Happy Face

Tomorrow Just hit me that tinny temper is up for it Wines!

That rings a bell. Not sure when i saw it though. Unfortunately i don't know much about his act other than being a kid with a prostitute mother and saying "nigger" a lot.

IIRC Rupert Murdoch said while answering questions from the MPs that he was also closer to Gordon Brown than Blair, that their wives were friends. So even if they say they're friends, doesn't add up. Proper Mafia style.

Which Pryor would you recommend KSA because I tried That Nigger's Crazy when you were singing his praises on N-O and wasn't impressed. Think his best work was Moving. "Mission Idaho!"

To be fair, the Ossie article headline is "Ossie Ardiles fears a repeat of 20 years ago" Hardly team positive stuff

1:45 [Comment From LeeLee: ] Why do you put positive spin on everything, contrary to the feelings amongst fans? For example "Pardew will not walk away and is not a quitter" is just positive spin for "yes man" (as we all feared upon appointment)? 1:47 Lee Ryder: Hi Lee. In a nutshell, I don't. There were critical articles in the aftermath of the transfer deadline and also on Blog On The Tyne which has always done so in the last five years. As chief sports writer, the role also includes general reporting and generally, Pardew and the players will try to be positive, we can only report what they say from that sense. I don't think Pardew is a "yes man" and the days of managers like Clough and Ferguson ruling football clubs are out of date. Clubs are ran as a business now with business logic wrongly sometimes coming before football logic.

FFS, if it has even dawned on us mere mortals that it's unlikely that SD are paying for their advertising then surely the chief sports reporter should have caught on. I thought it was revealed that NUFC were paying for the SD signage to be put up, rather than the other way round. After all, it is entirely to benefit NUFC that we showcase the advertising space.[/Llambias]

Is it 8 goals from 16 starts in the prem then? I think it was Jonny that was questioning his consistency which i think might be a bit unfair. He's going to get a lot of games this season and a run in the side so we'll see if he can either keep his 1 in 2 ratio up or find some better form. He hasnt had a run in the side so its not fair to criticise his level of consistency just yet. The reason i focus on this is because clearly he is not the most talented of footballers so if he can become consistent in his performances it will be a great help. Just not consistently shite. Its 8 goals in 10 starts in the PL (3 sub appearances). He's usually subbed too so his goals to minutes ratio will be pretty good. Up there with Michael Owen's no doubt.

Aye...so if doubling your turnover in 12 months isn't enough to spend a bit on a much needed striker...what will it take?

That said...turnover should bounce back to higher than any of the 3 years before Ashley arrived in the next accounts.

Ebb!!! That pre-supposes there was a flow to follow, was a slippery slope and only was heading one way as the "profit" graph amply illustrates. The profit graph illustrates that Ashley's been lower 2 out of the 3 years in comparison. And that the total losses in the 3 years before he arrived were £50m (£2m + £15m + £33m) , while the total losses in the 3 years since were higher at £52.3m (£20m + £15.2m + £17.1m). If he'd maintained turnover at the same level as he inherited that wouldn't be a problem. I'd say it's been THAT slippery slope which is most illustrative. Profit can hit peaks and troughs year after year, based on big buys or sales. Turnover is a lot harder to quick fix.

It's only different in that you want to look at a snapshot that suits your argument (12th is better than 13th...woohoo!!) as opposed to a overall view (actually 12th is a peak for Ashley and 13th a disappointment before he arrived).

Link don't work for me added ".net"

Link don't work for me

I've drawn some pictures to show the trends and comparisons.... All I can credit Ashley with based on those so far is that he's steadied the nose diving losses.

In 07/08 we finished 12th. In 10/11 we finished 12th. So that’s debts up, attendances down and no progress at all on the pitch. So, based on facts not soothsaying.... no. Hold on cowboy, iirc, when he bought the club we had just finished 13th. The question was compared to when he bought it, not compared to his first full year in charge. (if I am wrong I will humbly apologise). Not sure how interesting the question is given how similar those one off positions are. Probably better to take an average position of the last 3 years before he arrived and compare to the average of the last 3 years. Single seasons can be close things with single points or goal difference losing or gaining several places.

I didn't say Hicks was anti-US, I believe parts of his cult-following here are. Let's be honest, you're going to find plenty of fans of Hicks from the UK are the type who think 9/11 was an inside job, Bush/Blair are war criminals worse than Saddam Hussein and so on, at least that's what I've experienced.I count myself as a fan of Hick's standup anyway, I just don't think he's the God of all comedy/politics. I certainly don't look to standups for political insight. I think those who just absolutely take the piss are funnier, like Brass Eye and Sasha Baron Cohen. Is it worrying that fucked up shit happens in the world? Yes, but it doesn't worry me in the slightest that Michael Macintyre isn't doing bits on Darfur and US war crimes in Iraq. You should check out Carlin's bit on voting in the US btw. You were harping on about the illusion of choice and he did some great stuff on that and corporate influence etc. I don't think there's much of an illusion of choice anymore tbh. Seen most of Carlin's later stuff. Worryin there's no-one like him about anymore

Mis-read the "anti-us" comment as "his anti-us" Soz.

How would that be illuminating and worrying, if it were true? You think there is a problem with political discourse because there aren't stand-up comics who have the same opinions of Obama and Cameron as you do? Hicks was a decent comic, when he went on political rants he forgot to be funny sometimes, something that George Carlin never did. Carlin would never attack individual polititians because he thought it was cheap and easy humour--he always attacked the political establishment as a whole, and never forgot to be funny about it. Perhaps that's why he was a lot more successful than Hicks. Hicks had a cult following in this country that probably had something to do with anti-US feeling that is quite common here in certain quarters. Anti-US? The title of the film should tell you that's not the case. He's a bloke who values the rights he benefits from as an American above most others. He argues for the RIGHT to burn a flag which so-called patriots that wrap themselves in the flag would have banned. That's the irony of the title. Clearly his view is most closely alligned with the constitution. He's the patriot. You don't think it's worrying that everything that raised Hick's ire 20 years ago still would in exactly the same way? Right up to Bush/Clinton being in the White House? You say anyone else doing this stuff would need to align with my views but that's not the case at all, if you can point to anyone giving an opposing view that would be fine. There is an abundance of political comedy. Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Colbert do a brilliant job regularly to a far wider audience than Hicks ever had. But it's a film about the art of stand-up, and it's a shame there's no political stand-up I'm aware of. I've heard Josie Long's Edinburgh show this year is quite angry about the coalition like.

Watching Dragons Den the other day and Peter Jones was bang on. He said he'd never seen a business start thriving after 5 years of deterioration. Anyone that thinks Ashley will start throwing money in once It's stabilized is daft, otherwise why stabilize it in the first place.

Is it 8 goals from 16 starts in the prem then? I think it was Jonny that was questioning his consistency which i think might be a bit unfair. He's going to get a lot of games this season and a run in the side so we'll see if he can either keep his 1 in 2 ratio up or find some better form. He hasnt had a run in the side so its not fair to criticise his level of consistency just yet. The reason i focus on this is because clearly he is not the most talented of footballers so if he can become consistent in his performances it will be a great help. Just not consistently shite. If so, then It's 5 from 2 and 3 from 14 innit.

Whatever happened to nobody but the manager talking to the press? Fucking idiots. Still, its certain to provide mmore entries for the compendium which has been running dry recently with their sensible policy of saying nowt.

the next set of accounts will show increased turnover simply on being a premier league team rather than championship. Probably higher than the relegation season too because the new tv deal kicked in.

Invictus solid enough, though it would lurch from exposition that stuck out like a sore thumb, to confused shifts in time where there's no raising of the stakes between group games and final. No context of the path to victory is given, it just lands in the final....which plays out pretty dull, as a sequence of penalties and drop goals without any insight as to how they overcame the odds...other than mandela really hoping they do. American - Bill Hicks story I think I preferred to imagine he came out of the womb drunk with a bine in his hand dressed in black and angry. Intresting though, the point made about his stand up being still on the money now, 20 years after death, more than anything anyone alive is doing, is illuminating and worrying. I've not seen a stand up with a routine on Obama or Cameron.