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It’s hard to believe, but the new year’s almost upon us!
Now for a lot of people, this has been a year of fnancial woes, however Everton is thriving.
The Toffees are looking very flush these days: not only did they beat Manchester City 1-0 last week, the club’s turnover has gone up a staggering 47% since last year!!!
The club has revealed a record turnover of £75.7 million in its latest statement of accounts.
Most of this is thanks to their participation in the UEFA cup and and Carling Cup last year and due to this, an increase in sponsorship revenues.
Yet they still managed to invest heavily in the playing squad including buying Ayegbeni Yakubu, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar. Maybe the Everton Board should share some of their financial secrets with, say, the British government? They’d have this global economical crisis sorted in no time at all!
Now let’s see how they shape up against Liverpool on January the 19th…
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Gerrard
Liverpool might be doing without Steven Gerrard in the match against Marseille. The midfielder suffered a groin injury and has still not fully recovered.
Though only 28, this Liverpudlian is already thinking ahead to his retirement! In a recent interview Gerrard said that he hopes to serve out his professional career at his club, Liverpool, where he has been playing his entire professional career. “I don’t know what’s going to happen over the next 10 years,” Gerrard said in a recent interview with CNN, “But certainly for the next five or six I hope I’m playing in Liverpool’s first team.”
There were rumours about Gerrard leaving for Chelsea, but, according to his autobiography, that was just tactical gameplay to force Liverpool to give him a better contract. In the end, the born and bred Scouser turned down an offer of 20 million pounds from Chelsea and remained with his old club.
Earlier this fall, Gerrard scored his 100th goal as a professional soccer player. “It’s hard to believe I have been in the first team for 10 years because the time has just flown by,” he said. “I’m very proud to be able to say I have played for the first team for 10 years.”
Let’s hope his career will stretch a lot longer. Chances of Gerrard playing against Marseille are slim however, coach Rafa Benitez only willing to give him 50-50 odds of playing.
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Hippos in the Zambesi
According to Reuters, a Zimbabwean soccer player drowned or got eaten by crocodiles when his team participated in a cleansing ritual. To ward off bad spirits they were told by their technical staff to swim across the croc infested river.
Apparently, about 16 players from second division side Midland Portland Cement swam across the Zambezi river in the resort town of Victoria Falls but only 15 survived. Only afterwards did the other team mates notice that one of their own was missing.
The Zambezi river has a fierce current and is teaming with hippos as well as crocodiles. Swimming in that part of the river is therefore prohibited by law, but local custom is strong.
Fabio Capello
In the World Cup, England is taking on Kazakhstan this Saturday.
The team is still in high spirits after the 4-1 victory against Croatia in Zagreb.
England coach Capello previously stated that his team plays better away from home because they tend to get intimidated by their fans, but now he claims that that was then, this is now, and he’s confident that playing home in Wembley will give his guys the advantage over the Kazakhstan team. “With 90,000 supporters at home, there is great expectancy.” Capello stated in an interview. “Now that we have some of that crucial confidence back, starting today, it will be easier for the players to perform here.” The bookies share Capello’s confidence:
Odds are 33-1 against Kazakhstan winning the game.
Things weren’t looking good for the Roma team as they struggled against Bordeaux last Wednesday the 1st of October. So when Yoann Gourcuff curled home the first goal of the match after only 15 minutes of play, it seemed they might as well pack it in. The game did a whopping turnaround after Henrique got sent off and the game was all of a sudden ten to eleven.
Statistically, that doesn’t buy you an advantage, but mentally, this was just the boost that Roma needed. Mirko Vucinic scored the leveller and substitute Baptista sealed the deal for Roma at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Bordeaux looks set to throw in the towel as they have so far scored zero points in Group A.
On October 22nd, Roma is up against Chelsea in Group A. Chelsea were very lucky to escape from the clutches of Cluj with a draw. Chelsea and Cluj both have 4 points, Roma has 3 so it’s anybody’s guess who’s going up for the next round.
Hopefully Chelsea’s Didier Dragba, down with a serious looking knee injury, will be fit again for the match, otherwise things could get nippy for The Blues!
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Celtic fans cheer on their team
As Champions League draws go, this one could have gone far worse for the British premier league contestants. 21st of October will see a Battle of Britain as Celtic take on Manchester United.
Both teams are in Group E with Villarreal (Spain) and Aalborg (Denmark).
Last year’s champions Man U are the big favorites for first place in Group E, but who’ll join them in the next round? Apart from the Danes themselves no-one else is giving Aalborg much of shot at a top spot, it being their Champions’ League debut and all, but Villarreal will put up one hell of a fight before Scottish champions Celtic get to play another round.
Man U trainer Alex Ferguson remained unfazed by the matchup. “That is a great challenge,” Ferguson said. “The challenge is to make sure you get 10 points as quick as you can.” Confidently: “I think we have the squad for it.”
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Amr Zaki
It was, to say the least, a controversial penalty that caused Manchester City to lose to Wigan last Sunday. City fans were well cheesed off, but Wigan’s new kid on the block Amr Zaki couldn’t be more chuffed as he’s been hailed as Wigan’s new hero after scoring the winning goal.
Wigan Athletic was muddling along in the old third league back in ‘95 when it was bought by big fan and, lucky for Wigan, local millionaire Dave Whelan. He didn’t muck about and told everyone that his team would soon be playing in the first. Less than ten years down the road, he’s done just that. Read More
The NFL returns to Wembley. Last October a sell out crowd watched the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins. Now the American National Football League returns. This time New Orleans Saints take on the San Diego Chargers. Read More
Liverpool is taking on Atletico on the 4th of november.
Los Colchoneros (The matresses) had their best season in many years last season and so far this season’s been pretty awesome too. The main reason behind their flying form has according to most Madrid fans been their young striker Sergio Agüero.
Argentinian born Sergio Leonel “Kun” Agüero del Castillo has been a great favorite with the fans ever since he transferred to Atletico from Independiente for a staggering 20 million euros, the highest transfer sum Atletico’s ever forked out for a player. So far he seems to have been worth it: with 20 goals he was the third highest goalscorer in La Liga last season.
Coach Javier Aguirre warned fans that Atletico cannot keep thrashing all other teams 4-0, but he was very optimistic about the rest of the season.
In group D, Liverpool will be up against PSV Eindhoven next week in the Champions League.
The Dutch team seems in bad form and lost the first leg, but the national champions may have a trick or two up their sleeves. PSV are the reigning Dutch champions and have been for the past four years. They haven’t won the UEFA Cup since 1978 though. Maybe their new trainer, Huub Stevens will make a difference. Stevens took over coaching PSV from Ronald Koeman last season when Koeman left for Valencia. Just like Koeman, Stevens used to play for PSV.
Before coming back to Eindhoven, Stevens was the successful coach of Hamburgr SV, who he coached back from near degradation to second place in the German league. Hamburg were very pleased with this feat and tried to hang on to their coach, but Stevens had always dreamt of being main coach for his old club so when he got the chance he was there in a flash.
PSV has gotten off to a rocky start this season with fans complaining that not enough money has been invested in attracting new players. Then again, Liverpool aren’t in top form either, seeing the draw against Stoke this weekend.
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