NJS

Had a look last night - loved the way "nice" photos were juxtaposed with flange - some of them pretty extreme. Also loved the way they blacked out blokes faces but obviously left lasses.

There was supposedly a game when we played Man U which was either the 0-1 in 96 or the 99 cup final when he firmly nailed his colours to the (wrong) mast on Sky Sports. Didn't see it myself but I've seen it referred to quite a few times.

One of the downsides of watching just about every episode of House this year is the hypocondria of all the weird diseases I'm convinced I have or could catch.

I've had a few rants in the past - now I just dismiss it pretty much out of hand - I honestly think I've heard enough of huge tracts of genres to know its unlikely I'll ever like them. That has become a lot easier in the last few years with radio/tv stations and even pubs/clubs which I know will "insulate" me from hearing anything mainstream or "different".

Unless I have a particular recent new issue, I like to use my Zen in random mode in order to "dig up" things I havem't listended to for ages - this sometimes then leads to focusing on that band for a few days or at home.

Soz didn't meant to offend - sometime I just think people like to boast how wide their tastes are whereas I know what I like and stick to it. Did you buy all the "box ticking" stuff or did you download it out of interest? - one of the underused arguments for illegal downloading is the "check out other genres" one which I have certainly done in a limited way. When I said "guitar" I meant in context - I know there are people like George Benson and others like those you mention who are technically brilliant but in the context of jazz/funk/soul it does nothing for me.

I have enough trouble getting through stuff I like - I'm not interested in stuff I know I won't. I know there are people who pride themselves on eclectic music taste but I'm honest - I know I'm "narrow minded" in (mostly) only liking guitar based music but I'm not going to listen to shit just for prestige.

I have about 9000 songs over 50Gb - not a second of any ot those named.

Stephen Fry described it on room 101 as Aussie inflective speaking and I think he's right - I've worked with a few Aussies and they are the biggest culprits but I've noticed a lot of teens/early twenties in Essex/London doing it as well. An oldie but goldie from me is fuckers committing suicide on my train line - just got in two hours late.

150k x 150 Euros is 22.5m - not enough to fund them - even another 40m in STs wouldn't do it. I'd imagine that the money for wages comes from the same source as ours - TV rights. I'd also imagine that transfers are funded by loans Shepherd style - I'm open to correction on that though.

I know a lad who's an engineer for BA and they get all the reports on air crash causes - his consistent reply to what happened is always "shit maintenance" which isn't exactly comforting. He only ever flies BA.

There wouldn't be universal support - look at the fuckers who objected to the new ground. It's a pity Tyne & Wear was abolished - I would have loved the reaction if it had been mooted for all of those areas to pitch in. Edit - Of course the TWDC did facilitate the SOL but you aren't allowed to mention that.

One of the things that saddened me about the last visit to Barca was a load of these members who were invariably old trying to flog their unwanted match tickets to people outside the ground - why not just go to the game?

I can only assume that's what he thought he was doing in appointing Mort (he also knew fuck all about football, but didn't actually do that bad of a job), and then to a much lesser extent, Wise. Possibly but Allardyce said Mort made mistakes/delayed early on due to the learning curve. Wise was of course an utter fucking joke.

I think his admission that he didn't know anything about running a football club (proved by his praise of Kinnear in the same statement) was the most revealing/damning. If someone gave me a billion I'd certainly buy the club - but the first thing I'd do would be to appoint a Kenyon type person.

It's a strange one - if the mortgage pay-off clause hadn't existed and say he'd put a £100m in on players then I'd guess we'd have finished in a UEFA place with Keegan at least and everyone would love him. As it is if it does work out that we "come back stronger" from relegation then he'll still probably be hated.

Seems strange to me - you can't continually use the "I'm black and white" stance and then seem so eager to manage Sunderland imo - he'll be on a hiding to nothing with the fans as well. (And yes he is).

About the same as Moyes' new deal I think - of course you could argue that Moyes has already proved himself but Shearer would probably use the big name/ST sales argument.

Can't help thinking this was a frustrated response to Obama's call to common sense on the issue last week.

So for say £200m all in including a decent transfer kitty you could get a debt freee premiership club (assuming it works) with the 4th or 5th biggest turnover with the cliched "massive potential" - I still think it sounds like a bargain to the the right sort of person/people,

Sometimes I hate myself for being an optimist - if someone can actually buy the club for £80m with a £40m overdraft facility then that would surely leave someone with only a "modest" amount of money to get an absoilute bargain if they pump in enough for a quick promotion.

As long as they get someone who knows what they are doing to run it - even if that is you know who.

I'm struck by it being strange that he semingly talked to Shearer in "good faith" and then what- wakes up yesterday and says ah fuck it I can't be arsed anymore. He has demonstrated himself to be an impulsive arsehole but I think this tops the lot.

I meant that even if a sale took a while we'd still have time to do something - assuming its pre Ausust 31st of course. Another cynical view could be that as you say he's using a "sale" to avoid meeting Shearer's demands freeing him to go back to Kinnear (nice shout out in the piece) after Al has told him to fuck off.

Don;t understand the negativity here - did anyone really think he was going to invest/commit himsel? It doesn't mention what happens to the 100m loan but if if for a second he's writing that off as well then a price of 100m would allow someone plenty of room for major investment - even £200m would. As for Shearer he hasn't exactly got a job to go back to so apart from losing out on prep time I can't see a huge difference here. Remember when Keane took over the Mackems in August with a potful of cash he had enough time to buy enough to take them up.