manc-mag

Best not to get too far ahead of ourselves as it is just half a season at the mo (calendar year if you count W Ham mind) but it should absolutely be enjoyed to the full for what it is. What I will say though is that when the goals do tail off, as they do at some time for all strikers, his hold up play is a massive bonus to the team too.

Coming up for Air is class.

The fact is YOU would rather throw pigs heads at our troops from your ivory tower than deal with the REAL issues in this country-namely Diane Abbot sending hyperglycemic Twitter remarks from the Westminster canteen.

Playing in a very different team. Mind you Ferdinand was class in an average QPR side too. Looks brilliant on the deck mind and has the edge over Sir Les there. I was quietly positive about the signing when we got him but then when he started he looked like he couldn't trap a bag of wet cement. Class now though.

Like the shirts, just covering the old Northern Rock signs... Yeah I know. I just mean that's probably the prime TV advertising space (being entirely fixed). It's no doubt associated to the kit sponsorship deal, but it doesn't have to be of course, everythings open for negotiation. It would have been an opportunity to hive it off and use it for SD if that had been his priority.

You could write a letter to someone, if you were enough of a sad bastard. If she said it on telly send in a complaint, get everyone on twatfeed to sign a petition, because the only thing worth getting politicized about is Diane fucking Abbot saying words in a particular order--forget about the global financial crisis, ME conflict, 3rd world poverty, forget it: Diane Abbott has just made a tweet. Being young I didn't really know the details of the Stephen Lawrence case, and having just read a bit about it I'm genuinely shocked and appalled at the handling of that case. Can you back off the mic a bit? I'm not that arsed either way tbh. I'm not on Twitter - I think people talk enough shit as it is because by and large theyre not arsed what they say as long as they're getting attention and Twitter just makes that trait even worse. Abbot deserves to be told to pipe down though. She's probably everything a local MP should be but the last thing a policy shaper should be and as long as she's the latter people are right to pull her up about her prejudices.

Didn't see the Panorama mate, will have to have a look out for it on demand. I know it's not the perfect outcome in that sense, but I think that's a matter purely of evidence now (ie if they had it they'd prosecute), rather than politics. Once it was clearly a matter of politics (original investigation), which is obviously why the case took on a level of national interest over and above the average murder. I think that's when opinion really played a part and when it was right and proper that it did. Now it's a matter of pure evidence for the courts, as it always should have been from day one.

does it balls, It looks bang snide tbh, but at least it's not SD.

I'm glad the family got justice tbh, they deserve it after all this time. I don't really know opinion counts for much after the Jury's findings of fact and the Judges sentencing. They've heard the evidence, we haven't.

Deadman?

Dunno like...the Lawrence case is something that's undergone due process where actual evidence has been weighed at length by a court convened to consider those very issues and the facts now speak for themselves. Opinion should probably have little to do with it. Abbot on the other hand is a member of the shadow cabinet in a position of responsibility mouthing off badly ill informed racist opinion on social media. The only recourse people really have is to tell her she's talking shit, hence the response.

He's right about Ferguson doing a great job with what he has (in the league anyway). Aye definitely. Look at their away form before last night an all, immense. He's performing miracles really. Loved watching us boss them in centre midfield. Even when they went out wide (as they had to), we had the answers though and that was the big difference.

Fuck off you white bastard.

The fixed boards in the East Stand (above the digital/changing boards) opposite the Milburn (ie the main TV view) had the Virgin Money logo the length of the pitch. Dunno if that'll remain but it's no doubt 'worth' a lot more than the Gallowgate roof.

"I was a virgin until I cuckolded Andy Carroll. Unfortuantely I ended up with a broken jaw. The private medical bills were a worry, so I took a loan from Virgin money and recovered to once again wear the black and white I love, while Andy Carroll is falling on his arse, lol. For all your borrowing needs, Virgin money offer excellent rates of interest, in some cases matching what other financial institutions are offering, don't delay go to virgin Money today" "oh...and Derek's doing a great job, he sorted out the bonuses and the players are over the moon" :lol: class.

Diane Abbott at it again on Twitter apparently. Where's Leazes when you need him?

aye well said. They made the point when he used to play that he 'always played with a smile on his face'. So you might expect an all when you've got as casual a disregard for your blind children as he has, presumably you can have a good laugh about anything. When he was trying to dismiss the penalty claims too on the basis that Ameobi didnt appeal. That being the main evidence. Conveniently ignoring the fact that plenty of other players were appealing for it. Thick as mince.

I think the Northern Rock Deal was expiring this month. They hadn't taken the option which was on the table for a longer deal while they were a public company. Assume Virgin have just taken up that deal now. But the NR deal was up until the summer wasn't it? And the fact that the NR brand was ceasing to exist on 31/12/2011 after the Virgin Money buyout is anything but coincidence to me. The whole 'new sponsorship' thing is a non-story IYAM. I thought it went to the summer but one of the lads last night was saying it was due to end this month. I've not checked. Llambias said something like he needed to tell Puma who the new sponsors are so they can get it on the next shirt - that implied next summer to me. Also we changed to NR in the summer of 2003. Fairly sure that the initial (and all subsequent) contracts signed would have been in terms of years. As soon as it was announced that VM were buying NR and that they NR brand was 'dying' on 31/12/2011 some of us speculated that VM would become our sponsors after the new year. And they have. It's a extension of the current deal at best and yes Manc-mag, there will be some money involved. But I don't see it as a fab new sponsorship deal the way they're portraying it. It's NR with a lick of paint. Aye agreed. I don't have a clue what the amounts are I just make the point that some money will have to have been involved and thats what he's gone for. The prevailing thought a couple of months ago was that he was deliberately trying to make overall sponsorship untenable for everyone so he could give the shirt to SD for 'free'. It was a popular conspiracy theory on here which was a corollary of the 'Sports Direct masterplan from day one' clairvoyants main premise. He hasn't done that though, he's sold it for cash because someones offered him some. I'm surprised it wont be SD as it happens, but I'm surprised by the fact someone's offered him a deal, not that he's taken it. I'd be astonished if he hadn't taken it in fact.

I think he'd have thought it was a potential benefit and I think it was nowhere near the primary one in his mind. I think that's what the revisionists put forward and I dont think the facts (or the timing of advertising encroachment) support it. He doesnt have an ounce of sentimentality at all and if he just wanted to re-brand it The Sports Direct Arena he'd have done it far earlier into his tenure. He's plastered shit everywhere which looks a mess and now he's pissed all over the name too, but he'd sell it to someone else if they offered more. It's revenue streams and he sees it as that alone. When it doesnt bring in what he wants it gets the SD treatment.

There will be some money involved and he'll have taken it. If it's a two year deal (ie longer than NR's remaining term) there would absolutely have to be.

Not sure how keeping a shirt sponsor as a business other than Sports direct negates any of the Sports direct promotion he's used the club for over 5 years...and which he always intended to. For example, this is still there.... Yes I know that, my point is it was said on here ie. that this was always his intention and 'free' shirt sponsorship (when it transpired nobody else wanted it) was the next step turned out to be cobblers. That was the exact conspiracy theory. It's either a Sports Direct masterplan or it isn't. It isn't as he's taken cash from Virgin for the shirts instead. I reckon he'd do the same if someone paid him for the ground too ergo it's not a masterplan and definitely wasnt a 'day one' plan. As Gemmill says, he'd let you sponsor his cock if you paid enough. Everything has it's price to him and he'll sell bits and bobs for whatever he can get and if he cant get what he wants he'll bung SD all over it.

Was that a three piece? Pants up to his armpits I thought...possibly summat Sol Campbell had left behind going off his high shorts.

Well if he does stay dropped now (as he should do) he can hardly come back any worse. So if he makes a few sub appearances now and they're an improvement, that can only be a bonus to the team.

Point is the 'Sports Direct masterplan from day one' revisionists were talking shit as the facts constantly showed. Doesn't matter if SJH said it or Leazes, it's still cobblers. The Sports Direct clothes horse theory was just another mistaken prediction. He'll capitalise on assets, find revenue streams and change strategies according to who's offering most and when. Ie the only thing you can predict with confidence is that he'll do what brings in the most money at any given point in time and the club will have to fall in line with that. That's why he's a billionaire. We won't see all of that money. Again, that's why he's a billionaire.

I think this is the key point- the precedent it sets for other players. I still expect us to be touting him around in this window and in the summer. The club will be aware some clubs have defensive issues and will be doing their best to cash in now. Which is depressing, as the guy is just immense. Aye agreed. If he goes I'll be devo'd. I resigned myself to losing all players earning over £50k come renewal a while back (I found I could just about come to terms with this in Smith's case) so I've always took the view Colo would eventually be away, but the more he plays the more you struggle to see how we could possibly replace him. Enrique was a big blow because he's a class player, but tbh we could have 'masked' that to a degree even with a standard replacement, because full back isn't a huge position to fill. (We didn't as it happens but that's a different matter, the point is we could have done). In Colo's case however centre half is absolute linch pin and to lose him specifically means you're 90% certain of weakening yourself as a unit.