Well he has a hat-trick now. :(
Hard to believe he has only scored 7 league goals in 30+ games for the Scousers. *spits*

Back to domestic football then....

Wigan clinch £5.5m Heskey deal
Friday July 07 2006

Emile Heskey has completed a whirlwind round of talks to become the most expensive player in Wigan's history at £5.5million from Birmingham.

The 28-year-old striker has put pen to paper to a three-year contract with the Latics and his arrival smashes their previous record transfer fee when they paid £3.1million for Henri Camara last summer.

Manager Paul Jewell is confident he has signed a player of quality, saying: "This is a major coup for Wigan Athletic. I have said all along I want to bring real quality performers into this club, and Emile fits into that category."

He added: "He is the most high-profile signing this club has ever made, but I've not bought him for his reputation, I've bought him because I know what he can do on a football field.

"He's played over 300 Premiership games, was a mainstay in the Liverpool and England attack for several seasons and has played and scored in both the World Cup and the UEFA Cup.

"I can understand Steve Bruce not wanting to sell him because he has been a big player for him.

"But I expect Emile to make a major impact at Wigan because he has the talent, drive and attitude to fit into the team and play a major part in our development. Of that I am totally convinced."

Jewell has often struggled in the transfer market in the past to sign the more well-known players when they become available. But he is now hoping with the capture of Heskey, the tide has turned.

"We have been monitoring the situation for a long time as regards his availability, and there were naturally several other clubs interested in a player of his quality," added Jewell.

"It speaks volumes about how far we have come as a club that we have beaten established Premiership clubs to net a player of his stature, just as he has reached his prime."

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

As soon as I started to read this, I just knew it would end with your laughing smilies.

^ Thats got to be the funniest part.
Steve Bruce must have struggled keeping his face straight.

Well he was a big player for Birmingham

He`s 6ft 2 :)

FIFA have proudly unveiled their new World Rankings which reveal that Italy have climbed eleven places following their World Cup triumph, although Brazil still retain their interminable number one status.

Amid much fanfare, FIFA claim that their 'eagerly-awaited' post-World Cup rankings 'introduces major changes in points allocation and the assessment of the opposition's strength, but also makes such factors as the importance of the match and regional strength easier to understand.'

Despite the new criteria, the rankings do offer a few noteworthy anomalies, however.

They include:

* England's points rating climbing despite their dismal WC performances.

* Sweden slipping six places to 22nd. Paraguay, whom the Swedes knocked out en route to the group stages, duly move in the opposite direction, climbing fourteen places to 19th.

* Serbia and Montenegro rising eight places despite losing all three of their matches and returning home with a minus-eight goal difference.

* Saudi Arabia being demoted a whopping 47 places to 82nd in the world. Tunisia, with whom the Saudis drew at the World Cup, and whose final goal difference was superior by just one score, fall just eight places to 31st. Clearly, it was a significant goal.

* Portugal falling to eighth in the rankings despite beating England on the way to the WC semi-finals.

* Mexico falling fourteen places as punishment for the unforgivebale crime of being beaten in extra-time by third-ranked Argentina in the WC's best game.

* WC-absentees Uruguay climbing eight places to a lofty 14th and being ranked above Mexico.

* Guinea, a country which F365 wasn’t entirely aware played football, being ranked 24th in the world. Greece, reigning champions of a continent which produced six of the quarter-finalists and all four of the semi-finalists, are a distant 32nd.

* South Korea being demoted 27 places. Togo, who lost all three of their matches, including a defeat to the Koreans, rise fourteen places to be ranked ahead of the Koreans.

* Scotland being ranked inside the top 50.





Oh dear

That's frightening....

Apparentely, FIFA have launched an Official inquiry into Materazzi's on pitch behavior due to the fact the ZiZou isn't the only person he's had a disagreement with.

In a club match in 2005 another player headbutted him due to a racist remark made on Materazzi's part.

Should be interesting.


:jailed: <--- Materazzi? :beer:

:laughing:

Fair play to Zidane. That frog stands no messing.

The results of the Italian match fixing trial will be announced at 7pm tonight.

From talking to an Italian guy at work (Who hasn`t shut up since Sunday), who has been following the whole thing in detail he seems to think that at the very worst this will happen...

Juventus being relegated to Seria B , possibly even Seria C
Fiorentina & Lazio being relegated to Seria B
AC Milan being thrown out of the Champions League.

He seems to think that all Italian clubs will recieve a European ban in cup compatitions.

And if thats not bad enough , the players of the relegated clubs will be able to leave due to breach of contract.Juventus stand to lose players like Buffon , Cannavaro and Camoranesi all on free transfers.

Whatever happens this is gonna be big.

Verdicts are in

Juventus - Relegated to Serie B , Start next season on minus 30 points , Stripped of their last 2 title wins.

Fiorentina - Relegated to Serie B , Start next season on minus 12 points

Lazio - Relegated to Serie B , Start next season on minus 7 points.

AC Milan - Stay in Serie A but start the season on minus 15 points.

All clubs are out of next seasons champions league , Italy will be represented in it by Inter , Roma , Chievo & Palermo.

I expect the transfer market will go into meltdown over the next week or so

The word in Manchester is that United are after Gatuso and Pearlo(sp?)

With Lippi as manager and Ferguson going upstairs. (Could draw a few more stars to Old Trafford)

Good to see a bit of justice in football for once.
All that remains is for diving to be punishable with a red card and pinching/name calling, to be punishable with a legal headbutt to the face. :D