Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

not even sure atleti would trust him as their main striker going into next season

I think Utd should do everything possible to avoid selling him to one of our rivals though. It'd be just like the cunt to go there and be really good

Moyes official

Something very odd seems to be going on behind the scenes

Second thoughts?

The odds on Mourinho suddenly started tumbling

In other, realer news:
1. BT to offer their espn successor channels to their broadband users (including me) for free
2. Stilian Petrov formally retires

3. Rio Ferdinand joins the BT Sport team as an interviewer, programme-maker and football expert

+ Michael Owen as co-commentator

lol

Nice statement from Petrov here:

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3172465,00.html

I

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2013/May/manchester-united-appoints-new-manager-david-moyes.aspx

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/1295?cc=5901

ranges from interesting to spurious, mostly of note for use of 'vastly dissimilar'

It'd be funny if Chelsea signed him only to play him awkwardly out of position behind Falcao.

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/liverpoolecho/oct2012/8/1/image-1-for-wayne-rooney-s-everton-fc-career-in-pictures-gallery-775362502.jpg

If this was the normal world of work, Moyes would immediately be put on gardening leave, wouldn't he? No way would he be allowed to take charge of the team for the last two games.

I s'pose, seeing as EFC are gonna finish 6th or 7th (non-EL positions) and MUFC are already champions, it doesn't matter.

NOTHING MATTERS.

Trying to find a conflict of interest and I'm going with:

What if Chelsea need to beat Everton on the last day of the season to qualify for the Champions League in order to decide to buy Rooney from United in order for United to be able to afford CRonaldo?

Spurs lose their last two games heavily, and Everton are winning 1-0 late on at Chelsea, just by enough to sneak the Europa place. Injury time and Lampard bursts clear. Transfer target Leighton Baines is the last man, but can only stop him with a ligament-endangering lunge. He hesitates, sneaks a glance at the bench.

You are David Moyes. What do you do?

hold eye contact for a second and then turn around and walk out of the stadium

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/By+day+I+played+for+Celtic...at+night+I+was+so+lonely+I+worked+in+a...-a0136964591

The Petrov burger van and umbilical cord flinging anecdotes, encased in amber, together

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ukq-5HyZ_bM

Moyes said: "It's a great honour to be asked to be the next manager of Manchester United. I am delighted that Sir Alex saw fit to recommend me for the job force me to be his sock puppet at the club. I have great respect for everything he has done and for the football club.

Mike, Benitez and Jupp Heynckes have been managing for months knowing that they're out at the end of the season. Is that comparable?

Anyway, it can't be fun to lose your manager. I must sympathize. The odd thing is that some EFC fans - phone-in types - have been saying they want him out for a while. Bonkers. It's like when Charlton fans complained that 'Curbishley has taken this club as far as he can'.

strongly disagree. this topic has been done enough here though

by 'charlton fans' you mean 'maybe fifty cunts maximum, there's one in every block of the north upper, they're loud and everyone wishes they'd fuck off'

btw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlanCurbishley.JPG

He ended up with a new contract on that occasion and, though the leaked figures were of a weekly £180,000 salary, it later emerged that it might have been substantially more. [...] City's information was that Rooney earns around £300,000 a week, which makes him the best-paid footballer in the country.

I do wonder how long he'll last at United. Given Fergie's preferences they were never going to go with anyone else, but if he bombs and is replaced after 18 months then something tells me the board won't feel the need to go and ask Fergie for a new anointed one, and will probably end up just throwing money at whichever European manager is most successful at the time.

welcome to hell united fans.

repeat after me: "we have won more titles than any other english club."

ok, now what?

Ye stay top four, prob challenge different teams for the title

It'd be really hard to fail at Utd though, the bar is so low for such a big club now. As long as he makes third or fourth in the first couple of years he'll be fine (I think he'll do better) - can you really see four other clubs finishing ahead of them any time soon?

I've been forgetting that Moyes is a family friend. NN, if you ever want the inside story I'll, uh, try and get in contact with some cousins I haven't spoken to in years and see what they know.

can you tell him not to buy Fellaini

Moyes's main failing at Everton was his apparent inability to put together a strikeforce that was both reliable and consistently fit. Obviously that won't be a problem at United for a while but it'll be interesting to see what happens when he does have to start shelling out for forwards. He tended to buy more-or-less proven Prem types like Yakubu/Johnson/Saha who would then spend months on the sidelines.

Lol obv that wont be a problem at utd rooney

Actually if there was ever a season for the return of Robin Van Injury this'll be it.

Yakubu at least had one good, full season (20+ goals?) before being derailed by injury. Johnson, Saha (and now Jelavic) were prone to go 10+ games without a goal even when fit.

We've had five good strikers since WW2 - "Super" Dave Hickson, "Super" Roy Vernon, "Super" Joe Royle, "Super" Bob Latchford and Graeme Sharp.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0789047/

Did You Know?
Nickname: Sharpy
Star Sign: Libra

Filmography
Self (5 titles)
???? Dixie: The People's Legend (pre-production)
Himself

2011 Everton's Greatest Premier League XI (video)
Himself - Former Everton player

1987 Hero: The Official Film of the 1986 FIFA World Cup (documentary)
Himself

1985 Everton 3 - Bayern Munich 1 (video)
Himself

1984 FA Cup Final 1984: Everton v Watford (video)
Himself - Everton Player

I left out Fred Pickering (by accident) and Tony Cottee (by design).

Bit harsh on Lineker, even if he was only there one season.

"Fuck off back to Leicester" we* all sang, in Sept '85. (* - obviously I didn't swear at him, I just tutted a lot and said "Andy Gray wouldn't have missed that".) No-one was swearing at him 40 goals later. One season disqualifies him from consideration.

I also left out The Golden Vision. "Striker" is a bit vulgar for Alex Y.

What was Beardsley like at Everton? Mostly remember him for what he did at Liverpool and Newcastle, but he had a couple of seasons at your lot right?

Last player before Yakubu to score 20 goals in a season. Yeah, he was good by all accounts, in a mid-table side. I'd stopped going by then.

THE GOLDEN VISION (2005)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0789047/thegoldenvision

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/may/10/joy-of-six-unique-goals-bergkamp-ronaldinho

He's right about Ronaldinho (also features a general defense of the toepoke)

Ronaldinho has been in stunning form recently. Still scoring beautiful goals.

Sounds like Rob Smyth is leaving the Guardian (judging from a sentence in The Fiver today)

His football weekly slot on Thursday was described as 'valedictory', so I guess so. He's never really stood out for me, what's the appeal?

so Pellegrini to City seems to be gathering steam