Beckford signs for Everton. That's been on the cards since January so it doesn't come as any surprise.



Not sure how they'll play him, are Saha and Yakubu tied down to long term deals?

Where did you get that pic from?



The lad who took the pic has contacted the club but the reason given was a load of tosh and wasn't what the manager said to him at the time in the shop.

Why would he need to take it to court? UEFA can have whatever qualification requirements they like for their competitions. They'll clearly put some safeguards in to stop people artificially creating turnover, like your example.



Promoting financial prudence is a great idea but it's far too late unfortunately.

UEFA found in the 90's, when they had to drop their restrictions on foreign players, that they cant have whatever qualification requirements they like.



I'm not sure why some types of turnover are necessarily better or worse than others. If Club A signs a 1 year shirt sponsorship deal for £25m pa, is that necessarily better (from the a financial prudence perspective) than Club B signing a 5 year £50m pa deal with a company that is part owned by the owner's relative?



I can see that it might be undesireable if the owner is comparable to, say, some of the people that have owned Portsmouth recently, but that's a slightly different issue. That's a case of people blagging their way into owning a football club when they dont really have the resources they claim. Its different to the case where the owner genuinely has the money. I dont really see how UEFA's proposed solvency rules solves the problem of dodgy owners.



I can see the case for banning "artificial" turnover on the grounds of creating a level playing field, but not on the grounds of financial prudence.

I think a couple of clubs will test the water in relation to turnover Man city being one the other probably Real. Would need some very astute Lawyers to take a club on that decided to spend money it had and was solvent unlike a couple of clubs already in the champions league who are far from solvent.

Can't believe Adam Johnson isn't going but SWP is. The hype of England has already begun, Capello is a great coach, but not the greatest and I feel this is an early mistake.

England squad is a joke.



SWP? You winding me up.















Viva Ronaldo.

may aswell come home now

We were only ever getting to the quarters

I'll take a punt on SWP going further into the tournament than Ronaldo. Unless Portugal improve drastically they will be out at the group stages.

I'm glad Joe Cole is going, could be our trump card. Still, I think we're in for another disappointment.

Up against Germany or Australia in the 2nd round (assuming the usual scraping past supposedly inferior group opponents)....both of them will kick England out.

Our midfield is laughable. We'll get murdered by anybody half decent willing to sit and defend.

Are you on crack?



Serbia are favourites for that group.

If you're basing your hopes on Joe Cole being the trump card you should start preparing for your disappointment now.





Not really too concerned over the squad. Just glad that Walcott hasn't managed to steal another WC squad place. I'm 100% club football and aren't [ithat[/i concerned over the WC, but I respect the competition enough to think that Walcott doesn't deserve to be in it.

Does anyone think Leighton Baines asked not to go?



He played a lot more than Warnock, who looked completely out of contention throughout. Then Baines comes out in the press and questions if he'd be able to cope away from his family for so long if he was chosen for the World Cup and hey ho he's not picked.



If he had wanted to go he would surely have retracted that statement.



SWP going at all is bizarre. Walcott not being there, just for his pace from the bench is just hillarious. The man has lost the plot.

The Ingerlund squad makes me glad I feel absolutely no affection for the national side.



Now to sit back and enjoy the come down. It's like watching junkies shoot up to be told no more heroine, no more methadone. You're going cold turkey. On penalties.



Excellent.

The only England international I'll be going out of my way to watch is the game on 12th June at Leigh.

I think the only thing more ridiculous and boring than the overblown hype is the people who feel the need to tell us over and over and over again how much they don't care, and are looking forward to England's exit.

[url=http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2010/06/02/revealed-usa%e2%80%99s-20m-bonus-pot-the-biggest-in-world-cup-history-020603/USA’s $20m bonus pot – the biggest in World Cup history[/url

I considered that international but ruled it out on the basis of how difficult it is to get there by rail.

I'll have a 40 minute bus ride into Girona city centre.



Would imagine one of the local bars will be showing the England football games, but I'll be working for the Slovenia and Algeria matches.

When they kick off against USA I should be on my way back from Montserrat

Says the English-born Spanish wannabe.

Too true, and you just know that should England make at least the semi-finals, they'll be the ones buying up any form of England-related tat, and then invading the pubs to watch the game and impart their, ahem, 'opinions' onto anyone and everyone, ususally calling Player X 'a load of f*****g rubbish'.



Cans, and the comfort of my armchair for the whole tournament. Bliss.