Silly Season is Well and Truly Underway

The Summer.
It's the time when a club on the up build on the successes of the previous season. It's the time when clubs desperately try to rebuild a ship that has sunk under the weight of its own incompetence. It's the time when clubs go crazy. Quite literally, in some cases.

Let's start from the top. The premier example. The number one case study. Newcastle United Football Club, or Newcastle United (football) if your name is Mike Ashley.
Ashley recently said that he would be "willing" to sell the club for £100 million...i.e., he is desperate. But, let's face it. If you had a spare £100 million, would you really waste it on Newcastle? Ashely spent over £110m buying the club and he then spent a further £110 million trying to pay off some of the debts that the club had...and look where that got him.
He initially offered the club to prospective buyers at an absolutely astronomical price. Obviously, that failed.
Now, Ashley has set an asking price of £100 million. Overpriced, yet again.
'Experts' say that the club's true value is about £80 million. At least Ashley was close this time.

It has been reported that Singapore-based group could be in the running to take over the club. Why? Cause no-one else is deluded enough to even enter negotiations with Ashley.

Is anyone a winner in this situation?
Well, they can't offer the Shearer the job because the club could be about to change hands. They can't offer the likes of Owen a new contract because the new owners may not like the deals offered. Players such as Steven Taylor will be torn apart mentally between his love for his club, but the yearning to play Premier League football at a crucial stage in his career. And Ashley...Ashley is hated by just about everyone residing in Newcastle (and that's probably an understatement.)

Going from the ludicrous to the extreme, it appears that Tottenham are on the verge of signing Ruud Van Nistelrooy from Real Madrid for a meagre £1.5 million.
The 32 year old striker looks set to return to the Premier League as Harry Redknapp looks for short term solutions to fire Spurs towards European football.
When he was in England previously, Van Nistelrooy was absolutely sensational for Manchester United, and his move to Real Madrid came as a shock to many who felt that the striker still had a few years left at the top of his game.
However, whether he still has the ability to readjust to the Premier League at this stage in his career is doubtful.
My personal opinion is that Van Nistelrooy is the right player for Spurs, but at the wrong time.
He was a top striker, but whether he is still the main man is doubtful. He missed much of the last season through injury and it remains to be seen whether he can regain top form.


Across the city, Chelsea have shown their ambitions, with a supposed £45 million pound bid for Sergio Aguero, the Athletico Madrid forward. There are also rumours abound that Chelsea are chasing the AC Milan striker Alexander Pato. Milan always said that they would be reluctant to sell either Kaka or Pato, and it was hoped that due to the subsequent departure of Kaka, Milan would be able to keep Pato at the club for the forseeable future.
However, there are reports circulating that Chelsea are after Pato, and personally, that would make sense to me as I was mystified that they were not fighting Madrid tooth and nail for the services of the Brazilian. Maybe they held the ace up their sleeve with the bid to sign Pato? You never know.
Could Chelsea be about to challegne Real Madrid in the long term in the battle to create the team of Galacticos?




Finally, on a personal note, it has been a very interesting couple of hours for myself and others connected to Birmingham City Football Club. A local radio station reported that the Blues are set to sign 3 defensive players in the next 24 hours, with one player set to sign in a £4 million deal.
The news will excite Blues fans, especially after the recent record signing in the form of Christian Benitez.
Fans will already know about the impending arrival of Giovanny Espinoza, and the possible arrival of Manchester City keeper Joe Hart. Fans have been trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle, with many unsure of who the 4 million signing could be. In the past week, we have read stories that Blues have had a £5 million bid for Cardiff's Roger Johnson rejected, and there were rumours of a bid for Coventry City's Scott Dann.


These are exciting times for fans everywhere...just not in the North East.