Football (Soccer) Rumours

747man wrote:Nah ! Bob,What about Shittee Citteh ???

No 747 the owners of City (& Chelsea) might be in a strong financial position but the clubs themselves, as a business entity, are about as good a financial risk as The Royal Bank of Scotland before the Government pumped cash into it!!

747

The reason why i asked about the statdium shapes is that the " Square Model ' is being cited as the norm and the proposed Aussie bid for 2020, using the larger exsisting ovals that are multi used in Oz , are getting crap from other FIFA bids. Most of the larger stadiums in oz will have larger capacities than ur average european ground.

That does seem odd Wazza when you look at the new stadium in Cape Town for this years World Cup.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/destinatio ... index.html

Galee

Im sure its part of the bidding war and tactics etc,

They had a heap of journos over to look at the stadiums from voting countries and they canned the ANZ statdium in Sydney, then got told it was the 2000 Olympic stadium and a few red faces.

Lets hope bums in seats and non subsidised tkts = income for FIFA

Mind you cant see Oz winning it, we arent considered a major " football country " according to FIFA.

Well, that is a surprise...
Rungrado May Day Stadium in North Korea has the largest capacity....
USA figure probably the most times on the list though...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_st ... y_capacity
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest if you take Motor Racing venues as well...

wazza wrote:Mind you cant see Oz winning it, we arent considered a major " football country " according to FIFA.

And Japan and South Korea 2002 are I suppose. Money talks.

Bob

Apply the FIFA HSE regs and the capacity might drop back a little ?????

Poor day for football finances yesterday.
Firstly Portsmouth administrator axes 85 of the 320 backroom staff - nearly half of the staff are part time already. The Administrator also said that if Portsmouth drop to the Championship (an almost certainty) then further cuts would be necessary.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8560834.stm
Secondly Chester City have been wound up in High Court in London yesterday. After a proud history spanning 126 years the now Conference side were done in for a meager £26,125 it owed to the tax man. Fans will attempt to re-create the name in some guise but, according to the rules, it will have to start it next life at an even lower division of football. Last year it was relegated out of the bottom level of league football. Attendances this year had almost halved from the 2,500 down to about 1,200 this year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 559704.stm
Thirdly Cardiff City were given a bit of a lifeline when a judge decided that they have until 5th. May to pay HMG the £1.9m it owes on taxes. Cardiff believe they can raise most of that with the sale of land & also suggested that a mysterious "Asian businessman" was willing to invest heavily in the club. Lawyers for HMG were singularly unimpressed by all this & wanted Cardiff wound up immediately - saying Cardiff was.

plainly insolvent

. The judge disagreed & has allowed time to pay. Cynics might suggest that the judge is easily swayed by words & knows little of the history of football financial management - given that the Cardiff Chairman is Peter Ridsdale formerly much revered (or is that reviled ??) in Leeds..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 557188.stm
Finally Southend United were also offered a 35 day reprieve by the High Court to pay the £183,000 HMG claims it is owed. This is not an open & shut case as the club hotly dispute that the money is owed, but arguing with the Revenue is like appealing to their better side - usually a waste of breath!! Professional Footballers' Association paid Southend players' wages for January, which shows that they are unlikely to be able to pay if the Revenue persist...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 559824.stm

Maybe some good news for another club battling debts though - Crystal Palace..

Massimo Cellino, the president of Italian club Cagliari, is "very close to an agreement" to buy Crystal Palace, according to Italian sports daily Corriere dello Sport.
Full story: imscouting.com

BobHelm wrote:
Maybe some good news for another club battling debts though - Crystal Palace..

Massimo Cellino, the president of Italian club Cagliari, is "very close to an agreement" to buy Crystal Palace, according to Italian sports daily Corriere dello Sport.
Full story: imscouting.com

You got me all excited for a moment there, Bob. There I was revising the Palace fans 'just one cornetto' Attilio Lombardo song, when i read 'convicted Italian fraudster'. Mmmm, maybe thanks, but no thanks, methinks.

I did say maybe Brian...

Liverpool are keeping a close eye on Alex McLeish's contract talks at Birmingham, with a view to bringing in the Scot as a replacement for current Reds boss Rafael Benitez at the end of the season.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Well I think most Pool fans would agree that changes are needed. I suspect that the large majority think it is in the ownership direction rather than management though..
IF this is not just a newspaper tale & actually represents the thinking at the top in Liverpool then i (almost) feel sorry for their fans. Whatever McLeish is or is not capable of he has never shown any indication as a manager who believes that attractive attacking football should come before not losing at any price.

Well HE Would be PERFECT Then for Liverpool,Bob ??? But THEY cannot afford to buy out The Fat Waiters contract Anyway !!!

747man wrote:Well HE Would be PERFECT Then for Liverpool,Bob ??? But THEY cannot afford to buy out The Fat Waiters contract Anyway !!!

With Real Madrid going out of the Champions League there is talk of Benitez replacing Pellegrini as boss there and,possibly,taking both Gerrard and Torres with him to Madrid at the end of the season !

A case of "be careful what you promise" if ever I read one...

Italian club Cagliari are to refund their fans after losing 2-0 at home to struggling Lazio on Sunday.

Having seen his side lose three of their previous four matches, president Massimo Cellino made the reimbursement promise on the club's website ahead of the game.

Full story..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 580270.stm

Years back, I travelled on a fans' coach from London to Preston and Palace turned in an miserable performance (0-2, I think). The Chairman paid for travel to another away game of your choice - as some compensation. Some may feel it was pushing the knife in deeper!

I was rabbeting on a while ago about the 'Save us from Relegation Managers' that Football Club Boards turn to in time of trouble. So when I read this piece that thought sprung to mind.

Zola has been told to submit a dossier to West Ham's owners to convince them that he can save the Hammers from the drop.Full story: Daily Mail

But before I had time to recover the next piece I read was this...

Former Chelsea boss Glenn Hoddle is being lined up for a dramatic return to management - in place of West Ham's Gianfranco Zola.Full story: Daily Mirror

Good grief men on the West Ham Board get a grip. Maybe Zola is not the man for the job (& he strikes me as being far too pleasant a human being for the football managers' world) but if you really want to save the club DO NOT go the 'mystic meg' route.

Former Blackburn and Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is on a three-man shortlist to lead Ivory Coast at this summer's World Cup.Full story: The Guardian

They could certainly do far worse. After all his first job in football management was as an international manager with Wales. As a bit of an aside, I was watching a Citee match about a week ago. I think it was against Sunderland. One of the commentators said that it was after this match a year previously that Hughes had got the chop from Citee & the job given to Mancini. They had now both managed City for the same number of games - Hughes had lost 2, Mancini 4 !! And I thought football was all about results...