Happy Face

Draw Something is canny addictive. In just five weeks, the pictionary-like game has been downloaded 20 million times. That's more users than 3-year-old Foursquare has. That's almost as many users as 1.5-year-old Instagram. Draw Something is one of the fastest growing mobile apps of all time.

None of what you've said there suggests to me why those with the highest turnover won't cement their positions at the top of the league, Chelsea could have a blip, but what club with a low turnover can build a team that will be in a position to take advantage? There's a reason Man U and Arsenal love these new rules and want real sanctions against those that flaunt them, and in my view it's not the levelling of the playing field so much as the restrictions placed on pretenders to their crown. Their position is built on decades of success and they don't want any new money taking that position from them.....rather than removing one of two barriers to success as you put it (low income and no subsidy) this removes the ONLY possible path to real success open to an outsider club....the subsidy.....the only way ANY club has taken the title from Man U or Arsenal in 20 years.

1. Man U 2. Arsenal 3. Chelsea 4. Liverpool 5. Spurs 6. Man City Man City's is low, but that's the point. Does anyone imagine they'd be challenging for the title without the investment they've had. The suggestion seems to be it's more likely that a club could build their turnover to the same levels as Man U and Arsenal (without buying top players) and then challenge for the title and Champions league using the extra income. That seems to me more far fetched than someone investing the money needed to challenge for the title & champions league places....and increasing revenue as a result.

You have teams with a huge turnover who the new rules allow to spend a corresponding larger amount than clubs with a lower turnover, this cements the ability of rich clubs to spend on success and outlaws any other clubs from getting ideas above their station and doing so. The way I saw it, it preculdes Richard Branson from deciding NUFC should be up there, buying the club from Ashley and spending all he sees fit in getting us to challenge for the title.

To be fair, Shola has been a tidy sub in recent games. i wouldn't get rid if we continue utilising him in that role. Never would start him though.... But as a 5th choice forward, I'd rather have a young lad with potential on lower wages and free up his salary for someone who can actually play 90 minutes....obviously Ameobi has bags of potential, but he ain't young any more.

Sold or not, we'll sorely miss both Dembas in January/February 2013. Hope we can get Ameobi/Best/Lovenkrands/Ranger off the books and bring in another good striker as competition.

I think he's immense and hope to the Spaghetti Monster he stays. The fuck up with Williamson yesterday wasn't his fault, but it was the second time in minutes he came out to collect the ball but didn't shout, having been praised for his command of the area in this thread that was disappointing to see. There's been talk of him being up there with the best keepers in the league and commanding a fee in line with that. He'll have a lot more shots at him than the other keepers in the top 6, so it's much more difficult for him to keep his percentage of saves up, let alone his minutes per goal conceded. Just thought they were interesting charts.

In the words of Elvis, Don't be cruel...to Tim Krul....but is he all the keeper we think he is?

Mint ball from Gutierrez for the first.

If you think that no-one else ever breaking into the top 4 is a good thing Man City getting bankrolled has been brilliant for the league IYAM.....at least in the short term. Not sure if I'll be saying that in 5 years if they get a stranglehold on things.

Didn't realise WBA have lost 9 at home now. More than everyone except Wolves. On the road they've only lost 4. They're 5th on away games. Remarkable.

Went on the scales over the weekend for the first time in 6 month or so and it seems I've lost half a stone without trying. Thirteen and a half stone now. Back to Peter Crouch size.

Happy Birthday Jord.

Hunger Games is the biggest opening original (non-remake, non-sequel) film of all time. I hadn't heard of it before this morning. Seems to be a lot like Battle Royale, which has to be a good thing, and I loved Pleasantville (same director). Hope to get to the IMAX to see it this week.

I thought it was mint. I laughed out loud at least 3 times. It was very much aware of what it was doing and was to be laughed with rather than at. Plot development? Who needs that? What we'll do is have a string of action sequences strung together and just have Cameron Diaz knocked out at the end of each one and Tom Cruise explain what happened while she was out at the start of the next one. You knew it would be this daft from the moment he jumped a motorbike off an overpass, you saw it crash on the ground, then a beat later he landed on the windscreen of her car, still with his shades on, and he started chatting her up. Kermode would call it the death of narrative cinema, but it gave 3 generations of our family (above 30) a laugh....though her Gran did fall asleep.

Level with Chelsea who've spent £738Billion this season Leazes, and 5 points away from Champions league football, having not sold any players in almost a year and spent tens of millions. I think Ashley is changing to your model and reaping the rewards.

Hitzfeld Toting Tit?

“It’s disappointing,” Coloccini told the Gazette. “I don’t know how bad it is yet. I have a scan on Tuesday, and I hope it’s not bad. We’ll see. “Maybe I will miss the Liverpool game. If it’s a little strain, it’ll be 10 days, but I will give everything to be there on the pitch. “Of course, I don’t want to take a risk. Maybe I get a worse injury if I take a risk, and could be out for three or four weeks. “We’ll see what happens. I always want to play – we’ll see what the scan says.”

Lee Dixon was talking about playing for Wenger on MOTD. Along the same sort of lines of "the zone". It was what Wenger placed above all other things in his job, stringing a few results together would see a whole squad move into that winning mindset en masse. They're going through that now, the confidence bred by winning. An individual could misfire, a performance could be below par, but the belief and the drive to get it were his primary objective. I don't think we've necessarily achieved that outside of a few games towards the end of the 11 game run early on, but we've ticked over nicely where we were too often the ones completely imploding. That's to Pardew's credit. He'll be shitting himself we'll be without Cioloccini for a bit though.

Snakehips June 2011 - We'll finish 18th. Impossible now (23/03).

Papa Lazaru 22/06/11 - We won't be relegated 22/06/11 - We'll have a better home record than last season (more points/more wins) 10/11 - P19 W6 D8 L5 - 26Pts 11/12 - P15 W8 D5 L2 - 29Pts 22/06/11 - We won't win more games away than last season 10/11 - P19 W5 D5 L9 - 20Pts 11/12 - P15 W6 D3 L6 - 21Pts

McFaul 21/06/11 - Chelsea will win the league by at least 6 points. They can only win it by 4 points now (26/03).

CleeToonFan 05/06/11 - We will beat Sunderland twice next season without letting in a single goal - Won one, drew one

Yeah, ah is ain't I? Thanks brutha! *fist bump*

My bad. NUFC.com have whacked it at the bottom of their fixture list as "TBC"