Football (Soccer) Thread

[FunkMonk]

I woke up at 4am to watch the Man Utd-Sunderland game today. I dozed during a lot of it. Kept having dreams it was over and Sunderland had lost.
I was wide awake for Sunderland's equaliser and just knew it wouldn't last...and it didn't.
It went to penalties and I thought it was story of my life; teams I supprot never win on penalties.
Both teams turned out to be utterly crap at the penalties and our keeper, no doubt more warmed up than Mna Utds, was the difference that put us through.
So....Sunderland in the final
Now I just have to hope any teams playing Man City next month kick them to bits and Sunderland's form keeps up.

[celedhring]

I don't think my Geordie friends could deal with Sunderland winning a cup.

[Josquius]

I don't think my Geordie friends could deal with Sunderland winning a cup.

I'm a Geordie and I'm very fine with it. :p

[The Larch]

Barcelona's president has just resigned because of irregularities in Neymar's signing. I didn't think I'd ever see a Spanish football club president resigning if it's not to enter jail directly.

[Liep]

The official song for WC '14 is produced and written by a Dane, so I guess we're sort of participating.

[FunkMonk]

Barcelona's president has just resigned because of irregularities in Neymar's signing. I didn't think I'd ever see a Spanish football club president resigning if it's not to enter jail directly.

What sort of irregularities? I'm not plugged into Spanish football so I'm wondering what the hell is going on. 

[The Larch]

Barcelona's president has just resigned because of irregularities in Neymar's signing. I didn't think I'd ever see a Spanish football club president resigning if it's not to enter jail directly.

What sort of irregularities? I'm not plugged into Spanish football so I'm wondering what the hell is going on. 

Not disclosing the full transfer fee paid for him. According to the club initially the transfer was for 30 something million €, afterwards they said that it was 50 something millions and AFAIK they're now putting it in the 70 something millions ballpark. Plenty of palms were greased in that deal, and now the case is formally under investigation by courts.

[The Larch]

I mean, the surprising thing is that Spanish clubs routinely misquote the transfer fees they give and receive, and their accounting is roughly on par to that of Hollywood studios in sneakiness, so the surprise is that this particular deal is receiving so much scrutiny.

[Sheilbh]

Any theories why it's receiving so much scrutiny?

[The Larch]

Any theories why it's receiving so much scrutiny?

A Barcelona club member took it to court so that the real price tag would come to light, as he has asked in the assembly and never received a satisfactory answer. AFAIK regular courts had never been involved in this kind of thing.

[FunkMonk]

Ah interesting. Thanks Larch.

Do you think this investigation could lead to a change in the way transfer deals are done in Spain, ie make them more honest and transparent?

[The Larch]

Maybe it won't become so blatant, but this rot in buried deep into Spanish footie at the club level. They're legal black holes.

[The Larch]

For instance, Bale's transfer fee is also widely in doubt. Real Madrid put it at 93 million €, IIRC, but Tottenham said that they received 103 millions. AFAIK Real Madrid didn't want to remove Cristiano Ronaldo's "Most expensive transfer ever" title, so they've always said that they paid less for Bale than what they paid for CR. Then you read what Tottenham says to have received and you see that their stories don't match.

It's also very funny when strange lopsided deals are announced for a certain price tag and, when the other team is required by law to disclose the fee because of being a publicly traded company (has happened with Benfica and Porto in the past, with investment companies partially owning the rights of footballers) and the amounts never ever match. I'd certainly welcome a worldwide ban on investment funds owning the rights of football players, as the Premier League did, but in some places like Portugal and South America they're very entrenched.

[celedhring]

Any theories why it's receiving so much scrutiny?

A Barcelona club member took it to court so that the real price tag would come to light, as he has asked in the assembly and never received a satisfactory answer. AFAIK regular courts had never been involved in this kind of thing.

Well, the thing is that he's accused Barça's president of greasing its own palm, which would land him in jail. I mean, I'm sure that it happens veeery often in Spanish footie, but it's not just misquoting transfer details.

[FunkMonk]

After a two-day course, I am now a United States Soccer Federation-certified Grade 8 referee. I look forward to dealing with annoying parents living vicariously through their unruly children and coaches who think they are Alex Ferguson.