UEFA Champions League

[R.C]

my oh my...

 

did you guys watch the survival matches? it was really really exciting... best i've watched so in years... 4 clubs fighting for a place to stay up and congrats to

 

WBA

 

:cheer:

 

the scenes at their stadium was just fanstastic...

 

all our guesses were wrong... the club that is written off by most is staying up.... CP almost made it... but really unlucky... southampton too... but they were quite unlucky too...

 

now man u, fulham and charlton have made new enemies... it must have been tough for them i guess...

[Pauche]

FA CUP Final will be interesting.... both clubs trying to salvage something back for the season.

[R.C]

yupe... salvage is the word boy... well... one of them will get it...

[BlackDawn]

to be a bit but this seems to be the only active football thread in ChatterBox....

 

OMG... Man Yoo has been taken over by Glazer???? Doesn't sound like a good development for the Red Devils.....

 

will the fans continue to support the club despite the change in management???

[archenemy]

its more of a change in ownership..

 

whether the management changes remains to be seen...

[BikeLover]

I like Gibson's way of supporting Boro.

 

He just paid 6.5 mil for Yak. Amazing amt of money!!!

Too bad he cannot find an Alex or Arsene, otherwise, Boro will be very strong.

[R.C]

Originally posted by kiamh@May 16 2005, 10:01 PM

to be a bit but this seems to be the only active football thread in ChatterBox....

 

OMG... Man Yoo has been taken over by Glazer???? Doesn't sound like a good development for the Red Devils.....

 

will the fans continue to support the club despite the change in management???

Glazer reaches 75 per cent threshold

 

 

Malcolm Glazer has gone through the crucial 75 per cent barrier which will allow the American to take Manchester United off the Stock Exchange.

 

Man United fans protest against Malcolm Glazer's takeover bid. (NealSimpson/Empics)

 

Sources close to the Glazer camp have confirmed the American tycoon has increased his stake from the 74.81 per cent he held on Friday evening, although precise confirmation of his exact shareholding will not be made until later this afternoon after the stock market has closed.

 

 

Leading brokers Teather and Greenwood are continuing to purchase stock on behalf of the Tampa Bay Buccaneeers owner and the race is on to reach the 90 per cent mark that would force a compulsory purchase of the remaining shares.

 

The American business tycoon has already pledged to delist United `not less than 20 days' after he reached the 75 per cent mark.

 

Glazer is expected to outline his plans in an official offer document to be released on Wednesday.

 

United fans, who have campaigned so vigorously against Glazer over the past few months, have been fighting a losing battle since Thursday, when it was confirmed Glazer had snared the 28.9 per cent stake of Irish racing duo John Magnier and JP McManus.

 

So far, the American has failed to make any public statement over his business plan, which Red Devils chief executive David Gill has consistently described as `aggressive'.

 

Gill could yet find himself in the extraordinary position of delivering Glazer's aims following Friday's statement by his son Joel that the `intention is to work with the current management, players and fans to ensure Manchester United continues to develop and achieve even greater success'.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson's position is also not thought to be under threat, a move the Glazer camp hopes will appease the less militant members of United's support.

 

It has been claimed Glazer will need to treble current profits just to service interest payments on the £540million borrowings he has needed to take on to complete his £790million purchase.

 

The figures have caused consternation among some Red Devils fans, although others believe Glazer should be allowed to put his plans into action.

 

For Shareholders United and the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, time is not something they are prepared to offer Glazer.

 

It has already been confirmed that a meeting of some fans' groups will be held in Manchester tomorrow to take the first steps towards establishing a breakaway club, while IMUSA have outlined the initial plans for what they hope will be a mass demonstration at this weekend's FA Cup final.

 

'We are calling on all supporters to wear black in Cardiff on Saturday,' said IMUSA spokesman Mark Longden. 'If they can get hold of black flags, they should wave them because it represents what is happening to the club.

 

'In addition, people should decline to renew their season tickets and memberships and cancel subscriptions to MUTV.

 

'We would also urge them to boycott the products of sponsors such as Vodafone, Nike, Budweiser and Audi and explain to those companies why.'

[R.C]

Originally posted by BikeLover@May 17 2005, 12:32 AM

I like Gibson's way of supporting Boro.

 

He just paid 6.5 mil for Yak. Amazing amt of money!!!

Too bad he cannot find an Alex or Arsene, otherwise, Boro will be very strong.

yeah... thats alot of money for a yakubu... but middlesbrough will need to strengthen their team to have any chance of advancing in the UEFA cup...

[R.C]

Achilles equals Cardiff KO for Henry

 

 

Thierry Henry has been ruled out of Arsenal's plans for Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester United.

The France striker was left out of the Gunners side for yesterday's match at Birmingham, and Arsenal have confirmed that he will not be involved at the Millennium Stadium.

 

 

Henry, who scored 30 goals this season, returned to action after a groin injury in last Wednesday's 7-0 win over Everton but suffered a recurrence of an old Achilles injury in the game.

 

That has been diagnosed as sufficiently serious for manager Arsene Wenger to declare him unfit for the match which for both United and Arsenal represents a last chance to finish the season with silverware.

 

good news for Man yoo...

[floppy]

Originally posted by R.C@May 17 2005, 01:28 AM

yeah... thats alot of money for a yakubu... but middlesbrough will need to strengthen their team to have any chance of advancing in the UEFA cup...

how many strikers do they need?

 

mark viduka, jimmy floyd hasselbaink, massimo maccarone, malcolm christie and joseph-desire job, szilard nemeth... now yakubu!

 

think they collecting strikers.

[BikeLover]

Originally posted by floppy@May 17 2005, 03:10 PM

how many strikers do they need?

 

mark viduka, jimmy floyd hasselbaink, massimo maccarone, malcolm christie and joseph-desire job, szilard nemeth... now yakubu!

 

think they collecting strikers.

Cos some are leaving, some are on long term injuries and some are total-off-form, people like Viduka, Maccarone, Christie, Job and Nemith.

 

But I hope that Yak will not be another Ricketts!!! That fellow (Mike) is a half-season wonder and very much like Heskey. Expensive.

[BikeLover]

Originally posted by R.C@May 17 2005, 12:55 PM

Achilles equals Cardiff KO for Henry

Actually I am not that much looking forward to the FA Cup Final. Nowadays the pre-games preparation looks more like hatred than mind-games. This Keane and Vieira will be better off arranging for a private duel outside, although I felt Keano is more like a hooligan than Vieira. Actually I believed his malicious attack on the poor Man City player, cos that is Keane's character!!!

[BlackDawn]

Originally posted by floppy@May 17 2005, 03:10 PM

how many strikers do they need?

 

mark viduka, jimmy floyd hasselbaink, massimo maccarone, malcolm christie and joseph-desire job, szilard nemeth... now yakubu!

 

think they collecting strikers.

tot maccaronne left liao??? this season never see him at all... or was it a loan stint??

[BikeLover]

Originally posted by kiamh@May 17 2005, 08:07 PM

tot maccaronne left liao??? this season never see him at all... or was it a loan stint??

Actually a loan with an Italian club, with a transfer to be completed soon.... I think. His standard is not good enoug hfor EPL.

[archenemy]

very interested to see what Glazer does to man utd..

 

no offence...but a few years back..man utd were winning everything & their fans are so arrogant!

 

every team has their fair share of dominance of the game..no need to be so arrogant right?

 

now im laughing at them...more so if glazer doesnt do a good job...

[floppy]

Originally posted by archenemy@May 18 2005, 04:00 AM

very interested to see what Glazer does to man utd..

 

no offence...but a few years back..man utd were winning everything & their fans are so arrogant!

 

every team has their fair share of dominance of the game..no need to be so arrogant right?

 

now im laughing at them...more so if glazer doesnt do a good job...

glazer is an investor, hence he will demand a return on his investment (and considering the amount of debt/loan/borrowings involved).

 

in the short run, probably he will continue as per normal, ie status quo (of which gills and fergie is key).

 

in the long run, be prepared to see higher prices in tickets (none of our problem), demand for a bigger pie of the tv money (less manure on tv, meaning more of others, ie good for the rest of us), increase merchandise prices (doesn't matter for those wearing made-in-thailand/china jerseys)... and more importantly, there will be some asset stripping (byebye ronaldo/rooney). and like all good investors, if things don't go too well, glazer will cut his lost and bail out (and since he is likely to transfer his debt over to manure after taking over, i'm wondering if manure will do a leeds utd if they failed to maintain their success for a couple of years).

 

every team has their fair share of dominance. no one can be expected to be king of the hill forever.

1960s: manure

1970s: pool

1980s: pool/everton

1990s: manure

2000s: ??? (but increasingly likely to be arse/chel$ki)

but with glazer in the picture, will be interesting how manure will fare.

[R.C]

then why does glazer wanna do all these? don't he know that it'll be detrimental to Manu's success? i mean he probably knows that everyone is unhappy with him and will probably be boycotting their matches and merchandise... and if he's going to raise the ticket prices and stuff, then who will buy them? i mean what is he really in for? the money or just for fun or he really thinks that it's a money churning investment? what will happen to the world richest club man...

[floppy]

Originally posted by R.C@May 18 2005, 12:46 PM

then why does glazer wanna do all these? don't he know that it'll be detrimental to Manu's success? i mean he probably knows that everyone is unhappy with him and will probably be boycotting their matches and merchandise... and if he's going to raise the ticket prices and stuff, then who will buy them? i mean what is he really in for? the money or just for fun or he really thinks that it's a money churning investment? what will happen to the world richest club man...

it is precisely becos he knows...

he knows raising a few pennies would probably piss some people off but the vast majority of the world's best supported club would continue to do what they do best... continue to foolishly support their club. i doubt anyoen would believe that glazer would do a roman and offer personal $ to buy players.

 

in a way, u can draw a parallel to our transport company rising a few cents here and there. while we dun burn effigies, we complain make a bit of noise, then what we do? go back to our normal routine again.

[R.C]

haha... so i guess he knows what he's doing lah... haha.. he looks like an idiot on TV man... wonder how he got all his fortunes...

[R.C]

Sporting 1-3 CSKA Moscow: FT Report

pa

 

LISBON, May 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian samba and Russian steel combined to clinch an historic UEFA Cup final victory for CSKA Moscow on Wednesday as they stunned Portugal's Sporting 3-1.

 

CSKA's Chidi Odiah strides forward with Pedro Barbosa in close attendance. (MatthewAshton/Empics)

 

Playing in their own Jose Alvalade Stadium, Sporting seemed set to spark a Portuguese party when Rogerio's superb 29th-minute strike from just outside the box gave them the lead.

 

 

But the army side stormed back in 19 second-half minutes with three goals, all created by Brazilian playmaker Daniel Carvalho, to become the first club representing Russia to win a European club final.

 

Alexei Berezutsky, one of twin defenders in CSKA's side, headed CSKA level on 56 minutes and nine minutes later Carvalho carved open Sporting's defence for Yuri Zhirkov to run in and fire under Ricardo.

 

Brazilian striker Vagner Love sealed their revival 15 minutes from time, finishing off Carvalho's pass after a swift counter-attack to send 2,000 CSKA fans into a frenzy on a balmy evening in the Portuguese capital.

 

'They are heroes. They did the impossible,' CSKA coach Valery Gazzayev told Russian television.

 

'From our first match in the UEFA Cup we had this goal -- to win the Cup -- and we achieved what we set out to do.

 

'The players totally deserved this victory because they've played well throughout the entire competition.'

 

Gazzayev's side started their European campaign in the second qualifying round of the Champions League and have played a record-equalling 19 European games this season.

 

Their victory also ensured Sporting became only the third club to lose a single match European final in their own ground, following on from Juventus (1965 Fairs Cup) and AS Roma (1984 European Cup).

 

 

sweet....

[Pauche]

got 2 goals damm power long range shot!

[R.C]

Originally posted by Pauche@May 19 2005, 02:06 PM

got 2 goals damm power long range shot!

really? didn't catch the match and haven't seen the goals yet....

[BikeLover]

Not really interested in that match, cos the chances of rigging is very high. CSKA nowadays very rich with Russian money. Look at another moscow club, they managed to buy 2 expensive players from Porto!!!!

[BikeLover]

Fergie is getting paranoid!!! Who can blame him? His first-choice full-backs are out, but who knows....

 

Fergie planning for Henry

[R.C]

Originally posted by BikeLover@May 19 2005, 11:11 PM

Fergie is getting paranoid!!! Who can blame him? His first-choice full-backs are out, but who knows....

 

Fergie planning for Henry

he's getting old lah... haha... and he was blamed for the glazer affair... so poor thing...