Vote For Pedro

Despite a couple of months of speculation that he was on his way to Manchester United, former Barcelona forward Pedro has instead signed with Chelsea.

See now, there are two distinct storylines emerging from this saga and nobody is really sure on the exact timeline of events.

Man Utd Fans Say:

• Personal terms were all but agreed.
• United didn’t want to pay the release fee and were trying to barter lower.
• Ed Woodward had been in Spain negotiating.
• Louis Van Gaal decided that the player wasn’t worth pursuing after all.
• United pulled out at the behest of LVG and he went to Chelsea as a second option.

Chelsea Fans Say:

• United had all but agreed to sign him.
• But Pedro was having misgivings about working with LVG.
• Van Gaal’s treatment of Victor Valdes (formerly of Barca) & David De Gea (Pedro’s international teammate) was the main reason for this.
• Chelsea expressed their interest, including phone calls from Cesc Fabregas and Jose Mourinho (as well as Cesc’s girlfriend calling Pedro’s).
• CFC agree with Pedro, meet his release clause and United turn up their noses to save face at the last moment.

One sneaky rumour is that a major player in the Chelsea staff was against the move, which is a pointless rumour unless it was Jose Mourinho. Yet Jose’s phone call was a big part of getting him. Apparently among other things he explained how he planned to integrate Pedro into his tactics (Pedro on the right, Willian to the middle). Either way, while it’s not as huge a blow to Manchester United on the field as most people are saying, it’s a massive morale buster to see him sign with a rival instead and then on the same day, Nicolas Otamendi agrees with Manchester City after rumours he was heading to the Red Devils persisting all summer. 

Aww Ref!

In an effort to promote more transparency in refereeing and the help humanise refs in the modern age, Swedish whistler Mohammed al-Hakim started up a Facebook page recently where he would discuss his decisions after each game, owning up to the bad ones and explaining the good ones.

“I believe in openness and dialogue. The main idea is that I want to create interest [in our occupation] and I think the football family can gain from getting a better insight and understanding of a referee’s situation.” Al-Hakim to Fotbollskanalen.

Plus he wanted to inspire more people to take up refereeing. God knows it’s a profession that needs a little boost in goodwill. Refereeing is right up there with being a lawyer, a politician or a serial killer in terms of trustworthiness.

Fella got straight into the honesty too, here’s an example from one of his entries:

“I should have given a penalty yesterday. Full stop. Now I have seen what you surely have seen already. I’ve seen the replays a few times and looked at stills and different angles. Because what it is about for me, is that I want to learn something and try to understand why I did what I did. I will never be right all the time but it is important to minimise the mistakes and make sure that I am right in the important moments.”

The Swedish FA were all cool with it, fans were very supportive and everything.

Yet a month after launching his page, al-Hakim has shut it down. As it happens, he’s also a lieutenant in the Swedish army, and with all the worldwide attention it got (sorry) it just wasn’t a venture he could maintain.

“It was great fun but quite simply I don’t have the time anymore. I have two jobs, a family and a refereeing career to think about.”

Ah, well. It was fun while it lasted.

Quiet In The Cheap Seats

UEFA took the slightly unusual measure this week of banning Steaua Bucharest manager Mirel Radoi from talking to his players during games.

No screaming out instructions and making funny hand gestures for him. It turns out Radoi doesn’t have the necessary coaching badges to work at this level.

Officially it’s a touchline ban, but they say he will be allowed to sit on the bench with the staff, he just can’t go barking away in the technical area. If he does, then the Romanian football federation have the power to ban him completely for up to six games.

From bbc.com:

"We shouldn't have told the truth," said Steaua owner Gigi Becali. "We should have just said that Radoi is the technical director.”

One Last Jab

Even from beyond the grave, Arsenal fans are still politely mouthing their discontent.

One of the coolest features of the Emirates Stadium has got to be Armoury Square. It’s an area outside the club store, comprising of 18,000 small tiles and each one of them was sold off to fans who could then put personalised messages in them.

Many went with their names as fans. Some have recorded birthdays or anniversaries. According to the Arsenal website, they’ve even had a marriage proposal there!

Others, such as this next man, have used the opportunity as a tribute to lost friends or family. Howard Cohen purchased one for his father, and the result is not only a touching marker to a lifelong Gunners fan… but also the chance for said lifelong Gunners fan to get one final dig in from beyond the grave:

If you were wondering, Alexander Hleb is still playing. He’s now at BATE Borisov in his native Belarus and trying to qualify for the Champions League this season. He played three seasons at Arsenal before joining Barcelona, and is probably much more fondly remembered these days after blatantly snubbing Cesc Fabregas last season in an international match.

Aaron Ramsey Speaks Up

“The most ridiculous rumour I’ve heard is that people die after I score. There have been loads of occasions where I’ve scored and somebody has died. That’s just a crazy rumour. Although I took out some baddies!”

That certainly sounds defensive. Ramsey trying to cover up his culpability in the deaths of such notable figures as Whitney Houston, Osama Bin Laden, Steve Jobs and Colonel Gaddafi.

Super Mario Branding

Yes, those are real.

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