It is now time to switch to a new Money AM football blog as the world cup is now over and we all look to the future.....World cup 2010 is over, Bravo Espana, and Forlan, once again and bring on the new season !.....I never expected the last thread to be such a success...thanks all.... so this new one might go on for years without the need to edit the title...we shall see...

Go on then Chris get it put up.

That bloke with glue stuck to his foot reminds me of Georgie Best in his pomp.

Gosh wish I could have seen that in real time.

Nearest I got was Franky Worthington past his best but still one hell of a player.

Clegg repeating what RF said weeks ago.....typical....

Have Southampton got a first team now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Blimey theirs 2 or 3 more to add to this list. God knows how their supporters feel.......

Southampton

Lee Barnard

Guly do Prado

Jonathan Forte

Danny Fox

Adam Lallana

Dejan Lovren

Andy Robinson

Luke Shaw

Ricky lambert

Cardiff are in for Fonte from Southampton.

Crikey another one going.

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/belokon-blasts-oyston-demanding-put-football-first-1-6749036

Blackpool only had 8 players up to yesterday until they signed another 3.. maybe they could amalgamate with Southampton.

Carduff? Look forward to your trip to Yeovil and Brentford next season while we entertain the likes of Liverpool Man Utd Etc.. now where have I heard that before -):

Stan you have no chance against the Red Devils.

Glory glory Van United, glory glory Van United.

Now now G/F you know what happened last time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAHoahsd3Uw YeeeeeeeeeHa -):

New rules which prevent players and coaches betting on any worldwide footballing activity will help in the fight against match-fixing, says Football Association general secretary Alex Horne.

Players from the top eight tiers of the English game are banned from betting on the sport under new rules which came into force on Friday.
"We want to keep our message as simple as possible - and it cannot be more simple that as a player you cannot bet at all on football," says Horne.

Yeovil were relegated Stan :)

Oh yeah your not wrong.

... And don't mention the "R" word -):

First 2 bets of the season (and they are a pair of beauties)
BY THE SOCCER PROPHET | SATURDAY 2 AUGUST 2014

30




August is here and the new season is only a few weeks away. I cannot wait. After a superb World Cup, next season in the Premier League holds such incredible promise. I’m still completing my pre-season research, but I have identified a couple of bets, which look well worth a punt, even at this early stage.

If you’ve read my stuff in the past you will know I rarely bet on individual matches, unless for fun or competitive international league matches (i.e. qualifiers and group stages of major tournaments). The reasons for this are simple. The variance is far too high and the prices are usually too poor. Instead I choose to bet multiples on final league outcomes.

Over the course of 90 minutes absolutely anything can happen. Sendings off, own goals, injuries, bizarre refereeing decisions, diving, spectacular strikes, break away goals, unbeatable goal keeping performances – you name it, the beautiful game is blessed with stunning variety.

However, over the course of a season all these random variables (the variance) smooth themselves out. The famous saying “the best team wins the league” is, for the most part, usually spot on.

How many league winning teams can you think of which were “lucky” to win the league?

There must be examples, but I can’t think of one off the top of my head.

My main focus is on the seven main European leagues; England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and Holland. The main reason I focus on these is because these are the highest quality leagues in the world and I don’t fear the corruption, which appears to blight so many other leagues.

Of these leagues, my early picks for title winners, which might be worth backing based on the odds, include Chelsea in England, Porto in Portugal and Real Madrid in Spain. PSG and Bayern Munich are overwhelming favourites in France and Germany respectively, but the odds aren’t great. As for Italy and Holland I am unclear on both of these. Both leagues have been dominated by one team over the last fear years (Juventus and Ajax), but both could face more competitive seasons this year. I still need to do more research and look at pre season form, before taking the plunge on any of these selections, but in the meantime I have found two bets, which look fantastic.

First, my favourite bet is Manchester United to win the Premier League without Chelsea & Manchester City. I cannot believe the 2.5 price Skybet is offering on this. United don’t play in Europe this season. For that reason alone they could be a good shout for winning the league. Despite the apparent misbalance in the team, this is a squad packed full of superstars and in Van Gaal they have one of the world’s top managers. Whether or not Van Gaal’s arrogance will endear him to the good people of Manchester remains to be seen, but I imagine they won’t care so long as he wins matches. After the turgid season under Moyes, United’s stars (Rooney especially) look so relieved to have a man of real quality back in charge. While City, Chelsea and Arsenal bugger off to the far reaches of Eastern Europe on midweek sojourns, United’s team will be tucked up nicely at home resting and preparing for the next league game. This is a huge advantage. Liverpool would not done nearly as well as they did last season if they had played in Europe.

Second, I really like Roma to win Serie A without Juventus. This isn’t quite as much of a gimme as the United bet, but at 2.75 at PaddyPower the price looks good. If you followed Roma last season, the team was extremely impressive under then new coach Rudi Garcia. Garcia won the French title with Lille a few years ago and he is one of Europe’s most underrated coaches as far as I’m concerned. I can see him managing in the Premier League one day. His teams play excellent, disciplined football. Last season Roma finished 17 points behind Juventus in second, but was 7 points ahead of Napoli. Once Juventus had won the league, Roma stopped playing and lost its last three matches, so the relative gaps should have been narrower and wider respectively. Over the summer, Roma has invested heavily in the highly rated Argentine forward Iturbe and this signing could be transformational. Juventus should still be strong favourites to win the league, but Roma could run the team from Turin close.

The best price on offer for these two combined bets is 6.32 on PaddyPower.

- See more at: http://www.shareprophets.advfn.com/views/6942/first-2-bets-of-the-season-and-they-are-a-pair-of-beauties#sthash.TnRHnJpp.dpuf

Chris C are you looking in............

First, my favourite bet is Manchester United to win the Premier League

This chap as a fantastic record of winning bets aswel.

He makes a good point about Liverpool last season and going forward Van Utd, this season.

Aye right gf, he's pissed! Chelsea or City for me to win the league. Liverpool will do well in the European Cup. Everton will win the Europa and come close to 4th in Prem but of course, like you I'm biased.

Hey , he makes loads of good calls.

And he makes one very good point, the best team will win the league. What a brilliant deduction LOL!!! You came 7th last season. Already Van God is bemoaning he has a broken team and will be lucky to break into the top four.

Are Everton the third-best team in the League now?
by Geoffrey Caveney | 01/08/2014 Comments (103) jump
With Lukaku signed and hopefully Atsu and/or Guardado on the way, where do Everton honestly rate among the best teams in the Premier League going into the 2014-15 season?

Taking an objective look at the league, we probably have to admit that Manchester City and Chelsea appear to have the strongest sides. But can any other club really claim to rate clearly higher than Everton now?

There is good reason to believe that all Southampton’s horses and all Southampton’s men can’t put the RS together again, after the departure of Suarez. Their attack has lost its…bite.

Nothing that Arsenal and Man Utd have done looks like a dramatic improvement. Van Gaal is even making excuses already, saying how difficult it is to sort out the mess that Moyes left him, how unbalanced his squad are, and so forth.

And are the Spurs even in the discussion anymore?

I think a 3rd place finish is a quite realistic goal for Everton this season.

For the betting types, I notice that for a “Tricast” bet for 1st Chelsea, 2nd Man City, 3rd Everton, one can get odds of 225 to 1 or as much as 400 to 1, and for 1st Man City, 2nd Chelsea, 3rd Everton, 225 to 1 or as much as 500 to 1. A small bet on each of these outcomes might not be a bad wager to make right now!

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Sam Morrison
1 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:18:36 Maybe it's because I'm an Evertonian, but it worries me when people start thinking this way. We haven't even played a game yet. I'm as excited as anyone - ok, almost anyone - about the new season, but lets take it one game at a time.
Lyndon Lloyd
2 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:12:28 Realistically, I don't think we're there yet. Even if we sign Christian Atsu and he proves to be a replacement for Gerard Deulofeu in terms of his contribution, we're only as good a team as we were last season but with the benefit of having a settled Lukaku from the beginning of the season.
For me, we still lack a world-class attacking midfielder to rotate with Barkley, Pienaar and Osman and who can provide Lukaku with the ammunition that was clearly lacking at times last season, particularly against teams that dug in and put men behind the ball.

I'd be surprised if Martinez is done for the transfer window, though, so we may have a clearer answer to your question at the end of the month.

Dean Adams
4 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:23:09 Optimistic Geoffrey. Excellent to have such courage of your conviction. I wish, I hope for a return to more glorious days for our club. Alas I fear that there is always something around the corner that will cause us pain. It is almost always the same, but good positive thinking is no sin. Believe brothers, it might just be time for the mighty blue mersey to rise from the ashes!!
Kunal Desai
5 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:25:24 I still think the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal have strength in depth and the quality to go with it. 4th? perhaps, much will depend on how much further business Man Utd and Spurs do between now and the end of the window and whether Liverpool's signings all gel together from the start.
Dave Lynch
6 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:32:41 If we finish 3rd at the end of the season then yes. It's a results game and as mentioned we havn't kicked a ball in anger yet.
Chad Schofield
7 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:27:23 I think Man U will have a resurgence this season, in the same way Liverpool last season without Europe did well. Arsenal and Tottenham have not really changed, but Tottenham may have solidified.
All that said, maybe it's Roberto, but I believe we can be there or there abouts.

Darryl Ritchie
8 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:23:07 Not quite yet. We're a promising side, which is going to cause a lot of opposition managers to lose sleep before a match, but, I think we're a couple quality players short. There's still time for RM in this transfer window to pull something out of his hat, so you never know.
Consistency is going to be the key. We have to beat teams we're supposed to beat, and surprise a few of the ones we're not. Every one knows what to expect from us now, so we won't be surprising anybody this season. It will be harder just to repeat what happened last season.

Antony Matthews
9 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:33:43 If OFM, was still in charge our target would have been 40 pts. What a difference in 12 months! A certain ceiling is cracking and we must be prepared to be the first through it.The stadium hopefully will follow and the good times will return. Football swings in roundabouts and our time will come again. IRWT!
Andrew Ellams
10 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:41:57 We are now a mid table team in a seven-team mini league at the top of the Premier League. Luck will have a lot to do with where we finish and not necessarily our luck. We need to be prepared to go for the jugular when those around struggle with bad form or injuries and fight tooth and nail when things go against us.
Paul Ellam
11 Posted 01/08/2014 at 16:44:44 In terms of being one of the best I honestly believe we are a top 7 side but capable of being a top 4 side.
If we stay consistently good we could do it but it's a lot to ask , there are 6 other sides all wanting to do the same and we can't all be top 3!
Fingers crossed though.



Last blog above puts it in a nutshell gf. Consistancy is the key.

What a load of tripe Chris.

Van Utd will win the league.

Consistancy my god weve won the premiership year after year more than I can remember.