News and Notes

-It seems official, Con gave in and Joel Griffiths will be part of the Guoan squad next year, at the bargain basement loan price of US$350,000.

-For all you trying to figure out the coaching carousel that's going on, Arie Haan signed with Tianjin Teda, while Branko Ivankovic is to head Shandong Luneng, while Miroslav Blazevic is taking charge in Shanghai. It would appear the Changchun and Henan positions have yet to be filled and big names like Lee Jangsoo and Shen Xiangfu (both former Guoan coaches) are still on the market.

-File under hilarious headline, the AFC's website carried an article called "Henan Boss Cancels Chinese New Year to Prepare for ACL." No, she (and yes it is a SHE!) can't unilaterally cancel Chinese New year, but as the holiday falls in the middle of February and the opening match of the Asian Champions League takes place on February 22nd, the GM isn't giving her players the holiday off and instead expects them to be in training over the holiday period.

-I've basically given up hope of scoring tickets to the Guoan victory celebration, it seems they're really cutting out the fans and just holding it for sponsors, I'm sure there will be many who attempt to gate crash and a lot of pissed off people standing outside the National Indoor Stadium.

That's it for today...