After all the conspiracy theories about Joey Barton moving leagues or countries to serve his
12-match ban more quickly, or not at all, it turns out that his suspension is still valid in
France. The QPR midfielder made a season-long loan move to Marseille on transfer deadline day, but
it has now emerged that fans [.
There is just no end to the toxic storm which encircles the French national team. After
seemingly breaking from the dysfunction which defined their World Cup 2010 campaign, Euro 2012 was
to be their fresh new start under the fresh new Laurent Blanc regime. Yeah, didn't happen.
With less than 48 hours to go, Rob Freeman interrupts the Premier League Previews to bring the
first of three previews of the football league. In a break from tradition, the previews are mainly
predictionless, considering that most clubs won't finalise their squads until the transfer window
closes at the end of August.
Liverpool's principal owner John Henry insists his club and others in the top flight are ready to
commit to financial fair play regulations in the Premier League.
It has been reported that the Premier League is considering adopting its own set of rules to
supplement the existing statutes brought in by the sport's European governing body UEFA, which are
designed to ensure that clubs spend within their means and penalize those that do not.
Joey Barton's meltdown against Manchester City has cost him the QPR captaincy plus six weeks
wages. Barton has already been banned for 12 matches next season by the F.A.
QPR have announced that there is an agreement with Barton that his contract could be terminated
if he seriously breaches the club's disciplinary procedures again.
Following on from the post I made earlier in the week regarding foreign players in the
Championship here we have the same information but for the top flight The Premier League. As you
would expect this division features a higher proportion of foreign players than the Championship.
However, it's interesting to note that 68 different nationalities were used in the Premier League
during the 2011/2012 season, one fewer 67 were used in the Championship.
We are delighted to announce today that 200% has received an unconditional bid for the Rangers
opinion piece from Mr Mark Murphy which has been accepted and he is now the preferred author. Mr
Murphy now proposes to complete his article by the end of this weekend. Mr Murphy's proposal
involves the use of a specially-created article and the retention of the initial reaction
piece.
There have been so many severe injuries on the Soccer field that a Wikipedia page is dedicated to
all the fallen players. According to the document, there have been more than 20 players to have
died since 1990 from heart ailments while playing.
How Financial Fair Play could reshape the Premier League (good for Arsenal & Spurs, bad for
Manchester City..) is a post from: Just Football
Are Manchester City's days of lavish spending about to end?
by Amit Singh
The Financial Fair Play rules (FFP) will become effective at the start of the
2013-2014 season which means that clubs will only be allowed to spend what they earn as well being
expected to break even over a three year period starting from 2011-2012.
Ahead of Tuesday night's Merseyside derby, a game which could see Everton boss David Moyes
celebrate his 10th anniversary in charge at Goodison by watching his side leapfrog Liverpool in the
league table courtesy of a win, the Scottish FA are making an official complaint about the
scheduling of the game.
The most successful (in terms of league titles) football club in Scotland will be playing in the
fourth tier (Third Division) for the 2012-13 season.
Rangers had been kicked out of the Scottish Premier League due to going into administration and
being heavily in debt. The club was hoping to at least play in the First Division (second tier and
just below SPL), but a 25-5 vote by the clubs in the Scottish Football League (which includes First
Division, Second Division, and Third Division) will put Rangers into the Third Division.
Another week slips by and the saga of Rangers drags on.
It seems the capacity this story has for delivering farce is almost limitless.
Where are we this week?
Hard to know exactly:
Charles Green and his largely unknown consortium still want to take control of Rangers,
delivering them from evil either through a CVA or the unknown delights of a newco
"Take control" rather than buy: it seems Green - and his still conditional offer - will involve
him and his mates spending cash that Rangers will then need to pay back, with interest, over the
next eight years
A CVA offer has gone out - showing that debts have risen since the scale of Rangers' financial
dunderheidedness was first revealed - but outstanding tax cases and outstanding legal challenges
make a proper appraisal of that CVA offer look all but impossible
Duff and Phelps are under increasing scrutiny regarding their relationship with Craig Whyte - a
scrutiny they dismiss as the muckraking of the tittle tattle brigade - but seem to be pretty sure
of their own multi million pound payday whatever happens
Rangers took the SFA to court and won over the transfer embargo, the SFA being told that they'd
need to consider a punishment within the specific sanctions laid out in their own guidelines
The SFA are preparing another appeals panel in light of that court ruling while FIFA - for whom
clubs taking such matters to national courts is about as appealing as a transparent trial of
goalline technology - consider how they're going to deal with what is no longer Scotland's little
local difficulty
To the sound of hoofs rumbling through an unlocked door the SPL agreed to bring in a selection
of financial fair play rules but decided that decisions on newcos getting into their exclusive club
would be decided on a case-by-case basis by all the clubs
Oddly Charles Green - who currently owns about as much of Rangers as any taxpayer - was allowed
to play a part in that SPL meeting, the lunatic invited out for tea before taking over the
asylum
Rangers have finally delivered, three months after being asked, the documentation the SPL
requested as part of their dual contact deliberations, with the SPL board set to receive an update
on the progress of the league's investigation on 18th June
After the BBC's Mark Daly raised the ceiling on ridiculousness with cameos in this story for
Joanna Lumley, Prince Albert of Monaco and a "Cockney football fixer," this week we had the SPL's
Neil Doncaster suggesting that Gandhi - while possibly a damn fine football chairman - might
struggle to pass a fit and proper person test
After going into administration earlier this season, Rangers have been suspended from making
transfers for one year, the Scottish Football Association announced on Tuesday. Rangers will be
unable to register players, meaning they can't sign a player and have him appear for the club.
Rangers joint administrator Paul Clark said in a press statement: "All of us working on behalf of
the Club are utterly shocked and dismayed by the draconian sanctions imposed on Rangers.
Euro 2012 has already had significant problems with racism, fan violence and even illegal
underpants ads, but now Italy says they will file a complaint with UEFA over another grand
disgrace: anthem booing.
From Football Italia:
"I will tell the FIGC to ask UEFA for significant sanctions against these fans who jeer the
Italian anthem," said CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) President GianniPetrucci.
The ISC (Independent Supporters Council) has now come out in support of the Dynamo supporters
groups and ISC member, the Texian Army, and against the sanctions. They state that they are okay
with punishment against supporters groups, just not in this case. They ask that the league do the
following:
There's been some recent buzz around the Houston Dynamo, and it's not all centered around the
brand spankin' shiny new toy, BBVA Compass Stadium. As we continue to count down the final week
until the first Houston Dynamo home match on their pretty new pitch inside their absolutely
gorgeous new stadium, an announcement was made which has polarized certain entities and united
others.
It's just two days now until the Houston Dynamo open the 2012 season in a game against the
Washington Generals, and...uh...wait just a sec... what's that it says here? Chivas USA? Dynamo are
opening the season by playing against a bottle of scotch? That can't be right. Playing FOR a
bottle of scotch maybe, but, oh well.
Didn't get this posted last night, but there's a new From the Byline to the Back Post for you. This
week Thad and I discuss the USA, the sanctions for the Houston Dynamo supporters, all sorts of
preseason news, the 2000 MLS Cup trophy, the Comets, and former Wizards. Enjoy on Posterous or
iTunes.
This morning the Texian Army issued the following response to the sanctions MLS levied against
Houston Dynamo supporters' groups earlier this week. I've been clear about what I think about the
sanctions. What do you think about the TA's response?
On Monday, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced the suspension of supporters privileges (flags,
banners, drums, etc.
The Ginge is joined by Josh Guesman from Corner of the Galaxy podcast to discuss the sanctions
against the Houston Dynamo supporters and some broader topics involving the supporters culture in
MLS.
First off let me make this clear. My posting of these videos is not a protest against the
restrictions placed today on the Houston Dynamo supporters groups. It is not an attempt to absolve
certain individuals at recent Dynamo matches for their behavior. Objects CAN NOT be thrown on the
pitch under any circumstances, it's dangerous to other fans, to stadium staff and players.
Following up on yesterday's announcement that Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber had
suspended and fined Philadelphia Union manager Peter Nowak and fined Chivas USA coach Robin Fraser,
the League's Disciplinary Committee announced sanctions against Philadelphia defender Gabriel
Farfan. Last week's 85th minute tackle on James Riley resulted in a red card for Farfan, who has
had his suspension increased to a total of three games as well as being fined.
The Philadelphia Union plays host to the San Jose Earthquakes Redux in this weekend's 7 PM clash at
PPL Park. Coach Petey "Pablo" Nowak will be sitting this one out after receiving a two game
suspension for his actions in last weekend's bloodless "melee" at the Home Depot Center. Ever
loyal, Gabe Farfan and Keon Daniel have chosen to sit this game out in protest of the sanctions
against their favorite coach.
Is it really the MLS preseason already? This offseason seemed to fly by quite faster than I
anticipated, and now I find myself pressured to get into season form. Pressured not from any
source, but myself, mind you all. If the fact preseason is in mid-swing hasn't jarred your mind to
how close we are to the actual MLS regular season, let me further the earthquake.
When Ivan Gazidis met fans from a variety of supporters' groups at the Emirates Stadium last
week, his message regarding UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations was unequivocal. It will happen
and the clubs are all in favour of it, not least because the alternative – football's bubble
bursting if it continues to expand in the current form – does not bear thinking about.
Galatasaray have just confirmed that an 'incident' involving Felipe Melo and Albert Riera
cracked off during training today and is to be dealt with internally.
Said the Turkish side via an official statement:
"As the football team trained today an incident between Felipe Melo and Albert Riera occurred
and the duo were sent to the changing room by coach Fatih Terim.
* * * It's somewhat sad but otherwise laughable that anybody would call the Dynamo Supporter Groups
hooligans in any context. Whether you agree or not with the MLS sanctions against the Dynamo
supporters groups, let's point out a few things. Nobody is accusing the Dynamo SGs of being
hooligans. A few smoke bombs and [.
I wrote a post this morning on Dynamo Theory that I pulled off the site for a number of reasons.
Those reasons were all mine, there was no external pressure, capitulation or any kind of nefarious
conspiracy. My post was based on an emotional reaction to MLS making what I wrongly thought was a
toothless reaction to the actions of a small element of fans at the MLS Cup final and two other
matches last season.
