Quote ="D.D."How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.'" Hmm. Sounds so familiar. Some other sport has done something similar...I can't quite put my finger on it.

Quote ="D.D."How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.'" Hmm. Sounds so familiar. Some other sport has done something similar...I can't quite put my finger on it.

I don't think the two are really that comparable.

Quote ="D.D."How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.'" If they just went with the best technical bid the WC would never be held outside of western europe or the USA, which doesnt seem to me to be right. They do need to make the process more transparent and less corrupt, but the aim of spreading it around the world isnt unreasonable although they should have drawn the line a long way before Qatar.

Quote ="D.D."How to try and prove it is not corrupt by inadvertantley proving the opposite. www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... atter.html The admission is that we were desperate to allocate a World Cup to new territories no matter what a better bid might have to offer.'" If they just went with the best technical bid the WC would never be held outside of western europe or the USA, which doesnt seem to me to be right. They do need to make the process more transparent and less corrupt, but the aim of spreading it around the world isnt unreasonable although they should have drawn the line a long way before Qatar.

If legacy is a major part of the bid (as it was IIRC for South Africa) then fair dos. Not entirely sure what the legacy is going to be in Qatar, unless they are training camels to play the game?

I see now there is talk about taking some of the games out of Qatar into neighbouring countries (presumably Saudi?). Has this whole thing been a nice exercise by the Saudis in getting a World Cup on their doorstep without having to answer questions about their human rights record?

Barcelona & Qatar Foundation agree £125m shirt deal [iThe new sponsorship arrangement could free up some transfer funds for coach Pep Guardiola - who worked as an ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. [/i news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 276343.stm

Barcelona & Qatar Foundation agree £125m shirt deal [iThe new sponsorship arrangement could free up some transfer funds for coach Pep Guardiola - who worked as an ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. [/i news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 276343.stm

Quote ="Lord God Jose Mourinho"Barcelona & Qatar Foundation agree £125m shirt deal [iThe new sponsorship arrangement could free up some transfer funds for coach Pep Guardiola - who worked as an ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. [/i news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 276343.stm'" Ah, this brings back lovely memories of criticism I received from Barca fanboys when I dared to suggest that the Unicef deal was a nice way of them getting the supporters used to seeing a logo on the shirt ahead of a commercial deal.

Quote ="Lord God Jose Mourinho"Barcelona & Qatar Foundation agree £125m shirt deal [iThe new sponsorship arrangement could free up some transfer funds for coach Pep Guardiola - who worked as an ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup. [/i news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 276343.stm'" Ah, this brings back lovely memories of criticism I received from Barca fanboys when I dared to suggest that the Unicef deal was a nice way of them getting the supporters used to seeing a logo on the shirt ahead of a commercial deal.

I find it all absolutely bizarre ... Never been a fan of Pardew and can't see how he can possibly change things for the better ... Hughton seemed to be quietly getting on with the job and mid table is not to be scoffed at after promotion ... crazy decision!

Go on The Toon.

FFS mate, you were only playing Liverpool.

Alan Pardew will have a statue built with "god" underneath by Monday outside St James park

Whereas at Liverpool it would have been bulit as soon as he was announced

And stolen as soon as it was unveiled.

rumours circulating that tevez has submitted a written transfer request

Just to confirm, Guardian have just retweeted this:

Quote
News of the World claim Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has handed in a transfer request and wants to leave Eastlands in January.

Media lies to destabilize Citeh.

Apparently Balotelli acted like a petulant child when the ref was trying to summon him for a brief chat, apparently wouldn't budge from where he was standing, Mancini in the end had to haul him off before he got sent off. What an idiot

Balotelli, not Mancini

,

No way?

Papers making it up.

Lets hope that whoever looks to tempt Tevez away has very deep pockets as no doubt the fee to buy Him will be huge.

The rumour a while ago was that Tevez was on money placing him among the top 5 players in the world.

If he is on that kind of money, Citeh are looking at a massive loss. Just Tevez's potential wages will put off most clubs, never mind thinking about paying a transfer fee to Citeh as well.

I suspect that Tevez will stay at Citeh, unless he really, really acts up and makes Citeh want rid. If that happens Citeh might agree to cancel his contract, Tevez walks away a free man and Citeh save themselves the wages they would have been paying for a guy that wants to leave and is acting like a prick.

A lot will depend on whether Tevez wants to go back home and doesn't care about the money anymore. But seeing as he's a modern footballer I doubt that'll be the case.

very few options in terms of places to go, unless he wants to jack in europe and just go back to Argentina

The guy is a grade A twunt.