NJS

Sam's just been on SSN with his "stop Arsenal playing" mantra - I know it may be realistic but I'd love to ask him at what stage would he change. If he had Liverpool or Man U's present squad would he still approach games against who ever the best side is in the same way? If the answer is yes then I know he's the wrong man for the job.

I think on the last two albums he has been trying to extend himself a bit higher with mixed results - nothing wrong with testing yourself but I agree it was probably better in the past. He's probably paying the price for all the gigs they did when they were on the up - he never exactly holds back when singing live.

I remember that game, not only for their fans starting loads of trouble (luckilly i avoided any, though one fight broke out right next to me but i got away!) but also because Lou McCari being bitter at the stuffing they got was one of the first instigators of getting refs to never give Ginola anything by whingeing about him diving all the time. I'm not sayign he never overplayed things, but often he'd get the shit kicked out of him and be given no protection (Lee Dixon for Arsenal being the ultimate example) and McCari was the one who started it all. Which was made ironic by him being a very typical Man U cheat in his day. I knew about 5 groups of people who went that night - our car load was the only one which saw no bother - we were spawny gets of the highest order judging by all the stories. It was a classic case of a town full of village idiots going daft cos the "big team" were in town- I've been wanting a cup draw ever since.

I think Robson's initial run consisted more of performances like yesterdays - pissers - but you could see the players cared - I can't remember that many like the ones that have characterised this season like Reading, Pompey, SAFC and Liverpool - ones which looked "clueless" as has been said. I also think that it would have been interesting to see what would have happened at the end of 99/00 if we hadn't had the cup run because people just "forgot" about the league.

I know there are better "technical" vocalists than those in bands I like just as I know there are better "technical" guitar players. However its all about the the voice as part of the songs for me so I say Bono.

Dalglish? Ferguson? - not exactly charmers As has been said, unless Sam turns it around quickly and does well, the Shearer Spectre will still hang over him - its a pisser that its there but maybe we do have to get it out of the way then take stock after that (if it fails).

A few mackems realise that what Keane has done makes sense - they weren't going to able to sign mega-stars this summer so he spent a lot of money on building a squad with ordinary-ish players. If they stop up then they can build on that next summer. The problem now is that ironically the fans have bought into this "champions league with 5 years" shite. They haven't done at all badly this season and considering who they've played compared to who we have I'd say they have more "real" points. On Allardyce you also have to consider a few seasons where they he did struggle.

In my own mind I've always countered the argument that Shearer has no experience with comparisons with Keegan, Dalglish to a lesser extent because of his inheritance and lately Keane. I think all three have the character needed to be winners. That doesn't mean I don't think Sam does bus as others have suggested I've always felt he just didn't "suit" us. This view has now been augmented by exactly the points DK makes here - the bargepole factor and the fans backing factor both being huge. Maybe with the right coach it could actually work.

I'm 43 and have no kids - maybe 30 years left if I'm lucky so I consider myself unbiased which is why I do care about the medium/long term. On the whole I lean towards what KCG was suggestion and mirroring modern medicine instead of aggressively pursuing the policy at first we just don't try too hard when illness/disaster strikes.

An individual person's death is always a tragedy which I always have sympathy with but from a big picture pov - KCG is right - unless over-population is tacked the human race is doomed. Even a bird flu pandemic killing 50m wouldn't scratch the surface - we need to lose 2bn people as a starting point imo. I know I sound like a callous bastard but I honestly believe the quality of life for the people who "survive" the next 100 years demands action - there the ones I care about. Of course the problem is that unless theres a helping hand from mother nature (super volcano, asteroid, death of the jet stream etc) then a joint approach by all the worlds countries would be needed which isn't going to happen until we actually face something catastrophic. Even if every country in the EU introduced universal birth control, people would escape to pro-create and you couldn't legislate for the ignorant 3rd world religious countries. Our "best hope" in the long run is either catastrophic climate change, a virulent man made virus or planetary escape.

I know its a cliche but despite the loss its a shame it took such criticism to get a much better performance out of them. They have to realise that if they'd played the same way against Liverpool (and do next Wednesday) then people would have "accepted" the results.

I know I'm going to be called a fence sitter here but.... I very much agree with Gemmill about the matches - I have a season ticket but because of work hadn't been able to get to a game before the Liverpool game so I'd marked it down as my "debut" for the season. However when it came to arranging my plane or train I just realised that partly because I despise Liverpool and could only see a humiliation on the cards but mostly because continuing on from last year I just don't enjoy the trips enough for exactly the reasons stated I just couldn't go through with it. I'm now in two minds whether to do what I did a couple of years ago and sell my ST to a mate for his kid for the rest of the year. However having said that I also think some of the things Barton said are fucking stupid and having been here 5 minutes and been shit he has no right to say them. Its also bullshit to mention Parker, Jenas and Kluivert as they just don't support his case. If this was Nicky Butt or Shay saying these things then I think just about everyone would take it on the chin, hold their hands up and say fair enough - Barton isn't there yet imo.

Yeah part of me agrees but you're/we're propping up a sick regime. They are obviously using this woman as a pawn in a game where they are also playing directly with our goodwill so much like the "she should know the law" angle they must realise there will be a backlash which if it did cause suffering they would equally be responsible for in my view.

Recent studies of very small children show that their is a baseline evolved morality in all humans from very young. Simple things like being upset if you see someone suffering are pretty much genetic.

"Nature Vs Nurture" by Matt Ridley - I'd recommend it. Its very much a mixture of the two - a human is born with a genetic setup which needs certain influences to finish the job of "hard-wiring" the brain - those influences include all of the obvious factors like amount of love etc etc. Of course if there are genetic defects then that can affect the picture - just as the wrong kind of influences can affect a "perfect" child.

I think most people will see Arsenal as another write-off (though as you say lack of fight is a factor) but it will be the Brum and Derby matches where his fate is decided imo.

And maybe you shouldn't be so brainwashed by the NME. Ironically the NME are the epitome of the middle class media. I've heard about 4 Libertines songs and all the Babyshambles singles - a. they are all the same and b. they are all simplistic pop nonsense - I just don't get how he's supposed to be "talented".

Could and should have been 6 or 7 nil. Cast your mind back 14 days - could easily have lost by something approaching that many to a team who are now 3rd bottom.

It depends on who we get though... a bright young manager like dare I say it Roy Keane who gets players playing football with spirit despite their ability would do wonders - I don't mean get Keane himself - just saying its possible.

See how we get on against Brum, Fulham, Derby and Wigan first next month.

Managers have huge egos - a lot (especially of the kind we need) would say "bring it on".

There are too many bad signs imo. Selections, style, tactics, responses to the way games go, result expectations - eg draw at Derby would have been good. I agree with everybody who has said another change is ludicrous but using that as a reason not to get out of what will become a desperate situation when we are hammered by Blackburn an Arsenal is a worse alternative. Giving time is a good idea but going back to when we were pretty terrible under Bobby the one thing people had was genuine hope that the bloke would change it. There were the odd signs - a bit of football here, a dogged effort there, an occasional sparkling post-match interview - usually honest as fuck. I'd summarise my current feeling as a complete lack of that hope.

That's why its piss poor management which should have conseqences. If they don't want the mess they should be sacked or not promoted. If they think they are "too important" for security they should be chucked out of their buildings instantly. The "good" thing about this is that it might wake a few idiots up - though I'm doubtful.

Does that still stand with everybody having usb memory sticks now? No local drive access, no access to USB ports, no floppy and no CD/DVD is a good starting point. In fact with the price of flash rom, I'd expect business PCs within a couple of years have no HDs and run windows from memory - the HDs on our production PCs now do nothing but host/run the O/S.

I've said before that any so called professional outfit that is infected with a virus should have its IT manager sacked on the spot. Rule 2 in Neil's guide to IT professionalism - no non-home PC should have a CD/DVD writer. Ever. It really is basics.