[Archived] Other Pl Happenings 2009/10

[Hughesy]

Torres wont end his career at Liverpool. Id be very suprised if he did.

Barca/ Madrid or one of the Milans are probably his next destination.

Dont forget Gerrard very nearly went to Chelsea....

[Steve Moss]

Torres and his family are Atletico Madrid fans. Its were he started his career. It would be nice if he returned there, after spending a decade in the EPL making his fortune.

[Exiled_Rover]

Yeah cos he was paid peanuts at Athletico Madrid....

[T4E]

Torres wont end his career at Liverpool. Id be very suprised if he did.

Barca/ Madrid or one of the Milans are probably his next destination.

Dont forget Gerrard very nearly went to Chelsea....

I'd be amazed if Torres ever went to Madrid or Barca.

Of all the 'superstars' in the PL (Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Torres, Terry, Fabregas etc) Torres is the one I can least see leaving his current location.

[joey_big_nose]

I'd be amazed if Torres ever went to Madrid or Barca.

Of all the 'superstars' in the PL (Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Torres, Terry, Fabregas etc) Torres is the one I can least see leaving his current location.

Why? I guess it largely depends how Liverpool perform. But he is arguably the best striker in the world, so someone is going to dangle an enormous opportunity and a huge amount of cash in front of him sometime.

If Liverpool found a decent partner for him they could win the league.

[thenodrog]

The difference is that Torres is in splended form and thus will be in demand/wanted by pretty much all the top clubs. Given his form he's able to command a move to just about wherever he wants to go.

Owen on the other hand was nearly washed up, had just been relegated, had big questions surrounding his fitness, and the opportunity for premiership football wasn't all that certain - definately not at a top or even big club. I'm pretty sure manure were the only top team to throw him a lifeline. In this respect he had to take it.

Whatabout Sol Campbell going from Spurs to Arsenal.

[neekoy]

If Liverpool found a decent partner for him they could win the league.

There are plenty out there, Benitez is just to useless to identify them. Two seasons in a row they have had a chance to sign Villa and nothing. Useless.

Don't forget Torres was an avid Liverpool supporter as a boy

Man City should just bid 70 million pounds to test Benitez resolve. The only way Torres will stay at Liverpool is if Benitez is there, if Liverpool don;t win the league soon he will be gone with most of the "spanish" players.

[Exiled_Rover]

I'd be amazed if Torres ever went to Madrid or Barca.

Of all the 'superstars' in the PL (Gerrard, Rooney, Lampard, Torres, Terry, Fabregas etc) Torres is the one I can least see leaving his current location.

Don't be silly. Gerrard, Lampard and Terry are almost certainly never leaving their current clubs. Rooney might go abroad at some point, but it's unlikely. Fabregas is almost certainly going to bugger off back to Spain in the future. Torres will too at some point.

[Hughesy]

Its been the case with Liverpool for some time. If they could keep their current side (+ Aquilini still to return) and add a player like Villa then they could actually be good enough to win the league.

Problem for them, is that they wont keep it all together - like Alonso this summer.

LETS KEEP IT TO 4 WINNERS ANYWAY!!

[T4E]

Don't be silly. Gerrard, Lampard and Terry are almost certainly never leaving their current clubs. Rooney might go abroad at some point, but it's unlikely. Fabregas is almost certainly going to bugger off back to Spain in the future. Torres will too at some point.

I wasn't being silly. Where exactly would Torres go? Liverpool wouldnt sell to another Prem team, Serie A is out and I really could not see him going to the only two teams in Spain that could afford him.

Granted, he's a lot younger than some of those mentioned - but the point I was making was that I can't see any viable destination for him.

[mickbrown]

I wasn't being silly. Where exactly would Torres go? Liverpool wouldnt sell to another Prem team, Serie A is out and I really could not see him going to the only two teams in Spain that could afford him.

Granted, he's a lot younger than some of those mentioned - but the point I was making was that I can't see any viable destination for him.

Liverpool were prepared to sell Gerrard to Chelsea, why not Torres ?

[philipl]

Irrespective of Saudi princes getting the royal tour of Anfield, the reality is that Gillett/Hicks would find £80m just as handy for buying a bit of relief from pressure from their lenders as the Glazers did this summer.

Chuck in Benitez undoubtedly being frustrated by the £20m net covenant on transfers and wages combined for the next five years and at the moment it is a question of when, not if, Torres gets flogged off.

Right now, Chelsea and City have the readies and frustrated ownerships who have yet to land a marquee signing so he will go to one of those two clubs (remember Fergie's "wouldn't give them a virus" comment about Real Madrid?- well Liverpool objections to selling within the Prem are about as real). Give it two years when the new Italian TV deal has kicked in and Juve, Inter and AC will all be candidates.

There is evidence that Real Madrid are at their borrowing limits for now but their earning power is such that it will be only a temporary blip to their acquisition spree unlike Man U and Liverpool who are totally hamstrung by their American owners.

I don't know if even Barca could compete in the company of those six.

[T4E]

Liverpool were prepared to sell Gerrard to Chelsea, why not Torres ?

I think more to the point on that was that Gerrard wanted to go there. Once he changed his mind I recall Liverpool being over the moon.

The same thing would in my opinion only apply to Torres if he was returning to Spain, and like I said the two viable destinations there seem unlikely.

Irrespective of Saudi princes getting the royal tour of Anfield, the reality is that Gillett/Hicks would find £80m just as handy for buying a bit of relief from pressure from their lenders as the Glazers did this summer.

Chuck in Benitez undoubtedly being frustrated by the £20m net covenant on transfers and wages combined for the next five years and at the moment it is a question of when, not if, Torres gets flogged off.

Right now, Chelsea and City have the readies and frustrated ownerships who have yet to land a marquee signing so he will go to one of those two clubs (remember Fergie's "wouldn't give them a virus" comment about Real Madrid?- well Liverpool objections to selling within the Prem are about as real). Give it two years when the new Italian TV deal has kicked in and Juve, Inter and AC will all be candidates.

There is evidence that Real Madrid are at their borrowing limits for now but their earning power is such that it will be only a temporary blip to their acquisition spree unlike Man U and Liverpool who are totally hamstrung by their American owners.

I don't know if even Barca could compete in the company of those six.

If I wasn't convinced before, I am now.

[philipl]

Glad you agree.

[neekoy]

Glad you agree.

Question fo ryou Phillip, maybe you can explain it Arsenal close to buyout

With Mr K increasing his stake at the rate of what they said 80 shares at 8,500 pounds each, does this mean that the value of Arsenal football club should be around 4,197,530.80 pounds right?

[modes98]

According to The Sun, Pompey players haven't had their wages paid this month.

[philipl]

There are 62,216 £1 shares in issue of Arsenal FC.

Kroenke bought 80 shares which added to his shareholding, not 80 shares to give him nearly 29%.

So at £8,500 a share, you could extrapolate and say Arse are worth £529m.

The reality is Kroenke and Usmanov are both just below the 30% figure which would oblige them to launch a bid to buy all the outstanding shares so shares at present have a warped value as those two billionaires play poker with their holdings and the club.

The news that Pompey have not paid players' wages ties in with McAllister (and Kidd) walking away. Under PFA/FA rules, players become free agents very quickly when wages are not paid. Pompey are obviously right on the edge despite flogging off so many players.

Cannot help but have a wry smile at David James' expense. He behaved unbelievably badly when Spurs went for him and now he faces the prospect of being unpaid and out of contract and unless the FA/UEFA get a special dispensation for Pompey free agent players unable to get another club until next January.

At this rate, you have to wonder whether Pompey are not just looking at administration but complete liquidation.

[Hughesy]

Pompey should be very worried -Played 7, Lost 7

They need to pick something up in their next 4 games - Wolves (A), Spurs (H), Hull (A), Wigan (H)

Now the players havent been paid. I wonder when exactly Storrie is to walk away from it all too!

[philipl]

Numbers are dribbling out of Pompey.

First there was going to be £50m for January squad strengthening (after howls that there was nothing). Then £50m was in fact needed to sort out debts.

Now players have not been paid (fact) and the Sun says there is a £2m gap.

Even after getting rid of so many players, the wage bill is probably still about £50m a year so that suggests Pompey only have half the cash needed to meet September's wages. The frightening thing is that September is usually when clubs are OK for cash as they have just taken in the money from season ticket sales.

For Pompey not to have paid September's wages, the outlook must be extremely grim indeed. I don't think the PL needs to wait for the new rules about clubs meeting debts when they fall due- I guess Pompey's membership agreement with the PL has probably already been compromised by this non-payment of wages. The numbers for a Prem club not paying wages are so huge that I doubt even the PFA has the resources to lend the cash to tide over the wages payment which is what they have done a number of times lower down the league structure.

At the very least expect a transfer and contracts ban to hit Pompey just like the one at Accy Stanley.

[modes98]

Just has an e-mail from a quite angry Pompey fan I know. He says:

Only 4 players had their (wage) transfers delayed - Ashdown, Basinas, Hughes, and Utaka. None of them deserves to be paid anyway.....

There is a fair bit about the new owner that I can't even put up on here but needless to say he is not a happy bunny. Pompey fan of about 40 years.

[joey_big_nose]

Cannot help but have a wry smile at David James' expense. He behaved unbelievably badly when Spurs went for him and now he faces the prospect of being unpaid and out of contract and unless the FA/UEFA get a special dispensation for Pompey free agent players unable to get another club until next January.

As the financial problems are not the player's concern I am sure they will get dispensation to find clubs if Pompey did go bankrupt. That said who would anyone want off them beside James?

[LeChuck]

As the financial problems are not the player's concern I am sure they will get dispensation to find clubs if Pompey did go bankrupt. That said who would anyone want off them beside James?

It certainly is slim pickings from that squad, although I expect Kaboul, Belhadj, Bouba Diop and Ben Haim would find decent Premier League clubs. Boateng has apparently started pretty well there too and had a good reputation back in Germany.

Belhadj would fit in nicely here actually, he's a good player. He can play left back or left wing and is very fast, good dribbler as well. Along with Boateng, he's the only one worth looking at from our point of view.

[den]

Storrie - "No money left" at Pompey

[Hughesy]

Administration -10 points looming.

They are going down, no doubt about it.

[philipl]

The PL penalty is 9 points for some obscure reason.

However, a brighter picture is being painted here.