Poor Roman

So apparently Roman Abramovich has had a hard year this year. The economy has sucked 40% of his wealth away, and his beloved Chelsea FC remains gayer than ever and denied of any important trophies this year (FA Cup.... meh). Here's where you need to start feeling really bad for him: Apparently he has had to cut a bunch of staff from the MULTIPLE boats that he owns. This one pictured above, a 550 ft. ship he uses for vacationing on occasion and trying to woo young 19 year olds like Pato is about to face some seriously hard times. I mean seriously? Who is going to man the small hospital on board? Or the missle detection system? (You think I am kidding about those things, but I'm not, check the article):

http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.php/2009/06/16/roman-abramovich-shows-he-is-better-than-you-with-300m-superyacht

How is Chelsea going to spend any money this year on players? It's going to be so tough, because Roman is hurting so much.

Debunking the "Liverpool fans should quit crying about cash cause all big clubs are the same" argument...

As much as i hate to push the "Pato's on a Boat" link down, i'm in need of some footy banter and have a tasty can of worms i just HAD to open. So financial giants Deloitte have published their yearly "08/09 Premiership Team Salary Rankings" and the results are illuminating:

Chelsea 172.09m
UTD 121.08m
Arsenal 101.30m
LFC 90.43m
Newcastle 74.56m
Portsmouth 54.68m
Man City 54.22m
Spurs 52.92m
Villa 50.44m
Everton 44.48m

Several things of note here:
1. This is WAGES, not transfer fees. Since transfer fees go to the club, this is probably a more accurate measure of "ability to attract top talent."

2. clearly, chelsea absolutely blow everyone else out of the water in terms of spending power. it's not just that they spend more money than liverpool, they spend ALMOST DOUBLE what liverpool does. and what does all that money get them? an fa cup and a cozy third in the prem table, behind the mighty reds. lame. what fun it must be to root for a bunch of loaded underachievers, huh sim?! don't worry, we'll still take you on the liverpool side when you want to jump off the flaming blue ship.

3. newcastle. the epic fail they just pooped out gets more impressive every day.

4. arsenal. don't drink the kool-aid kids... for all that talk about "low wage structure" and thriftiness, they manage to blow 11m MORE than liverpool and still can't even get a sniff of silverware. overpriced, underachieving kids are just as lame as overpriced, underachieving veterans, just with less back hair.

5. couldn't find italy or spain, but i'm curious how a real madrid might slot in here...

CONCLUSION:
Clearly, the playing field is not level. Whether or not that's a bad thing is a different debate for a different day, but the evidence is irrefutable. Compared to the rest of the big four, liverpool is a significant underdog before a ball is even kicked. You may not like to hear liverpool fans bitching about not having the spending power of chelsea or manU (and you're probably right), but it's simply not true that the "the big clubs are all basically the same".

so bring it! and roll on 09/10 already!

++colazo

Pato's on a Boat

this is beyond phenomenal... dirty tackle does it again...

get the f*** up! it's about to go down!

Are those denim shorts I see?

We can all officially stop making fun of Frankie "I have retared style" Lampard.  Why, you ask?  Quite simply, because Brian Gray's man-crush Fernando "I wish I could look more like a girl" Torres has just quite possibly outdone Frankie for heinousness in fashion land.  Observe:

Yes...apparently below-the-knee denim carpenter shorts coupled with a tight T-shirt overlayed with a oh-so-subtle skull and cross bones is all the rage in Spain right now.  The hair helps complete the ensemble, I think.

Notice that his apparent new wife looks a bit miffed/embarrassed to even be walking next to him, let alone holding his hand.  Poor lady....guess she will need to buy biger boobs to try to feel better about her situation.

Maybe if Torres had won any silverware this year he would be able to look at himself in the reflection and realize his poor fashion sense.  Then again, maybe not.

F...

How can a team go from glory, joy and happiness after this:

To sadness, gloom, and despair with this:

All in the course of two days?  I feel schizophrenic!

Nothing good can come of this.  Nothing.  The only hope now is that Roman listens to the wisdom of his skipper and goes out to get Ribery and Villa....  http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=651675&sec=england&cc=5901

Bah.