Fiorentina

As I understand it the local council is forming a new club to take its place 'Fiorentina 1926 Florentina srl', with the mayor as president, which will probably start in Serie C2 (I think the council also owns the Artemio Franchi stadium). At to think those beautiful violet shirts finished 3rd a short time ago ;-(

fiorentina2000
unofficial fan sit in italian

chelsea NEXT!

The genesis of this change is two fold; an increasing distaste at the way football was going combined with being priveliged to witness a better way at AFC Wimbledon.

I've seen little to change my mind; the aftermath of the ITV Digital crisis could see one of the good guys turfed out in the form of the League Chief Executive, David Burns. The young turks, in the form of Simon Jordan and Theo Paphitis, want more commercial people in is stead, which would be like throwing water on a burning chip pan in this climate. They look at the Premiership, and see ludicrous hype as the thing that gives it its popularity, rather than the simple fact that it is the top flight of football. Their flawed analysis tells them that similar crazy hype might do it for them. Their numbers were added too by York Chairman John Batchelor, who, fresh from renaming it 'York City Soccer Club' argued that football needed to get rid of offside and abolish draws. As a brief aside, this man is not a cockfarmer but is instead Farmer Cock, owner of Cock Farm, where he is the world's leading farmer of cocks.

These people will run straight into the arms of people who think football should learn from the WWF (spandex strutters, as opposed to Panda protectors), at which point, the lunatics really will have taken over the asylum.

All the while, the Champions League grows fatter and fatter, and stretches the rubber band of domestic competitiveness to breaking point. And even though they see the problem, they can't do anything, acting like a driver careering down the hill not realising that there's a brake pedal. David Sheepshanks of Ipswich said today that all of football problems stem from untrammelled greed, yet he would oppose any situation that fundamentally tackles this as it involves getting to grips with the reality that football needs protection from competition law and company law and instread needs a new framework that has proper regulation at its core.

In the mix here, we have the players, who seemingly refuse to take action on this, either in the form of their 'union' or as individuals. What union would sit by whilst other workers, earning you-and-me style salaries and less were sacked by the bucketload to protect their ludicrous lifestyles? Then we have John Terry, hitting people round the head (allegedly) and Jody Morris (allegedly) telling his victims that he earns more in a day than they earn in weeks and that he could get them sacked. Steven Gerrard buys expensive shirts as he gets bored in the afternoon.

The supporters of many clubs too are in need of long hard look in the mirror. Fulham fans might just now be reconsidering whether they should have been more circumspect with Mohammed Al-Fayed. Northampton fans need to evaluate whether they want elusive success or whether they're happy to take the money of a many who is a friend of genocidal war-criminals. Tottenham fans need to realise that the demands to spend money to match Arsenal contains within a proviso; unless they provide the cash, that cash must come from somewhere, and it is likely that such cash will be spent with a concomittant level of power for the provider. Never again Alan Sugar? Maybe not. But never again the circumstances that lead to Alan Sugar? Memories are short, it seems.

Realism, realism, realism. A solid base from which to proceed. But will it happen? Unlikely. Players aren't up for realism, still less club owners, especially at the higher level. Supporters too need to show that realism, and whilst many are thankfully grasping it, many aren't.

Can it be reformed? I used to think so. But now I'm not so sure. At all levels, the game is beset by vested interests who refuse to take action to transfer power to new places - to supporters at the clubs, and to central bodies who can regulate in the wider interest. At UEFA, you have powerplays to maintain the relevance of an association founded on nations in an age of clubs and players. The less said about FIFA, the better.

And so back to AFC Wimbledon. They've broken away. Dropped down. They're realistic, but optimistic too. They're collectively owned by the supporters and have a balance between volunteer labour and professional expertise. They have roots in their community and wish to deepen those roots. Would this have happened in the professional game? I doubt it; for starters, the only people who want to do this are supporters, and they only get hold of a club when it is royally screwed without lubricant (eg Chesterfield or Lincoln). The professional game is a vipers nest too that seems to have swallowed it's own hype and forgotten that it is a simple game we're talking about here. A magical game, for sure, and a meaningful and emotional game at that, but a game nonetheless. It's supposed to be fun, and football for many just isn't anymore, and doesn't look likely any time soon.

At Wimbledon, their attitude has changed; it's not a case of when will get back into the league but 'when will the league join us'. The clubs in the league would be welcomed with open arms. Let the Old Firm play somewhere else. Let the big god-knows-how-many-think- they're 'big' (not Everton though, eh? Arf!) piss off to Europe and their marvellous super league.

We've inherited a structure from Victorians that was designed to confer limited liability and protect assets from rapacious interests. It hasn't worked and has led to the current situation and there are too many obstacles in the way of retrieving things. I can't see how it can be reformed, but I can see how to start again. I'm not a Maoist, but I do here that the bubble has burst, and my immediate reaction is 'bring it on'.

The deepest conservatism is to believe that you are powerless and that there is no alternative. This has fostered a fear that has fostered the rising income gap between leagues and between clubs. It's a fear that keeps smaller clubs in thrall to the giants, that renders administrators weak and vacillating, and keeps supporters in a state of near-terror as they stare at an abyss that doesn't in fact exist. Reclaim the game? Rebuilding it would be better. It'll be fun for starters.

"Bring it on" is a bit scary if your club is one of the nearest to the edge - always has been - because the danger is that a few of us will go and the rest will survive, meaning we'd have the same rotten system, but 'consolidated', rationalised.

Inspiring as the formation of AFC Wimbledon is, Wimbledon FC wasn’t about to go bankrupt before being saved as a fan owned collective. It was about to be moved to Milton Keynes. Most football clubs that go under stay that way. The oldest professional club in Holland, Sparta Rotterdam, (for whom I carry a season-ticket) came within a whisker of being wound up this summer, as a football club, as a company, and as a ‘social institution’.

If ‘greed’ is the core problem it has been the top-flight players who’ve been the most rapacious. Solidarity with their colleagues at lower levels has been in short supply. As wages soured its been the smaller clubs with modest resources that have been hurt the most. To be fair to UEFA had they not extended the Champions League bonanza many top European sides would have broken away to form their own competition, causing far greater damage to domestic competitions. I concur on the need for reform, salary caps would be start.

Real Madrid seem to be merrily inflating the bubble further, unless all this Ronaldo talk turns out to be hot air.

It's a swirling nexus; I've been having debates on 'when' exactly the rot started. My preferred point is 1985 when gate-sharing was abolished - this was the crucial move that ended any sense of collectivity without football and reduced the 'integrity' of the pyramid to little more than platitudes. However, that in itself was a response to a wider situation where various clubs were threatening a break away. It was however the moment when 'big clubbism' became enshrined in regulations.

A wider social perspective is needed - the 80s were in full swing and the key players - Martin Edwards (Man Ure), David Dein (Arse) and Irving Scholar (Spuds) were all Thatcherite men. In that sense, what was happening was very similar to the wider transformation under the grocer's daughter. Economic Darwinism was killing industrial communities, so there's no surprise that this ill wind ran through the game.

The ultimate problem was the lack of self-confidence by administrators in the early 80s; the patrician school at the FA was being overcome, like all institutions, by the self-made men. In the League, the dictatorial style of Alan Hardaker caused resentment. In the face of these people relying on institutional and organisational inertia, the self-maders exuded a confidence that steamrollered the old school.

This was compounded by appalling mistakes; ITV's concentration on the Big 5 was a problem in that it fed the resentment in the rest of the league that helped Sky win the deal for the Premiership. Graham Kelly was cretinous in aiding the Premiership to help kill the League. The Football Trust failed to attach any criteria to the post-Hillsborough loans for ground improvements, and the Tory government of the time wasn't interested in football and so didn't legislate for any of the other things the Taylor Report recommended save compulsory seating, which appealed to their fundamental dislike of terrace culture as it represented the seething mass of urbanity.

Inspiring as the formation of AFC Wimbledon is, Wimbledon FC wasn’t about to go bankrupt before being saved as a fan owned collective. It was about to be moved to Milton Keynes. Most football clubs that go under stay that way. The oldest professional club in Holland, Sparta Rotterdam, (for whom I carry a season-ticket) came within a whisker of being wound up this summer, as a football club, as a company, and as a ‘social institution’.

They don't; the clubs that all 'disappearred' in some sense over the past 40 years are all still there - Accrington Stanley, Bradford PA, Maidstone, Dartford, Newport County and Aldershot have been reformed by supporters. That's because the wellspring for such institutions is the love of the people in that area for football and for a team from that area to play the game. That's why the only way to truly kill football is to stop people liking it (admittedly something that the modern game is doing a good job of).

AFC Wimbledon and Enfield Town are different in that they have been formed despite 'their' clubs still existing. But what is a club? The modern interpretation would be a company with duties to provide shareholder value. But that's not what most fans consider it to be, and so in both those places, fans struck out to recreate the club and left the company as a shell; as Jock Stein said, 'Football without supporters is nothing'.

If ‘greed’ is the core problem it has been the top-flight players who’ve been the most rapacious. Solidarity with their colleagues at lower levels has been in short supply. As wages soured its been the smaller clubs with modest resources that have been hurt the most. To be fair to UEFA had they not extended the Champions League bonanza many top European sides would have broken away to form their own competition, causing far greater damage to domestic competitions. I concur on the need for reform, salary caps would be start.

You see now that the breakway was based on flawed marketing plans that were based on the idea that there was a limitless appetite for football. It was predicted at the time that people wouldn't be that interested in Kaiserslautern against Lille as a meaningless mid-table match, as so it has proved, with just 5000 watching Juventus' final game against Arsenal in the second Champions League stage. It's that failure of resolve again. UEFA are the governing body who must register players. If the clubs had broken away and done a Kerry Packer style circus, those players wouldn't have been able to compete in a World Cup or play international competition. The clubs wouldn't care, as they hate international competition with a passion, but I'm convinced the players would. What will Ronaldo treasure more in his dotage - a World Cup winners medal, representing the fulfilment of boyhood dreams, or a winners medal in a Mickey Mouse competition, I'd like to think he'd think the former. Maybe I'm showing too much faith in players here, but I fundamentally believe that what motivates them first and foremost is a desire to play football; it's a childlike enthusiasm and it's the same childlike wonder that animates me as a fan. It's what football is about IMO, and it's what its losing.

and nobody did jack-shit to save that social institution until we came along and bought Boukhari. Oh the shame: us Amsterdammers saving Rotterdam...hahahaha.

As for Fiorentina, a disgrace that such a great club has been destroyed in such a short period of time.

Clearly winning the Johan Cruijff Shield has gone to your head Omar ;- ) Yes 'we' are all very, very grateful Ajax bought Boukhari but, lest we forget, Rotterdam city council/gemeente also provided a generous loan to tie the club over. I hope Nordin will be a great success, like most Sparta fans I have a soft spot for Ajax, largely cos they keep humiliating a certain other club.

So Boukhari is a good buy you reckon? Already a couple of Ajax fans are getting fed up with that fuck Mandy van der Meyde, hoping Sikora takes his place with Boukhari playing left-wing.

Nordin is that increasingly rare commodity a ‘street footballer’, a rough diamond that learnt the game demonstrating he was the best player on various Rotterdam ‘pleintjes’. He still likes showing off an array of (sometimes inappropriate) tricks whilst tactically and defensively has a lot to learn. His youth idol was Jari Litmanen.

After getting called up for Morocco (he declined a Dutch under-21 invite) he began to develop delusions of grandeur and Rijkaard forced him to train alone for a time. His biggest asset is his left foot, a good range of passing, set pieces, and eye for a shot. Biggest weaknesses: he lacks pace, especially acceleration, and though he worked hard with Sparta he wasn’t always a ‘team player’.

He isn’t the finished article and I guess Ajax decided to invest in his evident potential, see how he develops when training at a much higher level. With Sparta one felt Boukhari was a little too assured of his own indispensability.

My expectations were that the likes of RKC, AZ or NEC, would come in for him and he’d continue his career as a useful eredivise pro. Ajax’s interest came as a welcome surprise. I hope he makes a success of it.

REDKNAPP WANTS A BRACE OF ITALIAN DEFENDERS

HARRY Redknapp is planning to give Pompey's defence an Italian core if
he can pull off two audacious signings.

Former Juventus defender Moreno Torricelli is talking over a move to
Portsmouth.

And Redknapp has also approached Middlesbrough about Gianluca Festa.

Torricelli, 32, one of several players looking for work following
Fiorentina's financial collapse, travelled to England earlier today and
will meet Fratton Park officials.

He is expected to make a decision by the weekend.

Todrov (Bulgarian international, signed from West Ham for 750K in April),

Vincent "6ft 2" Pericard - 19 yeat old French U21 striker from Juventus on loan for 1 season,

Marc "faster than Michael Owen" Burchill, Scottish International who is just about match fit after suffering from a horific leg injury.

also Rory "Cost a 1 Million from Spurs in 1999 will be ever be fit for more than 2 games in a row" Allen

and Lee "once a 3 Million pound Striker" Bradbury - is slowly making a comeback from a broken leg.

so did I. Pizzas with eggs on them - classic or dud?

Kulassic.

yay! :)

wow. they show serie A on eurosport, right? a reason to start watching.