"My client can kick a ball into a skip from quite far away" - English football off-season and transfer speculation thread 2009

Y...yeah?

Re: Bets and where Arsenal finish - Put a fiver on Arsenal coming 1st, although I believe it pretty much comes down to who plays more, Arshavin or Essien. Also a fiver on Eduardo top scorer at 33/1.

No-one's ever won four titles in a row and United did look very dodgy towards the end of the season. Arsenal haven't fixed *any* of the things that were so obviously wrong. Chelsea, not a clue, but they're quite old and no idea how Ancelotti will translate. Liverpool actually do look strengthened in that they should have a fresh Torres from the off - if they can avoid the usual Rafa mentalist period, they'd be my pick. With Man City as a genuine outside bet - it could just click for them, if they sign some proper defenders that is.

xp Haha, I considered both of those bets! More inclined to the Eduardo one cos of the odds.

More inclined to not bet cos am poor.

I don't see any reason why Man City wouldn't sign a few more players, the Lescott thing seems like it'll happen.

I dunno, the move to 4-3-3 should allow two proper DMs (Denilson who is a beast imo and Song who... could be, I guess) and give us better cover, while Vermaelan replacing Toure looks like we finally have our Vidic/Skrtel type that'll be essential to play next to Gallas. Eduardo's ability to put away half the chances Adebayor cocked up will make us more potent (not to mention they'll be more scoring opportunities with Arshavin and Cesc in the team together all season.) Other than that, our only other problem is squad depth but that all depends on what Wenger thinks of the Carling Cup side. And plus, the boss is still on the lookout for signings, so I think things are being fixed.

Football Kits 09/10
http://bit.ly/1efqli

there are some hideously designed kits for the upcoming season !

most of those seem OK except for Utd and Bolton's home kits and Everton's silly V collar

http://www.sport.co.uk/public/Stoke%20City%20away.jpg

"hehehe...no really i mean it, touch my Audi and you're gettin it...tee hee heeeee!"

Don't know why Spurs need yellow streaks on a white kit.

Burnley's is great! Also West Brom's yearly failure to get a sponsor just makes their shirts look better.

can Burnley, Villa, and West Ham plz have some sort of Claret & Blue challenge cup?

So that Ricky Fuller cover of "Hitchin' a Ride" got a video?

West Brom should go back to trying to stop people smoking

I really like both of Evertons! Also wtf, Chelsea's is still a thing of shame.

If I was a West Brom fan I'm pretty sure I'd be on 40 a day.

Didn't West Brom have the no smoking kit back in the day?

Chelsea man bra is horrible, like the away kit tho.

Chelsea aways is a bit 'training top' tho whereas Everton's is v 'Kanye on the beers at the local Yates'

I can't get over that Lolcastle away kit. They look (like) bananas!

Sky Sports reckons Sunday Monday Habib Beye is on his way to... Villa.

I'm surprised nobody tried to hijack Hull's move for Olofinjana for the laffs.

Monaco did... and Olofinjana went for Hull instead. Dude's contract must be nice.

City's are... really classy?

Everton dribble-bib is unappealing.

Like the Arsenal baseball one.

http://www.sport.co.uk/public/Chelsea%20away002xx(1).jpg
that's either some nice detailing or some bad photoshopping

The kit Valenica wore when playing United the other day is as bad as the worst Premiership kits (Bolton/Chelsea) imo.

what a disaster for Bolton
everton v-neck is a horror as well
kind of dig man city's 3rd kit. nice stripe

I cant be the only one who kind of likes Everton's old man cardigan kit, surely?

both Everton kits are pretty fuckin ghastly imo.

City's sash is impressive, particularly for confining the sponsor to just underneath the badge. Burnley's still my favourite.

Did quite like the United keeper kit, til I realised that was due to it being the same as Airdrie United's.

Former Tottenham target Dani Jarque, captain of Espanyol, has died of a heart attack at 26.

Watching the friendly between Arsenal and Valencia and as far as I can tell from this stream David Villa is having an absolutely lol shocking game, missing absolute sitters, ballooning free kicks nowhere near the goal and missing a penalty (that was rewarded for a shocking dive).

They did just score though.

xp I think they did a tribute to him at the start of the second half of this match, had just got home and was a bit confused

Have you got a link for the Valencia match, Suedey?

http://vstreams.net/

There's only about 6 minutes left, mind.

I found it on ustream but the commentary's in el foreign.

Haha, and of course Villa scores

COVENTRY City have agreed an undisclosed fee with Portsmouth for defender Martin Cranie
http://www.ccfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10269~1752076,00.html

It's like a new signing:

Arsenal centre forward Nicklas Bendtner has changed his squad number for the new season.

The Dane caught up with Arsenal.com to explain why he decided on the switch and give a personal offer to fans who had bought his shirt through Club outlets this summer.

“The new season’s almost here, and along with the rest of the players I’m really excited and believe it can be a really special one for everyone associated with the Club." said Bendtner.

"Before it starts I wanted to change my squad number from 26 which I’ve obviously had for a number of seasons now. I chose to move to 52 because it’s a special number to me personally, and I hope that it brings me good luck for the new season.

"I appreciate that a good number of fans have bought their kits for 2009/10 already with names and numbers printed up so I’d like to personally cover the cost of replacing anyone’s shirt that has my previous number. It means a lot to see supporters wearing your name and number, and I want to ensure people aren’t inconvenienced by the change."

dobule the number double the goal tally this season, i am calling it

Maybe it stands for how many millions of pounds Citeh will pay for him next summer.

Why is 52 so special I wonder? Is it like 1952, the year Denmark declared independence from Norway or something like that?

The year Denmark won two Olympic gold medals in canoeing?

It is the age Nicklas plans on living until.

http://arsenal.theoffside.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/bendtner.jpg

52 - the number of goals he wants to score in his professional career.

52 - the number of weeks rosicky will be out injured in the year 2009

52 - Nicklas' memories of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy aren't as good as he thought they were.

52 - Combined age of the Arsenal first team.

# August 29 1952 – John Cage's 4' 33" premieres in Woodstock, New York.

Maybe 'bentner52' is his Facebook password and he keeps forgetting it.

Also: Arsenal's Denilson to sue the BBC.

Ho ho, they changed the photo.