The Soccer Thread (IV)

More good reads here.
http://www.kenn.com/the_blog/

 

They (THEY!) They (THEY!) are gonna stay in Sun City . . . .

 

USA to break out new jerseys against the Dutch. Reminiscent of the ones the team wore in 1950.

http://ussoccerstore.com/categories-jerseys-mens.html

 

And the inevitable is confirmed: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8538457.stm

Definitely a bummer.

But it could be worse. Chester City were thrown completely out of the Conference today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chester/8538236.stm

 

I can't get through right now. I'm worried they're going to sell out before I can order. I might have to wait for the boys at The Onion Bag to get them.

 

They still need to release the white one. There is plenty of time!

 

And that dipshit Peter Storrie shows up on Sky Sports News, talking about how wonderful it was that they won the F.A. Cup and spent seven years in the Premier League, never mind the fact that that success came at a horrible price.

He then goes on to concede that they'll, OK, yeah, probably get relegated this year, but no worries. They can bounce right back next year!

Cause, you know, that's what they fucking need.

 

I'm not following this in the depth others are, but isn't there the possibility of losing more points in the Championship next season as the receivership unfolds? That would make it that much harder to even stay up there. Seems like I heard that on Guardian Football Weekly.

 

Yes. Essentially, the Football League requires that a club coming out of administration reach an agreement, known as a CVA, with its creditors on how it's going to repay its debts. You have to get the support of at least 75% worth of your debt.

It doesn't necessarily matter whether the agreement is to repay all the debt, or for a particular creditor to accept 3p for every pound they're owed. You just have to have those agreements in place and approved.

The real trouble comes from the fact that the tax man simply will not ratify any football club's CVA if the tax man doesn't get exactly what it wants. That's basically because the League (the Premier League does as well) requires that football-related debts all be paid off first. That annoys the tax man to no end, which is one of the reasons they've gotten much, much more aggressive about pursuing tax debts in the past couple of years.

If a club in administration can't reach CVAs with its creditors, then officially they're not allowed to take up a League place. In practice, the policy has been to levy an additional points deduction. It was 30 for Luton last year, which is why they got relegated. It's been 17 each for Bournemouth and Rotherham in recent years as well.

The Guardian seems to think it could be 20 for Portsmouth. To put that in perspective, Cardiff are currently 6th in the Championship with 49 points; Plymouth are 23rd with 29, five points from safety. With a 20-point deduction, you'd essentially have to be a playoff-caliber team just to avoid relegation.

(Portsmouth would not, on the other hand, be punished under the policy that says a club that goes into administration late in the season and would otherwise have been relegated anyway has its deduction applied the next year. That's the rule that saw Southampton have 10 points docked at the start of this season, but that doesn't come into play until the end of March, I believe.)

 

Bridge snubbed Terry in the handshake line. Good for him.

 

Sounds as though another Terry mistake just led to a Tevez goal. His form is rapidly approaching crisis levels.

This is all part of the England World Cup script, though. If you'll recall, I believe I posted something about it a while ago. We build ourselves up to the draw, come out of that believing this will really be our year. Then, around February or March, we start doubting our chances -- usually because something horrifying happens -- and we resign ourselves to another four years of heartache. Then, around May, the confidence returns and lasts until another penalty shootout defeat in the quarters.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a dreadful draw against Egypt next week -- or even an extremely lackadaisical 1-0 victory.

 

4-2 to Citeh. Chelski finished with 9 men including an awful tackle by Ballack on Tevez which got him a second yellow and deserved a red.