DISQUS

Fair point, BR, but I feel that football, like pantomime or wrestling, is entertainment. Cole's personality traits may make him to be an odious twerp, but what bearing does that have on the show? Why boo him when he plays for the very team you are supporting? And, finally, who gives a monkeys if he is out of touch with the common man? (You're outraged by this, really?) He is a fine left back and he plays for England. Surely that is all that matters.

Cashley may be a twat but booing him is like booing the villain in a pantomime or booing Giant Haystacks during an old school, Saturday afternoon wrestling match. I have no idea why fans take things so personally. I can understand Gooners giving him stick, but England fans at Wembley? It smacks of immaturity - whether Ashely is a prick or a modern day saint is irrelevant - it has no bearing on my enjoyment of the game. He's a great left back and, yes, he did make a poor mistake but mistakes are common enough in all levels of the game. Grow up!

There are parallels with the music industry. Web technology has dramatically changed the way people consume the product, whether it's an album or a football match. The suits in charge have been slow to keep up with the pace of change and have resorted to knee jerk reactions in an attempt to aggressively cling on to the old business models, which have been extremely lucrative for them.

So, in the US, we see the RIAA suing college kids for illegally downloading music and Net Result in the UK preventing football fans from watching YouTube clips of goals.

They're swimming against the tide, as sites like Justin.tv will continue to pop up and geeks the world over will figure out ways to break into the gated communities created by the football authorities and music bigwigs to protect their product.

In music's case, we see independent labels (who are usually keen to try new things and push the envelope), experiment with new business models. For example, many bands have realized that the money doesn't come from album sales but from touring, merchandise and advertising. I wonder what the football equivalent of this is?

As someone said above, as long as fans can watch a game online for free, they will. So subscriptions won't work. But I'd gladly sit through a few commercials to watch a quality stream online. How hard can it be?

"How Chelsea Ruined SWP" may be a harsh headline (but this is a blog after all, so we should be forgive the occasional sensationalist headline, as long as it isn't misleading), but I agree with the sentiment. SWP must take his share of the blame, however, as it was a poor career decision.

To the sadly misguided and completely biased "Chelsea are beyond reproach" posters above, I have two words for you: Steve Sidwell. Why on earth did Chelsea feel it necessary to take a decent midfielder who Reading desperately needed and never had a hope of breaking into the first team? We can all argue that Sidwell, like SWP, made the wrong decision but that does not excuse Chelsea of culpability.

More to the point, perhaps the Chelsea fans can tell us how they feel about selling a 27-year old with a lot to offer the Premier League for approx 13M less than they paid for him? The same goes for Shevchenko - a loss of about 10M pounds.

All this "masterminded" by Peter Kenyon, a man who claims he will have Chelsea in the black in a few years.

A bunch of pantomime villains, the lot of them. Why "hate" anyone? They may be twats but all I care about it is watching good football, something most people on this list are capable of.

Gaffer, interesting that you have the three promoted sides all going back down. That's sad, isn't it?

Interesting that no one has anything to say about that.

Christ on a bike, what a bunch of fookin' babies.

"Arsenal are the best, just you wait and see, whaa, whaa...[spits dummy out]...whaa, the media's out to get us, we'll show you, whaa [falls out of pram]."

This is a blog fer crissakes - not a bleedin' oracle. It's written by people with opinions, opinions that may - shock, horror - differ from your own.

Michael, like every man and his dog with an opinion on the upcoming season, wonders how Arsenal are going to challenge for the PL and CL when they have failed, yet again, to make significant investment in the squad (compared to Chelsea and ManU, that is). Man U may not have made any signings yet, but you can be sure they will by the end of the window. Chelsea have bought Bosingwa and Deco (sorry, Simon Burke, but that is more than a "little investment").

The comparison with Spurs makes sense when you remember (and this may be breaking news for some of the learning-impaired 12 year olds that are commenting here) that Spurs and Arsenal have been fierce rivals for almost a century, and that Spurs have top 4 pretensions (again).

My guess: Arsenal will nab 3rd or even 2nd if Man U slip up. Chelsea will win it.

One problem with your reasoning, Lonnie, is that you will likely find yourself in the same position in the next decade. A club's fortune, ethos, personnel, management, owners, etc., etc. can change wholesale over the course of, say, a decade, which is roughly the period of time it took you to tire of Man Utd.

Why didn't you support Boro a decade ago? Presmuably because they were shelling out a ton of money for Ravanelli, Emerson, Barmby, Juninho, etc. rather than relying on a top notch youth policy?

Supporting a local team, or a team with familial connections, solves this conundrum as you are stuck with them no matter what happens.

If that's not possible (I assume you are American - you didn't link to your original post, so I am guessing), my advice would be to be as impartial as possible, rooting for the underdogs and/or those teams and players that play the most attractive football. Much like my experience, as an Englishman, watching Euro 08! Or watching the Spanish and Italian leagues.

It's the going rate for homegrown players, I suppose.

Van der Vaart is reportedly going to Madrid for 7.8M pounds. Is Bentley better than Van der Vaart? No. But he's English.

Silly if you ask me. But you have to look at Bentley in the context of other high profile English EPL signings - SWP, Rio, Rooney, etc., etc.

Berbatov is going. Even if he didn't he certainly wouldn't be vice captain. Why even entertain such an idea? Ramos wants to get rid - for the money and because he doesn't want a sulk who clearly wants to ply his trade elsewhere. Ramos and Levy have said as much in press. Berbatov would have a negative affect on the dressing room- he isn't even on the bench for the friendlies. Time to bid him farewell and thanks for the memories.

I expect Spurs will dramatically improve their league position, but agree that a top 4 finish will be too much of a stretch this year.

If we ignore all the other squad changes for a second, the loss of *both* Keane and Berbatov in this transfer period poses the biggest headache for Ramos. This was one of the most potent Premier League front two pairings in recent memory, and arguably Spurs' greatest. Losing them both in quick succession leaves a gaping hole in Spurs' attack and despite Darren Bent's pre-season form, replacements will need to be found and quick.

Spurs possessed a strong squad at the end of the last season and it can be argued that strengthening in a handful of key positions was at that was needed. However, what we are witnessing are wholesale changes to the team. It will take a while for the new faces to bed in and the team to adapt to a new formation (most Spurs fans agree that Ramos will employ a five-man midfield with a lone CF).

My prediction: 6th in the League and another cup win.

King Kong - Spurs are a PLC, so perhaps the source of your spurious rumor can explain how Spurs plan to fudge a missing 5M quid on it's balance sheet.

Not sure about the comparison with Robben, Gaffer. Chelsea's squad was, and still is, far deeper than Arsenal's - and as long as the club is bolstered with Roman's riches, it will continue to be so.

Losing Hleb is a bigger blow to the Gunners than Robben's transfer was to Chelsea. Nasri is something of an unknown quantity (although, it must be said, Wenger does have a knack of spotting gems and improving their game). But, a club of Arsenal's stature should be aiming for the Premiership title, and losing players like Hleb, Flamini and very possibly Adebeyor, has to be seen as a step backwards. They should be hanging on to these players AND bringing in the likes of Nasri. But Wenger's comments about the modern player being a mercenary demonstrate just how difficult that is.

Jeff - thanks for the dose of optimism. I may, however, have to convince the missus to give up her beloved On Demand / Time Warner system, so I don't have to drag myself to a pub at 8:30am on the Sabbath. Wish me luck.

Fantastic. I only have to wait until mid October to see my Spurs on FSC.

The Community Shield idea could a good one if it was accepted as a viable alternative to the Game 39 idea - but I suspect it wouldn't be purely because of the historical friction between the FA and the PL.

Scudamore will press on, no doubt, but he has yet to offer a proposal on how Game 39 would work. 20 teams playing each other twice a year, home and away, has a perfect symmetry. What are the practicalities of a 39th game?

If the PL is already the global league of choice with more viewers abroad than at home, what is the point of Game 39? Also, what do the managers think of having to play a game abroad during an already exhausting season?

This smacks of the World Club Cup affair, when ManU was excused of playing in the FA Cup so they could fly thousands of miles to be embarrassed in Brazil.

English football fans obsess over "authenticity." That is to say, who is the more "authentic" fan. One of the worse insults you see and hear in the pubs, terraces or message boards is "plastic," ("plastic fans," "plastic wankers," or merely "plastics"), a plastic being a new, fair weather or casual fan, who often holds forth with their opinions despite not being as immersed in the game as a hardcore supporter - the type that has owned a season ticket since the black and white era, travels on the midweek away days to Wigan, can remember the names of all the "top boys" from the 80s, etc., etc.

For example, Chelsea fans are often referred to as plastics; not so long ago Chelsea was an unremarkable team playing in a crappy stadium with half the attendance you see now. Fast forward to the present day and Chelsea enjoys sells out crowds. Who are these new fans? Where did the come from? Plastics. That will be the answer from, say, Spurs fans.

It's a form of cultural snobbery. And the English are good at that. The same principal applies here; American fans didn't grow up in the English footballing culture, so how could they possibly know more about the game than an Englishman?

It's a shame really. We all stand to benefit if more Americans embrace the game, so their' interest in football should be nurtured by their English cousins, not mocked.

Kartik pretty much sums it up. Compare Citeh today with Citeh last year. It's a joke and a great shame that football clubs are seemingly run by people who know nowt about the game. Sven is a proven manager and must be given at least three years to make his mark.

Michael, you must have the patience of a saint. There are some absurdly stupid people reading this blog.

Alex Hleb - what did you actually think of the Liverpool Chelsea game? All your other opinions are deeply fascinating, so I'm sure I am not alone in wondering what insight you can share about the topic at hand.

Darren said: "Actually Crucial Desisions did cost Arsenal the tie, you really cant argue that."

Yes I can argue that and in fact I just did. Did a crucial decision make Senderos go AWOL when Hypia scored? Did a crucial decision prevent Torres from scoring a wonderful goal? Did a crucial decision make Adebayor miss an absolute sitter? Did crucial decisions prevent Arsenal beating Liverpool a single time in three attempts, two of which were at home?

No. Rafa did a job on Arsenal.

You can complain about referee decisions all you want, but all that does is deflect attention from larger problems at Arsenal, such as despite having an excellent team there is some dead weight that needs cutting from it. Arsenal were in the market for Torres and Babel but passed on them for being overvalued - and guess what, they end up at Liverpool, scoring in the quarter final.

Also Rafa/Liverpool seem to have that European magic touch while Wenger/Arsenal patently do not.

If you want to get all micro about it you could argue that losing Sagna or losing Flamini cost Arsenal the tie. Or that preventing Gerrard from skinning his man and supplying the cross that created the crucial away goal in the first leg was the #1 crucial moment.

Penalties get the headlines but they do not tell the whole story.

Nonsense said: "Crucial Decisions in 1st and 2nd Leg cost arsenal the tie."

I suppose crucial decisions have cost Arsenal in the title race too, right?

Another trophy-less season for Arsenal, and Wenger fails again to win a European trophy. There are bigger questions here that go far beyond "was it a penalty."

Jason: what's this "we" business? I don't think Arsenal should have been victors in the end. Football is a cruel, harsh business. Arsenal played wonderful football at times, but Liverpool always produce that European magic. While the Wenger Boys have disappointed in Europe on many occasions and cries of "we were cheated," or "Anfield bias" and "the referee was Liverpool's 12th man" only serve to obscure this fact.

Credit to Wenger for building a superb team without splashing huge amounts of cash, but if Arsenal want trophies (how many trophy-less seasons has it been now?) and European glory, he is going to have to dig deep into the coffers.

Michael - good call for not doing the obvious and picking managers solely from the top five.

Agree that O'Neill and Moyes have probably done the most with the least. An ideal template for once big clubs trying to slowly, surely and sensibly rebuild.

Keane too has done a great job since taking the helm at the Makems, but he has made one or two suspect purchases (5M for Chopra?) so I think he comes behind Moyes and O'Neill who have made astute acquisitions.

Wenger is one of the country's greats, no doubt about it. But he will bitterly disappointed this year, having effectively given up the title in a matter of a few weeks. His failure to buy big, proven talent has cost Arsenal. And, as he should be judged by a higher standard than the others, the barometer by which he should be judged is silverware - and Arsenal won't win any this year.

It's too soon to judge Ramos. Great cup win and he lifted Spurs out of the relegation zone and has shown great tactical chops, something Martin Jol apparently lacked. But Spurs' form since the cup win has been indifferent. He'll rebuild in the summer, so one to revisit next year.

Moyes for manager of the year. Especially if Everton nick fourth.

dragonki2012: your comment doesn't make much sense.

Derby aren't the worst PL team ever because they played reasonably well in one game? What about the other 37?

"Fulham on the other hand don’t deserve to go down, I’d rather see Wigan go down with Derby and Birmingham City."

What's deserve go to do with it?