PaddockLad

No point in begging him to stay (or suggesting he'd be financially better off if he moved in the summer) then kicking him in the bollocks by stripping him of the captaincy. That would be self defeating after getting him to stay. As I said, he's hardly the first player to try to force a move through at this time of year.

Wonder what the figures are for the whole of the league?....what percentage of revenue is broadcasting for a club like Wigan?....

Colo's only fuck up is with the club he wanted to join....we would have broken his contract for him if the deal was right. He's basically thrown a transfer request in so he's not entitled to get his contract paid up; so a club willing to pay 5-7 million say for a 31 year old would have had their hands taken off in NUFC's efforts to get him off their books. Players adjitating for a move are quite common tbh but the finances involved with SL always meant it was a non starter.

Trouble is a we need a fit, motivated Colo. Then completly fuck him over in the summer for having the temerity to try to walk out in us mid season.

Gloom is right about his passing ability being comparable to Hoddle, but its also right to say he was nowhere near as offensive, probably played 10 yards further back on the park than Hoddle which changes your passing options in general, but you've still got to find a player and that was something Bracewell almost always did, quite often seeking out Scott Sellars on the left. Lack of pace left him short of true top quality even at his peak for Everton and he had horrendous luck with injuries. Its a sign of the times that with a bit of pace he'd be marked down by the media as a future England captain if he was 21 in 2013. Look at his peer group and compare it to the paucity of talent nowadays among young English midfileders...obviously Hoddle,Bryan Robson, his teamates Kevin Richardson and Peter Reid, Paul Davis at Arsenal was another criminally underrated player, Ray Wilkins was still around and probably got his gig in Mexico in 86 as Gloom mentioned,Steve McMahon, Gazza and David Platt were beginning to come through. Not a lot of those types around nowadays.

I thought there wasn't a release date for the surface pro in this country? They're only just releasing the RT version in most of Europe next month...good point on the warranty though. The Hp envy is mentioned in the comments on the blog about battery life I linked...hmmm....

That scene was shot in a dry dock 50 yards from the office I work from at Portsmouth Dockyard. Crowe nipped out for a bike ride during a break in filming one day and was rude as fuck to everyone he met, which I quite admired in a strange way Not going to bother with the film. Musicals smchmuziacals Saw The Hobbit last night accompanied by the worst behaved cinema audience I've ever had the misfortune of being sat with. The tosser next to me discussed with his missus which tv programs the various dwarves had previously appeared in, all in his normal speaking voice. I was going to say something but I think he may have been a bit disturbed in general and didnt want to be seen to be picking on the afflicted. The noise of other people eating fucking sweets and just generally having no basic cinema ettiquette was equally bad. Bah humbug. The film wasnt as good as the other 3, but canny enough. Gollum remains one of cinema's greatest ever character creations.

Hmm....think I may get someone going on holiday to get one for me. This is what am thinking.......the surface pro does seem a good bit of kit which wont need up grading (for my uses anyway) for a good while.

Murray loses the 2nd on a tie break after playing like a god for most of the set...then gets treated for blisters! We'll see if Murray can put it up to one of the greatest ever players now....cmon Andy!

Been reading up on it this week....its a bit of a minefield. Am not the most IT savvy character, but Mrs PL wants a purple Surface "cos they look cute in the advert" this was quite illuminating... http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2013/01/24/can-intel-based-windows-8-pro-tablets-ever-come-close-to-the-low-power-and-long-batteries-of-arm-based-devices.aspx

DHL packages are checked by customs?.... Does that mean there aren't any real techy drawbacks then?

Am being tempted by a Windows 8 pro surface tablet, which runs full windows 8 instead of the one available in this country at the moment which runs the rather more limited Windows RT. Theyre being released in the US on Feb 9th, but no news on any other countries at the moment. Sister in law is a yank so its not a problem getting one shipped across, only trouble is will it work properly in this country?...

True enough. Good post that, gets to the heart of what Ashley is trying to acheive here. We'll see. Looking forward to seeing how all the new lads play.

Hes trying to force a move to QPR....wouldnt touch him with a bargepole

Again, look at the clubs theyve joined. Am not saying its scientific. Bergkamp Overmars and Van Persie were brilliant players at the peak of their games with the right brilliant coach. Look at the level below manu and Arsenal over the years and theres not many that have gone on to better things eleswhere. Maybe its bollocks. But theres not many below the top level who spring to mind who have been even "ok". Andy van der Meyde went on the piss for 18 months at Everton Kuyt was another "English" Dutchman

Yeah, but look at the clubs they signed for.... theyve got better scouts and more money than the the likes of us also rans which makes a fuck up less likely. Van Nistlerooy wasnt a "Dutch footballer" anyway...his style of play was very,very English. Beckham on the other hand was a Dutch footballer though, lovely pass, couldnt tackle, graceful runner, nice hair

We can play 3 or something per tie if theyve played in the champions league already this season but theyre cup tied of theyve already played in the Europa. I think. There was something on this on .com but its gone now.

Djok 3-2 up, 1st set....the 6th game is phenomanol, break point Murray......Murray serves an ace, Djok appeals, fails. Murray breaks him after Djok plays some unbeleievable tennis in that game. Nailed on 5 sets this.

Is Bony short for Boneparte? What was that fuckin waster Boro signed from Heerenveen who looked like Gerd Muller in Holland but couldnt hit a barn door here?.... Am I right in saying that this is could be viewed as a sort of "rule of thumb"?.....strikers from the Dutch league are a bit diasppointing if they sign for English clubs?...Kezman springs to mind. Van Hoojdonk was a good player but a bit of a shitehoose as a person....any more?...

not really much colder than here at the moment Sergei....it was around freezing here most of last week... http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/706483 About as cold as it was when we played in Leverkusen a few years back

Gall bladder removal? See Howman, I can talk shop with the medics Dead clever me like etc etc.....

Fuckin hell At least 3 managers turmed that job down last summer when they found out what the player budget was. Randy Lerner shit himself financially 24 months ago and this is the result. Same as when Ashley shit himself financially.

Let us give thanks for being not being blessed with that particular affliction Davide

If doom and gloom means: a. seeing last season for what it was, during the season itself, leading to b. not being overly surprised at whats happened this season, especailly after correctly predicting that Ashley wouldnt strengthen the squad suffciently for a European season, which means c. not carrying on like a bigs girls blouse on here "wah! sack Pardew hes shit this season...btw forget all the good stuff I said about him and the club last season,pretty please" for the past 5 months Then I'm happy to be "doom and gloom"...

If you tell me its got the umbro diamonds on the sleeves am buying it.....always wanted a shirt with them, but by the time I could afford to buy one theyd dropped them from the design The Bukta one is a classic too, but the first game I saw at SJP they were wearing the umbro one....got to have it, which, lets face facts, is sad as fuck ....don't care!!