The issue of third party ownership is threatening to rear its ugly head again – insert sigh here- with clubs in England and France making increasing noise about the fact they are not allowed to undertake in such shared ownership of players (think back to the Tevez / Mascherano debacle and you can see why) and feel this hampers them in comparison to other European clubs who use such deals when ‘complying’ with the FFP regulations.
The sad thing is, the FA actually have a point, with multiple clubs in Spain and South America to name but a couple using third party deals in order to keep their costs when buying players down, and attempt to come under the £38 million target from 2013-2014.
It seems baffling that the FFPR allows such ownership yet will point blank refuse to entertain the notion of “transparent owner equity investment” ie Abramovich at Chelsea or the Sheik at City, and the Premier League, along with the French FA feel that not only is this contradictory, but places them at a huge disadvantage and are determined to get UEFA to look more closely at this issue.
Uefa are willing to ban clubs who do not comply with the FFPR, and exclude them from their competitions, with Chelsea and City being especially vulnerable here, with third party ownership being outlawed in the EPL due to it compromising the ‘integrity of the competition’ with this placing EPL clubs at a significant disadvantage in comparison to their counterparts in Europe who enjoy this benefit with Hertha Berlin raising €44m from selling the economic rights of players to a third‑party ownership fund since 2009 – something Premier League clubs are simply not allowed to do.
Whether Uefa would actually take action over these concerns remains to be seen, as although they have ‘promised’ to look into it – a Uefa promise is worth about as much as one from Carlos Tevez – and even now they will have you believe that the issue is much less prominent than the Premier League would claim it to be.
The idea of allowing third party ownership rights in the Premier League is not what is being pushed for here, and the main issue of both the French and English is that they feel at a significant disadvantage when compared to Spanish, Portuguese and German clubs who can use the FFP rules and third party ownership to keep losses down and essentially be in a better position in the transfer market.
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If any kind of resolution can be reached the Premier League would be open to this, with even the idea of where revenue is raised from directly selling a stake in a player, this is then exempt from FFP calculations. Whether Uefa would be willing to entertain this notion however remains to be seen.
Embattled Celtic manager Neil Lennon has put personal turmoil behind him to claim the Scottish Cup, his first trophy in charge of the Glasgow giants.In recent months Lennon has endured death threats, has had parcel bombs and bullets posted to him and was attacked by a spectator during his side’s recent Scottish Premier League win at Hearts.
But the 39-year-old Northern Irishman was celebrating on Saturday, when Celtic claimed their first Scottish Cup since 2007 with a 3-0 win over Motherwell at Hampden Park.
The Glasgow side took the lead after 32 minutes through a brilliant long-range strike from South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng, whose unstoppable left-foot effort flew past Darren Randolph in the Motherwell goal.
Motherwell began the second half full of zest, but when their defender Stephen Craigan put the ball into his own net after 76 minutes the match was as good as over.
There was still time for one more piece of magic, however, when Charlie Mulgrew struck a spectacular left-foot free-kick past the wall and Randolph to make it 3-0 two minutes from time.
Tottenham Hotspur may battle Liverpool in the signature of Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy.
According to the Mirror, City have agreed to let Bellamy leave Eastlands on a free transfer which would open the door for a return to Liverpool after the Reds insisted they weren’t prepared to pay a transfer fee for a player who left Anfield in 2007.
However, Tottenham could yet scupper a deal by making a move for the 32-year-old themselves. Harry Redknapp’s side have already secured a loan deal for Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor and could also add Bellamy to their ranks.
Bellamy’s national team coach Gary Speed has promoted a potential move back to Liverpool. “Liverpool are a fantastic club and if that’s true and it comes off, that would be great,” said Speed.
“Hopefully by the end of the transfer window things will be sorted out.”
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Article courtesy of Matt Wood from the excellent Clean Sheets All Round
There some games that are heated in football, but do any of them come close to the top 10 list below. Sit back and judge for yourself.
10) Ajax v Feyenoord
The most heated fixture in Dutch football is one spurred on between class differences of two cities a mere 30 miles apart.
Amsterdam’s cosmopolitan image is reflected in Ajax’s fluent brand of football whilst near neighbours Feyenoord carry the look of its port district labour image.
Ajax and Feyenoord have dominated Dutch football alongside PSV Eindhoven, yet ‘Der Klassieker’ is by far the most fiercely contested match in the Eredivisie.
The contrast in image is illustrated by the contrasting homes of each team, with Ajax’s uber-modern Amsterdam Arena in stark contrast to the traditional and hostile atmosphere of Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium, yet both clubs grounds have been littered with scenes of crowd trouble for years.
In 1997 an Ajax fan was killed after pre-arranged ‘battle of Beverwijk’ – an Amsterdam suburb – which led to a banning order of away fans from the fixture.
Once the ban was lifted, incidents continued to occur and in 2004 Feyenoord’s Jorge Acuna was hospitalised after being attacked by an intruding Ajax fan.
Last season the Dutch authorities agrees to once again impose an ban on visiting support but those measures are unlikely to dilute the hatred of these two sworn foe’s.
9) Roma v Lazio
The Italian capital’s two clubs not only share a city but a stadium meaning meetings between the pair become tribal, with each claiming spiritual ownership of the site.
Again, the tensions were pre-cursed by supposed divides along political and social lines with Lazio apparently the club of the social elite, whilst Roma were the team of the Romany’s.
The Derby della Capitale is notorious for being Italy’s fieriest clash with Lazio’s notorious fascist ultras regularly bearing arms to Roma’s far-right facets.
Like so many city derbies, the proximity of one another’s support lends to widespread conflict outside of the ground and the spacious nature of the Stadio Olimpico does nothing to temper tensions inside.
The first ever recorded fatality in Italian football came about thirty years ago during the Rome derby and scores of incidents since have marked this out to be one of Europe’s most fractious encounters.
During a game in 2005, Roma’s ultras forced a game to be abandoned midway through after rumour spread that police had killed a supporter and the two sets of ultras became involved in a barbarous brawl which resulted in almost 200 police officers being injured.
The Derby della Capitale remains arguably Europe’s most vicious mainstream derby.
8. Manchester United v Liverpool
These two are England’s most successful clubs and the fate of the cities football teams significantly plays its part in an inter-city rivalry which has been brooding since the Victorian industrial age. Manc’s don’t like Scousers. Scouser’s don’t like Manc’s. End of.
Both clubs claim to be the greatest English club and both have had ample opportunity to taunt the other during periods of success and failure.
Liverpool outshone United for large parts of the 70’s and 80’s much to the envy of United and United’s subsequent success during the 90’s and beyond has caused similar resentment on Merseyside.
The clashes between the pair are by far and away the most feverish of the English top flight calendar and even thought the safety and segregation of grounds limits terrace trouble, the hostilities frequently are taken out on the turf.
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7) Cracovia v Wisla Krakow – The Holy War
Polish football is in the midst of a hooliganism crisis with these two at the forefront of things.
It’s unlikely the Krakow derby is dubbed the ‘holy war’ because of Pope John Paul II’s allegiance to Cracovia. Instead, the term gives scope to what has traditionally become one of the most violent affairs on the continent.
The fixtures are regularly marked with bouts of organised and relentless pitch battles between opposing sets of fans, both inside and outside of the grounds and in recent years the Polish football authorities have had little option than to impose a blanket ban on travelling support to reduce trouble.
However, the measures have had a limited effect and unfortunately Krakow has earned the dubious nickname of the ‘city of knives’ because of the proclivity to carry blades, and since 2004 there have been over a dozen fatalities as a direct result of football related disorder.
6) Fenerbahce v Galatasaray
Turkey’s two most successful and well supported clubs are separated by the Bosphorous strait which divides Istanbul, and divide is perhaps the best term to describe these arch enemies.
Like many inter-city rivalries, there are socio-political connotations which add to the intensity of the hatred. Traditionally Fener’s fanbase is derived from the working classes whilst Gala emanate from the Istanbul bourgoise.
Both clubs relentlessly compete for the top honours in Turkey and thus the status as the nation’s number one club, and as such the fixtures make for volatile occasions both on and off the pitch.
Meetings between the duo are routinely the scene of terrace trouble and similarly to the Krakow derby, this violence has led to scores of fatalities throughout its history.
Graeme Souness hardly smoothed over relations between the two following the second leg of the Turkish cup final in 1996, whilst managing Gala. Souness celebrated lifting the cup on Fener soil by planting a massive Gala flag in the centre circle much to the ire of the furious Fener following.
Souness and his Galatasaray squad were forced to seek refuge for several hours in the bowels of Sukru Saracoglu stadium as the riot police fended off furious Fenerbahce fans.
5) Rangers v Celtic
The ‘Old Firm’ game is arguably the world’s oldest football derby with the first meeting between the two Glasgow giants taking place in 1888.
The rivalry is prominent as football’s most religiously charged encounter with the origins of the rivalry dating back hundreds of years between the divergent cultures of protestant and catholic beliefs.
The sectarian differences between the two clubs are ingrained in their history and tradition and largely splits the city of Glasgow into blue or green. Set against the backdrop of Northern Irish politics, the Old Firm games are infused with partisan chanting and hooligan confrontations which stretch further than other football feuds.
The increasing number of players playing from both clubs, with little or no ties to the city and religion, has seen on-field agitations, tapered in recent times. Little of the ill-feeling between the masses has been lost and given the sensitivity of the situation, nor will it do any time soon.
4) Red Star v Partizan Belgrade
Like many communist influenced football leagues, two of the most prominent teams have affiliations to the military and the interior ministry – themselves both opposing political influences.
Borne from the former Yugoslavia and now continuing in Serbia, Partizan were formed in 1945 as the club of the Yugoslav army whilst bitter city adversaries Red Star were set up in conjunction with the interior ministry.
Prior to the collapse of the former Soviet Union both teams had contrasting political and social ideologies which were played out on the football field.
The ongoing scenario whereby a nations two most successful, and heavily followed forces, both emanate from its capital city is in evidence once again, but what elevates the Belgrade derby in significance is a nationalistic element derived from decades of military conflict.
Red Stars ‘Heroes’ and Partizans ‘Gravediggers’ stood side by side during the Serb-Croat war at the start of the 1990’s but parted ways during the infancy of an independent Serbia and tensions have remained ever since.
The fixture has been host to several deaths, most notably in 1999 when a Partizan ultra fired a missile from a hand held rocket launcher into the Red Star end, killing one fan.
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3) Boca Juniors v River Plate
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The clash between Argentine football’s two superpowers has resonance all over the world and match days are amongst some of the most choreographed and colourful on the world stage.
Again, the combination of the countries two best supported and trophy laden clubs being separated geographically by a couple of miles only fuels the tension between players and supporters.
Both clubs were originally formed from the La Boca docklands area of Buenos Aires but in 1925 River upped sticks to the more affluent district of Nunez and in doing so earned the tag of ‘Los Millionaires’ because of their perceived wealth.
Boca are said to be the club of the people and the perceived differences in culture mean differences between the opposing fan factions. Like many of the rivalries on this list, the occasion has been tinged with tragedy. In 1968, 71 Boca fans were killed and hundreds injured following a stampede caused by a fire at River’s El Monumental stadium.
The incident has further intensified relations between the clubs which ensures a turbulent atmosphere whenever the pair collides.
2) El Salvador v Honduras
The term ‘football war’ may seem like the type of hyperbole you’d read in the tabloids but in 1969 a clash between El Salvador and Honduras led to an actual military conflict between these two countries.
Tensions were already simmering between the two neighbouring Central American territories when the sides were drawn to play a qualifier for the 1970 World Cup.
The first leg in Honduras was marred between fighting between the teams supporters in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. And following the game an 18-year-old El Salvadorian girl shot herself in the heart and immediately became a martyr for the El Salvador cause.
The countries president and the national football team led the cortege at her funeral before the second leg which saw even greater violence and immediately after a third game play-off played in Mexico City, El Salvador declared war on Honduras leading to a four day borderline battle which resulted in over 3000 deaths.
1) Nacional v Penarol
Uruguay has long since had a foul reputation throughout world football for their acts of petulance and aggression and that image has only been tarnished by Montevideo’s two biggest clubs.
Nacional and Penarol continue the theme of the countries two biggest clubs coming from the capital and throughout history, matches between them have been noted for extreme physical violence in all elements.
Two quite bizarre incidents set this rivalry out from the rest. A match in 1990 was abandoned after 85 minutes when 22 players – 11 from each side – were sent off after a riotous meleé kicked off on the pitch with members of each side wading in with few if any acting as peacemakers.
That incident takes some beating but somehow they managed it in November 2000. Another saloon brawl resulted in nine players and a coach being sentenced to a month in prison for their part in the action and the general consensus is that when these two meet, something similar could happen at any time. Box office.
Blackburn and Birmingham shared the points 1-1 at Ewood Park in a result that helped neither side’s relegation predicaments.The two sides went into the game level on 34 points, and just two above relegation-placed West Ham and Wolves.
The home side began the brighter and Jermaine Jones had an excellent chance on goal but slipped at the vital moment, before Chris Samba also headed wide.
Rovers were the more comfortable of the two sides in the first half as the Blues struggled in possession, so it came as a surprise when the visitors scored with their first meaningful attack in the 32nd minute.
Sebastian Larsson found Cameron Jerome in the box, and the striker chipped over Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson and Lee Bowyer headed in the easiest of openers from just a yard out.
Birmingham were unlucky not to have doubled their lead when Larsson’s free kick struck the post minutes before the break, but were then guilty of complacency as they gifted the hosts an equaliser.
In stoppage time at the end of the half, Junior Hoilett caught Liam Ridgewell off guard and stole the ball off him before rounding goalkeeper Ben Foster and firing home.
In the second half, another Larsson free kick forced a great save out of Robinson, and at the other end, Roque Santa Cruz’s header struck the crossbar.
Morten Gamst Pedersen also tested Foster on two occasions with an in-swinging free kick, and from the corner post.
Despite finishing the better side, Blackburn could not find a second goal and the draw leaves both clubs poised perilously three points above the relegation zone.
Newly promoted Norwich City have landed full back Kyle Naughton on loan reports Sky Sports.
The Tottenham defender, who can play operate at both right and left full back, joins the Canaries until the end of the season.
Naughton was being chased by a number of Premier League clubs with Aston Villa showing strong interest in him.
But the 22-year-old has decided a move to Carrow Road would provide more first-team opportunities and boss Paul Lambert was overjoyed to secure his services.
“We’re delighted to have secured Kyle’s services for the season,” Lambert told Sky Sports
“He’s a quality player who will come in and give the current group a hand as well as providing more healthy competition for places.
“He’s a pacy player and he’s also young and hungry to continue developing his career and we’re obviously pleased he’s got the chance now to do that with us here at Norwich City.”
Despite moving to Tottenham in 2009 he has failed to nail down a regular starting place at White Hart Lane with manager Harry Redknapp opting to loan him out.
The move will now give the full back a chance to establish a presence in the top flight after two seasons of playing in the Championship on loan at Leicester City and Middlesbrough.
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He’ll be hoping the loan can revitalise Naughton’s career in the same way it did for Kyle Walker who shone on loan at Aston Villa last season.
Since the days when we were hiding from the sun in caves, man has used numbers to give himself a sense of place in the world.
First, early man learned to count on his fingers then on his toes. But once he got passed 20, he was stuck. Then some cleverer men came up with numbers past 20. Then they came up with numbers past 100.
Numbers were useful in lots of different ways. They could be used to count items of food, people in your tribe, the number of legs you were missing because a bear had eaten one and a whole bunch of other things!
Nowadays, we haven’t got that much use for numbers. Computers do everything for us! But one thing we do like to do is use them when we talk about football! Nobody wins a match by ‘oh gee…a whole bunch of goals!’ They win by 1 or 2 or 3. And with the FA Cup 5th Round over and done with, what better time to celebrate the magic of numbers then by running down some of the figures involved in the magic of the cup!
1,569,797 – That’s how many people have come to watch the FA Cup so far this season, according to the FA.
446 – The number of goals scored in the Cup this season. The top-goalscorers with 6 each are Reading’s Matieu Manset and Leyton Orient’s Scott McGleish. Leyton Orient have managed to score 16 goals, whilst Hereford conceded the most at 10.
1,758 – The number of shots on target. The number of shots off target is slightly less at 1,622.
1,636 – There’s been over 1,500 corners in the Cup this year, but only 75 goals scored from headers.
2,906 – That’s how many fouls there’s been, roughly half of what occurs in a match between Rangers and Celtic. Of those fouls committed, we’ve seen 403 yellow cards, but only 30 reds. Mark Clattenburg can’t have refereed every match surely? Dover Athletic managed to commit the most fouls without getting punished; 22 in total.
4 – The number of penalties awarded to Sheffield Wednesday. They managed to score all 4.
So we’ve seen more fouls than goals, but more headed goals than red cards! And we don’t know who’ll win it. Numbers….they really do tell us nothing. At least that’s what I told my maths teacher when I only got a C on my GCSE’s….
Follow Peter Turner, but don’t ask him to divide anything, on Twitter @petermagpie
Brazilian Serie A leaders Corinthians lost their second match of the season on Sunday, going down 3-2 away to Avai.The visitors had led through a goal from Emerson 31 minutes into the match at Estadio Aderbal Ramos da Silva.
They held the lead going into the half-time break, but three goals in succession, the first from William followed by two to Rafael Coelho, marked an impressive turnaround for the home side.
Jorge Henrique pulled one back for Corinthians in the 90th minute, but it was too late to prevent a surprise defeat to the strugglers.
It was just Avai’s second win of the season and lifts them off the foot of the table into 18th place.
Corinthians remain top despite the defeat, but are now just one point ahead of second-placed Flamengo.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Fluminense were comprehensive winners with a 4-0 victory over Ceara.
Fred opened the scoring for the home side 35 minutes into the match, with second-half goals from Souza, Rafael Sobis and Rafael Moura completing the rout.
The visitors had to play the entire second half with just 10 men following the sending off of Heleno in the 45th minute.
Santos’ poor start to the season continued, as they went down 3-2 away to Atletico Paranaense.
The home side were 2-0 up just 10 minutes in, courtesy of goals from Cleber Santana and Manoel.
Neymar pulled one back on 13 minutes, before Borges struck to get Santos back on level terms just past the hour mark.
But a last-minute winner from Marcinho sealed a 3-2 victory for the home side.
Vasco da Gama climbed to fifth with a 2-0 win over Sao Paulo, with Eder Luis and Felipe striking in the second half.
In other matches, Internacional were held 0-0 at home by Atletico Goianiense, hosts Bahia saw off Figueirense 3-1, while Coritiba won at America Mineiro by the same score-line.
It has been confirmed that the Metropolitan police have passed their findings on John Terry’s alleged racist slur against Anton Ferdinand on to the Crown Prosectors Service (CPS), who will determine if the Chelsea man has a case to answer.
In an ongoing and protracted saga, the England international was accused of racially abusing QPR centre half Ferdinand in The Blues’ 1-0 deeat at Loftus Road on October 23rd, with clips of the potentially derogatory comments broadcasted in the world media.
After an FA investigation the police were brought in to collect evidence, and they have now left the decision making process in the hands of the CPS, which is common practice in case like this.
The CPS have acknowledged that they have a decision to make, but have given no inclination on how long this may take.
“We can confirm that we have a file on John Terry and it is under consideration. We can’t give a date or time when this decision will be made,” an official CPS statement reads.
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We all remember the classic film, where the dream team of Pele and Bobby Moore, team up with Rambo, Michael Caine and Ipswich Town’s John Wark to outwit the Gestapo and escape their prisoner of war camp through the power of beautiful game. Few people know however, that the plot of this football classic is in fact based, on a true story. This is the story of F.C Start and ‘The Death Match’.
Football, in the 1930’s had become extremely popular in Eastern Europe, and one of the more successful teams in Ukraine were Dynamo Kiev . After the German invasion in 1941 however, the national league was cut short, and the players, who joined the army, were captured and sent to prisoner of war camps. In the Spring of 1942, the former Dynamo goalkeeper, Mykola Trusevych was released, and with the support of his boss at Bakery Number 3, set out to find his old team members. Trusevych found eight former Dynamo players, and, accompanied by three from rivals Lokomotiv Kiev began playing local military teams under the name F.C Start.
Following several convincing victories over Hungarian, Romanian and German teams, including a Luftwaffe team known as Flakelf, F.C Start were noticed by the leaders of their German occupiers. It was seen that the team had become a beacon of hope for the population of the city and it was decided that a rematch would be played between Start and Flakelf and this would be used as a propaganda tool for the Germans, therefore a much stronger team would be put out by the Luftwaffe.
The match was held in the Zenit Stadium in Kiev and was refereed by an SS officer. The exact size of the crowd was unknown but it is said that the heavy police presence did not deter the people of Kiev coming out to support their team against the occupiers. Before the match the referee entered the Start dressing room and instructed the players to perform the Nazi salute before the match. The Start players, unlike the England team upon their visit to Berlin in 1937, refused, and instead gave their own slogan, which roughly translates as an appraisal of physical strength.
The Start players were certainly aware before the game that it was in their interest to lose the match. Despite this, by half time F.C Start had come from a goal down to lead 3-1, and the referee returned to ask the players “to think of the consequences” of winning the match. However by the end of the game Start led 5-3, and as the crowd went wild, one of the Start players, it is said, dribbled his way through the opposition defense, rounded the German keeper, and rather than slotting the ball home, turned and kicked the ball straight back towards the center circle. The referee did not even allow the match to reach 90 minutes, out of fear of further embarrassment for the Luftwaffe side.
There are numerous myths that surround the events that took place after the game, but it is thought that the team was broken up shortly after and the players were sent to various work camps, such was the regime.
The heroism of these eleven men was seen as a beacon of hope to the people of Kiev throughout the Nazi occupation, and their courage and bravery is commemorated today. In 1981 the Zenit Stadium, still home of Dynamo Kiev was renamed Start Stadium, and a monument was placed, with the inscription:
“For our beautiful presence
They fell in a fight…
For ages your glory won’t fade,
The fearless hero-athletes.”
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The playing record of F.C Start reads, played 9, won 9, scored 58 and conceded 10.
Article courtesy of Matthew Hines from This is Futbol