Best Believe It

The Football Ramble is better. I used to listen to TAW but got bored of it. A few people on there whose names I don't care about are interesting to listen to, but a few just talk without any real point to what they're saying. Since I started listening to the Ramble I found it less easy to have patience to listen to what TAW were saying. I know they're trying to support Liverpool bands but I don't really care. Also, the journalists they have had on, with maybe one or two exceptions have been surprisingly uninsightful. I think it's also a bit more interesting to listen to a wider debate on football rather than everything so Liverpool-focused. Some of the wailing and cuntery on here over the past two years was putting me off footy.

Change is scary, man. I think the interview with Digger on the offal was strategically placed and I think the whole thing he was talking about is indicative of what FSG are going to be putting in place. That the most important thing at the club is the philosophy which, let's be honest, is currently ill-defined at our club. We have terms like 'The Liverpool Way' and 'Pass and Move' which don't really say anything. Even on here whenever the former term has attempted to be defined there's been disagreement. We've managed to get to the early stages of continuity in the academy, youth teams and reserve side due to technical directors and the like. I don't see any reason why this can't be extended to the first team; more than that, I think it should be. We should be a forward-thinking club and not just do things because that's the way everyone else does them.

*Checks poll results* *Waves to Rashid*

Spot on. As much as I hate Chelsea I always thought this would eventually happen; they've thrown enough money at the issue for it to have done so. I saw last night's game as win-win: Bayern win, then I take the pleasure from seeing Chelsea fail again; Chelsea win and we see the repocussions on Spurs. As Code says, whatever happened last night Chelsea would still spend big and be up there for top four spaces. Spurs were relying on CL football to keep hold of their best players. Bale, Modric and VdV will all agitate for moves now, and they won't be able to recruit top class players as they can't pay the wages.

Think you're generalising for the sake of convenience there. Most people apparently didn't know that Alan had been making stuff up about Rafa, going by this thread. I fully admit to not liking Gerrard all that much, though that has much more to do with the Chelsea flirtation and my misgivings at his captaincy than anything else. Both he and Carragher, whatever managers they rate or don't rate, deserve respect though. As does Rafa. Not sure about Raga.

What would you class as a senior player? I think several senior players have been guilty of not giving their all on the pitch under the last three managers.

You're drifting into the thorny issue of player power now though. It could quite easily be read that at both Chelsea and Liverpool there were players who considered themselves to be bigger than the manager and therefore felt quite justified in actively trying to get rid of the boss. In Chelsea's case though, there was probably more about self-interest - ie players not playing, or feeling like they were being edged out - whereas at Liverpool they may well have been actively trying to get rid of the manager because Purslow made it much more possible for them to do so, pallying up to them and slagging off Rafa behind his back.

Aye. I don't think they sacked him because we finished 7th.

He told a story on here that Benitez told Carragher (and maybe another player) on the training pitch 'They can't afford to sack me' whilst rubbing his hands together, in response to something Carra or someone else had said. Which is why you might notice the odd post with the phrase *rubs hands* in it, from different people, from time to time. Alan Kayll made the story up completely.

This might be an obstacle to you finding out, Code.

Broughton replied to an email Jim Boardman had sent him about Rafa's departure where Broughton said 'I note your opinion is not shared by the media' or something. Rafa wasn't sacked due to media pressure/influence. He was sacked because he gave Broughton an ultimatum - Purslow or Benitez. Broughton chose to sack Rafa.

Considering how Alan would happily invent stuff to slur Benitez I don't think he's exactly an innocent party in this. There's been fairly regular mud-slinging on both sides; this would simply appear to be a logical progression in the ridiculous row that's been going on between two groups of supposed Liverpool fans.

I bought a black Vintage VS6 and it's ace. Wilkinson used the same specs as the Gibson Vintage Humbuckers to make his own humbuckers. They sound boss. It's about 100-150 quid cheaper than an Epiphone SG and about 4 times as good.

My favourite - and by favourite I mean least favourite - is the phrase 'If we'd have played [insert flavour of the month] then we'd have won 150-2'.

Saying a player is the least of our worries is the least of our worries.

I try not to think of some forumites as actual people.

There are few people on this earth I'd like to punch repeatedly in the face more than Louise Mensch.

Similar to Talisker - they're both island malts, obviously. It's got a very deep, rich flavour too it, whilst still being relatively smokey. It's not as out there as laphroaig, but it's as complex. It's up there with the best.

I'm definitely an island/islay man in terms of taste, though there are some outstanding Highland and Speyside Malts (Glenmorangie being one, Balvenie Doublewood another). I'd say you can't go wrong with any of the following: Laphroaig (any expression, though as I say I love the Quarter Cask) Talisker Bowmore Highland Park (the whisky currently in the BBI drinks cabinet - the normal 12 year old and a 1998 special edition that I got given yesterday)

Laphroaig Quarter Cask.

He's quality, is young Jonjo. Never hides, works hard and looks to get in goalscoring positions.

I think it completely depends on what sort of music you're playing, what sort of guitarist you want to be, and what sort of guitarists' 'sounds' you like. I started off by buying a fairly cheap behringer multi-fx pedal and it was clear early on how shite it was. The trouble is if you want a decent set up you'll have to spend a decent amount of money - whether going for single FX or multi. The decent Multi-FX pedals, like the Pod XT Pro or the Boss GT6 are a decent wedge of cash. I went down the single pedal route and it's taken me about three years to get all the pedals I wanted - and I've still had to scrimp on a couple cos I couldn't afford the decent stuff. If you want to go down the single route you'll definitely need an Overdrive, and I'd also recommend a reverb pedal of some sort (EHX Holy Grail is probably the best new pedal out there for Reverb, but if you can afford a second hand Boss RV-3, more's the better). There are tonnes of Overdrive pedals - I went for a Boss SD-1 which is very cheap, but very good. It would probably do you to start with. Other than this - a tuner pedal (such as the Boss TU-2 or Korg Pitchblack) is a must - I'd just spend some time getting familiar with the different effects on you tube, and see what other guitarists you like use. The effects to looks up are (I've put in brackets which pedals I have for each of these): Phaser (EHX Small Stone) Tremolo (Danelectro Cool Cat (not the one I really wanted)) Envelope Filter/Auto-Wah (Dod 440) Pitch Shifter (Digitech Whammy 4) Overdrive (Boss SD-1 and ProCo Turbo Rat) Compressor/Sustainer (Boss CS-3) Reverb (Line 6 Verbzilla) Delay (Boss RE-20) - if I had to recommend any single pedal, it would be this Volume Pedal (Boss FV50L) You might also want to look up a Wah Pedal (the Dunlop Cry Baby is generally seen as the best). I've also got a EHX POG and an Akai HeadRush E2 - the latter is a loop pedal which is really good for working out guitar parts.

Holt is desperately attempting to redress the balance because he knows he's come across as defending Terry whilst crucifying Suarez. He's also been called out about the fact that he, along with the overwhelming majority of journalists, didn't even bother to question the FA's report. So he's now trying to come across as a crusader against racism.

You honestly think that's the best way to get a player's confidence up?

He replaced the pavement below with jelly. That's why he said to Watson not to take his eyes off him; Watson would normally have been able to tell it was jelly if he was looking closely.