This is what smoking crack does!!!

Evra lets rip on Hasselbaink and Lampard (when he was at Monaco before Champions League Semi against Chelsea)

RE: The Rams & Stagathon

Firstly, i'm sure you will all join me in congratulating the mighty Rams for reaching the promised land of The Premiership. Enjoy the ride my friend as the euphoria is lileky to be short-lived...

More importantly it has come to my attention that Sat 11th August is the first day of the 2007-08 Premiership season. We'll need to re-assess once the fixtures come out but if Spurs are at home then at least 5 of us have a problem. Ditto with Arsenal with 3 people.

Discuss.

MUFC songsheet for next season.........

No doubt the following will be sung at Old Trafford next season:

You robbed your own fans,
you robbed your your faaaaaaaaaaaaaans,
that day in Athens, you robbed your own fans
(to the tune of "we won it six......sorry, five times")

The fans with no shame,
the fans with no shaaaaaaaaaaaaaame,
they robbed thier mates to see the game,
the fans with no shame.
(same tune as above)

In your Liverpool slums,
you robbed your own fans for their tickets in Greece,
once more you deny it and blame the police,
in your Liverpool slums

The best one yet???

Fancy a bet??? Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Found another..........

Taken from the Liverpool website!!!!

And another........

I couldn't resist..........

If you click on this link you can see the Evertonians actually taking the picture:

LINK

It was inevitable................

After last night's 'Greek Tragedy' (or joy depending how you see things – thanks for text JN!) it would only be a matter of time before the plethora of email and txt 'jokes' started. Here we go:

1. When's the minute's silence?

2. Still depressed? Can't talk about it? Can't confide with friends or family? Then call 0800 10 10 10. That number again – 0800 won nothing, won nothing, won nothing!

3. The Easter bunny has been spotted running around Anfield. A spokeman for Merseyside police said it was just a case of mistaken identity, as the only person they could find with all their eggs in one basket was Liverpool manager Benitez.

4. What have Olivia Newton-John and Liverpool got in common? They both got f**ked in Greece.

Oh and best newspaper headline surely goes to the Mirror:

"Revenge as Kop come Acropolis"

Pieri scoops third FFL title

It was an FFL formality, but etiquette demands that we wait for the proper end to the season before handing the trophy over to Mike. Commiserations to Nick who appeared to be running away with it at one point, only to falter when it really counted.

Looking back on the season, you have to say that the acquisition of Robbie Keane was crucial. He scored 53 points since his transfer and was arguably the best striker in the Premiership in the last couple of months. Cech also played his part but some might rue letting Mike get him back so easily after his injury. Overall, a solid defence (Cech, Finnan and Ferdinand especially) and an excellent, consistent forward line (Rooney and Keane) made up for a very poor midfield. Once again, Mike has proved a determined and prescient manager and thoroughly deserves his third trophy [round of applause].

As for Nick, the transfers didn't quite work out (apart from Downing perhaps). Agger and Riise were excellent buys (especially since no one really fancied Agger) and Arteta was an astute choice too. Yakubu was raking in the points up until Easter, then gave up. If you want to blame anyone it has to be him, although Ballack was the laziest cunt in the league.

James's team hung around for much of the season and looked like launching a challenge for a while. Although nearly all his players were consistent, only Pedersen hit a really big score. Taylor was a great buy but the rest hit the 20s and 30s. Had Johnson and Bent been fit for the whole season though, he would probably have taken it.

As for the rest of us, not good enough is the verdict. That's why this game is so great. The final table looks like this:

		Total Points	Diff
1st	Mike	404
2nd	Nick Ach	395	9
3rd	James	387	17
4th	Nick Ath	349	55
5th	Sid	341	63
6th	Steve	336	68
7th	Rico	310	94
8th	Donald	288	116
9th	Theo	266	138
10th	Stathi	243	161

Incidentally, my spreadsheet died again after the last Premiership week. If it had happened a week earlier, there would have been no final table. Not from me anyway.

Also, I really can't be fucked with the scores again next season. Someone else's turn methinks.

Get in there

Glorious.

...and audited

Apologies to James for any hope I might have given him. Also, a strange assist for Lennon gives Nick a valuable 2 extra points, leaving him 6 behind Mike. However, with only Ashley Cole playing in the final, we can safely say that it's all over. Formal congratulations and a full summing up of the season will follow the FA Cup Final. So, the scores going into it are:

FFL 2006/07 LEAGUE TABLE			week39
		Total Points	Diff
1st	Mike	401
2nd	Nick Ach	395	6
3rd	James	387	14
4th	Nick Ath	347	54
5th	Sid	341	60
6th	Steve	330	71
7th	Rico	310	91
8th	Donald	285	116
9th	Theo	266	135
10th	Stathi	243	158

In a last ditch attempt to possibly salvage 2nd place, James buys Kalou for the final.

Provisionally...

...this is the pre-FA Cup final table, subject to an audit:

FFL 2006/07 LEAGUE TABLE			week39
		Total Points	Diff
1st	Mike	401
2nd	Nick Ach	393	8
3rd	James	392	9
4th	Nick Ath	344	57
5th	Sid	341	60
6th	Steve	330	71
7th	Rico	312	89
8th	Donald	283	118
9th	Theo	265	136
10th	Stathi	239	162

Mike has 2 United and Chelsea players (Cech, Joe Cole, Ferdinand and Rooney), Nick has Ashley Cole and James has none (Ballack is injured). Looks like Mike's trophy, barring an Ashley Cole hat-trick.

Ha ha..................

Michael Essien and his calculator (December 2006):

"We are much better than Manchester United. The difference in points in the Premiership is just a coincidence. Its just a matter of days before we are the leaders. I have done my calculations and we will finish at least five points clear of United at the top of the table"

Fancy owning a club for £35?

You've probably seen this already but if you haven't, it's quite interesting. They've got 11,500 subscribers so far and need 50,000 to make it happen. Barnet would be my choice, for obvious reasons.

Stathi, you surely must be interested. Don't you already own a plot of land on the moon? You'd only be left with a Learjet for the set.

Week 37

Little change in the 2-horse race at the top this week with Nick failing to capitalise on a poor showing by Mike's team: both scored a meagre 3 points. Mike can count himself a little lucky with Campbell not featuring in Portsmouth's leaky display against Everton.

So with just 1 week to go, things aren't looking too good for Nick. With Liverpool resting everyone, Yakubu drying up and Bolton leaking goals, Arteta is single-handedly keeping his team in it. Just. It looks as if team selection will be crucial in the games to come - will Fergy and Mourinho pick their best players?

So, the scores:

FFL 2006/07 LEAGUE TABLE			week38
		Total Points	Diff
1st	Mike	399
2nd	Nick Ach	388	11
3rd	James	378	21
4th	Nick Ath	336	63
5th	Sid	332	67
6th	Steve	319	80
7th	Rico	302	97
8th	Donald	273	126
9th	Theo	266	133
10th	Stathi	225	174

Congratulations to Steve again for the team of the week (15 points). A mini-renaissance has been going unnoticed there and he may even finish in 5th. And only 3 transfers away from a full set!

There were no transfers this week. I'll be surprised to see any more now.

'And now the end is near, so we face the final weekend...'

Is winning everything?

This post is slightly long, but stay with it. It is worth it.

Even though Theo from time to time reminds us about Blanchflower and his quote about the glory game, I thought it apt to print the quote in it entirety in order to give credence to a wonderful article further down from today’s Guardian:

Blanchflower: “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It's nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out to beat the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”

Guardian Article: English teams are robbing game of skill, says Valdano

The former Real Madrid coach and World Cup winner Jorge Valdano has attacked Rafael Benítez and Jose Mourinho, insisting that they are ushering in a bleak future for football and likening the Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea to "a shit hanging from a stick".

The Argentinian, who scored in the 1986 World Cup final and has a respected reputation as a football intellectual, claimed that Mourinho and Benítez mistrust talent because of their own failure to make it as players and said their approach is bad news for the game.

Writing in Spain's best-selling newspaper, Marca, Valdano insisted:

“Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion - and, in that, Anfield is unbeatable. Put a shit hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art. It's not: it's a shit hanging from a stick.

“Chelsea and Liverpool are the clearest, most exaggerated example of the way football is going: very intense, very collective, very tactical, very physical, and very direct," he added. "But, a short pass? Noooo. A feint? Noooo. A change of pace? Noooo. A one-two? A nutmeg? A backheel? Don't be ridiculous. None of that. The extreme control and seriousness with which both teams played the semi-final neutralised any creative licence, any moments of exquisite skill.

“If Didier Drogba was the best player in the first match it was purely because he was the one who ran the fastest, jumped the highest and crashed into people the hardest. Such extreme intensity wipes away talent, even leaving a player of Joe Cole's class disoriented. If football is going the way Chelsea and Liverpool are taking it, we had better be ready to wave goodbye to any expression of the cleverness and talent we have enjoyed for a century.”

Valdano explained why Benítez and Mourinho were to blame for the demise of flair and creativity. “The lives of Mourinho and Benítez have crossed in a world that is ever more scrutinised and exposed by the media, which is why they look at each other with such distrust," he wrote, "but they have two things in common: a previously denied, hitherto unsatisfied hunger for glory, and a desire to have everything under control.

“Both of those things stem from one key factor: neither Mourinho nor Benítez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching. Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches. In short, Benítez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benítez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players.”

I have to say that after reading that, I had a warm glow in my heart!

Surely not a white kit for Arsenal??????

Is this for real? An Arsenal WHITE kit? Personally I think it looks rather nice but WHITE? PR disaster or masterstroke?

Expect the following scenario in North London over the summer:

"Mummy can I have the new Spurs kit please"
"Sure Stavro. I'll get it tonight when I do the shopping. What colour is it?"
"It's white mum"
"OK"

Mum comes home with the new Arsenal kit. Dad boots mum out. Kid is distraught and traumatised..............................

What a weekend.................

1) United beat the bitter blues at the council house

2)United win the title thanks to Arsenal

3) Brotherhood United through to the Cup Final on penalties

4) Cockney Rebel storms to win the 2000 Guineas (£330 win!)

A huge GET IN

Week 36

With the sun setting on another season, Mike consolidates his lead at the top. 11 points might not be much but there are only 2 games left for most teams. Robbie Keane once again did most of the damage and is without doubt the main vector in Mike's remarkable revival this season. With 50 points as a sub, he's easily the most successful transfer of the season, second only to Petr Cech (another Mike transfer). How people must be ruing not going in for him now (Cech that is).

Anyway, here are the scores:

FFL 2006/07 LEAGUE TABLE			week37
		Total Points	Diff
1st	Mike	396
2nd	Nick Ach	385	11
3rd	James	363	33
4th	Nick Ath	324	72
5th	Sid	321	75
6th	Steve	304	92
7th	Rico	297	99
8th	Donald	269	127
9th	Theo	257	139
10th	Stathi	218	178

There were no transfers to report this week.

Mike - are you sure you still want that photo of Kaka with his arms in the air on this blog?