Dickie

I totally agree with this. Our government hiding in plain sight as usual

On the same subject I just listened to this weeks true-faith podcast and they've got Martin hardy on there talking about the new book. The podcast isn't always my cup of tea but this weeks is worth a listen, it's a really good interview. Sounds like the new book is going to be required reading for most of us

That's the badger, cheers ?

There was a nice story on Martin Hardy's twitter the other day (I don't know how to link to it) from his book signing at Tynemouth metty. Apparently some bloke stopped by and identified himself as the bloke who used to stick up for Beardsley in the factory he used to work in before getting signed on (the others used to pick on him). It was a nice story and obviously meant a lot to the guy when he read it for himself in the book. Looking forward to getting the new one at Christmas

We are looking at moving abroad within the next near or so, probably somewhere within the eurozone, so this fall in the pound is a right fucking kick in the knackers for me. From a purely selfish point of view I hope it picks up again soon

Cheers mate I enjoyed reading that. I love anything that lifts the lid a bit on what they're doing behind the scenes, even if it does read a bit like a PR piece put out by the club.

Quality MF and probably not too far off the mark. I was born early 80s, my dad and 3 uncles all worked together as welders, often on the same shifts, in the same factory all through the 80s. The place was basically living on borrowed time as a direct result of Thatcher, and everyone of them knew it was only a matter of time before they got laid off (eventually happened in 88/89). All four of them had married into the family (my mam had 3 sisters) and had very similar backgrounds. The only one of them, and quite possibly the only fucker in the whole place, who voted Tory was the oddball, the one that the other 3 would constantly rip the piss out of cos he was clueless at the job, had shocking patter, had ridiculous opinions about the football etc etc. He fucking loved Thatcher even though it was staring him in the face that she was the reason all of their livelihoods were constantly in jeopardy thanks to what her government was doing. There's definitely something about the Tory ethos that appeals to oddballs and misfits who should really revile them given their own circumstances and/or those of their peers. UKIP probably have a similar appeal.

He doesn't help himself like, does he.

We were stitched up by PSG over Weah as well weren't we? They used us as a bargaining tool then sold us Ginola instead. Can't remember the sequence of the signings but I seem to remember we went in for Ferdinand after losing out on Weah. Could have been quite a different side if we'd ended up with Salako and Weah instead of Ginola and Les

Aye that's it, that's when the penny dropped with him that Ashley, Lambias, Wise couldn't be trusted

I'd have loved to have seen Modric playing under Keegan. Not sure how he'd have done under JFK mind. The rumour was that Keegan wanted Schweinsteiger as well wasn't it, with the Milner money? No idea if Schweinsteiger would have entertained the prospect of coming here mind, he was still a top quality player at that point. Centre mid of him and Modric playing under KK would have been a bit special

Fair enough mate, I just think that the first 60 against villa and first half against Norwich is probably the best we've played for more than 10 years so we shouldn't necessarily be in a rush to change things. I take your point about the wins though, and I've said before I'm not convinced yet about diame. Anyway chances are Rafa will change things as he sees fit - he's the man with the plan and I wouldn't be surprised to see a different forward combination tomorrow. One thing for sure is that he'll have justifiable reasons for any changes he makes, which is a world away from the shoe horning of pards

Ah OK, fucking hell, 18

Jesus Christ Judging from the shirt it's sometime mid 80s (it's definitely not the Italia 90 shirt) and he was probably early 30s when I used to watch Football Italia in mid 90s, so he can't be older than 20. Looks older than I do now and I'm 34

I'm in the early stages of my annual autumnal Scott Walker binge. Starting with Scott 4 this year.

yes but I'd still like to see him bang to rights, caught on video

yes he was totally pardewed. I think he played through the middle against us for Bordeaux at home in the Europa before he signed and he looked decent

Aye good point. Basically I just hope Pardew is in the list

I hope that list is true

Cheers mate

Perez behind gayle is more viable in my opinion, but perez has demonstrated he's just as apt to go missing as diame over the past couple of seasons. No particular need to change things in my opinion - it's working well

I haven't been impressed with diame on the ball either but mitrovic doesn't play the same role - mitro doesnt play in behind the striker. It might be that Rafa decides to go 2 up front based on something he's seen in rotherhams set-up, but I just can't understand why some people are so keen to change a system that has served us so well. It would be different if we were struggling but we're 3rd and have recently have played teams off the park for large chunks of games (qpr, villa and norwich in particular), for the first time in years

Dunno why people want us to play 2 up front when we've played so well with one up front and one deeper this season

Canny read that Tooj, I didn't know much about his time at hull. However in a way it just confirms what most of us would have guessed anyway: Ben arfa is a prodigiously talented and awkward kid, and if anyone is ever going to get the best out of him it's not going to be the likes of pardew and Bruce. Although some people might think that quote about him being technically as good as messi is exaggerated, I think he genuinely is that good. I think in terms of pure technique he's in the same class. Obviously he's missing a lot of other ingredients and he seems to be very, very difficult to manage, and there's no chance he'll ever be as good a player as messi. However you could also ask the question, how good would messi be if he was playing for hull in a relegation fight under Steve Bruce? He'd certainly be better than Ben arfa was but you don't know, maybe he would also throw a hissy fit at the long ball tactics and not bother running around either. I hope Ben arfa finds a club and a manager in the champions league who can allow him to play to his potential for at least a couple of seasons, otherwise it's going to be one of the all time lost talents. Anyone who thinks he's just a fat lazy so and so musnt have been watching that half season he was playing well for us - in terms of pure ability on the ball he's different class to Gascoigne, Pedro, waddle, ginola in my opinion (never saw tony green). And I'm not belittling any of those - I'll never forget some of the moments Beardsley produced, and Ginola's first half a season was probably the pinnacle from an nufc player in my lifetime.