With our stature we shouldn't be a feeder club

Got to hand it to you TT.

You got this one bob on. You read it pretty much perfectly from start to finish.



"Non-story last year"? What, Ronaldo seeking to get a transfer to Real?

How's that a non-story?

Heard today the Real president saying that this deal was effectively secured with United at the end of last season, when Ronnie first asked to leave. But United insisted Ronnie stay on at least another season.

Maybe %@#$&!s but I really do doubt it.

ha

that was posted on here last summer


everyone's entitled to their own opinion

I've learnt that (and would like to thank my parents for imparting their wisdom in this regard all those years ago)


I was just trying to steer the forum through choppy and often delerious waters - and mock them at the same time

I should've realised how much this approach would destabilise the inflated egos of those who already consider themselves knowledgeable in the ways of the media and the PR game

For this I apologise.

thatsfuctit - whos that in your avi? she is stunnin' !

So Ronaldo asks to leave and is persuaded to stay, then a year later leaves with the departure possibly being arranged in advance.

But it was all a 'non-story'. Right.

you can type it any way you like

that's the beauty of spin

although I wouldn't for a second suggest that you don't understand how spin works, of course

wouldn't dream of it

oh no siree

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

ha

that was posted on here last summer


everyone's entitled to their own opinion

I've learnt that (and would like to thank my parents for imparting their wisdom in this regard all those years ago)


I was just trying to steer the forum through choppy and often delerious waters - and mock them at the same time

I should've realised how much this approach would destabilise the inflated egos of those who already consider themselves knowledgeable in the ways of the media and the PR game

For this I apologise.

Apology accepted.

Not sure where we'd be without your expert steering TT. I mean, fragile creatures that we all are; lost and blinded without a hope in hell how to get to the other side of the murky world of newspapers.

And those egos. Gosh yes. Destabilised? You're joking right?

"Crushed" more like by your insightful martyrdom.

I'm confident I speak for all of us in thanking you TT.

Thank you

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

blanket coverage of a non-story last summer (while England watched the euros on tele)

bog standard coverage in passing this summer - until a deal was actually announced



glad to be of service

i see Flash Gordon couldnt resist on making a comment on the whole saga.....now that Britains got Talent is over and BB hasnt got going properly yet

hasnt he got more important issues to deal with

this horseshit could go round and round

I suggest it doesn't, and have in fact determined that it will not

Originally Posted by denis lawless

i see Flash Gordon couldnt resist on making a comment on the whole saga.....now that Britains got Talent is over and BB hasnt got going properly yet

hasnt he got more important issues to deal with

you watch too much tele lawless

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

you watch too much tele lawless

radio

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

Not so sure about this. Madrid certainly didn't have the cache they do today back in the 1980s, when they won five league titles on the bounce, or even through the 1990s when they were winning European Cups galore (well, two). They were one of the top clubs, to be sure, but I don't recall them being seen as a breed apart from everyone else etc. I think a large part of the mystique and status they possess today has developed only since Florentino Perez first took charge and started his whole galactico project.

Agreed. It's not really about football, imo, which is why the obvious difference in quality between recent United and Real sides hasn't had any impact on his ambitions to move there. Ronaldo's infatuation with Madrid is about his ego as much as anything else. He wants to be remembered as the greatest player of all time and Perez's reign in the early part of the century created this impression that Madrid is the best club to provide the world appeal and platform for legendary status in the game.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Agreed. It's not really about football, imo, which is why the obvious difference in quality between recent United and Real sides hasn't had any impact on his ambitions to move there. Ronaldo's infatuation with Madrid is about his ego as much as anything else. He wants to be remembered as the greatest player of all time and Perez's reign in the early part of the century created this impression that Madrid is the best club to provide the world appeal and platform for legendary status in the game.

practically bankrupted them, though, this first time around. another training ground sale in a couple of years?

[SIZE="5"]Money no object as Pérez fast-tracks his rebuilding of Real
Florentino Pérez is wasting no time in piecing together his second team of galácticos as he tries to revive the Real 'brand'

Four days, two world records and €150m spent. Crisis, what crisis? Recession is something that happens to other people, not Real Madrid. On Monday, they signed the 2007 Ballon d'Or and Fifa World Player winner Kaka for €67.5m. Today they had an £80m (€93m) bid accepted for Cristiano Ronaldo, the 2008 Ballon d'Or and Fifa World Player winner. Florentino Pérez's second coming at Real Madrid looks much like the first, only on fast-forward.

We have been here before. During Pérez's first spell as president at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid boasted – and boasted is the word – four winners of the Ballon d'Or: Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Michael Owen. None of them won the award for what they achieved in a Madrid shirt; they pulled on a Madrid shirt because they had won the award. It was as if France Football was doing Madrid's scouting for them.

Pérez has now paid the four highest transfer fees of all time. He used to buy a star a summer. Now, he has bought two at once and this is likely to be just the start. The model has not changed but the urgency has. This is a kind of galácticos-express; a drive-thru version of what went before. Pérez insists that Madrid must "do in one year what we would normally do in three".

On the face of it that means at least another superstar. With Ronaldo secured, Franck Ribéry seems to have taken a step away from the Bernabéu, Perez last night admitting that "as Bayern Munich do not want to sell, we will respect that". But Madrid do want another big name signing and, although he only bought one Spaniard during his last mandate – Sergio Ramos from Sevilla for €27m – Perez has talked of providing a national spine to the side. David Villa fits both categories.

Pérez has intimated that Madrid need to buy as many as six or seven players and is prepared to spend around €300m – €50m more than Chelsea spent in 2003, the most lavish of summers under Roman Abramovich. Last time, there was an evolution; this time there will be a revolution.

When Pérez took over in 2000, Madrid had just won the European Cup. Signing by signing, departure by departure, with each passing year the team became more his own. When Pérez took over this time, Madrid had just finished nine points behind Barcelona and been eliminated from the Champions League at the first knockout stage for the fifth successive season. This time he wants it to be his team immediately. There is certainly work to be done. And quickly.

But it is less about building a team, more about building an identity, a brand. Pérez has talked rather less about Madrid's football than he has about recovering "their place in the world". Today there is no doubt that they are the centre of attention all over the planet.

He has talked less about the footballing model as an economic one. His vision now is the same one as underpinned the galácticos project – a vision so graphically demonstrated by the signing of David Beckham. The Englishman was always deeply uncomfortable with suggestions that he was only there to sell shirts, but it was his iconic status, not his crossing ability, that truly seduced Pérez.

Lessons must surely have been learnt from the failure of the original galácticos, even if the only mistake Pérez has admitted to publicly was walking away. But the framework is non-negotiable. Even the director-general Jorge Valdano, so often portrayed as a paragon of football purity, has spoken of the game as an entertainment industry. Having gone on about the strategic value of Kaka in one recent interview, Valdano hastily added: "He has an important footballing value too."

That model explains why Pérez believes Madrid can afford to spend €300m. In fact it helps to explain why he believes Madrid cannot afford not to spend €300m. As they were when Pérez last came into power, Madrid are in debt. In 2000, the figure was €278m; now, according to research by José María Gay at Barcelona University, the figure could be as high as €500m. Last time Pérez sold the club's training ground for €447.7m (around £298m at the time), using the money to clear the debt and finance transfers. This time he has secured a deal with the Catalan bank La Caixa.

Short-term credit provides cash flow to buy players, just as Madrid hope that player sales will do. Long-term stability comes, or so the theory goes, from buying star players who increase the club's value as a brand. After all, over 40% of the club's income comes from marketing. "The cheapest player I ever signed was Zidane," Perez says. "Signing stars is not spending money, it is investing it."

He once claimed Madrid's annual income had doubled in three years from 2000 to 2003. And while some question the figures, not least the Barcelona director and economist Xavier Sala i Martin, one study suggests that Ronaldo and Kaka could bring an additional £107m a season to Madrid in revenue. "You buy big players because they pay you back," Valdano says. And he doesn't mean in goals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...do-real-madrid

He once claimed Madrid's annual income had doubled in three years from 2000 to 2003. And while some question the figures, not least the Barcelona director and economist Xavier Sala i Martin, one study suggests that Ronaldo and Kaka could bring an additional £107m a season to Madrid in revenue. "You buy big players because they pay you back," Valdano says. And he doesn't mean in goals.

Yeah, I read Martin's quotes. He was saying, as far as he's concered, it's impossible for them to cover these fees through commercial sales. He reckoned they'd need to shift 30 million Ronaldo shirts. He also wants to know where all the money is coming from and more details about Perez's relationships with these banks.

At least Barca shouldn't struggle for motivation next season. The thought of seeing Perez end up empty-handed after all this investment should be all the incentive they need.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Yeah, I read Martin's quotes. He was saying, as far as he's concered, it's impossible for them to cover these fees through commercial sales. He reckoned they'd need to shift 30 million Ronaldo shirts. He also wants to know where all the money is coming from and more details about Perez's relationships with these banks.

At least Barca shouldn't struggle for motivation next season. The thought of seeing Perez end up empty-handed after all this investment should be all the incentive they need.

yeah and Perez's record last time wasn't amazing. 2 league titles and 1 european cup. he won nothing the last 3 years of his reign i think

i mean they needed to do something imo. that performance at anfield was the worst i have ever seen from a madrid team in europe

it was shambolic and bereft of any quality whatsoever

s/side- good point re the ego thing. thats the issue imo

1.5m isn't even a gamble because he's pure gold


wtf has Real's finances got to do with some @#%&! at Barcelona btw?

what did he do, reel off a list of facts: the crimes of big bad Real

jesus.

these transfer fees are grotesque. but United are hardly innocents.

I hear Liverpool fans telling me that United were £#%&! all til they spawned a few trophies in the early '90s. I tell them United's legend has burned brightly on the eye of global football for half a century. ditto Real Madrid. fact.

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

yeah and Perez's record last time wasn't amazing. 2 league titles and 1 european cup. he won nothing the last 3 years of his reign i think

i mean they needed to do something imo. that performance at anfield was the worst i have ever seen from a madrid team in europe

it was shambolic and bereft of any quality whatsoever

s/side- good point re the ego thing. thats the issue imo

not that they'll draw liverpool next season now they have their 'galacticos part 2'. No, that pleasure will be saved for us I should imagine just like last time.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

1.5m isn't even a gamble because he's pure gold


wtf has Real's finances got to do with some @#%&! at Barcelona btw?

what did he do, reel off a list of facts: the crimes of big bad Real

jesus.

these transfer fees are grotesque. but United are hardly innocents.

I hear Liverpool fans telling me that United were £#%&! all til they spawned a few trophies in the early '90s. I tell them United's legend has burned brightly on the eye of global football for half a century. ditto Real Madrid. fact.

what a silly post.