Yeah, they entered administration for the 2nd time this year. The 10-pt deduction is what relegated them.

[Edited on May 14, 2012 at 4:34 PM. Reason : Page 64]

5/14/2012 4:33:23 PM

was it strange to anybody else how all the City players (and Mancini) were draped in their respective country's flags during the trophy presentation?

5/14/2012 4:36:39 PM

The Geoff Shreeves interview from a few weeks ago where he breaks it to Ivanovic that he is going to be suspended for the UCL final was gold

Didn't watch the celebration so I can't comment on the weirdness factor, but that does seem a little strange considering it's a club win. Honestly couldn't care less about them winning, anyone who isn't a City fan (and most who are) knows it was a bought title. Like Barry Glendenning said today, "World's richest club wins championship" isn't surprising news.

5/14/2012 9:42:57 PM

lol what prem title hasn't been a "bought title"

that's all European soccer is now

5/14/2012 9:45:24 PM

Reminder that Galaxy Cinema is showing the UEFA CL final on the big screen. It's free and they serve beer. Come.

http://www.facebook.com/events/450062248343008/

5/14/2012 10:19:44 PM

I see what you are saying, but a $1B+ squad is absurd.

Also, peace out McLeish and Heskey

5/14/2012 10:21:55 PM

So are you mad that they spent enough to overcome the talent gap in around 4 years or that Man U didn't spend enough to buy the right players to win?

5/14/2012 10:29:48 PM

What exactly does it mean for a team to go into "administration?" Does it essentially mean the owners can't pay their bills? Similar to McCourt/Dodgers last year?

5/15/2012 2:00:24 AM

It means they bring in a bunch of lawyers to assess the value of everything and gut the club in the same way that happens when companies go bankrupt.

5/15/2012 5:15:39 AM

^^^ I'm not mad about anything, it is what it is.

5/15/2012 6:55:41 AM

If you believe the London rags City is trying to lure RVP with a near £280,000 a week wage. Arsenal would abandon their wage structure and offer £150,000 but who is going to math City? No one can..

Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

5/15/2012 7:41:16 AM

City looks to be in the market for a ton of players but they're also probably getting rid of quite of a few too: De Jong, Balotelli, Tevez, Adebayor, Kolo Toure, and Adam Johnson. Aren't they still paying salaries to Wayne Bridge and Santa Cruz too?


But I love Fergie's bitching and moaning. What City's doing isn't the best thing in the world but I love every second of it because of what it's doing to United. In 5 years, when City is dominating everything and Fergie is gone, maybe I'll feel different but I'm loving it right now.

City: We're after RVP, Hazard, and Cavani
United: We just re-signed Scholes to a one year deal.

5/15/2012 9:17:21 AM

This is only the 1,765,567,087th time Fergie has been written off. United will be there and thereabouts year in year out. Any soccer fan knows that.

5/15/2012 1:57:31 PM

I would think they'd keep Tevez after he recommitted himself to the team. Dzeko probably going, though.

5/15/2012 2:01:38 PM

I'm not writing Fergie off. United's easily back for a fight - they're not losing anybody big, they'll will probably add least one solid player, and Vidic will be back.

It's just funny watching Fergie complain about buying titles and comparing histories when everybody saw them shit the bed in the last month, play like a bunch of pussies in the derby and practically hand City the title.

5/15/2012 2:23:36 PM

What was United's payroll in comparison to other EPL teams in the 90s and 2000's?

5/15/2012 2:37:04 PM

near the top, of course. In every sport, in every country, in every league, it's the top spenders that win the most.

Ferguson is just mad he can't spend more than other teams now because his owners are fucks.

5/15/2012 3:27:14 PM

http://youtu.be/3WKSkqAEruU

lolol can i get an embed on thissss

5/15/2012 4:18:14 PM

Well said aimorris, its the top spenders that win most, but not all top spenders win. Case in point: LIverpool

# Nett Spend 92 - 2011 Purchased Gross Sold Nett Per Season

1 Chelsea £744,440,000 £228,475,000 £515,965,000 £25,798,250
2 Manchester City £649,180,000 £175,553,000 £473,627,000 £23,681,350
3 Liverpool £552,205,000 £325,970,000 £226,235,000 £11,311,750
4 Manchester United £483,150,000 £305,840,000 £177,310,000 £8,865,500
5 Tottenham £412,050,000 £243,217,500 £168,832,500 £8,441,625
6 Aston Villa £305,190,000 £177,075,000 £128,115,000 £6,405,750
7 Sunderland £230,015,000 £126,030,000 £103,985,000 £5,199,250
8 Newcastle £345,345,000 £245,525,000 £99,820,000 £4,991,000
9 Fulham £149,781,000 £58,095,000 £91,686,000 £4,584,300
10 Wolves £97,619,000 £40,595,000 £57,024,000 £2,851,200
11 Stoke City £79,615,000 £26,130,000 £53,485,000 £2,674,250
12 Everton £218,245,500 £165,270,000 £52,975,500 £2,648,775
13 West Bromwich Albion £105,280,000 £66,167,501 £39,112,499 £1,955,625
14 Queens Park Rangers £51,547,500 £22,404,000 £29,143,500 £1,457,175
15 Arsenal £341,090,000 £319,474,000 £21,616,000 £1,080,800
16 Bolton £95,970,000 £79,670,000 £16,300,000 £815,000
17 Wigan £90,965,000 £81,942,500 £9,022,500 £451,125
18 Swansea City £14,002,500 £6,860,000 £7,142,500 £357,125
19 Blackburn Rovers £195,462,000 £199,185,000 -£3,723,000 -£186,150
20 Norwich City £31,770,000 £47,395,000 -£15,625,000 -£781,250

Birmingham City £135,545,000 £76,575,000 £58,970,000 £2,948,500
Blackpool £7,752,500 £12,985,000 -£5,232,500 -£261,625
West Ham £195,982,000 £190,782,000 £5,200,000 £260,000
Middlesbrough £193,985,000 £122,120,000 £71,865,000 £3,593,250
Hull £28,320,000 £11,980,000 £16,340,000 £817,000
Burnley £23,250,000 £21,170,000 £2,080,000 £104,000
Leeds United £147,280,000 £143,945,000 £3,335,000 £166,750
Portsmouth £116,600,000 £139,645,000 -£23,045,000 -£1,152,250

[Edited on May 15, 2012 at 5:26 PM. Reason : http://www.transferleague.co.uk/]

5/15/2012 5:25:58 PM

Yeah, not the league. They've still won Europe, FA Cups, League Cups, been to some finals, and generally finished higher than most.

This was never a Liverpool vs. United issue anyways. I think it's funny any of the "big" clubs want to accuse another of buying a title when it's pretty much a necessity to spend more than average.

5/15/2012 5:43:09 PM

Kenny out

it's for the best, I'd hate to see another season of struggle and fans turn on a legend.

5/16/2012 11:29:04 AM

^

5/16/2012 3:42:41 PM

Who would you like to see replace him?

5/16/2012 4:15:58 PM

5/16/2012 4:17:32 PM

um, I'm not too crazy about most of the names I've seen mentioned - Rafa, Martinez, Lambert.

Frank Rijkaard would be interesting. Don't know if he's ever shown an interest in coaching in England though.

Any Liverpool fan seriously suggesting Pep or Mourinho is just embarrassing themselves.

5/16/2012 4:18:18 PM

What about Villas-Boas? What if 'arry was available?

5/16/2012 4:30:41 PM

No and no

5/16/2012 5:00:40 PM

bob bradley

5/16/2012 6:55:11 PM

hell yes

5/16/2012 8:33:35 PM

I've changed my mind, I want AVB.

Actually, I wouldn't mind Martinez either.

5/17/2012 9:26:53 AM

West Ham probably will be back in the bigtime tomorrow but, while I still like them, I think I'm all in with Arsenal... Which actually fits right in with being a Mets fan since they are a big club who are about to lose their best player (again), have a terrible season next year and haven't won anything in ages. Sounds about right.

5/18/2012 7:49:45 AM

Dalglish apparently refused a severance package (believed to be around 8 mil) and told the club to put it towards transfers. He's the fucking man.


^ Nothing wrong with having a couple of teams, unless those teams are Arsenal and Manchester City. I'm intrigued by Southampton next year and I'm thinking about adopting them as my "second team" just because both sides of the table are more fun if you've got a team to cheer for. And Liverpool's stuck in the middle at the moment.

5/18/2012 8:09:24 AM

well im a west ham fan. i plan on cheering for um again next year in the EPL, but you wont see me cheering for Arsenal.

why not just have 1 team and pick a bunch of teams to hate instead. like i dont get wigan, they manage to suck most years and still do well in the final few months to creep out. screw um.

5/18/2012 9:23:58 AM

well that's what I do now. And when your one team sucks, you're just miserable all the time hating everybody

5/18/2012 9:41:03 AM

im fine with that. i've been a west ham fan for 3 years. pretty sure we were 17th, then relegated, now barely missing the auto-promotion.

there's just a huge bandwagon of arsenal at work so they are easy to hate. least they got to walk some goals in last week.

5/18/2012 12:14:51 PM

Arsenal fans definitely talk the most disproportionate amount of shit compared to what they actually do.

5/18/2012 6:06:28 PM

They think they are the Harvard of soccer clubs...

5/18/2012 6:10:20 PM

I like to think I don't talk too much smack as an Arsenal fan. I like Wenger and his ideals around how a club should be run, but I'm not snobbish about it.

I listen to Footballistically Arsenal and they brought up a good point about RvP. He just had his best season ever and considering his history of injuries and such, it may be the best of his career past, present, and future. If he goes, well at least Arsenal got a great year out of him this season and will sell him at his peak value. Wenger seems to have turned the corner on spending a little money, with Podolski already signed and M'Villa likely on the way for record money. It would suck to lose him, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

5/18/2012 10:05:14 PM

And Man Utd is like UNC, while their fans never went to college.

5/18/2012 10:13:22 PM

Aww





[Edited on May 18, 2012 at 10:17 PM. Reason : ...]

5/18/2012 10:16:45 PM

No one here is really that bad. Ya'll can be a little annoying sometimes but I don't think anyone is a diehard passionate supporter that's gonna take it too far other than kiljadn. NyM410 is probably the worst of the Arsenal lot on here though and he's not that bad. In other parts of the internet though, holy fuck they are unbearable. Like Barca fans would be if Barca didn't win anything for seven years.

Also thought it would be interesting to bring back the pre-season predictions and see how we all did:

kiljadn - Manchester United - Prediction: 1st
aimorris - Liverpool - Prediction: 3rd
Wolfey - Chelsea - Prediction: 1st
Tarun- Manchester United - Prediction: 1st
mizzo - Liverpool - Prediction: 2nd
hey now- Manchester City- Prediction: 5th
Ribs - Tottenham Hotspur - Prediction: 4th
Opstand - Arsenal - Prediction: 2nd
egyeyes - Manchester United - Prediction: 2nd
d7freestyler - Manchester United - Prediction: 1st
DoucheU - Liverpool - Prediction: 2nd
IMStoned420 - Tottenham - Prediction: 4th
McWinger03 - Aston Villa - Prediction: 16th?
Jabbo - Liverpool - Prediction: 3rd
blanks - Manchester United - Prediction: 1st
Walt Sobchak - Manchester City - Prediction: 1st
heelfan - Arsenal - Prediction: 3rd
elduderino - Everton - Prediction: 7th
Turnip - Newcastle - Prediction: 14th
FriendlyFire - Arsenal - Prediction: 3rd
cali_j2004 - Liverpool - Prediction: 4th
harmemou- QPR - Prediction: 10th
aph319 - Tottenham - Prediction: 5th
Vulcan91 - Arsenal - Prediction: 4th
JeffreyBSG - Liverpool - Prediction: 3rd
NyM410 - Fulham - Prediction: 7th*

Obviously, reading this is hilarious for all us because of the United fans' uniform predictions except for egyeyes. Myself and Ribs seem to have the predictions most based in reality since we're obviously the smartest. Arsenal supporters pretty realistic as well. Wolfey, LOL. Anyone who supports Man City sucks. Well done elduderino and McWinger.

5/18/2012 11:40:18 PM

Blackpool looks good so far, should be up 1-0

5/19/2012 10:24:16 AM

West Ham counter puts them up 1-0

5/19/2012 10:38:19 AM

nothing against WH but Holloway > Fat Sam

5/19/2012 10:39:27 AM

Pulling for blackpool. Enjoyed them in premier league last season.

5/19/2012 10:46:44 AM

Go Blackpool, tho.

5/19/2012 10:53:55 AM

Tied up 2 min into the 2nd half. Go Seasiders

5/19/2012 11:07:54 AM

Is the Chelsea game not on tv today?

5/19/2012 11:26:08 AM

It's on Fox

[Edited on May 19, 2012 at 11:55 AM. Reason : at 2:45]

5/19/2012 11:55:15 AM

That's a little over the top for a "3rd place in the Championship" ceremony.

5/19/2012 12:01:44 PM