PaddockLad

If by some miracle England find themselves in the last 8 come the end of June, do I take it those not bothered or preferring France to do well will be consistant in their attitiude to how England fair overall?

Our house was a happy one till the poll tax was introduced into Scotland....as a household the rates were based on the value of the house we lived in and were easily affordable.....then we went from owing a relative pittance (I forget the exact amount but the old man was a joiner and mum was a part time home help and they could easily afford to pay the rates between them) to owing the best part of £2000 p.a. between 5 of us with me,my brother and sister all basically on YTS wages. And if you didnt pay it was the courts for you. To illustrate how fair this was, the local "laird" is the Duke of Roxburgh, richest man in Scotland and I was paying the same rate of poll tax per annum as him. The present lot are helping their mates out and expecting the rest of us to pay for it too (see the last budget for details) . Thatcher caused untold misery in millilons of homes and cleetoonfan is comparing her actions to Blair wanting all kids in this country to go to University?.......I bet he was despserate to be a bricky when he left school as well....

Well go on then, what else did he say.?...is he being sold/not offered a new deal or is he wanting to leave?

Had mines out a couple of years back.....not pleasant when it starts playing up I can assure you

Biffen's bridge

The what?

Are Simpson and his agent looking at what Colo was offered to stay and taking that as what his offer should be?...hed be a foolish boy if he was comparing himself wage wise with his captain. Cant see Colo going from 50+(?) to less than 40...if he was offered a redueced contract like Nolan and Barton that is....but Simpson isnt worth that sort of money for me. But when you work day to day doing the same job as someone on bigger money than you are then you're not happy weather you work in an office or play football. Fact of life I reckon.

Good game from the Perchmeister on Sunday against a top quality team....playing with so much more confidence. In a way things like that are Pardew's biggest acheivements....so far....

The Simpson thing can also be viewed as a sure sign that they have a replacement for him lined up, and I take it that is more than likely to be Pieters with Santon actually taking the right back spot?.... Also it would appear that someone has offered Simpson more than 25k a week. I wonder if we qualify for the champions league if he'll have a change of heart on signing his contract offer?.... think Dekka would laugh in his agent's face if they tried to pull that shit..

He did in his post but its different when you quoted him...am now confused but never mind. Athletico were founded by Basque students too.... Meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in the United Kingdom these students developed an interest in football and on their return to Bilbao they began to arrange games with British workers. In 1898 students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the Athletic Club, using the English spelling. In 1901 a meeting was held in the Cafe Garcia which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902 the two Bilbao clubs formed a combined team, known as Bizcaya, in the first Copa del Rey. They returned with the trophy after defeating FC Barcelona in the final. This would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as Athletic Club in 1903. In the same year Basque students also formed Athletic Club Madrid. This club later evolved into Atlético Madrid. The club's foundation date is a subject of debate among football historians. The club itself declares 1898, but others claim 1901 or 1903 as the true founding year.

No!

Stick some of his French up mate, I speak that fucker like a native

Andrew correctly termed the scorers of the first goal Athletico..or dont they like being called Athletico?....

That game in Bucharest should be great but the stadium looks fuckin dreadful.....Athletic in Basque green mind and they love(d) us "Estatu Batuetako Britania enbaxadarekin hitzegin nahi dut?" as they say down that way.... They won't get fuck all defending like that mind

They'll all leave man am tellin ye!

Am smiling on the inside...honest No point me posting the same happy/clappy stuff as other folk do, and theres two sides to everything in the game. And theres not a successful football team in history of the game thats been happy with finishing 5th. Am on board with Big Mike's program, I can see the way he wants to do it and after this season I can see that Pardew is the perfect man to implement what he wants. I couldnt see it working last season, and I've never been more happy to be proved wrong. But all I can think of now is what squad we're going to have for next season and you can bet your life thats what Pardew is obsessing about too. Oh and am dreaming of Spurs and Arsenal fucking it right up at the weekend too

Ok, my glass is half empty. But is it not realistic to expect a bid for Cisse after what he's done in the last 3 months? And what makes you think I dont enjoy supporting Newcastle?...370 miles from SJP and nearly 30 games attended probably says I've loved following the team this season wouldnt you agree?...

And its confirmed I'll be at v fest the day of the first europa play off game ...that is a Saturday, travel fans...if the team we get is 90-120 mins away by air that could be a belter of a weekend for all those keen on European travel/ a nasty off with the Feynoord mob

And of course you're right...! Dates for the diaries lads: Play-offs 18 August 2011 Play-offs 25 August 2011 And if we get more jam than Hartley's on Sunday: Champions league Third qualifying round 26-27 July 2011 / 2-3 August 2011 Play-offs, 1st leg 16-17 August 2011 Play-offs, 2nd leg 23-24 August 2011

Same thing shirley?....winners of 3rd qualifying round ties go into the group stages?...

Just keeping it real old son

Fair enough, but they sound a bit panicked iyam over 1 story in 1 paper. And I should hope none of us are naiive enough to think a big offer won't come in for him this summer. We'll see, bottom line is if we want to buy we're going to sell a few players.

Wasnt there a report a few years back that they were the worst behaved supporters in European competitions?...one of the posters actually compared Saturday to the carry on in Athens. Some of our lot aren't angels but I've never seen some of the things mentioned amongst them. Some of thier lot couldnt give a fuck about anything, let alone the image of the club's fans in general.

that bloke next to him looks like Johnny from The Shining as he's just come through the door...and no, its not me!

It is mate....I had a pint with him before the game yesteday in the 3 bulls