Shola - Comments

I can't imagine Newcastle United not having that in contracts either or the majority of other Premier League clubs who couldn't afford to go down and still be paying Premier League wages.

Surely that's got to be rubbish.

I mean QPR haven't exactly done great business of late but that really would be one of the most moronic ways of doing business ever heard. Buy a player for a decent fee, pay him £100k a week and then let him leave for nothing if you go down.

Didi Hamann ‏@DietmarHamann
@joey7barton I never said a bad word about my ex clubs and I never will as that's called respect and dignity Joseph .You got a lot to learn

It's not leaving the stadium as much as it's the tube. There's one tube station with one line on it so everyone pretty much has to go there since it's in the middle of London and yeah. Last time I went to London I was with my friend going to a convention and it's the same thing. Everyone has to get somewhere and there's only one way to get there.

Have you ever tried leaving the Emirates along with 60,000 others?

How stirring to hear Arsene Wenger declare that Arsenal are a socialist club.

“We don’t have a big gap between what our players earn. We are more a socialist model,” said the modern-day Castro.

Shame it only applies to the footballers though, as there’s one Arsenal employee who is paid £7.5million per year - more than double the average Gunners player’s wage of £61,000 per week.

He’s called Arsene Wenger.

And when he says “socialist model” he surely means the one favoured by old-style Soviet bloc dictators - a strict authoritarian who stays in power through a cult of personality, financially rewarding his party’s top brass, keeping the masses drugged on propaganda about being equals in some great emancipating drama, and delivering rousing speeches about never succumbing to the corrupt philosophies of capitalist pigs such as Chelsea and Manchester City.

Small wonder so many fans (who pay the highest ticket prices in the world to gain entrance to his socialist nirvana) are contemplating an uprising, and so many players defect.

You’re not a socialist, Arsene.

You are Nicolae Ceausescu.

On the night Lionel Messi reminded us that uncommon grace can still occasionally walk easily alongside the highest achievement, Luis Suarez was still locked away from the kind of uncomplicated acclaim that once again bathed football’s fabulous Little Big Man in Zurich.

When Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, who once plundered so brilliantly the best of his native France, recently signed a clutch of English-born players, including Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, he reminded you somewhat of the Dutch boy with his finger in the dam.

Why change something that quite obviously isn't broken? PSG's current logo is one of the very best in football.

Espanyol were like a pub team last night, just to show the chasm in quality, never mind Barcelona never needing to get out of second gear. As for the World Team of the Year, bit pathetic;

GK- Manuel Neuer
DR- Philip Lahm
DL- Jordi Alba
DC- Sergio Ramos
DC- Vincent Kompany
MC- Xavi
MC- Andrea Pirlo
MC- Andreas Iniesta
FW- Cristiano Ronaldo
FW- Robin Van Persie
FW- Lionel Messi

I'd like to have seen a team more like that. Van Persie for Arsenal last season was better than Falcao, Cavani et al, and that was playing in a tougher league and scoring majestic goals for fun. I don't follow German football too closely, but I imagine maybe players like Hummels or Schweinsteiger might have deserved a look in perhaps? Also, Zlatan and Thiago Silva? How well did they do last season?

Henning watches the training session, as Souness and his assistants yell and wave their arms. He tells me about Phil Boersma. He used to be the assistant to the physio at Liverpool. When Souness managed Galatasaray, Boersma was put in charge of warm-ups. When Souness took charge of Blackburn, he made Boersma head coach.

"That's what Souness is like. He'll only associate himself with people who say ‘yes boss', coaches who wouldn't even be competent to coach Norwegian youth teams," Henning says.

Souness lets the club rot rather than lose face. In the last couple of years, David Dunn, Keith Gillespie, Andy Cole and Henning have all left Blackburn after falling out with him. The ­captain, Garry Flitcroft, isn't even on the bench and Henning's good friend Dwight Yorke, who came here from Manchester United in 2002, is also on his way out. Right now, Yorke is out there with his team-mates in training, but everyone knows it's just a matter of time.

It all began during training in March this year. Souness and Yorke ended up in an argument about an incident on the pitch. Souness threw off his tracksuit top and insisted on joining in and playing. He sometimes did, even though he was over 50. The players didn't have the courage to protest. They kicked off and the first thing Souness did was to chase after Yorke. The manager threw himself at his own player, studs first, kicked him at knee height with both feet and left Yorke lying on the grass. Yorke was carried off. Souness didn't comment on the tackle at all, he just insisted they played on.

Souness and Yorke haven't spoken to each other since. Yorke has hardly played. Souness left him out of the training camp this summer and told the press that Yorke, who in 1999 won the Treble with United and was considered one of the best forwards in Europe, would live to regret his unprofessional attitude when he got older. He's wasting his talent, Souness said.

According to Henning, everyone falls out with Souness at one time or another. Some just take longer than others. All it took for Henning was to raise four fingers, and then he was out in the cold. Four fingers in the air, with one single purpose: to win a home game against Sunderland. First it cost him the shirt, and then it cost him a contract.

It was Boxing Day, 2001. Henning was enjoying a good spell at Blackburn. He was vice captain and one of those who never got substituted. Souness had publicly praised him a few days earlier after a match against Charlton. Henning was looking forward to the game. Blackburn were having some trouble scoring, but they were solid defensively and Sunderland were in deeper trouble, so the three points were there for the taking.

Souness came into the dressing room. He had one message. "We're going with three at the back," he said. "It's 3-5-2, not 4-4-2." Henning Berg couldn't believe it. Souness had never been a tactician. He had never won games through tactical masterstrokes. He played 4-4-2 and told them to be aggressive in midfield, tough in the challenges, win in the air and try to get around on the flanks. That was the kind of thing Souness said. Not much more than that.

He had changed to three at the back on previous occasions, but it had never worked. The players in the dressing room weren't really sure what it implied. Did he want the central midfield to lie deeper, or did he want the wingers to play as full-backs when Sunderland attacked? Now he was standing there with three fingers in the air.

Blackburn were played off the pitch by Sunderland. They were all over the Blackburn defence and drove cross after cross towards the tall Niall Quinn and the short Kevin Phillips. Henning was in the middle shouting while trying to fend off the attacks, but after 17 minutes Quinn popped up at the far post and scored. Henning ran towards the bench with four fingers in the air. Four at the back! We have to revert to four at the back! He wanted to win this game.

Blackburn continued with three at the back. Sunderland continued to get around on the flanks. After 32 minutes Quinn headed his second goal of the game, and Henning ran towards the bench with the same four fingers in the air. Graeme Souness was sitting in the stands. He always did. He saw what everyone saw – that Henning Berg was unhappy with his defensive tactics, that he claimed to have a solution to Rovers' defensive problems. And that he was indirectly criticising his boss in the presence of the home crowd. Henning was substituted at half-time. He didn't protest, but he didn't try to hide his displeasure either. Blackburn lost 3-0 and, although Henning remained at Blackburn for another season and a half, his relationship with Souness was strained, to say the least. He played the odd game, but had lost his status as a certain starter in ­central defence.

One day the following summer, Henning was sitting on the bus at the training camp in Austria. A list of squad numbers for the coming season was circulating on the bus, and according to the list, the new signing from Charlton, Andy Todd, had been given the No 4 shirt and Henning No 25.

Henning Berg looked quizzically at Graeme Souness. "25?" he said. "What?" said Souness. "Why have I got No 25?" "Oh, have you? Which number did you have before then? Four, you say? And now you've got 25?" Souness shrugged, pretending to have nothing to do with it. "It's not that important, is it?" he said.

Souness just didn't rate him, commenting that "we'll never win anything with a team of James Milners" - an argument about signing experienced players that he presumably used to try and the likes of Craig Moore....

Only 2 kinds should be allowed - Umbro Speciali or Adidas Samba.

Samba's are king.

I'm sorry, didn't realise this was the 'who's been pretty good this season' thread.'
There's much better options than them two, but its down to opinion I guess.