I think an important point in this debate is the quality of teams likely to come down from the Premier League. With the financial situation of a lot of clubs approaching meltdown, next season could be the first for a while without any real yo-yo clubs. For that reason, it would be much better to see...

I know the journalist who did the interview (I live in Paris). I'll ask him if there was anything else said 'off record'!

Here's what's going to happen. The new owner will pile loads of money in an Portsmouth will make several signings. Smith won't play (and in any case, he was never any good in the Premier League before) and he'll do a Glenn Little and sign here on loan in January!

Being in Paris, I was hoping to go and watch him play for Mali tomorrow night, but I've just seen on some Mali website that the game is actually being played way out in the suburbs. What was funny though was to see that his name was given as Djimmy Boubou Kebe in the squad list!

Not seen this reported here or on the official site yet. Saved on wages, but no transfer fee in.
http://www.ogcnice.com/accueil.php

This has been reported as a done deal in France (football365.fr), and that he's a forward.

I think the problem comes more from squad sizes. Coppell will want his most experienced, 'reliable' 11 out on the field, then he'll have his 5 subs, 1 of which is a keeper. That leaves four places on the bench, and at least one of those has to be one of the 4 strikers at the club. He'll then have a ...

This thread would be improved considerably with a few photos. Anybody got any?

Because Switzerland is just a mish-mash of 'Cantons' filled with people speaking 4 different languages. It's not a country as such, more a land populated by disparate peoples who are simply artificially stuck together by money!

I've been living and working in France for over ten years now, and I can assure Mr Hampshire and Mr Wax Jacket that you are exaggerating somewhat! I work with a large number of 'North Africans' as you call them, as well as Portuguese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Africans, and I live in Belleville, Paris wh...

I would argue that Reading's reserve team is a success, particularly in comparison to those of Chelsea/Arsenal etc. Reading have successfully managed a 'squad' (key word!) of 16-20 players over the last two seasons, and it's a squad without stars. That 'squad' accept that they will by and large not ...

So Danny Murphy considers himself a top class player does he, and worthy of £40,000 a week? I think I'd rather continue with the young, hungry players who are delighted to have the chance to test themselves in the Premier League, and are not only thinking about where they can pick up the fattest pa...

Little bit of Alex Pearce trivia for you; he spent his first six years living in Russia with his English father and Russian mother and was by all accounts a highly talented youg gymanst representing the Russian under-8s gymnastice team on the vault and the a-symmetric bars What's he doing in the Sc...

Interesting to see that he went to the Oratory School ("an all-boys, Catholic, boarding public school...at a basic cost of about £23,400 a year"). It's not often that you see professional footballers coming through the public school system. Do we know if he had some kind of scholarship, o...

August 3 - Athletic Bilboa & Cologne at the same time

Wow - they're so tough they take on two teams at once in pre-season games!

He has apparently been very good for Rennes this season, and could be a Wigan/Chimbonda type signing. I don't think anyone in France would have predicted this time last year that Chimbonda would be in the French World Cup squad.