Friday Night Links

It's been two weeks since I last posted my favorite links of the week, so yet again this week's post will be rather long.  I'd also like to update everyone on my plans for the blog this summer.

Summer Plans

Over the last seven months I had maintained a rate of about three posts per week: two posts of original material, and one that contained links to my favorite sites or a book review.  For the summer I will take a less structured approach.  My outlook is that posts will be less frequent, but of thicker content based upon what I am working on.  I already have a number of large projects on my radar, so there will be a good bit of foundational work that is laid this summer in preparation for the final third of the MLS season and the kickoff of the 2011/12 Premier League season.  These projects involve some pretty detailed and lengthy statistical analysis.  To ensure the resulting posts' quality, I must take things slowly.

Here's a summary of what I have planned this summer:

• A two part series on the impact of starting XI transfer costs on the outcome of English Premier League matches.  The first post should go live next week over at the Transfer Price Index blog, with the second post likely following about a week later.  This series takes what we learned earlier this year about the effects of squad transfer costs over the long-term and brings them back down to the individual match level. Definitely some interesting conclusions there, and you'll never guess who played the most lopsided match in Premier League history from a financial standpoint.
• An update to my M£XI and MSq£ analyses using the 2011 Transfer Price Index data.  We'll get to see how much or little the regression equations have changed, how the team and manager over/under performance rankings have changed, and which teams over/under performed in 2010/11.
• A new regression analysis using the 2011 Transfer Price Index data to show what a club's cost-per-point should be based upon their squad transfer cost.  This will allow for the identification of how efficient teams have been at earning points based upon their cost structure.
• A several part series studying the transfer habits and club results of Arsene Wenger.
• To-be-determined analyses that will result from the combination of MLS players union salary data with Climbing the Ladder's player lineup database.

As you can see, it will be a busy summer!  Stick with me, and I promise the reading material will be highly insightful if not as frequent as in the past.

My Favorite Links from the Last Two Weeks

• Adidas has a great commercial highlighting what can best be termed as soccer culture, both here in the States and around the world. 
• Auguso Neto, courtesy the Run of Play blog, has some interesting social commentary on gladiator sports, soccer, and how our world is becoming more Roman every day.
• Anyone who reads my blog knows I use the economics of soccer to tell a story.  It's no different if the clubs are in the Premier League or in MLS.  Want to know how important this weekend's derby against Vancouver is for Seattle Sounders fans?  Look to the price of a ticket to that match compared to others throughout the season.
• Chris Anderson at Soccer By The Numbers summarizes European soccer revenue.
• Speaking of Chris, can anyone help him out in explaining why Ligue 1 in France and the Erdevisie in The Netherlands seem to be so different than the other European leagues when it comes to goals per match?
• I can't help but agree with MLS Talk when they critique Sunil Gulat's excuses for not siding with the FA in sending a message to FIFA by abstaining from Sepp Blatter's re-election.
• EPL Talk asks why there aren't more team's like the Clough's Derby County and Nottingham Forest or Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn Rovers - teams that aren't glamorous and are built from the ground up.  Sadly, Dalglish's Rovers were an aberration in the Premier League era.  The genie can't go back in the bottle, and only Financial Fair Play rules can help level the playing field (although they'll never eliminate the disparity).
• The Swiss Ramble summarizes the transfer funds available to Arsene Wenger, and has a few thoughts on where the Gunners might spend that money.
• Howard Hamilton at Soccermetrics shows statistically that Arsenal was justified in winning the First Division in 1989, but a Liverpool championship could also have been justified.
• On Footy asks "Can You Win in MLS without a Big Man?"

It may be the off season in Europe, but it's a weekend full of soccer here in the US.  Our national team is in action on Saturday in group play for the CONCACAF Gold Cup (our region's national team championship).  The winner of the Gold Cup goes on to the 2013 Confederations Cup and gets the benefit of playing in World Cup 2014 stadiums a year ahed of the tournament..  My Seattle Sounders are also at home this Saturday in that derby match versus our neighbors from the north.  It will be a busy Saturday for me.  I hope your weekend is exciting, and I'll see you back here next week!