Top Club Earners

Great accomplishment of English soccer teams of the Champions League for the past six years have been greatly rewarded.  But neither Liverpool the 2005 winner nor Manchester United the 2008 winner top the financial earnings of the continent.  A study released by StageUp, the Italian sports business consultancy, Chelsea top the list.  On that period, it earned more than any European club from competition.  It earned about €184 million of the €3 billion that UEFA gave out to 70 clubs. 

Second on the list is Manchester United as Alex Ferguson its coach, hit the trading floor.  Third is Arsenal that earned from competitions but was hit hard by property decline.  Fourth is Lyon, it is boost up due to its being the only consistent French performer club in the league.  Fifth is Liverpool who got €131 million.  StageUp president Giovanni Palazzi said that the study revealed that good policies for domestic revenue sharing on championships like the Premier League sufficient to stop the teams from becoming the only winners. 

The Big four On the Lookout

Alex Ferguson is looking intently and very interested with the way City transformed summer’s transfer.  The world has been looking on Eastlands.  So is the manager of United.  Alex admits that all the traditional big four in England are looking over their shoulders while Mark Hughes is making a shopping spree.  And yet he is still not convinced about City’s experience to be a real title candidate.  Even with the Abu Dhabi billions. 

 

They should be aware that financial muscle can achieve the ambitions.  Chelsea ran from a fascinating club to a Champion winning team that is a threat to dominate English as long as the billionaire owner is interested.  Alex guarantees that this did not happen to his team.  United could become the first English team to win four straight titles.  But he admits that the challenge given by Chelsea forced him to work double time.  City’s did not make any of the four team jerk in reaction to what they have done.

 

Malaga Chasing for Champions League Place

Malaga’s quest for a berth in the Champions League was given a great push when they beat Valladolid three goals to one. The newly promoted side this time last year was still in second tier competition and the win gave a boost to the club’s history.
Malaga took the lead on Albert Luque’s bending left footer found space between two defenders and beyond the outstretched arms of Valladolid keeper Justo Villar. A penalty made on the 29th minute courtesy of Antonio Galdeano increased Malaga’s lead to two goals until Pedro Oldini scored on a header in the 84th minute to cut the lead to one. Ignacio Perez, who was put in as substitute then scored in injury time for the final score.
The win allowed Malaga to cut the lead of the last finals berth to two points currently held by Villareal. For its part, Malaga has only lost two of its last fourteen matches and needs to win the last remaining ones to be in contention for the last ticket to the Champions League finale.

Hiddink to Make Strike Duo Effective

Hiddink has a secret that Scolari did not have during the latter’s stint as mentor for the Blues and that is the ability to make Diddier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka into a striking partnership that can make Chelsea contend for the Champion’s League crown.
He made this fact known as he handpicked the two for their match against Aston Villa. The strategy worked as Anelka was able to score the lone goal of the match last Saturday. Under the past manager, the Ivory Coast striker and the French international never played together in a match. Their play during the Aston Villa match was the barometer for Hiddink’s plan and it had proved to be successful. There were rumours that the two were not seeing eye to eye off the pitch but there seemed to be no sign of it in the win. The team hug at the end of the match was not a publicity stunt but a genuine show of unity and solidarity in the midst of all the controversy. Hopefully, this new Chelsea game plan and spirit would again prove effective in the next matches.

Lyon 2 Nancy Nil

Lyon ravaged by suspension and injuries managed to field a team to blank Nancy two zip in its match last Saturday and maintain its lead in the French League.
The scoring was opened by Brazilian Cris as he headed into the net a corner kick from Cesar Delgado at the 18th minute. The second goal was scored in injury time as Jean Makoun sneaked the ball to set up substitute Karim Benzema for the score.
Nancy was given a golden opportunity to score a goal with a penalty kick but Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was able to stop Youssouf Hadji from scoring from the spot in the 51st minute from a foul by Lamine Gassama on Nancy’s Jonathan Brison.
Missing from the Lyon line up were John Mensah who was suspended and injured were Fabio Santos, Anthony Reveillere, Francois Clerc and Mathieu Bodmer. Lyon manager also rested starters Fabio Grosso, Honorato Ederson, Juninho, Kader Keita and Benzema in preparation for the Champions League match with Barcelona.
Lyon still lords it over the standings with 52 points well ahead of nearest rival Paris Saint-Germain.

Two Masters

Guus Hiddink is the manager both the Russian World Cup Team and the mentor for the Premiere League side Chelsea. Hiddink assumed the position after Luiz Felipe Scolari was summarily dismissed by the executive.

Other managers also think that the dual role would be hard and hopefully it would be for a short term basis only, The issue that comes up would be if either side starts going on a losing skein, there may be comments that the manager may either not be spending too much time fulfilling duties and end up spreading himself too thin. Ultimately, there may be issues as to scheduling conflicts and ultimately physical health.

But many that though this is difficult, but this task is not altogether impossible to do. But it can only be a short term decision and not a long term solution to a particular plan.  These were the observations of Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill as Guus Hiddink watched O’Neill’s side draw the match with CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Cup tie. This was the prelude to the match between the Blues and Aston Villa at Villa Park. If Villa wins over Chelsea, then Villa would surge ahead of Chelsea by four points in the team standings.

Next Page »