Call me bias, but the MLS standings look a bit amiss to me. The first tiebreaker should always be GF/GA, because it’s an important stat and fans can understand it. If this were the case, Columbus crushes New England with a 1.214 versus a measly 1.074. But instead this fan is left wondering what Wizard of Oz magic is making my team 2nd place. So I looked it up.

…And found nothing. I can only assume either Strength Of Schedule or Away Goals is given more weight than GF/GA, but I can’t be sure unless I see the math. If anyone can show me the official ranking algorithm for MLS, I’d be happy to list a few reasons for hating it. I suppose it might also help if I knew WTF the +/- column was.

Ebbsfleet United has provided paid supporters the chance to vote on many issues concerning the club from player line ups to jersey colors. This week the members were asked to make a vote on the transfer of a player. This is a major decision for both the clubs involved and especially the player. Being a member of Ebbsfleet United through My Football Club, I was given the chance to vote on the future of John Akinde.

My biggest concern about this vote is what John Akinde wants.

I completely understand that a football club does not make transfer decisions based on player wants. I would still like to have an idea of what the player would like to do. I assume that John wants to move up and play in a higher conference. I have read every article (BBC coverage) on the transfer that I can find and have not found an interview with John to gauge his interest.

This is where I struggle with the My Football Club program (don’t get me wrong, I love the opportunity). The paid supporters don’t get the chance to talk with the players and understand the chemistry of the club. Of course I live in the States and having 30,000 members trying to talk to players and staff would be a nightmare. That does not change the fact that this vote will affect this player for the rest of his life.

This particular vote will work out well in my option with the assumptions that John wants to move up and the supports will vote the same. A bigger issue will come when the player and the supports don’t agree. This transfer would be much more difficult for me if John wanted to advance to the next level and the supports wanted to keep him due to his great ability. I would have a moral issue to stop someone from advancing for my own greed.

Regardless, I believe that the supports will approve the transfer and Mr. Akinde will get the chance to move up in the English leagues. This is also a great day football business as the supports decide on the future of player and club.

I would love to read other opinions on this matter. Let me know what you think.

Singapore has created a floating soccer pitch. ‘Marina Bay Floating Stadium’ was built over a 13 month period and required 15 pontoons to keep afloat. The floating pitch is only going to be “afloat” until 2012 when the national stadium is finished.

So who is going to get the ball when you miss the goal?

WHAT THE? is my weekly Premiership review with only the interesting events that should not have happened in the first place.

• Hull City grabbed another point at Blackburn to obtain the forth position on the table with 4 points. After their win in the first week against Fulham, Hull City looks to be the best of the promoted clubs so far this season.

• Stroke City got its first win as a newly promoted club over Aston Villa 3-2. Stoke won on an injury time goal. It is great to see promoted sides grabbing early points. This will make the regulation race much more deep in the spring.

• So far this season there are no newly promoted sides in the bottom 5 positions on the Prem table.

• Tottenham has continued their fantastic start with a 1-2 lost to Sunderland at HOME. I don’t even know what to say about Tottenham. They are really trying to get this season off to a worst start than last season. Tottenham is at the bottom of the table with 0 points joining three other teams.

• In a even more baffling result, Arsenal managed to lose to Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage. What do you want me to say? That result defies logic. Arsenal can kiss any chance of winning the league goodbye.

Eddie Johnson, MLS superstar, and US National team bore has been loaned out from Premier side Fulham to Championship side Cardiff City.

My views of Eddie Johnson have been documented on other blogs. I believe he has been over hyped when playing in the super intense MLS and has been lack luster when on the pitch for the US National Team (and when I say lack luster, I mean against real teams, not teams in the want to be a federation that is CONCACAF).

All hammering aside, I believe this is a good move for Johnson. His speed made the MLS a little to easy for him. Up to this point Eddie has relied too much on his speed and has not refined his technical skills. Johnson will still be one of the faster guys on the pitch in the Championship league, but it wont be as effective against an overall higher skill set that he will experience.

I believe his adjustment to the Premier League was harder than we realized. Fulham knows that Johnson needs a step between the MLS and the Prem and Cardiff City will provide that experience. Hopefully Eddie will become a better technical player and will be starting for Fulham next season.

What do the Premier Leagues top brass and the Wu-Tang Clan have in common?

They both believe in C.R.E.A.M. = Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thailand prime minister, current owner of Manchester City is facing corruption charges over a property scandal back home and has OFFERED to step down from the Premier League club’s board.

Billionaire Shinawatra currently has $2 billion in assets frozen by the Thailand government and has skipped bail and gone into exile in London this month. Thaksin was removed from power in a coup in 2006 and fears for his life which equates to not even attending Man City games.

How is it possible that a man in this type of situation could buy a Premier League club?

Simple, the Prem loved the though of another billionaire owner… C.R.E.A.M. The Premier League has to approve any and all club bids to make sure clubs wont be put in jeopardy. Swing and a miss.

Manchester City has a new coach, Mark Hughes and new players that have been brought in during the transfer window. These new members of the Manchester City organization have to deal with the thought of an owner that could be put in prison and lose control of the club, putting its future in a tail spin.

Why? Because the Premier League could not say no to a billionaire. Even though his troubles were well documented when the Prem approved his bid to take over Manchester City.

The Premier League and the other owners have failed and unfortunately Manchester City will have to deal with the unrest and potential fall out.

There’s a new HH Gregg TV spot in which Peyton Manning and a few other people are giving a mock press conference… to encourage a customer to buy Sony HD TVs because they are the best for watching American football.

The customer asks, “When you say football, do you mean soccer?”

And the press conference panel just cracks up! Fade to black.

It’s not far-fetched for me to imagine a high school English class assignment in which students are asked to write a script for a TV advertisement. I calculate the odds of any given American football player conceiving of this idea and turning it in for a C at 40%. Yes, two of every five 17 year old Friday night lighters crave a big flat screen Sony TV and think soccer is gay. Is it a coincidence then that the EXACT SAME proportion of high school football players become dickhead HH Gregg salesmen?

And what brand of big flat screen TV do I own, you ask?

I’d love to give you some mind-blowingly insightful commentary on the LA v Chicago game, but my DVR has denied me the right of sound. It would be crushing to sit through 90 minutes of what I assume was Chicago attacking and LA kicking the ball as high as possible, in silence. I suppose, technically, my Digital Video Recorder makes no promises when it comes to audio. I should be grateful to have ever heard any recording at all.

Chicago won. McBride didn’t score. David Beckham kissed every girl in the stands.

1 USA v GUATEMALA 0

The Cherundolo foul: Unsporting!

The red card: Bloody!

The kick to Tim Howard’s head: Expected!

The way John Harkes pronounces “Mastroeni”: Wrong! Every time!

The Guatemala team successfully fell down every time a US player came in the same vicinity. I say successfully because the referee called it 90% of the time.

The ref carded over a quarter of the US team in the first half alone. Add multiple red cards in the second half.

One particular event consisted of a completely obvious dive by a Guatemalan player that even the ref could not miss it. Following FIFA rules he carded the diver. Then proceeded to card the US player that was nearest to the diver. IF A PLAYER DIVES, YOU CAN’T CARD THE GUY THAT WAS STANDING NEXT TO HIM, THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS YOU BLOODY IDIOT.

In the second half the ref carded US keeper Tim Howard after he got kicked in the face by Carlos Rulz, but did not card the Rulz.

Where does CONCACAF find these referees?

Did they grab a random guy standing in the local market and ask with if we wanted to make a quick twenty?

Hey CONCACAF, if you want to be treated like a real football federation start by hiring real personally. No wonder the federation is a joke. My intramural games have better refs.