Trinity-Tom

He's either 6 ft 5" or 6 ft 3" Yeah, I've seen both figures for him so we don't know for sure, seemingly. Looking at that picture I would go for 6' 5" being closer to the mark, he looks very rangy. I'm going to go with 12ft 5" based on this accurate image. For some reason, my wife didn't find this as hilarious as I did!

There is one parallel to draw some comfort from and that is Newcastle United. They sacked Hughton who was doing reasonably well and replaced him with Alan Pardew. He had been very successful with Reading which led to him getting the West Ham job. He took West Ham up, got to a cup final and finished 9th. He then precided over their worst run of form for decades and was sacked. He then took over at Charlton mid way through the season, ultimately seeing them relegated from the Premier League (possibly harsh to blame him). Subsequently after failing to get them promoted straight back up (for which he is fully responsible), he led Charlton to bottom of the Championship and was sacked. Following this, Charlton went down again. He then went on to deliver some modest success at League 1 Southampton but he was sacked due to dressing room unrest and clashes with the owners. There are real similarities between McLeish and Pardew - both experiencing a real mix of success and failure. This can be extended to many managers such as Sam Allardyce, Paul Jewell, Avram Grant, Lawrie Sanchez - managers who can clearly point to certain successes as well as failures - the list goes on. The problem - such managers, including McLeish, have obvious limitations in style and ethos - their variable form also makes them a clear risk meaning that they do not demonstrate the assurances over success that a club who claim to have the ambitions we do should aspire to. This is a backwards step most certainly and whilst I accept there are some limited benefits i.e. our defence last season was atrocious and that will definitely improve meaning it could work out but in the event that it does, I would struggle to credit it to good judgement. The past proves this. Most certainly if McLeish is successful, we will all be delighted, but it will be the luckiest decision Lerner has made and even if it pays off, the risks he is willing to take over this football imply his inability to make rational footballing decisions. I don't want him to sell up but I would urge him to appoint a CEO with proper footballing credentials to avoid future embarassments. There are many managers out there who we could almost certainly employ that come with better reputations and credentials. Some are in work, some are not

If we had made the signings that West Ham or Fulham had made then I think there would be genuine cause for concern, especially as they were starting from a weaker base. Sunderland have strengthened significantly but they bloody well needed to, other than Bent who would have been useful though, I can't think of anyone they signed who would be anything close to what we need.

And therein (in my opinion) lies the primary reason why people react so angrily to your posts. The "truth" as you see it is far from it for a large number of people and I really think that whilst we are lacking in defence, you have not posted anything compelling to me about why other teams are stronger and better equipped than us. I have seen ranting and raving about us not getting the players you wanted us to and that appears to me to be clouding your overall opinion. We are not a one man team and whilst the loss of Laursen must be addressed, there are a dozen other reasons why we will be in a better position this season (see my post in the transfer thread for a more detailed explanation of my thoughts).

Hamilton for me. His achievements were outstanding in a car which is in many respects inferior to the major competition. Add to the fact that he triumphed over adversity following some very dodgy penalties this season and diplomatically refused to challenge the result of last years final race where he lost the title and you have a very decent and humble champion. Chris Hoy's achievements were amazing also but this is Sports Personality.

General, Can you confirm how attendance/invitations for the Holte are administered as I know more than 1 person who has been invited at least twice whereas others, including myself, who have been season ticket holders for several seasons have yet to be invited? It's by no means a major gripe but it doesn't seem quite fair. Regards Tom

"Mates"

What he said. I can understand some of the arguments for lower marks but anything below 6 is hard for me to comprehend. If we didn't need to fill positions then we wouldn't have signed players and thus we would not have bought anyone. Therefore in my opinion, by filling the positions we needed to with players who I think have genuine quality - even Young, we have done very good business.

Not sure to be honest. I actually don't think we would miss him that much and I think it would be difficult to keep Sidwell, Barry, Reo-Coker and Petrov all happy and still sign another central midfielder like De La Red (who I know nothing about). I think we could be stronger if we sold him and bought in the right replacement.

Being found innocent in a court of law doesn't mean he didn't commit the crime, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose a compensation claim due to the less strict burden of proof in civil trials but that depends on whether the courts review the criminal proceedings result on its own or whether they revisit the facts to determine whether he was unlawfully/incorrectly locked up.

To be honest, from a legal perspective, I would have thought his paper talk and other comments constitute a verbal request for a transfer and under the eyes of the law, a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one. The only difficulty is proving it which in this instance should be easy.

Completely agree. We have made our point now and I think we will in reality have got exactly what we want. I do think Barry will be ahead of Alonso though, why else would Benitez be trying to off load Alonso and replace him with Barry?!

Yes...please!

BOF, would you consider yourself to be a "predator in the bedroom"?

BOF, should I take your continued silence personally?

BOF, why are you ignoring us?

BOF, is it a statement or a question?

Oh how the worm turns! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Angel was rubbish, thank goodness we hav moved on from that load of dross.

General, Forgive me if this has been answered but can you give us any information on the status of Curtis Davies transfer from WBA? I know it was initially a loan and all of the talk assumes that he will be here next season but his permanent signing does not seem to have been confirmed formally yet Luke Moore's transfer in the other direction has been concluded. Thanks Tom

General, I understand why we would not want to pursue anything through the media as that clearly would be unprofessional but reporting Liverpool to the FA for tapping up in my mind is different. I don't see why you and the other board members would consider this sort of action unprofessional - perhaps you could explain further. The rules are their and they are clearly being broken by Liverpool. For the record, I'd rather let Barry rot in the reserves than give in and sell him however I appreciate that the economics of that would be unviable. Thanks

Not really sure. I think there is great potential with this but it is certainly a risky thing to dabble in and will therefore need extremely tight control.

General, I am satisfied with the adult season ticket price rises and whilst it doesn't impact me, I can certainly empathise with those with children as the price rises in some instances are huge. People have price expectations and when a sudden upwards shift is announced then you can't help but question how someone came to the pricing conclusions that they did. Especially when these are the future of the club. I do appreciate that the kids prices are low any way but is there no way that the club could add some "extra's" to the kids price to make the rise more pallatable as I do think the club, for a couple of seasons at least, could alienate some of our fan base which would be a shame. I am thinking of a home shirt or training top etc... At cost price to the club, I'm sure the cost would be low but it would save the average family a sufficient amount to make the price rise less extreme. Thanks Tom

I think Blues will get 4 points and both Bolton and Reading will get 3 points which I think means Reading go down (but it may be Bolton).

I could earn more or less elsewhere and in fact took a pay cut to move to my current role in terms of basic salary, I do get a bonus now though which should take me above my previous salary (assuming it pays out). I think I am paid about right for my role, hours, value etc... If I had stayed in London, I could have earned up to 15/20k more basic but I would have had to do a job that would have bored me (ie, product control at a bank). I do enjoy my current role as much as I could ever enjoy work so i am fairly satisfied.