Tuesday Backpasses: Caution, nude pics ahead

No, not here. You'll have to follow a link. I'll go ahead and let you know, they are really not worth the trouble. Miss May would have done better to leave the unknown as unknown.

Really? This is the biggest story to come out of Olympic qualifying? Gratuitously NSFW [Silentpix (NSFW)] Really, it's NSFW. Don't blame me for anything that happens to you.
C. Ronaldo's "girlfriend" wears a bikini for you [Kickette]
Steve Bruce sells his soul for United [The Spoiler]

Less chicks, more sport after the jump.

Why two English team playing in Moscow is a bad idea environmentally[Daily Mail]
Spurs to build 50,000 seater. The way they are going, it will be the nicest ground in the Championship [Daily Mail]
Top 10 EPL signings this season. I wonder whoever could be #1? [The Sun]
Chelsea are rumored to have offered over $150 million for Messi. If they want an oft-injured striker, why don't they go after van Persie? [Bloomberg]
Capello sets his sights only so high [BBC]
Finally, Landon Donovan speaks [NYT Goal Blog]

Written by Darkvader on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Backpasses and ü75.

LIVERPOOL FC AIMS FOR ABIDAL?

Written by STRIKER on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on FC Barcelona and Liverpool FC and Transfer rumours.

Africans in Major League Soccer

It's not often that I write about Major League Soccer, the American professional soccer league.

Even though it's in my own backyard, I don't get out to see it as often as I would like.

Truth be told, the soccer home of David Beckham has made strides in becoming a more international league.

Last season's aquisition of the free-kicking Beckham from Real Madrid helped some as has the international flavor of star players such as Claudio Lopez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

This season, two Gambian internationals have staked their claim to fame in MLS, featuring for the New England Revolution.

In this article from Yahoo's Martin Rogers, we get an inside look at the way the two Gambian youngsters, Abdoulie “Kenny” Mansally and Sainey Nyassi, have assimilated into the team.

Here's an excerpt. To read the entire article, please click the link above.

New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol has already gained a reputation as the master of the Major League Soccer draft, snapping up unheralded college players and turning them into solid performers.

This season, though, Nicol and his coaching staff went a step further by introducing two unknown youngsters from a far away continent to boost New England’s start to the campaign.

Gambian youngsters Abdoulie “Kenny” Mansally and Sainey Nyassi suffered a series of problems – including visa issues, lost baggage and a huge difference in weather from west Africa to New England – after they were snapped up in the offseason. Their impact on the Revs has been immediate, helping the team rack up impressive victories over the two-time MLS champion Houston Dynamo and in-form Kansas City Wizards on the road.

“You expect there to be a period of settling in when lads come over to a different environment,” assistant coach Paul Mariner said. “But these two have hit the ground running and done very well straight away. They have got the right attitude and they are a pleasure to work with because we know we can help to develop their games to a new level.”

Written by Darkvader on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gambia and Major League Soccer.

Whudafxup? Arsenal Edition

In a new series that I just decided to start, I would like to ask you, the readers, just what the f*ck is going on with some of the biggest clubs and players around the world.

For starters, Arsenal. They're near the top of the alphabet, so they get to be the guinea pigs this time around. Whudafxup with Arsenal? Seriously. Whudafxup? Wenger just let one of his brightest stars from this season, Mathieu Flamini, ponce off to Serie A where he'll enjoy more money and a much more leisurely pace. His midfield wonder, Fabregas, is off the boil a little bit, and they also face the prospect of losing Hleb, another bewitching option in attack. Plus, Adebayor has little to no help up front thanks to the general rubbish play from the Swiss Miss Nicolas Bendtner, and van Persie just can't stay healthy.

There is some off-field entertainment from Mr. Usmanov who's maneuvering in the boardroom to get enough shares so he can launch a formal takeover bid, and there's no guarantee as to how much money the tight-arsed Wenger will splash out on anyone who isn't French or under the age of 19.

In addition, their smarty pants managing director, David Edelman, the man who turned the club into a profit-making machine and was instrumental in their move to the new stadium, has shocked and stunned everyone in the boardroom by saying bye-bye as well.

So, what must be done? What must be fixed first? What is the squad lacking most? How do you feel about being owned by this?

Answers in the comments. This thread is open; fire away.

Written by Darkvader on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Arsenal and Lingering Bursitis and Whudafxup?.

Betcha Flamini stitches up Milan like he did Arsenal and Marseille

Well it's happened.

Our little grafter, our very own Gattuso has left the building in lure of the Euro.

In all honesty, who can blame him?

The amount of money offered on the table to him was incredible and hand on heart if you was in his position, could you honestly say that you wouldn't do the same?

Loyalty is not in the vocabulary of many footballers nowadays. Loyal footballers are very hard to come-by.

There are only a handful around that stay at one club for long periods of time. For most, it's about the money and bank account statements.

Flamini was at Arsenal for four years. It's only been this season that he made the breakthrough into the side.

He will be hard to replace, but he is replaceable. Arsenal don't have many players like Flamini. He is and was all heart, we have a wealth of talent at the club, but you need the Flamini's to balance it out.

It's time to move on. Arsenal will, and I reckon that deep inside Flamini will regret the move in time.

But let me tell you this. Flamini will do the same to Milan as he has done to us and former club Marseille.

In four years time he will have run down his Milan contract and will be thinking over an offer from some Spanish club who have offered him £180,000 a week!

I'm telling you, mark my words, in 2012, Flamini will be preparing to ply his trade in Spain.

And he will be stitching up Milan like he did to Arsenal and Marseille.

Keep it Goonerish.......

Written by Wrighty7 on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Football-Player.

Teams for UEFA EURO CUP 2008

The 16 teams of Europe are facing each other in all exciting and the top football competition of Europe ‘EURO CUP 2008′. The tournament is starting on the June 7 to June 29. This year’s tournament is going to be sad for the british fan as powerhouse of Europe ENGLAND is missing drom the competition. The last year’s tournament w2as unpredictable as Greece got the Cup into their hands.

The 16 teams are divided into four groups with four teams in each group. Group are devided into into Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D. Portugal seemed to be the champion of Group A with Turkey and Cezh Republic and Switzerland in the same group. Group B contains 2006 world cup host Germany. Crotia, Poland and Austria. World cup finalists Italy and France makes the Group C more competative with Netherlands in the same groups. Romania is the fourth team in group C. Defending champion Greece, Spain, Russia and Sweden makes the group D very much exciting.

The tournament is awaited by the all the European as well as international football fans. The tournament is said to be second biggest regarding football after the FIFA WORLD CUP. The teams are grouped below:

Group A: Cezh Republic, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey
Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland
Group C: France, Italy, Netherlands, Romania
Group D: Greece, Russia, Spain, Sweden

Get the lastest news of Euro Cup in http://all-football-videos.blogspot.com/
Get the online tickets of Euro Cup in
Watch the LIVE! action of Euro Cup in

Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on euro-cup 2008.

Thanks for the memories.

So today is the day every Norwich City fan has been dreading. Glenn Roeder has flexed his managerial cock and used it to push legend Darren Huckerby out of the Carrow Road door. I said yesterday that I could see it happening. Roeder feels the need to make the club his. And boy did he just do that.

At 32, Hux was coming to the end of his career but not a single City fan will tell you that he is not good enough for the Championship. Just 3 days ago he shared a one two with Dion Dublin and fired a high shot past the flailing keeper. His last goal in the yellow and green.

Huckerby has always been a very strong character. A passionate one. This was part of his appeal to Norwich fans. He said what he felt and most of the time sounded like a fan. He heaped pressure on Peter Grant when he declared that "this is the worst Norwich side he had played in" and criticized the board when Dickson Etuhu, Yousef Safri and Robert Earnshaw exercised their get out clauses to leave the club.

Huckerby first hit the limelight at Carrow Road in 2003. He was a surprise loan from Man City. The very same day we also signed Peter Crouch and Kevin Harper. The three of them set us on our way to the title that year. Huckerby was a revelation, he tormented defences and the supporters quickly fell in love with his long runs and curling shots.

Huckerby's loan ended after 3 months. His big-mouth agent declared that he was too big for Norwich and would not be coming permanently. Hux silenced the fool and stated he had enjoyed his time with us and developed a special rapport with the fans.

Signing him was still a long shot, and the fans quickly realized that the idea of Huckerby arriving to wear a Norwich shirt on a long term basis was more of a dream than a reality. Delia Smith unveiled him on Boxing Day 2003. Happy Christmas. That year we won the title with 94 points. Huckerby continued to be outstanding. He was a perfect fit.

Today is not just a sad day because Hux is leaving but because the City never had a chance to say goodbye. A lot of the message boards are filled with anger towards manager Glenn Roeder. After Saturday's game he told reporters that he'd decided weeks ago who would be staying and who would be going. If this was true and he had already let Darren go, then he denied him his send-off in our last home game against QPR (A game that Huckerby excelled in) and again last Saturday in front of 5,000 travelling fans at Hillsborough.

NCFC Messageboard entry today titled: Roeder, Read This!.......

"You have just proven what a gutless, spineless person you are. Without getting into the wrongs and rights of whether Huckerby should be given a contract you have denied one of the greatest players this club has ever seen being given a proper send off by the fans.

You will never be held in such high esteem at this club as Huckerby, in fact you will never be respected by a significant number of fans as long as you remain at the club.
Thank you you for showing the fans and Darren Huckerby such contempt."

There could be trouble ahead!

Huckerby's goal at Wednesday was typical Hux. Fitting that he went out with a run, a returned pass and a thumping shot passed the goalie. I will miss his talent and fondly remember all of the goals he scored for City.
It's goodbye to Huckerby in Norwich but it may be hello to Huckerby here in the U.S. Toronto and LA made moves to sign him in January.

A move abroad is now likely for Hux, he has said on numerous occasions that he did not want to play for another team in England and would never run out against Norwich City.

Huckerby is a true legend. His amazing skill and loyalty will have him marked down alongside Kevin Keelan, Iwan Roberts, Ron Ashman and Martin Peters as one of City's all time greats.

Darren Huckerby made 203 appearances for Norwich City scoring 48 goals, not bad for a winger eh? Many were absolute gems. I will sign off with this one.

Enjoy!

Written by Darkvader on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Bigus Dickus and Farewell and Huckerby and Norwich City.

TRANSFER RUMOURS 2008: GUIZA & JOAQUIN

According to Sp.daily "Marca", a AC ROMA envoy will fly to Madrid
next week to meet up with representatives of MALLORCA forward
& Spanish International DANI GUIZA ( pictured below)

The Spanish forward is currently the Spanish League´s Top
goal scorer with 24 goals & his contract only has a 15M€ release
clause, something relatively "cheap" that the Italian club can pay
& avoid having to deal with Mallorca. Rumours also have it that
INTER & FC BARCELONA also have an eye on Guiza. Stay
tuned!




















Staying with AC ROMA & with the same daily, its published that
the Italian club is also interested in having the services of VALENCIA
CF winger JOAQUIN ( pictured below). But they are not alone, as
English Premier Laegue club EVERTON is also in there with hopes.



















Valencia CF is undergoing an economic crisis & needs to sell its
stars to refinance the situation, so much so, that David Villa, Silva,
Miguel & Albiol...are also on the market. Stay tuned!

Written by STRIKER on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Transfer rumours and Valencia CF.

Every Little Cartel Helps

Welcome to the wild, wacky and wicked world of shareholder capitalism.
There are clear parallels between the cartels governing the English football industry and those covering other areas of the economy. These criminalised networks contort the system to the benefit of big business and to the inevitable detriment of everybody else.
In this post, we explore these cartelised entities in order to discover similarities of infrastructure and tactic. We also focus on the incentives that underpin this rampant roguery and suggest some suitable regulatory policing and reality templates.

Lyotard: "Power is self-legitimating".

The entire system is, of course, a sham and both self-legitimation and self-regulation have always been the basis of this system based on capital. The progression of generations and time mean that our collective economic consciousness forgets the slave ships, the robber barons and the imperialist agendas - none of us are able to correctly apportion years, numbers nor distance and historical economic atrocities are airbrushed selectively from the history books. Consequently, when we are presented with a societal spectacular indicating that all might not be well with the capitalist model, the autocratic media provides us with the Good and the Evil, the standard Hollywood format. Pseudo-trial by public allows the spectaclist agenda to reach fruition - the financial director of Enron is jailed and we may now all sleep more easily.
Nonsense. As Baudrillard states: "...it [capital] is a monstrous unprincipled enterprise, nothing more". Nixon wasn't a knobhead, he was the norm. All capital is corrupt and the preferred format of corruption in a maturing market is the cartel.

Until recently in Britain, the deep state via the tentacles of the civil service neatly avoided any regulation of the self-legitimised system. Until 1980, insider trading, for instance, was regarded as a perk of the job and, despite being illegal since this date, not one prosecution has yet been undertaken. So, we are expected to believe that no insider dealing has taken place in Britain in nearly three decades. This would be a surprise to anybody with a knowledge of trading financial markets as insiders drive the structure!
Recently, however, Britain has been shamed into taking a more assertive line. As ever, the little island state follows its think-tanking superior, the USA. Firstly, we had the Virgin v British Airways price fixing cartel, soon followed by the inflation of energy prices by the (formerly public) utilities and the masonic construction companies rigging auctions and bids for mutual benefit. Now we have the four main supermarkets rigging the markets. These firms are not peripheral antisocialites firmly esconced in the grey or black markets but global brands fighting it out in the hilariously entitled formal economy.
What the fuck is a "formal economy"? Assuming, as one surely must within the bounds of shareholder capitalism, that "formal" refers to a private "formal" rather than a centralised political one, the "formal economy" is primarily developed by cartel or monopoly behaviour. The system requires a mafiosi structure to increase its efficiency and performance while it is a complete hypocrisy for the government to target cartelised and monopolistic corruption since such corruption is an emanation of those self same authorities.
But appearances matter. Justice must be seen to be done.
Lets focus on the four big grocers for a paragraph or so. The Competition Commission explored, examined and questioned the Big 4 for two years before announcing on April 30th that all is fair and well in the world of grocery - the standard regulatory conclusion. Regulators like the Competition Commission are poorly paid (generally around 25% of what one might earn in the private sector), they have no teeth and, everybody having their price, are able to be bought off. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is utilising a very different strategy to target the cartels. It is based on incentives, as everything in the world of money and greed must be if one is to get anywhere near to the true picture of the hyperreality. Imported from America, the tactic is as follows. Allow whistleblowers from within the cartel total immunity for grassing on their accomplices in crime. Meanwhile, hand down very severe penalties (preferably meaning incarceration) for the other cartel members. This is a proper use of economic incentives against the standard shareholder capitalist psychopathic template. Cartels offer members a win-win situation where the only losers are those, other competitors and consumers, who are left out of the cosy little grouping. This OFT-derivative template twists the incentives against the criminals. Using standard Game Theory for each of the cartel members is revealing as, the longer the cartel succeeds in distorting the markets, the greater the incentive for one of the blowers to whistle. Immunity versus Imprisonment is the type of strategic choice that a psychopath can understand, relate to and game - risk and Russian roulette...
In Britain, big business is crying foul whereas, in the US, the strategy is already being seen as an area of potential competitive advantage. One tactic, for example, is to await the whistleblower's testimony and to pay the fine to society, prior to whistleblowing the same knowledge on a proprietary basis in other territories. This creates deferred market share through the gaming of a criminality.

In summarising the OFT's campaign against the Big 4 supermarkets in Britain, The Economist states: "This supermarket cartel seems to involve many different parties sharing information in complex and indirect ways".
Which rather neatly brings us to the English Premier League/ Premiership Illusion. At its highest levels, English football is entirely a gambling medium. The match outcomes are rigged and the market prices are fixed in a standard and typical cartel structure. There are "many different parties" sharing knowledge about events but, as in the wider capitalist ballpark, there are limits to the cartelised cooperation. There are occasions where it is in the interest of one party to choose a selfish route and there are other occasions where a more capitalist-collectivist strategy is the preferable choice. This dichotomous format makes the externalised regulatory analyses of these criminal ruses rather complex mathematically. Hence the importance of the whistleblower.
Football would appear to be severely lagging the main shareholder capitalist body with regards to self-regulation of its own massive corruption. Two years ago, a whistleblower from Victor Chandler International provided evidence that one Premiership manager had placed £12 million worth of bets on Premiership matches in just one season. The response? A high court injunction courtesy of Max Clifford and the story never even gained an inch in the mainstream media columns. We have stated this before but it is important - if one manager is placing an average of over £30,000 on EVERY single Premiership match, surely we have a right to know.
In the US, the Commitment of Traders Report forces executives and insiders to disclose their insider dealing. In England, certain south coast managers are able to short-sell their own team on the global betting markets and take their illicit profit in the full knowledge that the illegality will never rebound into an own financial goal.
Power always demands self-regulation or excessively weak or controlled external regulation. This freeform structure allows the marketing of the self-legitimation of power via a compliant media. It has to be the final nail in Milton Friedman's intellectual coffin that a competitive system based on allegedly free markets actually ends up with centralised planning from a cartelised and criminalised business elite. How free is that? Why should society, as a whole, trust these individuals when there is ample evidence to the contrary? If the government is willing to fund advertising campaigns to shop a dole fraudster, why not a similar dynamic regarding a financial fraudster?

When some Premiership games are grossing over £1 billion in betting turnover, there needs to be formed a regulatory body that is able to target the corruption. The OFT structure may be directly replicated within English football. We'll blow whistles, if you want, without any incentives!
Not that it will perform any long term usefulness. Cartels grow up into monopolies and monopolies don't do whistleblowers, well not living ones anyway. Monopolies totally control output, input, supply, demand, price and it is surely the perfect definer of the shareholder capitalist system that this end goal is the nirvana of capitalist psychopaths across the world.

© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological

Written by Football Is Fixed on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on capitalism and corruption and economics and football and government and inside information and markets and media and premier league and premiership and whistleblowers.

At Least His Nickname Isn’t Eight Belles

For those of you who've never been to the Kentucky Derby, it's actually a full day with 12 races on the card.

The Kentucky Derby, the tenth of the 12, is just the only one people care about or watch, unless you are at Churchill Downs or live in Chicago where the weather is seemingly never going to be nice so you are stuck inside when it's May and still 40 and drizzly out giving you plenty of time to skip back and forth to the full coverage of Derby Day on ESPN.

What's this got to do with futbol?

The last race before the Derby is something called the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic because it's run on turf and it is fucking classic. Probably not, but there is half a million dollars at stake.

More importantly this year there was a horse in it named "Golden Balls." Yes, that is a horse whose moniker was inspired by David Beckham's nickname.

From the Handicapper's Edge

GOLDEN BALLS (Ire) (Danehill Dancer) made a big impression on us with a late-running tally in the La Puente S. last spring and seems poised for a breakthrough win in here. The James Cassidy pupil had an excellent tightener for this when a closing third in the Arcadia H. (G2) and could appreciate the added furlong in today's contest. The chestnut colt has been impressive in his morning drills and should be a solid price in advance of his first graded score.

Whoever wrote that probably needs to get laid. That last sentence couldn't be more laden with sexual innuendo. Although if you believe Posh, "Golden Balls" Becks really is hung like a horse.

Anyway, better to be smart. The winning horse in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic was named Einstein. And Golden Balls? He finished dead fucking last. This probably wasn't too hard to see coming for people who thought about it. See, the other horses were bound to be moving, and Golden Balls is really only effective on set pieces.

Still, probably not a good omen for his namesake. Then again, he's already in MLS. How much worse could things get?

Written by Darkvader on May 6th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Becks and David Beckham and Golden Balls and Precious Roy.