The Soccer Thread (IV)

An accusation made on various threads here all the time, now in real life!

Goalkeeper for Swedish team busted moving the goalposts closer together to make the goal smaller.

Though wouldn't his team have had to shoot at the smaller goal in the second half?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8274016.stm

 

More Pompey Chaos

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=679533&sec=england&cc=5901

The Premier League's bottom-feeders need £6 million in cash within "two to three weeks" or the club will go bust. Administration is not impossible and a 10-point deduction would follow.

 

They're gonna lose 5-0 tomorrow.

 

Al Fahim says he's going to put £50 million into the club in the next month.

Of course, the club's £40 million in debt, so that's not as exciting as it sounds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8257836.stm

 

UEFA investigating 40 cases of matchfixing; most involve Champions League and UEFA Cup matches involving clubs from eastern Europe.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090925/ap_on_sp_so_ne/soc_uefa_match_fixing_3<blockquote>"Right now it's mainly eastern Europe clubs being investigated. They know they are not going to be involved later in the tournament and they are going out, so decide, 'Let's make a profit,'" (Peter) Limacher (UEFA head of disciplinary services) said in an interview with the AP in London. "In the cases we have seen it's really the deliberate planned fix of the games, the whole games. First the result at halftime then after 90 minutes.

"It might take some time (to get a conviction), but in cases where we can work together with the police that might be possible."

Limacher revealed the scale of the probe after his organization announced last month that three Macedonian clubs were being investigated after it banned FK Pobeda from European competitions for eight years.

In the Pobeda case, the club's president and a former player were banned for life after UEFA found they manipulated the result "to gain an undue advantage for themselves and a third party."</blockquote>

 

Wigan 3, Chelsea 1 ... awesome!

 

First top-flight team since 1930 to lose its first seven. But from all accounts a much-improved performance, so maybe there's a little light at tunnel's end.

Meanwhile, the mighty Hawks start another FA Cup run with a 1-0 win away to league rivals Weston-super-Mare in the second qualifying round.

 

Sign at Notts County: We had Sol, but he wasn't a soldier.

 

I wouldn't count on it. I remember watching Derby a few years ago thinking this was the worst top-flight team I'd seen in any league ever. Pompey has most certainly taken that standard. Not like I'm happy about it, my t-shirt here will no longer make as much sense:

http://www.whoareyadesigns.com/scored_against_derby_county_p/der1.htm

 

Anybody else read Dirty Tackle? Thought Artur's Friday Rage List yesterday was the best yet:

 

Stop crushing my fantasies!!!

And the light at the end of the tunnel may well be not getting relegated two years running. So let me enjoy at least that much!

 

Following a 3-1 loss to Notts County, Port Vale's manager transfer-lists the entire squad.

Some of the highlight quotes:

'We flattered to deceive out there, we looked like a woman wearing a fur coat and no knickers.'

And one from the Football League show: 'You can't just roll over and let them tickle your belly.' (Paraphrased, but the tickle-your-belly part was in there.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/port_vale/8277136.stm