First of all I should start this piece by wishing everybody a happy new year! I've been enjoying
myself over the Christmas holiday and have neglected the blog over the last few days so I need to
rectify this, starting off with a piece regarding the new Emperor's Cup winners in Japan.
FC Tokyo have done an unlikely league and cup double in Japan following their 4-2 triumph over
Kyoto Sanga in last Sunday's Emperor's Cup final.
By Andrew Crawford, writing from Shanghai
Despite the city starting to slow down for the Chinese New Year, Shanghai Shenhua's PR machine
remains as busy as ever. The club's website is more brightly coloured than usual and images of the
new manager, Jean Tigana, and his star player, Nicolas Anelka, flicker across the screen whilst
behind them, four silhouetted figures stand in the background.
Etoile FC were allowed to play two seasons in the S-League despite having failed to provide the
full $500,000 banker's guarantee that foreign clubs have to put up, it is believed.
That is one reason why the club, facing debts 'a few times more' than the $100,000 that has been
reported, has been struggling to repay money owed to players from last season.
