Too right, Eddie: here's the one for 2004-05, and here's last year's. I've posted the results from the last two years below here, so everyone can see what they're up against. Perhaps a mod could add "2006-07" somewhere in the title of this thread to keep them straight?

...and every year (well, the last two years at least) I offer to run a prediction league game. Anyone up for it again? After all, someone has to knock that cocky SOB Scotty off his pedestal. For those who don't know, here's how we've done the game. Predict the entire 20 team table before the season starts (i.e. no later than August 18). Then, at the end of the season, for every spot you're off for each club you get one point -- for example, if you pick Watford to finish in 7th and they actually finish 19th, you get 12 points (sorry ando). Picking the correct champion subtracts 10 points from your score, and you also lose 3 points apiece for each relegated club you get right. Person with the lowest score wins. I'll probably wait until August 18 to make my predictions. Not that it really matters, as it's all guesswork -- obviously, because Scotty's the two-time defending champion!

The thing that I don't get from the Telegraph article philip and Scotty posted is that it claims that Mourinho was unlikely to choose Duff as one of the 25 players eligible for the Champions League. My question is: why? Their first team squad doesn't even have 25 players in it as listed on the website (Chelsea roster here), so it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Rover6, what's your take on the current relationship between Rovers and Cercle? I remember thinking it was a good idea to align ourselves with a club like that, but it seems that the arrangement isn't really benefitting them at all, i.e. we're not loaning them players that will help their team in the short run. Could this hurt the relationship in any way? And thanks for the info, unleaded. Keita and Pezzoni have gotten rave reviews from what it sounds like, so going back to the well (i.e. Frankfurt) a second time seems like a good idea. What position does Bowen play?

Hadn't really heard about this, and have to admit I'm intrigued by it. De Vita is also 18 (though will be 19 in September), but that marks the extent of my knowledge on him. Anyone know what type of player he is? His prospects for the future? And has Garner simply not panned out as he's gotten older, or is it too early to give up on him? Agree with your sentiments on Andy Taylor, by the way.

Out of all those, I hold out the biggest hope for Derbyshire, Taylor, and Treacy. If something happened to Michael Gray, I wouldn't be upset to see Taylor given a go at left back. Also, Joe Garner is now 18 years old. I would suspect that he'd need to make a breakthrough into the first team picture within a year or two if he's going to make it at the Premiership level.

But doesn't Treacy also have pretty good size? I was under the impression he was roughly 6 feet tall -- not that it changes what you said, but what I mean is that he won't be the small pacey type that are too small and not skilled enough to hack it at the Premiership level.

That's what I'm wondering. At least Chelsea's transfer madness results in them getting world class players and winning trophies. Spud's transfer madness links them with world beaters (whom they usually don't sign) and lands them in the UEFA Cup once out of every five years.

While the very idea of Wyanlda taking over as manager scares the crap out of me, I agree with your point that we need someone to give this team an attacking mentality. Eddie, normally I'm skeptical about the media's top choice for anything, but this time I think they've got it spot on. I won't bother to lay out an argument (I pretty much agree with what's in the Sports Illustrated article I linked above), but suffice to say that American soccer is a peculiar creature that very few are equipped to deal with. Klinsmann is the only one with international experience who understands the system in the United States. You can count me as being fully on the bandwagon.

Everyone's already on the Klinsmann bandwagon: Grant Wahl from Sports Illustrated and Ives Galacrep from Soccernet just to name a few. I'm encouraged by what Galacrep wrote... Incidentally, Yanks Abroad has taken a stab at predicting the U.S. roster for 2010. It's an interesting read: here.

The one thing that may save Juventus in all of this (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here) is that each of the Italian clubs negotiate their own TV contracts, unlike the Premier League, which of course acts on behalf of all 20 clubs. While Juve's income will certainly go down for the next year or (more likely) two years while they're stuck in Serie B, it's not as drastic a situation as it would be for, say, Chelsea because they will still get a silly amount of income from TV companies who know that no matter what division Juventus is in, people will still tune in to watch their games far more often that Empoli or Messina.

Not Dunn, but some interesting news on another former Rovers midfielder. West Brom and Brum battle over Thommo The Big Club are slowly becoming a haven for Rovers rejects: Damien Johnson, Martin Taylor, Alex Bruce, Neil Danns, and now David Thompson? (Granted, Johnson has turned out to be a good player). For a club as massive as Birmingham, it's strange to see them all over Blackburn's sloppy seconds, huh?

Not who I necessarily wanted to win, but my consolation is I picked it before the tournament. Thank you, thank you.

I'd love to know what Materazzi said. An utter shame that Zidane should let his career end on such a sour note like that.

Everything I ever said about Steve Bruce... I take it all back. Anyone who can get £5.5 million for Emile Heskey is a veritable genius in my book.

I've always wondered about that. His mom liked Ronald Reagan a lot, so she named her son after him? Ronald Reagan? I mean, he isn't even the same nationality, and he wasn't exactly one of the greatest figures in American (let alone world) history... unless of course you're an arch-conservative. Naming a kid after George Washington makes sense, but Ronald friggin Reagan? Oh, and let me agree that Ronaldo is a wussy, diving cheater. I've always disliked him, and his antics in this World Cup just affirmed what I had already thought.

Not sure about Jeffers, but I managed to dig up a link on Roberts. It's some article on Emerton from June 2003, but at the bottom it mentions Souey's interest in Roberts. If I recall correctly, people on here freaked out when Souey wanted to take him on loan. http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=15...&clid=111&cpid=

See, I've always thought it was the selling club that makes the fee undisclosed to save face at not getting great value for a player (a la Bellamy's move last summer). Rover6, that would put my guess around the £2.5 million you mentioned--not great business for a player with just one year left on his contract, but not bad either. I'm with the optimists on the messageboard because I trust Hughes to bring in a top quality striker still, be it Mido or a more lively, pacey striker (Miccoli?). Deep down I'm a bit disappointed with Roberts for the sole reason that his signing probably precludes a move for Eddie Johnson, a player who wants to move to Europe and would be a great investment for Rovers. Still, if Mido comes in on loan or at the £4 million range that I've heard thrown around, that should leave enough money for another signing, possibly in midfield. I'd love Malbranque or Petrov still, and a real right winger wouldn't hurt either.

Because we were able to get Pongolle in on loan instead, which was the right decision at the time. Agree with most of what you said though.

Hopefully Jeffers won't remind me of Dickov in another way, i.e. as an inadequate replacement for our departing best striker. Two years ago, when Dickov was signed, I said that it was a good signing by Souness as long as he was being brought in to replace Yorke as our fourth choice striker. It turns out that he was Cole's replacement, which was obviously a giant mistake. Now, two years later, I'll say this: if Jeffers is a replacement for Dickov (our third choice striker since Pongolle was second choice), then this is a good move. If not, and Hughes expects Jeffers to be second or even first choice, then it's surely a mistake. Ultimately, the comparison may be moot because I trust Hughes a million times more than I did Souness in the transfer market.

Which fills me with dread. Get some new blood into the finals. It'll probably wind up being Brazil again, but at least I'd like them to face someone different. Deep down, I think I was pulling for Argentina because an all-South American final would have been the best matchup neutral spectators could have hoped for.

Looks like Ballack's ready to play for Chelsea. From Soccernet's commentary: "99 mins -- SHOCKING DIVE! Ballack throws himself to the ground as he and Ayala tussle for a cross; a dreadful act of deception from the German captain."

Precisely. Which is why I tipped Italy to win it--not that I think they're all that great, but when you don't concede you can't be beat (except in PKs, which the Italians have a nasty habit of doing).

Well that's cleared up then, Eddie. How's the view from the fence?

Spot on, joey. It'd be interesting to see if anyone (be it FIFA, the FA, what have you) has done a study on what effect handing out yellow cards for diving has had, if any. If I remember correctly, it was a rule put in a few years back to try to clamp down on precisely the crap that Grosso pulled today... but somehow I doubt it's done anything to limit the diving whatsoever. Please, listen to Eric Cantona