English Premier League 07-08

[Lowerdeck]

The season has begun today. Anyone else try to follow the EPL? I got into it last season a little bit, still don't have FSC but I just check online.

Newcastle gets a 3-1 on Bolton, West Ham falls to Man City 2-0. Derby goes up 1-0, gives up 2, but makes a very quick comeback to get a draw. There's other stuff too but I can't remember.

[Mith242]

The season has begun today. Anyone else try to follow the EPL? I got into it last season a little bit, still don't have FSC but I just check online.

Newcastle gets a 3-1 on Bolton, West Ham falls to Man City 2-0. Derby goes up 1-0, gives up 2, but makes a very quick comeback to get a draw. There's other stuff too but I can't remember.

[dxartist]

ManU has problems right now. Mainly not scoring. Doesn't help that Rooney sidelined for a while and Ronaldo is still suspended.

[Mith242]

ManU has problems right now. Mainly not scoring. Doesn't help that Rooney sidelined for a while and Ronaldo is still suspended.

[Lowerdeck]

ManYoo is climbing up the table rather fast now. Surprisingly, Man City is still ahead of them.

And Derby has officially taken it's place at the bottom this season. We all know they're gonna be relegated anyway, but a 6-0 loss to Liverpool is painful ... and a sign of more blowouts to come from the other big teams.

[Mith242]

ManYoo is climbing up the table rather fast now. Surprisingly, Man City is still ahead of them.

And Derby has officially taken it's place at the bottom this season. We all know they're gonna be relegated anyway, but a 6-0 loss to Liverpool is painful ... and a sign of more blowouts to come from the other big teams.

[Mith242]

Arsenal manager Wenger has agreed to a three year extension on his contract. Great news for Arsenal. There was a lot of worry when Henry left and he suggested he didn't have faith of Wenger staying on. If it wasn't for Wenger Arsenal would probably just one of those teams in the middle of the pack.

[Mith242]

Bit of a surprise, Chelsea's coach Mourinho has left. There had been some rumors about him and the owner not seeing eye to eye. But of course they always denied or downplayed that to the media. But it looks like it was true. Guess Chelsea's slow start didn't help matters. It looks like what really did it was their 1-1 tie to Rosenborg in the Champions League. I'm not a Chelsea fan so I'm not sure how their fans are taking the news. He came across to me as a bit of a beotch, so I can't say I'm sorry to see him go.

[dxartist]

Bit of a surprise, Chelsea's coach Mourinho has left. There had been some rumors about him and the owner not seeing eye to eye. But of course they always denied or downplayed that to the media. But it looks like it was true. Guess Chelsea's slow start didn't help matters. It looks like what really did it was their 1-1 tie to Rosenborg in the Champions League. I'm not a Chelsea fan so I'm not sure how their fans are taking the news. He came across to me as a bit of a beotch, so I can't say I'm sorry to see him go.

[Mith242]

So manager and owner butting heads. Not surprising to say the least. you have a billionaire with seemingly unlimited tranfers funds and wanker of a coach (according to some drunk English fans). What Roman wanted was a Champions League title and Mourinho has failed to deliver. I suppose the tie against Rosenberg was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

[Mith242]

There's been more and more speculation of a possibly takeover Arsenal. They've managed to be about the only 'major' team in the EPL that's not under a foreign owner. Even some of the mid level teams in the EPL are now owned by people outside of Britain. The Arsenal board insists they don't need a foreign owner. They're move to their new stadium seems to have really paid off as well. They now have an operating profit bigger than any EPL team and only below Real Madrid. I've been wondering do the other big leagues, La Liga and Serie A have a lot of foreign ownership like the EPL? There's a lot of concerns about so much of the league under foreign ownership.

[dxartist]

There's been more and more speculation of a possibly takeover Arsenal. They've managed to be about the only 'major' team in the EPL that's not under a foreign owner. Even some of the mid level teams in the EPL are now owned by people outside of Britain. The Arsenal board insists they don't need a foreign owner. They're move to their new stadium seems to have really paid off as well. They now have an operating profit bigger than any EPL team and only below Real Madrid. I've been wondering do the other big leagues, La Liga and Serie A have a lot of foreign ownership like the EPL? There's a lot of concerns about so much of the league under foreign ownership.

[Mith242]

I'm guessing not, but I could be wrong. The one reason you hear more about foreign ownership in the EPL is money. The EPL is the most watched league in the world with huge contracts with many foreign on TV stations. You can find an EPL game just about anywhere on the planet. For the most part, the matches are fast paced, entertaining, with lots of drama especially during relegation worries. So of course investors will want to get a piece of the action.

For example:

When the Glazers bought ManU, they saw money. For them it was a no brainer. Turning the Buccaneers from a losing franchise into a winning franchise was a monumental task. So making a cash cow like ManU was cakewalk.

However, Roman Abromavich bought Chelsea, well because he could. To him, the club was more like a hobby so to speak, seeing how he literally spents hundreds of millions to buy players. That's what you can do if you are an oil tycoon. But even he wants to start seeing some return on investment.