Kitman

I'm not saying that's my preference, I just think that CH will adopt a 'safety first' approach with a low scoring draw as our ambition. Routledge would appear from the bench when/if we went 2 down. This isn't based on anything other than a pessimistic hunch, mond you so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Like others I'd start with Harper Perch Williamson Enrique Collocini Routledge Barton Guthrie Guti Nolan Carroll With Nolan playing as AM/support striker. I still wouldn't back that team to get a point though.

I reckon CH will play Barton on the right instead of Routledge. We'll have no attacking intent whatsover, hoping to slot one in from a set piece via Big Andy. In other words Allardyce's tactics - 5 man defensive midfield and a big lad upfront trying to win corners. I expect we'll lose 3 or 4 nil.

Maybe it's the whole worth of the contract if he makes set number of appearances for first team and England etc?

Difficult not to be gloomy. Can't see a lot of goals upfront or in midfield, not good enough at the back to keep a clean sheet, too slow to hit teams on the break, not enough creativity to break teams down by playing through them. Adds up to a season of struggle imo.

Common sense doesn't apply to Fat Mike and his cronies though does it? Maybe he's just as happy to ramp the cash out of the club if there isn't a buyer as naieve as he was......

That NUFC offer in full (scrawled on back of a serviette): Salary - 5,000 per week (before taxes) Win bonus - 500 per game (in cash, see Fat Billy at the Haymarket after game) Car - use of company Hyundai for 6 months (insured at player's own cost) Card - Sports Direct gold card including 15% discount on all stock (except sales stock) Free room at Quayside Travelodge during 2 week orientation period Complimentary voucher (to value of 100) for Charlie's Casino in London Offer to expire within one week I'd take that. Fuck what me mates would say Note from Mike to Derek: Fuck me Del boy, I'm not made of money! Halve the cash ffs and take the Travelodge off the table. It's not like we're short of players!

That NUFC offer in full (scrawled on back of a serviette): Salary - 5,000 per week (before taxes) Win bonus - 500 per game (in cash, see Fat Billy at the Haymarket after game) Car - use of company Hyundai for 6 months (insured at player's own cost) Card - Sports Direct gold card including 15% discount on all stock (except sales stock) Free room at Quayside Travelodge during 2 week orientation period Complimentary voucher (to value of 100) for Charlie's Casino in London Offer to expire within one week

The Marseille midfielder may have made a newly promoted English team his preferred destination. Hatem Ben Arfa may not have to stay at Marseille for too much longer. Whilst his agent said on Monday that he did not see him staying at Marseille, La Provence announced that the former Lyons player had made Newcastle, promoted to the Premier League, his preferred destination. Despite interest from AC Milan, Parma, Genoa and more recently Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen, the French international may want to play in the Premier League this season. Nevertheless, those close to the player don't seem very happy with this decision. Indeed one of them doesn't think England is a good destination for Ben Arfa, as he explained in a Provencal newspaper: "The English League certainly isn't the place for him to express his talent. Newcastle is the worst option, as much for Hatem as for Marseille." In effect, the Magpies would not actually be able to give all the necessary financial guarantees to secure a loan with the option to purchase.

Walkers - Prawn Cocktail, Salt & Vinegar, Worcester Sauce Monster Munch - Pickled Onion flavour Nik Naks - Spicy flavour Not sure if the bottom 2 strictly qualify as crisps but sod it.

I just can't see how anybody can look at our strikers and think they've got enough goals in them. If we sold Best, Shola and Xisco maybe we could afford a half decent striker (Roque Santa Cruz anybody?). I can't see how getting rid of Best and Ameobi weakens the squad and Xisco as you say is unproven and requires playing time which he probably won't get from us.

Aha. Something like this then? "I can confirm Kevin worked for the council for 3 months in the mailroom and I have no hesitation as recommending him as for the position of Burger Flipper (trainee). Kevin's attendance record is good and he has generally been an asset to the team. He is occasionally prone to high spirits and there was that unfortunate incident with his arse and the photocopier, but they all do that, don't they? And the Christmas party with the Diamond White and Agnes (my middle aged secretary) but that was all just a misunderstanding and Agnes didn't press charges as it turns out. Kevin is generally clean and tidy and has a high boredom threshold so should be well suited to the food preparation industry. He might like to start washing his hands after going to the toilet however as we had some complaints from staff about the envelopes." Better?

Cna't believe you need 2 professional references to flip burgers. Presumably they'll go something like "Kevin has delivered papers for me now for several months. I have found the quality of his deliveries to be satisfactory. As far as I know he has left none of his biological residue on the papers or in the mailboxes, so he'll be OK with the food. He is conscientious and keen to learn although to be frank it's a piss easy job and there's nothing to teach him. I am disappointed to lose Kevin but there'll be another mong along who's desperate for the money, so it's all good."

Should've got it tattooed it on his arse.

NUFC in lower half of the table, somewhere above the relegation places. Don't really care about the rest, but I don't think Liverpool will get into the top 4.

This. In normal cases I'm vehemently against it but in his case I have absolutely no sympathy for him. He's tried to take his own life 3 times - why are we spending money preventing him from succeeding? because i hope in this day and age, and i know it sounds absolutely ridiculous, people still value human life over money and whilst one may argue that he doesn't value his life hence he should die, i think it's regressive to think that people don't have a capability for change, even in such an extreme situation Whilst I sympathise with your viewpoint the reality is he'll never be released. So whether he can change or not is irrelevant to society really.

Death's the easy way out for him to be honest. The fact that he's tried to kill himself means he should be kept alive and miserable for as long as possible. And snuggled in the bosom of his fellow inmates.

Fuck knows. I suppose I turn up.

Apparently they also claim Oba Martins is in his 20's.....

you missed out on Harrow. tons of chinese live there. No. Harrow is what they say when they meet each other You mean Hallow. It's rubbery. OK, I'll get me coat.

I can confirm the Chinese list of 10 world famous British cities is Rondon Riverpoo Manchester Chersea Wembrey St Andlews Wentworth Aintlee Ascot Heathlow

I don't, he seems to me like the kind of guy people want to play for I'm sure Neale McDermott thinks otherwise And Ross Gardner and James Beaumont. Let's hope he's better for the experience. Mind you very few players seem to make the step up from reserves to the first team anyway....

Agree with all that. The problem with pinning it on the Republicans and Bush in particular is that people think things are going any better under new leadership, which is not the case at all. The Democrats have thrown more money, more soldiers and more drones at Afghanistan. They've killed more civilians and as a result created more resentment and more jihadists among the population. The White House have tried to spin the leak as a Republican problem too. Arguing that they only report up to December 2009.....when Obama had been in office for a year. Far from fixing the problem, the house today voted they would throw even more money at it, while ignoring domestic hardship.... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/27/...in6718896.shtml I guess the problem the Democrats have is that unless they're seen to have won the "war", any withdrawal looks like capitulation. And a humiliating Vietnam syle withdrawal would be political suicide. I expect the strategy is, as you say, blame the mess on the Rebuplicans, throw enough money at it to get some progress over the Taliban, then get the hell out claiming credit for sorting it out and hoping Karzai can survive long enough for it all to have some credibility. If they say they've won...they've won. There's not an opponent in this war that can surrender. There's not even an organised, cohesive resistance. Attacks come from people with no alliances to any group at all, just pissed off people that look up 'bomb making' on the internet when they see their wives and children indiscriminately killed. Declared active jihadists are limited to a hundred or so people in the mountains, that's enough to say "we've incapacitated terror networks and now plan to work on reducing recruitment by withdrawing from the country" . Instead they've allocated another £59 billion to fighting that 100 odd strong army while cutting every other government department. Permanant war is a profitable business the people that own Washington like to maintain. Interesting viewpoint, not sure I wholly agree....I don't think it's the sort of look the Democrats want and I don't see Obama as the crusading type either. Time will tell I suppose.

What a pompous self important arsehole. I was hoping he was announcing his immediate retirement....oh, the disappointment.

Agree with all that. The problem with pinning it on the Republicans and Bush in particular is that people think things are going any better under new leadership, which is not the case at all. The Democrats have thrown more money, more soldiers and more drones at Afghanistan. They've killed more civilians and as a result created more resentment and more jihadists among the population. The White House have tried to spin the leak as a Republican problem too. Arguing that they only report up to December 2009.....when Obama had been in office for a year. Far from fixing the problem, the house today voted they would throw even more money at it, while ignoring domestic hardship.... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/27/...in6718896.shtml I guess the problem the Democrats have is that unless they're seen to have won the "war", any withdrawal looks like capitulation. And a humiliating Vietnam syle withdrawal would be political suicide. I expect the strategy is, as you say, blame the mess on the Rebuplicans, throw enough money at it to get some progress over the Taliban, then get the hell out claiming credit for sorting it out and hoping Karzai can survive long enough for it all to have some credibility.

The best you can say about it is the whole thing's seedy as fuck. Imo it's as mcuh to do with the desire to conceal the mess that's been made from the American public as preserving the security of operations. This strikes me as Iraq Mark 2, where the American administration has executed a poorly thought out campaign, got into terrible trouble and has tried to dig itself out of the shit by a combination of throwing money at the problem and trampling over human rights and international law. It also seems to me that the Allied Coalition is losing in Afghanistan. But any student of history will tell that was always going to happen anyway. The British couldn't win in the 19th century, and the Russians couldn't win in the 20th century, so heaven knows why the Yanks think they can win in the 21st. It's corrupt, feudal, anti-Western, sectarian, fragmented, funded by drugs and comprised of and surrounded by factional interests, the terrrrain is impossible to fight modern warfare in or keep supply lines open in and so on. Added to that there's vested interests in the American military and industry, the numbskulls at the CIA, and the fuckwits in the Republican party that either want to get rich from war or prosecute some kind of holy crusade against a third world country. The whole "war on terror" has been a political and humanitarian disaster imo and this Wiki Leaks thing doesn't surprise me at all. I don't trust the American or British governments to get it right on our behalf and I don't think they've served the interests of democracy or world security well at all. It sounds like the WikiLeaks material shows they don't deserve our trust either. The thing that strikes me most about the American govenrment, particularly under George Bush, is their stupidity and arrogance; under the circumstances I can understand their panic that the American public will now wake up and smell the coffee on how their tax dollars have really been spent.