Thursday's Denying B*ll*x

[Chinners]

City reject Real's claims over failed bid for Gago
Club deny Madrid chief Valdano's suggestion they were 'unprepared' for deal
Manchester City have rejected Real Madrid's claims that they scuppered the last-minute £16.3m transfer of Fernando Gago on Monday afternoon and are confident that everything they did was above board.
The Madrid sporting director, Jorge Valdano, said that City were unable to move quickly when the two clubs finally agreed a price for Gago with 40 minutes left before the transfer window shut at 5pm on Monday. He said: "They had nothing prepared, not even one document signed. They had not reached an agreement with the player and they would have had to have done everything in 40 minutes."
The reason that City had not negotiated terms with Gago was because the club's chief executive, Garry Cook, had respected the Fifa rules on transfers that a player should not be approached by the buying club until they have agreed a transfer fee. It is a rule that is widely ignored in many transfers.
Roberto Mancini had identified Gago, 23, as a player he wanted to sign before January but City regarded Madrid's valuation of £22.7m as too high. After they failed to obtain a work permit for the Parma midfielder McDonald Mariga, City decided to go back to Madrid to see if they would lower their price. Unexpectedly, they were able to agree on a deal of £16.3m.
Because City had not agreed terms with the Argentine's agent they offered to take the player on loan in order to push the deal through quickly. They also agreed to sign an undertaking to pay the full amount for Gago in the summer. This is common practice in last-minute January deals when a permanent signing cannot be arranged in time. It was the case when Jermain Defoe joined Portsmouth from Tottenham in 2008.
However, Madrid rejected that option and have subsequently attacked City for failing to do the deal quickly enough. However, in this instance, Cook appears to be blameless in his dealings.
Yesterday, Gago's agent weighed in with criticism of City. Marcello Lombilla said: "City used us. They approached Madrid knowing there wasn't enough time to put something together."

Manchester City have hired eight bodyguards to protect on loan forward Robinho during his spell at Santos in Brazil, according to Spanish publication AS.
The 26 year-old is at Santos for the remainder of the season following a much publicized loan deal from Eastlands. He is expected to make his Santos debut on Sunday in the derby against Sao Paulo.
Robinho is no stranger to stringent security. His mother was kidnapped in 2004 and Manchester City hired four bodyguards for the Brazilian during his time at Eastlands.
However, the club now feels that his safety is in greater danger in Brazil, especially given Robinho 's reputation for partying, which will likely be satisfied during his loan spell. As a result, Manchester City have decided to foot the bill to double the player's security entourage

Patrick Vieira has revealed he is ready to return to the top flight of English football after a four-season absence.
The former Arsenal midfielder hopes to make his long-awaited debut for Manchester City on Saturday against Hull.
Vieira, 33, has recovered from an ankle injury that has delayed his progress since arriving from Inter Milan.
In World Cup year the France international is now looking to kick on at Eastlands.
"It has been a frustrating spell with the injury. Thank God it is over and I am ready to start, " he told the club's website, mcfc.co.uk.
"I suffered it in the last game for Inter and did not realise it was that bad. City have been right behind me and I have to thank them for that.
"I am looking forward to playing in the Premier League again and getting a run of games. When I was in Italy I followed the matches. They have been exciting and I really believe it is one of the best in the world."
City are pushing for a top four place after losing to Manchester United in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.
Roberto Mancini's side also have an FA Cup tie against Stoke to look forward to a week on Saturday.
Vieira added: "I have found a team that matches my expectations. I think the future for this club is fantastic. There are a lot of winners and great players in the dressing room.
"Hopefully we can achieve what we want and finish in the top four. We are getting closer to Manchester United. The gap is definitely narrowing."
Defender Pablo Zabaleta is set to wear a mask against Hull on to protect a broken nose.
Zabaleta suffered the injury in the victory over Portsmouth at the weekend after an accidental blow from Kevin-Prince Boateng.
But he is keen to maintain his record of playing every game under new manager Mancini. Vincent Kompany, however, has been ruled with a groin strain.

Meanwhile City have been criticised by Real Madrid's sporting director Jorge Valdano after being linked with midfielder Fernando Gago in the transfer window.
City apparently moved in for Gago after their attempt to bring McDonald Mariga from Parma broke down and he joined Inter Milan instead.
Speaking to El Pais, Valdano said: "They had nothing prepared, not even one document signed.
"They had not reached an agreement with the player and they would have needed to do everything in 40 minutes."
Gago's agent Marcello Lombilla told radio station Onda Cero. "City used us. This has never happened to me before.
"I don't want to talk about the figures that City were offering because they approached Madrid without even knowing there wasn't physically enough time to put something together."


TRANSFER BOLLOX
Barcelona are piling the pressure on Arsenal, with the Spanish giants planning a £40m summer swoop for midfielder Cesc Fabregas. The Sun

Barcelona are also interested in another Gunners player, midfielder Emmanuel Eboue. The Sun

Crisis club Portsmouth face the loss of striker Aruna Dindane in the next week - if French side Lens do not receive the £3.5m owed for his transfer. Daily Mirror

Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen will consider his future at the club if he is dropped in favour of new arrival Asmir Begovic on Saturday. The Sun

Fulham are to battle it out with Arsenal for QPR's 15-year-old striker Raheem Sterling. Mirror

Birmingham midfielder Gary McSheffrey will make his loan move to Leeds permanent if the Elland Road outfit are promoted to the Championship this season. Daily Mirror

Manchester United's England Under-20 midfielder Matty James is set to join Preston on loan. Daily Mirror

Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery has set a March deadline for deciding his future at the club. Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid have all shown an interest in the winger. (The Times)

Preston defender Sean St Ledger has blasted club chairman Derek Shaw for denying him a dream move to Celtic. Daily Record

Liverpool are hoping to bring 14-year-old Danish forward Alexander Jacobsen, who is at FC Copenhagen, into their academy. (Daily Star)

WAG OF THE DAY - Francesca Lodo

http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2 ... cesca-lodo

OTHER BOLLOX
England manager Fabio Capello will give Chelsea defender John Terry the chance to quit as England captain following newspaper revelations about his private life. The Sun

Capello's hopes of having Owen Hargreaves fit for the World Cup finals have suffered another blow after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson removed the midfielder from his Champions League squad. The Times

Hong Kong businessman Balram Chainrai, who has so far lent Portsmouth £20m, is exercising his right to seize control after the cash-strapped club failed to honour their repayments to him. The Sun

Chainrai has taken over the 90% shareholding held by Ali Al Faraj to become Portsmouth's fourth owner in a year. The Guardian

Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs believes team-mate Wayne Rooney is about to join Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid duo Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo in being seen as the best players in the world. Daily Star

Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, who is on loan at AC Milan, has signed up for an Italian cookery course. "It's something I've always wanted to do," said the former England captain. (Daily Star)

[Chewbacca]

Id buy that for a dollar !!!

[lets all have a disco]

So it seems we tried to do things the RIGHT way in the Gago deal!!!

Guess were gonna have to be sneaky fuckers then,tapping up,agreeing deals on the sly,Cook better get ready for more abuse when he starts doing it though.
Hiding to nothing.

[ant london]

So it seems we tried to do things the RIGHT way in the Gago deal!!!

Guess were gonna have to be sneaky fuckers then,tapping up,agreeing deals on the sly,Cook better get ready for more abuse when he starts doing it though.
Hiding to nothing.

I know, I loved that.

Very illuminating as to the way that Real (and the rest of the "establishment") conduct their business.

"OK we accept your offer, let's sign the deal"

"Hang on, we've not spoken to Gago yet to discuss personal terms"

"What do you mean you've not agreed personal terms with him......why are you messing us around like this, we want our £16.3m"

"Erm....Senor Valdano, it is actually against FIFA rules for us to speak to the player re terms before agreeing a fee with you, that is called "tapping up"...you've only now just accepted our offer, how could we have already spoken to the player??"

"What? It is? Ah Cook you are a fucking amateur...you really are ruining football, now fuck off back to Manchester"

[ENIAM NAM]

8 bodyguards for Robinho! wtf?

Surely just insure him and leave him/Santos to do the rest!

[lets all have a disco]

So it seems we tried to do things the RIGHT way in the Gago deal!!!

Guess were gonna have to be sneaky fuckers then,tapping up,agreeing deals on the sly,Cook better get ready for more abuse when he starts doing it though.
Hiding to nothing.

I know, I loved that.

Very illuminating as to the way that Real (and the rest of the "establishment") conduct their business.

"OK we accept your offer, let's sign the deal"

"Hang on, we've not spoken to Gago yet to discuss personal terms"

"What do you mean you've not agreed personal terms with him......why are you messing us around like this, we want our £16.3m"

"Erm....Senor Valdano, it is actually against FIFA rules for us to speak to the player re terms before agreeing a fee with you, that is called "tapping up"...you've only now just accepted our offer, how could we have already spoken to the player??"

"What? It is? Ah Cook you are a fucking amateur...you really are ruining football, now fuck off back to Manchester"

Exactamundo,i'm sick of people fucking drilling our club all the time.
It's amazing the spin these clubs put on us,were trying to stay clean and be decent yest every fucker wants us to enter into the sly bastard world.

We stay out of it and get drilled,get in it we will get drilled. CANT WIN.

[Wonderwall]

8 bodyguards for Robinho! wtf?

Surely just insure him and leave him/Santos to do the rest!

fmtwf

[Mark (Blue Army)]

8 bodyguards for Robinho! wtf?

Surely just insure him and leave him/Santos to do the rest!

I know 8 bodyguards id just let them take him lol

[blootoof]

he he he I can see that wags boobies.

[blue wine]

im in luv!!! best WAG EVER!!!

[Chinners]

English debating B*ll*x
In the wake of the failure to sign up Real Madrid’s Fernando Gago, Manchester City have come in for some heavy criticism from both the Spanish side and the player’s agent. http://www.aboutaball.co.uk asks whether City need to wise up in the transfer market.
The recent activity in attempting to sign the Argentine midfielder Fernando Gago and subsequent welter of abuse that has been directed in the direction of Eastlands has certainly dragged Manchester City’s name somewhat through the muck. Real Madrid’s bitter words could just be a by-product of an attempt to try and prevent City achieving their status as one of the world’s foremost football teams.
Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid’s Sporting Director, has been the source of much of the ire, and claimed that City weren’t in any position to sign the midfielder citing a lack of any preparation and paperwork, even hinting at an illegal approach to the player before consulting his club. It rather suggests that Valdano believes that City were somewhat amateurish in the way they handled the approach, but perhaps one needs to delve further into the time-line of the transfer before reaching any conclusion.
It would appear that City were looking at Fernando Gago as a possible transfer target for some time and identified the out of favour former Boca Juniors player early in the window. Reports indicate that they were quoted a staggering £21 million to acquire Gago, despite the fact that the fee represented a 50% mark-up on what Real paid his former Argentine side when they swooped for him in a double deal with an agency to bring Gago and compatriot Gonzalo Higuain to the club.
Manchester City tax
Rebuffed City sought other transfer targets, but after the deal to sign the Kenyan Mariga evaporated, they returned to Real and were quoted a more reasonable price of around £15 million. This indicates that Real Madrid, like AC Milan in the Kaka deal previously, simply hiked up the price because it was Manchester City who came calling.
Could Kaka have been wearing the light-blue of City if it hadn't been for AC Milan?
There is certainly a lesson to be learnt for City, in that they need to bide their time when making offers for players, and they may need to be prepared to identify another target if their initial choice falls through. Chelsea suffered the same issue in the immediate aftermath of the Abramovich take-over, and City will need to go through the same process.
However, given the fact that Real substantially reduced their asking price at the second time of asking with time running out to conclude the deal suggests that the reason it failed to go through was because of their own greed. They had hoped to exploit City’s nouveau-riche status, and when Real lost the chance to move on a player who hasn’t featured much this season at a profit, they simply spat the dummy out and blamed everyone else but themselves.
Always City’s fault?
Valdano’s comments therefore smack of frustration at their inability to fleece City, but also petty-minded parochialism. There is no doubt that City’s rapid emergence in the past couple of seasons has ruffled a few feathers amongst the elite of European football, who are more interested in preserving their own status at the top rather than encouraging competition.
Manchester City were the target of much vilification from AC Milan and now Real Madrid over transfer dealings, accusing City of amateurism and unsettling players, an accusation Real Madrid in particular should steer clear of making given their conduct in the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer. Clearly there is an attempt to sully City’s name, as they attempt to financially muscle their way into what has been largely a closed-shop for many years.
There is certainly something in this theory; ultimately AC Milan accepted a bid of nearly half what City had offered for Kaka when the talented Brazilian made the move to Spain in the summer. Were AC Milan willing to accept susbstanially less just to ensure that Kaka didn’t move to Eastlands? Most suggest that Kaka didn’t fancy the move to City in the end, and that might have been so. But why then did AC Milan accept a much lower bid subsequently from Real, when their asking price when City enquired was nearly double that?
City themselves have refrained from letting themselves get dragged into a slanging match with Real Madrid after trading public remarks with AC Milan over the failed-Kaka deal. Internally though, City may need to switch their targets away from the bigger sides and instead concentrate on acquiring promising players, who can fulfil their potential at Eastlands.
Returning to the example of Chelsea, the unfortunate incident of Gael Kakuta aside, they too were often criticised for the way they conduced transfer dealings, most notably by Manchester United after they failed to secure Jon Obi Mikel after Chelsea trumped them for the player. City may also need to go through the same process before being able to conduct transfer business without provoking the wrath of other elite sides from around Europe.

Wayne Bridge could return to the Manchester City starting line-up on Saturday.
The full-back has been absent since injuring a knee against former club Chelsea at the beginning of December.
Since then Bridge has been caught up in the allegations about England captain John Terry's private life.
The Chelsea star has faced calls for his resignation as skipper following allegations that he had an affair with the ex-partner of England team-mate Bridge.
Terry has already figured twice for Chelsea since his position as England captain came under threat. And now it appears Bridge, along with fellow long-time absentee Joleon Lescott, is on the brink of a comeback.
"I spoke to Joleon and he is very happy," City fitness coach Ivan Carminati told the Manchester Evening News.
"His knee is very strong and unless things change he could be involved in the next match - and so could Wayne Bridge."
While Bridge is bound to be the centre of attention at the KC Stadium, where Terry appeared two days ago in Chelsea's disappointing 1-1 draw, Blues boss Roberto Mancini wants the 29-year-old back in action to aid his side's push for a top four berth.
City are currently just a point behind fourth-placed Tottenham but have two matches in hand and are the bookmakers' favourites to clinch that prized Champions League spot ahead of Spurs, Aston Villa and Liverpool.
Although they did not make much of an impact during the January transfer window compared to last season, City have managed to bolster their midfield.
Patrick Vieira brings additional experience, even though the 33-year-old is still waiting to make his debut after arriving from Inter Milan with a calf strain.
Youth comes in the form of the highly-rated England Under-21 star Adam Johnson, who joined on deadline day from Middlesbrough.

[Vhero]

Manchester U***d winger Ryan Giggs believes team-mate Wayne Rooney is about to join Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid duo Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo in being seen as the best players in the world. Daily Star

In Spain most likely this summer.

[blootoof]

BREAKING NEWS: Man Yoo go under

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=76b_1265180381

[Chinners]

Evening Bollox Headlines
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has labelled the ruling that prevented him from signing McDonald Mariga as an 'incredible decision'es.
The Kenyan midfielder appeared all set to move to Eastlands on winter transfer deadline day, but he was denied a work permit and signed for Inter Milan, Mancini's former club.
Mancini was left understandably annoyed by the verdict not to allow ex-Helsingborgs player Mariga to move from Parma and thinks City have missed out on a genuine talent.
The City boss told his club's official website: "We had two or three targets but our main aim was to bring Mariga to the club.
"We couldn't see any problems so to have the panel rule against granting him a work permit is, I believe, an incredible decision.
"He is a young player and Kenya's most important footballer and considering he's played in Sweden and Italy for the past six years and with relations between Kenya and Britain strong, I just cannot understand why he had his application refused.
"All the top teams in Italy and many others in Europe wanted him so it is very disappointing when we had agreed a deal."

JT Joke of the Day
What has Vanessa Perroncel got in common with a Champions League final goalpost?
They’ve both been banged by John Terry.

On this Day B*ll*x
2004
Manchester City score four goals in the second half to overturn a 3-0 deficit against Tottenham Hotspur in a dramatic FA Cup Fourth Round replay which includes a stoppage time winner as well as Joey Barton being sent off.
Ledley King curls the opener, Robbie Keane slides in Stephen Carr's pass and Christian Ziege fires in a free kick before half time to give Spurs what looks like a decisive lead.
Sylvain Distin then gets a goal back and Paul Bosvelt gives City hope with a deflected shot. Shaun Wright-Phillips levels before Jonathan Macken heads the winner.
City manager Kevin Keegan calls the match ‘the cup-tie of my lifetime’ and says: “I’ve told the players that people will still be watching that match when we’re all six feet under – or cremated.” The match does, in fact, now feature as a City DVD Classic.
1968
George Best is given the heaviest-ever fine for misconduct on the field - £250 and a six week suspended sentence.
Coventry City prepare to challenge the FA’s decision to reject filmed evidence in the Mel Machin case and fine him £50 plus suspended three week sentence. Sky Blues chairman Derrick Robins says: “‘It is a thundering disgrace.” Cliff Lloyd, PFA secretary says: “The verdict reached was a big disappointment.”
1971
Geoff Sidebottom, 34-year-old former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa player, is advised to retire following repeated double-vision and headaches. His manager at Brighton, Pat Saward, says: “He’s always been courageous. I played with him at Villa, and watched him dive in for things no-one else would even consider trying to get.”
1983
Brighton and Hove Albion sign 40-year-old veteran keeper John Jackson who hasn’t played League football since August. He hasn’t trained either: “I don’t get time,” he says: “I’m in a full-time job now selling advertising space for a golf magazine. I just hope Brighton have a jersey big enough to cover my stomach.”
1964
Southampton full back Tommy Traynor is set to play his 499th match for Saints against Swansea but the game is postponed. The club go ahead with a gold-watch presentation to mark his 500th match anyway the following Saturday.

Adam Johnson is ready to listen and learn as he begins the next chapter of his blossoming career at Manchester City.
Johnson's superb early-season form for Middlesbrough caught the eye of the big-spending Premier League outfit and manager Roberto Mancini made a move for the 22-year-old winger in the January transfer window.
A £7million switch was completed just hours before Monday's deadline and there has been talk of the England Under-21 international forcing himself into contention for this summer's World Cup squad.
But Johnson is refusing to set any targets as he becomes accustomed to his new surroundings.
"I've got to take each day at a time," he told Sky Sports News."It's all new to me and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Hectic
"It's quite hectic at the minute but once I get everything out of the way, I can get down to business, work hard and see what happens.
"The manager's been fantastic," Johnson added.
"He's helped me straight away to improve my game and that's what I want.
"I wanted to come and try to better myself and become a better player.
"There's world-class players here and everyone knows the quality throughout the squad.
"I'm hoping to come here and learn from the manager and the players, and hopefully become a better player."
Johnson came through the ranks at Middlesbrough, making his debut in March 2005 aged 17.
He had a brief loan spell with Leeds during the 2006/07 season and spent two months with Watford in 2007/08, scoring five goals in 12 Championship games for the Hornets.
Johnson established himself in Boro's starting line-up this season following Stewart Downing's departure for Aston Villa and he took full advantage, scoring 11 goals in 26 league games.
Goodbyes
That convinced Mancini to swoop and lure Johnson from his only permanent club.
"It was a tough decision but based on coming to a massive club like this it wasn't too hard," added the Sunderland-born player.
"As soon as I knew City were interested, my mind was almost set.
"I'd been there (Middlesbrough) since I was 12 so there's a lot of people in the Academy who have helped get me to where I am and I want to progress even further now.
"There's a lot of people I had to say goodbyes to, people I've known for a lot of years and lads who I've grown up with.
"But everyone's really pleased for me and I'm glad to be here.
"I want to play in the best league in the world - it's where everyone wants to play - and hopefully I can get a run of games."

WAG OF THE NIGHT
http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2 ... vandebosch

[Beefymcfc]

That was a decent read Chinners, thanks for the Bollox.

English debating B*ll*x
In the wake of the failure to sign up Real Madrid’s Fernando Gago, Manchester City have come in for some heavy criticism from both the Spanish side and the player’s agent. http://www.aboutaball.co.uk asks whether City need to wise up in the transfer market.
The recent activity in attempting to sign the Argentine midfielder Fernando Gago and subsequent welter of abuse that has been directed in the direction of Eastlands has certainly dragged Manchester City’s name somewhat through the muck. Real Madrid’s bitter words could just be a by-product of an attempt to try and prevent City achieving their status as one of the world’s foremost football teams.
Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid’s Sporting Director, has been the source of much of the ire, and claimed that City weren’t in any position to sign the midfielder citing a lack of any preparation and paperwork, even hinting at an illegal approach to the player before consulting his club. It rather suggests that Valdano believes that City were somewhat amateurish in the way they handled the approach, but perhaps one needs to delve further into the time-line of the transfer before reaching any conclusion.
It would appear that City were looking at Fernando Gago as a possible transfer target for some time and identified the out of favour former Boca Juniors player early in the window. Reports indicate that they were quoted a staggering £21 million to acquire Gago, despite the fact that the fee represented a 50% mark-up on what Real paid his former Argentine side when they swooped for him in a double deal with an agency to bring Gago and compatriot Gonzalo Higuain to the club.
Manchester City tax
Rebuffed City sought other transfer targets, but after the deal to sign the Kenyan Mariga evaporated, they returned to Real and were quoted a more reasonable price of around £15 million. This indicates that Real Madrid, like AC Milan in the Kaka deal previously, simply hiked up the price because it was Manchester City who came calling.
Could Kaka have been wearing the light-blue of City if it hadn't been for AC Milan?
There is certainly a lesson to be learnt for City, in that they need to bide their time when making offers for players, and they may need to be prepared to identify another target if their initial choice falls through. Chelsea suffered the same issue in the immediate aftermath of the Abramovich take-over, and City will need to go through the same process.
However, given the fact that Real substantially reduced their asking price at the second time of asking with time running out to conclude the deal suggests that the reason it failed to go through was because of their own greed. They had hoped to exploit City’s nouveau-riche status, and when Real lost the chance to move on a player who hasn’t featured much this season at a profit, they simply spat the dummy out and blamed everyone else but themselves.
Always City’s fault?
Valdano’s comments therefore smack of frustration at their inability to fleece City, but also petty-minded parochialism. There is no doubt that City’s rapid emergence in the past couple of seasons has ruffled a few feathers amongst the elite of European football, who are more interested in preserving their own status at the top rather than encouraging competition.
Manchester City were the target of much vilification from AC Milan and now Real Madrid over transfer dealings, accusing City of amateurism and unsettling players, an accusation Real Madrid in particular should steer clear of making given their conduct in the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer. Clearly there is an attempt to sully City’s name, as they attempt to financially muscle their way into what has been largely a closed-shop for many years.
There is certainly something in this theory; ultimately AC Milan accepted a bid of nearly half what City had offered for Kaka when the talented Brazilian made the move to Spain in the summer. Were AC Milan willing to accept susbstanially less just to ensure that Kaka didn’t move to Eastlands? Most suggest that Kaka didn’t fancy the move to City in the end, and that might have been so. But why then did AC Milan accept a much lower bid subsequently from Real, when their asking price when City enquired was nearly double that?
City themselves have refrained from letting themselves get dragged into a slanging match with Real Madrid after trading public remarks with AC Milan over the failed-Kaka deal. Internally though, City may need to switch their targets away from the bigger sides and instead concentrate on acquiring promising players, who can fulfil their potential at Eastlands.
Returning to the example of Chelsea, the unfortunate incident of Gael Kakuta aside, they too were often criticised for the way they conduced transfer dealings, most notably by Manchester U***d after they failed to secure Jon Obi Mikel after Chelsea trumped them for the player. City may also need to go through the same process before being able to conduct transfer business without provoking the wrath of other elite sides from around Europe.