juteface

I love how when I talk to Celtic and Rangers fans that sometimes you get talk of them joining the English League like Swansea and Cardiff. The one difference is that Swansea and Cardiff didn't bring large sectarian fanbases. Could you imagine Celtic vs Millwall? I could imagine Rangers fans having issues with a number of English clubs also. Not to mention they're fit for League One/bottom of the Championship.

I'm just hoping Rio wasn't trying to get him to declare for the English senior team. The Ireland team really needs some talent coming through!

Missing the Twelfth is obviously a more frightening prospect.

Just looking on transfer league for the cost of some of our recent transfers. 17 million last year and the only player that done well was Given. 4 million for Hutton?! WTF! The Brahimi news seems to be gathering a bit of pace, not sure if he'll get on as well in the Premiership but if he costs around the 2.5 million then it's worth a shot. If the club were willing to waste almost twice that on Hutton then 2.5 to try out a young and doing relatively well player is a bargain.

Agreed. If the FAI can get itself into some sort of shape (It'll take a revolution for this to happen) the league will grow and become stronger, not to mention the national team. The footballing system in Ireland needs a kick up the arse, we're going to fall so far behind it's not even funny (Most of the grounds in the league are embarrassing to start with).

The UK Olympic Committee have very generously allowed the flame to make a visit to Ireland (Irish Republic) as a gesture of goodwill in the light of the peace agreement between Ireland and the UK, hence its little journey to Dublin. Rest assured it will return from its brief detour to the UK very shortly. How people can scratch their heads at such a neighbourly gesture I don't know. "Mainland"? What "mainland" do you refer to, the Irish mainland or UK mainland? I'd also like clarification on this.... Also, MGrath is a legend. Great childhood memories of him playing.

Just popped my head in here, I don't get why some people really dislike Derry and want them out of the league altogether. It'd be like losing Cork, Sligo, Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers etc. I guess there's still an anti-Nordie sentiment amongst some. I agree with the statements that clubs should be running on a similar model as Rovers, it's the only way that it's sustainable. Paying players for 52 weeks work when they actually work much, much less is a great idea. I think the league is going to have a number of clubs going under before it can really recover. Thankfully Irish teams are starting to fare a lot better in Europe than they have done previously. Once they all get their financial act together, the next logical step is grassroots and pushing for a high quality footballing development system. (Hell will probably freeze over before Delaney and his crew figure this one out). I always loved the atmosphere at the Brandywell. Granted it's a shithole but the craic was great. Cork fans were always a blast when they came up, hopefully it's still the same today. That's what I loved most about LoI when I lived in Ireland, the craic was almost always brilliant and most sets of fans were welcoming and there was always banter.

Could possibly have more wins in total by November/December depending on what the fixtures look like.

I can't see Martinez going anywhere at the minute, but if he was to arrive at Villa Park then I'm all for giving him a chance. Although if DW can offer him a ton of cash to stay, does that mean he has a large transfer budget? If not, he's just getting paid more to stall his career progression. Too many ifs and buts. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough who the new manager is, I'd not be surprised if it was announced after the Euros.

I reckon Duck would be a quacker appointment.

Agreed, as an employer he seems a bit turd. Look at this from a few years back http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/communist-jibe-by-jjb-founder-incites-strike-421659.html I can just see him, frothing at the mouth and counting the cash.

Leave a Dairy Milk by his bedside dresser at night. Creepy, but it seemed to work in the ads.

Which means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It means people are starting to bet on him. Did I say we were chasing him? Did I present myself as some sort of mystical ITK? No. I merely stated the fact that I've noticed his move up the table and then went on to mention that there really isn't much to look at in terms of freely available managers. Thanks for your input though.

Glen Hoddle is moving up the betting table.... http://www.leaguemanagers.com/index.html Not much to chose from in the way of freely available managers.

The worst, you could say.

Alan Hutton is a much worse signing.

If (a big if at that) OGS joins, I think Kevin would be a perfect compliment to the first team. If the reserves, youth and first teams are all following a similar footballing ethos then that can only be a good thing. Consistency is absolutely key if we want the club to be restructured. Letting Kevin and Sid go would be a bad move, demoralising and shows a total lack of respect for everything they've done. They've been successful, what more do you want??! I genuinely believe that if we get someone young, who believes in playing good passing and controlling football, we need the players learning these systems from the Academy up.

Owen is too busy looking after his bloody horses. He probably still thinks O'Neill is managing us. Waste of time. If OGS comes and does well, there's nothing to say that he'd stay rather than head to Manchester. We'd be his first Premier League club, if he's in any way successful with us then I'm pretty sure he'd be in a very special place with the fans and club. He may look on United fondly for his playing career but he could just look on Villa fondly for his coaching career. It all buts and ifs at this stage. Get him in and lets see where it goes.

Autechre, nice. Back on topic, OGS would be an interesting appointment. I'd happily back it and to be honest, if we finish 15th next year but play good attacking positive football I won't really care. He's got a lot of rebuilding to do so I'm not expecting results overnight. In fact I'd rather go down fighting than go down with the tripe McLeish served up.

Very shrewd signing if true. Noticed his odds changing the past few days. Seemed much like the Houllier appointment (won a few hundred on that) where it's an outsider that might not be a bad idea at all. I can imagine he likes nice fluid attacking football, he's young and he seems more intelligent than your run of the mill footballer. If he comes, it'd be great to see him do well because he could be here for some time if that's the case. This would be nice considering our last few seasons with management changing far too often.

When the manager sets the team up like this... What do you expect?

Just like in the printed press it makes for easier reading. Am I right in understanding that it's 8 million to buy players? That's barely a Championship budget!

Lambert or Rodgers, although I can't see Rodgers leaving Swansea. Outside punt, Hughton although I don't know if Randy is going to go sniffing around SHA for a manager any time soon.

Liverpool broke one of the most important rules by hiring a manager who was a playing Legend (Bolton have also made this mistake, to a lesser degree). It's as bad as betting on your own team.

BBC Sport page. Un. ****. Believable. McLeish in 'Wired to the Moon' Shocker!