We Ain't Got No History: All Posts by Graham MacAree

Sergio Aguero signs new Manchester City contract

2013-05-25T17:14:04Z

After a spell of almost-certainly-false transfer rumours that were linking Manchester City star Sergio Aguero with moves abroad, the club has confirmed that the Argentinian will instead be signing a new contract, keeping him at the Emirates through the 2016/17 season. Aguero, 24, has been with City since August 2011, and he famously scored the last-gasp goal that secured the club's first ever Premier League title last season.

The rumours were pretty obviously a ploy set by Aguero's agent -- he's already out of reach for more or less everyone who has the faintest intention of abiding by UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, so any interest drummed up in the striker was merely an excuse to get City to the negotiating table with a pay rise. Aguero's wages were already pretty hefty, but nevermind that; there's always more money in football. Raise secured, Aguero can now go back to the business of scoring goals. Everyone's a winner!

Borussia Dortmund have made football accessible at the expense of their squad

2013-05-25T13:53:43Z

Plucky Little Dortmund. They're the team who has done it right. Suitably chastised by their early 2000s financial misadventures, BVB have made it to the Champions League final with that combination of poorness and good football so beloved by the neutral. And they're up against one of Europe's superpowers in Bayern Munich, who they've given a bloody nose over the past few years.

On top of that, they make virtually no money from ticket sales. Unlike the powerhouses of the Premier League, who can make close to €100 million in match-day income per year, Borussia Dortmund ensure that the experience of the Westfalenstadion is available to all. The 2011 and 2012 Bundesliga champions make less than a quarter of what Manchester United does from match-going fans.

This is the German model, and with Germany ascending, it's not surprising that it's being trumpeted as what football should be. After all, we have an all-Bundesliga final. If clubs can be successful without gouging the fans, what's not to like?

Meanwhile, one of the most pervasive narratives leading up to the final is the impending defection of Mario Götze. He's a key cog in BVB's attack and has for years been one of the world's most sought-after talents. Losing him would be a devastating blow for Jürgen Klopp and company, which is why Bayern activated his €37 million buyout clause then leaked the information just before Dortmund's semifinal against Real Madrid.

Götze will join Bayern on July 1st. The public reason is that he wants to work under incoming manager Pep Guardiola, but the truth of the matter is that this year's champions can pay the 20-year-old significantly more that BVB can. This isn't news for Dortmund, who've seen Nuri Sahin and Shinji Kagawa move on in back-to-back seasons. Star striker Robert Lewandowski is probably next.

This is portrayed as yet another example of a big team bullying a smaller one. According to the Swiss Ramble, Bayern pulls in something on the order of €321 million a year. Dortmund? A mere €189 million. Bayern has money to spend, a core of elite talent and is, naturally, incredibly attractive to young German players. With that in mind, it's difficult to see how BVB can be anything but second-fiddle to the Bavarians.

Which means that, long term, Dortmund's recent success will probably end up being seen as a chimera of sorts -- or perhaps a provocation for Bayern to reassert their dominance over Germany. They'll never have the resources that their rivals do, and this generation of players, one that's capable of making a mark in history, looks like the exception rather than the rule.

How very sad.

The interesting thing here is that both stories are being told and retold without any comprehension that they're incompatible. Dortmund do have the money to retain the likes of Götze and Lewandowski -- they're just choosing to spend it on their supporters rather than on players. While Bayern earns €72 million a year on gate receipts, BVB make under €30 million. Closing that gap could easily cover Götze's raise and much more besides, making Dortmund a destination team rather than some sort of superpowered Udinese.

It's bizarre how a side can be praised for austerity on one hand while having their bones virtually picked over through transfer rumours on the other. Borussia Dortmund are a team that subsidises their fans at the expense of the actual football, and while that's a model that's proven itself in the short term, at longer timescales it can only lead to one thing: Bayern dominance. In sport, you can never have your cake and eat it too.

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• Full coverage of the UEFA Champions League final

• AS Monaco make it rain

• Cruz Azul win first leg of Liga MX final

• Transfer rumours from SB Nation and our team blogs

• Full coverage of the NWSL

Rafa Benitez finally goes away

2013-05-24T16:53:29Z

During the first two months of Rafa Benitez's tenure at Chelsea, things were so bad that it looked as though the interim manager could have been sacked at any moment. With customary diligence, Steve pre-wrote a 'Rafa sacked' piece, and as a result it's been sitting atop my editorial dashboard since January, promising a brave new Chelsea dawn. Taunting me each and every time I logged into this website.

Now the day to say goodbye has finally come. According to basically every news source in Italy, Napoli have announced that they'll be signing Benitez to a two-year contract. We've been told by the media that we should be grateful to the departing manager for stabilising the ship and securing Champions League football, and to a certain degree that's true, but I don't feel anything but relief. These last few months, despite (or perhaps partially because of) the Europa League run, have been a misery.

It'll all be over soon. Thank goodness for that.

Manuel Pellegrini, Malaga to part ways

2013-05-22T13:36:58Z

Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that he'll be leaving Malaga at the end of the season, presumably to occupy the spot vacated by Manchester City's sacking of Roberto Mancini. The Chilean has been at La Rosaleda for the better part of three years following his lone season at Real Madrid, and they've been very strange ones -- his club has achieved remarkable things domestically and in the Champions League, but they sacrificed any pretence of financial stability to get there and, having been sanctioned by UEFA in the process, don't have much hope of being relevant again over the next few years.

Pellegrini is claiming that he's leaving the club for 'sporting reasons,' which is code for 'I can't believe the mess you've left this club in you stupid jerkfaces.' Although he denies having any contact with Manchester City so far, it's been fairly obvious for some time that that'll be his next stop. The 59-year-old, a formidable tactician and purveyor of some rather pretty football, has been an unqualified success wherever he's been, and should he indeed arrive at the Etihad, it'll set up a nice clash between himself, Manchester United David Moyes and putative Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

Can we shut up about the 'congested fixture list', please?

2013-05-21T02:33:24Z

'Congested fixture list' is quite probably the single most annoying phrase we've had to deal with this year. Yes, thanks to playing in the Europa League, the Super Cup, the Club World Cup and deep runs in the domestic competitions, Chelsea played more matches in the 2012/13 season than ever before. That's a good excuse for fatigue; the team was playing multiple games a week, every week.

But... this is Chelsea Football Club. Has nobody noticed that we always play a lot of games?

Here's a fun stat: From January 2013 to May 2013, Chelsea played a grand total of four games more than they did in the equivalent period in 2012*. Go count them. I'm not joking. The League Cup semifinals are two, a fourth round FA Cup replay against Brentford is another and the Europa League tie against Sparta Prague gives us two more (the 2012 edition of Chelsea had to play an FA Cup final against Liverpool).

*For the whole season it's eight games, of which four are essentially friendlies.

And there's an argument to be made that Chelsea actually had a more difficult schedule last season -- there were actually four more matches against elite opponents in 2012, because of the Champions League run. So while we should have some sympathy for the fixtures coming thick and fast this year, we never had anything like a run of Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Arsenal and then Barcelona again to worry about. There's only so many times I can hear 'congested fixture list' as evidence that the season should be regarded as a success before I go totally insane.

Last season we successfully dealt with a more difficult schedule by effective prioritisation. Roberto di Matteo punted the Premier League to stay fresh for the cup competitions. It was a ballsy and perhaps borderline insane manoeuver, but it paid off. This year? We (by which I mean the press) whined about it nonstop.

Finally, a Turnbull who we want to see on the pitch

2013-05-20T23:06:11Z

Ok, maybe that headline's a little mean. Ross Turnbull hasn't done anything to offend. He's just... very Ross Turnbull, which means that he's not particularly good at goalkeeping and I really don't want to see him playing in place of Petr Cech. Turnbull's sat on the bench without complaint, collecting four trophies in four years. In eighteen appearances.

But you know, although Turnbull's function has mostly been to remind us to hope Cech never gets hurt, ever, that doesn't mean he's never done anything good. And now we've found it. He's had a baby. In the video above, said baby, whose name is Josh, pulls a mini-Ivanovic by running through on goal and sticking the ball in the back of the net.

The best part is when he suddenly realises...

Blues linked to Mario Gomez

2013-05-20T22:50:49Z

The season is over, and transfer rumour time begins. We don't want to talk about every nonsense story (and most of them are, of course, nonsense), but some provide a nice jumping off point to talk about what Chelsea need this summer and how they might fulfill said needs. This is one of them:

Bild: Chelsea has made contacts with Mario Gomez agent.
— Felipe (@FCBayernUpdate) May 20, 2013

You may recall Mario Gomez for choking so badly 366 days ago that Bayern Munich went out and bought Mario Mandzukic to replace him last year, which will never not be funny for me. You also may know him for the Mario Gomez button, which you press whenever he scores. Awful game against Chelsea notwithstanding, he does that a lot. And I mean a lot. But with Bayern fully capable of doing better up top than a Mandzukic-Gomez duo and some suspicions that he melts down under pressure*, he's probably undervalued compared to his raw production.

*Uli Hoeness was really, really unimpressed with him this time last year. it was hilarious.

And that's exactly where Chelsea should be looking if they want to reinforce their centre forward complement while avoid breaking the bank. Could the likes of Mario Gomez (or, for example, the also-undervalued Edin Dzeko) help the team? Absolutely. Would they help as much as an Edinson Cavani or a Radamel Falcao? Nope, but they'd also be a lot cheaper.

Going after someone like Gomez is a smart move in case the finances aren't there to make a huge buy or something falls through. There are impediments in this particular case -- Gomez's current deal lasts until 2016 and Bayern would have to find a replacement before letting him go -- but the general idea is good.

Plains of Almeira: The return of the Special One

2013-05-20T19:38:30Z

Plains of Almeira: The return of the Special One

Tim Palmer on what to expect from Jose Mourinho's eventual return to Chelsea. It is, as ever, excellent.