Cristiano, Cristiano, Cristiano

Cristiano Ronaldo has come out and said that he will be this season at Manchester United. Here's what he said ; 'Sir Alex Ferguson heard my reasons, I heard his and we have an agreement that the best for both parties would be if I stay. Therefore, I can confirm that next season I will play in Manchester United.
'For a while, my desire was that Manchester would accept Real Madrid's bid. To say the opposite would be cheating people and my own conscience.'

He might be there this season, but he is gone next, i can assure you that. He is already preparing everyone for his departure. Enjoy him while you can Man U fans.
Rooney its time to step up.

Ronaldo, I'm sorry that is was so hard for you to make the decision to stay and Manchester United, you know after winning the EPL and Champions league with them and with your horrible pay and all.

I'm sorry but i don't feel bad for him, like i said before i understand that his dream is to play for Real Madrid, but there are better ways to deal with wanting to leave your club and Ronaldo did not handle it well.
I can't wait to see how Manchester United fans receive him.

Man U fans what do YOU think of all of this?
Do you think he will be there next season?
Did he handle the whole Real Madrid thing well?
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Remember You have until NEXT Saturday to compete in the table prediction competition! So send in your predictions!

You can play the fantasy league one whenever you want.

What is going on with Everton?

What is going on with Everton? It seems like all the other premiership teams are buying and selling and are up to something, but nothing is going on with Everton.
They have not brought in a single player. I think Everton is a good team, but i don't think they will be in 5th this season, its not that they are getting bad, its just that it seems like all the other teams are getting better.
I know Everton has always had financial problems and to be honest David Moyes has done a fantastic job with the few resources he has had.

What i don't understand is why does Everton not have money? or why does the board not give them money? Its not like they are a team at the bottom, where you might hesitate in giving a lot of money to, Everton are a team that in the last couple of years have become a somewhat consistent club, who the top 4 think twice about when they play them, in my opinion all Everton needed was a little push to get into the top 4, two or three good signings and they would have been set, but i think its too late now, Tottenham has made fantastic signings, so have Liverpool and Sunderland, and don't forget about Portsmouth who have done nothing but surprise us, If Everton want to stay in 5th they will have to fight very hard for it, i don't see them going to 4th this year.

I think they have quality players, Tim Howard, Tim Cahill (his problem is he is constantly injured), Mikel Arteta, Yakabu, Lescott, Phil Neville and others, but its not enough, they NEED to sign some players!

What do YOU guys think is going on behind closed doors at Everton?
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Andrew Johnson has signed for Fulham for £10.5million on a 4-year deal.
Good luck to him, i hope he helps Fulham, i hope he works well with my American boys. I think he will do good at Fulham.

Will Everton miss him?
What do Everton fans have to say about this?



--Remember about the competition!
You have until next Saturday before the first game of the season starts to send in your table predictions!
You can join the Beautiful Game Blog league at www.premierleague.com, the code is 700003-134958 you can join whenever you want, but its best to join early.
To read more details on the competition and prizes click here.

Competition!

Hello fellow football fans!

Since the start of the EPL is right around the corner, its competition time here at the blog! There will be two competitions.

1. A fantasy football competition! I have created a league at the official Premier League site, (here is the link; http://www.premierleague.com/page/Home) sign up and where it says leagues, look where it says join private league the code is 700003-134958, at the end of the season who ever wins (if i win the prize will go to second place) will get any shirt from Who are ya designs*, A choice of the following books**; Fever Pitch, How Soccer Explains the World, Bloody Confused, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, and Soccer in Sun and Shadow and a choice of the following movies***; Fever Pitch, Once in a Life Time, Goal: The Dream Begins, Shaolin Soccer, Green Street Hooligans, The Fifa 2006 World Cup Film and The Football Factory.

2. Two days before the EPL begins, i will post my predictions for the season, i will post a table with all the teams and where I think they will end up example:
1.Manchester United
2.Chelsea
3.Arsenal
So what i'm asking all of you to do is e-mail me (footyblog@yahoo.com) with your predictions. At the end of the season who ever wins (if i win the prize will go to second place) will get any shirt from Who are ya designs*, A choice of the following books**; Fever Pitch, How Soccer Explains the World, Bloody Confused, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, and Soccer in Sun and Shadow and a choice of the following movies***; Fever Pitch, Once in a Life Time, Goal: The Dream Begins, Shaolin Soccer, Green Street Hooligans, The Fifa 2006 World Cup Film and The Football Factory.

--There will be a second place prize, for both competitions!

Obviously for the 1st competition you must submit before the first game of the season starts. For the 2nd you can join the league whenever you want (its best to join as early as possible).

These are the conditions for the competition:
-Anyone can play, but i will only ship within the US (so if you win and you live outside the US, i will not be able to send you the prizes)
-The same person can't win 2 sets of prizes (if you win both competitions you will only receive on prize set, the second person will the other).

So come on footy fans! Sign up for the fantasy football league and e-mail me (footyblog@yahoo.com) with your table predictions, And you can win these awesome prizes!
Keep reading the blog!



*Who are ya designs is NOT endorsing this blog, Beautiful Game Blog will be paying for the shirts.
**If you already have these books, the prize can be substituted for a different football book.
***If you already these movies they can be substituted for another football movie.

Counting down the days to the start of the EPL!

Its almost here! I can't wait, i need my football and even though i might watch the Olympics, it does not satisfy my need for good competitive football.

Two days before the EPL starts i will post my season predictions, where every club will be at the end of the season, who will win the sack race and what i expect from certain players, i was looking at my last season predictions and they are embarrassing! I had Arsenal in 5th! Tottenham in 4th! Either Liverpool and Manchester United winning the league (Manchester United won, but Liverpool was not even close) Reading in 11th, My predictions were pitiful!

Are you as excited as me for the EPL to start? or are you more excited for other leagues to start?

So start thinking of your predictions! There will be a competition on the way!

Anyone watching Soccer Dreams?

I'm wondering is anyone watching Soccer Dreams? For those of you in the UK (i don't know if they are airing the show there, its based on the UK show Football Icon) Soccer Dreams is a reality show that will give 1 talented young player in North America the opportunity to sign a contract with Everton F.C, it follows 36 young players for a series of time, while they train with some of Everton's coaching staff, at the end they will chose one player and that player will sign a contract with Everton

I knew that something like this would eventually be on TV, reality TV is taking over and i knew it would soon take over football.
But my question is this, is it a good idea? If you live in the UK or anywhere in Europe, you have a million more opportunities than someone who lives in North America of signing for a top club's academy or for playing for a top club, if you live in North America, not so much.
Scouts wont think of looking in North America for the next big thing, its probably the last place they will look and there are no good football academies here.

So is this reality show good? are they giving these kids an opportunity that they would not normally have? Yes, they are giving these kids a great opportunity that they would otherwise would never get.

I'm not expecting any of these kids to be the next Ronaldo or Kaka, and after they sign it is up to them to take advantage of the opportunity and i think it is very unlikely that they will be successful, i think the concept of giving someone in North America such an opportunity is great, I think that people who go on reality shows looking for fame usually don't get it, but i wish whoever win the contract luck.

Gareth Barry Leaving?....

Well, well, well, it seems like Gareth Barry is on his way to Liverpool after all. It seems that Liverpool are waiting to sell Pennant, Veronin (i can't wait for these two to go) and Alonso (i'm not too happy about him leaving) so that they can have the money to buy Barry, The Sun and The Times Online are reporting.
I know this comes to a surprise to a lot of people. but not to me, i had written about it Wednesday, when Aston Villa posted on their website that Barry would be staying.

As a Liverpool fan i can't wait to see him play. I think he will be fantastic with Steven Gerard and i think if we do get him the squad will be very good.

But i feel you Villa fans, I know that if Gerard left i would devastated, having your captain leaving is very hard and i understand that, and to be honest i think this will affect Villa a lot. At the end of the season, i told my friends, "watch out for Villa they have a good squad and with a few summer buys they can be a strong challenger for fourth", but i don't think thats going to happen if Barry leaves, he is the heart and soul of that team and losing that is very hard, they will have to rebuild and that can take time. But i think Martin O'Neill is a good manager, so lets wait and see what tricks he pulls out his sleeve.

Robin Van Persie to Juventus? and Diego to Chelsea?

Is Robin Van Persie on his way out of Arsenal and on his way to Juventus? Reports have surfaced saying that Juventus will meet Arsenal to discus the possibility of the player leaving. It is being reported that Van Persie no longer gets along with Arsene Wenger and is open to leaving the club.

I think Van Persie is a very good player, with one big problem he is very injury prone. When he is fit he is a very good player, but he can be out for months.
If he leaves Arsenal definitely will need to find a good replacement for him. I would hate to see him leave Arsenal, when he is fit he plays beautiful football and i would hate to see the premiership lose that.
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Reports have surfaced saying that Chelsea are interested in Werder Bremen's Diego.
But do they really need him? I think Chelsea have one of the best midfield's in the world and with Frank Lampard staying, would he get any playing time?
Chelsea of course have denied these reports.

I have always said that i think Diego is a fantastic player and i would love for him to get more attention, he really is very good and would compliment any team. When will he get the move he finally deserves?
Pay attention to Diego he is a quality player.