I think the economy is more likely to be cause of a lack of buying (at costs the papers throw around, anyway) more so than FFP. I’ve read too many things that make me think that, while it’s a nice idea to have clubs be financially responsible, it will be very difficult to enforce. For one, there’s the EC (or is it EU?) that may see it as a restriction of trade. The second big thing is stuff like City getting a huge sponsorship deal from…their owners. Who’s to say what’s the fair market value of a stadium sponsorship or shirt sponsorship?
Cumbrian, I disagree with you on Rio. He’s no longer at his best, but I thought he was good this year, and better than he’s been the past 2 years. Evans was good, too. The defense’s problems as I see them were 1) a lack of consistency at RB and 2) Evra just being off the mark for 2 years running now. He has good games here and there (like yesterday), but on the whole, it seems like it’s been problems from attacking teams’ right side that has caused the most problems. Having Vidic back next year should help Evra because he’ll certainly know what to expect from cover. Improve the central midfield and United will be fine.
Just like this season, the margins will be very fine, and I wouldn’t be surprised if 95 points isn’t enough to win the league. I’m glad that Southampton will be back, and if Blackpool are still playing the open style they did last year, I hope they beat West Ham on Saturday for the 3rd spot.
Would agree on Evra. Indeed, full back should be an area of investment for Manchester United this summer, as well as central midfield (but then central midfield was a position of need last summer).
Would disagree on Ferdinand. It’s not his fault, as he’s been injured a lot - but he’s lost his pace with the upshot that Manchester United defend a lot more deeply than they used to, because he can’t bail them out with recovery speed. The result is that teams got a lot more play in the attacking third of the field for United, which invites more shots on goal. I think, longer term, they will wind up with Jones at centre half, as his pace will allow them to play a higher line, though he’s still a bit raw. Ferdinand is still a decent ball player - and apparently his influence on Evans has been large this year (which makes sense as he has come along leaps and bounds this year) - but he’s not helping them in terms of shape, which is half the battle in terms of stopping goals being conceded.
As for FFP - not sure about this, because I am not a lawyer - but UEFA might be able to make it stick, because they are based in Switzerland and are thus not part of the EU. Further, apparently, UEFA have signed an agreement with the EU so that clubs cannot use the EU justice system to challenge the ruling anyway, so they’ve covered themselves either way (this per the wiki article on FFP and sourced - though to the Daily Mail so treat with caution). All this and a Deloitte report into the financial status of the game saying that FFP has lead to reduced spending, make me think that the rules may have some bite to them. You are right though that the devil is going to be in the implementational detail.
Blackpool are still playing good football. Sam Allardyce at West Ham is not. I hope to see Blackpool win the playoff.
And, in what will likely be the least surprising off season move, Aston Villa has sacked Alex McLeish. He’ll doubtless find another job in football somewhere, but I can’t imagine he’s going to be given another chance in the Premier League too soon.
I wonder if he’ll go to West Brom - go for the triumvirate of West Midlands clubs he’s bolloxed up.
To be fair to the big man, he had a tough job this season at Villa which turned into a nightmare when Bent was injured. I think someone new could do better, but it’s a big project.
As a Man U fan, I’m torn between thinking City were a bit lucky to win it in the way they did, and having to give them respect for beating United twice. I think the latter has won out for me, United can’t claim they were unlucky really. Interestingly, had United only lost 2-1 at home to City, then the points and goals (both for and against) would have been exactly equal. Would that have meant City won the title by virtue of having beaten United twice? If they had not, what’s the next tiebreaker - goal difference/goals scored in the two games between the teams? And if that does not separate them, then what?!
Agreed re QPR, I have nothing against the club or Mark Hughes but they really should have gone down, their midfield were pathetic in not getting back before they conceded that last goal. Galling for Bolton, particularly with that ridiculous first goal given against them.
Hope that new West Brom keeper recovers his confidence from the horror show he had - good thing for him it was a meaningless game right at the end of the season, overshadowed more than somewhat by other events, otherwise the papers would have crucified him.
If teams are still tied after goal difference and goals scored are taken into account, a playoff game is played at a neutral venue to determine who the champions are.
I an American soccer fan, so by law, I’ve been a Man-United fan for quite a while, but I was rooting hard for City on that day. With Man-United ahead in their game, and looking comfortable, all they needed was for City to draw or lose. How friggin’ anti-climactic would that have been?
I was on the edge of my seat the whole second half of the City-QPR match; and I’m pretty sure I scared the shit out of my neighbors when they scored that second goal in stoppage - I was hooting and hollering and screaming … it was quite the exciting turn of events.
I even cackled a little when they showed the Man-U players with their “they fucking won?” looks on their faces after the fact.
I was so surprised by this I found a cite (see bottom of page 98) - you are spot on of course. I wonder what they would do if 3 teams all tied on points, GD, and goals scored - the only totally fair way of organising the play-off is to have all three teams play each other, and hope the goal difference (or goals scored) is then not equal. But that is far from guaranteed! On the other hand, since this has not come close to happening in 20 years (in fact, I suspect it has not happened in any football league in history), we will probably never know.
I hate to point out the obvious, but this post proves conclusively that you are not a Man United fan. It could be used as evidence of being a Man City fan, or a football fan, or just a fan of excitement in general, but believe me when I say that had City not scored that third goal, the celebrations in the red half of Manchester would have been just as vociferous as those currently underway in the blue half, anti-climax be damned!
Was just gonna post that. Damn. I wanted him to stay at LFC. (Of course, it’s never good when your rivals hope you’ll stay put.) I felt he was just about to get them to turn the corner. Again. And again. And again.
The writing was on the wall for two reasons: one, league performance has just not been good enough - which would be sufficient - but two, the handling of the Suarez racism affair was totally inept. Disrepute is one of those words that gets bandied about too readily in football in the UK, but it genuinely did bring the name of Liverpool Football Club into disrepute. Everyone involved should have been on the block.
Word is that Liverpool are interested in Roberto Martinez. Would be interesting to see what he could do with a bit of money behind him. I wonder whether he would be afforded the patience that Wigan had with him though (and rightly so, when you’ve not got the best of squads and the best players get cherry picked every year, it’s likely to take you a bit of time to gel - hence the relegation battles he’s had to fight).
Yes, any manager of a struggling Premier League club would do well to cite Wigan as an example of what can be achieved by keeping faith in a manager (though it didn’t work for Bolton this season - having said that, I think they were very hard done by).
