tomav84

this tops milner and barry combined for me. barry gave us 10 years, milner i actually think was worse than barry but if we hadnt signed him from newcastle someone else would have and the same thing would have happened to them. we bought downing when no one else wanted him, and paid a lot for him. we effectively wasted a season's worth of wages on him, because he was never fully fit and sharp once he came back from injury. he has a season playing very well (or lets face it, best of an underperforming bunch) and first sniff of interest from a team not even in europa league and hes off. i know, liverpool will always be a massive club but theres no guarantee that they will be back in the big time at the end of this season. hope petrov breaks your leg again, you word removed

i feel the same way about ireland as i did about NRC/luke young etc when houllier took charge...its like a new signing. he could be that creative playmaker weve been longing for for years and personally i cant wait too see what he can produce given the chance this season

i still say theres a good player in there somewhere. he wasnt great for us but had a great game vs chelsea and was slated by GH any chance he had. played in his right position he could do a job for us

Yeh, saw Kyuss (minus the ginger chappy obv) a while back Most significantly for me on the horizon, 2 bands I never thought I would see again; Leftover Crack, who are doing a few shows other than the festivals in the summer. I thought they had died (literally in the case of Stza) a couple of years back, and was quite surprised to hear of new dates inclusing Reading/Leeds. I was big time into them around 16/17, smoking crack, killing cops, what a blissful existence. Better than them though is Capdown, a band who did properly finish. I never ever thought I would see them again, one of my favourite bands ever, as they all grew up and went and had kids, etc. Doing a bunch of shows aswell as a few festivals. Skanking in the pit. Quality. Another throwback to my younger days, but unlike LoC the 'Down are actually really really good god capdown takes me back! they were qualty!

hanna and limitless my films of the year so far

not sure if theres a 'gigs' thread already started so apologies if i have duplcated one... just to say, its tuesday night, im steaming drunk, and just seen queens of the stone age in bournemouth...i dont have enough superlatives to say how good it was. oh...foo fighters on saturday too can anyone else beat this? would love to hear it!

Don't torture yourself anymore the next few months are gonna be bad enough as it is yeah thats just made me feel loads better...cheers for that!

for me its now gone beyond hiring him as manager. there is of course a chance he will attract some great players this summer and get the lads playing good football. my issue now is that the fans reacted vocally to an issue that affected OUR club and made their feelings known any way they could...be it on a messageboard or taking time to protest in person. these reactions have clearly fallen on deaf ears and its obvious to me that the board couldnt give a toss about what the fans want (or dont want in this case). i feel sick right now to think that the £400 i handed over a few weeks ago has gone to the owners of a company that cares so little about their customers. my heart says bear with it and see how it pans out but my head is telling me to ask for my money back and not bother with the 350 mile round trip ever other week.

well if youre gonna **** up at least do it properly

they just said it was a wind up by blues

story was broken by capital fm in london apparently

twatter rumours apparently talks have fallen through!

OK, not that i am in the slightst bit happy about this appointment, but perhaps for once overeactions on forums etc may just have bitten us in the arse. if it werent for a mass protest on here about mcwally he could and probably would be our manager now, already scouting transfer targets and planning for preseason. would we have been happy? probably not...but at least we wouldnt have had half the soap opera we have now nor have been slated by the media etc to the extent we have been. id snatch your hand off if you offered me mclaren now...

the difference being that if moyes resigns then everton dont get a penny for him. bent handed in a transfer request but sunderland still got 18m for him. moyes wouldnt do that to everton IMO

i agree with much of what the general has said. it is not as simple as just saying 'i want him' and going to get him. there are a lot of factors to consider. think about how much grief the board will get if they hire a failure, whether he was the fans' choice or not. yes, i think there is frustration from fans that just want to know now, but i also think the bulk of the frustration is based on WHO rather than WHEN. given the choice of whether to believe the so called ITKs or the press, i would sooner choose the ITKs...simply because i question someone to go to such extent just for a wind up. these people are not being paid for their twitter comments, unlike the journos that churn out names because its their job to fill column inches...whether theyre true or not. i refuse to believe that the board are stupid enough to appoint mcleash...not just because of his blues connections (though that would be reason for many not to appoint him) but the fact that he had blues playing shocking football, took them down twice, and insisted on playing IMO one of the worst players ever to grace the premiership - jerome.

problem is that too many think we are bigger than we actually are. when i mentioned to others that we were going for ancelotti, they laughed in my face. that is what we are now...as holloway said "used to be famous". we were never going to attract a big name, and IMO if we had, they would considered themselves bigger than the club. Martinez will use this club as his big break. Somewhere where he can actually have funds to spend and a squad with talent FAR superior to anything he's managed before. It will be a challenge, sure, but every manager has to start somewhere. I honestly think some people on here expected RL to go for Guardiola and Jose...

i would be perfectly happy with martinez. west ham and blues both had better squads than wigan last season yet he still kept wigan up. young manager and not some big time charlie. and for those that would rather benitez? seriously, this was a guy that had to be practically dragged out of liverpool and struggled with an inter side that won the treble the previous season!

the problem the board now have is that, even tho mclaren might do a good job (i dont think he will, but will always reserve judgement), the fans are so against his appointment that were the board to appoint him would really create a revolt from fans for picking someone they dont want. not saying they should just look at the polls and base their choice on them, but they need to seriously bear in mind the number of fans that dont want him

i said slavan bilic when MON left and stand by my choice. surprised i havent seen him mentioned. would be interesting to see him try and implement and eastern european work ethic to the squad

considering all we are going by regarding ancelotti is a poor excuse of a google translator from the ever reliable sky italia think its wrong to say he is ruled out. or maybe im just clutching at straws over the tenner i put on a few hours ago...

has anyone else noticed the similarity between little resigning from leicester, denying interest in managing villa, then signing for us the next day?

of course theyre tapped up. the clubs talk to their agents, the agents talk to the players. but because there are these agents involved acting as middle men it is well within the rules...hence why i am seriously considering turning my back on football.

I think this is exactly the sort of thing we need to do! Either that or instead of going for the usual 4 year deal which lets face it it primarily in the best interests of the player in most cases, why not go for a 4year deal but add on the extra 2 year bit as an option right at the start.. So a 4 year with a 2 year extension in the clubs favour/discretion or if the player is not happy at that point we still activate the 2 year extension but he has the right to leave if the right bid comes in? Something has to break as it is now happening every single season & it is the primary reason we havn't acheived top 4 in my opinion.. absolutely. player and agent power is dominating the game at the moment and its about time someone stood up to it. what my biggest gripe is, is there is no rule regarding clubs speaking to agents about buying players. liverpool or whoever cannot speak to downing directly but they can contact his agent. hes been tapped up...plain and simple and whether it's directly or indirectly doesnt make it any less so. but the worst part about it is that its well within the rules of the game. it may mean losing out on the £20m or so we will get for him but i say stick 2 fingers up at him and his snake of an agent and make him stay for the next 2 years.

anyone know anywhere decent to drink apart from the drayton park outside the away end? you can never get served there and the police generally stop the pub and the off license next door serving once a hint of singing starts

considering we are safe, is there a case for us almost not being bothered with a loss to wigan as it would hurt blues' relegation fight?