Friday, March 31, 2006

Houllier Wants Newcastle Job

Why would he pick this over Lyon?
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has emerged as a surprise candidate to take over the reins at Newcastle United, throwing his hat into the ring to succeed Graeme Souness at the under-achieving Premiership club.
Looks like Owen will be submitting a transfer request.

posted by ajit @ 7:04 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Chelsea Pairing with AEG

1This certainly seems like big news for the MLS,
Chelsea have announced a unique link-up with AEG, one of the major forces in North American soccer. Blues chief executive Peter Kenyon has been in the USA this week to complete the deal, which comes into effect in the summer of 2007.
And an even bigger deal for the LA Galaxy,
There will also be a special club-to-club relationship with MLS champions LA Galaxy, which could be expanded to other clubs if it works well. This will give Jose Mourinho first option to sign Galaxy players and allow young Chelsea players out on loan to gain experience in the MLS.
I am really excited about this, since it can only mean more quality coming into England from the MLS. The first thing we will probably see is Donovan going to Chelsea in August of 2007. That is fine by me, even as an LA Galaxy fan. He needs to prove himself on a bigger stage.

It should also mean an improved MLS, with some of Chelsea's reserves coming over here to play consistent first-team soccer. Although to be honest, I think it would make more sense for them to just loan out their players to Championship or League 1 teams instead. However, this underscores Chelsea's goals of making the team the most well-known (and marketable) in the world. Peter Kenyon makes it clear,
This is a unique, ground-breaking relationship that not only demonstrates our commitment to the development of US soccer, but will also help Chelsea work towards its aim of becoming the most popular European club in the US, one of our key target markets.
LA alone is a big market. But pairing with all of the AEG is surely a smart strategy, although I am still unsure of how much interaction there will be between the two entities. Hopefully this is about more than just jersey sales.

Tag: Chelsea, AEG

posted by ajit @ 6:53 PM 1 comments

Monday, March 27, 2006

Where's Henry Going?

1Well, the chase is on for Thierry Henry, the prolific Arsenal and France Striker, who seems to be waffling on his committment to the London team. Although I can't blame him for his ambivalence, I think that he should really get out of England and try something else. He has accomplished pretty much all he can for Arsenal (other than the Champions League - which may come this year), and probably is near the peak of his career, so he should be smart enough to get out now. However, the choices are a plenty - Inter, Juve, Barca, and Madrid are the likeliest of suitors.

Lucky for us, there is blabbermouth Italian teenager Arturo Lupoli to give us some insider information.
"I believe that Henry, at least I hope, will stay. A lot will depend on where Arsenal will finish at the end of the season."
Alright, fair enough. That's all that we should be hearing from him then. But wait, he has more to say!
"Juve? I'm not sure. He considers those months in Turin as a waste. And if I know him, he will not go even to Real Madrid."
Okay stop. You're his teammate. Not some pundit with no relationship to him.
"If he leaves Arsenal, he'll go to Barcelona or Inter."
There you have it. The best of locker room gossip. Don't expect Henry to make any passes to Lupoli (if he gets any playing time) in the near future.

Tag: Thierry Henry, Arsenal

posted by ajit @ 2:26 PM 0 comments

Intro

1I like futbol (soccer) a lot. So I decided to start posting some of the interesting articles and opinions about the beautiful game that I have seen online. Also, I'll be inserting my own take on the wide world of futbol. I'll probably be focusing on the U.S. (MLS and National Team) and then some of the bigger leagues and clubs in Europe. But, whatever I find that is relevant will be posted.

Enjoy!

posted by ajit @ 2:18 PM 0 comments