FOOTY FAIR

10 Best Quotes from Diego Simeone

2015-03-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

One of the best coaches in world football, Diego Simeone has taken Atletico Madrid to the top of Spanish football. The Argentine coach is not only known for his ability to lead his club but also for the incredible quotes he has given us over the years.

Sharply dressed and with a sharp tongue, Diego Simeone enters every press conference ready to set the world on fire, and these are ten of my favorite quotes from “El Cholo”.

“Call me crazy, but I would never coach Real Madrid. I am a fan of Racing and Atletico. I would never coach Independiente and I wouldn’t coach Madrid. It would be foolish.”

“I want to thank all the mothers of my players for giving them so big balls.”

“I apologize because I laughed at Ronaldo and Ramos comments after el clasico….Neymar is a real actor.”

“When I reach a Cup final, my players already know what is going to be my headline quote: You don’t play finals, you win them.”

“I manage a team as if it were my family. From that feeling, everyone makes up a part of my team. From the club president to the groundsman. The most difficult thing is to make them all feel that they are an important part within the group. It’s a difficult task, but if you achieve such a thing, it’s easier for success to come.”

“A player who prefers to be comfortable at a small club where he is the big fish in a small pond will watch cup finals on television.”

“The members of our group who are substitutes on the bench or in the stands, are just as important as the starting XI. Titles are not won with only eleven players. The entire team wins them.”

“The ‘Cholo’ nickname was given to me by a Velez Sarsfield youth coach, Oscar Nessi. He had a footballer at Boca Juniors named Simeone who they called ‘Cholo’. One day in training he called me that and it stayed with me.”

“No, absolutely no. Madrid and Barcelona play in a different league. This is a boring championship for the rest of the supporters who can only aspire to be third or fourth. We’ll have to wait for a different distribution of television money because now the league is only of two.”

“The group has to be with you. It has to believe in you, if it doubts or doesn’t trust you, obstacles begin to appear in your path.”

La Liga Cartoon Crests by Peter Willis (Gallery)

2015-02-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

Peter Willis created a collection of illustrations covering some of the bigger La Liga club crests.

The badges are a mixture of cartoon and hand drawing in a very different take on these iconic crests.

Any Given Sunday: CR7’s List to Santa Claus

2014-12-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Only four days away from Christmas and as the time runs out so does the chance for everyone to get their gift list sent to Santa Claus in time for the holiday season.

The big man needs some time to check the lists, see if the requester was naughty or nice and then have all the gifts ready in time for delivery during Christmas Eve.

Children of all ages around the world prepare their lists very carefully, and nowadays with email, you can afford to wait until the last possible minute to send them in. Children are not the only ones making lists and sending them to Santa Claus, adults do it as well. We might not physically type them or write them, but in our mind we all have a secret wish list that we would like to send to Santa Claus, and wake up on December 25th to find some of those items under our tree.

As we look forward to December 25th I can’t stop from wondering what items would be on Cristiano Ronaldo’s Santa Claus list. For the man who has everything and has won almost everything it must be hard to put a list together and even harder for Santa Claus to be able to get him what he wants.

After much deliberation, on my part, I think I have narrow down the three items that Cristiano Ronaldo would put on a wish list to Santa Claus if he was to sit down and send him one.

3rd Ballon d’Or

Cristiano Ronaldo wants to reach Messi and even surpass him, I don’t think anything else drives him, motivates him, as much as his desire to one day is known as the best there was. Winning a 3rd Ballon d’Or, which would give him back to back wins, would be a step in the right direction. This might be the one item on his list that he will indeed get; I would be shocked if he doesn’t.

Win Major Tournament with Portugal

He has won everything a player can win at the club level and individually. The only thing missing from his curriculum is a title with his country. He lost a Euro Cup final at home against Greece and since then he has only been able to reach the Semifinals of major tournaments. Winning a trophy with Portugal would help him elevate his status as the greatest Portuguese player of all time as well as one of the greatest of all time.

Win the Treble with Real Madrid

He has come close, last year winning the Champions League and Copa del Rey but letting the title escape to the city rivals Atletico Madrid. This year Cristiano Ronaldo would love nothing more than lead Real Madrid to a treble victory and break every single record that he can during that campaign and once and for all put to rest any claims that lives in the shadow of Messi.

I am not sure how busy Santa Claus is, but these wishes have some probability of coming true for him, at least two of them. Maybe this will end up being a Merry Christmas for Cristiano Ronaldo after all.

Barcelona under Fire for New Kit Design

2014-12-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Barcelona has awakened to blockbuster news that has brought anger to its fans. No, Messi hasn’t signed with Real Madrid, instead the new kit that Barcelona will be wearing next season has the stripes horizontally instead of vertical.

The Catalan newspaper “Sport” has publish pictures and drafts of what the new kit will be in 2015-16 season for FC Barcelona. For the first time in their illustrious history the vertical stripes have been replaced with horizontal stripes.

The new design has been approved by club president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and promoted by Nike. The kit manufacture wants to make a drastic change to the kits to promote sales and see their numbers increase from the past year. The project and idea to change the stripes seems to be the brainchild of Nike. Sales and decline in sales being the main reason behind this change.

I don’t think that Nike or Barcelona president; really understand the significance behind a team’s kit as well as the significance of the colors and design of the Barcelona kits.

It didn’t take long for Barcelona fans to make their voices heard. They were quick to turn to social media to show their displeasure with the new kit design and the change in the direction of the stripes.

Considering how loud the indignation of fans has been I wouldn’t be surprised if Barcelona and Nike backtrack on this design and go down a different road, because this indignation can quickly turn to anger and neither one will be very good for sales, which is the main reason behind this change.

I am just shocked that not one single person from Barcelona had the foresight to see the disaster and backlash that this kit designs would bring and advise Nike of it. All of this could have been avoided by using just some common sense. Unfortunately, common sense is not so common.

Any Given Sunday: Holy Smokes Batman

2014-11-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

The most awkward legal battle broke out this week. This is something that you would almost expect to see in a movie theatre near you starting Christian Bale.

Valencia CF is being sued by DC Comics. Yes you have read it right; DC Comics is taking legal action against Valencia CF of the Spanish La Liga over their bat logo. If this isn’t one of the most absurd and at the same time incredible stories that you have read in the last couple of weeks I am not sure what is. Well, maybe the Cruzeiro Lingerie Line comes close to it, but to me this one takes the cake.

Valencia CF is looking at registering their bat logo that appears on top of their crest, and when the news hit the noses of the DC Comics lawyers, well they ran to the phones faster than a Usain Bolt at the Summer Olympics.

DC Comics is threatening Valencia CF with legal action if they indeed go ahead with their attempt to trademark the bat logo. Their reason is that in the future, Valencia’s bat and DC Comics bat could be confused with each other since both bats look similar. Of course they look similar, they are both bats. I wonder if DC Comics is worried that Batman will confuse the two bat signals and instead of showing up Gotham City to help an unsuspected citizen, he will instead arrive at La Mestalla to help Andre Gomes with his defensive coverage of midfield.

The complaint was file with OHIM, a European entity that controls and licenses the use of logos and branding. OHIM hasn't revealed a deadline for a conclusion of the process but at this time it doesn’t look like either part will reach a consensus.

The issue is that Valencia CF uses the bat in their crest since the 1920’s, while the DC Comics Batman logo wasn't created until 1939, but DC Comics have trademarked their logo while Valencia CF until now had never done it.

Somewhere, somehow, the Joker is having a laugh at the bats expense.

American Football Helmets of Spanish La Liga Clubs (Gallery)

2014-10-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Pablo Rodriguez from Madrid Spain, has put together a collection of graphic designs illustrating American Football helmets in representation of each Spanish La Liga team.

He is a great graphic designer and if you would like to check some more of his work you can see it at http://rodriguezpablo.com/

Any Given Sunday: Catalonia Independence a Football Quagmire

2014-10-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

The possibility of Barcelona being forced to depart from La Liga has been put forward as a real possibility according to the league president Javier Tebas.

The Spanish FA president was clear in the comments he made this past week that if Catalonia is to become an independent country both Barcelona and Espanyol will be ineligible to play in La Liga.

This is not a fairy tale or a Wes Craven novel depending on which side of the fence you are, this is a real possibility with some incredibly serious consequences not only for the league but also for the national team. November 9th a referendum will be held to determine if Catalonia will indeed become independent from Spain. Similar referendum happened in Scotland a few weeks ago but without the same impact in terms of the football teams in that country, since their league and FA is independent from the English FA.

According to the existing regulations teams that are not part of Spain can’t play in La Liga which makes absolute sense, so if that is to stay in place these two clubs would have to find another league to play in, most likely Catalonia would have to form a domestic league. Having said that, depending on how the voting goes on November 9th, a change to the rule could be made that would contemplate the addition of Catalonia based teams to the La Liga competition, but for a change to be made it would have to be approved in parliament first and the federation would have to also vote on it and ensure the integrity of the game and league would not be affected by the change.

If anyone had asked me 5 years ago if there was a good chance for Catalonia to become independent I would say yes, currently I am not so sure the vote for independence will win. I believe it will be close, but I don’t believe it will prevail. If it does then there is a serious sports situation on the hands of politicians and federation officials. On one hand I am sure Catalonia will want to have its own national team competing internationally, but on the other hand they will probably want their clubs like Barcelona and Espanyol to still play in La Liga. I don’t think they can have their cake and eat it too.

How strange would it be for them to compete at the international level as an independent nation, while their domestic clubs for all intents and purposes play in a foreign league? I don’t think this happens anywhere else in Europe, and perhaps not even the world, with one possible exception being MLS in North America that has teams from Canada and USA in it.

I would like to see Barcelona, Espanyol or any other Catalan club continue to play in La Liga. Their removal from the competition will weaken the league, and it will make it less interesting and viable than what currently is. Even if you are a Real Madrid fan, you must be hoping for this not to happen. A Spanish league without Barcelona diminishes anything Real Madrid or any other club would achieve, and it would be a huge disservice to the fans and the sport.

FC Barcelona Returning to Sponsorless Kit

2014-10-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Johan Cryuff should be a very happy man this week. No, he hasn’t won any award or even been handed a front office position with Barcelona, but his wish of seeing the Barcelona kit without a sponsor might be coming true in the near future.

According to reports coming out of Spain, FC Barcelona could be making a move back to a sponsor less kit once their current deal with Qatar Airways expires in 2016.

FC Barcelona was one of the last big clubs if no the last to adopt a kit sponsor. Up until the 2007-08 season they didn’t have a kit sponsor and in that season that added a non-commercial sponsor to the front of the jersey, Unicef. 2011, Barcelona added their first commercial sponsor, Qatar Foundation, which eventually moved to Qatar Airways in 2013-14.

The deal was worth 150 million euros and was a five year deal signed with Qatar Sports Investment, which started by using Qatar Foundation as the sponsor name and eventually Qatar Airways as I mentioned above.

Later this month during the clubs general assembly the discussion will happen and a decision will most likely be made in which direction FC Barcelona will go as far as their kit sponsorship. Nike will have to be notified by September of 2015, so time for a decision may end up being sooner rather than later.

This past summer FC Barcelona signed a smaller partnership with Beko that saw their logo appear on the kit sleeve, and while smaller sponsorships may continue to happen, a move to a traditional sponsor less kit is something most purist and die hard Barcelona fans would gladly welcome.

Malaga President Blast Local Government on Twitter

2014-09-30T06:00:00.000-04:00

In case you are wondering, Joey Barton does not own or works as the president of Spanish side Malaga. In fact the club owner and president is Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani from Qatar who is known for being a big sports fan and a polemic user of Twitter.

He has been known to take to Twitter to complain about almost anything that relates to Malaga and what he perceives as injustices. This time the target was the local government that he blames for stalling in his bid to build a new academy and training complex.

His new academy and training complex is something that he has been planning on doing for the last five years and seeing no development in this situation he took to Twitter to vent his frustrations and claim that if need be he will move this project to another city.

Here are his Tweets:

He is not holding back on his feelings, but I wonder what the real issue is. Is it land? Taxes? One has to wonder what would stop the local government from pushing forward with this if it could probably mean jobs and development of the local area.

As far as moving it elsewhere, I am not sure that makes any sense. The team needs the complex where they are not in a neighboring city. This is not a franchise that he can relocate at his will. Someone has been playing too many video games in Qatar and has lost track of reality.

Santiago Bernabeu Naming Rights Worth €500 Million

2014-09-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

According to reports from Marca, Real Madrid is close to a deal that would see them sell the Santiago Bernabeu stadium naming rights for about 500 million euros.

The stadium is currently named after former player and President, Santiago Bernabeu, who was largely responsible for Real Madrid’s to prominence in European football during the 20th century. This deal if indeed goes through, will be something that not every Real Madrid fan and purist will see as a positive. While the money injection to the Real Madrid safes will be important, losing the epic and iconic name of Santiago Bernabeu, in replacement of something else will not be an easy pill to swallow for most.

The Spanish newspaper, Marca, reports that the deal could be reached with International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which is owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi. It would a 20 year contract, worth around 500 million euros which turns out to be about 25 million euros per year until 2034.

IPIC also owns the Spanish multinational oil company CEPSA (Compañía Española de Petróleos), so when looking at possible names for the stadium, CEPSA could be one of the names or even Abu Dhabi, since the oil company is owned by the government of the country as I mentioned above.

Real Madrid will be using the money to refurbish the stadium, and the new name won’t be agreed upon until the work on the stadium is completed. There is a possibility of a merger of names that would still see Santiago Bernabeu on the name with the addition of another name to it. Florentino Perez knows that the fallout from changing the stadium name could be massive, but he also knows that the club needs the funds to be able to refurbish the stadium.

Selling of the naming rights to a stadium is very common in modern football, most teams have taken that path, but fans do not always want to see it happen, especially when you are talking about a stadium as iconic as Bernabeu. It won’t be an easy sell for Perez, but perhaps the solution will come by having two names associated with the stadium allowing the current one to still be part of the new stadium name.

I hate to see stadiums like this lose their name over a large sponsorship deal, but I also understand the business side of it. Having said that hearing commentators like Ray Hudson calling a game and referring to the stadium as CEPSA stadium or Abu Dhabi stadium will be without a doubt strange.

Real Madrid Racked up a 602 Million Euros Debt Last Season

2014-09-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

The leadership of Real Madrid closed the books on the 2013-14 season and have reported a debt of 602 million euros.

Yes, you are reading it right. Real Madrid during last season accumulated a total debt of 602 million euros. The 602 million euros represents an increase of 11,3% from the previous season (2012-13) in which Real Madrid had finish with a 541 million euro debt.

The Spanish newspaper AS, has revealed that from the current debt of 602 million euros, 361 million euros are to be liquidated short term, in which way it will be liquidated is not known at this time. 75 million of that debt is owed to banks and 241 million is part of a portion of long term debt.

While this summer Real Madrid sold Di Maria and saw Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Morata leave the club, the incoming profit from sales was very little to offset the overall spending, when you take in consideration the purchases of Kroos and James Rodriguez.

Real Madrid saw their overall income rise by 5% in 2013-14, despite having won the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. This perhaps gives the club the signal that signing big stars at elevated costs is not easily offset by the kit sales or even reaching and winning major competitions.

The cost of wanting to continue the Galacticos way of doing business comes at a cost for Real Madrid and in an era of Financial Fair Play how long can Real Madrid continue to rack up this incredible debt, season after season is beyond me.

Florentino Perez will explain the accounts and the final numbers for 2013-14 today in front of the general assembly. He will have to explain how this growing debt will affect Real Madrid in the coming future and how it will impact their ability to even keep some of their more well-known players. The rumors of Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Manchester United continue and with these financial numbers perhaps his sale will be something Real Madrid will have to live with in order to be able to balance their books.

Zidane Could Be Given a Six Month Suspension

2014-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Zidane is currently the head coach of Real Madrid B, but he doesn’t have the coaching license necessary for him to be able to hold that position.

The revelation came this week when an anonymous complaint was filed with the Spanish federation regarding his credentials or lack off and the position he is currently occupying of head coach of Real Madrid B.

Coaching the team without a coaching license could result in a suspension from four to twenty games or four to six month. The Spanish federation is investigating the complaint by looking at video of the games, photos and any other documents filed by Real Madrid as it regards the role of Zidane on the team.

Zidane and Real Madrid haven’t talked about the allegations or the investigation but it is possible that another coach is officially listed as the head coach of Real Madrid B while Zidane is in fact the one managing the team. This same situation happened with Sporting CP when then coach Paulo Bento took over the team. His assistant coach was for all proposes the official head coach, until Paulo Bento received his coaching license.

This situation is not uncommon and this method of working around the rules and laws is also very common, but until the Spanish federation issues a statement on this issue it is safe to say that we won’t be seeing Zidane on the sidelines of any Real Madrid B games, at least not in a head coach capacity.

Fat Players: Real Madrid - The Five Gladiators by Fulvio Obregon (Gallery)

2014-09-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

Fulvio Obregon created another wonderful illustration. This time it is the five Real Madrid gladiators if they were fat.

This is an interesting look at these five superstars.

5 Facts about Barcelona’s Rising Star Munir El Haddadi

2014-09-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Barcelona has a new rising star and his name is Munir El Haddadi. Last weekend Barcelona opened their 2014-15 campaign and Munir opened his scoring account with a wonderful goal against Elche in a 3-0 victory.

The 18 year old looks to be set to be the new star to come out of La Masia and follow Messi’s footsteps in to world stardom. He has extended his contract with the club until 2017 and there are high hopes for him to be one of their bright stars in years to come.

As he starts to take his first steps in la Liga, we also get to learn more about Munir, not only the player but the person. Here are 5 facts about him that I hope will be new to you.

Fact 1

Munir was born in Spain, more specifically in the municipality of El Escorial in Madrid. His father is from Morocco while his mother is from a Spanish ruled Melilla in North Africa. He was raised in Spain but he has been very vocal about being proud of his Moroccan heritage. He travels to Morocco on a regular basis and speaks a little Arabic. He has played for Spain’s U19 team, but there is a chance of him still representing Morocco.

Fact 2

Munir went to Atletico Madrid on trial in 2010 and impressed them enough that he was taken by the Madrid club. He was sent on loan to Rayo Majadahonda to gain experience and in 29 games he scored 32 goals, which open doors for other clubs to see the potential in this young player. Barcelona was able to snatch him away from Madrid, but clubs remained interested in him, but with his performances for Barcelona B and now scoring on his debut for Barcelona it will probably mean that his future will be at Camp Nou.

Fact 3

The suspension to Luis Suarez and the injury to Neymar, meant that Munir got more chances during pre-season to earn a spot on the team. He scored four goals for Barcelona during pre-season, leading all players in goals scored.

Fact 4

He was the top scorer with 11 goals in last season’s UEFA Youth League. This is the U19 version of the Champions League. Barcelona would win the tournament by defeating SL Benfica in the final. Munir scored two goals in the final, one of which was a goal from the halfway line.

Fact 5

When asked by a Moroccan football site who his favorite Moroccan player was, without hesitation he said Adel Taarabt that plays for QPR in the Premier League. The way Munir is playing I believe pretty soon it will be Taarabt saying that Munir is his favorite player. When asked who his favorite international player was he said Messi. He is now getting a chance to play alongside one of his idols, which should only help him improve his game and also grow the admiration that he already has for the Argentinian international.

Galacticos Version 2.0

2014-08-24T18:00:00.000-04:00

Real Madrid led La Liga with 19.6 shots per game last season, unfortunately that wasn’t enough for them to top the table. They would end up finishing 3rd place behind Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and for Real Madrid that is not good enough, even if they won Copa del Rey and Champions League.

There was no doubt to me that Florentino Perez would look at this summer’s transfer window as a chance to build his second version of the Galacticos. He was the president of Real Madrid when the first version of the Galacticos was created, so when his team finishes third in the league, it is no surprise that he goes back to his preferred solution.

A team that already had Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, the two most expensive players on the planet, could still be improved, and if money is no object there were some names on the market that could take this team to the next level. Perez spent $150 million to acquire two of the best players at this summer’s World Cup in Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez. Two incredible gifted players that could fit like a glove at Real Madrid.

According to data collected by Transfermarkt, the starting lineup that Real Madrid used in the Champions League final against Atletico Madrid had cost Perez around $500 million. The starting lineup fielded in the Supercup against Sevilla was $620 million.

This is not new territory for Real Madrid, they have spent before under Perez. If you look at Real Madrid’s appearances in the 2000 and 2002 Champions League finals, the cost of their starting 11 nearly tripled from $80 million to $250 million between those two appearances. The money was spent on players like Luis Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham, they would be the original Galacticos of Perez. The main difference from the first Galacticos to the new version is the age of the players being brought in. The first generation Galacticos were all brought in between the ages of 25 and 29, already in the prime of their careers, while Cristiano Ronaldo, Bale, Kroos and James were all signed before their 25th birthday.

The new Galacticos started the season with a 2-0 win over Sevilla in the Supercup, and even a loss in the second leg of the Spanish Supercup against Atletico Madrid is not enough to remove the shine of this new team that Ancelotti has put together with the Perez. This is a far better team; this new version is younger, hungry, more adaptable and able to provide Ancelotti with more solutions to his lineup needs.

Sure, this is Real Madrid’s most expensive lineup ever, but at least this time around Perez spent the money on young, proven, and talented players that can help Real Madrid build a new dynasty for years to come. To me, Perez has learned his lesson and has built a superior version of the Galacticos, but will the Galacticos 2.0 be more successful, only time will tell.