Doctoroncall

Out of interest, if one of the other friendlies were adopted to play for the trophy you'd be happy?

If they get that amount, that's impressive for such a talent with huge wages.

I'll join you in the hope. It's the only way to go to survive without splashing the cash on international stars. I would like to know why Arsenal scourer the globe for talent rather than staying local - what is it about English kids they don't like or are they going for a blend of UK and overseas?

Not sure it was a result of England not being there but it was good to watch. England would only spoil three matches anyway if they manage to qualify.

Well if Ponty brings a different perspective on things in the discussion, I hope he stays as a Mod.

He was lucky to get his license back clean as a ban would be treated in the same was as points to be cleared from the license.

It would be interesting to see the distribution of English players through the PL teams. I suspect more would be in those teams that are focused in staying in PL, whose tactics are to stiffle the opposition and counter attack or play the long ball upfront while playing at top speed. If perhaps there was less fear of failure, players could play more of a passing game but that brings up another problem, especially with the game being played at such pace - the players lack the ability to pass accurately and have close control of the ball. Since the 1950's when Hungary showed how to play the passing game, the FA/clubs have never been keen on innovation. Think of how many great coaches from these shores have gone abroad to ply their trade while the English took pride in physical prowess. Chapman was probably the last innovator with his WM formation in the English game and that was over 70 years ago.

But Phil, the players still wouldn't get it.

Well, comedians do tend to have a higher IQ.

Thanks for that, something I didn't know. I read his blueprint on development a few years ago and it looked good with some ideas from the continent and on how to improve coaching (masterclasses etc). It doesn't seem right for 11 year olds to be playing on big pitches, surely the focus at that age is on fun and technical skills rather than competition and physical development.

But when he picks Heskey over any other Englsih striker, SWP who has been replaced in the Citeh side by Johnson, "only last 45 mins" King, "Liverpool over England anyday" Carragher, what does that tell you? Can he not pick a team based on form, ability AND composite as a TEAM? Did he only see this as one last payday?

I agree in part, our footballers have the skill but it seems not the capacity to utilise it, certainly not in the national team. Also, if they don't agree with the manager then they don't give 100% - why they don't have trust in the manager I don't know, however some of the decisions Capello has made have baffled me. Capello had toured the country in search of talent and found none. Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and even Theo Walcott were discarded. The manager was surely right to conclude that English football's "nursery" is not producing. National coaching programmes and strategic planning are not the English way (Burton anyone?). Feeding the Premier League monster shows what the priority is in England. The FA, where a vast power void now prevails, throw money at 44 years of frustration by importing first Swedish then Italian expertise and locking themselves into expensive long contracts. It's time for a clear out of the old guard at the FA and for Brooking to be taken seriously, but if there is one guarantee, it won't happend and the FA will not change from it's course.

It's funny that the FA have got caught up with the Premier League issues but they don't run it and have no power over it. There is no continuity in the game having the FA, PL and FL. Having said that when it was just the FA and FL there was no vision and thought for future development only an old boys network creaming off the money. Brooking has been banging on for at least 5 years regarding youth development (not only technical but educational requirements) all of which has fallen on deaf ears. Since the 70's all the innovation (formations, tactical advances and diets etc) has come from abroad. The time when we would/could rely on physical strength and never say die attitude to see us advance in competitions are dead and gone, as you say SS, we'll soon be dropping down the rankings.

Abramovic has converted his loan to liquidity in the club, probably to make sure Chelsea can comply with UEFA regs for entry into the CL but that says a lot to write off so much money. The only issue they have now is meeting the running costs. Also they have been submitting accounts on time. Something Gaydamak didn't do on both counts or 'gift' the club money like Lerner has to Villa. Why wait for rival fans to start asking questions about Gaydamak? Surely, it would be in your own interest to do so from the start.

So AA wrong again, I wonder why Matt Slater also said the 1st was likely. Rob Lloyd is still sniffing around... http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/23/portsmouth-meeting-potential-buyers although it states Tal Ben Haim is likely to join West Ham.

He seems to be a reasonable manager for league one. I'm not sure what state the pilgrims are in as a club - will they be able to back him in the player market? What is their current squad like?

Do you really expect them to know what it means?

I would believe you if: we'd racked up £50m plus in debt, lied to the FL about the amount of debt, played our first team instead of the youth and reserve players didn't cut costs at the club employed 500 people which were later shown to be a lie employed a manager on more money than your chauffeur traded while insolvent gone to court facing a winding up order transfered players in when trading insolvent owed monies to charities owed HMRC tax revenue then yes we would be no different.

one for the Sinatra fans.

The second vote is for non-associated creditors and the pass mark is 50%. (the invisible one and the big one are associated being owners).

Passed with 74%, see MLG post above for details (I didn't see Gaydamaks details in there).

Alpine can be Wat Tyler.

Much will depend on: 1) what information has been passed on by the PL 2) what information has been given by the skates 3) what detail are in the new regulations regarding financial status of clubs and any permissible sanctions As we found out, Saints may have be legally correct in pursuing the loophole regarding which company was in admin but the Football League has to keep the interests of all its members satisfied especially if an advantage over all others is being exploited.

But is not really a concern without knowing what's going on - why do we need to know the details before it happens? The club has a list of potential targets. Why get stressed out about player signings when we don't know: who the targets are whether they want to join the terms are agreeable or, any contingency plans If anything the signing of Dickson shows Saints are active in the transfer market. It seems unless we have a daily bulletin of what is going on some are not satisfied.

Yes they can. Of course it depends on what analysis and game plan HMRC are working to, i.e. do they need the skates to be out of admin or not to proceed with plans? Do they need to use all the time to force the skates into a corner and gather information regarding the CVA and other avenues they are pursuing. I doubt HMRC will be influenced by the fact the club will be out of admin so techically* can buy players. * The FL would have to agree terms of lifting the embargo and restrictions to contracting players to the club may still apply, especially this season as new regulations have been added to the FL rulebook.