Post by buwu on Jan 15, 2013 6:52:17 GMT -5
MONTE CARLO -- UEFA President Michel Platini made it clear on Friday there will be no going back on financial fair play rules that require European teams to only spend what they earn. Frank Gore Red Jersey . The break-even rule comes into effect from the 2014-15 season and it is already having an influence, with transfer activity down across Europe. "We will never go back on financial fair play, it was decided unanimously by the clubs, it is a revolution in European football and we will do it," Platini told a news conference. "We gave them time, three - four years to put everything in place. Now were going to start working." UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino revealed there was a 36 per cent decrease in spending last January, compared to January 2011. The total transfer spent this year -- excluding the deals on Thursday and Friday -- is 78 per cent less than the 2008-2011 average. "The trend is starting to turn, there is a significant slowdown in transfer activity," Infantino said. "The new Club Financial Control Body monitoring this activity reports that the new Financial Fair Play Rules are having a clear and positive affect already. "The financial losses are stabilized but still at dangerous levels." Meanwhile, Platini took a swipe at FIFA president Sepp Blatter, criticizing his autocratic style after FIFA gave the green light to goal-line technology. "When you talk about technology, FIFA didnt decide on goal-line technology, President Blatter did," Platini said. "No one in the executive committee was consulted, nor was anyone in any other FIFA committees invited to give their views. "It was just the FIFA president along with IFAB (the body that determines the laws of the game). Hes in charge and its up to him. FIFA has four of the eight IFAB votes to use as he wants and the four British associations have one vote each. Proposals need a majority of six to become law. "I think the four votes for the British are okay, its the four votes for FIFA I dont understand," Platini said. "The president has the four votes and he decides what he wants, he never speaks about the IFAB in the executive committee. The four votes of Blatter are not correct. "If the executive committee or the Congress had decided on the technology I will accept more because its a democratic decision. Blatter never discussed it with the executive committee. He has four votes and he decides." Platini has never made a secret of the fact he is firmly against goal-line technology. He favours using additional assistant referees which UEFA has approved for all its competitions from this year following extensive tests. "No-ones ever seen goal-line technology, while you all know the five-referee system," Platini added. "Ive always been opposed to technology, Im not going to change my mind at the age of 57.". Vernon Davis Jersey . Matt Cain took the mound for his first home start since tossing his gem June 13, and with one pitch his chances of throwing the Giants fifth consecutive shutout were gone. Colin Kaepernick Official Jersey . Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to Randall Cobb with 1:55 left, and the Packers pulled out a 24-20 win over Detroit Lions on Sunday for their fifth straight victory. www.the49ersfans.com/david-akers-jersey . The game did get close, and unlike last Mondays meltdown, this time the Nets handled it. Brook Lopez scored 20 points, Kris Humphries added 14 points and 21 rebounds, and the Nets beat the Orlando Magic 82-74 on Sunday to complete a home-and-home sweep. LaMichael James Jersey Frank Gore Limited Jersey . The 24-year-old Chiesa (8-0) choked out "The Ultimate Fighter Live" teammate Al Iaquinta (5-2-1) in the first round to win their lightweight tourney bout.What a wild first two weeks in Los Angeles. Few could have predicted things would go sideways so quickly for the Lakers after the way they loaded up this summer. First there was the slow start, then there was the knee-jerk firing and now we have a surprise hiring. The long and short of it is that Mike Brown is out and Mike DAntoni is in as head coach of the Lakers. While I had my doubts that Mike Brown was the right coach for the Lakers, the way the Lakers handled his firing was questionable at best. To say someone is your guy going into the season and then to turn around and fire him after such a small sample size without really giving him a chance to succeed comes across as the worst kind of double-talk. If you had doubts about Browns coaching philosophy and desire to implement a Princeton offence in the off-season, make your move then. Dont let him implement his systems only to get rid of him after five games. That said, I love the DAntoni hiring. I might even like it more than I would have liked a Phil Jackson return. Thats not because the triangle offence wouldnt have worked well with this team as some people are saying. It absolutely could have worked. Phil Jackson has NBA rings for each finger and a few to spare. His reputation speaks for itself. The Zen Master came at a much steeper price though. Besides commanding a hefty salary, Jackson apparently also wanted a lot of say in the teams basketball operations and an ownership stake. Jerry Buss clearly wasnt willing to make those concessions. For this Lakers team that might not be a bad thing as DAntoni is a terrific fit. Why? Unlike in New York, DAntoni has the guys to make his system work in L.A., and that starts with Steve Nash. DAntonis career winning percentage with Nash in his lineup is .733, without him its .385. Players make a system work and Nash-DAntoni is a match made in offensive basketball heaven. Their brand of up-tempo basketball in Phoenix was as fun to watch as it was effective. That is to say, very - from 2004-2008 the Suns led the NBA in offensive efficiency. A hallmark of the fun and gun Suns was the pick and roll. With Nash, the Lakers have potentially the best pick and roll point guard in the league, as well as Dwight Howard, the NBAs best roll man over the last few years. Besides Nash and Howard in the pick and roll, Kobe Bryant should slide in perfectly on the weak side in this system. Nash will be able to get Kobe plenty of open looks and the isos he loves by dishing him the ball. In other words, Kobe will be aable to "get his" under DAntoni. Colin Kaepernick Black Jersey. He will also help spread the floor for Nash and Howard as no coach in their right mind would tell their player to sag off Kobe and help defend the pick and roll. Pau Gasol can knock down mid-range jumpers and provide a different wrinkle in the pick and roll for the Lakers with his high IQ and terrific passing. Even Metta World Peace will benefit from DAntonis simplified system with open looks from the corner. Hell have two jobs - shoot if open, pass if not. It wont be an exact replica of DAntonis time in Phoenix as this team is obviously older, bigger and a bit slower. There may not be as many lightning fast break outs for dunks, but in the half-court the Lakers should be just as successful with Nash running things and executing the type of quick-hitting plays favoured by the Suns. The one thing the Lakers could really use now is a few more good outside shooters to help spread the floor. Inquiries will be made for some veteran help in that department and I could even see a guy like rookie Darius Johnson-Odom being recalled from the D-league at some point to come off the bench and launch threes. Still, this shouldnt be a major issue. On the other side of the ball, DAntoni is often unfairly tagged as a lousy defensive coach. He might not be great, but he certainly isnt terrible. The Suns allowed a lot of points, but those numbers were always going to be high because of the teams up-tempo style. His Suns teams actually finished in the middle of the pack in terms of overall defensive efficiency quite consistently. And that was with Amare Stoudemire as his primary interior stopper. Howard is a far better defensive player than Stoudemire ever was or will be. The Suns simply werent as bad as people seem to remember and the Lakers wont be terrible under his guidance either. In fact, as a whole, the Lakers starting five are a far better defensive unit than any the Suns ever put on the floor under DAntoni and should be better. Moving past the Xs and Os, DAntoni also has a positive rapport with the Lakers stars. From his perspective, this decision had to be a no-brainer. When negotiations with Jackson broke down and the Lakers offered him the job he probably couldnt have signed fast enough. This is clearly the most talented team he has coached in his life. He now has a chance to ditch his reputation as a great regular season coach who comes up short in the playoffs. The chase for a championship in L.A. is back on the rails. ' ' '