It's a rich man's world
Wed Mar 12 09:06AM
Chancellor Alistair Darling lays out his first budget later today, and while the concerns of everyday working families are all well and good, the real question is - how will it affect the average Premier League footballer's bank balance?
CAR TAXES
This is the point where Early Doors squeezes into its faded jeans, slips a Meat Loaf CD into the stereo and makes a mobile phone call while speeding down the motorway.
An expected £2,000 tax on the showroom price of the most gas-guzzling cars is bad news for anyone hoping to cruise around in a Lamborghini Murcielago, which emits a colossal 500g of CO2 per kilometre.
That is roughly five times more pollution than a Toyota Prius. Consequently, you would have to plant enough trees to cover half of Wales just to make a trip to Waitrose carbon neutral.
Although at least you can condemn the world to a fiery death in impeccable boy-racer style by burning off the smug git in the Prius at the lights.
Footballers hoping to fit the golf clubs or - god forbid - a child in the back might be cheered to know that the ubiquitous Porsche Cayenne weighs in at a slightly less destructive 358g/km of CO2.
Special Budget brownie points go to the tree-hugging, polenta-eating, Guardian-reading likes of David James, who has had his car tricked out to run on rapeseed oil.
DOMESTIC FUEL BILLS
This one seems to be a hot button with ex-pros, in particular Alan Hansen who billed a TV company for gas used while filming at his house.
At 52, though, the consecutive-adjective-spouting Scot will have to wait a few years for any money back from his bushy-browed countryman in number 11, as only the over-60s will be given extra cash to pay their energy bills.
It is good news for the doyen of top-flight managers, Sir Alex Ferguson, who may prefer to put his £200 windfall towards a cheeky Chateau Petrus '82.
ALCOHOL DUTY
Many players share Fergie's expensive taste in alcoholic beverages and think nothing of blowing thousands on a night out.
Such binge drinking means Darling is expected to slap an above-inflation rise in duty on booze.
Although it seems doubtful that Spurs' Carling Cup-winning squad would have noticed a few extra pennies on the price of their £500 bottles of Cristal Rose.
However, spirits should escape the Exchequer's wrath, meaning Belvedere vodka could soon be flying off the top shelf of an over-priced West End nightclub near you.
- - -
The San Siro has turned from a fortress into northern Italy's answer to Pride Park: a place where the home team score nil and the visitors cruise to an easy victory.
After Arsenal's win over AC Milan, last night was Liverpool's turn and they duly rolled Inter over, inspired by Fernando Torres who, like Amy Winehouse, just can't seem to stop scoring.
The Serie A leaders once again employed the unsuccessful tactic of getting a defender sent off, once and for all giving lie to the claim that it is harder to play against 10 men.
The result might mean the Premier League is the strongest in Europe but it doesn't necessarily say a lot about the state of English football.
Exclusive research by one of Early Doors's underlings suggests Brazil and France have more players in the Champions League quarter-finals than England.
Pedants' corner: Inter call the San Siro the Giuseppe Meazza, but unless there are two very similar-looking massive stadia parked next to each other in suburban Milan, it's definitely the same place.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Frank's one of our most loyal players yet, unbelievably, there is still no sign of a new contract, even though we all know he can go on a Bosman soon as he has one year left on his present deal." Early Doors has a sneaking suspicion that the Sun's source might have a passing acquaintance with Frank Lampard. Dressing-room unrest: We love it.
FOREIGN VIEW: If Gazzetta dello Sport knew the word 'Cripes!', they would probably use it in their stunned reaction to Roberto Mancini's announcement he will quit Inter at the end of the season.
TODAY'S TALKING POINT: Somehow an innocent question about lateness proved the cue for more unprovoked shots at Middlesbrough. manofdann quips: "Boro players don't show up until about 90 minutes into their cup game," while the prolific simondenham adds: "I recall Liam Miller showed up late at The Riverside last Sept to grab an equaliser."
Today's question: Is the Premier League unquestionably the best in the world, or have the Big Four just got lucky?
DISS OF THE DAY: Do the Early Doors team look like air stewards or just a bunch of drunks? Here's kevmun82's two penneth: "I'd say ED's photo looks less Airline Host-ish and more 'Forced Photograph at 8am after a heavy night out'-ish. The one on the left looks the most natural for sure, although it does look like he's trying to convince us: 'I'm bald through choice, honest'."
COMING UP: What kind of ridiculous club ranking system says Inter are better than Liverpool? Ours, that's what. It's the league form, stupid. Full European Power Rankings coming up, plus your chance to rip 'em to shreds.
Plus, the full story on which countries have the most players in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Plus, the usual live treatment for tonight's three Premier League games, as Chelsea see how many they can smash past Derby, Middlesbrough attempt to give Early Doors more comic fodder away to Aston Villa and Portsmouth take on Birmingham in a game with no interesting angle whatsoever.
Plus, Tottenham and Everton look to get out of their respective UEFA Cup jails. Spurs are in the football equivalent a medium security facility in Surrey, needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit against PSV. At 2-0 down to Fiorentina, Everton are locked in the metaphorical bowels of Alcatraz with nobody but a heavily-tattooed cellmate for company.
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IM this storyA liitle late again..... are you giving us a taste of what it was like to be the Kettering Town board when Gazza was manager? (best wishes to him of course!)
From lee_rome on Wed Mar 12 09:10AMNot guilty this morning. Early Doors was up with the cock and had the whole shebang done by 20 to nine, only to be stymied by Yahoo's glacially-slow blog interface. You have no idea how long it takes to load up a picture of some Bacardi Breezers. Take your blame elsewhere.
From early.doors on Wed Mar 12 09:28AMFair Play Guv!
In response to todays question, we totally have the best league in the world now. We buy the best kids and shove out those past there best (shevchenko the obvious exception) to Italy.
For me, Juve needing to steal Mellberg on a bosman tells us the new order of things.
From lee_rome on Wed Mar 12 09:37AMHaha Torres cant stop scoring like Amy Winehouse. Good one
But what was up with the first 2/3 of your article? Boring, nothing to do with football.From tone.gunner on Wed Mar 12 09:37AMIts debatable whether or not the english english league is the best in the world, just depends on which way you want to measure how it is the best. By judging the top 4 sides in each league you can say that the Premiership is the best, but since when did a league consist of 4 teams?
The other teams in the premiership are so far behind that if you took the top 4 out, the debate could easily be 'is the premiership the worst league in the world!'
If you compare the teams in the Italian and spanish league outside top3/4 against the english ones, then they are far superior; just take a look at Everton v Fiorentina!! Fiorentina embarrassed them!
Teams like Derby, Fulham, Middlesboro, Birmingham, Wigan, i could keep going.... these teams are absolutely awful and wudnt stand a chance of beating the bottom teams in other top leagues!
Im gonna have a rest now, ill come back later with somethin witty to say! ill base it on ED's ridiculous photo of themselves.....From cmcmulkin01 on Wed Mar 12 09:41AMI have always maintained that the Premier league is a bit overrated. Aside the top 4 clubs, the quality of any league is judged by overall standard of footy displayed every weekend. It is anybody's guess what a match between Tyneside Angels (Newcastle) and Real Betis in the La Liga would result in.
From bmaq007 on Wed Mar 12 09:45AMwhat about bolton vs athletico, who then go on and beat barca?
i still think that spurs, everton, villa, city etc can play with the big boys of other nations, and will be even better next year and the year after as the money keeps pouring in - i expect the premier league to be even more competetive next year (after man u and arsenal)
From lee_rome on Wed Mar 12 09:52AMA match between Newcastle and Real Betis? Do we really have to go there? We all how it would end. And just to state the obvious, not in Newcastle's favor.
From yehia18 on Wed Mar 12 09:54AMThe premier league is absolutely the best. And people saying it is the best cause the teams from other leagues have more home grown talent while the premier league buys from all over the world never nurturing English players are full of shit...Look at the Inter line up last night, there was not one Italian on the pitch.
From inkwaster on Wed Mar 12 09:56AMTo put the question into another perspective...Do Boro play in the best league in the world, or not? What say you, ED?
As for cmcmulkin01's snipe at those not in the top 4, memories are short! Bayern 1 Bolton 1 is a scoreline that comes to mind. And didn't even Boro (yes Boro for Heaven's sake) make it the UEFA cup final a couple of years back? Ahem....
From eliotot on Wed Mar 12 09:57AMIt wasn't really a diss, ED. More like light-hearted banter. For the record,(and so that the bald one - sorry, i mean the intentionally bald one - doesn't think i'm picking on him) the one on the right looks like an MP who claims he likes the "Antarctic Monkeys" and "Snow Police" in a feebly desperate attempt to appear "down wit da kids, innit", when really he enjoys Cup-a-Soup and listens to the Lighthouse Family and Enya in his Mondeo. COMING SOON, my scathing verdict on the one at the back in this strange Early Doors/X Factor hybrid.
As for the Premier League being the best in the world, it's rubbish. The Spanish league is by far superior. The big 4 have done very well in the CL this season but for me personally, i find Spanish football much more entertaining. Everyone seems to think the Premier League is the best largely due to Sky shouting it in our faces for the past couple of years to saturation point with their "Super Duper Sundays" and "Live on Sky, its Astoundingly Stupendously Brilliant Tuesday, with LIVE coverage of Yeovil Town vs Hereford".
If you say something enough times, people start believing it.
Look at Richard Gere...........
From kevmun82 on Wed Mar 12 10:04AMKevmun, just to disprove your theory, you can tell me that Posh Spice is a gorgeous and talented singer a trillion times, but she will always be just be an increasingly ugly anorexic who wouldn't even get past the auditions for the X Factor and whose husband flings the cumberland around with any bit of passing skirt (allegedly). Despite her patent lack of talent, I still wouldn't mind her bank balance.
On the strength of the EPL, I don't think you can judge it that well outside of a league situation. A true test of a team is 38 games in the wind, rain, snow etc, not a little home and away contest against a European team which is just a test of your cup-game talent. case in point - Liverpool and the CL versus Liverpool and their league form.
From andywalker269 on Wed Mar 12 10:28AMI'm all for foreign footballers, add a bit of flair, a bit of something different- but Milan fielding zero Italians and Arsenal fielding zero english most of the time- well it's shambolic. I say let's limit the foreign players, maybe we should say 'there has to be more than 50% english on the pitch per team at any one time'.
Can I have some money towards my gas bill please?
From whfcuptonpark on Wed Mar 12 10:30AMThe EPL is currently the best in the world the rest are just dour n a tad boring. Even the mid tablers in the premiership still put up a fight (newcastle n boro not included) when necessary. As for the bottom teams, ALL LEAGUES AV EM!!
From crazy_pee_jay on Wed Mar 12 10:41AMIf we go by the Fa cup then the championship is the best league. And Barnsley are aparently the best team in the world.
From benyoungs on Wed Mar 12 10:46AMandywalker i take your point and concur completely with what you said, both about Posh and the EPL. But i think we're in the minority and that's the problem. I'm talking about the general opinion of the majority, which is so easily swayed by suggestion. They managed to convince the majority that Bird Flu was about to end the world, they managed to convince the majority that terrorists were waiting around every corner to kill us with an Anthrax-chemical-nail-shoe-bomb, the power of suggestion is a useful tool. I'll sum it up with a quote from the brilliant Peep Show:
"But why don't we get some nuts? People like Nuts!"
"People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, Jeremy, you can't trust people"From kevmun82 on Wed Mar 12 10:46AMA good point well made Kevmun - I'm with you
From andywalker269 on Wed Mar 12 11:01AMU guys got to remember than the EPL is only good because of its international status. U want some little statistics? All 4 clubs in the last 8 of the champions league are managed by international coaches {Wenger,Grant, Ferguson, Benitez(Scotish not English)}. There were 10 goals scored over 2 legs by the EPL teams that saw all four progressed into the last 8 of the CL and only 2 was by English players (Lampard and Gerrard) The Other 8 is dedicated to some of our best international players. T
From atokoi2002 on Wed Mar 12 11:03AMU guys got to remember than the EPL is only good because of its international status. U want some little statistics? All 4 clubs in the last 8 of the champions league are managed by international coaches {Wenger,Grant, Ferguson, Benitez(Scotish not English)}. There were 10 goals scored over 2 legs by the EPL teams that saw all four progressed into the last 8 of the CL and only 2 was by English players (Lampard and Gerrard) The Other 8 is dedicated to some of our best international players. T
From atokoi2002 on Wed Mar 12 11:03AMBut enough about football. If they double the duty on alcopops, but leave the duty on spirits the same, then for less than the price of a Breezer you could probably get a double Bacardi (or treble vodka) and coke. So that will stop binge drinking then...
From jcaley1 on Wed Mar 12 11:15AMThe EPL is no doubt the best in the world and it’s the best not because of English players but because of the influence and best quality of the foreign contributions, not only the players. You need some little statistics? All 4 EPL teams into the last 8 of CL is managed by foreigners {Wenger, Grant, Benitez, Ferguson (not English BUT proud Scottish)}.there were 10 goals scored over 2 legs, among the 4 teams that progressed into the last 8 and only 2 is dedicated to English players (Lampard & Gerrard) the other 8 is dedicated to foreigners. I even forgot to say that the absolute owners of the 3 out of 4 are not English. And a word to andywalker26, bringing quotas into the game will make the EPL as shitty as any other European league. Remember your bosses, even wants to acknowledge these foreign players by talking the game to their homes, so their families will have an opportunity to see them and not the English flops.
The EPL might be for the English people, but do you know this thing they say, that the owner has real owners – Foreigners are the real owners of the EPL, English people are JUST the custodians.
A Word to a wise is enough.From atokoi2002 on Wed Mar 12 11:22AMWell as for the top 4 as you all wobble on about you may be up there but you are not anything without the rest of the teams in the prem. More to the point where are they in the FA cup then and knocked out by who? Yes not premier top 4 teams for sure. So take away your european super over payed stars then where would you be? Chances are the majoroty of you are sitting in the pub with your JJB purchase shirts on and wouldnt even know how or where to find your teams stadium! The premier league is just a money spinner where you cannot watch a quality game. So the coca cola league is offering a better quality of football than the prem. The fact is its all to do with money and not the game anymore.
cmcmulkin01 look at Birmingham and tell me how many of the top 4 have been and done us any damage? Not any of Prem. Watch this space.
From daltonm927 on Wed Mar 12 11:32AMAtokoi, I don't mind copping a bit of flak for something I have actually said, but when I haven't said it? Simmer down
Actually, while I'm at it, I don't agree with you anyway - the EPL isn't for English people as you state, it is now an international brand. Football clubs may have all started rooted in their communities a hundred years ago with 100% local support, and while that is still true of Barnsley and other lower league clubs, over the last 15 years it has become less and less true of teams in the EPL. I know countless Arabs who support ManUre, Chelski, the Arse-nal and the "Liverpool soccer franchise" who couldn't care less about their own national football clubs. Consider the popularity of the league in the Far East too. Everton signed a couple of Chinese players and got Chinese sponsors to try and break into the market there, and now they are having a go in Thailand, and most EPL clubs seem to be doing pre-season tours all over the world - ManUre even did a mid-season tour for the Saudis! The 39th game ideas got shot down tho. It's all part of globalisation I suppose, but the EPL is no longer for English people, just as increasingly the clubs are being taken into foreign and sometimes murky ownership. Is the EPL the best league in the world? Who knows, but it is certainly the richest and the best at marketing itself.From andywalker269 on Wed Mar 12 11:48AMthis is a scorcher ED:-Fernando Torres who, like Amy Winehouse, just can't seem to stop scoring.oKAY BACK TO THE REAL DEAL, The premiership is the best exposed league in the world with so much money thrown into it such that people think that money will buy them entertainment. An average premiership match will not be as entertaining as an average la liga match OR better still, Derby-days of the respective leagues, Take Newcastle and boro(the game) then real mallorca and real betis, need l say more??????
From kudachisepo2000 on Wed Mar 12 11:53AMWhat is your point Inter had no Italians on the pitch last night....Least Liverpool had some bloody English out there
From jctibbetts27 on Wed Mar 12 12:04PMSince Real Betis play in Seville and Real Mallorca in Majorca, an island some considerable distance away on a plane/ferry, I am struggling to see how that can be a local derby?????? Are you American?
From andywalker269 on Wed Mar 12 12:08PMWhenever a player comes to the premiership from abroad, they comment on the games being played at a quicker pace than they are used to, that it is more physical and that the games are harder. This means our teams are fitter and stronger and harder to play against. Simple.
However, I personally think we always mess up on the international stage because we do focus more on the physical aspect of our game than the skillful side. Even from an early age, we are encouraged to 'get rid' rather than take a man on - and that is why England undera@#$%ve and Brazil are awesome. The English mentality towards the game mean we idolise morons like 'chopper' Harris who can break a leg, but that physical kicking lumps out of each other attitude is pointless. Have you seen a conference game lately? It is actual violence.
In short, the national team is rubbish because we don't know how to play proper football like the Italians, Brazil, France etc.
But we do have the best league in the world.
From alsltd on Wed Mar 12 12:20PMcmcmulkin01 - Your comments have never been dissapointing, am really impressed with your take on the premiership. On a more serious note, you should consider a career in writing. Any way i'll love to contact u. my email is oluwaponlek@yahoo.com and of course early doors is ma favorite blog. Even if it was voted '51' in the world.
From oluwaponlek on Wed Mar 12 01:06PMI don't think you should underestimate the Azerbajani Premier Pleauge, Neftci and Inter Baku has very strong teams...
From g_tande on Wed Mar 12 02:35PMThe English Premier League is good, but i don't think you should underestimate the Azerbajani Premier League. Neftci and Inter Baku has very strong squads...
Btw, is todays blog picture really there because of alcohol duty, or have you started doing sneak ads?From g_tande on Wed Mar 12 02:41PM
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