Subject: French Prem

if you think the premiership is getting predictable with the same top 4 each season, imagine being French? Lyon have now won the title 7 times consecutively - a european record. presumably their fans are as popular as chelsea & man utd fans here?

And it was all set up by the person who Rangers didn't think was good enough.

The football they played under Le Guen for the first 4 titles deserved to win it, you just have to think of some of the names to come through there recently to see why they win it.

I never knew they were that strong...don't Marseille give them a run for their money?

Lyon have been a country mile better than the rest for quite some time, indeed Marsielle I believe have not been strong for ages, didn't they get relegated at some point for irregularities?

I was born in Lyon and season ticketed there for a few years...

- Lyon clinched their 7th title on the last day this season like Man Utd did, althought the title was wrapped up after 23s...
- Santini (ex-Tottenham?) set up Lyon to their first title, not Le Guen. Although Le Guen won 3 straight titles then 2 for Houiller (ex-Liverpool) and 1 now for Perrin (ex-Portsmouth I believe...). Le Guen is now in Paris with PSG, they won the league Cup, are in the final of the French Cup (vs Lyon) and just saved their bum in the league on the last day saturday... I still dont understand what happen at Rangers, he should have done a lot better imo...
- Marseille have been there and thereabouts for the last 3-4 seasons. Marseille is historically a club permanently in crisis... alway something going on on the pitch or outside the pitch especially with dodgy politics and die-hard fans... There's no equivalent in the UK in my eyes... it's too much of a latin thingy... they did got relegated about 10yrs ago for match fixing...
- The way the club is run is unique in France and is modeled on what is done in England with Man Utd, Arsenal marketing and business wise. Aulas the president took over in'87 when the club was in Div1. The club is hated for its business approach but the result on the pitch speaks for themselves... Lyon also has a good policy towards youth schools... they have produced many top flight players, Benzema and Ben Arfa being the latest addition but some guys like Malbranque, Kanoute, Giuly, Govou, Clerc might ring a bell... every season the big gotha of european clubs come and shop at Lyon... Malouda, Diarra, Edmilson, Abidal... This is because the tax system in France is well harsh, I heard something like a french club has to pay twice the tax on wages an english club pay... you cant compete with that.
- Lyon is not very popular in France,it never really been because it has barely a footbal past (only 3 french cup before the glorious days) but is a huge hit with the kids (10-20). Popularity in France is always linked with a nice run in europe which Lyon hasnt been able to do yet... PSG, Marseille, St Etienne are more popular... Lyon is probably in the top 5.

- Lyon is not very popular in France,it never really been because it has barely a footbal past (only 3 french cup before the glorious days) but is a huge hit with the kids (10-20

so just like chelsea then

I read speculations that Arsenal might be signing Samir Nasri from Marseille. Are these reports true? Can anyone confirm?
(edited)

habe you asked samir ? or his agent ?

actualy, don't ask his agent...

Nice use of German there.

Danke Schon.

Bitte schön.

Um wie viel Uhr sind Sie erwartet, der Reihe nach III anzukommen?

Ich weiss nicht. Weist du die antwoord?

Have I lapsed into dutch there?

kenned if i know.

Rumours in France are linking Nasri(O.de Marseille) and Ben Arfa(O.Lyonnais) to Arsenal... they're both in the list of 30 players for the Euro (competitions reserved for weak teams) which will be cut to 23 soon...

Both talented and highly technical midfield... they're lacking a bit of maturity but they both remind people of Zidane... headbutt skill aside.

But the headbutt skill was the best part of Zidanes' armoury ! I think he was secretly after a part in Streetfighter 17...