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Wednesday were all at sea for years…&nbsp;
Did you ever think that you would look at the Premier League table and see the Wigan in 7th, Hull take 20 points in the first 9 games and Fulham challenging for 6th?
If&nbsp; that wasn’t&nbsp;strange enough, once Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United are currently sitting in the middle of the third tier following in similar footsteps to the once impressive Sheffield Wednesday.&nbsp;
So what happened to the big boys who are nowhere to be seen in England’s top 20?
&nbsp;Leeds United – Essentially,&nbsp;Leeds&nbsp;spent millions&nbsp;that they simply did not have under the guidance of&nbsp;then chairman, Peter Ridsdale (now at Cardiff City)&nbsp;.&nbsp;Ridsdale took out large loans to buy&nbsp;players in&nbsp;an effort to&nbsp;build on&nbsp;the success of&nbsp;previous high finishes.&nbsp;The club expected to pay these back with prize money and revenue from television rights obtained from progress in the UEFA Champions League. Of course Leeds then failed to qualify and this led to high profile player sales to try and keep the club afloat, most notably Rio Ferdinand to bitter rivals&nbsp;Manchester United. This transfer caused the dispute between Ridsdale and manager David O’ Leary, under whom they never finished lower than fifth. Terry Venables took over followed by Peter Reid and then Eddie Gray but alas after three years of financial meltdown the club was relegated.
United were then the subject of a succesful take over bid by a Ken Bates (the once controversial Chairman of Chelsea). The club nearly made a return at the second attempt under&nbsp;Kevin Blackwell,&nbsp;Leeds finished fourth and reached the play-off final only to lose to Watford. Blackwell was sacked early in the following season after a sluggish start and was replaced by Dennis Wise. Despite the change in regime wise couldn’t lift Leeds out of the bottom three. With&nbsp;relegation&nbsp;virtually assured, the club applied to go into&nbsp;administration immediately in an attempt to incurr the 10 point dedution&nbsp;penalty whilst in the Championship. The football league overruled this and after a lengthy court battle and&nbsp;dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Leeds started life in League One, 10 points adrift. Amazingly they still reached&nbsp;the play off final and lost to Doncaster.
Leeds in 2009
They are currently seventh in League One and four points off the play-offs with a game in hand. Should Leeds achieve promotion, it will be an arduous task to keep them in the second tier. It will be a long, LONG time before Leeds compete for European football again.
Sheffield Wednesday – In the 1990/91 season Wednesday were relegated to the second tier having spent the previous six seasons in the top flight. Little did they know they were about to enter the club’s most succesful&nbsp;spell in the modern era. Promotion back to&nbsp;the top echelon of the English game&nbsp;was secured at the first attempt with the&nbsp;Owls&nbsp;finishing&nbsp;third. For all the joy that promotion brought the&nbsp;Hillsbrough faithful, this was&nbsp;eclipsed in some style by winning the League cup in the same&nbsp;season by defeating Manchester United&nbsp;1-0 at Wembley to win the clubs first major trophy since 1935.
&nbsp;The following season Trevor Francis took over the reigns in a player-manager role&nbsp;to fill the void left by Ron Atkinson’s departure to Aston Villa. Francis success was immediate, securing a third-place finish in their first season and Wednesday made four appearances at Wembley the following season. Defeating bitter rivals Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi final and losing the final after a replay to Arsenal.&nbsp;The Gunners&nbsp;had beaten Wedneday in the league cup final at the twin towers earlier in the season.
&nbsp;It was the 1994/95 season where most Wedneday fans feel it started to go wrong. After achieving another seventh place finish, Trevor Francis was sacked after a disappointing start that led to club finishing 13th and was succeeded by&nbsp;David Pleat and the latter by&nbsp;Danny Wilson&nbsp;This signalled the start of a managerial merry-go-round at&nbsp;Hillbrough,&nbsp;nine managerial changes followed in a mere&nbsp;ten years from Francis’ departure
Wednesday’s financial problems were starting to be exposed,&nbsp; the managers that followed&nbsp;Francis&nbsp;invested heavily in the squad with very little to show for it. Inflated transfer fees,&nbsp;high wages&nbsp;and badly negotiated contracts were the order of the day&nbsp;for the ailing club and they soon had to offload the high earners.
Wednesday started to capitulate and were relegation favourites for the&nbsp;1999/2000 season, a disastrous campaign demonstrated by the 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle United. As a last ditch attempt at survival Wilson was replaced by Peter&nbsp;Shreeves who failed to keep the club in the top&nbsp;flight, Wednesday were relegated&nbsp;away to Arsenal despite a 3-3 draw on the last day.
After relegation Paul Jewell, Peter Shreeves (again), Chris Turner all braved the hot seat. The Owls&nbsp;suffering another relegation under Turner’s tenure at the club.&nbsp;
Stability&nbsp;And The Future
&nbsp;Paul Sturrock brought the club off its knees and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship in 2004 via the League One play offs and even kept the club in the Championship after the promotion. Wednesday however started the next season in poor fashion and the&nbsp;scot&nbsp;was replaced by currrent manager&nbsp;Brian Laws who guided the club to ninth in the league. Last season Wednesday survived the dogfight&nbsp;but with an ambitious new Chairman and a solid manager in Laws &nbsp;who has performed well on a shoe-string budget,&nbsp;Wednesday may well return to Premier League in the coming years.

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday? - World Soccer Talk

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?

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After plenty of speculation, it’s finally happened. Just <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4789742,00.html" target="_blank">hours after AC Milan</a> said that Kaka wasn’t for sale, the newswires went crazy over the fact Manchester City has indeed <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4790200,00.html" target="_blank">opened talks</a> to purchase the star player, and the figures are simply staggering. The <a href="http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article5513314.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&amp;attr=796995" target="_blank">100 million euro</a> purchase price, yes it’s there. Kaka’s salary, well enough to make everyone in football blush. That number,<a href="http:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article2128341.ece?OTC-RSS&amp;ATTR=Football" target="_blank"> two hundred eighty thousand</a> pounds a week.
I’ve been waiting for this moment the second Robinho was purchased under the wire back in early September. This was the type of transfer we were promised, and now it looks like they are going after fulfilling that obligation. While it’s hard for me, or anyone for that fact, to put their head around that amount of money,&nbsp; I think this signal of intent gives us all one big message; get ready, we ain’t seen nothing yet.
Just like what happened after Roman starting splashing the cash after buying Chelsea, Manchester City are looking to raise the stakes in the transfer market. With the economy the way it is today, even teams of worldwide regard would have a difficult time saying no to having 100 million euros in their back pocket. How many different players could they buy with that money? How much of their debt could they help clear up with that money? These are all questions that clubs have to start looking at more closely.
From all I can gather, it’s up to AC Milan to say no. Kaka isn’t a fool and would sign up for that kinda cash. The only thing I think stopping AC Milan saying no to this move, is their thinking about the Pandora’s box this would open up.
Other Stories 
The injury list starts to grow ahead of this weekend’s matches. <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4787731,00.html" target="_blank">Dietmar Hamann</a> will be out for 3 months with a ruptured ligament in his toe (umm wow that’s a long time to be out for a toe ligament). And on the same day <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4787132,00.html" target="_blank">Patrice Evra</a> dedicated Manchester United’s win over Chelsea to the FA, we find out he’ll be out three weeks with a <a href="http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1114295/Manchester-United-rocked-injuries-Patrice-Evra-Rio-Ferdinand.html?ITO=1490" target="_blank">foot injury</a>. Rio Ferdinand will more than likely be out another week due to his back.
Speaking of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson just needs to let this one go. Who cares that there was an <a href="http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/4226422/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-angered-by-Arsenal-fan-ruling-on-Patrice-Evra.html" target="_blank">Arsenal fan</a> on the panel looking over the Patrice Evra case.
I wonder how much <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4787192,00.html" target="_blank">Jose Mourinho</a> loved seeing Chelsea’s performance after his damning verdict of them Tuesday.
I don’t know if Carlos Tevez should be taking career advice from <a href="http:\/\/www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4787758,00.html" target="_blank">Diego Maradona</a>. He thinks it would be wise for Tevez to get away from Manchester United.
Rafa is denying reports that he and the ownership is again at odds, this time over signing a <a href="http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/4228212/Liverpool-manager-Rafael-Benitez-denies-problems-with-Tom-Hicks-and-George-Gillett.html" target="_blank">new contract</a>.&nbsp; He’s saying the final details are being worked out.
The police are to be commended after finding <a href="http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/portsmouth/4227947/Eleven-charged-over-Sol-Campbell-chants-during-Portsmouth-Spurs-clash.html" target="_blank">11 classless morons</a> who were busted for the racial chants towards Sol Campbell earlier in the year. I hope they never see the inside of a football ground again. What’s even sadder is the age of some of these people.

Kaka to Manchester City Heats Up - World Soccer Talk

Kaka to Manchester City Heats Up

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>Where can you find England against Kazakhstan on US TV tomorrow? The important 2010 World Cup Qualifying match will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel beginning at Noon ET/9am PT.
This is part of the <a href="http:\/\/www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS121450+20-May-2008+BW20080520" target="_blank">deal</a> that Fox Sports International announced in May whereby Fox Soccer Channel has the TV rights to England’s home matches for the next four years.
In team news, John Terry will miss the match due to an injury. In his place, Rio Ferdinand will captain the team. The last piece of news is that Wayne Rooney has shaved the hair off his head (seriously).

England vs Kazakhstan To Be Televised Live On Fox Soccer Channel - World Soccer Talk

England vs Kazakhstan To Be Televised Live On Fox Soccer Channel

<div><figure class="image"></figure></div>In the world of technology, the top sites aren’t magazines or newspapers. They’re blogs. Web sites such as <a href="http:\/\/www.techcrunch.com" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a>, <a href="http:\/\/www.engadget.com" target="_blank">Engadget</a> and <a href="http:\/\/www.boingboing.net" target="_blank">Boing Boing</a> lead the way with the latest breaking news and analysis, as well as receiving more visitors than some of the giants in tech publishing.
While soccer blogs aren’t in the same echelon as tech blogs, it’s only a matter of time. Two examples this week of how soccer blogs are pushing the envelope by covering topics that mainstream media have yet to catch on to are featured on two of my favorite blogs, <a href="http:\/\/www.pitchinvasion.net" target="_blank">Pitch Invasion</a> and <a href="http:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com" target="_blank">101 Great Goals</a>.
I’ll let the two articles speak for themselves. The first one is by guest writer Terry Daley who writes about the <a href="http:\/\/pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/06/16/inside-chelseas-propaganda-machine/" target="_blank">politics of working behind the scenes with Chelsea Football Club</a>. The second article is about Rio Ferdinand being questioned by police in Israel. They’re both must-read articles.

Soccer Blogs Beat Mainstream Media To News Stories - World Soccer Talk

Soccer Blogs Beat Mainstream Media To News Stories

Latest news from Rio Ferdinand. Find out about all the news related to Rio Ferdinand on worldsoccertalk.com

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Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?

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Kaka to Manchester City Heats Up

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England vs Kazakhstan To Be Televised Live On Fox Soccer Channel

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Soccer Blogs Beat Mainstream Media To News Stories