sweetleftpeg

How many miles do you think you did? Must have been a fair wack.

I hate to say this but I really like Klitschko..he's really good craic, especially loving his spot on Borat impression and his 'shake my hand' antics. As much as I'm always gunning for the Brit and don't mind Haye, I really wouldn't be that arsed if Klitschko did him.

I decided to read War and Peace as my father in law had it and had long since given up on it. Currently just shy of page 600 of 1400 and it's as you'd expect from such an epic, superb in some places, shite in others. I did 19th Centrury European history at A-level (yes, yawn, I know) so I had a good background of the Napoleonic wars and Russian aristocracy, but I would recommend anyone wanted to try and read War and Peace to at least do a little background on that era or you will be totally lost.

Tiote was given that contract extension straight away (how long had he been here when he was offered that) becuase the I reckon the club were surprised by just how excellent and influencial he was. I truly believe he could grace any side in this league, the board know that as well, which is why the contract extension makes his value sky high. I think he will be sold for a huge profit in January like. The fuckers.

Aye these two points pretty much nail it. The fact that whenever they open contract negotiations, they seem to break down has long term implications as well. This will extend to players coming in too, and it means that we can't sign proven quality because we won't pay them what they want. So we're left with signing "unproven quality" and hoping it comes good. Then in the rare event that we do sign a gem, it's back to the drawing board as soon as their contract comes up for renewal and they want an improved deal, talks break down, etc etc. Not the foundations for long term success. Not that that's a big surprise. Yup. I'm on record as saying I would of sold Nolan this pre-season for footballing reasons..but what is going on behind the scenes means he was sold for political and money reasons first and foremost. If you want to run a successful football club then you by and large need a fairly decent team out on the park, and as usual the two twats running us have lost of sight of that factor AGAIN. Pardew has players forced upon him, it all goes tits up by October, and out he goes as the scapegoat. Next desperate out of work manager rolled up and we start again.

Putting aside whether you're on the keep him or sell him fence, the problem with the Nolan transfer and the probable Barton and Enrique transfer is that the catalyst is contract negotiations. It seems whatever game the board are playing is giving the same result; player turns it down and is sold. Dangerous game. The other glaring and scary part of this is the role of Pardew. It really just backs up the theory that he has no control over players in and out.

If this was a week before the season was due to start (which is our boards usual clueless style) then I'd be pissed off. But you would hope, and I say this with a massive sense of cynacism as usual, that we've got the whole summer to repalce him adequatly which I think we can do quite easily if we're clever about it. Problem is, the fuckers at the top continue to do fucking stupid things. Or fuck all. I'll go on record as saying I've never been that massive a fan of Nolan in the PL, but he was superb of the season in the Championship of pulling us back up to the PL, which is exactly why West Ham have bought him.

There's Barton off too then. I hate to think that his commitment comes down to whether his mate is here or not.

Maybe he's being honest with himself and knows his level? Gets himself a well payed signing on fee and contract for it as well. If he has, then I've got a lot of respect for him.

If the club have got quality lined up then I don't it's a bad bit of business. The problem is, we've seen this before. Danny Guthrie anyone?

What he said.

I think anyone that had come in for those 8 games would have struggled to motivate. Certain sections of the forst team had already made their mid up they were going to fuck off so nothing was going to change that. For example, you can't tell me Owen and his representatives weren't working on that dossier well in advance of us getting relegated.

Can I be controversial? I've been to Liverpool quite a few times, and always liked it, even as an away fan.

I was canny chuffed to remember that we got £6m for Dyer..but then depressed again when I realised we wanked it all on Alan Smith.

Ryder got banned by Ashley and Llambias ages ago and only Hughton's intervention got him back in, so he's been playing lip service ever since. 'Shiteted himself' is the technical term I believe.

I think they could offer him virtually anything and he'll still be off. Im sure the chance of CL football is too big to turn down. Fair point. I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm not as anti-player when it comes to this sort of stuff as I used to be, such is my general distrust of the men in charge.

It's not as simple as offering someone a new contract though, it depends whats in the detail of that contract.

Due to the shite that's come from the club for the past couple of years I find myself now naturally siding with the player, which is piss poor for me to be honest. Let's face it, if Enrique does go I expect the club to go all guns blazing in blaming him for it. Same with Barton, they're keeping quiet about him at the minute because he's still an NUFC player but wait till he leaves, they'll wheel Pardew out to character assasinate him. Some of it might be true, but I'll take anything that Casino floor manager says with a pinch of salt.

At a talk in with Alan Wilkie (ref from Chester-le-st who sent Catona off for the Kung Fu Kick at Palace) someone asked him who was the biggest cheating whinging foreigner he'd ever reffed. He said forget the foreigners, it's Emile Heskey.

Mackem season ticket holder I work with said, and I quote; 'He's shit and I'll drive him there myself.' To the point.

Interesting you say you went back in 2004 and it wasn't the same. I've always wated to go back for a neb but I'm fucked if I'm using up holiday for that!

And its the older "men" in their 30's, 40's etc who think they're some sort of 80's bad man smashing fouls all over the place. That's the old generation, and to be honest i'd take a bit of diving and timewasting over their dirty "tactics" anyday I'm not saying theirs not knackers with older players who kick out, I've seen that as well. We first started playing in mens 5-a-side leagies when we were 16 and did I feel the need to hoy myself around like a fanny and timewaste? No, because I'd look like a tit and I came to play football for a laugh and a run out. I've seen this stuff creep in slowly over the past few years and it's reached a stupid level now, far more stupid than a few mesatheads leaving their feet in.

We must have gone there at least 5 years in a row and the Entertainment NEVER CHANGED. Same fucking hypnotist on a Tuesday night doing the same routine.

What year was this? We used to go to Estartit laste 80's early 90's to the campsite you're on about. No word of alie one night me we're going back to the mobile home and there's some kid lieing on the grass pissed and asleep. I only remember this as my mam and dad had a massive barney over it. My mam was a nurse at the time and wanted to help him while my faffa's opinion was 'sod him, let him sleep it off, nowt to do with us.' He was a caring man at times. Was 1992, mate. There was six of us and I was the youngest, oldest was about 22. Unless my whole timeline was out of scale you must've had a late night for it to have been me. Then again, I've no actual memory of the event, just waking up the next morning. Could of been 1992 like, that would have made me 12. It was pretty unusual to see pissed up young uns on the campsite as they tried to stop groups and only have families in. If it was you then you started an argument that didn't stop for 2 days!