Debate: The English Premier League

What's gone wrong with the English Premier League. Some people will say nothing. But i beg to differ. Call me an old fashioned fart, but when i used to watch the Premier League back in the late 80's (which was fashionably called Division 1.....Liverpool were winning everything except The European Cup (now the Champions League) because English clubs were banned from European competitions because of the Hysel stadium disaster. Anyway......Liverpool were winning at least one trophy a season, Man UTD were nowhere to be found, Arsenal were rising up, Chelsea.....don't make me laugh LOL!!

The Division 1 was made up of players mainly from the UK, we a few foreigners, but it was a British division. In the late 80's there were talks of a breakaway league, and the top five clubs at the time all voted for it, the clubs being Liverpool, Man UTD, Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham.(told you Chelsea was in no-ones minds!) That league would eventually become the Premier League. Glorious moneybags Premier League. Since then we've seen the same old teams win the major trophies. There have been a few surprises along the way like Blackburn winning the Prem title in '95........Newcastle giving Man UTD a run for their money in the '96-'97 campaign. There have only been 4 winners since the Prem began in '92-'93, Man UTD winning 11 titles, Arsenal winning 3, Chelsea winning 2 and Blackburn winning 1. Now you could say that it's the same as Liverpool winning almost everything in the 80's, to some degree yes, but the money wasn't there when it was Division 1.

I don't think it's the clubs that's ruining football, it's the greedy league chiefs at the FA and Prem League!!
If the FA are so concerned about the state of English football, that there's not enough talent coming through the ranks of clubs to play at the highest level, then they should tell Platini and UEFA to F**k off and implement the foreigner rule, where a club can only have 3 foreigners in the starting 16 (11+5 subs), and can only buy 1 foreigner per season. And the owners of the clubs has to be from British. This is the only way to be fair, and at the same time make sure England national team will get the stars they're looking for in the future. I don't want to see foreign talent banished from the Premier League, whether be a manager, a coach or a player, but we need stricter rules for English football to survive. And to show i'm not prejudiced, i think every league in the world should do this, it will make the owners and managers be more careful with their money, and make them think a little harder. See who has what it takes to be called a top manager.
Ok, i've had my rant, lets hear yours.

DESTROY!......DESTROY!.......DESTROY!

REAL MADRID president Florentino Perez is making plans to destroy the English Premier League as it it today.
Perez wants a European Super League made to have the Premier League's top four play the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Co. every week.

He said: "What we need to work out with UEFA is a European Super League that guarantees that all the top teams play each other all the time - something that does not happen in the current Champions League."

Perez's Real revamp this summer has seen the Spanish giants bring in Ronaldo and Kaka, in which the snapped up from under the noses of Chelsea.
Now Perez wants to sit down with UEFA chiefs and possibly mstrip the Premier League of it's heavyweights and money.
The plan is to maximise TV revenue and sponsorship deals for Europe's big clubs and would threaten the future of the smallest sides in the Premier League.
Asked if he would put his full weight behind a Super League he added: "Yes, but without abandoning national leagues."


This league has been an idea from back in the early 90's, so will it get off the ground?....i doubt it. And as for threatening the future of small Premier League sides..come on..when the Premier League was the old Division 1, and the Championship was Div. 2 (and so on) when did you hear of LEAGUE teams call the administrators in?

When the Premier League was thought of in the late 80's, it was the top 5 teams that was all for it initially.....Liverpool, Arsenal, Man UTD, Everton, Tottenham, and people said it would ruin English football as a whole. Well, now there's too much money passed around, we have foreign owners willing to pass the buck if their club don't win anything after one season, managers getting sacked after one season........even after 6 months.
Where is the loyalty of the players like we had in the past.
For Perez to say that he will destroy the Premier League....no he won't. For Perez to say that there will be a Super League....i doubt it.
Perez won't destroy English football, it's already been ruined.

Premier League too powerful for Blatter

Fifa Top Dog Sepp Blatter has admitted that the large....erm huge amounts of money that is circulating in the English Premier League, coming from foreign owners is becoming a worrying trend..........NO!......really? Blatter says the amount of cash in the Premier League gives English clubs a big advantage over their European rivals.

Now, ten years ago I would have said that Sepp was talking out of his backside, but these days, now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, I agree with him 100%.

"In France, Germany and Spain there are by-laws that say owners must be from the same country, this does not exist in the Premier League and it is a problem we must address", said Blatter.

Out of 20 Premier League teams, nine of them have foreign owners, and several, including Chelsea and Manchester City are likely to spend big this summer. Man City have reported to have bid around £25m for Barcelona striker Sammy Eto'o and are said to have offered the Cameroon forward up to £250,000 per week (which I think is absolutely ridiculous), would make him by far the highest paid player in the world...........(until next week when Abramovich buys Rooney for £300M and wages of around £475,000 a week) Just kidding guys.

Despite Mr. Blatter's fears, the biggest spenders in Europe so far this summer are Real Madrid. Real Madrid's buys of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have been partly financed by loans by Spanish banks, totalling £128m. The laws in Britain would have to be changed to restrict foreign investment in the Premier League, something that the bosses at Fifa are woefully accepting isn't going to happen. Blatter said "We have no right to interfere in economic movements. We, the whole Fifa family, are aware of this".

But Blatter insists that Fifa is ready to bring in goal-line technology to adjudicate in delicate decisions - when it is accurate enough....(Tennis anyone?)

"We are open on goal-line technology," said Blatter. "But for the time being, all the technologies that have been represented to the International Football Association Board are not accurate, or not accurate at the level we can decide whether we can honestly say whether it was in or out."

I really don't know why Blatter is complaining here, although I do agree on the foreign owner debate, seems like they just want to own a team for the hell of it, but when that team fails for six months they either change the manager, or resell the club, and that is wrong. But in the early 90's, Italian football was the rage and AC Milan was at the height of their game. They bought Luigi Lentini for £13M, unheard of back in '93, and no-one batted an eyelid, now 16 years on, suddenly it's a big issue.

Ashton on the move again?

Stoke City have denied any interest in West Ham's striker Dean Ashton. Stoke Chairman Peter Coates said that the Potters are "a million miles away" from capturing the signature of the West Ham forward. Ashton, who was signed by West Ham in January 2006 from Norwich City has only made 43 starts for West Ham.

Reports on Thursday suggested that Stoke were in negotiations with West Ham for the powerful forward, but Coates told BBC Radio Stoke that it was "absolute nonsense"
He went on to say "I have have not said we are in talks with West Ham. We are a million miles from doing anything with Dean Ashton and probably won't."

A televised interview with Coates suggested that Stoke were close to a deal, but the Potters chairman said that he has been "misunderstood. "I have not said that we are talking to him or that we are about to sign him, I just simply haven't said it," said Coates. I have not said it because it's simply not true. I have been misunderstood."

And Coates added that although Stoke manager Tony Pulis is an admirer of Ashton, the speculation surrounding a possible transfer is frustrating. We have not talked one jot about him in terms of anything significant.

Ashton started his career at Stoke's own academy before being transferred to Crewe Alexadra. He scored 73 goals for Crew, then he joined Norwich in January 2005 for
£3M before going to the Hammers in 2006 for £7.25m, but only making 33 Premier League starts at the London Club.

Gillett to sell assetts for Liverpool funding

It was announced today that Liverpool Co-Owner George Gillett is to sell one of his assets, a stake in NHL's Montreal Canadiens for a whopping $550m (£332.9m). Liverpool owners Hicks and Gillett have until July 24 to repay £350m they owe to RBS and Wachovia. Kop Holding's, the parent company of Liverpool lost £42.6m in the year to August 2008 but interest payments on loans of £36.5m accounted for Kop's losses.

Mr. Gillett is so desperate to save Liverpool that earlier in the year he put up for sale the Bell Arena, along with the Gillett Entertainment Group, and Montreal Canadiens in which Gillett's 80% satke of the NHL team is being bought by the brewing giants The Molson Family who already have the remaining 20% share.
Mr. Hicks has been busy too, trying to sell his assetts which include Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars from the NHL.

The Dynamic Duo (hardly) bought Liverpool back in February 2007, since then they have argued and fought between themselves like 7 year old school kids on the play yard which has resulted in alienating The Kop faithful and backing out of a much needed new stadium. And because of this schoolboy bickering, future sales of Liverpool have dwindled away.

The bottom line is Liverpool were the greatest English team in the late 70's and through the 80's and it saddens me to watch such a fantastic club windle away to the usual 3rd's and 4th's in the Premier League table every year. I don't think Liverpool have the right manager because every time i see him on TV he whines. I wish Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness or a former Liverpool great would come along and snap this giant club up and send these people packing.
Liverpool have 18 championship titles (Premier League and old Division 1), which has now been equalled by Sir Alex Ferguson's Man UTD.

Whatever happens in the near future, i hope the Premier League chiefs get their act together and stop these football club tycoon wannabes from buying Premier League clubs with no "real" money in their pocket, realizing that there's more to football than just watching your club on TV, fucking off the fans and then reaping the so called rewards (if any) then moving on and selling the club.

A message to Sir Dave Richards and his cronies: WAKE UP!!!

Premier League D-Day

Today is the Premier League D-Day for Hull City, Newcastle United and Middlesborough. West Brom have already been relegated to the Championship for next season. While Manchester United can sit back and celebrate on another fine season, these 3 teams are anxiously biting their nails and eagerly wanting to get on the field and fight for their Premier League existence.

Alan Shearer's luck at Newcastle has gone in the way of his team....way down. Gareth Southgate has been constantly been pulling his hair out with his team over last 3/4 months, and Phil Brown must be wondering what went wrong with his Hull side, 4 months ago they were flying high and now they could be relegated. Hull haven't won since March 4 away to Fulham. Newcastle's last win was at Middlesborough on May 11, and then way back on Feb 7 away to West Brom.
Whatever happens today at the bottom of the Premier League, as usual the big 4 won't be losing any sleep on Monday morning.