Kitman

Hmmm. Are the two KK departures comparable? I alawys thought that KK walked out the first time because he couldn't hack the flotation and the City's demands rather than personal issues with the Board. That's just mny impression though. Whereas he was effectively forced out by Ashley/Llambias/Wise, that much is clear from the tribunal, so it seems more based on personal issues. As a side issue, I assume the spending under the old regime was not only debt but also the flotation proceeds? Would be interesting to see how much money we burned through chasing success in the 90s.

Eh? Have I missed something? I think it's been firmly established that most of the controversial quotes attributed to Barton are just made up and he didn't say them.

An excellent post BB however I fear your words of wisdom will fall on deaf ears. In fairness it is unfair to compare the two. Its a bit like comparing George Osbornes time as Chancellor to that of Gordon Brown. GB like Shepherd, ruled during a massive boom time and was able to do all sorts of things that Osborne cant even begin to contemplate until the crap he inherited has been sorted out. Sure it hasnt been a smooth ride for Ashley and indeed he has also made it harder than it should have been, but at least the finances of the club are being addressed. I am firmly in the camp that we would have been fucked had Shepherd remained. Exactly. Different times. Makes a straight comparison between Ashley and Shepherd a bit pointless imo, as Shepherd would likely be operating in a very different way if he was still running the club. I think Allardyce's appointment was the start of that. However.....the suspicion remains Ashley is an asset stripper ie sell your best players and replace them with inferior ones got for buttons. We will see this summer if he spends the Carroll money on the squad. If the club's starved of investment/ambition/success on the playing side you can't blame people for being a little nostalgic for the "glory years".

I've seen one in Belfast so you're probably right

I blame the Sky TV cameras for being right in his face to be honest. You just can't expect a lad who's just scored a pivotal hat-trick to control himself in that way. If you want the feeling of being there, you have to tolerate swearing imo, since it's all over the pitch and stands throughout every match. You might as well demand that they don't spit, scratch their arses or unclog their nostrils cos it's setting a bad example to kids watching. Rooney may well be a spoilt arsehole but that's got fuck all to do with this. Whether or not he visits drug addled tuppenny whores and "romps" until the cows come home is really Colleen's business not ours; I draw the line at things which hurt the general public - like intimidation, assault and battery, racism, sexual assault etc - but I don't agree with demanding they act like robots.

I abandoned any attempt at subtlety, unlike Mr. Trophyshy

Can understand it's not a straightforward issue but shame something couldn't be done. This is a very ill little lad after all.

nah, he's a miserable git at the best of times He can be a bit flakey, but if you trawl through his posts you'll see he can be a ray of sunshine and will make a good catch one day. What a lod of cod. It's not your plaice to skate around the issue, he's knocked some people off their perch so they've every right to carp about it.

It happens every year, Whitby was the birthplace of dracula or somesuch. I think Whitby is where Dracula landed when his boat to England was shipwrecked.

Aye, if I was still living in Germany then kebab would be top of the list, but the version you get here - even the "proper" ones, in my experience - is too horrendous to contemplate. Aye, best kebab i ever had was in Jormany. Proper chicken kebab. Lush. Better than the crap you get over here. Fish and chips for me. Yum! Fish and chips hands doon like, but they've got to be top notch. I love salt and vinegar and batter on me chips, it's an alien concept to people outside the toon I think. Fish n chips have got to have loads of salt n vinegar on for me. Not sure about batter on the chips though Do you ever get a bag of the bits of batter off the hot plate (I think they call them "scramptions" or something in Morpeth)? Sounds like a recipe for a heart attack to me.

Aye, if I was still living in Germany then kebab would be top of the list, but the version you get here - even the "proper" ones, in my experience - is too horrendous to contemplate. They have good kebab shops here, run by Turkish types, so I'll even have one for lunch. Whereas in my 20s kebab was the snack of choice when I was pissed out of my head. Having said that, I've had some top kebabs in London, even in Balham of all places ("Abra-Kebabra", a name which sticks in the memory). The trouble is I'm not sure how reliable my memory is as I'd eat my hand when I'm pissed if it had chilli sauce on it. Never tried one in the toon though, I've always had fish n chips or an Indian.

FYP very true

I love fish and chips (we have 'em all over NZ but with lercal white fish) but it's Indian at the very top for me. I can't believe kebab didn't make the list though Stevie; not your minging leathery doner death sentence but a proper chicken or lamb shish-kebab with decent fresh salad, pickled chillies and chilli sauce. Yum yum. A good chinese is delicious but I've found in the UK to many times it tends to be very bland and disappointing. I also like American tex-mex style stuff, or burgers made with decent meat and seasoning, not the bland death-in-a-bun variety you get from McDs or BKs. However my second fave after Indian is probably Thai.

How come you don't support Norn Iron? Because he's Irish

What are you a fukin doctor now already?!! Are you Jewish American already?

The thing that strikes me from his picture on the beeb is just how purple and swollen Bruce's face looks. Classic heavy drinker's complexion and with the pressure he's under, I hope they're monitoring his blood pressure and heart regularly.

Protestant, Catholic, Jedi Knight. An absolute tragedy whatever side of the street he was from. Pointless, needless, will achieve absolutely nothing except deprive his poor family of him. Not getting at you Kevin by the way.

He could be a decent bloke for a few month, then say things that make you think he's a cunt for a bit, something he said to Craig yesterday was a complete disgrace on any level, I won't go in to it though. Saw that and thought it was totally unecessary and crossed a line. Still flouncing but saw this and have to say you are both right. Craig I sincerely apologise. Like a scouse dwarf, it wasnt big and it wasnt clever. It was uncalled for and when the internets letting you get that rattled, its time for a break. Well done

Bi-paying?

If we were going to bring him back it should've been in January.

I went to the funeral of good mates' son last year, 16 years old killed in a totally avoidable car accident. I don't mind admitting I cried my way through the whole ceremony, and it affected me for a long time afterwards. I'm not anxious to repeat the experience.

Certainly don't trust tepco to tell the truth about what's going on. They'd rather send in a bunch of brave men in flip flops with buckets on their heads to sort the mess out, while they sit in a bunker miles away looking at their stock price and wondering what the fuck to do.

So despite the club saying over and over again that they're only interested in paying transfer fees for young players who can improve and increase in re-sale value, we're linked with 31 year old Craig Bellamy for a fee of 7m. The same Bellamy who's often injured and can't have more than a couple of years left at the top. No fucking chance. And that's before you get into whether he'd be prepared to leave Cardiff and re-join a club he left in very bitter circumstances, or the fact he's a cock end.

I agree, they both added something. Don't see the need for the flouncing tbh.

I still find it hard to believe our MD had no experience with running a football club. It's a unique business and I don't understand why running a casino qualifies you to run any football club, let alone the toon.