Top ten hardest-working players (Sky Sports, 2009)

The following is a list of top ten hardest-working outfield players:

1. Phil Jagielka, Everton (missed 0 minutes)
I knew him when he was a midfielder in Sheffield United by scoring a tremendous goal. After Sheffield United had relegated, he tranferred to Everton. This season, Moyes has transformed him as a central defender. I haven't watched many Everton games so I don't know if he plays well or not. However, should he not play well, he would not have played every single game from the beginning to the end of the games for Everton and chosen by Capello.

2. Aaron Hughes, Fulham (missed 0 minutes)
I knew him because once he played for Newcastle. Afterwards, I haven't had much attention on him. He should play well; Otherwise, he would have dropped by Hodgson already.

3. Michael Turner, Hull City (missed 0 minutes)
Before this season, I could say no one knew him except the Tigers fans. After a few months, he had been linked with moving to Liverpool and Spurs.

4. Jamie Carragher, Liverpool (missed 0 minutes)
I don't think I have to say much about him. Just watch what happen to Liverpool when he is missed.

5. Sylvain Distin, Portsmouth (missed 0 minutes)
He is a player who has a certain level of quality and he always seems to be available for the team because of rare injuries for him.

6. Fabricio Coloccini, Newcastle (missed 0 mintues)
As far as I concern, he can still play just because there are no quality defenders at all in Newcastle.

7. Mikel Arteta, Everton (missed 5 minutes)
He missed it in the 3-0 win over Bolton game. He has been magnificant for Everton. He even had been linked with a move to Arsenal in the winter transfer window.

8. Stewart Downing, Middlesbrough (missed 8 minutes)
He is the only source of creativity in Boro. Without him, Middlesbrough is dead. That's why he was not allowed to move to elsewhere even he had handed a transfer request.

9. Gabriel Agbonhahor, Aston Villa (missed 11 minutes)
He has been improving a lot these few years. The fourth top scorer in the Premier League has helped Aston Villa to stay in the top four.

10. Simon Davies, Fulham (missed 34 minutes)
He has been the key man since he arrived at the Craven Cottage.

Football Rich List (Deloitte, cited in Wall, 2009)

Having watched Abramovich spending millions as a compensation for a sacked manager and the £100m bid from Manchester City for Kaka, credit crunch doesn't seem to have adverse impact on football clubs. Let's have a look at some analysis on how their financial performance is in the 2007/08 season.

10: Internazionale

Revenue: £136.9m

The revenue reduction was due to the disqualification for the Champions league and sharing the San Siro stadium with AC Milan.

62% of its income was from broadcast.

9: AS Roma

Revenue: £138.9m

The increase was because of the new broadcast and commercial agreements with Kappa and Wind Telecommunications (This contributed £36.7m) and their good performance on the pitch, i.e. winning the Coppa Italia, reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League and finishing second in Serie A (This contributed £22.9m).

8: AC Milan

Revenue: £165.8m

The revenue reduction was owing to their poor perfomance which was finishing fifth in Serie A and failing to qualify for the Champions League and the low matchday revenue of £21.1m although their broadcast revenues was £97m.

7: Liverpool

Revenue: £167m

The increase of revenue was due to the increase of broadcast money to £76.3m as well as the increased commercial revenue to £51.5m from deals with Carlsberg, Paddy Power and Thomas Cook.

6: Arsenal

Revenue: £209.3m

The increase was because of their fairly good perfomance (finishing third in the Premier League, reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League and the semi-finals of the Carling Cup) which led to an increase in broadcast revenue to £70.4m and the new 60,355 capacity Emirates Stadium which contributed the matchday revenue of £94.6m.

Commercial revenue only accounted for 21% of its total revenue.

5: Chelsea

Revenue: £212.9m

The increased revenue was owing to the increased broadcast revenue of £77.4m and their matchday revenues of 74.5m as well as the commercial deals with Thomas Cook, Samsung, Adidas and Etihad Airways.

4: Bayern Munich

Revenue: £233.8m

The increase was because of the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake of its Allianz Arena home ground previously owned by city neighbours TSV 1860 Munich and the commercial deals with Deutsche Telekom and Adidas which provided £32.5m merchandising revenue.

3: Barcelona

Revenue: £244.4m

The increase was due to the increased broadcasting revenues (£92m) and commercial deals with companies like Nike.

2: Manchester United

Revenue: £257.1m

The increase was owing to their sporting success in the Europe and Premier League which generated the broadcast revenue and the matchday revenues of £101.5m as well as the commercial deals with Nike, Saudi Telecom, Hublot and Budweiser.

1: Real Madrid

Revenue: £289.6m

The increase was because of the commercial deals, the matchday revenues of £80m and the broadcasting rights which was worth £102.1m.

[轉載] 兩篇批評本地足運的文章

　　第一篇，講咗唔少本地足運嘅問題，但我尤想指出其「惡性循環」的嚴重性。觀眾數目 ─ 入場費/贊助/轉播費 ─ 球賽質素是一個循環；表現/成績 ─ 政府資助/贊助 ─ 球員質素亦然。我認同，不濟的足總是本地足運發展的大患，但我要指出，打破以上「惡性循環」可以，亦需要從其他環節著手，例如球迷/觀眾。

我想睇香港波！(節錄)

香港人是無根一族，不愛「香港貨」，大家都視之為正常，所以電視台只會力爭英軍賽事的播映權，對於港隊卻棄如敝屣、避之則吉，實在毫不令人意外，但大聲公始終難以釋懷。之前2場亞洲盃外圍賽，無論主場或作客，無論免費電視、收費電視或數碼電視，都沒有直播，這也算了，但是否至少應該在當晚剪輯一些精華，滿足一下港隊擁躉的微小願望？唉，還是不要妄想了，當「本地波御用台」即使有錢賺依然裁員，跟他們談論道義只會浪費氣力。

港隊征戰 精華片也欠奉

悲哀的當然少不了政府的取態。現在的政策是愈好成績的體育項目，所獲資助和支援愈多。這是即食文化的另類體現，墮入貧富懸殊的惡性循環。如果月杪公布的財政預算案又有退稅計劃，大聲公寧願不要，把錢投放在足運發展，至少給球員一個爭氣的機會。

說悲哀，最悲的還是看到足總一盤散沙。究竟足總內有多少職員是真心真意推動足運，抑或只在公器私用，心照好了。假如大聲公是港隊教練，可能已經劈炮，因為幾乎是上任第一天便要求安排長期有系統的訓練，足總要員卻總是愛理不理，一切呼籲皆如石沉大海。你看，世界第1的歐洲冠軍西班牙，亦需定時定候比賽集訓，港隊憑什麼可踢天才波，只有2 天去準備一場正規賽事？足總若阮囊羞澀，或許主席可請教世侄「港版查斯古特」有何吸水財技，順道讓他做點好事、積些陰德。

email: loudmouth@mingpao.com
文：大聲公
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090212/4/anro.html

　　第二篇，簡言之黑籌委怕輸淆底不參賽「本末倒置」，港協暨奧委被架空成「無牙老虎」。

港足隊被禁參加全運會 港協暨奧委會疑被架空

2月1日《明報》報導，指中國香港體育協會暨奧林匹克委員會（港協暨奧委會）去信香港足球總會（足總），禁止香港U20足球隊出戰本年10月於山東舉行的第11屆全國運動會。港隊U20教練黎新祥指，港足隊未能參加全運會，主要是因為足球隊表現不夠好，結果連外圍賽都不准參加。翌日政府新聞處發出新聞稿，指未有最後決定。更耐人尋昧的是，原來決定如何參加什麼項目、派出什麼運動員的是一個由政府組成的十三人籌委會，成員來自「廣泛界別」，而非在網頁的宗旨上白紙黑字寫明「審批代表香港參加奧林匹克運動會、亞運會、東亞運動會、中國全國運動會、中國城市運動會及所有其他地區及國際性運動會的運動員人選，以及全權負責決定關於香港代表隊的事宜。」的港協暨奧委會。

筆者翻查康文署、政府以及WISE NEWS網頁，都不能找到這個籌委會是何方神聖。政府指，「香港特別行政區政府於二零零八年十二月組成十三人的籌備委員會（籌委會），成員來自中國香港體育協會暨奧林匹克委員會、體育界、民政事務局及康文署，並由康文署執行秘書處的職務。籌委會負責組織及處理香港特區代表團參加十一運會事宜。」再查上屆的全運會，這個籌委會怪胎組織已經存在，並已曾經禁止港足隊參加全運會。在運作方面，據2005年1月15日《大公報》指，「有意派隊參與全運會比賽的體育總會，需要向康文署提交選手資料及參賽計劃，並由全運會香港代表團籌委會轄下的行政技術及甄選委員會進行審核，經通過後方能確認參賽資格……」在今屆，則是由一個籌委會屬下的執行委員會負責。但是，這個執行委員會是由誰組成﹖執委會成員與籌委會有何分別﹖他們具有甚麼代表性﹖為何可以在權力上凌架按道理上應該總管本港代表隊的港協暨奧委會﹖再進一步是，政府為何要另立籌委會而非由港協暨奧委會負責﹖這些細節全是公眾所不知道的。在是次足球隊的事件上，反映的更可能是本港各體育總會，都不知道這個是哪門子的「黑機構」。這由政府另立機構統籌代表隊的做法，就像是內地的地方體育局的運作模式。

我們親愛的霍震霆先生，是港協暨奧委會主席兼足總會長，連日來忙於為東亞運動會奔走，又是「荃城倒數迎東亞」，又是「左麟右李」。倒是對於是次代表隊的風波，仍然未有任何回應。政府所成立的籌委會，理應有霍先生的位置，霍先生應該盡快向公眾及各體育總會，交代是次事件及其本人在事件中的角色。

這隊港隊U20，同時將參加本年香港舉行的東亞運動會預賽，足總副總幹事林誠駒直言，「我們原計畫以這班U20小將在全運會中吸取經驗，接着在年底香港東亞運動會上爭佳績，現今是否意味本港也不應派隊參加東亞運足球賽？」足總方面已去信康文署，要求交代原因。政府新聞稿則回應指，「有關派出香港足球代表隊參加全運會一事仍未有最後決定……香港足球代表隊在第一輪的甄選過程中未能達標，香港足球總會己向執委會提交資料供進一步審議……」在目前的公眾壓力下，看來足球應該是有重新入選的機會。但是但是，其他被封殺的運動項目就可能因為沒有得到足夠的公眾關注，就此失去了參賽的機會。

近年來，各體育總會的行政混亂、欠缺對公眾問責的意識所產生的鬧劇，公眾已經屢見不鮮。在全港層面的體育政策上，更是愈來愈欠缺整體的藍圖，只朝「精英」運動發展，對於在國際賽事上無甚機會奪牌的運動項目視而不見。在較「微觀」的層面上，亦對於運動員的照顧不足，就在剛過去的星期日在無線播出「星期日檔案」，就報導了一位體操運動員受傷後欠支援所帶出運動員保險及保障的問題。金牌金牌金牌、賀辭賀辭賀辭、合照合照合照，政府的體育政策如斯是也。
（歡迎全文轉載／轉貼，最好廣傳）

參考資料﹕
港協暨奧委會網頁﹕http://www.hkolympic.org/

http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1002158

　　總結：垃圾。
　　

冷板櫈之謎

　　戰績不佳的熱刺，在季中打開了回收箱，哈利列納甚至讓回歸白鹿徑的羅比堅尼立即擔任隊長。究竟是甚麼原因，令這位身價二千萬鎊的球員在利物浦渡過了半個失望的球季？

　　誠然，羅比堅尼在艾菲路的表現並不突出，但亦曾取得重要入球，而且賓帥未有給予他(於擅長位置)足夠上陣機會，在利記啞火的前鋒線上而言，他的表現尚算不過不失。

　　記著，賓帥會留下一直都強差人意的巴布。

　　有傳指，這是賓帥與球會高層間的角力。簡而言之，羅致羅比堅尼是球會高層的決定，而且賓尼迪斯並不支持，所以羅比從不是賓帥心水陣容的成員之一，情況就如前年在車仔的軍刀一樣。另外，在決定是否讓羅比上陣的時候，賓帥可能亦有權力的考慮，畢竟冷落高層的指定人馬，為彰顯自己權威的有效手段。小小辦公室裡也可以充滿政治，人的地方權力鬥爭總難避免，車仔的急速衰落就是球會裡權力鬥爭的新近例子。


參考資料：

「大家都知要MANAGER用一個佢自己唔鍾意GE人係一件好難GE事」

「每次入球後下場就無得出,賓仔直頭無將球會利益放在最重要位置」

http://www.uwants.com/viewthread.php?tid=7598550&extra=page%3D1

倫敦／利物浦

令人覺得很好笑的一個廣告，哈哈。
羅比堅尼這次回頭草都算是經典了。一回巢就有隊長做。

睇波

　　要每日三省吾身，在今時今日似乎並不可能，但溫故而後知新，回顧畢竟重要。

　　初次接觸足球(唔係首次觸球)，係九四年，當年有美國世界盃，更有足球小將，相比起來後者似乎更吸引我。

　　老實說小學時代睇波，不論本地還是外國，都看不懂，至少不明白陣式戰術。小時候看事物都比較表面，只知這一隊強、這動作難度高、那個球員表現出色。

　　當時，我往往只認識出名的球員，例如甚麼神射手的。後來我才明白，如果不去認清球員，大概也不會認識那球隊，更惶論去認識一場球賽。認識球員和球隊，就如讀歷史，不一定要知事件發生的日期，但如果你連先後次序也搞錯，那麼你根本就是不懂。好吧，我得承認自己的淺薄認知，除了由睇波或波經而來，部份也來自電子遊戲，尤其是勝利十一的master league.

　　其實有一段時間，我的確搞不清國家隊和球會，這不是說我會問「為甚麼英格蘭不羅致卡卡」，或「為何皇馬不參加世界盃」這種問題，而是我不明白球壇到底如何「運作」。球員甚麼時候代表國家隊/球會？歐洲的聯賽中出場球員可以全都是外援？還有國內盃賽、聯賽、歐協和歐冠的關係和分別等。睇波多了，睇波經/足球雜誌多了，加上網上無限的資訊，到中三四我才大概搞清楚。

　　從前無記會轉播的球賽較多，起碼還有九八世盃，中學時我多要半夜起床，最常看的就是西班牙打比和歐聯決賽。中六，家中添置了有線，面對突然而來的大量球賽，開始時我連世青盃都不放過，但很快我就體會到「到手的東西，都不珍貴」的道理。現在，我較常看的只有英超，最主要的原因是「唔洗半夜起身」。

Premier League Transfers Summary

The January transfer window closed yesterday. I have summarised it based on Sky Sports.

Blackburn Rovers
El-Hadji undisclosed fee from Sunderland
Matt Derbyshire on loan to Olympiakos FC
Gael Givet on loan from Marseille

Bolton Wanderers
Kevin Nolan £4m to Newcastle United
Ariza Makukula on loan from Benfica
Fabrice Muamba undislcosed fee from Birmingham

Chelsea
Ricardo Quaresma on loan from Inter Milan
Carlo Cudicini free transfer to Tottenham
Wayne Bridge £12m to Man City

Everton
Jo on loan from Manchester City

Fulham
Jimmy Bullard £5m to Hull City
Seol Ki-Hyeon on loan to Al-Hilal

Hull City
Marlon King loan expired to Wigan
Jimmy Bullard £5m from Fulham
Kamil Zayatte £2.5m from BSC Young Boys Bern
Kevin Kilbane undisclosed fee from Wigan Athletic

Liverpool
Robbie Keane undisclosed fee to Tottenham Hotspur
Jermaine Pennant on loan to Portsmouth

Manchester City
Jo on loan to Everton
Shay Given undisclosed fee from Newcastle United
Tal Ben Haim on loan to Sunderland
Nigel de Jong £14m from Hamburg
Craig Bellamy £14m from West Ham United
Wayne Bridge £12m from Chelsea

Middlesbrough
Mido on loan to Wigan
Marlon King on loan from Wigan Athletic

Newcastle United
Charles N'Zogbia player exchange to Wigan Athletic
Ryan Taylor player exchange from Wigan Athletic
Shay Given undisclosed fee to Manchester City
Kevin Nolan £4m from Bolton Wanderers
Peter Lovenkrands free transfer

Portsmouth
Theofanis Gekas on loan from Bayer Leverkusen
Hayden Mullins undisclosed fee from West Ham United
Pele on loan from FC Porto
Jermaine Pennant on loan from Liverpool
Jermain Defoe £14m to Tottenham
Lassana Diarra undisclosed fee to Real Madrid

Stoke City
James Beattie £3.5m from Sheffield United
Matthew Etherington £2m from West Ham United

Sunderland
Calum Davenport on loan from West Ham United
Michael Chopra on loan to Cardiff City
Tal Ben Haim on loan from Manchester City
El-Hadji Diouf undisclosed fee to Blackburn Rovers
Pascal Chimbonda undisclosed fee to Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur
Robbie Keane undisclosed fee from Liverpool
Hossam Ghaly undisclosed fee to Nassr Saudi Club
Pascal Chimbonda undisclosed fee from Sunderland
Carlo Cudicini free transfer from Chelsea
Wilson Palacios £14m from Wigan Athletic
Jermain Defoe £14m from Portsmouth

West Bromwich Albion
Juan Carlos Mensequez on loan from San Lorenzo
Youssouf Mulumbu on loan from Paris St Germain
Marc-Antoine Fortune on loan from Nancy

West Ham United
Calum Davenport on loan to Sunderland
Julien Faubert on loan to Real Madrid
Radoslav Kovac on loan from Spartak Moscow
Savio undisclosed fee from Brescia
Hayden Mullins undisclosed fee to Portsmouth
Nigel Quashie on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers
Craig Bellamy £14m to Man City
Lee Bowyer on loan to Birmingham
Matthew Etherington £2m to Stoke City

Wigan Athletic
Ryan Taylor player exchange to Newcastle United
Hugo Rodallega £4.5m from Necaxa
Ben Watson £2m from Crytal Palace
Marlon King loan expired from Hull City
Mido on loan from Middlesbrough
Marlon King on loan to Middlesbrough
Emile Heskey £3.5m to Aston Villa
Wilson Palacios £14m to Tottenham
Kevin Kilbane undisclosed fee to Hull City