Aye, I tend to agree with you that Harry has been up to no good on this one somehow.

I don't think the fee dropping to £3.7m is the dodgiest part though, other than the fact that it looks very like someone at Man City was not in any way prepared to pay the original fee that Pompey expected, which could quite possibly be the reason the forms arrived late. If the paperwork went in on time now apparently - the only reason that this deal should be ratified - then how can the fee change? And how can Defoe go from transfer>loan>transferred?

I saw the clip from the FA headquarters on Saturday explaining the procedure (Soccer Saturday - I forget?), and there are five pieces of paper that the FA require to have been faxed to them by midnight on transfer deadline day. This can mean that a deal isn't confirmed for a couple of hours after deadline, but as long as everything was RECEIVED in time then it'll go through.

Now the fees are part of that information, so the fees, and whether a player was on loan or transfered cannot be changed. It's pretty clear that the forms were never received in time anyway as this was what the FA stated, otherwise the FA would have ratified this at the time.

This absolutely stinks, and makes a mockery of the transfer window.

i heard the papers were faxed in time but were not picked up by dozy PL officials and this is why the deal was allowed to go through late.

I cannot confirm this to be true though.

Didnt something similar happen last year with the Maschareno to Liverpool?

If that were the case there would be no issue, the time stamp would have confirmed it.

Maschereno was a loan deal.

Mascherano was something completely different

Just read this thread: when i saw one of the first replies - I couldn't stop laughing.

As an Arsenal SeasonTicket Holder I just can smile.

Premier League to go tour?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/7232390.stm

Pretty shocking news if this goes ahead.

Having already written on this forum less than a month ago that Premier League teams would not play games outside of their country I am amazed that this is being discussed seriously so soon. However the current proposal seems to mean expanding the league season to 39 games which will not happen for several reason.

a) the big (powerful) clubs are already asking for less games to cope with the demands of competing in Europe
b) The everybody plays everyone twice system is both fair and simple
c) Adding another game would require the implementation of a complex system to determine a fair opponent for the last game

Personally I'd hate to see it happen and would like to think that it's still a long way off. I also think FIFA may have something to say about this. While they want to expand the game the method has always been to support national leagues. To to crush them by importing a superior prodcut into their market.

If it were to happen it would have to be done at the beginning of the season or at the very latest in the middle. Surely no club fighting for places would want to play abroad in the second half of the season when the league table has taken shape. The idea of seeding the top 5 teams is a joke and should not be allowed to happen.

QFT mate
where do u sit at emirates btw?

And we get closer to the end.

Football was alot more fun in the 2nd division than it looks like being in the future.

what a load of crud.

Torres to miss the Chelsea tie this weekend at Stamford Bridge. With Carvalho & (hopefully) Mikel back this weekend, it should definitely mean 3 points for us!

The big talk today is obviously the extra/international game to be played, but I saw a rumor that the BPL is going to up the subs from 5 to 7 next year. Anyone else seen that anywhere?

I feel like it's an interesting move. Although I think 5 might be too little, 7 will definitely give the top teams an edge, if only for the tactical advantage of being able to maintain a deeper squad. Thoughts?

You don't mean subs, you mean spots on the bench, right?

Personally, I like the move. It adds more depth to the bench and allows for some interesting tactical moves. Its better backup for sudden injuries, and probably gives more players a better chance of playing.

I would like it more if teams were forced to pick 2 academy players maybe to make up the last 2 spaces on the bench, obviously the big teams with the big money have the better squads with more depth they don't need another advantage like this of being able to pull out another reserve worth 10million if a player gets injured.

Oh and **** international friendlies they are so pointless in the middle of the season. Torres better be back before the Inter game, lots of players unable to play against Chelsea on sunday Finnan, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Alonso, Torres & Voronin (good i guess!) so i'm not very hopeful about that, as a betting man i would be on Chelsea at even money to win, especially at Stamford Bridge.

Pretty sickening too the ideas of the games being played in other countries, just shows the game is all about money now. Its not as if they need to spread the "global game" anymore in Asia and other places, just the brands of clubs like Man Utd, Chelsea etc.

sadly true, enjoy your 3 points.

So, which city gets the honor of hosting fullam vs sunderland??? LOL

You know some american city is gonna get fullam and reading and i just hope its not NYC. It's be nice to see some real soccer for a change and not MLStards shanking it all over the midfield.

So that means we get to see JC at right back again sunday afternoon?? I can hardly wait!!

All those names out for the game and the only one who is on form at all is FT. Every one else have been various degrees of terrible lately.

Sorry for going totally off topic, but since there's a lot of English dudes here... have any of you guys ever owned a Rover SD1? I'm thinking about buying one with a 3.5L V8 and wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether they suck or are awesome or what?

Never owned or driven one but they are nice looking cars IMO. However they are obviously pretty old now and British Leyland/Rover did not have the best reputation for build quality at that time. I'd recommend checking out Episode 7 from season 10 of Top Gear (http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgear/10/7/) in which they drive 3 old British Leyland cars including the SD1 V8. They do some fairly destructive tests on it which may or may not change your mind

I saw that episode when it came out which may be effecting in a positive manner my desire to buy one (yeah, I'm weird with cars). I'm also fully aware of BL's (and the rest of the British car industry in the 70's) and that ****er Joe Lucas' general awfulness as I currently own a Jensen-Healey which has never moved an inch under it's own power.

There's a nice one for sale a few hundred miles from here for only $1500 with some fuel leakage "issues". It would interesting to hear just how much a bitch the shoddy craftsmanship is to deal with on a day to day basis.

expecting much from that lot is asking for an aneuryism


it'll happen becuase it'll all be about the money, though I don't know of many fans who will want to see a random WBA match in jan or go to see QPR play(as they very well may be in the prem by the time this takes place). It'll mean a lot of money for the big clubs, or clubs that have tradition, but for those that just got promoted, I'm not sure that it'll be that much of a benefit.

Even as an american fan, it's very weird thinking that there'll be meanginful matches come jan of 2010-11, and I'm not sure I like it all that much. One thing I've liked about the prem is the history and how english it is. So much of american sports has been killed by marketing and entertaining to the big stations like ESPN. Here it looks like the prem is catering to skysports

Don't like the idea of the "39th" game, whether it be in England or anywhere else.

If making money is the thing, maybe they should turn relegation into a tourney that can be hosted overseas. There, they can take teams 15 - 20 and have them play a round robin. After the round robin, the top two are out of the tourney (not relegated); the bottom two are automatically relegated; the middle two play a match to see who stays up.

The benefits for this is that these bottom teams are not going to be worried about carrying these extra games and the extra money generated will serve as a nice "parting" gift to the three that get sent down.

Heh, it was a highly entertaining episode. I thought the tests got a bit silly but it was good to see those old cars in use again, the first car I remember my parents having was an Austin Princess.

You don't see many SD1's on the road in the UK anymore but I'm sure if you're not relying on it for commuting etc. it could be a lot of fun Personally I would go for a Ford Capri, I still see a few early 80's models around that have been well looked after plus I have happy memories of tailsliding my friend's 1.6L a few years ago.

Sorry I can't help out more, good luck!

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_...254817,00.html

Looks like this overseas thing is picking up steam. I find Coppell's comments astounding. Fergie is pissed. The head of Japan's league weighs in, and of course LaLa thinks its a good opportunity for people to compare MLS against the EPL.

Really I find Coppell’s comments clever he manages to toe the party line while at the same time letting every one know that the premier league is now a cash machine and its interests are directly opposed to those of the English FA and it has no intention of trying to for fill its stated aim of improving the standard of English football and the national team.

Wenger said 90% of Arsenal fans are now abroad but what kind of fans are they the kind that would follow arsenal down to the second division and watch them play Stockport or Macclesfield? No they would all change allegiance if they were relegated. Eliminating Promotion and relegation will be the next target and if you think they will be happy with one game a season being held abroad when it generates more money then a domestic fixture you’re tripping this is the first step towards a closed league of fewer teams and teams playing more games in foreign countries.
The only thing that would slow this down would be UEFA threatening to with hold Champion’s League places from teams that took part and I expect even that would be fought through the courts.

These guys are in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. The average age of fans is going up and up as ticket prices get pushed ever higher the league which was original touted as the best because of its parity is now grossly unequal and now they propose changing the structure doing away with any pretence of fairness or balance. How long do they expect fans to keep shelling out to see a sport that is being transformed into a spectacle when there is no competitiveness for most of the teams and the result is now devalued because of a huge element of luck designed by them into the competition ( you cant call what they are proposing a league)?

Here is a workable solution if they want to play games abroad they buy their way out of the League Cup paying compensation to the league teams for loss of income. Then they stage a Premier league cup in a host nation or spread around the globe whatever.
4 groups of 5 play one another once. Each top 4 teams from last year’s league are seeded.
The winner and runners up go through to a quarter final (winner group A goes to QF1 runner up Group A goes to QF4 ect) and so on.
Its 4 extra games for every one and 7 for the finalists.
I gave it 5 minuets thought and have come up with a better idea then the geniuses that run the prem.