Milan Baros Gets Political and some other stuff

By: Inara | November 1st, 2007

Milan Baros, who hasn’t been seen in a Lyon kit for several weeks now, is apparently involved in a row with the Civic Democrats, the current ruling part of the Czech Republic. Apparently, he agreed to campaign for them and make appearances on behalf of their party during the elections, and in return, they were supposed to partially fund his football academy.

The grant, which is worth 370,000 euros, was turned down by the party, which in turn has infuriated Baros, who is claiming that party leaders are reneging on their promise to him. Given that Baros is one of Lyon’s highest paid players, I’m pretty sure the amount isn’t that a big deal to him as the fact that his own country went back on their word to him.

The party leaders are involved in a fierce debate as to who was responsible for promising Baros that grant, with the former finance minister and the current prime minister pointing fingers at each other.

If the Czech Republic’s government collapses in the next few weeks, we’ll know who’s responsible.

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Faro, who publishes football related cartoons on football365.fr, posted this gem last weekend.

The patron of BB: “It was only yesterday…”

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Here is a slap in the face to those annoying Arsenal fans who keep on editing Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa’s wikipedia entries to say that they are moving to London this summer.

Two days ago, as a guest on OL System, Benzema confirmed all the good things we said about his maturity. While he’s flattered by the interest, he’s conscious of the fact that he has a lot more to learn at Lyon. Benzema said that money would come with experience, and that for the moment he wants to stay at Lyon - even if another club offers to quadruple his salary.

Lyon have given him everything so far, and so there is a lot for him to do with the club. And better yet, he wants to win the Champions League with Lyon. His agent, Karim Djaziri, and his family support his decision.

Sometimes I get so emotional inside when I think about Benzema. Is this what true love feels like?

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Apparently Milan are interested in both Karim Benzema and Kim Kallstrom while Real Madrid have put Fred on their ever-expanding list of players to buy during the January transfer window.

Lyon have been linked with Benfica reject Carlitos, who is now plying his trade at FC Basel of the Swiss Super League. Umm…

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Jean-Michel Aulas has been very busy these past few weeks. Not only did he start another club and become its president (the FAP is an interest group on behalf of rich French clubs), but he’s also handing out invites left and right to the G14 summit that will be taking place in two weeks. As president of the G14, it was Aulas’s idea to expand the current membership from 18 to 24 and then more gradually to around 40.

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OL Ladies have had a very good international week. Les Bleues (the women’s national team) won both of their Euro 2009 qualifiers. Elodie Thomis scored against both Serbia and Slovenia, while Camile Abily, Louisa Necib, and Sandrine Bretigny also scored against Serbia. Additionally, Shirley Cruz had a victorious game with Costa Rica as they defeated Nicaragua to bring them one step closer to the North American finals.

But I am wondering what prompted them to take the following picture:

Would you tap this?

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Cris lovers! Don’t be sad anymore because Cris will be returning to Lyon next week! He was supposed to be back yesterday, but due to airport strikes in France, he had to postpone his trip. He can’t play anytime soon, but the Lyon doctors want to check on his progress.

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If you want a good book to read at the beach, look no further than Thomas Nardone’s latest, called Aulas, l’enquête interdite (Aulas: the forbidden investigation).

The summary on Amazon.fr:

Spying on journalists, financial manipulation, pressuring players, dubious transfers and takeover bids for the LFP…this unauthorized biography, based on more than fifty witnesses and many unpublished documents, reveals the hidden face of the new controller of French football, Jean-Michel Aulas. In 1987, an entrepreneur takes over Olympique Lyonnais, which was floundering in the second division. Twenty years later, OL has become the greatest French team with six consecutive league titles. A record. Since February 9, 2007, the OL has become the first club to be floated in the stock market. A success for Jean-Michel Aulas, one of the pioneers of foot-business, in the footsteps of a certain…Bernard Tapie.

Never having had good relations with Nardone, Aulas has hit back, accusing Nardone of being unstable psychologically and of being a “killer.” I’m not quite sure what Aulas means by that, but it’s obviously not nice.

FYI, Bernard Tapie is considered to be the poster boy of corrupt French football at its finest.