The Woolster

Just seen a tweet saying that Janelle Monae has the biggest rise in sales over the weekend at 5000%. I may well be increasing her sales further, thought she was awesome

Sziget in Budapest is Awesome. It is twice the size of Glastonbury I think (about 400k people), and lasts a full week. Due to the size there is so much going on and a massive mix of music to enjoy. I've not been to Glasto, have been to V festival and Bestival recently and a few others back in the day, and whilst they were really good (particularly Bestival), Sziget was a hell of a lot better, can't recommend it highly enough. Budapest in the summer is a great place to be. It is about takes about 30 minutes to get there from central Budapest, so if you are so inclined you don't have to sleep in a tent either. I know for many that is half the fun, but it is great to have a bed to sleep in, a proper shower, and a nice breaksfast after the the first couple of days. Its relatively cheap (couple of quid for a beer even in the festival), food is great, and then there are the thermal spas to enjoy. As the site is used all year by the general public there are proper toilets / facilities as well.

I went to a half term soccer school at Arsenal when I was a kid, and they had Jimmy come in to help us with a bit of coaching. He wasn't very impressive

Was gonna say the same thing, watching this on Eurosport HD, and I know its in Mexico, but from the footage I've seen from yesteryear, Mexico 1970 had a better picture quality!

54 pages for me. I think that makes me a Master of the Universe.

Don't see the point of buying Wickham when we have Morgan and Ngoo who are about the same age, so he will just be blocking them. He may well be better than them at this point, but not significantly. And its not like Suarez and Carroll are so old that they will need replacing soon either. If we are after a striker would prefer some experience, and a bit cheaper as they will just be back up. Klose is on a free I think, Carroll could learn a lot from someone like him

Barnes (Watford), Beardlsey (Newcastle), Aldridge (Oxford), and Houghton (Oxford) didn't turn out too badly.

I don't think it was an option for us from what I remember reading. It was in place as a carrot to him, prove you are good enough and play 20 odd games, and you get the extension. So the option is with him. Anyway, I am sure that a Greek side would be interested, especially with Liverpool on his CV, and this way we could get a small fee for him. Every little helps.

See my excellent analysis from yesterday morning...

Perhaps we are bumping his price up to be used as a makeweight in a deal with Wigan for McCarthy/N'Zog, or Newcastle for Enrique? Both are need of strikers I think

My thoughts exactly

Wasn't there a clause in the Greek's contract that said if he played a certain amount of games he would automatically get a contract extension, I seem to remember it being mentioned that he passed that mark in the new year some time

One of the first chants I learnt a a kid back in the 80s started "We hate Nottingham Forrest..."

Also fair enough. The marquee signing I mention could well be Downing if we don't get one of the 'bigger' names, and he may not be as exciting, but he would definately improve us. My preference would be for Adam Johnson or N'Zogbia if we can't get a star name, but either way, if we buy 2 wingers/wide forwards, as well as a CM, we will have enough room for them all in the squad, which was my point in response to your post I quoted.

Its called having options isn't it? I think our preferred option next season will be 4-3-3, with a new marquee signing who can play either in a 3 or as a winger (Mata, Hazard, Sanchez, AN Other). As back up for the players in this formation we have Kuyt, Maxi, and perhaps another new signing who is more of a winger but could also play in this formation (Downing, N'Zogbia, Jarvis, AN Other). In the midfield 3 we will have Lucas (or a new signing) holding and Gerrard (with Spearing backing up Lucas), and then one of Meireles or new signing (Adam, McCarthy, AN Other) playing alongside them, and backing up you have Maxi and Shelvey if he is not on loan. You've got to remember that Gerrard's fitness record isn't great, so often it could be 2 those. However, perhaps depending on the oppo, or if we are chasing a game, we may want to go 4-4-2 using Carroll's aerial presence, as it would be mad not to take advantage of it in certain situations. Then the marquee signing moves out wide, the 2nd new attacking signing (the winger already mentioned) plays on the other side, and then Lucas and Gerrard, or Gerrard and one of Meireles or new midifled signing, with Gerrard the holding player in the middle. With a bit of rotation and undoubted injuries that will be picked up along the way, everyone should get a good amount of game time.

I didn't want to start a new thread for this article, but thought this thread was appropriate. And I think it follows this post quite well. Item number 3,782,587 proving what deluded, hypocritical whoppers they are BBC News - Fans' City taunt banner to return at Old Trafford Manchester City's long-suffering fans waited 35 years to get the monkey off their back. But, just when they thought it was all over, it's revealed that United's infamous "ticker banner" is to taunt them one final time. Having mocked City's lack of silverware for more than a decade, the "35 years" banner disappeared following City's FA Cup win - much to the delight of Blues fans. But Stretford End Flags, the independent supporters' group behind the banner, have said United fans will have the last laugh when it returns for the final game of the season. Spokesman Andrew Kilduff said: "The banner's going back up in some form or another for the Blackpool game. "What goes up is open to interpretation - it's going to be the same banner but it will just have something else on it," he said secretively. They think they are being really cunning don't they, of course no one can guess what it is likely to say... "We've had suggestions to turn it to 43 which is how long since City last won the league. "But if we do that it would just give City the motivation to win it again - and it would look a bit petty really." Are you saying it would be petty to put up a vairation of a flag you have had at every game for years, but that it wasn't petty in the first place? Focus on the banner has grown since Manchester City's sale in 2008 to billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour and its move into the higher echelons of the Premier League. Their manager Roberto Mancini was aware of its significance, urging his players to "take off this banner" in the build-up to the Wembley final. At the final whistle, exultant City players even unfurled their own ticker banner on the Wembley pitch, reset to "00". "It clearly struck a nerve," said Mr Kilduff, 35, from Runcorn. "There were City fans outside Wembley screaming into the TV cameras, calling for it to come down. "To me if you're in the FA Cup Final, you've won the cup. It's not about taking a banner down at a rival football ground." Bet you had a proper chuckle about the banner at Anfield that went up the next day though didn't you? But, after a decade of winding up their Manchester rivals, are United fans disappointed the joke's over? "To be honest, it didn't bother us because my focus was on Manchester United winning the 19th title," said Mr Kilduff. "That's more important than anything because the rivalry with Liverpool [over the number of titles] was always bigger than that." Err, you just said that City fans should just enjoy winning the cup and not think about their rivals, why don't you just enjoy winning the League? Museum piece According to Mr Kilduff, the banner was conceived in the early 1990s by Manchester United's away fans who wanted to taunt City fans over their lack of success. In 2000, a United fan had the first ticker banner made up which he displayed on the Stretford End before turning his back on the club in 2005 following the Glazer takeover - and taking his banner with him. A Utd fan with moral fortitude :wow: Soon after, Stretford End Flags was formed to create eye-catching banners and crowd mosaic displays at Old Trafford. "We were inundated with fans' requests asking if it could go back up," he said. "So we actually got it remade and it's been up there ever since." A mock-up of the banner was even taken to the City of Manchester stadium on 28 February this year - the 35th anniversary of City's League Cup win in 1976. According to Mr Kilduff, the banner may now have a future in the new National Football Museum, due to open in Manchester in 2012. "We've been in touch with them about using it in a display about football rivalry which is probably the right place for it now," he said. "It's a tiny banner which is about a tenth of the size of banners we put up on the Stretford End. "We've got huge banners of Ryan Giggs, George Best, Sir Matt Busby. And we're looking for ideas for a new banner to mark the 19th title. "To be honest, that's what it's all about - the history and tradition of Manchester United. If its all about Manchester United, why are you having banners mocking your rivals? "Now the ticker's gone, we can focus on that." I don't have a problem with the banner so much, we would be lapping it up if it was the other way around.

Hijo de puta! If you say it that way whilst speaking Spanish, that is fine, but if you say it whilst speaking English, you are either a hooray henry or Australian and you also say parsta. Should we call you Henry from now on?

Anyone who says Chu-reeth-o whilst speaking English (unless they are Spanish) just sounds like a complete idiot. Much the same as anyone who does not pronounce the s in Paris whilst speaking in English sounds like a complete idiot. And if your arguement is thats how they say it is Spain, well, it is not all of Spain that say it like that anyway as, surprise surprise, they have different accents, so in some parts of Spain (as well as practically all of Latin America) they say Cho-reez-o Anyone who says chur-itz-o is just a fucktard who has confused Italian with Spanish.

Meatball Marinara is Sub of the Day on a Tuesday, and Italian BMT is Sub of the Day on a Thursday, otherwise they will be more expensive. Saturday is Ham, which is pretty rubbish, but if you go Sunday, you could get the Spicy Italian, which is not far off the Italian BMT. I only ever go on a Thursday

You boring OCD Bastard :whistle:

Thanks. When I discuss such things with The Woolstess, she tells me I am a fat boring bastard and questions why we are together.

Only 17g in a pack of Skips, McCoys are 50g generally (some multipacks have a smaller size, about 35g I think). Easy to be drawn to the McCoys

Same for me, and my intake has increased dramatically as they changed the prices in a bizare fashion a few months ago. Previously, all chocolates were 45p, a reasoable amount I thought. But now for some reason, they have reduced the price of both Twix and Twirls to 40p, whilst increasing the price of a Snickers, Mars Bar, and Kit Kat to 55p, Wispa, Boost and Star Bar are now 60p, and a Dairy Milk is top priced at a whopping 65p. Now when I go to the vending machine I only get a Twix or a Twirl, as I cannot justify the price difference for the other options, as that would be saying the others are at least 37.5% better, which they aren't.

Haha, when I saw the photo, I actually thought that the lad far right was a slightly chunkier version of Flanno

Why hasn't N'Goo started the last couple? I know he has been coming back from injury, but surely he is fit enough to start by now as it is a while since he played his first game afte the injury.