Walliver

Anyone spent much time working abroad? What sort of things do you need to consider before moving?

People suggesting players from the SPL need to be careful. Paul Hartley, at 32, isn't the sort of player we can take in and - if we do bounce back up - have any use for the season after. If we're going to raid Celtic, Scott Brown would be a far better choice. However, I'd be surprised if any of them are that upset about Strachan leaving that they'd forfeit CL football for Championship stuff. JJ, I presume you think we have no chance of going for James McCarthy. I always hear rumours of teams like Celtic and Liverpool being interested but I don't know if anyone's actually made a bid for him. The thing is with McArthur is that the lad seems to have his head screwed on. Turned down Liverpool 2 or 3 years ago because he knew it would be ages (if ever) before he could get into the first team. The only team that's sniffing around right now is Celtic, but he says he wants to play in the Premiership. No harm in coming to Newcastle and helping us get back up. He's still a teenager, so there's no rush. I think we're a bit confused somewhere - isn't it McCarthy who's the wonderkid who turned down Liverpool (and pledged his allegiance to Ireland for not much of a reason) while McArthur is quite good but not as good? Having a James McCarthy and a James McArthur in your squad is just daft, mind.

People suggesting players from the SPL need to be careful. Paul Hartley, at 32, isn't the sort of player we can take in and - if we do bounce back up - have any use for the season after. If we're going to raid Celtic, Scott Brown would be a far better choice. However, I'd be surprised if any of them are that upset about Strachan leaving that they'd forfeit CL football for Championship stuff. JJ, I presume you think we have no chance of going for James McCarthy. I always hear rumours of teams like Celtic and Liverpool being interested but I don't know if anyone's actually made a bid for him.

The man's a curse!

I don't rate Nugent at all. There was a big load of hype around him when he was at North End but he hasn't really done anything at all since he moved to Pompey and he has never really looked too good. I wasn't sure when I said him. I remember him being pretty amazing at Preston but he obviously hasn't set the Premiership alive. He did get rubbished after about four games or something, didn't he? Recently he's been pretty solid for them. I think he probably just needs some confidence again. Put him in the Championship for a season and see what he's like when (very presumptuous, I know) he comes back up with us.

I think out of all the Championship sides we must be one of most attractive sides to join - if not the most attractive. I'm not expecting us to buy the best players in the world, but some mentioned here are just too depressing to contemplate. Maybe our situation hasn't fully kicked in yet, but I'm sure we can do better than the likes of Marlon King. Some of the players in this thread I think would be great/good signings who are also possible - Brunt, Boyd, Nugent, Delph for example - but others (Riordan, Ferguson) would be horrible in my opinion.

Some of the players mentioned in this thread are ridiculous. Are you guys trying to organise a team to get us out of the Championship that we can develop for the Premiership or are you just settling for players to keep us in that division?

My other team finished bottom of their league with five games remaining... Football has been rubbish this season.

I got 23 by myself, up to 29 after looking through this thread. Others I have that I don't think have been mentioned: Edit:

Down by the harbour for them.

I lived in Aberdeen for about five years and spent most of them as a student going to various pubs. Most of the places I went - and generally most places with alcohol in Aberdeen - will be full of students so bear that in mind. You might be lucky with them all being away home for the summer, though. Belmont Street is the hub of the city. One street littered with pubs - every third building is either a pub or a club. Go there and you're bound to find something you like. For clubs, depends what you're after. Indie: Exodus (at the end of Belmont Street, very handy) A bit more rock: Moshulu Arty: Snafu Underage girls/general tarts: Liquid, Priory (Belmont Street), Espionage (free, at the end of Belmont Street) Older women: College Bar Late night licence without the pretence of dancing: Drummonds (Belmont Street). There might be some local bands playing on a Friday night. For restaurants: Nargile's is a good shout. Silver Darling is supposed to be really good but I'm not a fish man so I've never been. If you fancy Italian then try Poldino's on Little Belmont Street. I have no idea about hotels, but I have heard they're pretty scarce so make sure you book early. I haven't been for a night out since I moved away about a year ago but I reckon most of this will still be the case. This is all quite general information, if you have any more specific questions I'll have a pop back in here and have a look.

Everyone hates us, no one votes for us, boo hoo hoo. Oh, wait. We did quite well this year. Everyone must love us again, right? And if you can explain to me why every country suddenly loves Norway when two years ago they got just 48 points, that would be great.

I don't know about that - without Rangers and Celtic dominating the SPL the other teams would actually have something to play for. While teams wouldn't get the nice pay day of one of the Old Firm coming to play, the average attendances for the other games would probably increase. Setanta would still show Scottish football so teams would still get TV money, there would be a chance for someone to qualify for the CL, people would just enjoy it more. As for the opening question, definitely the Championship.

What complete rubbish - that's just what Wogan says but the old bloke didn't have a clue and I'm glad he's gone (I'm not particularly happy that Norton's replacing him, but I can understand why he was chosen). Take last year, for instance, we finished joint bottom with three countries and Wogan was going on about what a huge disgrace it was and how it stank of eastern favouritism - Popbitch looked into it and if you only count the votes of the western countries we finished ... third bottom! Before last year's finals I had a look into this because I was interested to see just how biased the voting was. The following paragraph was up-to-date before the last final, but won't be now: "In the last ten years, we have given top marks to the country that has won the competition on five occasions. Only once in that time have we given nothing to the winners and that was Serbia last year. And, in all honesty, that song was a bit crap. In fact, since the current method of voting was introduced in 1975, the UK has only given zero points to the most popular nation on four occasions – last year, Luxemburg in '83, Italy in '90 and Ireland in '96. If you take away those four years, and the three years the UK won the competition, from calculations, in the last 33 years the UK has on average given 9.57 points to the eventual winner. Even including the four years of no points, the average is still 8.3, putting the champion firmly in our top three." There is of course no logic in the fact that the majority of Britain have no idea who our entrants ever are, nevermind the rest of Europe knowing them (hence why Clea/Loveshy would've been much better choices than Andy Abraham), while the winners are often established acts in their countries who have toured nearby nations. Last year's winner had his song - and much of his album (this was his second) - produced by Timberland. What exactly has Jade Ewen done in the music world? I'm sure I've mentioned some of this on here before - but no country has won two competitions since Ireland’s dominance in the early 90s – in the last 14 years we have had 14 different winners. If it is purely political, why isn't there one favourite country, or even a few countries that are rising to the top?

They've taken it down now but if you go to the next photo along you can sort of make out the dildo. Just outside is a bloke on his bike on the phone. Oh to be him... http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sour...475000000000051

Update: http://doihaveswineflu.org/

http://doihavepigflu.com/

I used it one slow day in work and after a couple of failed conversations I managed to have a nice chat with a Dutch bloke who was working in a castle. A lot of idiots/spam on it, but it does give you the chance to have a conversation with someone completely outside your normal range of friends. zomegle.com has a decent collection of funny conversations. A bit funnier than the one above, mind.

Of the few that I recognise from the above lists - MJD has to be the first person I've met that (a) rates JEEP and ( doesn't think it's the Stereophonics' worst album, and, SloopJohn, I love some of the Pipettes' songs but I'd have to say as an album it leaves quite a bit to be desired. Off the top of my head: Drive By Argument - Drive By Argument Girls Aloud - What Will The Neighbours Say? Shiny Toy Guns - (can't decide which) Tiny Dancers - Free School Milk

I don't know his exact quote - I heard he said that Hughes and Bruce weren't successful managers yet but they had potential - but I'd agree with that. If neither was to manage again after the end of this season they wouldn't go down in history as good managers. It's a good statement from Keane in a time when anyone who shows a few months of promise is immediately seen as great. Anyone know what Keane's net spend was at Sunderland in the end?

I didn't even bother applying because I assumed I had no chance. Er... whoops. Is it being shown on decent telly this year or is it all on Sky again?

I'd surprised if half of those players are still here next season.

Apparently we've now switched to a 4-4-2 with no right midfielder (Nolan's just behind the strikers) although the commentators are now saying that Owen might be on the right. ??:

I don't understand why so many people hate 'camping'. Surely if you're a sniper you want to stay in a decent position so you can, er, snipe people. There's no point running around with a gun like that. Once you've killed a few people the other players know where you are anyway so they can easily get you somehow. People in wars don't just run around like mentalists.

One thing that Twitter really is good for is businesses or websites who want to provide real time help. (Companies who just want to spam people about new products needn't bother.) You can do a quick search to see who's talking about you, your products or your competition. If they're saying something bad about you you can see what help they want. If they're slagging off the opposition you can butt in and try to steal a customer. It also gives customers a direct way to access you. One thing I've always wondered about the celebs, how do you always know it's them? I know a few that are (mainly by them posting pictures of themselves with a piece of paper saying something like 'I'm on Twitter') but there are many more who don't post things like this and are being followed by loads. To hear what a PR person has to say?