I Believe~

Well, I have always believed with Roy Keane's name and a well-established football club in Sunderland, there should be no problems in attracting relatively good names to the newly-promoted club. I was wrong, dead wrong. Leighton Baines and Craig Gordon are the two newest "rejects" - not rejected by Sunderland, it is them rejecting Sunderland? That is why I believe Roy Keane can lift his head high if he manages to keep Sunderland up next season. And I believe he will. Why? Because football is a game of eleven against eleven. Twenty-two legs against twenty-two legs. They will not get many wins. But Sunderland will get a decent home record and a few good results away from home. (I will not be surprised if they hold a few top teams to draws away from home) When that happens, Roy, you can look at those players that rejected you and snub them in turn. :)

I may have to take back my words when Sunderland does get relegated next season. I mean who is going to side with me? Keane is a new manager and Sunderland has a great reputation when it comes to being relegated after being promoted. The classic under-performers. On paper, their players are probably as bad as you can find in the whole Premier League. But I tell you, to me, Sunderland is Roy Keane and what is Roy Keane? One word. Character. They don't play the best football, they don't have the best players. But I believe every time Keane sends out his starting eleven, these are eleven players he believes has character inside them - whether they are up one goal, down one goal or clinging onto a drop against a top team? This word - character, separates the great from the good, the bad and the worst. I saw it in Real Madrid and Sunderland last season and I believe I can see it in Sunderland this season.

Wow, what a lot of speculation, before the community shield has even been played.

Cost Per Goal For EPL 06/07

I decided to compile a list of top-scoring players in last season's Premier League and calculate how much their goals are worth simply by dividing transfer fee over total goals. The results are below:

1. Didier Drogba 24 million £ divided by 21 goals = 1.1 million £ per goal
   
2. Benni McCarthy 2.5 million £ divided by 19 goals = 0.13 million £ per goal
   
3. Cristiano Ronaldo 12.24 million £ divided by 17 goals = 0.72 million £ per goal
4. Mark Viduka (I couldn't find his transfer fee)
   
5. Darren Bent 2.5 million £ divided by 14 goals = 0.18 million £ per goal
6. Kevin Doyle 78 thousand £ divided by 14 goals = 5.5 thousand £ per goal
7. Wayne Rooney 31 million £ divided by 14 goals = 2.2 million £ per goal
8. Dimitar Berbatov 10.9 million £ divided by 13 goals = 0.84 million £ per goal
9. Robbie Keane 7 million £ divided by 12 goals = 1.27 million £ per goal
10. Dirk Kuyt 9 million £ divided by 12 goals = 0.75 million £ per goal
11. Yakubu 7.5 million £ divided by 12 goals = 0.63 million £ per goal

Of course, this it not entirely accurate because some fees were not totally disclosed, you cannot judge a player's performance simply by the goals scored in one season (such as Wayne Rooney) and I did not take into consideration goals scored in other competitions.

Just for interest's sake, this is Andriy Shevchenko's cost per goal:

Andriy Shevchenko 30 million £ divided by 4 goals = 7.5 million £ per goal

Even if you put into consideration all the goals he scored for Chelsea - 4 league goals, 7 domestic cup goals and 3 Champions League goals, it is still 2.14 million £ per goal.

Chelsea Loans Flop Boulahrouz To Sevilla

Enough is enough. Apparently, Mourinho decided he wasn't even going to give Khalid Boulahrouz the chance to warm the Chelsea bench and has shipped him to Spanish side Sevilla on a year long loan. Boulahrouz was supposed to provide cover at centre-back and left-back but his "convincing" performances led Mourinho to field the likes of Geremi, Essien and Diarra instead.

Good decision Jose. If you can't even field a natural defender as a defender and midfielders have to be used instead, then I guess it is time the Dutch defender moved on.

Khalia, don't feel too bad. At least you will be playing in the Champions League again next season - even if it is on the bench.

You Are Too Old To Be A Manager

Reuters had an interesting piece about how the French Professional Soccer League (LFP) initially ruled that Guy Roux was too old to run Ligue 1 club Racing Lens. Apparently, at the age of 68, he was over the age limit of 65 which was initially set up by the LFP charter. Good old French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined in the row and was in full support of Guy Roux. The LFP was eventually overruled. I hope the English FA doesn't do the same thing to Fergie - don't think they will get away as easily.