Anyone else think utd are no longer the most desirable team in england? don't get me wrong, they can afford to buy the big players if they want (although i think the big players would rather play elsewhere in england) and pay huge wages, but in terms of desirability, i think they're losing their stature these days. 

 

Desirable in the sense of that not all players will now want to move there? 

 

Definitely but that's mostly based on them not having Champions League football right, come the end of the season I fully expect them to have secured a top 4 finish and with European football on offer, their new Adidas kit sponsorship and the new football TV deal just announced they're arguably going to be the most cash rich football club in the world and they'll be able to blow any other English team out of the water when it comes to financial offers both in terms of transfer fees and player contracts. 

 

Question is for players is money the main motivation or does, for example, working with Mourinho sway you? 

 

I think a lot of players would happily go to United and be one of the best players in the world, just look how they managed to sign Di Maria despite having to European football to offer, believe me, plenty of player will follow suit. 

Anyone else think utd are no longer the most desirable team in england? don't get me wrong, they can afford to buy the big players if they want (although i think the big players would rather play elsewhere in england) and pay huge wages, but in terms of desirability, i think they're losing their stature these days. 

 

I was massively surprised Di Maria signed, always thought he was better than Utd in their current situation.  Falcao, don't know, never saw enough of him really but obviously don't rate him at all at the moment.  I do honestly think Chelsea are the most desirable team - a lot of players want to be London as well.

 

You're right though, the fact they can pay huge wages is a bonus, they don't have to worry about FFP so they can sign whoever they want.  In my opinion that's not something I would be happy with - we have to fall within guidelines so it means players we sign are well thought out and also that a few of the youngsters are coming through, which I am loving and I really hope they get given a chance to develop with us.

 

it's because the majority of teams in england are overhyped mate. in la liga, with this team utd have now, they would already be mid table, let alone third. 

 

Agreed, I almost wish they were in a European team so we could watch them get absolutely hammered!

IF they make top 4 as FC has touched on then they will simple be able to out bid everyone else in England by some margin.

They have far more revenue than anyone else in this country and their new kit dealcoupled with the rise in TV revenue will see them become the wealthiest club in world football.

We simply will not be able to compete when it comes to fee's and wages so it will come down to what a player will want like FC said. United will be a huge threat come the summer.

They can easily go out and spend £150-200 million without much worrying. We on the otherhand seem to have to sell to be able to buy because of this FFP thing.

Our smaller stadium and lower kit deals/sponsorships are starting to limit us compared to a club like United. That's why we have been so busy in the last 2 windows to try and build a squad of young, expierenced and talented players which won't need much work over the next few years.

Arrigo Sacchi: 'I'm not a racist but there are too many black players in Italy'

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/17/arrigo-sacchi-no-racist-too-many-blacks-youth-teams

Arrigo Sacchi: 'I'm not a racist but there are too many black players in Italy'

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/17/arrigo-sacchi-no-racist-too-many-blacks-youth-teams

I think the point about it being an English player is pertinent. We still have this mentality of lionhearted Brits being incapable of dishonesty whilst swarthy foreigners are always at it. We can all cherry pick headlines and say 'poor old us, if we did it we'd be raked over the coals' but I think there's actually an important issue at the heart of this that all the self-pitying agenda sh*t can mask.

 

The fact that Simon Grayson came out and said it wasn't a dive says a lot. This isn't just 'the meeja' being kind to United.

It helps to keep well in with the parent club of the goalkeeper you currently have on loan if you want any further loan deals down the line?

Arrigo Sacchi: 'I'm not a racist but there are too many black players in Italy'

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/17/arrigo-sacchi-no-racist-too-many-blacks-youth-teams

 

It's his really haphazard, old man way of saying that by clubs scouting outside of the country for a lot of their youth players it hampers the national sides development because you're limiting the number of homegrown players getting game time. 

 

But instead he says there's too many coloured lads. 

 

Got to love a bit of casual racism. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11417194/Did-Wayne-Rooney-dive-Roy-Hodgson-defends-Manchester-United-striker-as-Stan-Collymore-cries-cheat.html

Telegraph have a bit of balls at least

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11417194/Did-Wayne-Rooney-dive-Roy-Hodgson-defends-Manchester-United-striker-as-Stan-Collymore-cries-cheat.html

Telegraph have a bit of balls at least

82% agree he dived! No doubt there'll be a retrospective due to the balance of opinion! (Tongue firmly in cheek)

There must be some sort of connection between them, some common denominator.

Ooh yes, I think you may have a point.

Let me think about it and get back to you.

Desirable in the sense of that not all players will now want to move there? 

 

Definitely but that's mostly based on them not having Champions League football right, come the end of the season I fully expect them to have secured a top 4 finish and with European football on offer, their new Adidas kit sponsorship and the new football TV deal just announced they're arguably going to be the most cash rich football club in the world and they'll be able to blow any other English team out of the water when it comes to financial offers both in terms of transfer fees and player contracts. 

 

Question is for players is money the main motivation or does, for example, working with Mourinho sway you? 

 

I think a lot of players would happily go to United and be one of the best players in the world, just look how they managed to sign Di Maria despite having to European football to offer, believe me, plenty of player will follow suit. 

 

to be fair, who else could afford di maria though? I don't think many others were in for him at the price madrid wanted for him. If we could have afforded him, i'm pretty positive he would have loved to work with mourinho again; the same can be said for ozil too. There was rumours on twitter that he isn't entirely happy at utd and has been talking recently about returning to argentina. I just think most players will only go there for money and not because they are "the biggest club in england." because they aren't even the best club in manchester at the moment. Sir Alex Ferguson is no more and their coveted youth system isn't producing much quality any more, so they're trying to buy the best, only the best players don't want to go there.

Arrigo Sacchi: 'I'm not a racist but there are too many black players in Italy'

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/17/arrigo-sacchi-no-racist-too-many-blacks-youth-teams

 

old generation Italian man making racist comments, shock! 

That's it, they will more than likely just go there for the money and that's not a very good reason.  I would rather players come to Chelsea because they want to play for us, no matter who they are, rather than just go to a club to get a few more 0's on the end of their weekly pay packet, like Falcao.  How much have Utd spent on him!?  Obscene amounts.  Would rather a player with passion over one with a hefty price tag who is solely interested in just that.

to be fair, who else could afford di maria though? I don't think many others were in for him at the price madrid wanted for him. If we could have afforded him, i'm pretty positive he would have loved to work with mourinho again; the same can be said for ozil too. There was rumours on twitter that he isn't entirely happy at utd and has been talking recently about returning to argentina. I just think most players will only go there for money and not because they are "the biggest club in england." because they aren't even the best club in manchester at the moment. Sir Alex Ferguson is no more and their coveted youth system isn't producing much quality any more, so they're trying to buy the best, only the best players don't want to go there.

 

Apparently PSG had a £50m bid for Di Maria accepted only for United to come in at the last minute with an increased offer. 

 

End of the day Madrid needed to sell after buying Rodriguez and so it was a buyers market in a sense, if United or PSG hadn't of shown an interest then the asking would have needed to drop until a club like Chelsea, Juventus, City or whoever felt they could make the signing whilst still being with FFP rules.

 

They're still comfortably a bigger side than City, you only have to look at the number of fans they have on social media, their match day attendances and the sponsorship they're pulling in.

 

Okay it's been a bad two season for them in but they're the most successful side of the Premier League era and it's only a matter of time before they're back competing for the title.  

It's his really haphazard, old man way of saying that by clubs scouting outside of the country for a lot of their youth players it hampers the national sides development because you're limiting the number of homegrown players getting game time. 

 

But instead he says there's too many coloured lads. 

 

Got to love a bit of casual racism. 

 

Yeah that was definitely the message he was trying to get across, I don't think there was any genuinely malicious intent there, although it did mean he had to spend half the quote defending himself.

 

To be honest I was glad to hear from him, I was sure that Arrigo Sacchi was dead!

Might need to take your blue tinted specs off for that one Rich, Oscar's dive was pretty shocking, especially as he wasn't going away from goal like Rooney was. 

 

Rooney knew that by going over he stood a better chance of United scoring from a possible penalty than staying on his feet having pushed the ball wide and away from goal. 

 

Both were pretty shameful but England captain Rooney has met a lot more reluctance to criticise him than Oscar did. 

 

Must admit I didn't rewatch the Oscar one and just talked about it from memory. 

And Terry's treatment over the years, and Ashley Coles.

 

There must be some sort of connection between them, some common denominator.

 

I think it's simplistic to say it's just because he plays for Chelsea that Cole got a lot of media attention. Think about how he came to join us and the 'tapping up' scandal. Think about his book where he was pilloried for apparently being shocked by the money Arsenal offered him. The 'Cashley' stuff was hardly just because he was joining us, although there is a convenient link. He married and then cheated on a member of a fairly big girl band, got caught with his pants down a few more times and then shot a work experience kid.

 

All these things get you in the news YET it's easy to find articles describing him in glowing terms, going so far as to label him one of this country's finest players.

 

Same goes for JT. The bloke is a celebrity and that comes with it's own pitfalls. He's also brought some of it on himself yet it hasn't stopped him receiving plaudits from all quarters. Do you know who wrote this?

 

Terry is not only the best central defender in Chelsea’s history, but he is also unrivalled in two decades of the Barclays Premier League. He is the best there has been.

 

 

 

 

Do you know who wrote this?

 

Terry is not only the best central defender in Chelsea’s history, but he is also unrivalled in two decades of the Barclays Premier League. He is the best there has been.

I'm pretty sure it was me.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was me.

 

 

Do you have an agenda against Chelsea?

 

Do you sit around a table on Sunday, talking about how awful we are with three of your compatriots looking punchable? 

82% agree he dived! No doubt there'll be a retrospective due to the balance of opinion! (Tongue firmly in cheek)

It was a 100% dive, but because it's Rooney they call it "evasive action". Even the opposition manager didn't call him a diver. Give me a break! I can't believe the hypocrisy of Woy Hodgson and others who say that he didn't dive. 

Rooney is a diving fatbag!

old generation Italian man making racist comments, shock!

Yeah what did they think was going to happen?

What do we think about the Markovic ban? I hate Liverpool but it's absolutely ridiculous that a player has been given a ban for a situation like that, 4 games is a farce

What do we think about the Markovic ban? I hate Liverpool but it's absolutely ridiculous that a player has been given a ban for a situation like that, 4 games is a farce

I think the other 2 games were added on because of a previous charge at Benfica lst year?

Was a soft red in any case.

What do we think about the Markovic ban? I hate Liverpool but it's absolutely ridiculous that a player has been given a ban for a situation like that, 4 games is a farce

 

Have UEFA issued a statement on why they granted the additional match ban? 

 

EDIT: Found it:

 

"Markovic has been given an extra game on top of the normal three-match ban for violent conduct because he was sent off playing for Benfica in a Europa League match last May."

Edited February 17, 201511 yr by ForeverCarefree

I think the other 2 games were added on because of a previous charge at Benfica lst year?

Was a soft red in any case.

Yes you're probably right, I completely forgot he was sent off against Juventus