Football Focus

[br2975]

Once upon a time there was a club in financial difficulties, we'll call them Cardiff City.

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They were bought by some astute business men, we'll call them the Kumars, who were so astute they had their fingers (or finances) singed by the collapse of the BICC bank (remember that ?)and left Birmingham City, to a multi-millionaire Cardiff City fan called David Sullivan.

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Cardiff City were saved by a local businessman, Steve Borley, who held the fort until out of the mist rode a Lebanese knight in shining armour, we'll call him Sam Hamam - and despite what people said, he was welcomed with open arms - he allegedly paid off the debts, with other peoples cash. He allegedly paid himself a consultancy fee and when deposed - held the club to ransome for in excess of 20 million pounds.

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But rescue was at hand, in the shape of a silver haired businessman whose downfall had been masterminded in the third round of the FA Cup several years earlier when Scott Young dumped Leeds Utd out of the comeptition, and the decline of the club that was then at the top of the Premiership, namely Leeds Utd. set in.

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Yes having failed at Leeds, and then at Oakwell, a saviour known as Peter Ridsdale rode into town.

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Then, with Cardiff City making another concerted push for the premiership (Newcastle and West Brom permitting) it was decided that we could no longer survive with a squad of 15 and playing with 'goalie when' !

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Everyone knew money was tight, and Peter R says 'buy your season tickets for 2010-2011 at existing prices before 31st Deecember, 2009 and we'll use the money to strengthen the squad and hopefully get us into the premiership" and the fans would not be paying through the nose for premiership priced season tickets.

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And lo ! the faithful parted with the chocolate money they found in their Christmas stockings and the club coffers were swelled ..... and average Cardiff fan looked upon the pitch, and felt 'all is well'.

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But no, for allegedly, no one inside the fortress that is the Cardiff City Stadium did'st say that the evil Mr. Inland-Revenue sought the settlement of 2.7million pound in unpaid taxes.

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Oh Dear ! contrite though St. Peter Ridsdale may appear, those nasty 'knuckle dragging trogladites from Aberdare, Ponty and all points north' did rise up and protesteth loudly on being told the money they had parted with would be used to settle the taxman's demand, no players would be bought in the 'January Sales' and even our best players would be sold, should anyone be daft enough to want them..

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The fans did believe, and did uttereth that had St. Peter asked for them to renew their season tickets early in order to save their beloved club, they would have eagerly done so ..... but not to have been so misled as they were.

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Hence today's protest following a match where Cardiff City were impressive in the first 45, then following what must have been a team talk where Dave Jones told them they were all to be hanged at 5.00pm Doncaster Rovers ran riot, only to lose (undeservedly) to an injury time winner by Jay (most of my time is spent on my @rse) Bothroyd.

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And many of you worry about goings on at 'the Theatre of Dreams' .... come down to the lower leagues and sample real life, such as Cardiff "The home of hate".

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Roll on Chelsea away in the cup

 

Brian R

[BoD]

Now that you mention it Oggy, I believe that you are correct. Leicester does ring a bell.

 

Whilst I was looking for the reason I read tha,t for payments to creditors, other football clubs take priority, then the tax people and then finally the small businesses go into the melting pot with any others.

[Diesel Dayz]

To all you Red Dogs out there - was it a long trip back up Brian Clough Way?

[Ohmisterporter]

Now that you mention it Oggy, I believe that you are correct. Leicester does ring a bell.

 

Whilst I was looking for the reason I read tha,t for payments to creditors, other football clubs take priority, then the tax people and then finally the small businesses go into the melting pot with any others.

 

Not sure about the priorities for payouts here. Creditors, including other clubs, come low down the list. From my own experiences I think the outstanding wages to employees came first, followed by HMRC, the administrators took their slice, and creditors got a share of what was left. The latter can well be just a few pence in the pound. IIRC the company pension scheme was frozen on the day the administrators took over. I know that my last employer went into administration and by the time the whole thing had been wound up the administrators fees came to around six hundred thousand pounds. That would have been enough to keep the business solvent. OK I know there is more to it than that, but even so I was not a happy bunny.

 

Geoff.

[65243]

All of you whining about your teams and their performances - try being a Hearts fan! Every week we wait with baited breath to see if we can manage to stop the other team scoring and acjieve a wonderful 0-0!

[PGN]

Once upon a time there was a member of RMweb whose job it was to wind up football clubs who didn't pay their taxes on time ...

[oggy1953]

When Robbie keen left Spurs for Liverpool in August 2008, he claimed it was to a team he supported as a boy. He soon came back, never should have gone in the first place as Rafa Mr Beanitez ruined him. Now he's gone to Celtic on loan and guess what.....its to the team he supported as a boy. Now come on robbie WHO did you support ? or was it a Dream like Dimitar Berbaflop.

[Steve K]

Now come on robbie WHO did you support ?

I think his all-time favourite team was Wolves.

 

Then Coventry.

 

Then Inter Milan, Leeds and Tottenham...

 

I jest, of course - a lot of people (not least in Ireland) express an admiration for more than one team, and I don't think it's unreasonable to support one team in England, and another in Scotland. Even though I'm a Chelsea fan, I used to cheer on Gretna from afar when they were storming through the Scottish leagues and into Europe. Of course, that particular fairytale went a bit wrong, so I'm now a slightly quieter fan of Gretna(2008)!

 

Incidentally, to show that not all fans of the bigger clubs are bitter and twisted, may I just say a big "well done" to Hull for getting their reward for a spirited performance last night. OK, so I wish they hadn't made the championship race quite so exciting, but never mind - most importantly for the game, the Premier League is exciting this year, and results are amazingly hard to predict.

[S.A.C Martin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned John Terry's misdemeanours...good! Fed up of hearing about it.

 

If he's lost the respect of the players, he should resign as captain, end of, frankly.

 

Onto other matters - Hull, well done, Walsall - damn

 

...and of course - Robbie Keane in Scotland?

 

Spurs should have held onto Bent! B)

[oggy1953]

'Spurs should have hung on to Bent'

 

i am afraid once he missed that simple header, the one that Mrs Redknapp would have scored, his time was up. But unfortunately he came to Spurs at the wrong time. Martin Jol didnt want another stricker, but that Director of Football who's name i have already forgotten. NO wait, it was comolley or something, insisted on buying him. So off to a bad start then. Then Jol ' Left ' only to be replaced by Mr Clueless Ramos. He couldnt make up his mind either, so Bents dilema got worse and worse. Now i am a Spurs fan for my sins in a former life and i actualy feel sorry for Darren Bent, he never got a fair chance and i wish him well at Sunderland. But then again knowing Spurs we will probably buy him back at an inflated price next season. You see there is the easy way and there is the Spurs way..

[wollastonblue]

According to Sky, John Terry's been sacked as England Captain.

[Red Devil]

Cant say I'm surprised.

 

On acompletely diferent note, Bill Shankley supposedly said that fotball wasn't life or death it was much more important than that, well tomorrow 52 years ago it was for a number of players, including (according to both my Dad and Grandad) perhaps, one of, if not, Englands'greatest players the incomparable Duncan Edwards.

 

So just a brief note to pay my respects to.

 

Geoff Bent

Roger Byrne

Edie Coleman

Duncan Edwards

Mark Jones

David Pegg

Tommy Taylor

Liam Whelan

and the 15 others who lost their lives. RIP.

[wollastonblue]

Didn't realise it was that close the anniversary. On a similar note, Birmingham City are mourning the loss of one of the greatest goalkeepers to grace the game, Gil Merrick who sadly passed away on Wednesday.

 

Suitable tributes are being paid at St Andrews on Sunday.

 

RIP Gil, at least we won something when you were manager. 1963 League Cup, with victory over the Villa to boot in the final.

[bike2steam]

Now, just before this season started I said the three clubs that would be relegated from the Premier would be Portsmouth, Hull, and Burnley - so far so good. But I also said Wolves would end up higher than Brum - cant be right all the time I suppose

[cahill]

A question for the footy fans, today there were 3 own goals scored by portsmouths players in man utds 5-0 win over pompy. what is the most own goals scored in a match by one side?, and then what is the most own goals scored in a match in total. were just talking premier league here

[BoD]

Don't know the answers to your questions .... but Owen Goals is now Man U's second top scorer this season.

[dseagull]

Hailsham Town 4 - Lingfield 0

Putland 3, Brockwell

 

After a largely incident free first half - Hailsham's best chance falling to Dave Harris - the Stringers took the lead 10 or so into the second half after a corner was poorly dealt with, and the ball worked back in for Ben Putland to stab home. 5 or so later, Putland was on target again in similar circumstances, before Lingfield began to get into the game and threatened throughout the middle period of the second half. A breakthrough wouldn't come, however, and after some nervy moments for Hailsham, sub Gary Brockwell raced onto a long ball, took it past the 'keeper 30 yards from goal, and fired home from the far side of the box. Hailsham were cruising now, and in injury time, sub Stuart Skan provided the impetus for another well worked move, switching the ball out wide, knocked into the middle - and that man Putland again on target with a shot that deflected and looped over the 'keeper for a well deserved hatrick. Another fine performance, and this one came despite missing several regulars.

[Colin]

Still shaking my head and wondering just how the Hammers managed to lose to Burnley...

Only 13 games left and things are starting to look a bit shaky at Upton Park, once again the Irons may need to rely on other teams dropping points.

[Del]

Still shaking my head and wondering just how the Hammers managed to lose to Burnley...

Only 13 games left and things are starting to look a bit shaky at Upton Park, once again the Irons may need to rely on other teams dropping points.

We were unlucky yesterday, but also Burnley have been *very* good at home so far this season.

I'm not panicking *just* yet. They've done some decent business in the window, no-one out being more important than who's come in, but at least two of the new strikers look hungry and Carlton's back too.

I'll reserve judgement until the end of this month. Home to Brum & Hull are both eminently winnable, and we have been known to give ManU a bloody nose at OT before now...

[Ohmisterporter]

Well, the record for the FA backing the referee no matter what has reached a new level of daftness. Charlie Adam playing for Blackpool against Leicester was tripped in the penalty area with the score at 2-1 to Leicester. Barmy ref strides up and shows Adam the yellow card for diving. Patently obvious that the defender had his arm on Adam's shoulder, and replays show that Adam was tripped. Even if was accidental there is no way the yellow card for diving could stand. A ref with a bit of gumption would have rescinded the card after watching the replay, but no. As this was Adam's tenth yellow of the season he now misses two games. I think there is an element of punishing the player for past misdemeanours.

 

On another note, Blackpool have hit the woodwork eighteen times this season, more than anyone else in the Championship. Just think, if those shots had just swerved an inch or two in flight, they would have missed altogether.

 

Geoff.

[oggy1953]

Aint we football fans a happy lot ! dont know why we bother ? BUT we will continue to do so.

[spongebob]

I see we're looking for a new manager. A pity that Stuart McCall wasn't as succesful as manager as he was as a player for us but I don't think the current policy the club has of releasing and rebuilding half the side every season helps to create stability, maybe he should've gone in the summer I don't know, he was on the verge of going then but was talked out of it. One thing that seems to come across is that despite the lack of success he remains popular with the fans, after all he didn't get us relegated I suppose. A good sign though has to be the attendance on Saturday was just short of 12000 which for a bottom tier side who are on a losing streak isn't too bad.

[luton town]

well being a luton fan,it seems were not having a good season,but hopefully things will get better,tonight we have oxford united tonight

hopefully we get the win to go into the play-off places come on you hatters

[Horsetan]

well being a luton fan,it seems were not having a good season,.....

 

Yes, but you're the defending champions of the Johnson's Paint Trophy, no? And it was still an achievement to get into "plus" figures after starting on minus 30 last season.

[luton town]

we were not allowed to defendyour title as johnston paint throphy winners,as were now a non-league team

yeah we did do well did not deserve the minus 30 points but that history now