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...

Great result for WBA at the weekend and up into the top half of the table. However WBA are like Christmas lights the come down in the new year, in the meantime I will enjoy this unexpected run of good results.

Not been a good start to the season. Every team coming for a kick about have had decent performances. Still waiting for one from the Home team.

Not a bad bet might be : Leicester : to stay up........

Just a brief word about the terrible plane crash in South America....condolences to the bereaved from all here on the Money Am threads.....

Neymar is the most valuable player in the world, Leo Messi second
France Football, using data from CIES Football Observatory, say six of the seven most expensive players in the world play in La Liga


Sport EN | 6.12.2016 | 10:53h.
Neymar, FC Barcelona's Brazilian star, is currently the most valuable player in the world according to France Football. Neymar leads the list of players, which is dominated by players who play in La Liga.

France Football, using data from CIES Football Observatory, say six of the seven most expensive players in the world are from Spain.

Neymar is top of the list, valued at 250m euros, beating Lionel Messi (190m) and Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann, (135m).

Off the podium but fourth on the list is Cristiano Ronaldo (130m).

FC Barcelona are represented on the list by Luis Suarez (95m), Sergio Busquets (60m) and Ivan Rakitic (50m) too.

Put into a formation, this would be the most valuable team in the world:

De Gea (58); Marquinhos (47), Bonucci (50), Varane (50), Laporte (48); Verratti (72), Coutinho (75), Pogba (125); Messi (190), Griezmann (135), Neymar (250).

Neymar Barcelona 250
Messi Barcelona 190
Griezmann Atlético 135
Cristiano Real Madrid 130
Pogba Manchester United 125
Gareth Bale Real Madrid 110
Luis Suárez Barcelona 95
Agüero Manchester City 88
Higuaín Juventus 85
Müller Bayern Munich 82
Lewandowski Bayern Munich 80
Coutinho Liverpool 75
Hazard Chelsea 75
Dybala Juventus 72
Verratti PSG 72
De Bruyne Manchester City 70
Alexis Sánchez Arsenal 69
Aubameyang Borussia D. 68
Kane Tottenham 62
Kroos Real Madrid 62
Icardi Inter 60
Alvaro Morata Real Madrid 60
Busquets Barcelona 60
De Gea Manchester United 58
Koke Atlético Madrid 56
Ozil Arsenal 55
Sterling Manchester City 55
Neuer Bayern Munich 54
Martial Manchester United 53
Donnarumma Milan AC 50
Courtois Chelsea 50
Diego Costa Chelsea 50
Kante Chelsea 50
Rakitic FC Barcelona 50
Varane Real Madrid 50
Bonucci Juventus 50

Champions League Draw 2016-17: Round-of - 16

According to UEFA's official website, the first legs of the round will played in the weeks commencing February 13 and 20, while the second legs will be in the weeks of March 6 and 13.

The seeded group winners will be away in the opener and then at home for the return leg.

Sick of missing out on freebies? How Barcelona footballer Ivan Rakitić's launched an app to shake up fan giveaways - and stars like Wayne Rooney are already using it

# Footballer's start-up launches an app to make sure freebies go to real fans
# Wayne Rooney and Kobe Bryant have already donated via the Scorrers app
# The app aims to democratise prize giveaways by picking a winner at random
# Rakitić hopes to extend the app to the worlds of entertainment and showbiz

Loyal fans will know how annoying it is to apply for every competition and giveaway going, only to be pipped at the post by someone more web-savvy or quicker off the mark.
Now entrepreneurial FC Barcelona footballer Ivan Rakitić has gone to extreme lengths to stop his fans missing out - creating a new mobile app and business that he says will shake up the celebrity giveaway market........

Sick of missing out on freebies?

Can't believe Swansea have sacked their manager Bob Bradley. I thought he was doing a tremendous job.

Agreed, but I think Giggs can do even better -):

Giggs - LOL

Hope they don't appoint him as I want the corrupt Palace (complete with Mr Big) to go down.

Fit and proper person - my ****

Hey Stan good to see you.

Cardiff fans want our ex part time Welsh player for the job as they already dislike him for showing no loyalty and just turning up when he felt like for Wales.

Match made in heaven.

Looks like no one wants to manage the gypo's. Can't understand why they don't just give it to Curtis , whoever gets the job will end up with relegation on their cv.

Serves them right for selling all their best players and Ashley Williams and not replacing them.

Virtual confirmation of Swansea's relegation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38492260

Halfway through season and bottom four will have a change of manager.

Wonder who is next out the door?

If you'd asked me at 9pm last nite - I would have said the long-serving one

Palace have gifted Swansea 6 points in the last month so deserve to go down. Sam's got a big job on his hands with that lot.

I read something similar Stan , Swansea still need 5 wins and 7 draws from remaining 18 games to put the odds of them staying up back in their favour.

Cardiff were in a better position than Swansea are now the season they got relegated.

Soccer-Cellino sells half of Leeds Utd to fellow Italian Radrizzani

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Leeds United owner Massimo Cellino has sold half of the second-tier English club's share capital to fellow Italian Andrea Radrizzani.

The Championship side announced the news on their website (www.leedsunited.com) on Wednesday with the shares acquired by Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd, an acquisition vehicle for Radrizzani's Aser Group Holding.

Aser Group includes the MP&Silva international television and sports media rights agency as well as the global Eleven Sports Network.

MP&Silva set up a strategic partnership with Chinese financial services company Everbright and technology company Baofeng in May last year through an investment from Shanghai Jin Xin.

Sky Sports News reported unidentified sources saying that Radrizzani, 42, would have the option to buy all the shares in June.

Cellino, who has a reputation for sacking managers and went through 36 in 22 years at Italian club Cagliari, starts an 18-month ban in February that was imposed by the Football Association as punishment for breaching agent rules.

It will be the 60-year-old's third ban since he took a majority stake in Leeds in April 2014.

His Eleonora Sport acquired full ownership of the northern club in September last year when it bought the remaining 18 percent stake from a Dubai-based subsidiary of Islamic investment bank GFH Financial Group.

Leeds are currently fifth in the Championship, nine points behind leaders Brighton.

Leeds doing fine....might get promotion the way they are going...
I'm convinced the Gunners will get the better of Bayern Munich this time round when they meet later on...!,
Chelsea are looking awesome in the premiership !...

Mancs v Scousers tomorrow rf could be interesting. Heart says Liverpool to beat Utd and Everton to beat City :o). Head says opposite. So put 2 doubles on to cover both eventualities. And a punt on Everton to win with 3 or more goals in the match all online with Willi Hill. He who dares :o) Knowing my luck will be a draw in one of the derbies, let,s hope not! Won an easy treble today on Arse, Spurs and Chelsea to win so either way up on the weekend. Hope Leeds do get promoted.