PaddockLad

Chelsea last season was colder than anything I experienced on the terracing, Derby as well the season before, same time of year between christmas and new year. Coldest I've ever been was at "that" game at Stevenage. There was terracing there in front of a temporary stand and we ended up being stood next to old Stevie Charlton...we were taking turns rubbing his hands together for him, fucker was near on turning blue.

I think Sir John Hall picked the Town Moor as he knew the reaction it would get, and that made planners let the SJP development go through. Stevie nails it about the increase in capacity. To me though its the passage of time from the Taylor Report. If you weren't brought up on the terraces you (mostly) don't have the "matchday ettiquette" that some of us older ones have. Hence some young shaver, no older than 18, swining punches at me at Brighton last month because I said Ben Arfa had been shite. Honestly, I couldnt fuckin beleive it. In the old days one of us wouldve moved a different part of the terrace. Changed days. Don't think we get the match-long racket of the Keegan years any more and I doubt that will return, mostly as I say due to a "changing of the guard" fan wise. Less old radigies, more fan boys. Many radgies priced out of it too.Shame.

There was a new stadium proposed I think, on the Town Moor, which had the "save a gay whale" brigade up in arms. It almost certainly guaranteed the large scale redevelopment of SJP that we see today. And a fuckin ludicrous scheme dreamt up by the local press about sharing a stadium with the tramps near Gateshead. To be fair the Chronicle sold a lot of papers that night. We're lucky in a way, we can still make an almighty racket and quite often do. I think thats much the same as the old days, but its all reaction to whats happening on the pitch nowadays. We often used to create huge atmospheres on the open Gallowgate just by our own sheer exuberance,pride and of course at NUFC our sense of (black) humour when things were going tits up. Which they invairiably did. We created better atmospheres than clubs with a lot more to celebrate at the time than we did too.

Who would replace him? Thats what I always ask gooners when they say he should go. Its a very short list of possible candidates. I cant decide if the stadium has held Arsenal back finacially despite what their board always says. I can't beleive Wenger virutally lost the plot overnight around 2006-07. What they did lose was, for me, 6, possibly even 7 world class players around then. Any side would struggle with that, but it does look as if he's been digging his heels in the last few years. Maybe it is time to go. But if they get the appointment wrong they may look back on finsihing 3rd and 4th as a golden era.

Gary McSwegan scoring in the European Cup semi finals.....when you think of some of the great teams who won the thing around then (Barca and Milan spring to mind) in a poor year you could get some "slightly more average teams" doing well. PSV Eindhoven and Porto both won it around the late 80s/early 90s. This is the period English clubs were banned and I think the Liverpool of Barnes and Beardsley wouldve won at least one too. Didnt Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade win it around then too? Half decent sides, but when you look at some of the sides who won it in the era before then as well (Villa and Forest??!!) it makes you think it was a very level playing field back then and a lot of clubs had a good chance, as long as you'd won your own league of course....

I think the Italian FA relegated Fiorentina about 3 divisions when they went tits up sometime in the last decade. Rangers new "derby" would be v Albion Rovers

The taxman's out for blood, becasue of the very example's you state above and their "protected" status as football clubs. Accrington and Aldershot are the only two that went tits up during the season and couldnt continue to fulfill their fixtures. But both their names lived on and the new clubs formed in those towns have both regained their league status. The "companies" may die but the clubs don't because theyre based on civic or regional identity and not a balance sheet. AFC Wimbledon are similar in a way but for different reasons. Reckon you're right about the taxman though. The only club I can think of in "recent" times who didnt come back is the Scottish club Third Lanark who went pop in the 60s and havent resurfaced. Clydebank FC now play in the Junior leagues in Glasgow. Maybe thats where Rangers will end up. Apparently theres a "Mr Big" in the wings waiting in the wings for this all to unravel and then he's going to bankroll them. Wouldnt hold my breath on that though.

Think you've captured his antics to a tee. No quite, he had 2 ribs removed on each side so he can give himself blowjobs.

Nowt to do with the fact he scored 0 in 28 games then. The mad thing is he scored 72 league goals in 3 seasons, came to the toon and couldn't even get one. Maybe he had other things on his mind? Am pretty sure thats right about him, I worked with his cousin in Edinburgh. He said Robertson's missus was playing away in Edinburgh, thats why they came down, new start and all all that. He reckoned she should be buried in a Y shaped cofffin.

Hearts shouldve won it in 86 too.For them not to win it on the last day they needed to be beaten at Dundee or somewhere and Celtic had to win by 5 goals, they beat St Mirren I think 6-1. Dodgy as fuck. Then Fergies Aberdeen beat them in the cup final the following week. Lots of Maroon scaves came out of closets that year. As bad a bunch of bandwagon jumping glory seekers as I've come across. We got their main man John Robertson in 88 and he was fuckin rubbish. And his wife was getting shagged by mackem waste of space John Kay which is why he left in a hurry. Allegedly.

Im sure they are hoping for HMRC to back down. As things stand the tax man would get nothing after other creditors got their share. I believe this is just a lever, to get the Tax man to settle for a much lower sum. Makes sense, although HMRC might rank ahead of unsecured creditors, I can't remember. Apparently in this situation the secured creditor is preferred, and thats Craig Whyte the chairman. I think the radio said the worst case scenario is that it does all go tits up but Whyte will just start a new club called Glasgow Rangers FC and start again. Thats what Leazes was on about I think. Even Aldershot and Accrington Stanley have come back into the lague eventually.

Shipped 10 goals in the last 2 league away games, with a cup defeat at the mighty Brighton the jam in that sandwich. We're currently abysmal away from home. Thats not good enough, even by the medicore standards I have for the club. Not trying to scaremonger but there are things to be addressed. Wolves will tell us a lot. If Tiote and Cabaye are back and form isnt better, then talk of the champions league will look even more stupid than it does now. We really are quite bog standard even with our first choice 11, the fullbacks in particular on Saturday were shiocking and we have little or no decent cover for them. Or anyone else for that matter.

Quite right Matt, too much Guinness yesterday has rotted the brain.

CT, you in this thread remind me of Alan Partrigde when he was questioned about music and said that his favourite band was Dire Straits.. "what's your favourite album?" " Dire Straits greatest hits" Last night was a blast in a way, lots of mags saying " aye 4 nowt on new years day at Southend was worse than this like..." We've been twatted like this before every season I've followed the club so am not too bothered. Only thing is we're away at Arsenal 2 weeks on Monday in the only game we've got before the mackems turn up. Pardew needs to have a word with himself and his defence. Not that the mackems will kill us with pace and we'll have Cabaye and Tiote back but still, he's getting it wrong away from home every fuckin time at the moment and it if it starts drifting in to our home form then the mackems will take full advantage.

I think he was suspended by the club, given community service by the magistrates, then the FA banned him for the start of the next season. He went home and very nearly didn't come back at the start of the next season for training, Fergie went to Paris to talk him round. He was "shown the way" by Fergie, set the right example if you like, advised to take his 3 rounds of punishment with good grace, which he did (eventually) ,with textbook leadership and management from Ferguson. Dalglish take note.

Lots of folk seeing Fergies comments and comparing yesterday with the Cantona incident. It has to be said that the morning after Cantona went into the crowd at Palace he was carpeted by Fergie and the clubs chairman Martin Edwards and suspended by his own club for the rest of the season. If Liverpool (and Chelsea for that matter ) had done the same when these racism allegations were made about their players then this affair might be over. Bottom line is if you are accused of breaking the law in company time as an employee you're not allowed to turn up the next day as if nothing has happened. You're suspended straight away. Fergie knew this and he acted accordingly. Dalglish has lost the plot on this by trying to create some sort of pathetic "us v them" thing and now is so far round the U bend with it he is swimming in a whole world of shit. Can't see his employers being impressed with that and if they still remain tight lipped on it and let him continue to drag the clubs name even further into the myre then they'd be making a huge mistake. Or maybe they want rid anyway after him spending 100mill ish on shite and want to give him enough rope to hang himself.

Sir Bob said in his book he thought the Wolves game was a nail in his SJP coffin. Good enough for me.

Are there any posts from this bell end about how great Steve Bruce is at this management gig and how his team will stuff NUFC etc etc....youd think they'd fuckin learn wouldn't you?...

No Ryan Taylor...(dons tin hat)....Ben Arfa to start on the right?!

Didnt know arry was Liverpool manager in 83, couldve swore that was Joe Fagan.....he was manager of Bournemouth though who put Man Utd out of the FA cup that year

If only Londoners saw themselves as the rest of the country does mate. They'll destroy him too if he's appointed and hings go tits up. Well, the half dozen of them who dont support West Ham will.

He's back the weekend after next according to physioroom....if 'arry's appointed what price a place in the squad if he gets a hatrick v Wigan or something like that before the end of the season?

Some stuff about Spurs for our new friend to chew over: Harrys window. 1st January:" extremely unlikely we will be doing any business in this window. I'lll stick with what I have" Deadline: Signs Louis Saha, Ryan Nelsen; makes loan bid for Mauro Zárate, Marseille claim an enormous bid for Loic Rémy; sells Roman Pavlyuchenko; loans out Sébastien Bassong, Stephen Pienaar, John Bostock and Vedran Corluka £27m: Public money now committed to keeping Spurs in Tottenham – £9m from Haringey council, plus £18m from Londons riot-recovery fund. £2.7bn: Tax-exile Spurs owner Joe Lewis's fortune, partly from currency trades in 1992 which helped push the pound out of the ERM and cost the Treasury £3.3bn. Spurs, controlled by offshore Enic, are "delighted by the mayor and the council … We always said we could only invest in this area if our commitment was supported by others From the Observer's "said and done" column.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/feb/01/featuresreviews.guardianreview24

As a rule of thumb anything by Simon Kuper about football is well worth reading. Hugh Macilvaney's collection of articles from his columns in the Times and the Observer is also worth a look. Bobby Charlton's (auto)biographies by Matt Lawton are surprisingly good, very detailed.