# UK football, season 2008/09, forecasts **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 7, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150 "2008-08-07T12:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/421 "2009-01-16T08:44:24Z")
> [@villa](#): > > As I said, a salary cap just isn’t practical in European football. Real football doesn’t need a salary cap because in real football poor teams get relegated. The relegated team (usually) doesn’t go away. It’s still there, in the community, and it continues to exist not only as a team but also as an ephemeral entity - the stadium, the stands, the “local” pubs, that kind of stuff. There are no sports in the US that have a promtion/relegation system. Over here, a shitty team moves someplace that will give the owner a better deal. AIUI that has happened once in modern English football and everyone still talks about Wimbledon FC instead of their successors. That says a lot more about our legal system than it does about our sports system. Because you non-American bastards have, over the years, managed to suck me into your goddamn sport I’ve come to believe that the promotion/relegation system is the way it should be. Despite that, your brainwashing attempts have not convinced me that things like salary caps are WRONG, just that our system has developed a little different over here. Y’all have the Coca Cola league; we have college ball games. The money is still in play; it’s just distributed in a somewhat different manner. But, man - can you imagine what baseball would be like if teams could be promoted/relegated through AAA/AA/A? It’s the only professional American sport that could pull it off and man it’d be fun to watch… ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/422 "2009-01-16T08:50:51Z")
Kris Boyd to Lazio? fwah fwah fwah. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/423 "2009-01-16T10:45:57Z")
I would say the Richest Club In The World is the one that can pay £140 million all told for Kaka and then pay him half a million pounds a week after tax and still have £15 mill left over for De Jong, £19 million for Cruz and £12 mill for Bellamy and still have change. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/424 "2009-01-16T11:55:05Z")
I would agree with **tagos**. So, the [latest story](http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/15/manchester-city-kaka-milan-transfer) is that Hughes thinks a deal is “very close”, and that Meeelan are “evaluating” an offer thought to be in the region of €150m. Hilariously, this breaks down as follows: [ul][li]€120m as a fee for Kaka[/li][li]€20m in agents’ fees[/li][li]€10m for Kaka’s father[/ul][/li]Hughes refused to be drawn on where he plans to play Kaka’s dad, although Wayne Bridge is believed to be worried that he will play second fiddle to a man who, although 55 years old and a civil engineer, is expected to figure heavily at the back of a revised 7-7-5 formation comprising the entire Brazilian national first team and the original lineup of The Fall. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/425 "2009-01-16T13:37:02Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > I would say the Richest Club In The World is the one that can pay £140 million all told for Kaka and then pay him half a million pounds a week after tax and still have £15 mill left over for De Jong, £19 million for Cruz and £12 mill for Bellamy and still have change. Having already paid £12M for Wayne Bridge 😃 Oh, I think they have a bit more than _change_ left ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/426 "2009-01-16T13:40:14Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > I would agree with **tagos**. > > So, the [latest story](http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jan/15/manchester-city-kaka-milan-transfer) is that Hughes thinks a deal is “very close”, and that Meeelan are “evaluating” an offer thought to be in the region of €150m. Hilariously, this breaks down as follows: > > [ul][li]€120m as a fee for Kaka[/li][li]€20m in agents’ fees[/li][li]€10m for Kaka’s father[/ul][/li]Hughes refused to be drawn on where he plans to play Kaka’s dad, although Wayne Bridge is believed to be worried that he will play second fiddle to a man who, although 55 years old and a civil engineer, is expected to figure heavily at the back of a revised 7-7-5 formation comprising the entire Brazilian national first team and the original lineup of The Fall. As a City fan I know this is all going to blow up in our faces at some point but for the moment I think we have earned the right to dream through our decades of suffering. And one of the beauties of football is that you cannot buy guaranteed success no matter how much you spend. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/427 "2009-01-16T13:50:45Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > As a City fan I know this is all going to blow up in our faces at some point but for the moment I think we have earned the right to dream through our decades of suffering. > > And one of the beauties of football is that you cannot buy guaranteed success no matter how much you spend. As a Manc, I hope you do pull it off and it turns you into a team that can consistently compete for the top silverware. I’d LOVE Manchester to have the TWO best football teams in the world. p.s. And it’d certainly cheer up my youngest bro’, the misery guts! ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/428 "2009-01-16T13:52:50Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > As a Manc, I hope you do pull it off and it turns you into a team that can consistently compete for the top silverware. I’d LOVE Manchester to have the TWO best football teams in the world. Agreed. City are going to have an awesome second 11 too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/429 "2009-01-16T13:57:06Z")
[quote=“ivan\_astikov, post:427, topic:459150”] As a Manc, I hope you do pull it off and it turns you into a team that can consistently compete for the top silverware. I’d LOVE Manchester to have the TWO best football teams in the world. QUOTE] Just a minute…you’re a Manc and you support the rags. Imagine that, the rags have at least one fan from Manchester;) Your bro sounds like a decent sort of chap 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/430 "2009-01-16T13:57:23Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > Agreed. City are going to have an awesome second 11 too. 😉 The Hughsie Young’uns? Hmmm…not quite got the same ring as the Busby Babes, has it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/431 "2009-01-16T14:05:21Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Just a minute…you’re a Manc and you support the rags. > > Imagine that, the rags have at least one fan from Manchester;) Well, The Cockney Blues just doesn’t sound right, does it? 🙂 > [@chowder](#): > > Your bro sounds like a decent sort of chap 🙂 Oh, he is. When you’ve had a win. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/432 "2009-01-16T14:56:56Z")
> [@villa](#): > > I don’t like you very much. ☹ It’s sad, I’d like to see some creative English players. Useless “coaches” probably tell anyone with any creativity to keep it simple and run around more, or some such tosh. Hopefully Wilshere comes good. Calling it now: if Liverpool win the League (unlikely) Benitez will get the absurd contract he wants, if not he’s gone. Hope Kaka goes to Citeh (of the richest owner, not richest club). Football is so boring with mechanical teams like Chelski and Liverpool, would be nice if Citeh can kick one of them out with Robinho and Kaka at the core. I can’t root for Villa to do so though, unless MON buys some creative players so his team isn’t so one dimensional. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/433 "2009-01-16T15:50:23Z")
Richest owner/richest club. More or less like Al Fayed innit?. As for _Busby Babes_ \*\* **Ivan** I allus thought that expression was a bit cloying. Now Sparkys Supermen…that’s got a certain summat 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/434 "2009-01-16T15:55:06Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Arsenal are fifth in the table, Villa is fourth. For now, for now. 😉 Sorry, I was thinking the traditional “Big 4” not the current top 4. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/435 "2009-01-16T16:02:53Z")
Wikipedia has [al Fayed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Al-Fayed)’s fortune estimated at a mere half a billion quid. Peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/436 "2009-01-16T16:08:36Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > Wikipedia has [al Fayed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Al-Fayed)’s fortune estimated at a mere half a billion quid. Peanuts. I’m planning to spend that much on lager tonight. And peanuts too, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/437 "2009-01-16T16:24:31Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > The Hughsie Young’uns? Hmmm…not quite got the same ring as the Busby Babes, has it? 😃 I somehow doubt the name of Hughes will concern us past the summer. The Mouriniho Marvels. The Maldini Magnificoes The Wenger Let’s Not Go There’s. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/438 "2009-01-16T18:10:12Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > OK, I can agree with pretty much all of this, but it doesn’t really answer my fundamental question, so allow me to boil it down here. > > Of all the people involved in the play, why was Ronaldo the one who came out despised? His involvement in the play is entirely confined to yelling at the ref, and he isn’t even the only one doing _that_. But the more I think about it, maybe I’m just being obtuse. It’s probably just 'cause he’s young, vain, a diver and immensely talented – all of which make him an easy target. Sort of a modern day Maradonna. Perhaps I’m missing something, but if not everyone has so far missed something else - the reason Ronaldo was vilified by crowds in England after that incident with Rooney is because he is the foreigner, and therefore easier to pick on than Rooney, who is after all one of England’s best players and a crowd favourite. It was perceived that Ronaldo had somehow caused Rooney’s dismissal (and hence England’s elimination from the competition due to having to play the rest of the game with 10 men), so let’s blame the foreigner rather than one of our own. This was exacerbated by Ronaldo’s wink afterwards, as if he knew that Rooney’s stamp wasn’t really that hard. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/439 "2009-01-16T21:40:39Z")
> [@chique](#): > > But, man - can you imagine what baseball would be like if teams could be promoted/relegated through AAA/AA/A? It’s the only professional American sport that could pull it off and man it’d be fun to watch… Baseball would need a major overhaul for this to work because the AAA/AA/A teams are really just junior versions of the Major League teams. So, for example, the Atlanta Braves run the Gwinnett Braves in AAA, the Mississippi Braves in AA and Rome Braves and Myrtle Beach Pelicans (why not Braves?) in A. Players can move between the teams, so an Atlanta Brave recovering from injury may play a warm up game or two for the AAA team. Our an out-of-form Brave may be sent down to a minor league team for a while to regain his form. Just imagine what would happen if a AAA team got promoted? It would be like having Manchester United reserves playing in the Premiership. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150/440 "2009-01-16T23:15:53Z")
That’s the way the do it in Spain though. E.g. Real Madrid B (reserves) plays in Serie B or C and has a theoretical chance of gaining promotion. But as all the best players go to the A-team, there isn’t that much of a chance of it happening. So it could be done, even if the bigger teams own the smaller ones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-football-season-2008-09-forecasts/459150.md?page=23)