Rayvin

While frustrating, this isn't an entirely ridiculous strategy. Especially since we've clearly seen he won't let players go cheaply.

So, on a scale of 1 to hilariously, how badly are West Ham going to get beaten tonight? Allardyce has just listed his new signing (from League 1 - Roger Johnson) as having two key assets for this game. He is both not cup tied, and tall. Therefore, he is expected to mark the 6 City players who are also his height.

That is a superb piece. I wish he wasn't behind a paywall...

Your avatar has gone. Stuff like that troubles me.

Sorry, off topic but... What happened to your face?

What exactly is it that he does that allows him to look down on people so? Tory MP? Also, that how's I'll picture him forever now.

Really? He's actually reading this thread? That's actually kind of creepy. Also, I love how outraged he is about window cleaners, as if any other profession is somehow better suited to insult him.

Ok mate, you've got more experience on this one than I do. I guess I'm reassured by what you're saying anyway, so thanks for that.

Right but then they were heavily controlled by the police weren't they? Which we're saying may not happen this time given the current position of both sides. I'm not saying anything will happen, but somewhere down the line someone at the club has considered it and thought the commercials outweighed the risk.

Transport is one thing - I have to say I don't have much of an opinion on that really, but I'm sure official travel is there for a reason. I'd agree that people should be responsible for ensuring they arrive safely. Gemmill's point is a good one though, and it just feels like the club is looking the other way in terms of safety considerations, even if it doesn't really have a responsibility. And my objection to that essentially boils down to Mike Ashley weighing up how many hospitalised supporters are worth the prime time viewing rights fees for the match.

Yeah that makes sense. In fact I'd agree entirely, with the added point that even with this being the case, the club is still washing its hands concerning the issue of supporter safety - which bothers me, even if they're essentially correct that it's the police's problem. In my minds eye I'm just imagining Mike Ashley weighing up supporter violence against a few extra quid...

Fair enough - to be honest, the more I thought about it, the more I think I shot out of the blocks because of the fan meeting notes. My default position is to assume the club is screwing us somehow.

Worth the £3 to see Moyes face at the end there

I have £3 on Januzaj getting the final goal as he's looked up for it all game... But eh, probably Borini now since Manure are falling to pieces.

Yeah I guess there's no chance of them beating City is there? I suppose I should enjoy it.

Even if it was, what the fuck has happened to Man Utd. I mean it's brilliant, if it was any other team they were playing I'd be really enjoying this, but seriously... How much of their success was psychological I wonder.

Think this might be Giggs' last season...

Er...that is the pettiest response to a legitimate safety issue I've ever seen. So Northumbria police released a statement saying they aren't responsible for directing when the games will kick off. They aren't responsible. All they appear to have said is that they won't police later games; while I accept that this may mean that they indirectly control the kick offs, the club has clearly always been able to choose a different slot. As they just have. The club (and Sunderland, who we are apparently getting into bed with on this) has found an opportunity to squeeze a bit more money out of the game by getting it set up for peak broadcasting times because of an admittedly poorly worded statement by Northumbria Police. I suspect that they've made no effort to go back to Northumbria Police for clarification, and just jumped on this as an opportunity to bypass 'irrelevant safety concerns'. With all responsibility passed back to the police who they 'expect' to just deal with it. Am I being overly cynical about this? I accept I may be overlooking something. EDIT - On reflection, I accept that the above view doesn't really consider supporter interests. Would we benefit from a later time?

Yeah it could be evaded I suppose. 'Next year's targets will based heavily influenced by this year's performance, and so it would not be appropriate to comment on it at the present time'.

I think that reinforces everything we already knew to be honest. They're being quite clear about prioritising the league. I wonder if it might not be worth asking about longer term strategy though, all the questions are focused on the immediate present and I'd be keen to hear what the answer would be if someone were to say, 'ok, we accept that the plan for this season is 10th - but what about next season, and the season after. What are we building up for?' EDIT - I'm not saying that the answer wouldn't be 'Nothing', but it'd force them to say it at least.

Does sound a lot doesn't it? I wonder where he finds all of this... Given that jobseekers is about £3billion I can only assume that he's planning a raid on pensions.

Cardiff poised to pick up Zaha due to OGS giving head to someone in the MUFC boardroom apparently. We can now follow up our feigned interest with feigned disappointment.

that took me longer than it should have.

I was just thinking that... God I hope they win though, it'd be utterly awful if Sunderland somehow fluked their way to a trophy, we'd never hear the end of it.

I so want this to be true