Let's be honest here, and I have said it before, the whole situation with the transfer saga of Gary Cahill has us all wondering what the hold up could be. I cannot remember Chelsea agreeing a fee with a club and then literally taking weeks to conclude the terms with the player. It's a sign that times are a changing at Chelsea, or have they already?

The Smith Report outlined what we already know:
The FFA are a financial management basket case - similarly the PFA.
How else to explain the loss of player wages, clubs and owners in the last 7 years?
In 7 years football has received and earned more money than ever, and yet the professional A-League clubs have spewed out more money, more owners and more clubs than we could ever have imagined.

Editor's Note: Whether it flew entirely under your radar or you were one of the wonderful souls that helped The Classical reach its goal on Kickstarter, the new publication, hoping to provide a smart, fun community for talking about sports, is here to stay. And all of us here at A Football Report are absolutely thrilled to see how it grows.

Liverpool fans are the most accepting of the Barclays Premier League's massive wage and transfer bills, according to statistics gathered by GiveMeFootball.com.
Around three in every four football supporters believe that the amount of money being dealt at the top flight is stifling the English game.

In the second article of this ongoing analysis, I compare Liverpool's wage-spend with Arsenal's over the last 10 years.
Liverpool vs. Man United - Wage Spend Comparison - 2000-2010
NOTES
* Below is an example of how the figures are presented in the accounts:
* The wages and salary figure includes all staff connected with the club.

Manchester United today posted record operating profits of £110.9million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

The club have also recorded a record revenue of £334.1million, an increase of £45million from last year and passing £300million for the first time. That £334.1million in revenue beat the previous record of £313m that Arsenal had previously announced.

Manchester United today posted record operating profits of £110.9million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

The club have also recorded a record revenue of £334.1million, an increase of £45million from last year and passing £300million for the first time. That £334.1million in revenue beat the previous record of £313m that Arsenal had previously announced.

Arsenal have hi-jacked Lille's deal to sign Monaco striker Park Chu-Young.

Park was due to undergo the second part of a medical with Lille after completing the first part yesterday, the thing is during that time Arsenal seem to have had a bid accepted by Monaco and they in turn granted Wenger permission to speak to the player.

According to Soccer By Ives, Juan Pablo Angel is staying in the city of Los Angeles. The Colombian striker was traded "late last night" from the Los Angeles Galaxy to crosstown rivals Chivas USA.

Ives believes that Angel most likely was thinking of his family when deciding to accept a move to Chivas.

The following is everything you need to know about the discussion of Juan Pablo Angel to the Philadelphia Union:

• Angel is the Los Angeles Galaxy's third designated player, which is the maximum number of designated player spots that a team can have. The 35-year-old is making $1 million in base salary and $1.

It certainly went to the wire, of that much we can be certain. In fact, it could even be said that it went into extra-time. Eventually, however, the immediate future of Wrexham Football Club was secured by the only people in this particular story that have given every impression of being completely trustworthy from the very start the fans themselves.

"Where do I send Denilson?"

The only piece of business done so far is Gael Clichy and the only signing yet is Carl Jenkinson. The Arsenal transfer rumours are driven by a couple of different subtexts.

The club has not won silverware for six years: The fact that our winning tradition died quite some time ago leads to lots of angst.

Inter's sporting director Marco Branca told BBC Sport that Inter have ruled out a move for Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez:

"Tevez is a great player, a great character, but absolutely no. His salary means it is out of the question. The market is crazy at the moment and it is hard to compete.

The future of Udinese's Chilean star, Alexis Sanchez still hangs in the balance as despite recent strong indication that the player will ends up in Barcelona, things seems a little bit confusing as the Bianconeri's president, Giampaolo Pozzo, still denies that a deal have been struck with the Catalan.

Florent Malouda has revealed that the club hasn't changed it's stance with players over 30 years of age. Last season we saw Michael Ballack leave under similar circumstances and it seems that Malouda falls into the same category.
Malouda revealed:

"I have asked to prolong (my stay) several times.

David Conn's article on the finances of the 20 Premiership clubs is a continued portrayal of clubs living beyond their means. Some are better geared towards fulfilling the requirements of UEFA's financial fair play rules set to kick in next season. Amongst them Arsenal is held up as a standard because of their self sustaining model.

From Despair to Where as the song says. As I write, the banner article on the official website contains the ramifications for the Qualifying Round of the Champions League. Full on espresso depresso and the starkest visual illustration of just how disappointing the last few months have been.

Financial instability continues to see David beat Goliath in Lower leagues is a post from: Just Football

As has been well documented in recent years there are a whole host of league clubs who are seemingly operating on borrowed time due to season upon season of poor financial management.

Plymouth Argyle are languishing at the bottom of League 1, ten points having been deducted by the Football League for an ‘insolvency event', giving notice of their intention to appoint administrators.Players have not been paid since November and their debts are estimated at £13m.

Yet in 2008 they finished 10th in the Championship, had posted a £1.

Sunderland have announced a net loss of £25.5million for the year ending July 31 2010.

The lose came despite an increase of turnover to £65.4million but operating expenses (which includes staff/player wages, match costs, utilities etc) also went up, to £70.4million, resulting in a loss before player trading of £5million.

CHAMONIX/LONDON Real Madrid won nothing last year yet they continue to top the table of the world's richest clubs in the annual revenue assessment undertaken by accountant Deloitte. This is the sixth successive year the record nine-times former champions of Europe have led the list. Spanish champions Barcelona are second followed by Manchester United [.

The recession is finally over! Or so it must be if you consider the record £225million spent this January by English clubs, compared to the measly £30million spent last January.

The excitement of transfer deadline day seems to send the footballing world crazy. Inflated prices are now part and parcel of transfer windows, as clubs scramble around to get the paper work sorted so that last minute deal can go through.