And so it Begins

[Phil]

After a few small transfers like Danny Graham to Swansea and Steve Morrison to Norwich the big boys have begun the true merry-go-round.

Jordan Henderson £20m to Liverpool from Sunderland and Phil Jones £16m to Man Utd from Blackburn
It's all about to get interesting

[Paul]

On a related, but to many somewhat less important, note: Long looks set to leave Reading after doing so well for the club in the buildup to losing to Swansea. He was a cornerstone to the team this season and if he goes, don't think we'll even get close to promotion next year.
Okay, you can continue your transfer talk for important people now.

[Phil]

Actually Long leaving Reading is a pretty major transfer for those very reasons. That and the fact he is going to be signing for a prem club.

[Paul]

Aye, Celtic, Newcastle and Everton were mentioned and frankly it'd be silly not to get in on that action. Even though he went like 20 games with 4 goals, let's just hope for his sake no one was watching to beginning of the season.

[Andy K]

0___0 Who the fuck are either Jordan Henderson or Phil Jones?? Admittedly last season I didn't follow football as much as other years, but I still watched Match Of The Day every so often, yet I have no idea who those two guys are. Can't be great if I never heard of them!

[Phil]

Yeah coz that's the benchmark for every aspiring footballer.

[Phil]

Looks like Malaga are the Man City of Spain
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12875_6993922,00.html

What chance they can get into the Champons Leeg and challenge Real and Barca over the next 5 years?

[Andy K]

None!

Clubs can suddenly have all the money in the world, but don't always mean you are suddenly the be all and end all of football. Plus in Spain Barca and Real will always be top dogs no matter what! Thing is the established teams that have a great history and are at the top for long periods will always attract the better players!

The suddden rich clubs may well get a few big names wanting a big wage, but they wont stay long, the never do!

[Phil]

So Arsenal and Liverpool (2 clubs with an illustrious history) have outshone Chelsea (nothing but the occasional cup run before Roman's billions) over the past 5 years then, have they? Man City haven't come from nowhere to being genuine title contenders in the past 2 years thanks to Sheik Mansour's money buying them some top class players?

Money talks my cynical friend and Malaga have now got plenty of it.

[Phil]

Ashley Young in at United. I'm pretty happy with that one