A cookie to Villa. (Fishdoll still wants a jersey, Kurt!) They're one English club I can like. They have a sane owner, they're fiscally sound, and the pub near the stadium is supposed to be cool (Holte End Pub, I think is the name). Plus, they've got a pretty good coach, a good percentage of local guys in the squad, and I find them entertaining to watch.

Yep, my bad.

Typo error? Or something else?

I said Bent equalised, when his goal made it 2-1, so it wasn't an equaliser.

Thankfully.

Yes, Randy did the Holte Pub back up, great stuff. He's put this club back where it belongs, we're the 4th most succesful club in the countries history and we should be back up there in reality. Alot of people slag England off and say our football is crap.. yet Villa are a team full of English players, not just that but alot of them are very young. 6th last season and 4th after 4 games this season, hopefully our form can continue!

We aren't a bad little club for a city of just 25,000 people.


Yep, my bad.

(I'm on dial up) Kurt, is that the Newcastle injury thingy?

Saw that one as it happened. One can understand the Geordies being frustrated given everything that's been going on but there's no excuse at all for what Guthrie did. A good long suspension is most definitely warranted.

(People from Newcastle = Geordies - do I have that right?)

Thanks for the answers on my question.

-

Another thing: DIC (Dubai's) today denied being interested on buying Newcastle, Liverpool or any other English club.

That's surprising. I thought it was almost a certainty that they would be Liverpool owners within the nex 24 months to be honest.

Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum the Dubai club President announced his intentions to invite English Premier league champions Manchester United to visit Dubai and play a friendly match.

"Manchester United will visit Dubai soon, I have a very good relations with United boss Peter Kenyon and they know that I support them," he said.

Sheikh Rashid was speaking to the media during celebrations when his team clinched the Prime Cup in Al Ain recently. He added that Manchester United was the only club that he loved in the world.

"I have supported them since I was a child. They perform excellently and have very skillful players." Sheikh Rashid also hoped that star midfielder David Beckham would not be transferred to any other club in Europe.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/03/06/16/90378.html

"Manchester United will visit Dubai soon, I have a very good relations with United boss Peter Kenyon and they know that I support them," he said.

Heh...Newcastle with Indian owners That would be the day. We'd be worse than Ashley at spending, but be Moggi like in the transfers.



But they are the Ambanis, one of India's foremost business families.

Alot of talk today at how stupid football is. John Terry gets a 3 game ban for having a little pull on someones shirt, Danny Guthrie gets the same ban for breaking someones leg.. I think the disciplinary system does need a little change, that just doesn't work out.

That does not surprise me... Barton is not only out of jail, he is even playing football...

As for leg-breakers, it does not matter if it was completely unintentional or if you're the nicest guy you should get a huge ban for being careless... and careless tackles that could threaten an opponent's health should also receive a big ban. For example, Bonera's tackle on Sissoko against Giuve last season.

Eh? Peter Kenyon is Chelsea's Cheif Executive, he left United ages ago.

Typical United fan, doesn't even know who works for the club.

I'll be honest with the Barton situation, I have sympathy for him. He did wrong, served his time, had a huge ban from football, he's been punished, let him move on. But it seems everybody is jumping on the bandwagon now and it's pointless.

I have no sympathy for him. I hope someone breaks his legs!

Okay..

Shut up, I kill you!

He's done way more good than bad I reckon, by a distance.

Anyways, he seems willing to sell to less to the Newcastle fans. If 300,000 of them pitch in £1000 each they can have the club. But they'd be worse than Ashley since they're the most deluded fans on earth and it'd be a bit awkward to run.

Rumours of David O'Leary going to manage them.. Oh God please be true.

It would depend. If Mike Ashley continues, the O'Leary is best, since you typically need a manager who's used to fighting with his back against the wall. Otherwise, if a new owner comes in, and he is willing to spend big money, O Leary is the last person I want in charge.

The latest rumor in the Italian press (and even they don't think it's accurate) is that Bill Gates is interested in buying Newcastle.

The latest rumor in the Italian press (and even they don't think it's accurate) is that Bill Gates is interested in buying Newcastle.

Pavlyuchenko: I struggled on Spurs debut because Villa defenders 'didn't give me time to get to the ball'


Tottenham's new £14m striker Roman Pavlyuchenko admits he struggled on his debut because the Aston Villa defenders 'didn't give me enough time to get to the ball properly'.

The Russian found the pace and intensity of the Premier League clash a struggle as Spurs went down 2-1 at White Hart Lane - leaving them at the foot of the table after their worst start in 34 years.

And Pavlyuchenko is also worried about filling the boots of Dmitry Berbatov following his move from Spartak Moscow.

'Everything was unusual for me. It's a different kind of football, with a different speed,' he told Izvestia daily newspaper.

'I immediately realised that English football is much faster than in Russia. Our opponents didn't give me enough time to get to the ball properly.

'That's why I had practically no chance to score. So I'll have to keep it up and work on it.

'And about 20 minutes before the end, the strength started running out of me. My leg muscles felt unusually cramped up.

'But what I also felt was the amazing atmosphere of the Premier League.

'It's hard to describe. You should feel it. After each good pass or corner, people applaud, they even stand up from their seats to do it. It's really pleasant to play in such surroundings.

The 26 year old international added: 'I'm aware that Tottenham fans want me to be a replacement for Berbatov.

;I failed to score, so I'm not a proper replacement for him - yet. He was a key player and that means that if the Spurs people want me to replace him, they must believe in me so I hope that I'll manage to help the team.

'But I have mixed emotions now.

'We lost and that means the result was bad for us. As for my own performance... It was probably OK for the very first game.

'In London I'm happy about everything - except for Tottenham's position at the bottom of the table."

MoS

Oh dear.. for his sake I hope that it's a mis-translation or something. Do defenders let strikers have the ball in Russia or something? Or does he think we were going to be nice to him because it was his debut?

Oh dear.. for his sake I hope that it's a mis-translation or something.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in talks with Kuwaiti billionaire

Billionaire Kuwaiti businessman Nasser Al Kharafi is the latest name linked with a possible takeover bid for Newcastle United.

According to reports on Tyneside, an intermediary working on his behalf that Al Kharafi is interested in taking the club off sports retail tycoon Mike Ashley’s hands and becoming Newcastle’s new owner.

Al Kharafi, 64, has a background in construction and engineering and is said to be the 48th richest man in the world with an estimated fortune of £7 billion.

“Nasser Al Kharafi has the money to buy the club, but the way Mike Ashley is going about things is wrong,” the intermediary said. “He is actually putting off any interested buyers with the price and his refusal to negotiate. If he genuinely wants to sell he is going about it the wrong way.

“At the last estimate Nasser was worth around US$12bn, but he still won’t pay over the odds for the club.

“Mr Ashley seems to think he can ask what he wants because he is dealing with people who are multibillionaires, but that simply isn’t the case.

“As things stand he will be returning to England without a buyer.”

Earlier this week it emerged Ashley, the Sports Direct mogul, had slapped a staggering £481 million price tag on Newcastle just 16 months after he bought the St James’ Park club for £134.4 million.

Ashley has been in Dubai with Newcastle director of football Dennis Wise to sell Newcastle after putting the club up for sale on Sunday following a fierce backlash prompted by the resignation of Kevin Keegan as manager.

There is talk of Keegan making a dramatic return to Newcastle should Al Kharafi buy the club from Ashley who reportedly snubbed talks with an unidentified prospective buyer in Dubai and instead drank cocktails.