Bibble

From the commentary it sounded like we were not at the races, with Savage dominating the midfield. The fact that Derby are already crowing about their glorious victory and advertising the match DVD is just plain sad. We've been misfiring since before Xmas, with too many drawn games. Swansea have a good home record and Saturday's game just became a 6 pointer.

Cheers Tom Simpson's still on

Aye

Wayne Bridge's ex, allegedly. Link here Dad of the year 2009. Nice

Stevie's right about Nolan and Carroll though. Nolan plays like he smokes 40 a day and has his legs chained together. The guy next to us called Carroll "The white Shola" Not heard that before. Initially I winced, but the more I think about it...

The Palace players were up for it but not as classy as WBA. The own goal did us a real favour - apart from that it was pretty evenly balanced until Ranger's good finish at the end - and he'd already missed an absolute sitter AND another good chance before that. Can't head the ball. Although our outfield players struggled to click, Harps didn't have much to do, but he did have to pull off 2 top class saves, one pushing the ball away in the box at a striker's feet and another in the second half when he fingertipped a ball onto the post. Mind you, he also nearly cocked up a straightforward clearance from a back pass. Williamson was ok - sometimes a bit prone to go for other team-mates balls - but provided more direction to his fellow defenders in 30 mins than I've seen all season (discounting STaylor's semaphore flags). When Pancrate came on at RB and had a dodgy start, during a stoppage the new boy started coaching him in hoofing the ball. Time will tell. Routledge's introduction changed the game. He's pint-sized, got good pace, tracked back and seemed to naturally involve other players. He's certainly added a different dimension to our play. Our players were really in the wars tonight and Palace played with a bit of bite. In general you couldn't knock our commitment but that doesn't matter when you're crocked and have no-one to replace you (witness the 3 Palace subs). Tbf even Pancrate began to redeem himself by occasionally looking decent going forward and putting in some tackles and a couple of decent balls. But after our recent run the 3 points is what mattered most tonight.

Ouch!

Fucking twatting bastard. I've already sorted 6 tickets to go to a gig in Toon on the Fri night with a bunch of mates - meal, hotel, the whole shebang. Talk about a spanner in the works...

This.

I see the Kettering asst manager has been sacked by the owner for making crap substitutions against Leeds.

You're right, he was doubled over looking knackered at the end, too. If he can manage 30 mins next time, that would be progress. I'm just pleased that we've managed to sign somone who offers a different dimension to our play. He's been on the bench for most of his career. I wonder when he last played a full 90 mins

Aye, but I can't remember the last time we played well for 90 mins. I was ready to slash my wrists after the first 45 mins of a recent match - Doncaster, I think. But there's always a chance that a first half of unmitigated shite could be followed by something better.

Agreed, but it doesn't help when rentaquote pundits like Claridge claim that our current squad would probably do a better job in the Prem than last season's.

No not yet

I just don't get this leaving early malarkey. The guys next to us always leave around 80 mins. Last week they only missed howlers by Smith & Ranger. This week they missed an absolute fucking cracker. I pay my money and would be gutted to miss a potently significant incident. Just my opinion, like.

Another decent performance without dominating the Hornets. Harewood had already chased down their goalie once before they both went in for a 50/50 outside the area and the rebound bounced to Lova in front of an open goal. 1.0 Watford were a better unit than Swansea and after Nolan got his second yellow for a rash challenge - he lost posession and was too keen in trying to get it back - Watford dominated for the next 30 mins. Bringing Carroll on for Harewood and moving Lova wide right didn't work, Butt then helped stiffen up midfield, but the Pancake sub clinched it. He might only be good for 20 mins but he's got good pace and showed a nice bit of 2 footed skill when cutting in, beating 2 defenders and wellying the ball for a cracking goal in off the bar. An impact sub if ever I saw one. Good support from the fans and a sprinkling of anti-FCB chants throughout.

I spent this morning on a train having some good craic with a Swansea fan and with their recent form was really looking forward to this game. I took him for beers at the Adelphi and Strawberry and fed him a Greggs stottie. He'll be drinking Dog next! Apparantly only 5 or so seasons ago Swansea were playing Darlo and bottom of Div 2, had been taken to the cleaners by a dodgy owner and were on the verge of bancruptcy. Since then theyve been bought out by a local consortium - 20% owned by a Supporters Trust, 80% by local businesses. Promoted to the Fizzy Pop league last season they finished 7th(ish). Their biggest buy cost £500k and no-one earns more than £7k per week. And the club runs at a profit. They clearly like to play the ball from defence on the deck, have good pace, but too many midgets. I think it was Nathan Dyer on the right wing who beat Enrique for pace - a rare sight. Angel Rangel, their RB (with probably the funkiest name ever) had good skills going forward but was exposed early on by Guti and their defence began making unforced errors. I'm not sure whether Leon Britton was selected for his financial acumen or his footballing skills. Sorry. In the first 30 mins Harewood scored 2 goals but did nowt else for the rest of the game. Lova only scored one but was generally busy and looked good against this non-physical opposition. The next 50 mins was almost all Swansea as we sat back but they couldn't break us down with 2 good saves by Harps and 1 by Krul. Near the end Pancrate came on and chased the ball down like a mad thing which raised the crowd and later laid on a perfect cross for Smith. The goalie committed himself, and Smith's shot still hit him. The score meant it didn't matter and we all laughed, but Smith was still visibly deflated. Ranger continues to show good skills but no strikers instinct. I didn't see the "Fraud Investigation" banner. Saylor was in the wars today. Apparantly he badly bust his lip in the Preston game and had to have a stitch in his gob. That split again today when he got a ball full belt in the face, having to swap his bloodied shirt for one with 15 and no name on the back. Later on he got another one in the nuts at eye wateringly full bore. Ouch!

PRO-HASH 'TACHE GETS ASH CASH

Gamekeeper turned poacher? Ashley clearly sees an advantage in having a former senior plod as chairman. I can't see it lasting.

His stats here suggest he's been a bench warmer for most of his career. According to the Sunday Sun his agent is coming out with the usual bullshit “Of course, he is ambitious, and Newcastle is the only team in the Championship he would play for, because he believes they will soon be back in the Premier League. He told me: ‘I am a black man, but in my blood, I am black and white!’ Still he might be a better (and cheaper) option than Harewood.

I'd have thought you should be able to go in a syndicate (under a syndicate name) and buy one share in your own name. And only be able to stand for election if you have a share in your own name. Should syndicates even have a vote? What about regarding syndicate contributions as a one-off payment towards the buy-out pot, with any bonuses on syndicate shares automatically reinvested in the club. That would get round the problem of distributing 1-2p bonuses to syndicate members. I guess this boils down to whether you have to/want to treat small-syndicates in the same way as individual named shareholders. If it got shot of the FCB many people might not care if they ever saw their £50-£150 syndicate money again, let alone got a return on it. But I know I'd want to see a return on £1,500 even if I then chose for it to go to the cllub.

Given that it's one member one vote irrespective of whether you're putting in £1,500 cash or £25k pension it would make sense to be able to have the option to put in multiples of £1,500. One of the things that I find most refreshing about the buyout proposal - and hard to get my head around - is that it goes against the usual model of "the more you invest the more your power". I'd support chucking all toontastic contributions into one pot for one share and if anyone wants to withdraw their contribution at a later date they'd be responsible for finding a replacement investor. Keep it simple.

I'm not sure how current the figures are but a webtrawl reveals the following: Barca has over 155,000 "socis" ("socios" or "members") who each pay up to €140 annually for the privilege. The socis govern the club by electing a president of the board of directors every four years. Randomly selected members are appointed to serve as delegates to the general assembly, which approves the annual budget. Most Spanish clubs, including Real Madrid, are run in the same manner Only members can buy season tickets, with membership fees contributing to the overall price of the ticket. When they join, the club presents all new members with the bronze badge. To show its appreciation and recognition of long-term loyalty to the club, FC Barcelona awards people who have been members for 25 years with a silver badge, those who have been members for 50 years with a gold badge and those who celebrate 75 years as members with a gold and shining badge. Sign me up for £100 into the forum kitty. I hope to do more via other routes upon conclusion of "local negotiations"!

Haye is already talking up a fight with one of the Klitschko sisters!

It was like watching two boxers fighting in treacle. Haye was the better boxer but it was a poor fight and I was surprised he did enough to get the decision.