Archive for July, 2006
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Here are the conditions (nothing to worry about) :
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They must be crazy … get on this before VC Bet change their mind.
July 31st, 2006
Another weekend of frieindly games – and there were some interesting results knocking around too – could they provide some important signals?
Let’s start with the positive.
Spurs 2 – Inter Milan 1 – a very good result for Spurs – their 7th friendly win in a row – even if it was still an “Inter B” side with many world cup stars out, and it was Finnish midfielder Teemu Tainio that got both goals for Spurs.
Valencia 3 – Charlton 1 – Charlton were well beaten at the Mestalla and ex-Liverpool man Morientes enjoyed his debut for Valencia grabbing a goal.
Then some shocks :
Preston 2 – Man United 1 – Yes it was a lightweight United side, but they’ve continued on their lacklustre form in South Africa. Kieran Richardson and Liam Miller were both playing – they don’t look like being United’s future. The one bit of good news for Red Devil fans was that Ole Gunnar Solksjaer got the goal.
Newcastle 2 – PSV Eindhoven 3 – And this one didn’t look close for a long while as PSV strolled into a 3-0 lead shortly after halftime. Damien Duff played for Newcastle and looked … well .. average. Newcastle pulled back two goals after he went off.
Liverpool 2 – Kaiserslautern 3 – ‘Slautern are now in Germany’s second division – but this result wasn’t as bad as it sounds – with multiple subs and injuries meaning that Liverpool were forced to play regular keeper Jose Reina in midfield for the last 11 minutes. A meaningless result if ever there was one.
Fulham 0 – Real Madrid 0 – better than I expected for Fulham – although Madrid were again without their big names – with Van Nistelrooy, Backham and Ronaldo out.
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All in all some interesting action – but never worth wasting your hard earned cash on – as most of the sides are still going through the options and testing out the relative merits of their squad.
July 30th, 2006
Newcastle have been paired with Ventspils in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round. The Magpies will play the away leg on August 10, with the return taking place at St James’ Park on August 24.
Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder is looking forward to making his first trip to Latvia but insists thorough preparation is needed before the first leg.
He told the club’s website, nufc.co.uk: “We will have Ventspils watched between now and playing them so nothing will be left to chance with our preparations. “We obviously need to do our homework and find out about this team as quickly as we can.
Gretna – Tennent’s Scottish Cup finalists – will face Derry over two legs, the eircom League side securing their place with a 2-0 aggregate success over IFK Gothenburg.
Welsh Premier League Llanelli face Odense, while another Scandinavian side – Norwegians Start – provide the opposition for eircom League Drogheda, who saw off HJK Helsinki 4-2 on aggregate.
July 28th, 2006
The traditional one-two of the Celtic / Rangers “Old Firm” was broken up last season with the emergence of Hearts as a force – and pre-season form suggests they’ll be a chance this season too.
Hearts, which finished second to break the traditional 1-2 of Celtic and Rangers, start this season with manager Valdas Ivanauskas in charge. He took over late last season, the third manager after George Burley and Graham Rix were fired by Lithuanian owner Roman Romanov.
The Jambos have spent little money in the off-season, and owner Vladimir Romanov says the emphasis this season will be on youth.
Hearts defeated Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg 3-0 on Wednesday in a first-leg, second round qualifier of the UEFA Champions League, and plays its Scottish opener Saturday at Dunfermline.
Celtic raced away with the league last season but manager Gordon Strachan has complained about a lack of transfer money over the summer.
The problem seems to be in attack. Goal scorers like Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson have departed. Playing up front are now Kenny Miller and Maciej Zurawski. Young striker Craig Beattie will also miss Saturday’s opener against Kilmarnock with a hamstring injury.
Rangers have made big changes. New manager Paul Le Guen has added a half dozen new faces.
With Rangers out of the Champions League this season, Le Guen’s top signing was Czech striker Libor Sionko, who moved from Austria Vienna on a three-year contract.
Also joining Rangers were Jeremy Clement from Lyon and Swedish defender Karl Svensson. Coming aboard, too, are goalkeeper Lionel Letizi and Makhtar N’Diaye.
Rangers will play their opener at Motherwell on Sunday without captain Barry Ferguson, who is recovering for a heel injury. Dado Prso will captain the team.
July 27th, 2006
The 2nd qualification round begins on Wednesday night with plenty of interesting games on offer for the European football punter.
There are 3 games that appeal to me – with the away side being a reasonable favourite to win in all three games – nd take a lead back home for the second match.
Metalurgs Liepaja -vs- Dynamo Kyiv @ 1.50
HIT Gorica -vs- Steaua Bucharest @ 1.85
Cork City -vs- Red Star Belgrade @ 2.04 (no preview link)
The games are listed above (with links to previews) and are in order of likelihood of the selections getting the away win as well – but of course it is unlikely that all three sides will manage the victory.
(betting is never that easy)
IF you take all three sides then we should see at least two winners should should be enough to make a small profit … or else you can take your chances and choose one of the three games to have a punt on.
Good luck.
July 26th, 2006
Damien Duff has revealed his unhappiness at Chelsea sparked his shock move to Newcastle.
Despite picking up two Premiership winner’s medals at Stamford Bridge in the last two seasons and playing in the Champions League, that was still not enough to end Duff’s misery.
The Republic of Ireland winger knew he had to quit the Blues to simply play football, and at St James’ Park he knows he will be an automatic first choice under manager Glenn Roeder.
That was in stark contrast to Jose Mourinho, who was keen to retain the services of the 27-year-old, but with no guarantees.
After speaking with Mourinho and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon about his feelings, the Premiership champions have reluctantly parted company with a player who cost them £17million from Blackburn three years ago.
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WEBBIE SAYS :
With only a year on his contract he probably would have been let go anyway – better to go on his terms I guess.
Although I must say – although it’s hard when you’re not playing regular first team football – I think the term “unhappiness” is misleading …
50K+ per week, top football, winners medals … oh I wish that we could all be that miserable eh?
July 24th, 2006
American billionaire and Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner is reportedly preparing a takeover of Premiership club Aston Villa.
It is understood he will enter the bidding for the West Midlands club when Villa chairman Doug Ellis returns from holiday this week. Ellis put Villa on the market in October last year, but despite interest from a number of parties, is yet to receive a firm offer.
The 44-year-old Lerner has an estimated 1.2 billion-dollar fortune and is chairman of credit card giants MBNA, while business magazine Forbes ranks the Browns as the seventh-most valuable franchise in the NFL at 892 million US dollars.
Ellis is now thought to want around £57million for the club, having originally asked for £64million before the sale of land.
Could this finally be the re-awakening of the sleeping giant that is Aston Villa?
July 24th, 2006
Ok. I went to the World Cup – and I quite enjoyed it – but as with all World Cups it was more of a surrealistic global party than really about the games.
Now that it’s over we’re having to tease ourselves with Intertoto games, meaningless friendly games in Tokyo and South Africa, and the odd testimonial match as well. It’s just not real football.
Speaking of testimonials, it was good to see Dennis Bergkamp get the send off that he deserved with 54,000 Gooners and Dutchmen turning up to thank a World Class player for his efforts in bringing the beautiful game to England and Highbury in particular. Thanks for the memories Den !!
But when it’s all said and done … it’s still not enough.
I want my club football back.
I want to agonise about another re-building year for Arsenal.
I want to gnash my as Chelsea win again
I want to LAUGH as Jose Mourinho shows his lack of class
I want to see if Spurs can compete in Europe AND in the league.
I want to see Rooney and Ronaldo trade punches on the pitch …
Basically … I just want my football back !!! Don’t you?
July 23rd, 2006
While the United States attempts to conduct it’s “great leap backwards” and start banning it’s citizens from taking part in online gambling – exactly the opposite is happening in the UK.
Casinos, betting shops and gambling websites will all be allowed to advertise on British Televeision and Radio by 2007.
New laws are being drafted that will ease restrictions in the UK, particularly around advertising – reversing rules that were put in place in the 1960’s to lessen the public appetite for gambling.
With televised poker rating well on TV, and gambling on sports well established and part of mainstream life, UK legislators are prepared to allow British citizens to make their own free choice about where to spend their leisure money.
Suddenly the US seems to have a lot more in common with China – preventing free internet access to it’s people … food for thought ?
July 23rd, 2006
We’re got the final round of the Intertoto cup on Saturday, and after a few surprise results in the first leg there are a few “big clubs” that really do need to win their second match in ordr to progress.
That generally is good news for punters as it means that both the club and the bettor are striving for the same result and that there will be no tame “honourable” draws in the second match.
One tie that really does catch my eye on Saturday is being played in Norway where Lillestrom host English giant Newcastle United.
Newcastle were not impressive in the first match – but got better as the game went on and with an extra week and some match play under their belts I think are worth a shot here.
The bookmakers are offering some tasty prices with PinnacleSports being very generous in offering 2.22 for Newcastle to manage the away win. That’s worth taking.
RELATED LINKS :
Here is a full match preview at GoonersGuide.com with the suggestion that the organisers might also like to see the bigger side progress as well.
PinnacleSports Bookmakers.
July 22nd, 2006
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