Narsil

Exactly. Many young Oasis fans may only know of the Beatles because of Oasis. I got into many older bands purely because of the new band who had 'ripped them off'. I never really got Joy Division myself, too depressing for me when I was younger. Same for The Cure and The Chameleons, but I was forced to reassess them after getting into Interpol. Same when I got into Nirvana in the early nineties which led me to Husker Du and The Pixies. This can't be a bad thing, surely? And who knows, the rise of Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys may lead a whole new generation of kids getting into George Formby :whistle:

Some random thoughts: I don't even think its Good in Europe/Crap domestically with Rafa. Its more like Good in the Cups/Crap in the league. Lets not forget in Rafas first 3 full seasons we've reached 4 cup finals, including 2 domestic ones. As he has said himself this week, he is more able to tactically influence a one-off cup tie in isolation than a run-of-the-mill league game. We could play, say, Arsenal at the Emirates in the Champions League and then in the League within 3 days of each other and I know which one I'd put my money on us winning. See Chelsea 2005/2007 and the Mancs 2006. Can't beat them in the League, out-think them in a cup. Getting to the bottom of this is Rafas challenge. With regards to Europe, the other three are not as far away from us as we are from them in the league. Chelsea were only prevented from two European Cup finals in 3 years by us, the Mancs only missed out on the final last year because they couldn't beat Milan. Turns out we couldn't either. Arsenal were winning the 2006 final until the late stages. If we end up with an Arsenal v United CL final whilst they were also fighting out the league would Rafa's record look quite so impressive? Settled side v rotation in the league? I believe the point of rotation is to have a fully fit and fresh 11 in any game, in which case surely we should be flying out and at least out-working teams nearly every game, thus grinding them down? The 'crushing machine' and all that. Just doesn't happen often enough, and if it did no-one would argue with the merits of the system. I'm sick of seeing us bring in 6 'fresh' players only to see us labour with 50% effort to even create a chance against shite like Birmingham. Rotation seems pointless if you couple it with energy-saving caution. Just saying, like.

Various Artists Just to bugger up peoples ipods.

Rafa needs to be at the sharp end of transfer negotiations as the manager's vision for the player is often what swings the transfer your way. We got Mash from under Juve's noses because of Rafa's involvement but lost out on Malouda because he felt Mourinho wanted him more. How's it gonna look to the player if he doesn't even meet the manager til after he's signed. Look what happened to Ballack and especially Shevchenko after they were signed by Abramovich. You could argue that the financial aspects should be taken away from Rafa because it isn't his money but that's a different argument.

A bluenose mate of mine went to see him at a sportsmans dinner. He came out with an anecdote about when he signed Paul Rideout. One of the board questioned him about how much he had eventually paid. "But you told me however long it takes and whatever it costs you've got to get Rideout", "No, what we said was however long it takes and whatever it costs you've got to get dried out" Well, I thought it was funny.

He had only bought her a one-way ticket?

Capello is the best manger England could pick at this point in time. He's got the CV without doubt. If he was English and had won titles with the Mancs, then Liverpool, then Arsenal and gone to Real and won two titles with them he'd be lauded as a God. And his 'unattractive' football may actually suit English players better than trying to outplay technically superior foreign sides as someone like Scholari would try to do. And on the subject of English managers, they just aren't as good as some of the foreign managers we have here and they won't get a job at a top four club for the forseeable future. The only way we'll get an English manager in charge of England is if one has the bollocks to leave the comfort zone of the premier league and go out and be a success abroad in different footballing cultures, where most international football is played innit?

The Pogues for me too. And for sentimental reasons, 'The Christmas Song' by Nat King Cole. And thirdly, although not strictly a Christmas song, 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' by Judy Garland or Eva Cassidy. I mean whats more Christmassy than the Wizard of Oz?

Whilst we probably still have to sell to balance the books, the major difference Hicks and Gillett have made is that we can now buy the replacements before we sell the deadwood. This was the first transfer window where Rafa could buy who he wanted from the off and worry about shifting the shite later. Plus, we could afford to hold out for decent fees for the likes of Bellamy, and now Crouch and Carson, whereas before we were desperate to get rid early on. Apart from the inevitable battle over Heinze there was no chance of any Simao-style last minute nonsense. We would never have got Torres under those circumstances.

1. Tom Baker - Had everything. Imagine this Doctor with todays budget and scripts. 2. David Tennant - Really grown into a great incarnation. When the scripts are good, he's up there with Tom. 3. Peter Davison - Purely nostalgic, this was my era. And he had Peri. 4. Patrick Troughton - The genius who played the clown. 5. Chris Eccleston - Great actor, great sense of gravitas but too much gurning in the 'light' moments. 6. Colin Baker - The Darkest Doctor, interesting. Plus, he had Peri. 7. Jon Pertwee - The most flambouyant Doctor, limited by being 'exiled to earth' ie budget cuts. Maybe too foppish. 8. Peter Cushing - Solid appearances in the Dalek films. Basically played it as Van Helsing. 9. William Hartnell - Grumpy old man. Of his time, and before mine. 10. Paul McGann - One appearance. An insight into what would happen if the yanks made their own series. 11. Sylvester McCoy - Spoon-playing, Charlie Chaplin wannabee tit who helped bring the series to an end. And to whoever said it, you're right, everything from Human Nature onwards in the last series was superb. It's the writers who make the doctors and Steve Moffat and Paul Cornell are the best. RTD can pull the odd classic out as well.

Doctor Who (All of em, except the Sylvester McCoy one, the spoon-playing gobshite) Legolas Neo Achilles (if he wears those shinpads you get with ankle protectors) The Ant Hill Mob Predator The Leopard From Lime Street Peter Crouch

Andidi Capp If this is all true then £4m won't be enough. And I wouldn't expect him to want to move especially if he's a city fan on the verge of a major breakthrough to the first team. When we were shite under Souness would we have expected a young Fowler or Macmanaman to move to the Mancs as soon as a £4m bid came in?

I don't think thats the case. If the 'no extra money' rumours are to be consistent with the 'we'll get snoogy doogy if Rafa wants him' quotes tell me that Rafa has been told he has free reign over the usual budget BUT if he identifies a player he wants that costs more, then he makes a case to G+H and if they agree they will stump up the extra cash. It's just G+H keeping an eye on how their (not the clubs) money is spent and they would have every right to do so. Rafa would have it a lot worse at Madrid where the president decides who to buy.

Exactly. And that would've been our situation had we not found investment. The last couple of years has seen fans on various forums (fora?) moaning about how Arsenal have built their stadium while we were still faffing about looking for investment. Now (hopefully!) we have owners who will not ALWAYS have to use the extra stadium revenue to pay off the banks, and will be able to find a decent transfer kitty until the stadiums paid for (15 years?) and the extra revenue becomes properly available and the club becomes self-sufficient. It just may be that we've done it right and Arsenal haven't.

Arsenal won't collapse. Houllier came to us and changed the whole setup, and brought us success we hadn't seen the like of for years. The club was geared towards him, and his team and tactics revolved around Owen. They both left, people thought we were in a mess and we won number 5. Arsenal are where we were two or three years ago. It may be they're off the pace for a while with all the upheaval but the club itself are too strong to fall too far. They're certainly no Man city or Everton.

The process of signing top quality players is nearly always a complicated drawn-out affair. It is not in the selling club's interest to do a quick, quiet cut-price sale. Their fans would lynch them hence the public protestations and posturing. How long have the Mancs been after Hargreaves, or Barca after Henry. Months. I think Rafas comments after Athens were not so much that we have to sign player X by next week (because that rarely happens, even for the money-no-object chavs) but that the lines of communication to the owners weren't properly in place so he didn't even have the go-ahead to start any negotiations. Perhaps he had tried to get in touch with them, couldn't and lost his temper. Whatever, the point is that he now has the go ahead so he's happy. As far as the 'no urgency' comments are concerned, I'm reading it that we're doing what we always do and trying to negotiate the price down. The difference this time being that we are doing it because we want to, not because we need to. Rafa is relaxed because we can meet the asking price if another club comes in and still get the player whereas before we had to walk away. Therefore until that happens why not sit tight and try and get a couple of million knocked off particularly if the player wants to leave and specifically join us?

Michael Jackson's cock in a creche Alledgedly

Ok, maybe the truth is actually a third way. We're not skint, but we don't have the megabucks of Chelsea or the Mancs to throw at everyone Rafa wants. If i may postulate for a second: I have read plenty of stuff from G+H to the effect of 'we don't talk about budgets' and 'If Rafa wants snoogy doogy we'll back him' etc. Can't be arsed to dig up the quotes 'cos I'm up at 6am for work. G+H have told Rafa that he's only got the normal budget, the one the club can raise itself, to spend as a starting point. G+H want: If Rafa identifies a big money signing outside of this budget that is available and he thinks will raise the quality of the team to the level everyone wants then he talks to them and they'll work something out. Rafa wants: every last penny they can raise for squad strengthening to be given to him immediately so he can get on with it. Hopefully this is just a case of G+H saying 'look you can spend whatever you like on whoever you like from the clubs budget but if you want more then you have to come and see us'. Fair enough I'd have thought, as they have to raise the money. Wouldn't necessarily mean the money is not, or never could be, there. The danger of course is that Rafa feels the new owners don't trust him to spend wisely and walks. I reckon there's a bit of a power struggle over who controls the 'extra' spending but that is the case for most of the top clubs in Europe. He certainly wouldn't find it any easier at Madrid.

Interesting. I don't suppose there are any related stats to do with 'late developers' like Steve Finnan (April) or Luis Garcia (June) that show that the top players who develop late are from the arse-end of the academic calendar? :dunno:

By fucked up I presume you mean picking the worst possible move to further you career. In which case I nominate: Scott Parker. Twice. Juan Veron and from our comedy neighbours Van Der Meyde, Per Koldrup, Phil Neville, Simon Davies and Alex Nyarko

If you're an employer, avoid hiring unlucky people by randomly throwing half the CVs in the bin.

Is right. And an attack can be brought on by overexertion and dehydration which raises the uric acid concentration in the blood. I'd imagine it isn't diet in this case, what with him being exerted and dehydrated playing in that worldcup thingy. Ed Moses was another sufferer.

I voted 'other' for Uncle Sam. The thought of the septics, who sneer at 'soccer', winning the biggest tournament in the world and relegating it below padded rugby, rounders and netball in importance would give them an even bigger superiority complex than they already have. Not a pleasant thought. Of the realistic candidates I'd go for Holland, purely because of Robben and Mr Ed.

To be fair they're pretty good at Boxing