The Forester

The Carling Cup: welcome to a parallel univers.

The Cup is another world… league form means nothing… it’s the Cup, so we’ve nothing to lose… Yeah yeah yeah.

These sayings get trotted out every time a would-be giant killer does their press interviews, lining up at the end of their final training session for one last moment in the media spotlight.
The press is kind, telling tales of Cup daring from a mystical past. 465-line tv footage is cranked up, showing grandfathers of today’s team hoofing pounds of sodden leather over a muddied line. Legions of flat-capped fans stand and applaud, fags bobbing their approval. A cheeky youth waves his cap in celebration.

And then you get a week like this.
And The Cup starts to mean something again.
West Ham pull on the smartest shirt in the Football League, and pull off a win. They beat Premiership opposition for the first time this season. They win away from home.for the first time in over a year. For the first time in over a year. Yeah, you’ve not heard much about it from WHU fans; they’re still in shock.

And then… Chelsea score three more at home – so that’ll be another comfortable win at the Bridge? er, no. Newcastle (Newcastle!) put four (yes, 4) past Chelsea (you get the idea!) to win at Stamford Bridge. That’ll keep Chelsea fans quiet for a day or two. & look out for the 10 goal onslaught when they meet in the league.

Liverpool draw. To a second division team. Fair enough, plucky upstarts. Northampton. You’ve enjoyed your time playing with the grown ups:
This is Anfield,
and you’ll be going home now, just after we take a few penalties. um, no. Liverpool out on penalties.

And in other news, squillionaires Man City lose out to West Brom, who have a weekly whip round for boot polish. On any other night this would be big news. Not today!

—

It’s quite a relief to find that some things don’t change. Man Utd win, comfortably. The biggest news here is that his holiness Sir AF missed the match to watch European opposition. We’ll be able to tell that the Carling Cup is getting serious when Man Utd bring their manager to a match.

Wigan does 'Gers shirts

Awesome opportunism from the Wigan shop – selling Rangers shirts ahead of tonight’s Champions League match with Manchester United.

Now if only they could do the same on the pitch….

thanks to http://trunc.it/b3gin for the original image

If I were a West Ham fan, I’d be wondering what in Hells Kitchen the Club was up to.

Fresh new owners – diehard fans they said – Sulllivan & Gold wrote in last weekend’s match programme that they’re struggling with the interest on the club’s £100 million debt.
huh?!

The debt is pretty much what you expected it to be, isn’t it? Interest charges haven’t gone up, have they? So how come you’re finding the heat in the kitchen a bit, well, too hot?

Contrast that with Tony Fernandes’ announcements over the weekend. (Remember, he came 2nd in the competition to buy WHU). He set up Lotus Racing: now, Formula 1 is a big money business: it’s glamorous, fiercely competitive, and there’s money to be made.

One year on from receiving permission to compete, Lotus announced their plans for the next year & beyond. New engines, cars in feeder formulae, interns working from asian universities… it’s a picture of success built from the ground up. It’s big, bold, confident – and aimed at success.

Of course, as a new small team they’ll be watching the pennies – and they’re often quoted as saying that the money goes where it will make the car go faster.

Wouldn’t it be good if West Ham fans felt their club’s money was being spent on making the car go faster: scoring more goals… winning more matches?

Rumour has it that Avram Grant wanted £8million for two rated players. Small beer? Well, it’s certainly not eye-wateringly expensive by Premier League standards. He didn’t get to bid.

Makes you wonder just how West ham United would be able to afford to develop the Olympic Stadium into a football ground (if the owners’ plans come off).

On the face of it, West Ham can’t afford the cost.. and who’s going to lend the club cash, if they’re already struggling with debt payments?
Answer: nobody would take that risk.

On the other hand, maybe S&G themselves, or one of their companies, are risk-worthy. On that scenario:
- it would be the income from redeveloping the Boleyn that would reduce the club’s debt.
- a Sullivan & Gold company would own whatever rights West Ham had to play at ‘t Olymipc park

In the meantime that’s the best part of a decade, hamstrung by cash-flow.
Can you see West Ham being a Premiership club in 2020, if the next decade is funded the same way as the past year?
Thought not.

& playing outside the Premier League, West Ham can’t make enough money to pay off that £100million debt, can they? So the Club then has to develop Boleyn as a non-footballing ground, or go under.

WHU could end up playing anywhere!

By stringing together 26 passes on Saturday, and finishing, Arsenal gave Arsen Wenger his 1000th goal as the club’s manager. He’s been in charge since 30 September 1996, for 790 matches. That’s 1.27 goals per game.

& how does that compare to the Premier League’s big beast, Sir Alex Ferguson? In charge since 6 November 1986 – 1,337 games and 2,435 goals. That’s (reach for your calculator) 1.82 goals per game

Which makes Alex Ferguson 43.3% better than Arsen Wenger.

Discuss!

While the rest of the world was watching football & thuggery in South Africa, Salisbury had an eventful summer assembling a team that made financial sense in their new league.

Manager Tommy Widdrington left in July to become assistant manager to Paul Sturrock at Southend United

Player sales, of course. Most notably Matt Tubbs – scorer of 99 league goals in 7 years moved to Crawley Town

Club captain Darrell Clarke became player-manager at the start of August.

UEFA has spoken, and named the twelve candidates for Club Footballer of the Year.

Five of them play for Inter; four for Barcelona.

Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Lyon’s keeper Lloris, and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney are the only outsiders to break in from elsewhere.

Which kinda makes you wonder if this is *really* the top 12 club players – or just a ranking of the clubs that UEFA wants to keep sweet right now – one English, French & German: the rest from Spain & Italy. UEFA has 53 member countries – what happened to the great players in the other 48 member nations?

that list in full:

Júlio César Internazionale – Brazil
Hugo Lloris Lyon – France
Víctor Valdés Barcelona – Spain
Lucio Internazionale – Brazil
Maicon Internazionale – Brazil
Gerard Piqué Barcelona – Spain
Xavi Hernández Barcelona – Spain
Arjen Robben Bayern – Netherlands
Wesley Sneijder Internazionale – Netherlands
Lionel Messi Barcelona – Argentina
Diego Milito Internazionale – Argentina
Wayne Rooney Man. United – England