Author Archives: tyduffy

Sir Alex Ferguson has a practical take on morality.  Anything benefitting Manchester United is right.  Anything hindering Manchester United is wrong.  With Manchester City and Real Madrid suddenly able to outbid Manchester United for players.  It should surprise no one … Continue reading →

For those not emotionally invested, the sale of a prominent Premier League club is chum in the water.  We want easily caricatured nutballs in charge, huge transfer budgets, grandiose schemes destined to fail and decimations of the club’s staff.  We … Continue reading →

This is not the worst team in the Premier League.  It is the least valuable.  This team would incite the masses with talent, with name recognition and with expense.  They would then fail pathetically.  This team could be composed entirely … Continue reading →

Facing the sobering reality of a fourth season without a major trophy, Arsenal fans have been disappointed.  The disenchantment has created a culture of negativity around the club, which Arsene Wenger lashed out at on Friday. “When you look at … Continue reading →

With their typical class, Chelsea players and staff asserted their belief, following their 1-1 agg defeat to Barcelona, that UEFA conspired against them to prevent an all-English final in the Champions League. Players, such as Didier Drogba, displayed their sentiment … Continue reading →

Those who would purify English football believe the current debauchery and debt stems from foreign ownership. That is not necessarily true. American billionaire Stan Kroenke bought out the Carr family shares in Arsenal for about £45m, increasing his stake in … Continue reading →

Major League Soccer has announced Everton as the opponent for this year’s MLS All-Star game. “We are very excited about Everton FC agreeing to be the opponent for the 2009 MLS All-Star Game,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a … Continue reading →

Premier League footballers make extraordinary salaries.  The common implication from this is that they make too much money.  Players are the scapegoat for the endemic money culture that has invaded football.  It’s held as common sense that salary caps and … Continue reading →

This just in – Premier League clubs are big money businesses. Forbes released their list of most valuable soccer teams. Here are some of the more interesting findings for the Premier League. Three Premier League clubs – Manchester United, Arsenal and … Continue reading →

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has the “it” quality as a manager. Not “it” in the genius sense like Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson. Southgate has it in the Raymond Domenech sense where he could strip naked, smear himself with … Continue reading →

Newcastle has been in a rudderless malaise for most of the season. Kevin Keegan resigned and nearly every potential replacement rejected the offer. The club pulled backdated Joe Kinnear out of retirement, gave him the full time job and then … Continue reading →

Buoyed by Mark Hughes’ overachievement and shrewd signings, Blackburn had been living in a fantasyland of consistent contention for Europe.  Paul Ince transported them rudely back to small city reality.  Blackburn took an admirable risk, hiring the Premier League’s first … Continue reading →

Stoke City are a newly promoted side from the Championship, and they certainly play like one. The operating procedure has been physicality, holding the line at home and hoping for some magic from Rory Delap’s wicked throw-ins. It has worked … Continue reading →

Until late October, Portsmouth seemed destined for a mid-table season. After a rough August start against Chelsea and Man United, the trophy-winning club won four out of seven matches, looking frisky once again. Then Harry Redknapp left for the Tottenham … Continue reading →