Corporate Ticket Holders & Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

[DocHoliday]

The controversy over the Premier League's plans to take 10 extra matches a season abroad took a new twist last night after it emerged that Sir Rod Eddington, a senior director in Rupert Murdoch's media empire, had a hand in developing the proposal which has split English football.

Murdoch man behind League's global plan

[Inselaffe-Borussia-Fan]

The controversy over the Premier League's plans to take 10 extra matches a season abroad took a new twist last night after it emerged that Sir Rod Eddington, a senior director in Rupert Murdoch's media empire, had a hand in developing the proposal which has split English football.

Murdoch man behind League's global plan

Ho-ho, quelle surprise.

[Inselaffe-Borussia-Fan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 237359.stm

I'm not a big fan of Blatter to be honest, always thought as him as a self-righteous arse, but this is a good response to the 39th

[oldparish]

Everyone knows it not about raising the profile of the Premier League.God knows the media in GB keep telling us it's the best and most popular league in the world.It's all about das Geld the greedy b*****ds just want to milk it for all it's worth before,as Jim Morrison once said(about something completely different) the whole s**thouse goes up in flames.Now that Murdoch is known to be involved just proves the point.That greasy little Aussie/Yank/Brit ,what ever he is this week, never does anything unless it benefits Murdoch.

[berti mac]

not that there's anything wrong with girls in short skirts hanging round street corners.
if that was what was on offer, i would be in favour of the 39th game. unfortunately, it is only football

seriously, the idea seems to be dying a death now, but don't be surprised to see it revived as "playoffs" and "a grand final". these would be more attractive to overseas and tv markets without the disruption to the domestic season. the downside is that it concentrate yet more wealth in the same old hands, but the whole EPL voted in favour of the 39th game so they are all compromised.

[DocHoliday]

Chelsea and Manchester United, the Premier League's two representatives in tomorrow's Champions League final, owe creditors £1.5bn between them. According to the latest accounts of Chelsea Limited, the company which owns the football club, Chelsea owed £736m to all its creditors. United's accounts, also recently filed at Companies House, showed total creditors at £764m. Those unprecedented figures will fuel concern that at this time of English football's greatest club triumph its clubs are carrying too much debt.

Chelsea and United debts at record £1.5bn
• New accounts show London club owe £736m
• Abramovich has loaned - not donated - his money

[oldparish]

That's why it's the fantasy champions league and the fantasy English premiership.I wouldn't have swapped a dozen English titles (on that basis) for what I experienced at the Borussia park a week last Sunday.Real fans at a real football club.What happens when Abramovich and the Glazers get fed up? They will walk away leaving the clubs owing loads of debt... to Abramovich an the Glazers!

[DocHoliday]

@oldparish

were you at the Borussia-Park, too? I am glad you enjoyed the trip.

What I find amazing that if Abramovich withdraws then Chelsea would have 18 months to pay back the loan.

I mean, how?

[oldparish]

Yes Doc ,I was there and what a brilliant,brilliant two days .Although I flew to and stayed in cologne I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in Moenchengladbach.I've never known such an atmosphere over two days like that.The nearest I've come to it was when Wales beat Italy in Cardiff in a world cup qualifier a couple of years ago,but that was just before and during the game.Moenchengladbach was something special at the Borussia park and in the city.Tried to get near the alter markt afterwards but couldn't.Did you Doc?Like I said I would never swap that for a dozen champions leagues the way they've done it.It's just not real to me.

[DocHoliday]

Tried to get near the alter markt afterwards but couldn't.Did you Doc?

I was watching from the edge of the Alter Markt, because I did not dare to immerse myself into the crowd with my fresh cast brace. I broke my right elbow after the Wehen match.

[oldparish]

Drunk again,Doc?

[DocHoliday]

No, just crashed into a wheelie bag after storming frantically the stairs upwards to the platform in order to catch the train. Landed in a pile of broken glass and incurred a gash above all.

[oldparish]

Unlucky mate.Was this after the Wiesbaden game?

[DocHoliday]

Well, first I rode with the shuttle bus to Rheydt station after the match. There I relished a guiness in an Irish pub. After that I wanted to take the train back home. The one I depended on was late, so when an alternative train arrived suddenly on the opposite platform, I made the wrong decision.

[DocHoliday]

How City plan to do this is revealed in an 83-page blueprint, A New Model for Partnership in Football, which was influential in convincing the Abu Dhabi royal family to buy the club from the previous owner Thaksin Shinawatra. It is understood the document was put together by the ultra-ambitious Garry Cook, a former Nike executive who was recruited by Thaksin earlier in the summer and whose vision of football involves a Premier League structure with 10to 14 clubs and, most controversially, no promotion or relegation.

New City owners plan to be 'the Virgin of A.sia'

I'm getting on your nerves!

[oldparish]

Not you Doc.Just the whole sordid English fantasy league fiasco.Would you believe that people I heard on the radio saying that to be really fair what the league needs is about another 8 billionaires TO EVEN THINGS OUT.Can you believe that?

[DocHoliday]

Aaannnd....it's completely logical from a certain point of view. And at the same time completely insane. The snowball effect is getting bigger and bigger .

[berti mac]

don't underestimate the power of these people (like garry cook) at man city. they hold a lot of power and frankly, the last people they will think of are "the fans" who are in the stadium. to their eyes, who cares about 40 000 in the stadium when there are 1 billion people in china and another billion in india.
thats what you mean when you say that it makes sense on one level.

but is it football?

i don't think so

[oldparish]

Spot on berti.By the way any reason given for Marko not even being on the bench last night.And happy birthday GUENTER for the 14th.

[DocHoliday]

I agree, it's not football. It's a kind of hijacking, about having one's foot in the door of a huge global market. Fans will be lured with the promise of fantastic new players. There is some sort of parallel to the "Large Hadron Collider". Nation states pump billions into it. For what reason? To accelerate the progress of science? Or all the more for the development of new weapons?