This week's Shit Shot Mungo sees the financial crisis at Heart of Clackmannanshire deepen still further, as the £30 fine imposed by the authorities for playing a match when their entire squad knowingly had swine flu proves to be the final nail in their coffin. The club is forced to put all of its players on part-time wages, but one man (who has been earning £190,000 per week for as long as anyone can remember) may be able to save the day.

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According to Sky Sports News, West Ham United are not selling Carlton Cole despite interest from Manchester United. A spokesman of the club said,

"[Cole is] not for sale ... We want to keep all our best players and the suggestion that we need to sell because of a financial crisis is not true.

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West Ham insist in-form striker Carlton Cole is not for sale at any price despite reports that Premier League's big guns are preparing January bids.
Manchester United are the latest club linked with a £20million bid for Hammers hot-shot Cole when the transfer window reopens, with misfiring Liverpool also reportedly interested in a player who has flourished under the tutelage of Gianfranco Zola. Click to continue reading...

The financial crisis has highlighted a dilemna in capitalist society, especially so in the United States. Simply put, some corporations and institutions have been deemed just too big to fail - the damage of letting their poor decisions break them would be so great for society that it is deemed in the public interest to bail them out. Click to continue reading...

Financial troubles continue at Liverpool and Newcastle while mystery continues to surround the ownership of both Notts County and Leeds United. Wyn Grant takes us through the latest financial issues in his monthly roundup. The on-again off-again sale of Newcastle United is now in the off position while Liverpool's poor start to the season is mirrored by a deepening financial crisis.

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I was approached by a reader who wanted contact information for Uli Hesse-Litchtenberger. I have to apologize to that reader. I don't feel comfortable either giving out such information or even asking the favor of the talent that has been kind enough to talk to me. I can only suggest that if you wish to contact them, you should try to access them via their papers.

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There are lots of funny aspects to being a Premier League footballer. Like how teammates play practical jokes in the dressing room, or how topless models throw themselves at you, or, I don't know, how your club sometimes can't pay your wages because they're on the brink of a financial meltdown.

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Lots of 'em.
Being the only Premiership team without point is just one of 'em. Turns out the club has no money.
The first-team players and the board are yet to receive their September wages.
Not good. Not good at all.
The club claims the players will be paid -- possibly today -- but when an organization is amid financial crisis, you can never be too sure. Click to continue reading...

Hardly a flattering pose from Benzema BonBon, The Children's Party Entertainer, but the Madrid-Xerez match up yesterday was full of it! Los Blancos pulled off a 5-0 win thanks to other goals from van Nistelrooy, Greaseano, Guti. It wasn't a "five star" performance but Kaka's hair needs to visit the salon ahora por favor.

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Eurosnobs and assorted critics (like this one) often wish MLS would open its wallet a little more to attract better players and improve the quality of play.

Well, a fiscally conservative approach has its benefits as this story below out of Europe today confirms. Put this one in the careful what you wish for department.

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A long press conference was held a few days ago by team president Thanopoulos. The president spoke for a couple of hours on a number of issues. Some of the highlights were:

-Firstly, he confirmed that things around the team are now calm. We have achieved our goals in terms of transfers and reaching the Europa League Group Stages

-The team is now on much more solid ground, financially.

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He cost how much?

If there has been a better use of £1m by Tottenham Football Club in recent years then I sure as hell can't think of it. Aaron Lennon arrived as a player clearly with a bright future and Martin Jol was more than happy to take advantage of Leeds United financial crisis to nab the England winger on the cheap, something other clubs were gleefully doing with just about every decent player at Elland Road at the time.

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I was on holiday in a rather remote region when the transfer window closed, so was kept waiting for excited news of frenetic late dealings. And waiting, and waiting, because of course, no one got excited as no remarkable late deals got done.
It leaves me with a real sense of regret, especially where Liverpool are concerned. Click to continue reading...

With seemingly half the Singaporean national team being reported as packing their bags and relocating to Singapore I would like to offer national team coach Raddy a special deal. With sod all in the way of young players coming through it's going to be in his interests to keep an eye on the heart of his squad as they struggle to adapt to their new surroundings. Click to continue reading...

Big Story

It seems we overuse the word "crisis" here at Pitch Invasion in these daily Sweeper roundups, but it is appropriate in this case as a terrible summer for Scottish football got worse with Livingston's demotion from the first to the third division "for breaching insolvency rules.

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The Argentinian Football Association has had to indefinitely postpone the start of its football season because a financial crisis has paralysed clubs.
The long awaited kick-off in Argentina was scheduled for 14 August but the Football Association said there were clubs that still could not afford to pay players. Click to continue reading...

Reports in The Guardian and Daily Mail are saying that Arsenal will finally sign Blaise Matuidi from St Etienne and possibly bring back Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.

 Matuidi is young at 22, but so what, Vieira was younger when he became a regular at Arsenal and Manchester United will be relying upon Anderson in midfield this season.

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Well, UEFA president Michel Platini has finally realized that these crazy transfer fees are out of whack and he's decided to place the blame entirely on Real Madrid. Said the football for brains to Italian weekly L'espresso:

"Madrid have ruined the market.

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Liverpool have sent emissaries to Rome in order to complete a £15m swoop for Alberto Aquilani, according to several Italian newspapers.
The Reds have shown an interest in the Roma midfielder as a potential replacement for Xabi Alonso, who is heading to Real Madrid.
Now it's claimed the club has taken the firm step of sending two emissaries to Italy for crunch talks. Click to continue reading...

Forget it Bambang and Elie Aiboy.
Any plans the Indonesian duo had for playing in Malaysia next season have been dashed by the FA who have said no foreigners will be playing in the MSL for season 2009/2010. The reason given was nothing to do with Michael Jackson or H1N1 but rather the financial crisis. Click to continue reading...

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Take a good look at that picture. It will probably be one of the last times you see Carlos Tevez in a Manchester United jersey.

Tevez is on his way out at Manchester United after refusing to sign a five-year deal that would have made him one of the highest paid players on the Red Devils.

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Take a good look at that picture. It will probably be one of the last times you see Carlos Tevez in a Manchester United jersey.

Tevez is on his way out at Manchester United after refusing to sign a five-year deal that would have made him one of the highest paid players on the Red Devils.

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Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter never really bothered to hide their preference for the continental teams since day one (which is fine but us!) But on a whole, Grandpa Blatter's assessment of the Greaseano-Real Madrid deal seems unfair. What happened to all that talk about 'modern slavery'?

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Barcelona finance director Xavier Sala i Martin is bewildered as to how Real Madrid are funding their summer spending spree. With a reported transfer budget of 300million euros at their disposal, Madrid president Florentino Perez has this week set about creating a second 'galacticos' era.

The Spanish giants had a world-record bid of £80million for Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo accepted by Manchester United on Thursday, hot on the heels of Monday's 68million euros acquisition of Brazil playmaker Kaka from AC Milan.

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Scott Duxbury has steadfastly rejected reports in the morning press that the club was on the brink of administration before the take over by CB Holding, and revealed West Ham are keen to sign at least three players. In an interview conducted twenty-four hours after the arrival of the new owners, the West Ham chief executive dispelled the rumours of impending financial crisis and disclosed that the club were close to capturing new players that would considerably improve the first-team squad. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has revealed he was fully aware of the club's financial problems before he signed his new five-year contract in March.
And a defiant Benitez insists he is happy with his transfer budget and still aims to bring in "one or two" top signings ahead of next season. Click to continue reading...

Setanta Sports is in financial crisis.  Setanta failed to pay the SPL £3million last week and are locked in talks with their financiers to extract a minimum £50 million that they need to carry on operating.

So what I hear you ask?

Well Setanta Sports is the platform, on which Arsenal TV is broadcast.

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Ok honestly "What the hell - Ricky is really a Real Madrid Player now," is all we can manage at this moment. But if it's Bosco Leite's doing and Ricky has been made to feel like a sacrificial scapegoat to Milan's financial woes, the photo above is certainly not showing it.

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image: realmadrid.com

As previously mentioned, Kaká is packing up and moving to Madrid. Today, Real confirmed the move officially on its website. End of speculation. The Brazilian is now the second most expensive buy of all times, only falling behind Zidane who moved from Juventus to Real Madrid.

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Liverpool will attempt a shock move to re-sign striker Peter Crouch from Portsmouth.
Despite severe financial restrictions in place at Anfield, manager Rafa Benitez will attempt to try to land Crouch for as little as £4million.
The Anfield club are not alone in wanting Crouch. Click to continue reading...

The Daily Post reported that Liverpool has pull out of the interest in Valencia's midfielder after the Los Che outfit demands £30million.

As we all aware, Rafa Benitez is given £20million to spend on new players this summer by the co-owners. Unless, Rafa can offload some of the players in time before Real Madrid and Barcelona enters the bidding war.

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There was a good reason why, when Parker Brothers were deciding upon a UK-wide version of the board game "Monopoly", they chose St Albans to represent the coveted Mayfair spot. The Hertfordshire city has become one of the most become one of the most expensive cities in the south of England, with housing prices said to be amongst the highest in the country outside London and average incomes matching it.

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This week's Weekend Australian has published a story from The Wall Street Journal about the impact of the financial crisis on the EPL. Among the issues raised were:
- season ticket revenue likely to fall 5%-10% next season
- clubs likely to reduce ticket costs to encourage fans
- season tickets bought at the beginning of this season had masked the impact of the financial crisis on fan support (ie they have already paid so they can't save money by not going)
- Player salaries are likely to drop next season as all football countries are likely to be hit
- UK is to increase the highest tax rate from 40% to 50% (this could give Sepp Blatter and Seri A what they want by forcing mega players to consider other leagues where the rates are lower)
- Clubs are losing major sponsors
- Relegated clubs are going to face a double impact in their struggle to return to the EPL
Note to FFA: watch out this stuff has quite a way to work through the football world (and other industries) Click to continue reading...

Today's most potential transfer rumour that gets likely to materialise this summer is the transfer of David Silva to Liverpool FC.

David Silva has refused to comment on speculation that he will either join Liverpool or Real Madrid this summer.

"I have to be focused first on recovering [from a thigh problem] to be able to help my team and I'm not thinking of anything else," said Silva, as Valencia prepare to face Athletic Bilbao for a place in the Europa League.

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Fans will never stop watching TV

If it wasn't for huge TV deals Premier clubs would be in big, big trouble. Over a 3-year period from 2007 to 2010 the combined revenue would have reached a staggering £2,700,000,000. But does this mean the Premier League is Credit Crunch free?

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Debt is not necessarily a bad thing for Premier League clubs', explains Dan Jones from global financial advisers Deloitte.

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