Happy Face

Reginald D Hunter at the Tyne theatre tonight. Wonder if he's as good scripted as he is on the panel shows.

Must establish and apply a policy to tackle racism and discrimination in football in line with UEFA’s 10-point plan on racism as defined in the UEFA Safety and Security Regulation. Scousers in trouble.

Spotifying the new Ting Tings album because the Independent gave it 5 stars and reckon These 10 tracks are a masterclass in modern pop creation, pinballing from style to style. One moment they're riding the itchy electro twitch of "One by One", the next they're in lilting folk-rock mode for "Day to Day". On a completely different tack, the chimes and drum tattoo of "Hit Me Down Sonny" carry a deadpan rap like a skipping-song, while elsewhere "Soul Killing" relies on a creaking-chair effect as the subliminal cement binding its loping ska skank together. Indeed, Jules de Martino and Katie White have such wide-ranging musical taste, yet occupy none of the usual niche genres. While the Fly said 1 out of 10 Altogether, it's an insipid assault of dribbly, sub-Billie Piper pop sludge.

Villa were particularly pleased to grow their commercial revenue by more than £2 million to almost £17 million. Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2012/02/29/aston-villa-we-are-tackling-record-54m-loss-97319-30429031/2/#ixzz1nlwv1qUp Their commercial revenue on the up almost 15%, despite the talk of stagnation earlier in the thread.

No idea. Where have I said what ours is? I was wrong in my earlier post. Different sources reporting different things... In the year in which Villa’s major dealings were selling James Milner and breaking their transfer record to sign Darren Bent, the club spent £32.4 million on players, but recouped £18.8m. This period also included the captures of Stephen Ireland and Jean Makoun. The figures released yesterday do not include income from last summer’s sales of Stewart Downing and Ashley Young which are believed to have generated more than £35 million for Villa, nor the purchases of Charles N’Zogbia, Shay Given and Alan Hutton. Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2012/02/29/aston-villa-we-are-tackling-record-54m-loss-97319-30429031/2/#ixzz1nlwKT5vP

Includes £37 million raised through the sales of Stewart Downing to Liverpool and Ashley Young to Man U And £12m to pay off Houllier and his staff

"Pop" is a fizzy soft drink. It's why panda pop is called panda pop. That's not just sold in the north of England. "Juice" is a non-fizzy soft drink "soft drink" doesn't go to that level of granularity. "Mums buy crap pop don't they? eh? 'Rola cola?' What the 'ecks al tharabowt?"

Who sang Tommy?

Don't want to repeat what's in the debt thread, but just wanted to refer back to Stevie's post on forecasted figures here. Villa have announced revenue of £92m. 1.2% up on last year, despite crowds being down 12%.

Al Jazeera English is, but that's just the news channel. They have 2 free to air stations and 8 pay per view, one of which is HD.

Good lad. It's to your credit.

WOLVES’ profits plunged by almost £7 million during the club’s Premier League relegation fight. The team managed to secure safety on the final day of the last campaign. But latest accounts for the financial year ending on May 31, 2011, showed a pre-tax profit of just £2.2 million after player trading and net interest charges, compared to over £9million the previous year. The club revealed that operating costs had increased significantly from £29.8 million in 2009/10 to £37.9 million because of rocketing players’ wages. Turnover increased to £64.6million compared to £60.4million because of a new three-year television deal. Wolves CEO Jez Moxey said: “These are solid results which reflect the club’s financial health. We are committed to running the club on a firm financial footing, while constantly investing in the first team.” He said that continued infrastructure investment was also aimed at first-team success. Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/02/29/latest-accounts-reveal-wolves-profits-plunge-by-7m-during-premier-league-relegation-battle-97319-30427528/#ixzz1nliOfB8F

Yeah they would, I've seen their coverage before it's like the old Tyne Tees Match, programme starts 5 minutes before kick off and straight to the game. In studio experts and all that shite Fantastic. Much better than watching Phil Neville for an hour. That should be saved for FA cup day, keep it special.

I'm sure they'd sort it out if they'd spent £2bn on the UK rights

The Al Jazeera package is retailed at a price of about $70, or €50, per year Allahu Akbar

Premier League – Al Jazeera set to take on Sky for football rights Premier League clubs could be in for another massive television cash windfall with a serious challenge to Sky’s domination of top-flight domestic TV coverage by Al Jazeera now a “realistic prospect”, according to the European head of ESPN. The possibility of the Qatar-owned broadcaster going head to head with Sky has been speculated on ever since it beat Canal Plus to the French Ligue 1 and Champions League rights. The spin-off of a bidding war for the clubs could be a lot more cash for the 2013-16 domestic rights – the current three-year deal is already worth £1.782billion. Ross Hair, head of ESPN for Europe, Middle East and Africa, believes Al Jazeera are likely to challenge Sky. He told the Evening Standard: “We’re expecting another Premier League auction in April or May. An Al Jazeera bid is a realistic prospect.” He added: “They have done something very interesting in France in buying first division football against the incumbent satellite broadcaster Canal Plus and we’ve also looked at what they’ve done in other markets. “You can draw parallels with the upcoming auction in the UK. Al Jazeera have the ambition to grow further in sport and into other markets.” ESPN are also set to bid as they are desperate to retain their foothold in the Premier League market – they currently show 23 live matches a season. Premier League football has been the driving force of Sky’s satellite TV success in the UK but they have not had a challenger of such potential threat before. The financial muscle of Qatar has seen Al Jazeera become a major player in football rights, a process that accelerated when the Middle Eastern country won the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

I know, I think it's fine for the non NUFC audience, but if you're going to be "the man in the North East" then, for example, most of us would not marvel at Krul adapting better than De Gea....because Krul has lived and trained and played in English football for 5 years before making the number 1 jersey his own. He had a lot less adapting to do this season. You're asking for reviews from a picky audience

I didn't want to say it, but aye, that. "Where did it all go wrong?" then no mention of Keegan, Kinnear, Shearer, Ashley, llambias, Wise or at a lower level Milner or Xisco.

Example? Cabaye is better and younger than Nolan Both BA and Cisse were cheaper and are better than Carroll Tiote is better than any cdm in recent history and cost relative peanuts. Colo cost a lot less than the previous lot spunked on Boumsong Some people love to get hung up on negatives, which I agree there have been plenty but this is the best side in ages I thought you meant we were replacing players with New ones with all 3 attributes. Just because someone is younger and/or cheaper doesn't make them a good signing. And your point seems to be that being better alone isn't necessarily good if they're older or cost more. There isn't an example of any replacement with all 3 attributes though. Not me being negative. Just keeping the hyperbole in check

Class. Not sure about that tablecloth mind. That tweet was ten to midnight the night before the game...and they were both shite the next day. I tweeted Ba to get to bed at the time, the bellend.

Not sure about that. We're led to believe he'd gone upstairs on deadline day and said he'd like to stay if we'd pay him what Liverpool were offering. We said we wouldn't do that and if he didn't like it he'd have to put in a transfer request cos we wouldn't sell him otherwise. The transfer request came from the player, not the club. You honestly believe that the club had any intention of keeping him after Liverpool offered silly money? Not at all. But I don't believe Carroll would have put in a transfer request if it wasn't about his salary either. The transfer fee made no difference to him.

Not sure about that. We're led to believe he'd gone upstairs on deadline day and said he'd like to stay if we'd pay him what Liverpool were offering. We said we wouldn't do that and if he didn't like it he'd have to put in a transfer request cos we wouldn't sell him otherwise. The transfer request came from the player, not the club.

add Colo into that and you've got it. All gone in the next 12-18 months because we won't pay what the likes of Spurs can/are willing to pay them. Thats NUFC with 12-14k more fans than Spurs every home game. I understand we've been losing money for half a decade or more but that has stopped. Now is the time to speculate. As has been well documented on here Spurs' turnover dwarfs our own and it used to be the other way around. We need to grow as a business but I don't think Ashley is interested when this is a once in a decade chance to really go for the top. Shame. Haven't four out of that five signed deals within the last year? Hadn't Carroll signed a deal within 3 months of being sold?

Example?

Cisse has one third of the goals of ANY Liverpool player tbf