TommyW

Chelsea supposedly signed Willian to weaken Spurs, now they might sell them Mata? None of this makes any sense, I predict Mata starts tonight

The 'advantage' we have over all those other teams is we're not a threat to Chelsea in the CL or league Still not gonna happen but the fantasy is better than the reality at the moment

This Mata talk confuses me greatly Can anyone fathom why Chelsea would want rid? He is genuinely a fantastic footballer (is that not a commonly held view?) We've certainly been turned down by far worse this summer I can't see any possibility of this happening but would be a hell of a signing if true

so that BT having 'top pick premier league games' was a load of advertising nonsense seemingly their selection of games seem no better than ESPN before them as far as I can tell

There was a chapter on this in one of the Freakonomics books. Something about how most professional sportsmen were born in the latter part of the year (September on - due to the school year). The kids born earlier in the school year are likely to be stronger and more developed and stand out amongst their peers some of whom could be almost a year younger than them (if they were born in August) This is why Wenger wanted to be able to remove the age group rules so a kid born in August, for instance, could be moved down a level to help his development.

Top 10 1 Coldplay - Clocks 2 Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor 3 Elbow - One Day Like This 4 The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio 5 The Killers - Mr Brightside 6 The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army 7 The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? 8 Johnny Cash - Hurt 9 British Sea Power - Remember Me 10 Radiohead - There There somewhere on the internet a forum is pissing themselves about getting Coldplay to No.1 and causing a load of music snobs to weep

wouldn't it be great if we went out and brought in that experienced player then? If (big if) this youth only policy is true then I think they are naive in the extreme (see also their belief that real FFP will come in)

They're not Hicks and Gillett so they get credit for that some movement on the ground would be nice

disappointed in Wiggins, after all you've achieved why do you need a pat on the head from the Queen... doesnt make sense to me Seems Danny Boyle turned a knighthood down on the basis he was “very proud to be an equal citizen” top man Brian Reade on Danny Boyle refusing a knighthood - Brian Reade - Mirror Online Danny's a Boyle on the side of the Establishment in refusing a knighthood ONE of the most illuminating conversations I had this year was with someone involved in the arty side of the Olympics. He said that when they’d shown a film of the opening ceremony to Jeremy Hunt his face resembled George Bush’s as he was told the Twin Towers were under attack. (Think constipation.) The then Culture Secretary wanted to know why the NHS was celebrated when the Second World War and Shakespeare weren’t. To which a stunned creative team pointed out the Games isn’t a celebration of bombing guest nations and, as for Shakespeare, the ceremony opens with The Tempest. (Keep thinking -constipation.) In contrast, it ¬inspired other Tories to diarrhoea of the verbal variety. Aidan Burley MP called it “leftie, multicultural c**p” and bloggers railed against nods to Ken Loach, ¬immigration and the Jarrow March. Other senior Tories, such as Damien Green, tried to claim the liberal territory by writing a Daily Telegraph piece claiming Tories needed to pass the “Danny Boyle Test” to prove their modernity. To which the first of 800 angry comments read: “We don’t want Danny Boyle’s Marxist tripe vision of Britain.” How wonderful. Especially as the wider nation adored Boyle’s masterpiece. It wasn’t a jingoistic flaunting of our Empire-ruling history but a heartfelt, funny and down-to-earth ¬celebration of the genius we have given to the world. But the more it was lauded, the more a horrible fear grew that it would all end in tears as a grateful nation called for Boyle to be knighted. The question many ¬socialists were bound to be asking come Christmas was whether Boyle would pass the Danny Boyle Test by staying true to his vision of equality and refusing to become a Knight of The British Empire. Or accept it and ensure that ¬People’s Opening Ceremony went down as a cynical, opportunist sham. We shouldn’t have doubted him. Unlike so many other phoney left-wingers (Sir Salman Rushdie, Dame Jenni Murray, Sir Alex Ferguson, Dame Helen Mirren etc) who leapt at the chance to join an Establishment elite they once railed against, Boyle said no. Instead of coming out with patronising lies about accepting the honour on behalf of his people, he said he was already “very proud to be an equal citizen”, thus joining the ranks of glorious knighthood refuseniks like ¬Vanessa Redgrave, LS Lowry, Jack Jones and Albert Finney, who shunned the notion of having compatriots believe they are below them. Thank you Danny Boyle for twice this year inspiring people to think in a different, intelligent, forward-looking way, about what is important in our country. You may not be able to get a lackey to phone up the Ritz (owned by those gallant non-corporation tax-paying knights the Barclay brothers) to demand the best table, purely because you’re called Sir. But any night you walk into a pub back in your native North you’ll be greeted with the -following words: Oh, Danny Boyle, the pints, the pints are calling.

cant see past a United win today, anyone think differently?

fucking morons, hope they face criminal charges and get life bans

not a lawyer but the summary of the document makes it pretty clear (Pages 111 to 115) in simplest terms decision was based on probability (which wouldnt be enough in a court of law by the way), given the inconsistencies in our evidence and witnesses and Suarez changing his statement following cross examination the panel considered it was more 'probable' that Evra's account of event was accurate the nature of the decision being based on probability is being ignored by most commenting on the decision (TV etc.) and they are discussing it as though the outcome was based on absolute fact it seems laughable that a decision this important can be made in this way but there you go

beejay, you missed the bit where we ballsed the whole defence up

unfortunately this is exactly right

given the Commoli situation with the ref immediately after the game (writing down what Suarez supposedly) we should have been aware there was a situation (confident he was innocent or not) that needed managing we needed a strong pair of hands to come in and ensure everyone was prepared and on point and seemingly that didnt happen

I've now read the report twice and sorry to say the most damning thing is how amateur our set up seems the have been in our initial response, the handling of the case itself and our reaction to the judgement We should have spent a bit more time getting facts straight and less time getting angry and emotional as the report shows our side almost to a man being incompetent. For crying out loud, if they cant make the effort to get details right or adequately prep Luis prior to cross examination then we how can we complain when the result doesnt go our way? We then reacted so strongly to the initial judgement with shirts etc and that statement that we'll look daft when (I suspect) we won't appeal. The club must have known at the point it released that statement that our evidence was suspect and didnt stack up, if not then what the fuck were they paying the lawyers for? Im not suggesting Suarez should have been found guilty (and accept that in a court of law there's no way he would have been), I 100% believe they wanted to make an example of him regardless of evidence but anyone reading that report must be pissed off that our incompetence made it so easy for them to do so.

agreed

no need to be condescending if im reading correctly on both side's QC's stated it was not a case of one man's word against anothers on Page 55 hard to challenge that now eh?

I dont see any clear basis for appeal

they suggest 'ten times' is a figure of speech and not evidence of inconsistency they didnt have a problem with Evra suggesting the offending word was 'N*gger' after the game but 'Black' on the pitch seems pretty inconsistent to me that said, I cant see us getting this overturned

all in all a very good day for us

I voted to keep him, the money we paid for him is gone, we'll never get close to that back so on that basis we have a 22 year old who (a year a go at least) had massive potential, better he come good for us than someone else

havent kicked a ball in years but still have my adidas copa mundials, I'll never get rid of them might start wearing them round the house

he signed for City in Summer 2010 didnt he? not sure playing for Hodgson under the old Yanks would have been that appealing to him

I feel a bit like Houllier in his final days clutching at straws about the amount of corners we'd won when I say this but seriously there cant be another team in the league that has hit the woodwork more than us makes no different, hitting the post is still a miss but, bloody hell, it seems like we hit the post twice a game at the moment