acrossthepond

Does anyone think we're getting a world class player here? Daft article.

No need for apologies. Personally I think that 2m (with a view to a permanent deal) would be good value for Remy, however distasteful I find the idea of going in for a player accused of rape who already knocked us back for more money in January. We could certainly do worse.

Today he's changed his tune and is saying it'll cost us 2m to loan Remy.

Seeing is believing. The Lyon president is a class A clown and there's been so much bullshit surrounding our transfer activity (or lack thereof) that I won't believe it until I see him in black and white. P.S. Anyone from the club who's reading this: 1 striker is not enough.

We're sure that the reverend isn't Ashley's Skid Mark/Thompers/whoever else? Looking increasingly likely iyam.

How are you watching this? Or just following twitter/SSN updates/etc?

Like a new signing! Striker problem sorted. No need to get anyone "over the line" now.

Also not in favour of buying him. We need strikers, but we don't need them so badly that we have to stoop to buying alleged rapists (and mercenaries, as though we didn't know that already) from relegated teams. Ba was one thing but this is beyond the pale for me.

1-1 full time. Positives: Gouffran looked really good (but then came off with what looked like injury), Vuckic was also promising and brilliantly saved a goal at the end, Campbell is one speedy little midget. Negatives: We are toothless in attack. We need new players desperately.

Shola scored. Striker situation sorted. simples.

This is the least friendly friendly I've ever seen.

Anyone reckon that Kinnear is so utterly clueless that he needs Harford to actually do his job for him? Kinnear was actually given the job as a sinecure (either to piss Pardew and Carr off or just as a "jobs for the lads" situation with Ashley) and now he wants someone of similar philosophy (that is to say, a relic) to come in and put in some graft?

It's an allegory, like most religious stories. The Night Journey is meant to represent that Islam followed on from Judaism (Moses) and Christianity (Jesus) like climbing the rungs of a ladder. It's easy to take the piss out of religion nowadays but you have to remember that most of it is common sense and decent morality dressed up in the trappings of mysticism in order to convince early pagan populations who had long believed in similar mystical events/things that it's real. However, Wonga's predatory lending is morally offensive no matter if you believe in God, Santa, the FSM, or nothing at all. If that's really what Cisse is taking a stand against, then I support him.

By the letter of the law, desmondTUTU is right. Loans which generate interest of any kind are forbidden in Islam. Some scholars have tried to argue that interest-bearing loans for "consumption" or usage are unacceptable because they would put the borrower in a desperate position (like Wonga loans, for example) while commercial interest-bearing loans are acceptable because the profits of the business started with the loan would enable the borrower to repay it, but as the Qur'an makes no distinction, they are very much in the minority, and in countries where the Sharia is strictly observed, the system of "Islamic banking" which does not involve interest in any way is prevalent. If Cisse is framing his objection on purely religious grounds, then I agree he doesn't really have a leg to stand on because Virgin charge interest just like Wonga. But I think there is both a moral and an ethical difference between what Virgin does and what Wonga does. I'd be all right with wearing a shirt with a bank's name on it, but not one that promotes Wonga. In my religion there is no difference between the two, but in my heart there is, and if that's the same way that Cisse feels, then I'm proud of him for taking a stand. But as I already said in my previous post, I wonder if it really is.

Because a bank and a payday loan service are equivalent, right? You can tell by the different reactions on here to the Virgin Money deal and the Wonga deal that they are not the same thing. One provides a useful service to everyone and the other preys on the poor, weak, and stupid by taking advantage of their financial predicaments.

Tough to decide where I come down on this one. For my part, I would find it incredibly uncomfortable to be asked to play in a strip that advertises alcohol, pork products, or, yes, usurious interest such as Wonga - but I can't shake the feeling that Cisse's beliefs are not what has actually prompted this dispute. He knew Wonga would be sponsoring us well in advance, and that meant having their names on our shirts. If that wouldn't work for him, he could have made arrangements to leave at the end of the season, not raised the issue two days before our pre-season tour began. The cynic in me wonders if this issue will be resolved with a nice new contract for Cisse and (perhaps) an unbranded shirt. If it's a play for more money, well, he absolutely has the club over a barrel, so he'll get what he's after.

Tessa Fowler: KateeLife: Thank me later.

From the BBC: The Football Association announces it has changed the retrospective action process ahead of next season. Callum McManaman's tackle on Massadio Haidara From the start of the new campaign, the governing body can decide to take action against players when match officials are not in a position to fully assess an incident. The amendment follows a tackle last season involving Wigan's Callum McManaman and Newcastle United's Massadio Haidara.

Derek fucking Lambese? The director of football? Resigned? And that's all in the first minute.

Must be a piss take. This can't be for real.

And now he'll be Carr's boss, it sounds like? "Wuzzat Graham? Where'd you say he plays? Hungry? Nah mate, I've just 'ad me tea and one or two of those eels went down a bit queasy. The next Iniesta? Well fack it man, why don't we just buy the first Iniesta? Let me dash off a fax to Barcelona mate, Mike sez there's 2 million quid in the kitty, should cover it. Thanks for your input Graham old dad!"

No, I'm not done. I cannot think of another person on this earth who is less qualified, save maybe Dennis Wise, to be our "director of football." Anyone off the street would do better. A mackem would do better. We don't need a DOF anyway, they're a load of shit and our last one helped set off a chain of disasters that led to our relegation, and we especially don't need Joe Fucking Kinnear back at this club. Do they never learn?

Jesus fucking Christ. Someone's got to be having us on?

Haway man, The Fish is a bit more literate than that.

We'd be better off keeping Pardew than bringing in an abomination like Pulis. Not even a sideways step.