SUPER TUESDAYS ON SWOOSH0018

Well what a weekend it was. Also I got presented with a sublime award. i was really proud.
Click here to see it http://www.themessagegroup.com.au/last-nights-news.php?title=20090401-Naseem-Mayet_create.html

FROM THE SHOOBS CORNER
ALL THE WAY FROM THE UK

Adriano Missing, Shearer back and two late winners Last Friday, I spoke to one of my buddies who’s part of the Irish Red Army and has been a massive United fan for a long time. I try to meet up with him at OT when he comes in for games so I gave him a call to see if he was flying in for the Villa game (and to check if he had any spare tickets) and he told me that this was the “make or break game of the season” for United so him and 18 other Irish lads were coming for the game. Apart from being a fellow Red, this Irishman also happens to be one of our suppliers so I speak to him quite often and the conversation is almost always more about United then business and Friday was the first time all season I’ve heard him sounding so nervous. Other than the obvious reasons you could pick up this was a big one for United from the ticket prices … I hadn’t planned to go to Manchester for this fixture so I was forced to look around for tickets at the last minute and after speaking to a few touts I couldn’t get a single ticket for under £200.00 … that type of price range is usually reserved for only the very big games and touts couldn’t even guarantee a good seat at OT, so instead I ended watching the game at a buddies place…A few messages rolled in before the game and general feeling from fellow Reds I spoke to before the game was one of nervousness, no Rooney, Berbatov, Vida, Rio or Scholesy meant United were proper stretched for this fixture and when I saw what our subs line-up looked like (plus that we started Fletch and Nani), I have to admit I was very concerned as I suppose most other United fans were as well.

Liverpool had already done the business at Fulham and as much as it pains me to say this I have to agree with the Match of the Day and Sky Sports crews, they deserved the 3 points (even if the only goal of the game came in the 91st minute). Our nerves were tested to the max and just seconds before it looked like Liverpool were about to take a giant step towards their first EPL title enter Federico “Kiko” Macheda … the 17 year old Italian couldn’t have wished for a better way to announce his first team debut. Scoring a stunning winner at the Streford End is something very special and if we go on to retain our trophy, that will surely be remembered as one those vital winning goals of the campaign.

Kiko was not the only debutant to mark his debut with a goal, Stanislas opened up the scoring for the Hammers at Upton Park and one of die hard Hammers fans I know is convinced they are going to make for the Europa League next season…Macheda and Jenson Button dominated the back pages of newspapers (Macheda for his match winner and Button because he’s British more than anything else), but a United press conference is headlines at the moment because it has once again been hijacked by talks of Ronaldo going to Madrid for £75 mil. Both Ferguson and Ronaldo have had to confirm that the story was nothing but a rumour but Ferguson did make it known to the media he is getting irritated by the on going Madrid-Ronaldo saga and hit out at Madrid for stirring calling them “pathetic”. Still with all this going on, the man that has been in the spotlight the most over the last few days has been the Toon Legend, Alan Shearer and his decision to try and save Newcastle from going down. He has made it clear to everyone that he has no long term intentions of managing the club (for now) and is only going to stay till the end of the season. It’s a pity Chelski took three points off them on his first game, but I’d like to see Newcastle stay up, for Shearer’s sake if nothing else. On the subject of legends, one of Southampton supporters at the office filled me in on their situation and there is a very real possibility The Saints will cease to exist after the season ends due to financial issues. Lastly, it seems Adriano has gone missing … there was some talk that he could have possibly been kidnapped and Inter have not released a statement but he has gone MIA before and if it turns out he has simply decided to extend his stay in Brazil without informing the club he is going to be deep shyte, it would be an interesting scene when he has to explain to Mourinho where he was, he’s better off being kidnapped I reckon …




HIGHEST EARNING FOOTBALLERS IN THE WORLD


Player Club Monthly (€) Annual (€) Week (£)
1 Zlatan Ibrahimović Internazionale € 750,000 € 9,000,000 £ 166,000
2. Ricardo Kaka AC Milan € 750,000 € 9,000,000 £ 166,000
3 Lionel Messi FC Barcelona € 700,000 € 8,400,000 £ 156,000
4 John Terry Chelsea FC € 632,000 € 7,575,000 £ 140,000
5.Frank Lampard Chelsea FC € 632,000 € 7,575,000 £ 140,000
6. Thierry Henry FC Barcelona € 625,000 € 7,500,000 £ 138,000
7.Samuel Eto'o FC Barcelona € 625,000 € 7,500,000 £ 138,000
8. Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United € 564,000 € 6,763,000 £ 125,000
9. Ronadinho Gaucho AC Milan € 542,000 € 6,500,000 £ 120,000
10.Andrei Shevchenko AC Milan € 542,000 € 6,500,000 £ 120,000
11.Michael Ballack Chelsea FC € 542,000 € 6,500,000 £ 120,000
12.Steven Gerrard Liverpool FC € 542,000 € 6,500,000 £ 120,000
13.Rio Ferdinand Manchester United € 542,000 € 6,500,000 £ 120,000
14. Raul Gonzalez Real Madrid € 533,000 € 6,400,000 £ 118,000
15.Ruud van Nistelrooy Real Madrid € 533,000 € 6,400,000 £ 118,000
16. Iker Casillas Real Madrid € 500,000 € 6,000,000 £ 110,000
17.Frederic Kanouté Sevilla FC € 500,000 € 6,000,000 £ 110,000
18. Wayne Rooney Manchester United € 500,000 € 6,000,000 £ 110,000
19.Michael Owen Newcastle United € 500,000 € 6,000,000 £ 110,000
20. Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid € 483,000 € 5,800,000 £ 107,000
21. Robinho Manchester City € 473,000 € 5,680,000 £ 105,000
22. Francesco Totti AS Roma € 458,000 € 5,500,000 £ 101,000
23. Luca Toni Bayern Munich € 458,000 € 5,500,000 £ 101,000
24. Arjen Robben Real Madrid € 455,000 € 5,460,000 £ 100,000
25. Ashley Cole Chelsea FC € 450,000 € 5,410,000 £ 100,000
26.Deco Chelsea FC € 450,000 € 5,410,000 £ 100,000
27.Fernando Torres Liverpool FC € 450,000 € 5,410,000 £ 100,000
28. Carlos Tevez Manchester United € 428,000 € 5,140,000 £ 95,000
29. Adriano Internazionale € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
30.Patrick Vieira Internazionale € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
31.Charles Puyol FC Barcelona € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
32.Andres Iniesta FC Barcelona € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
33.Xavi FC Barcelona € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
34.Sergio Aguero Atletico Madrid € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
35.Gianluigi Buffon Juventus € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
36.Willy Sagnol Bayern Munich € 416,000 € 5,000,000 £ 92,000
37. Dimitar Berbatov Manchester United € 405,000 € 4,869,000 £ 90,000
38.Andrei Arshavin Arsenal FC € 405,000 € 4,869,000 £ 90,000
39.Didier Drogba Chelsea FC € 405,000 € 4,869,000 £ 90,000
40.Nicolas Anelka Chelsea FC € 405,000 € 4,869,000 £ 90,000
41Paul Scholes Manchester United € 405,000 € 4,869,000 £ 90,000
42 Alessandro Del Piero Juventus € 400,000 € 4,800,000 £ 88,000 Karim Benzema

IPL PREVIEW

Rajasthan Royals
Coach: Shane Warne[1]
Captain: Shane Warne
Colours: Blue and Gold
Founded: 2008

Owner: Emerging Media, Shilpa Shetty & Raj Kundra
CEO: Manoj Badale
Official Website: Rajasthan Royals






Rajasthan Royals is a franchise cricket team that represents the state of Rajasthan in the IPL. The team is led and coached by Shane Warne. There was no Icon Player and brand ambassador for the team and it is the only IPL team to have a foreign captain and coach. The team's mascot is a lion named Moochu Singh [2]. The team anthem, 'Halla Bol' is sung by Ila Arun[2]. The promotional video that they aired on national networks before and during the first edition of the IPL was directed by Indrajit Nattoji of Blink Pictures. Leicestershire spinner Jeremy Snape signed on with the Rajasthan Royals as their high-performance coach and team psychologist. They became the champions of the inaugural IPL tournament.

Franchise History
The Rajasthan Royals franchise is owned by Emerging Media group and is Chaired by Manoj Badale. Other investors include Lachlan Murdoch, Aditya S Chellaram and Suresh Chellaram. The Group acquired the franchise for $67 million. Incidentally, this was the least expensive franchise in the Indian Premier League and probably the least fancied team in the league at the beginning of the tournament. Bollywood Actress and Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty and her business partner Raj Kundra paid approximately US $15.4 million for a 11.7% stake.

2008 IPL Season
Prior to the start of the inaugural IPL season, many considered the Royals as possibly the weakest team in the IPL, giving them little chance of competing well in the tournament.[3] Evidence of the latter opinion seemed to be confirmed when the team lost its first match against the Delhi Daredevils in a 9 wicket loss.[4] However the Royals won their next game by defeating the Kings XI Punjab and continued to win the next five games in a row. The Royals built up an impressive 11-3 record after their fourteen premilinary round matches; this included a consecutive 5-game and 6-game winning streak with an undefeated record on their home ground and a spot at the top of the points table. They were also the first team to book a place in the semifinals with their 65 run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Shane Warne's captaincy and simultaneous coaching was praised and well received by everyone,[5][6] including opposition teams.[7] In addition, many players of the Royals team have consistently played well. The Royals secured a place in the finals with a victory against the Delhi Daredevils.

Champions of the Tournament
The Rajasthan Royals became the winners of the first IPL tournament, when they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 3 wickets in the final played on 1 June 2008. With the scores level with one ball remaining, Sohail Tanvir scored the winning run and therefore prevented the match from being decided on a bowl out.[8]
Each player and representative on the team was awarded a medal and the team was presented with the DLF Indian Premier League trophy along with a cheque for US$ 1.2 million prize money. Many of the Royals' players also took home individual awards for their performance during the tournament; Yusuf Pathan claimed the Man of the Match award for the final match, Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament in possession of the Purple Cap (the IPL's leading wicket taker) and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Series.

Players
Rajasthan Royals were the least active franchise during the players auction. The team didn't have a designated icon player, which saved a lot of cap space for the franchise. However the franchise was surprisingly low key during the auction, and in the end got penalized by the IPL committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria of $3.3 million.[9] The highest bid by Rajasthan Royals was for the Indian middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif, who came off the board at $675,000. Shane Warne was named the coach and the captain of the side. The Royals are unique as they are the only side to have an English cricketer in their squad, Hampshire's all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas who only played one match, against the Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur on 11 May, before returning back to England. The Rajasthan Royals also selected Justin Langer and Morne Morkel in the player auction, but both declined to instead play county cricket.[10] [11]

Current squad
Rajasthan Royals Roster
Batsmen
-- Robert Quiney
77 Lee Carseldine
15 Graeme Smith
28 Yusuf Pathan
13 Mohammad Kaif
18 Niraj Patel
29 Swapnil Asnodkar
12 Ravindra Jadeja
21 Dinesh Salunkhe
-- Raiphi Gomez
Wicket Keepers
05 Mahesh Rawat
All Rounders
33 Shane Watson
14 Tyron Henderson
32 Dimitri Mascarenhas
19 Siddharth Trivedi
Bowlers
23 Shane Warne(Captain)
-- Shaun Tait
37 Shane Harwood
65 Morné Morkel
03 Munaf Patel
86 Sumeet Khatri
42 Anup Revandkar

Support Staff
Assistant Head Coach: Harish Joshi
High Performance Coach: Jeremy Snape
Physiotherapist: John Gloster
Performance Analyst: Mohsin Sheikh
Director Of Coaching: Darren Berry