Glad I made my feelings plain last week - it’s saved me time this morning.
You could see the resignation in his eyes, both literally and figuratively, in the post-match interview. I think his only chance of redemption playing his way was two cups and fourth.
For the chance to stay past summer he must now get fourth and win the UEFA Cup playing Liverpool football for the rest of the season. Even gaining both of those prizes via canny Italian counterstriking might not save his bacon. Hopefully, since we are not a sacking club, he will do the decent thing and move upstairs while advising on a replacement.
Is Spurs trying to attract an American audience or something? Perhaps 3 points for scoring from outside the area, 2 points from inside?
I’ve seen five Spurs games (all Prem) since the New Year and they’re scoring at the rate of 4 ½ a game. The strange thing is, none of those goals were at the sacrifice of the defence; Spurs would have scored them irrespective of what was happening at the other end. It just so happens the defence is a shambles, there is no defensive midfielder to cover and Pleat has zero second half tactical ability. But we would have scored those goals anyway.
That’s at least something.
An equally disappointing draw on Saturday along the A3 at lowly Corinthian Casuals. What a piss-pot it is down there. Anyway, the club history is interesting; they claim Real Madrid got their famous white strip from them – which is odd as they play in . . . chocolate and pink quarters with light blue shorts. All in the best possible taste.
It really was a sight to behold. Just in case anyone’s interested, this is the club’s history. I live in hope that 50 years from the Casuals more recent history will be matched by the Gooners:
*The Corinthians were founded in 1882 and the Casuals in 1883. N.L.Jackson who was then Assistant Honorary Secretary of the Football Association aimed to develop a club side capable of challenging Scotland at international level. A meeting was held at Jackson’s offices in London’s Paternoster Row and this was when the club was born. The name came from a suggestion from H.A.Swepstowe who was an England international and was accepted unanimously. Within 4 years there were nine Corinthians in the England team which drew 1-1 with Scotland. Between 1883 and 1890 of the 88 caps awarded against Scotland, 52 went to Corinthians. The Corinthians fielded the full England side twice, in 1894 and 1895, both matches were against Wales.
The Corinthians original constitution stated that the club will play in no competition was not broken until 1900 when the Sheriff of London Shield was competed for. Aston Villa, who were Football League Champions at the time were beaten 2-1 as Corinthians lifted their first trophy. Four years later Corinthians inflicted Manchester United’s record ever defeat on them to the tune of 11-3. In 1902 a certain Real Madrid adopted the Corinthians white strip although the two clubs have had a reversal of fortunes ever since.* http://www.corinthians.freeserve.co.uk/
An equally disappointing draw on Saturday along the A3 at lowly Corinthian Casuals. What a piss-pot it is down there.
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Ah but have you seen their trophy room? It makes Real Madrid’s look like Plymouth Argyle’s.
I have never seen so much antique silverware outside the V&A.
And there is no chance of the goons fielding all eleven in an england team. They only had one playing for them on Saturday. Even Chelski had more than that.
Well, Month 5 is over in the Straight Dope Fantasy League, and so I hereby award the cup for manager of the month to… SentientMeat!
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Gosh, well, this is a little embarrassing.
In an attempted diversion so that nobody orders an investigation into my doings, as it were, I note that in the Best 3 months competition, L_C still leads by a nose.
This might be good news;I would imagine, with delays, they won’t be in situ until 2008, by which time Wenger should be fit to retire and most of the current foreign mercenaries retired, or about to retire.
Once Wenger goes, it all starts to fall apart, the Gooners start playing in front of 16,000 again, they can’t afford the stadium or players and have to sell up and move to the A3 and ground share with Corinthian Casuals.
Guess who buys the nice new stadium at a discounted price ?
Ashburton Properties has obtained a £260million senior loan facility from a stadium facilities banking group.
The group comprises The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Espirito Santo Investment, The Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks PLC, CIT Group Structured Finance (UK) Limited and HSH Nordbank AG.
Interest on the senior debt is set at a commercial fixed rate over the 14-year term. >>>>>>>>>
Christ almighty! Could they not get a crappier loan book than that! This is the commercial equivalent of those car credit ads in the back of the tabloids.
And looking at that book its probably in Euros/and or convertible options. Dear oh dear, another possible problem for the filth.
So: Uncertain intetrest rates + sucess on the back of one man who will leave eventually + fickle support base = trouble ahead?
Irish Dopers, am I dreaming or is TV3 actually showing the most attractive Champions League fixture tonight despite there not being any club from Britain in it?
Aha my South London Club supporting friend! This is where you are wrong.
Spurs are in pretty good shape financially and being a teensy weensy bit smarter than Woolwich are going to get someone else to pay for our new stadium. (Insert racial stereotype here)
We have two realistic alternatives.
Either to stay where we are and expand WHL to about 50,000, which will, with our loyal fanbase and ticket prices, actually generate more revenue than Ashburton Grovel.
Now here’s the clever bit: Because Haringey is a rough as a bear’s arse we will get the local authority/GLA and EU to fund much of the infrastructure work and also if we make a few “community friendly” noises they will also pay for quite a lot of the stadium too. WHL/THFC are a major part of the economy of the area. AFC was resented by it’s neighbours.
Choice two is to move to Wembley, paid for by others again. I think this is what will happen.
Ashburton Grove is a potential timebomb financially. It is based on AFC being in the Euro thingum to generate the revenue. As Leeds found out this isn’t necessarily a good position to be in.
Anyway I hope the stadium’s on wheels, as you never stay in the same place for long.
But are the Arse really in a similar position to Leeds?
They aren’t on dodgy contracts, the TV and merchandise revenues are pretty strong, and they have the added bonus of not signing players on insane contracts. they can attract the same amount of fans and the same calibre of players. I think your visions of impending doom are (understandable) wishful thinking.
Now, does anyone know much about the new euro rules concerning insolvent clubs? All going well, after March 7th the cloven hooved forces of Darkness might be in quite a tight pinch.
As things stand at the moment the deal stacks up. The have reasonable income and they have a fairly controllable pay structure (only that Judas scum is on £80k pwk - the rest are on considerably less).
But what they have done is they have mortgaged their future income against this. They have thrown ten years shirt sponsorhip cash (nike paid upfront) and also some of the telly money together with concesion payments and debenture payments.
In any normal business before this sort of decision is made the “worst case” would be looked at.
In AfC’s case the worst case is Wenger gets hit by a bus and the french contingent leave. They would get good money for Henry, but not so much for the rest. The on-pitch sucess fades and they are back to playing for cups and uefa places. If this happens they tend to bleed support like a stuck pig (when wenger came their average crowd was under 20,000).
I am not sure that the sums will add up in that case.
There are other considerations too. My understanding is that the senior debt (about £250m) is on a base rate + x% basis. I can only see interest rates going north especially in the Eurozone, where the majority of the debt appears to be held.
Of more concern is the junior debt (£100m + inc operating overdraft) which is quite high-rate.
Dun and Bradstreet give AFC a BBB credit rating. THis is good for a football club but not good to be borrowing cheaply against. Hence the crappy loan book of two bob banks.
The original syndicate included people like WDL and ING who couldn’t make the case to their credit committees
THis is partly a reflection on the Ashburton Grove project (which does have risks)and also a reflection on the standing of football in the City.
Think of a ginger leper as a comparison for popularity.
ENIC are barely one bob. It’s a side project for the chairman of Mr Byrite for god’s sake. (although Joe Lewis has very many bobs - probably more than Abramovich)
I believe that the stadium financing has been kept somewhat seperate from AFC, and is owned seperately, which helps to ensure Arsenal’s future as a club. The club won’t own the stadium, but will be it’s tenant.
“The Stadium facilities comprise £260 million of senior debt to be provided to Ashburton Properties Limited (“Ashburton Properties”) (the member of the Arsenal Group which owns the Stadium site)”
Okay, it seems that they are seperate companies under the Arsenal Group corporation.
Ultimately the Hill-Woods are still responsible.
on another note.
from Owlstretchingtime
“Aha my South London Club supporting friend! This is where you are wrong.”
I’m an Arsenal supporter, not a Chels supporter…
Wait! Are you still referring to the move from Woolwich back in 1913? After 91 years, I don’t think we can still be considered a “south London club”…
It’s time to get over it Owlie.
Pretty good for a fan who’s only followed them since 1995, eh?
If you guys (THFC) had signed Bergkamp and not Arsenal, I might’ve been in your camp. My Arsenal fixation has always been about Bergkamp. I understand that’s another sore spot for you guys, with Dein signing him out from under your noses.
We’ll take the stick for that, and for signing Campbell, but you’ve got to get over the South London thing, that’s just ludicrous.
Sorry Ivar my genetics prevents me from clicking on your link.
Who was the QPR fan who pops by sometimes ? Dean Marney has ended his loan spell over there and returned to a great scoring and goal-making performance in the reserves. Man of the Match and full of venom – obviously did him good going over there . . .
On an uplifting note, aside form an unfortunate experience on New Years Afternoon at the less than salubrious Croydon Arena (read: unmentionable crapper), I’ve now attended eleven consecutive games without my team (Prem or non-league) losing – given that both teams were in the bottom three at the turn of the year, I find that remarkable, so I’m remarking on it.
9 wins
2 draws
Goals scored 30
Goals Against 17
The worlds been turned on its head !
And I anticipate more success against the Met Police on Saturday despite a long injury list and the Old Bill being on a high (it was a figure of speech, yer ‘onour) due to a new management team.
