted 11/06/08 21:11EmailPrintSave



Chelsea tonight confirmed Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager.

The Brazilian was one of the favourites to succeed Avram Grant in the Stamford Bridge hotseat but the timing of his appointment has come as a huge surprise.

Scolari is currently managing Portugal at Euro 2008 and was not expected to make a decision about his future until after the tournament.


Chelsea said in a statement: "Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club's new manager from July 1, 2008.

"Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world's top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours.

"He was the outstanding choice.

"Out of respect for his current role as head coach of the Portuguese national team, and to ensure minimum disruption to this work, there will be no further comment from Chelsea FC nor from Felipe about his new role until his employment with us commences."


Despite a number of big-name managers being linked with the job following Avram Grant's sacking last month, PA Sport understands Scolari was always Chelsea's number one choice and nobody else was offered the position.

He is likely to be unveiled during the first week of July, at which time the details of his contract will also be revealed.

Scolari's appointment comes less than a week after he insisted he would not discuss his future until after Euro 2008.

He said at the time: "What's going to happen to me after Euro 2008 - if I am going to stay or leave - concerns (only) me and I am not going to talk about it now.

"If I decide to leave or stay, I am only going to make a public declaration at the end of Euro 2008. If something else happens during the Euros, I am not going to answer although things may go this way or that way but I am here to work for the Euros.

"I started working for Portugal in 2004, then I signed up for 2006... I might sign again, I might leave the squad, I don't know."

Scolari's biggest achievement was leading Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002 and he famously turned down the chance to manage England following Sven-Goran Eriksson's departure in 2006.

The 59-year-old has no experience of managing at club level in Europe.

Before becoming an international manager, he enjoyed success at club level in Brazil, winning South America's equivalent of the Champions League - the Copa Libertadores - with two different clubs.


http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...678918,00.html