No imminent scandal over there at the minute, surprisingly, so probs a non starter. Reckon Madrid may have employed similar tactics to Barca though, they both seem to have an untouchable budget despite massive debts, so maybe Ronaldo, alongside Messi, in the Championship. Sounds canny.
Has hell frozen over? I'll believe it when I see it. It was also nice seeing the big decision going for the English team for once in the Champions League in the pig supervisors sending off. Mind I still don't see what was wrong with Welbecks goal.
Not hard at all. I'm sure other "lesser clubs" would have had points deducted or even relegated. Wouldn't surprise me if UEFA talked the punishment thru and agreed it with Barca prior to going public.
Bullshit. Real Madrid are in effect funded by the state and have always been the national association's pet team. It's a minor miracle that Barca have managed to achieve their large status such was the persecution of the club, and the entire Catalan region, during the rule of Franco etc. It would seem that Barca's long engrained youth policy has for some reason been used as a way to punish and disadvantage them. A youth policy derived from a time it was required for them to compete as "marquee" signings were in effect stolen off them under duress (Di Stefano) before they could sign. Seems your no longer allowed to try and grow an effective youth set up as a way of sustainably competing with the mega spenders (yes Barca spend, reluctantly and have had to relinquish their no shirt sponsor tradition so they could spend to keep pace) e.g. the Madrids, Chelseas snd Man Citys of this world
Real Madrid funded by the state? No actually, they are heavily backed by Banco Santander, a privately owned bank. Secondly, the ruling is not a slur on Barca's famed academy, more s tep to deter them from poaching from the many other clubs academy's in Spain that have for many, many years been raided by Barca & Real. Thirdly, 'reluctantly relinquished their no shirt sponsor tradition'. Absolute ****ing horse ****. Barcelona had a public vote, and it was decided that the famous shirts would remain sponsor free, the club weren't overly impressed with this, so they offered free placement to Unicef on the clubs shirts. This continued on (clearly, no backhanders here...) to the Qatar Foundation, and then, SHOCK 'Qatar Airways' of course in no way where these 2 linked.... Barca CHOSE to ride roughshod over their fans wishes for the commercial gain, and quite right too in my opinion giving the changing financial landscape of the game, but it was very much CHOICE. Barcelona, the worlds biggest, most wealthy, most powerful 'victim.
Anyone know why bale has been getting stick recently? Or is he being made a scapegoat of after a couple of poor results?
