Toyota Enthusiasts Society Annual Meeting
By: Ted | July 11th, 2008
Okay, the title of this brief little post is a bit of a joke. My lovely and good-humored wife occasionally refers to me as the President of the ‘Toyota Enthusiasts Society’ not because of any fondness for that particular automobile (I don’t even own a Toyota) but because seemingly half the clothes I wear have the word “Toyota” slapped across it at one place or another.
Yes, I am one of those guys. I wear football shirts a lot. I mean A LOT. I am lucky enough to have a job (I am the editor of a magazine) where I sit in an office all day reading and editing, so it doesn’t matter too much what I wear, and my Publisher is a good guy who doesn’t mind if I wear sportswear to work. So much, much more often than not, I am wearing a football shirt, be it a workday or the weekend.
I have lots of shirts, including a Baggio Italy shirt from ’98, a few Cantona Man United shirts and a few Zidane shirts, including one, I confess, that’s a Juve shirt. I don’t wear it much. But mostly I have Fiorentina shirts. I must have six or seven, dating back to 94 or 95, and I have many with the names and numbers, including some of my favorite players like Batistuta, Toni, and Pazzini.
Why am I even bringing this up? Because today on the Fiorentina website next season’s shirts were displayed for the first time. As you will see, they are almost exactly like last year’s version, with a little bit more gold piping and a few other very minor differences. The alternate white and red shirts seem about the same as well.
So there you have it. People like me, who like wearing football shirts, will probably eventually buy it. Those not into shirts will shrug and move on. I am only bugged because for the last few seasons I have been able to go to Florence, catch a match, and buy the new season’s shirt at that football shop down the street from the Duomo, near the Academia. With my newborn son here, it looks like I’m going to have to skip the football trip this year and buy the shirt online. Small price to pay, I understand, for the privilege of ushering another Viola fan and Toyota enthusiast into the world.
I’ll be back later this weekend with thoughts on the very happy rumors going around that Mutu and Bassy are going to extend their contracts. Take care, everyone.
Category: Team News
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Comments | Add your comment
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Ted, if you want one, I’d be more than happy to pick one up for you and mail it. Though I have to say that I am not impressed. One would think that the Della Valles would know a bit more about style.
Posted from
Italy
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I was dissapointed, all three look so similar to last season’s given the special unveiling ceremony yesterday.I suppose in today’s commercial world it pays to give it a marketing push. Although the Italians aren’t big on wearing the teams shirts,it’s just not the done thing!
Posted from
United States -
Ursus Arctos,
Thank you for the kind offer. I’m sure I will be able to get the shirt online in a few weeks. No big deal.
What I am realy disapointed about, I guess, is that I won’t be able to go to Florence this year to actually get the shirt. It almost feels like a year without a week in Florence is a year wasted.
Posted from
United States -
Ursus, I’ve got a question for you. In our previous debate over at the Inter Offsides, I mentioned how I thought the Webster clause was a very dangerous idea. You brought up recission clauses that are in common use in Spain (Juve may be activating Poulsens) and that they will become standard in Italy.
What if the recission clause is too high? I can’t remember who, but I saw one of Barcelona’s recent acquisitions has a 100million euros clause. That’s ridiculous, he wasn’t even a big signing. What happens if he wants to leave the club?
Posted from
United States -
Juve are indeed activating Poulsen’s recission clause.
And Barca do indeed have a couple of guys with clauses over 100 million (Messi’s is 150, IIRC).
The quick answer to your query is that nothing happens. The player agreed to the clause when he signed a contract (and derived benefits in terms of a higher salary/bonus/term as a result), and is stuck with it. To the best of my knowledge, no one has yet to challenge such a contract as being invalid because of unequal bargaining power or some lack of sophistication on the part of the player (and, as a lawyer (though not a Spanish one)) I think they would have a very hard time winning such a case.
And as we discussed, if the player has agreed a recission clause, then Webster shouldn’t apply.
Posted from
Italy -
I don’t understand why the Webster ruling wouldn’t apply when there is a skyhigh recission clause?
Posted from
United States -
Because Webster presupposes that there is no existing agreement between the player and the club as to the terms on which the player can buy out his contract.
Recission clauses aren’t imposed by the clubs. They are negotiated, just like the other key terms of the contract (wages, bonuses, number of years, perks, etc.). By agreeing to a larger recission clause (and therefore giving the club more certainty that the guy is actually going to play out his contract), the player is able to get a more attractive deal on the other terms.
Posted from
Italy -
I’ve been in Florence for the last three weeks and I attended the launch at the Stadio Franchi. I’ve got to say I spent the first ten minutes wondering when they were going to bring the new kit out and then realised that the one I was looking at WAS the new kit. Disappointed. I also attended a conference when they stated that Mutu would not be leaving Firenze.
I have a few pics (not great) of the launch if anyone would like them. Let me know
Rich
Posted from
United States -
I guess I’m in the minority but I really like this top. It’s simple, classy, and yes, it is not that different from last season’s (which was an outstanding top, by the way). Well done to Lotto.
Posted from
United States -
That makes sense Ursus. Thanks for clarifying. How significant of a pay raise do you think players get in exchange for ridiculous recission clause?
Posted from
United States -
ale, I’m smiling at seeing your name in Viola. It looks great; it really does.
I think that it is very hard to generalize. It’s become one of the major factors that is considered as part of the entire contract package. My sense is that it probably is more a case of clubs being willing to give players longer guaranteed contracts if they agree to a very high rescission clause, but that’s just a sense.
It would actually be quite interesting to do an economic study of how salary, signing bonus, perfomance bonuses, term of the contract and rescission clauses work togther, but essentially impossible to get the data one needed.
Posted from
Italy -
With Tod’s and Hogan under their belt I am dissapointed to say the least.
Posted from
United States -
Perhaps you might consider a Portland Timbers jersey as they also have a Toyota sponsorship.
Posted from
United States
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