Special K

Got a good feeling about today - we will win and score 3 goals in the process. (still ****ed from last night)

Took the family there weekend before last. The ice rink in the Markt is great fun and good value - under a fiver for as much time as you like. There were a couple of squares with the christmas market huts and the ones selling gluwein got a fair bit of my business! The boat trips were as popular as ever and, as Whitey recommends, are very good. We ate in a couple of restaurants in Sint Armandstraat (?) just off the main Markt - and the food was excellent, as was the beer. Tongerlo was wetting my whistle that weekend. Again, as WG says, it's so easy to wander around and navigate, the best way to see it is by Shanks's Pony.

Stoke have only broken through the £10m transfer mark twice, once with Crouchy and the other with Shaqiri. Arnautovic is turning into a very good player but they picked him up for £2m, so for every one of the players in that price band that comes good, there will be a dozen who fail miserably and every PL team has a clutch of those to parade around. Palace have broken £10m once and that was to buy Cabaye. They got him because Pardew had a good relationship with him at Newcastle and charmed him with the attraction of putting him at the centre of the team so he can improve his chance of playing in the Euro's this summer. It seems to be working for them and good luck to them for that. They also paid £7m for Connor Wickham (yet to score a goal ). Saints have broken that £10m barrier loads of times - Mane, Wanyama, Tadic, Lovren, Forster, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Long - all very good players who have made the team better and stronger. Therefore, we cannot be said to be buying on the cheap when compared to teams around us who are at our level. I don't see Stoke or Palace as stronger than us. They are on good runs and we are not. That is the short term difference. If there is a difference, it's that both Stoke and Palace have complete faith in their manager (both of whom have good PL experience, btw) and have a long term vision based on minor improvements every year. There will come a time when they cannot progress, but until that time, then happy days. We have risen swiftly which has served to elevate the expectations of the fans to unrealistic levels, with our players getting snapped up and one manager getting tempted away. Hence why there is a such a meltdown after a run of 3 losses out of 4 games! Ludicrous! IMHO, the players are not crap, the manager hasn't "lost it" and the board are not greedy/inept/unwilling to spend. Some fans are though.

He has a successful pass completion rate of over 82%, which not bad for a DF in the league, although Morgan's was nearer 90% last season. That's where Big Vic is "looking" weaker. Last season he would win the ball, followed by a simple pass to either CB or Morgan and we kept the ball more often. He doesn't have that this season, although it doesn't mean he is a bad player - he's doing what he's always done, but we haven't replaced Morgan with a player who is anything like as reliable. He's not a bad player at all, but he's having to find more this season and be more accountable and this will take time. I agree that he may not be good enough for a top 4 team though.

Let's hope the team are more up for the game than you bunch of moaning plums.

As much as a knee jerk this may seem, it really isn't. Far worse than Yoshida.

Caulker has been ****ing diabolical. Seriously abysmal.

Strange signing for me. The few times he has come on he offers no defensive solidity and has no attacking threat. I like the comparison some have made with Jermaine Wright, and I'd add he reminds me of Graham Potter who Souness signed back in the 90's. He looked like he didn't know what to do and so does this fella.

Poor fella plays so intermittently as it is, then he's put on against Man City away with very little match practice and he's castigated. He's a decent back up player and teams at our level in the PL don't have many decent back up defenders they can call upon. However, (assuming he was fit) it does highlight that Koeman appears to has no faith in Martina.

We seemed to do OK at Man Ure last season on a cold January evening.

IMHO it seems unnecessary and over the top. The respect shown on Tuesday was enough and was entirely relevant as the national team was playing the France national team. This just seems slightly desperate from the Premier League, almost as if they are just wanting to show that they "care" more than anything else. It's not wrong, but to me using domestic football matches to parade the Premier League's vanity is a bit false.

There is no doubting his appeal to a number of people, but along with others, I find him completely unfunny and his comedy routine very poor. I have tried and did spend time watching and/or listening to him, but had to give up as he irritates me and I find I just want to give him a good kicking.

You seem to have fallen into the old trap of assuming another posters opinion, Charlie. My statement affirms a belief that what is currently on offer from any political party does not inspire confidence in ability or a belief in progression. Nothing was said about principles.

I agree that the cuts are horrific, but there are still some "efficiency" savings that can be made. However, these will be nowhere near the shortfall they are going to have to make up. The Tories are playing silly buggers considering they have a clear run for the next term. Sold a few lies in the run up to the election and Cameron is doing his level best to make sure he keeps to his pledge that he won't be in charge come the next election. As UJ said, it's somewhat sad that there is no political party one can have any faith in.

Would make about as much difference as p!ssing in the sea. And if you are in charge of a business with a turnover in excess of £250m, you don't get a Chief Exec for £75k a year.

I once saw Terry Hurlock, dressed in a shell suit, by the Buttercross. Fact.

Does he live in Pompey?!?

I don't think Mane is a proper winger and is much more effective playing centrally or just behind a front man. I think LVG seems to play a fairly strict positional system at Utd and anyone who goes there as a winger will need to be a natural wide man. Mahrez would be more effective for them, or dare I say, Tadic.

Excellent result at a place we don't like too much. Saw the game out easily, could and should have had a few more goals, but seemed comfortable at about 90%. Continues an excellent run of results.

So, I guess a ****'s out the question then, love.

League of Gentlemen? You maybe thinking of Papa Lazarou - "You're my wife now, Dave!" -

I thought we defended brilliantly second half and saw out the game. No dramas and no need for noncing about. Certainly no need for meltdown about the second half performance.

I think it can only be a good thing. I remember poor old Justin Fashanu, disowned by his brother for being gay and vilified by the football "community", which may have contributed to his suicide. And Fowler, goading Le Saux for apparently being gay (plainly wasn't) because he read the Guardian and didn't spend his downtime looking at tits in the sun. The fact that no English footballers have felt able to come out is probably because they feel they can't because of the undercurrent of isolation they would probably feel, but in order for acceptance to progress, then someone will need to declare their homosexuality and should be supported. The positive impact on rugby with Gareth Thomas and Nigel Owens coming out has proved that it can help and I see no reason why the same couldn't happen in football.

They have plans to make permanent the Permitted Development right to turn vacant office buildings into residential accommodation (it was/is currently a temporary measure).Invariably the landlords have high price demands for the buildings and in any case they only lend themselves to apartments or maybe duplpex's if the design is right. It's a small step though and if they work they can be good. JB - there are some impressive developments - http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2015/10/12/first-uk-house-manufactured-totally-offsite/ is an example. The infrastructure still needs to be installed of course, but the process of house building can easily be improved. Germany and the Scandinavian countries also seem to have no problem with (flexible, efficient and quick) timber frame housing, which we traditionally seems to be shy of. I can understand why multi-storey timber frame isn't appropriate (site fires during construction are too commonplace) but for low rise houses, they aren't a problem.

Housing provision in the UK comes primarily from private developers alongside a smaller amount provided by HA's, LA's, etc. There are numerous hurdles that need to be addressed before anything can get built in this country, but from experience, the following list, albeit not exhaustive, may provide a flavour; Landowners expectations of values of land make a number of potential schemes not viable. Large Private Developers have no social conscience. They are happy to amass land banks if it is in their financial interest to do so. There is not enough social housing / affordable / shared ownership housing included on private developments. Private Developers want to minimise the number / commute off site / pay money instead, as social potentially dilutes private sale prices. Therefore they will fight this and often get their way. Planning departments and the system of planning approvals is archaic, time consuming and costly. The whole planning system need a serious overhaul if the ridiculous target of 1m new homes by 2020 is to ever be realised. There is not enough clout given to HA's in terms of financial flexibility and land purchase - this will only get worse with RtB. But equally, they can be dogmatic and difficult to deal with. Substantial increases in Building Regulations makes the cost of construction quite a bit more expensive, especially when LA's impose added "eco" targets. We still build houses in the same way we did 100 years ago. Although there is a small but impressive sector pushing for easier construction methods (they tend to be inspired by Germany), there is quite a bit of resistance to embracing this wholesale. We still need the infrastructure of course, but houses could be put up a lot quicker. The whole system of housing provision is far too fragmented. Too many parties to satisfy and for a consensus to be reached. And along the way, everyone wants their profit of course.