Football Blogger Blagging for Goals Videos from Charlton and Newcastle

I have been rescuing all my old football videos from my 10 year professional football career. In all I totalled 135 goals in 361 appearances in the Championship and the premier league and I thought it was time to make an attempt to digitize these old VHS tapes.

At the end of every season I would buy the club video that highlights the season and shows all the goals. I have West Bromwich Albions seasons from 1992/1993 up to 1997/1998, the year I transferred to Charlton Athletic.

I also have the Charlton promotion and championship season in 1999/2000. I have transferred all of these old videos on to DVDs and then to my computer, backing them up on an external hard drive. Now all I have to do is upload them to youtube and my football career is preserved forever.

Unfortunately my videos from Newcastle United in 1990/1991 and 1991/1992 have been destroyed by 6 years of mould and fungus from living in the tropics. I also neglected to purchase highlights of Charlton Athletics first season in the Premiership in 1998/1999 (I guess I was disappointed with the year and didn't want to be reminded of how crap that season was) and also forgot to buy the Premiership season highlights from 2000/2001.

Well life passes by and I am now keen to get this stuff down on a hard drive. Scoring goals at Highbury, White Hart Lane and other famous stadiums are parts of my Professional Football career that my children will love to see when they get older and something I should be proud of.

If any kind Charlton or Newcastle fans have copies of these missing seasons I would love to get them. Of course I will pay for the post and videos, so please email me at andy@greendragonbelize.com if you can help.

So again here are the videos I am looking for :

Newcastle United Football Club Season - 1990/1991
Newcastle United Football Club Season - 1991/1992
Charlton Athletic Football Club Season - 1998/1999
Charlton Athletic Football Club Season - 2000/2001

I am on holiday in England and Holland and enjoying watching the start of the 2007/2008 Football season. I even got the chance to chat to BBC Radio 4 about my career and change of life after Football on Saturday Live with Hardeep Singh Kohli. Hardeep suggested several times about how I must be envious or jealous of players and the lifestyle they lead, citing David Beckham and Thierry Henry as examples. Although my career was cut short at the Premier League level and the heady heights of £15,000/week contracts I never feel envy, regret or jealousy about what could have been. It's a shame the interview was cut because we had a good discussion. The interview is on BBCs website : http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/saturdaylive/saturdaylive_20070811.shtml

Charlton have definitely suffered early season nerves after their first 2 games. My article about the media and fans expectations at Charlton Football Club highlighted the difficulties they may face this season and how I as a Football player experienced it last time Charlton had to climb back out of the Championship.

Charlton will definitely need to show the mental strength required of all pretenders to the throne after this early blip, although their plight is nothing compared to the expectations at White Hart Lane. Tottenhams failure to secure a win after their first 2 games has seen Martin Jol come under increasing scrutiny already. Even arch rival Arsene Wenger provided comfort to Jol after the pack of sportswriters closed in on Tottenhams early frailties.

If anything has been seen from the Premiership seasons first few games it is that 2 games means very little, the big clubs may be slightly mis-firing at the moment but their high calibre squads will push the quality sides up the table and I still stand by my Top 7 Premier League Predictions.

Could Manchester United beat a Football Team 14-0 this Season?

Manchester United Football Club get closer to signing their man as Carlos Tevez looks set for his medical at the reds. Although not seemingly the most prolific goal scorer, notching 25 goals in 75 appearances for Boca Juniors, 25 goals in 38 appearances for Corinthians and only 7 in 26 for West Ham United, Tevez as he shows below is in the mould of many footballing geniuses.



Travel Forward in Football Time - 2007/2008 Season - Home Team 0 Manchester United 14

Now cast yourself forward to the 2007/2008 season as United take the field against a gutsy lower team from the Premier League called Home Team FC. (take your pick from any side outside the top 4 or 5 elite premier league sides).

Manchester United field their strongest side with Tevez, Ronaldo, Saha, Hargreaves, Scholes and Giggs providing devastating rapid passing and moving, honed by their pre-season football training sessions.

At home Manchester United find it more difficult to break teams down because the opposition play with a more defensive attitude. But Home Team FC are the hosts and under pressure from an expectant crowd they have to attack the Reds.

Ronaldo Scores and Winds up the Home fans

Manchester United play with a sense of freedom and after 5 minutes Ronaldo puts them 1 up. Ronaldo is getting baited by the home team fans who still can't forgive him for his 2006 World Cup antics, but needless to say the PFA player of the year rises above this and continually eludes his markers.

Remember this is just football fantasy - but it could come true??

Several late tackles by Home Team FC defenders earn them yellow cards. After just 15 minutes another bad tackle, this time against Tevez reduces Home Team FC to 10 men. Manchester United are in full flow scoring several more goals before the half hour mark.

Billy Bulldog

Billy Bulldog, the heart and soul of Home Team FCs midfield and player of the year from the previous season is charging around the field trying to get close to Manchester Uniteds superstars. Home Team FC's own foreign imports are conspicuous by their absence and not "digging in" for the teams cause.

"Twat the dago *&$@&*? " (fill in the accent) bellows a Home Team FC fan to Billy Bulldog. Billy, frustrated by his teams inability to get into the game, rallies to the Fans cry and smashes into Tevez, leaving the Argentinian in agony on the floor. Another Red card for Home Team FC.

30 minutes gone and Home Team FC are 4-0 down and with only 9 players on the field they are in a desperate state.

Manchester United score another 3 goals before half time and relax in the dressing room with a 7-0 lead.

Home Team FC substitute their star foreign striker who has not touched the ball all day and play with a 4-4-0 formation in the second half. It doesn't stop United from notching another 2 quick goals after just 10 minutes of the second half. 9-0 to Manchester United.

172 passes, 5 minutes of uninterrupted Passing and 84% possession

Manchester United, full of players who need little coaching or encouragement to keep the ball, pass the ball from left back to center half to right back, back to center half, into midfield, back to the right full back and so on, exhausting Home Team FC's players.

The key to playing against a team with only 10 men (or 9) is to keep possession and make the opposition work hard chasing the ball. Too many times 10 men teams inspirationally survive because the 11 men teams do not move the ball and keep the penalized side working. After an hour of chasing a ball with one less player a side will wither.

United string together 172 passes and keep the ball for a full 5 minutes of play. At one point Rio Ferdinand actually sits down on the center circle, only to be lectured by Alex Ferguson for his arrogance and disrespect to Home Team FC.

Ferguson brings on Solksjaer for the final 15 minutes of the game and the little Norwegian scores 4 goals in just 9 minutes of play to bring the scoreline to an unlucky 13 for Home Team FC.

Van der Sar, Manchester Uniteds Goalkeeper, scorers their 14th goal from the penalty spot in the final minute of the game, after a tired and desperate Home Team FC defender lunges at Tevez and brings down the diminutive Argentine striker.

The stats show United had 78% possession in the first half and 84% possession of the Football in the second half.

Ok, so this is all fantasy but I really think that Manchester United could do this to an unlucky team this year, especially if they do secure the services of Tevez. What do you think?

Could Manchester United beat a Premier League Football Team 14-0 this season?

Carlos Tevez signs for Manchester United Football Club?

How can any Football Club hope to compete with Manchester United this year if they are able against all odds to create some order out of Carlos Tevez's numerous contracts and sign him to their team for the upcoming 2007/2008 Premiership Football season.

Lawyers from Manchester United United, West Ham United, The Premier League and Media Sport Investment (a subsidiary of a secretive investment firm registered in the British Virgin Islands, who initially brought Tevez to the Premier League) will be fudging their way through Tevez's affairs including who owns his registration. Read about the murky side of Footballs agents and middlemen in the Tevez and Mascherano transfers : Click here.

Back to the Football




Any player capable of pulling the strings for the incredibly talented Argentinian side must be worth signing but with Ferguson's attacking options already bursting at the seams with Ronaldo, Rooney (http://www.waynerooney.com/), Saha, Nani, Solskjaer, one has to wonder how Ferguson is going to juggle all this talent. What seems clear is that he is building a team which will display lightning fast attacks and interplay that will at times be dizzying and breathtaking to watch. I would not be surprised to see a double digit scoreline this year in Uniteds favour if they catch a team off-guard.

No doubt this flair will be matched by the sides fiery Latino temperaments, although I doubt that this will cause Ferguson too many sleepless nights as his dream of collecting the worlds finest footballing geniuses on his Manchester United doorstep come true.

In the spirit of fair play to the rest of the premiership teams, I hope that United do not get their man, although the irresistible thought of Tevez, Ronaldo, Giggs, Hargreaves, Scholes, Nani et al, strutting their stuff is something that every Football Manager can only dream of (unless your Ferguson)

Will Signing Carlos Tevez make Manchester United untouchable

Vote on who got the best deal by signing Thierry Henry (Barcelona) or Darren Bent (Tottenham)

Who got the best deal - Barcelona or Tottenham?

The Collapse of the Premier League Football Empire

What is going on in the Premier League? Just as the Roman Empire spread itself too thin on the ground and collapsed amid much corruption and double crossing it seems that the English Premier League is awash with dirty deeds and mis-appropriated funds.

Many of the top Football Clubs have been snapped up by mega-rich billionaires, with the appeal and prosperity of Europes wealthiest league dependent upon it's ability to reach further into the corners of the world, just as the Roman Empire did, to fund the ever increasing salaries (£200,000/week anyone?) and dreams of the clubs.

It seems to me that Football in England is now falling under the same hype and copycat behaviour as the crazy Dot-com boom and bust or the Californian Gold Rush. Why on earth are wealthy benefactors buying into the Premier League Football teams.

After Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool have been snapped up, Arsenal are sure to follow. After that though reports of other teams being bought are appearing all over the news.

West Ham have been bought and are being accused of driving Premier League wages sky high, reaching an all time high of £1.1 Million Average Salary for a Premier League Football player. West Ham are a long way from being a top 4 club and the investment needed to reach this plateau is enormous. Yet the hammers are not alone. Blackburn Rovers are reported to be in talks with an anonymous US investor, Manchester City are being courted by the former Thai Prime Minister and Birmingham City are thought to be in talks with Lakshmi Mittal, the worlds 5th richest man.

With all due respect to all these teams, there can only be one Premiership winner and only a few clubs who will make it into Europe where they can boost their Broadcasting Revenues. Manchester City, Blackburn and Birmingham City are not going to leapfrog Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal in the near future unless the worlds 5th richest man does decide to duke out, head to head with Abramovich. That would be a battle worth watching. Maybe Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft could join the battle also after his reported interest in buying Southampton. He is Americas 5th richest man and between them these 3 could fight a great Premiership Cash match, pushing the salaries of the premier league football gladiators closer to the £200,000/week mark.

A book about the Leeds United fall from grace should be posted to all prospective Football Club purchasers, with West Ham and Newcastle United surely the most vulnerable.

Newcastle United Football Club in constant crisis and flux is destined for a choppy future, with millions wasted on players, and manager after manager coming through the door. Jean Alain Boumsong, signed from Rangers for an incredible fee of £8 Million seems to sum up the ludicrous amounts of money flowing through and out of the game into the pockets of the Premiership Emperors. Quite incredibly this £8 Million player was signed by Rangers for NOTHING and sold to Newcastle for a handsome profit.

United, a club that attracts a massive fan base is caught up to its neck in the corruption scandal, with one of its former managers (Graeme Souness) and its current manager (Sam Allardyce) both implicated deeply in the corruption and the club itself guilty of inconsistencies in its evidence to the report. Mike Ashleys continued purchasing of Newcastles shares must be seen as very risky.

And the agents who have played a pivotal role in this upward spiral of benevolent behaviour are now being pulled up by the independent report from Lord Stevens, targeting numerous mis-handling of transfer by Football Clubs, Managers and Agents alike.

It seems that the foundations for the fall of the Premier League Empire, although not imminent yet are being laid and the "House of Premiership" is on shaky grounds.

When the dust settles on this latest round of inflated cash incentives for the clubs, we will see a lot of losers and I fear business as usual for Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Many successful businessman will be licking their wounds over bad Premier League investments ruing the day they joined the 2006/2007/2008 Premiership Boom.

Top 7 Premier League Football Players from 2006/2007

The Fink Tank Predictor provides Forecasts and Ranking systems for Professional Football Clubs in Europe. It is a statistical model based on more than 5 years of scores. Player rankings are calculated by simulating the season repetitively and removing players from the equation and replacing them with players of an average score. Then they were able to calculate how many points each individual player added to his team.

By also factoring a players injury record (after all, what good is a player if he only plays 10 games a season) a computer model of the top players in Europe was made.

No prizes for guessing who came top in the English Premier League. The PFA voters were right to give the accolade to Cristiano Ronaldo (voted PFA Player of the year and PFA young Player of the year). Listed below



Top 7 Premier League Footballers

1. Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United Football Club
2. Frank Lampard - Chelsea Football Club
3. Gilberto Silva - Arsenal Football Club
4. Petr Cech - Chelsea Football Club
5. Jans Lehmann - Arsenal Football Club
6. Paul Scholes - Manchester United Football Club
7. Tim Howard - Everton Football Club

And bottom of the list? Kevin Davies - Bolton Football Club

Resources

• Times Online - Top 5 and bottom 5 List
• Times Online - Full List from Number 1 to 403

Premiership Football Clubs strike Gold followed by £200,000 a Week Football player Wages

It sounds astonishing to think that a Premier League player can command £200,000 a WEEK, yet this is the figure that is being talked about by the Deloitte Report on the Financial state of the Football.

Television Rights Deals are spiralling upwards, inevitably pushing Players wages upwards and the author of Deloittes report suggests that it will not be long before a player commands a £200,000/week Salary. The mind boggles that an average Premiership player and Journeymen (players who move from Club to Club) could then earn £50,000/week. Far fetched I hear you cry. Yet the money continues to pour into the game at a breakneck speed as the Premier League Football appeal spread across the world.

The English league is dwarfing its Italian, German and Spanish peers, with Match day, Sponsorship and Broadcast revenues reaching £1.4 Billion in the 2005/2006 season. The Serie A Italian League generated £1 Billion, falling well short of the English games financial windfall.

European Success

Perhaps these numbers explain the success of English clubs in the Champions league with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all reaching the final 4 this season.

Chelsea have spent big over the last few years backed by their owners generosity, yet Manchester United are not falling behind, having already spent £35 Million this week on Anderson and Nani, plus quite probably another £17 Million on Owen Hargreaves and the 2006/2007 season has only just ended.

With the newly negotiated TV deal kicking in this season the premier league clubs will be receiving £2.7 Billion over the next 3 years and the spending will not be stopping yet. The highly lucrative Television Rights from abroad will boost even further the amount of money the clubs have at their disposal, pushing towards the first predicted £10,000,000 a year salary.

More Figures of Note

• In 2005/2006 Football Agents scooped a noteworthy £50 Million for brokering all these deals.
• The general opinion is that Derby Countys victory against West Bromwich Albion is worth an extra £60 Million to them.
• Manchester United sell Match day suites for up to £150,000/season
• Match day attendance in the Premier League is 92%
• Manchester United have an estimated 75 Million fans worldwide with 41 Million residing in Asia
• The Premiership had a weekly global audience of 78 Million Football fans in the 2006/2007 season
• 650,000 South Korean Football Fans have signed up for a branded Manchester United Credit Card
  

It's not a fair game anymore

It's very hard to get an understanding of all these numbers and what they mean in real terms. My dad has been telling me all his life how it's not a fair game and that it cannot continue (referring to wages of players) and that ticket prices are too expensive. Yet is does continue and in fact Match day income is not the biggest earner for the Premiership Clubs anymore with Broadcasting rights providing the bulk of their income. Football has come a long way since the cloth cap days and there is certainly no turning back to these bygone eras, ridiculed in the Harry Enfield Video below :

My Dads stand against £200,000/week footballers

He has made his decision to stand up for the small club, not because he doesn't want to watch the big games but because he believes it is just plain wrong that people earn this kind of money. He quit watching Premier League Football, cancelled his Skysports subscription and now follows Kings Lynn Football Club week in and week out. The football isn't so good but it is still exciting and it doesn't cost him a large chunk of his weekly pension to see the games.

Splitting the pot

Perhaps it isn't fair anymore. Only as far back as 1992 the TV income was split between the 92 Football League Clubs. Today a staggering 90% goes to the Premier League, with 7% going to the Championship and 3% to League 1 and 2. (Barnet Football Club Chairman - Tony Kleanthous on the state of English Football)

Good Management

Maybe though nothing has really changed. The big clubs still have to get their players. Of course their net is cast ever further looking for the best young recruits and this is not so good for the small English clubs as the money leaves the country. However money still pours down to the lower leagues through Transfers. This is where the smaller clubs have to be run well and managed efficiently.

This is also the lifeblood of football. Without the small clubs, managers do not learn their art, players do not build their skills and perfect their trade, coaches do not gain experience. After all Alex Ferguson, Sam Allardyce, Michael Owen, Frank Lampard et al, did not just appear from thin air. My Father may have lost faith in Football but it may be just that the structure of the game has changed. The smaller clubs will be feeder clubs to the big clubs, and in effect this is what has always happened, as the best move up the Footballing ladder and the worse slide back down, whether you be a club, manager, player or coach.

Fifth Richest League

It will take longer to break into the imaginary elite of football for the rest of the clubs as the gap between the Premier League and the rest of the English Clubs continues to grow. Nevertheless the state of the English game, relative to the rest of Europe seems to be positive, with the Championship being declared the Fifth Richest League in Europe with an annual turnover of £318,000,000.

It's not just the smaller English clubs that can cry foul. The massive buying power of the Premier Leagues elite is also giving them a huge advantage over the rest of the European clubs. It looks like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have very healthy futures ahead of them. So long as they keep one eye out for the less fortunate teams all should continue to bode well in the English game or Football will simply cease to exist without the whole Footballing structure in place.

And is it worth it? Well you be the judge.

Champions League Football Video Highlights 2006/2007



Resources :

• Bridging the Premier League Gap
• Is Relegation that bad for a Premier League Club
• BBC - Premiership wages 'to top £1bn'
• Guardian - New riches may lift Premiership also-rans to the fore
• Telegraph - Leading clubs plunge £2bn into the red
• Telegraph - The Premiership has become a Cancer

Chelsea Football Club Youtube Channel - Global Brand

Chelsea Football Club have become the first club to open a Youtube Video Channel, allowing fans to congregate online, watch clips of commentary on the club's fortunes and post their views on the season's progress.

Chelsea are reaching out to a new, fast growing medium on the Internet, although they are not allowed to show Live footage due to contractual rights.

Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon said: "We are delighted to work with YouTube. Chelsea is the first football club to move into what is clearly one of the fastest growing new media platforms."

Youtube which was acquired by Google for $1.65 Billion (USD) is reaching out to sports fans all over the world, and Chelsea will be one of the front runners, hoping to grab a small share of the 100 million video downloads every day from the youtube site. With Google experimenting with Video advertising, the Chelsea channel could be a lucrative business for the club.

The possibilities of the increased advertising revenues from the internet are surely very tantalizing for Football Clubs and Chelsea will no doubt be watching closely to see how many pairs of Chelsea "eyeballs" view their Page.

The Social Networking phenomenon (Myspace, Yahoo 360, Bebo, Flickr, Friendster, Youtube etc) has taken the web by storm and how Chelsea interact and communicate with their fans through youtube is yet to be realized. Along with http://www.youtube.com/chelseafc I expect we will be seeing http://www.youtube.com/chelseafc/china and http://www.youtube.com/chelseafc/india (in their local languages) in an attempt to galvanize a larger fan base.

Traditionally, Football Clubs were supported by the local community, in the immediate vicinity of their stadiums and the surrounding town or city. Their reach was limited geographically by this area, however this no longer applies. The reach and success of clubs, especially the larger clubs is linked to their appeal as a Global Brand, the team messages zooming down Fiber Optic networks to the far flung corners of the planet.

With Liverpool FC having 28,000,000 registered online members worldwide, Chelsea seem keen to innovate on the web to cement them as a Global Brand and reach Fans all over the world.

Resources :
Times Online
Chelsea Youtube Page

Top 7 reason NOT to buy a Football Club

1. Crowd Abuse
2. If you get it wrong you could lose a lot of money
3. Players really don't care about the owner (see no 3, top 7 Reasons to buy a Football Club)
4. Fans really don't care about the owner
5. It's a lose, lose situation. A thankless task. Win the league and the players and manager get credit. Get relegated or win nothing (see Newcastle United, Aston Villa, West Ham, Leeds United etc etc) and the fans want more money and better players.
6. Unless you own one of the big teams no-one will care what you think in the Premier League meetings. (see no 6, top 7 reason to buy a Football Club)
7. No-one knows who you are

• Top 7 Reasons to buy a Football Club


• Want to buy your own Football Club. Footballs most ambitious project.


• Why Buy a Football Club?

50,000 members needed to bid for a Football Club

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I have found this website that is looking for 50,000 members to join and sign up for £35 each to purchase through a society a Football Club.

The website, which is the brainchild of Fulham fan Will Brooks and 2 years into development has been featured on the BBC. Although it throws up a host of potential problems, the possibilities are tantalizing to say the least. With 50,000 members all having a single vote and the club run by true democracy it has to be worth £35 of anyones money.



MyFootballClub is offering to buy out a club that meets the following criteria :

• 51% or more of the football club shares can be bought with the Purchase Fund


• There is none, or a manageable debt


• The club has the potential to reach the Premiership

The Ultimate Fantasy Football Manager Game

Once the club is purchased here is where the fun starts. Members will be able to :

• Vote on team selection and formation


• Decide tactics, by voting for your preferred style of play and substitutions depending on match situations


• Vote for or veto Club transfers


• Suggest player purchases and send scouting reports


• Vote on how to allocate club funds, whether it’s on transfers, youth policy or the stadium or other major decisions

Currently 26,500 members have signed up and you will even have the option to vote for which club to purchase : The top 5 voted for so far are :

1. Leeds United


2. Cambridge


3. Accrington


4. Nott'm Forest


5. Brighton

Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all feature in the voting although I think wishful thinking is more at play here. You can vote for any team from the Premiership all the way down to the Conference North and South.

For more information visit the My Football Club Website here : http://www.myfootballclub.co.uk/

The BBC ran an article covering Will Brooks ambitious scheme : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6639407.stm

Top 7 reasons to buy a Football Club

Yet another Premier League takeover is on the cards with Billionaire Mike Ashley buying 41.6% of Newcastle United Football Club, valuing the Geordies at £133.1 million, not quite as much as Liverpools £178 Million but still a vast sum of money. I wrote about why there has been such an interest in the last few years from Billionaires and consortiums in purchasing notoriously bad businesses (Football Clubs) and have compiled a Top 7 reasons list to buy a Club.

Top 7 Reasons to buy a Football Club :

1. Free Ticket to Home Games and go where you like in the stadium


2. Entrance to away team Boardrooms


3. Get to meet the players


4. Get to buy the players


5. Bragging Rights


6. Sit in on Premier League meetings with the high flying big wigs of football


7. Great Pre-season Holidays with the team

If you have any suggestions leave them in the comments below...

and the Top 7 reasons not to buy the club?

As for the Champions League final. Liverpool got hit with the classic sucker punch. After playing the better football and wasting numerous great attacking positions (how they missed someone like Robbie Fowler), Pippo Inzaghi popped up to show them how to do it with 2 predatory goals, although the first does nothing to prove his goalscoring skills other than his willingness to follow up the free kick and get into dangerous goalscoring areas. Something Liverpool obviously missed.

I rate Dirk Kuyt but so much of his work is done in front of the opposition back 4, contributing much to the teams build up, whereas Inzaghi is constantly looking to get in behind defences, contributing less to the team over 90 minutes, but how much value do you place on 2 Champions League final goals?

Why would you buy a Premier League Football Club?

For the fun? For the Prestige? For the money? It certainly provides owners with immense Kudos to add a Premier League Football Club to their Portfolios. With premier league clubs being bought up by American Billionaires and mysterious Foreign investors one most wonder why they are doing this, especially when the buyers seem to have very little emotional attachment to the clubs.

No matter how many times Malcolm Glazer (Manchester United), George Gillett and Tom Hicks (Liverpool) and Roman Abramovich (Chelsea) say they love their Football Clubs a cynical observer can only conclude they see these clubs as good investments and will make some money along the way, or at least avoid losing money on the deals, while indulging themselves in the luxury of owning well supported teams in arguably the most passionate sport and football league in the world.

After all if you own racehorses, sports cars, private jets and villas around the world a Football Club is another great plaything.

American Billionaires have shown a healthy interest in purchasing English Premier League Football clubs and an interesting article from Conde Naste Portfolio, probes these buys. Apart from the obvious sheer "hell of it" factor the article points to the fact that these ultra rich men have run out of sports franchises to purchase in the US, and when a Sports team does come up for sale, bidding is frenzied.

So why not turn their attention to European shores where clubs are available and actively searching for new owners to provide the investment needed to keep up with Manchester United and Chelsea. The Conde Naste article continues by quoting Liverpools website has 28,000,000 registered members worldwide. And here I feel is the crux of the matter.

Website Revenue Guestimate

With online advertising growing at a phenomenal rate, (check Googles share price to see what the stock market thinks of online advertising) clubs such as Liverpool have a potential goldmine in advertising revenue on their doorstep. 28 million registered members equates to a lot of people every day viewing the Liverpool site.

If Liverpool can attract 20% of their members to view the website every day, a carefully thought out Website Pay per click Advertising campaign could bring in online revenue of between £80,000-£100,000 EVERY DAY. This is a mind boggling figure and certainly enough to cover the £178,000,000 loan borrowed from Royal Bank of Scotland to purchase Liverpool FC. Add to this the share of the Premiership Worldwide Broadcast rights, other advertising revenues, stadium rights and Gate receipts you can suddenly see the value Foreign Investors now see in English Football Clubs.

These worldwide membership numbers are only set to increase as the clubs fight to gain footholds in the lucrative Chinese and other Asian markets. Hence the influx of Chinese players into the Premier League.

So for the Globally thinking modern Premier League owner, the sky is the limit, this of course assumes that you can create success on the field, which is the eternal footballing battle.

Have you ever wanted to own a Football player or Sports Star? Another interesting article about the incredible prospect of owning shares in an Athlete and then trading them for real money.

http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/sports/2007/04/16/The-Jock-Exchange

Next : Top 7 reasons to Own a Football Club, Top 7 reasons NOT to own a Football Club.

Resources :

Liverpool Football Club Takeover
Manchester United Football Club Takeover
Chelsea Football Club Takeover
Premier League

Conde Naste Football Article

Another New Era for Newcastle United Football Club

Newcastle United Football Club have taken a brave step in hiring another manager to lift the so called sleeping giants out of hibernation. It must be such an old cliche for the fans of the club to hear, but with a massive fan base and a huge stadium they are a Football Club that could achieve so much more than their history suggests.

In Sam Allardyce they have what seems to be a traditional English manager who builds Football teams that are very hard to beat, yet in the not so traditional sense, Allardyce employs extremely modern techniques at his clubs. With a team of experts around him Allardyce ensures that he has the expertise in areas of a football club that he himself does not have time to run.

I played for many clubs who hired Nutritionists, Specialist Coaches (When I played for Newcastle in the early 90s they had a sprinting coach even way back then), motivational experts, Physiotherapists and other such gurus to enhance the performance of the team.

At Charlton Athletic we had a fitness coach called Joe Dunbar (who also worked with World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis) who was responsible for the fitness routines, pre match warm ups, post match warm downs and any other Cross Training required at the Club to enhance the players physical attributes. Including a revolutionary exercise program called Plyometrics, which I personally found to be very useful adding enormous amounts of strength and power to my legs.

When I was at West Bromwich Albion, Alan Buckley hired a motivational expert to try and help the players out of the worse slump in the clubs history, 13 straight defeats. In the early 90s this kind of specialism was just beginning although it really failed to have much of an impact on the players or the club at that particular time.

English Football has come a long way since, and Allardyce confirmed that he will be implementing at Newcastle what he did at Bolton, although of course that took 8 years to do. Whether Newcastle United and their impatient fans will give him this amount of time, especially as he has only signed a 3 year contract remains to be seen.

Allardyce has an impressive record at Bolton, finishing 16th, 17th, 8th, 6th, 8th and 7th in the last 6 years. He also points to his ability to inspire older players, star names with so called egos, and also to Boltons exceptional injury record losing just 72 player days to injury this season, compared to Newcastles extraordinary 340 player days.

It doesn't take a Brain Surgeon or indeed a Football expert to analyze these figures and realize that the more time your players are available and the less injuries they are carrying, the greater chance the team has of winning games. With Newcastle Uniteds financial clout and impressive squad, a fully fit team will instantly perform better than most other sides (excluding the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea) and if you average out these performances over a season Newcastle should see steady progress under Allardyce.

Needless to say a lot will depend on Allardyce tinkering to find the right squad plus his ability to build his team of experts and motivate the motivators.

Congratulations West Brom Football Club

Well done to West Bromwich Albion Football Club in making the Championship 2006/2007 Play Off finals.

Wembley has had quite an overhaul since I played there for the Baggies in the 1993 play off finals. I wish them luck in the final against Derby, and hopefully I will still see 2 of my former sides lining up in the Premier League next season.

Virtual Tour of "Old Wembley"

Freddies Football Faux Pas

Newcastle Uniteds Chairman Freddie Shepherd was caught on a mobile video phone by an enterprising bunch of Liverpool fans, with a less than complimentary comment about Michael Owen. This video is now doing the rounds on Youtube (140,000 views in 3 days) and is a Classic F**k up which will hardly endear him to Owen.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club v Wolverhampton Wanderers - Football Play Off Finals 2006/2007

West Brom v Wolves in the Play offs. I played in a few of these local derbies and really wish I was there for this one. Good luck to West Bromwich Albion Football Club, my old Team. I was playing for West Brom in 1992/93 in the play offs when we were promoted from the old division 2 in the Play Off final at Wembley Stadium. (heading to Wembley in 1992/93 - my story).

I remember how nervous we all were then but to be up against their long time arch rivals in the play offs is doubly cruel for all concerned.

2006/2007 Championship Play off Review.

And commiserations to Charlton Athletic Football Club (another of my old teams) on being relegated from the Premier League. A big blow I am sure to the Club. Pardew is obviously used to life in the Championship and knows his way around that division very well, so they will be hot favourites to return.

Myself scoring at Wembley Stadium in 1993 for West Bromwich Albion Football Club v Port Vale

Football Pre Match Routine - Home Games

Football players have a routine that they use before games to prepare themselves for action and I was no exception. Away game Football match preparations (Gambling, Pornography, Tabloid Newspapers, Greasy Cafes and Hardcore Football Fans) are always slightly different to home game Football match preparations due to the lack of Travel.

My pre-match routine would be similar to the following :

• Preparation for a game would always start the night before the game. Physcologically I would start to think about the game and also prepare my nutrition for the match. There is a well known technique called Visualization which many top athletes practice. It involves imagining the upcoming event or in more complete terms. Visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention, of what you want to happen or to feel. An athlete can use this technique to 'intend' an outcome of a race, training session or simply rest in a feeling of calm and well-being. By imagining a scene, complete with images or movies, of a previous best performance or a new desired outcome, the athlete will simply 'step into' that feeling. It is a common technique and proven to be very successful for many top athletes.



• I would have a regular meal the night before the game and would always take a Carbohydrate Drink to boost my bodies Carbohydrate levels ensuring I was as ready for the game as I possibly could be.



• If I was carrying an injury or feeling stiff I would do some stretches to help relieve tension in my muscles or perhaps go for a short walk in the evening.



• I would stay in bed until 9 or 10am the morning of the game. The day of the game is always a bit dull for a player until you actually arrive at the stadium. I always found myself looking forward to the start of the game and getting very excited but you have to wait several hours and so a routine helps to keep your mind off the wait and to reduce the level of tension. I would do alot of pacing around in anticipation of the upcoming football match.



• Breakfast would always be a bowl of cereal. I would drink lots of water on the morning of the game, maybe 3 or 4 pints spaced out over the course of the morning.



• Lunch would normally be Beans on toast. I found this to be a light meal that would not "lay" too heavy on my stomach for the game. I would not eat anything after 12pm, apart from a Banana before the match if I felt a bit hungry.



• I would leave for the stadium with my kit bag and a High Energy Drink, plus a Banana for half time.



• Arrival at the stadium was always greeted by fans looking for autographs and wishing you well for the match. It is always a much different experience arriving for a home game compared to an away match, as you would be greeted by fans from your team rather than opposition fans.



• Once at the stadium the players would report to the dressing room and spend the next half an hour or so sitting around waiting for the managers team talk, typically at 2pm.



• Most managers would announce their team at 2pm, although the players would have a very good idea about the side due to the training session from the day before. If there were going to be any changes the manager would go through them in that training session.



• Usually in the dressing room would be a board or chart with a selection of set-plays, such as free-kicks and corners (both for and against) designating who would be standing where and which player was your responsibility. As one of the taller players I always found myself marking one of the bigger players in the opposition, which could mean defending against a very large centre half. This always irked me as not only would I have all my attacking responsibilities but due to my size I was useful as a defender when required, whereas my strike partners would quite often get to have a rest on the half way line.



• After the team announcement we would be free to prepare for the game. Get changed into the kit and then head out onto the field for the pre-match warm up.



• We would always do alot of running and stretching before the game. It is essential to get your body "revved" up for the game so some long runs to get the lungs and heart pumping were normal. After this I would try to get as many touches of the ball as possible on the field so that I was as ready as I could be.



• The pre-match warm up could last anything from 15 minutes to 25 minutes and then we would all return to the dressing room for the final team meeting and lots of "geeing" each other up by the Manager, Assistant Manager and Coach. After a bout of chest thumping and back slapping we were ready to go..

Football Finale - Premier League and Champions League Football run in

Ferguson, Mourinho, Wenger, Ronaldo, Drogba and the rest of the premier league circus that inspires us week after week are revving up for the showdown of the century. A finale to the Premier League football season whipped into a tantalizing display of the best footballers and teams in Europe, and showcased by the best new technology of high definition TV, a million different camera angles and a host of media bustling to give us every little titbit we can devour.

I am heading back to England for a few weeks break from Belize, full of excitement to see the Premier League finale and the culmination of the Coca Cola Championship. I have a special interest in the Championship as I lived in Birmingham for 5 years playing for West Bromwich Albion Football Club for that duration. I know the passion and rivalry between Birmingham, Wolves and West Brom, and the tension must be at breaking point. The possibility of West Brom and Wolves playing each other in the Play-offs is incredible for the people of the midlands, especially as Birmingham may be joining them if they cannot secure one of the top spots.

I have often said that I do not believe Footballers deserve the money they earn. Yet when the teams serve up a season of endless possibilities: First All English Champions League final; 2 teams in search of the treble; Premier league and Championship all going to the wire, I can only congratulate everyone involved. The Gladiators on the field, the Generals directing from the sidelines all have played a huge role in creating the end of season spectacle we are now witnessing.

Whether you are a Barnsley, Kings Lynn (my first team), Wigan or Kettering Town (my second team) Fan you will all be picking your favourites for the end of season run in regardless of whom your first football love is. The stars of the show will have the world talking about them in a never-ending barrage of compliments, abuse, admiration, despair, frustration and disappointment. They will be the talk of the town up and down the country and although their salaries resemble telephone numbers, Ferguson, Mourinho and the rest of the premier league crew deserve enormous credit for bringing English Football a season’s finale to be proud of.

The only problem I have is finding a good spot to soak up the last few weeks of football as my family don’t have Skysports…..

Premier league Football Videos - Got a few spare minutes??

If you have a few spare minutes at work, click on any of the Videos on the right hand side of this Blog. Scroll down the page and look on the right hand panel for the "Latest Premier League Video" to view Google Video and Youtubes latest Premier League offerings from their Video Streaming services.

The video will start playing at the top of the blog.

West Ham v Chelsea.... come on curbs you can do better than that

Charlton Football Club part company with Iain Dowie

Charlton Football Club parting company with Iain Dowie has surprised me.

Although the team has not won many games this year and there is no doubt about the pressure Dowie and the club would be under at such an early stage of the season, I thought that Charlton Athletic Football club would have persevered and given the manager at least a full season and a shot at promotion next season (assuming the worse case scenario - is relegation that bad for Charlton Athletic?)

Looking back to Alex Fergusons early time at Machester United is a brief reminder of how close he came to losing his job when he became the Manchester United boss.

I am sure that Charlton would have done their homework in depth before hiring Dowie and knowing full well that any change in management is a tricky transition for any Football Club this decision comes as a shock.

Maybe Curbs has had a long enough break and wants his job back!!! Dowie goes back to Crystal Palace, Simone Jordan drops his court case against him and everyone carries on as if we've been stuck in some kind of Footballing wormhole!

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