Rayvin

Right so, I don't think they can do that really unless somewhere in your contract it specifically notes that they can. It sounds like a couple of managers are using their authority to push through something to assist them in covering up a failure to meet KPIs or something like that. The downside of course is that if you don't do it, they'll likely just make your life difficult for you. I still think it might be worth setting out that you'd made plans based on what they had previously communicated to you, and that it's highly disruptive to have to cancel everything now, given that it appears they want you to do this as a result of poor management of the department. Failing all of this, they should be prepared to pay a higher rate for the work. Or alternatively you could insist that they pay you back the day's holiday (although that never feels worth it to me).

If they agreed to give you it and then reneged on that, could you not just claim that you have a pre-booked excursion on that date and request that the pay any and all cancellation charges? It may be too late now if you said that you could switch to an earlier date though. (Also you would need to provide receipts I guess, but the threat itself might make them back off). At my work, I make regular decisions on who can and cannot take holiday at which time, but the only reasons I'd decline one would be if I was left with too short notice to organise for cover (i.e. less than one week) or if the standard cover person for that role was already taking the same time period off work. If I agreed that someone could take a holiday, that's binding as far as the company is concerned. If I really needed them to work it, I'd have to rely on positive work relationships for them to make other plans, or bringing in temps if absolutely desperate. Christmas does tend to cause problems in this respect though, as people are keen to burn through any remaining entitlement that they have.

It'll be like that scene out of escape to victory where they break one goalie's arm so that another can play... My money is on John carver doing the deed.

This is a fucking good post. Well said. In terms of everything else, has this been a concerted attempt to kill Fish's quiz thread with racism scandals?

If he ends up with about 10 goals this season then I think he should be considered a good striker for the future. As it stands, he's an improvement on Shola.

That is hilariously bad.

Liverpool's CL campaign this season: Taken from RAWK, but it amused me so I thought I'd share

Ahh, that's a shame...Liverpool really are in rapid decline. Why wasn't Borini playing though?

Here it comes, Liverpool's inexplicable win from fuck all...

I'm pleasantly surprised that our youngsters aren't rubbish, but if not for that, we'd be deep in it. Still, if the coaching staff were aware of this quality then I guess fair enough. If they weren't, then they're very fortunate.

I am slightly bemused by the now higher propensity of quiz related threads on this site...did I miss something?

A fair point, but do they actually do the breaking part? Seems to me that they just have 10 behind the ball - no goal threat to worry about at least. But I take your point. Although I thought that about West Brom too, and still we beat them. If Sunderland end up getting whipped up into the frenzy that they normally do, it could well work to our advantage.

Credit where it's due, our counterattacking is probably the best in the division. The defence sorting itself out is obviously a big part of that as well. We'll be destroyed by Arsenal but I think that's more down to player availability than anything else. Hopefully we'll make a game of Man Utd and the mackems.

Fuck me...what a result, even despite Taylor's idiocy.

I saw a stat on RAWK that I found quite amusing about today's game: Successful Tackles Their team really isn't working at the moment - and it's the sort of problems that Sturridge won't be able to fix.

Did someone post a quote from Pardew saying that Sissoko's best position was out wide? That's depressing if true...the fact that he may well shunt him out on the right again when the opportunity presents itself...

Daunting run of games indeed... Although I would have said that about a couple that we've just had, and the bottom has definitely fallen out of Arsenal's season... might even beat the mackems with our form this year, despite the curse of Pardew. Not expecting much from Man Utd and Everton will probably put us away (Chelsea's a given on that front). Come Jan we'll be around midtable, and I think further buys are unlikely - unless we move Cisse on, in which case we might go in for one. It's not like we have a proper 'in form' forward (aside from Perez, but he's a young lad, he's not supposed to be the 'main' striker).

Fuck me, yet another win... I can't actually enjoy it though given what's happened with Taylor - I really feel for the lad, life just isn't fucking fair sometimes. Obviously the 3 points is great, and while I would've expected more had we been full strength, given the injuries etc I think this is pretty acceptable. Wonder how much longer this'll run... Colo is back next week right?

That is an impressive amount of research to be fair to you...

'Course, if we hadn't offloaded Yanga Mbiwa we'd probably be ok...

If we're undercooked due to injuries, it may encourage QPR to be assertive about the game. If they are, as Fish's stat at the top notes, they'll be very vulnerable on the counter (which also seems to be our preferred style of play). That said, it's not the end of the world if we lose this, and as long as a good shift is put in I wouldn't necessarily even blame Pardew. We have none of our preferred defenders ready, save for Janmaat.

I think the only link was supposed to be Celtic Park itself. Pretty obnoxious really, hope nothing similar repeats against Ireland next year.

Colo - defensive shape has been good, he's go everyone organised, and we're able to play out from the back, thus allowing our midfield an opportunity to play.

At least it was an enjoyable game. Both teams look like they're developing well.

I love Rooney's nonchalance about this game "Yeah well we expected to win, we're better than they are after all." "But Wayne, what about how important this game was" "Well, this is our least important game this year really, obviously the qualifiers are more important--" "But...but the occasion Wayne! The occasion!!" "Oh er...well obviously, England vs Scotland is always a big occasion I guess...especially for the Scots"