True Just reading Teddy's wikipedia page: Upon his retirement from professional football in 2008, Sheringham has been a noticeable figure on the world poker scene, playing in various competitions worldwide. He made the final table in the € 5,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event in the EPT Vilamoura, finishing 5th out of a field of 384 players, winning € 93,121. He vowed to donate his winnings to charity, though later admitted to the Daily Mail he decided to put the money towards a new Aston Martin DB9 he had been shown at a local dealer.
We've still got a bit of business to do, in my opinion. Assuming that the Adebayor deal goes through, we still need at least one more striker and the likes of Dos Santos and Pienaar need to leave and be replaced. If our first XI is currently Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Assou-Ekotto, Parker, Modric, Lennon, van der Vaart, Bale and Adebayor, then it doesn't need a lot of work. Our last remaining Croatian will go and a similar players needs to come in and do his job, but the rest looks fine. If the Julio Cesar rumour's true, then I'm sure he'd go straight into the side, but the rest's fine. Our second XI, though? Gomes/Cudicini, Naughton, Dawson, Caulker, Fryers, Sandro, Huddlestone, Dos Santos, Sigurdsson, Pienaar, Defoe. With the likes of Bassong, Gallas, Jenas and Bentley still not making the grade and Defoe not suiting the system, I think it's clear that there's still some way to go. The two wingers should leave soon, by all accounts, so that's a start, but it's obvious that we can improve on some areas of that side.
Sad if it's true Roo, but necessary, I think. It's probably for the best for both him and the club. I'd hate to see him do himself some serious, long-term damage, if he hasn't already. The timing might be perfect for him, though. New manager, new training ground, new focus on youth development and a lot of ex-players amongst the coaching staff.
Not overly concerned about whether the timing's right or not, just sad to see him go Would be great if he was able to stay on as a coach. Can't see the announcement being today though, seems a bit late and I'd have thought there would be a press conference.
That was different for two reasons: 1.) We shouldn't have sold him in the first place 2.) Pompey didn't actually pay for him, so technically it was theft...
When you put the 2nd string down like that it doesn't look quite so good does it... A few here n there (say coulker/thud/sandro etc) as part of rotation is fine, but if you take say ade, bale, walker and kaboul out (which is quite feasable) we would struggle imo. Still, if we get a new keeper and have brad as no.2. n sell gomes then that is some depth right there, and if gio gets a run and performs then that would go a long way. Still, defoe as our only striker is not a situation i would feel comfortable with.
The OS has updated the squad pics, and from this we can gather... * Andros Townsend wasn't there, as they pasted his pic from last season onto someone else * Bentley wasn't there, hence he doesn't have a squad photo (so here's hoping...) * Nobody knows anything about Livermore or Rose, as they don't have any blurb * Caulker is camera shy, as that's two straight seasons we didn't get a photo of him * We maybe got the squad pics taken early - Vertonghen and Sigurdsson don't have one * We haven't bothered updating the photos of the youngsters * Gallas looks like he could play Satan in any film he chooses * Bugger, Khumalo is recognised as a member of our squad * Naughton looks perplexed by the photographer's instructions * Benny can't look "moody" with that hair * The Huddlefro is now official
Well we can all forget about Oscar - Roman's deep pockets have come good again - http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/20876/7904965/Oscar-deal-done £25m! - glad we didn't take the risk tbh.
I agree that it's an idiotic price to pay for a completely untried, untested young player, who may or may not cut it in the premiership. In this case though, the wider issue is, when are the ruling bodies ever going to do something about this arbitrary off balance sheet spending by megalomaniac owners, like The Russian Gangster? It's ridiculous that his ilk are still allowed to just " buy the market" by throwing unlimited amounts of unearned cash at it.
oscar? could well turn out to be another diego who hoddle tried to sign.......not that diego is a bad player.
Sorry for repeating myself if you've read this before, but the point about having unlimited funds is that you can afford to take that chance. If Oscar doesn't come off then it doesn't matter if you don't have to account for the loss. If it comes off everyone (well the 'pundits' and 'journalists') says how clever it was to take the chance at an untried kid. So yes, it is an idiotic price to pay for us but not so if money doesn't matter. That is what I find particularly frustrating. Not good for football (not good for the player either if he's not going to play much, but clearly good for his agent). Not sure how it fits in with the financial fair play etc. Clearly its a joke because if you can buy any player you want you can probably work out a way round it.
if he turn's out the way RA's buy's usually do,he will be a flop just like Shevchenko and Torres so far
Yes, it's a joke. If that money came from earned income of the club, and they decided to risk it on Oscar, Fine. If the money is from a legitimate source, and your corporate balance sheet can afford it then buy what you like. However, when the funds are from somebody's pocket, not from earned income, that exacerbates the unfair competition that the FFP rules are supposed to limit. Of course the playing field will never be completely level - the big clubs will remain the big clubs so long as they retain their support. Owners like Abramovich, and the oil state owned Man City however, are just making that playing field even more slanted.
let chelsea do it. they've got the money, so they can do what they want. But a team only field 11 players at once. There's a lot of big names at chelsea, especially in midfield. I don't know how everyone's going to stay happy, as game time is surely going to be restricted. Essien Romeu Ramirez Lampard Mikel Miereles Malouda (likely to leave) Marin Hazard Mata there's still 10 big names, even when Malouda leaves and Oscar comes in. then there's the youngsters who are starting to compete for a place, who I haven't included. having the money is one thing, but there will be footballers in that squad who want to just play. Marko Marin's decision to join Chelsea was the correct one at the time, but I bet he's beginning to regret that now. Midfield overload.
