RG
rather Carsten Ramelow though

http://www.thescore.com/epl/news/544628

City uses 'Ask Jesus' hashtag for Twitter chat with Jesus Navas, religious jokes predictably ensue

i am sure its not pronounced "Jesus" anyway its "Hesus"

Spanish speaking nations call Jesus Christ, Hesus Cristo. So same thing REWB.

ohh i see

srigooner wrote:http://www.thescore.com/epl/news/544628

City uses 'Ask Jesus' hashtag for Twitter chat with Jesus Navas, religious jokes predictably ensue

thought this was pretty good:
Did you become a winger because of your previous experience with crosses? #AskJesus

They did #AskWilly not too long ago which was a big mess too

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard caused something of a stir this week when he claimed that he told Luis Suarez that he was too good for Arsenal.

For those who missed it, the Liverpool captain said: ‘I would have been really sad and disappointed to see Luis go to Arsenal. With all due respect to them, I said to him that he was too good for Arsenal.’

Here are five reasons why he was wrong:

1. Suarez himself realised that Arsenal could offer him more than Liverpool, hence why he asked to be allowed to leave. It was only Liverpool’s refusal to honour his buy-out clause, as John W. Henry admitted, that stopped the deal going through.

2. Arsenal have finished above Liverpool in the Premier League 16 times since 1992 compared to just the five times when the Reds have finished above the Gunners.

3. During his time with Liverpool, whom Gerrard never thought Suarez was too good to play for, the Uruguayan did not play in the Champions League and won only the League Cup. Had he been at Arsenal during that time he would have played in the Champions League every year and won the FA Cup [and who knows what else he would have helped the side win]

4. After a period of austerity due to the stadium build, Arsenal have now come out the other side of that and are starting to buy big-name players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez while Liverpool are losing theirs and have still not started their stadium refurbishment [after having to downgrade from building a new stadium altogether as they realise it isn’t as good as it seems]. Arsenal are on the way back up, can Liverpool say the same?

5. Despite suffering almost half the amount of injuries that Arsenal suffered last season, Liverpool could only manage to finish five points ahead of the London club with Suarez in their side [Liverpool do like the number five]. With Suarez playing for Arsenal, the Gunners would surely have finished above them and could even have won the league.

The simple fact is if Suarez wasn’t too good to play for Liverpool then there is no way he was too good to play for Arsenal.

Sorry Stevie, looks like you’ve slipped up again there.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/01/five-reasons-steven-gerrard-was-wrong-about-luis-suarez-being-too-good-for-arsenal-4817603/

Can someone explain to me how a club can refuse to honor a buy out clause?

Isn't the purpose of the buy out clause that if the buying club meets it, there is nothing the "selling" club can do about it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2571796/Luis-Suarez-DID-40million-buy-clause-reveals-Liverpool-owner-John-Henry-says-contracts-dont-mean-lot-England.html

I suspect Liverpool took a gamble by standing firm on Suarez. The tiniest error in wording on a contract can render clauses like these null and unenforceable.
Liverpool took their position, it was then up to Suarez and his agent and lawyers to fight it to enforce the clause, but they chose not to. If they had who knows whether or not they would have been successful.. I'm not a lawyer even if I did have a copy of his contract.

Taking my Arsenal hat off for a moment, I don't necessarily disagree with Gerrards comments and don't even find them particularly offensive. What he alleges he said at the start of last season turned out to be true. Two out of the three biggest clubs in the world made him a target, had his world cup incident not have occurred he would have gone to either RM or Barca for a world record fee.

On the other hand, had he come to Arsenal last season I believe with Suarez in our squad, we would have been one of the top 5 teams in the world. The same couldn't be said about Liverpool - as evident in actual events. He wasn't saying Arsenals not a step up from Liverpool - I am sure he knows it was then and frankly still is now - he's just saying Suarez is good enough for one of the giants.

CBarca wrote:Can someone explain to me how a club can refuse to honor a buy out clause?

Isn't the purpose of the buy out clause that if the buying club meets it, there is nothing the "selling" club can do about it?

You need to be smoking some serious stuff to have the gall to do that, and then ask what the club matching the clause was smoking. Anyway, here's the quote:

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/462678/John-W-Henry-admits-Liverpool-ignored-Luis-Suarez-s-buy-out-clause-after-Arsenal-bid

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/02/liverpool-john-henry-luis-suarez-clause

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/liverpool-owner-john-henry-luis-suarez-had-40m-buyout-clause-his-last-contract-1438597

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26414167

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2571796/Luis-Suarez-DID-40million-buy-clause-reveals-Liverpool-owner-John-Henry-says-contracts-dont-mean-lot-England.html

Take your pick

Peccadillo wrote:

Taking my Arsenal hat off for a moment, I don't necessarily disagree with Gerrards comments and don't even find them particularly offensive. What he alleges he said at the start of last season turned out to be true. Two out of the three biggest clubs in the world made him a target, had his world cup incident not have occurred he would have gone to either RM or Barca for a world record fee.

On the other hand, had he come to Arsenal last season I believe with Suarez in our squad, we would have been one of the top 5 teams in the world. The same couldn't be said about Liverpool - as evident in actual events. He wasn't saying Arsenals not a step up from Liverpool - I am sure he knows it was then and frankly still is now - he's just saying Suarez is good enough for one of the giants.

See that's the point, if we had bought Suarez, we wouldn't have spent on Özil probably, but we would have been one of the giants you talk about. It's all ifs and buts.

But Gerrard, for all his maturity and experience and blah, shouldn't have taken a dig at another PL club, and a rival at that. Last year it was their owner, this year, their captain. Their 5-1 win at Anfield puts them in a position to make such comments, and it will be rather sweet when we pay them back for it.

I absolutely loved Wenger's mild, classic jibe in response though

As well as a minor swipe at a rival, which is normal.. He's also just trying to make himself look good .. and if it is true that he had a big influence in not just convincing Suarez to stay, but motivating him to the monster season he had to secure his dream move, then credit where credits due. Suarez and Liverpool ended up better for it.

Anyway as you said, we got Ozil instead and are now on a different if not longer path to success  

Wenger is always all class.. like a sir.

It's a very small-club mentality to get such big egos after one result, especially considering it led to nothing (for them) and that we beat them the other two matches we played them and did win something as a result (and with Sanogo up front)

I don't know, MJ. Personally, I know some awesome, as well as some aweful fans of LFC. In quite a few ways, they are as obnoxious and/or defensive and/or wonderful and/or proud as the gunner fan base - I guess it is equally true for most clubs.

Despite the bad apples, I still find LFC a more likeable club than Chelsea or Manchesters - they also went through a hard phase like us and they have a load of history to be proud of - like us.

But sometimes, things that their management and/or fans say/do is just so

I do as well, and that's obviously directed at the bad apples who try to troll us with the 5-1 result.

Surprised Man Utd haven't added more signings so far this summer, however after LvG's comments ahead of the Liverpool friendly, I expect their transfer season to begin this week.

Arsene Wenger on Frank Lampard: "If you look at a map, the shortest way from Chelsea to Manchester City is not to fly to New York first."

  

FFS
Would love to meet Wenger one day.
Top dawg!

Chelsea fan: Chelsea is bigger than Arsenal
Arsenal fan: How?
Chelsea fan: We always win trophies
Arsenal fan: But we have more trophies than you?
Chelsea fan: Those are history.
Arsenal fan: But we won a trophy last year and you didn't.
Chelsea fan: It doesn't matter.
Arsenal fan: Has Chelsea ever went a season unbeaten?
Chelsea fan: No.
Arsenal fan: Has Chelsea ever won a Golden EPL trophy?
Chelsea fan: No.
Arsenal fan: Does Chelsea have 13 EPL titles?
Chelsea fan: No.
Arsenal fan: Does Chelsea have 11 FA Cup titles?
Chelsea fan: No.
Arsenal fan: Was Chelsea founded before Arsenal?
Chelsea fan: No. Arsenal was founded before Chelsea, but that's history. Chelsea always win trophies and our fans are better than yours.
Arsenal fan: How many fans came out for your Champions League parade in London?
Chelsea fan: 90,000 fans.
Arsenal fan: How many fans came out for Arsenal FA Cup parade in London?
Chelsea fan: 250,000 fans,
Arsenal fan: So how is Chelsea bigger than Arsenal?
Chelsea fan: We always win trophies,
Arsenal fan: Right now, we are the FA Cup holders, and you are trophyless. In history, Arsenal have 40 trophies. Chelsea have 28 trophies.
Chelsea fan: We have a Champions League trophy and you don't.
Arsenal fan: Does that make you bigger than us?
Chelsea fan: Yes.
Arsenal fan: Nottingham Forest have two Champions League trophies. Does that make Nottingham better than Chelsea?

What is a Golden EPL trophy?

The trophy we got after the invincible season

This is insane.

I say from now on, we send our youngsters on loan to a Turkish league for one season. This is the type of atmosphere that will help them to play under pressure.

FC Porto announce that they will receive €30.5m for Eliaquim Mangala from Manchester City. They owned only 56.67% of the player

so his total cost was around 42M pounds?!!ffs

FFP what

So City now have 6 CBs... LOL.

Kompany, Mangala, Boyata, Demichelis, Nastasic, Richards/Sagna (both can't be 2nd choice RB)

Surely this means they are going to sell Nastasic and maybe loan Boyata out..

* 7 CBS - I forgot Rekik... but he will almost certainly get loaned out.