John Boy Saint

This I think is the key, Palace have their tails up and are stringing a few results together and look capable (with the odd wobble in the mix too). Ralph has had the lads for 10 days training, I am guessing they will be like coiled springs for this game. As you say the results of Ralphs training time with them has been impressive. Take the Arsenal game he had the players a week and a few days, sitting in the stadium after 10 minutes into that game against a side unbeaten in 23, my thoughts were, blimey can they keep this up for 90 minutes, by full time my thoughts were how has he managed to change the players and still have the same names on the back of the shirts. That's not getting carried away just noting that things have changed and those on the pitch look hungry for it again. Both Palace and Burnley are teams very capable of poking a stick in the Saints spokes..........but I am eager once more to get in the ground and the game to kick off, the uncertainty of result adds to the fun. And the possibility, and expectancy, of defeat is less than it was before Ralph walked into the building.

You’re right.........flatulence of the grey matter!!

BT Sport trying to whip up a storm in a tea cup. City had a second goal chalked off because the referee, having awarded city a free kick, did what refs have done for years and years; showed KdB the whistle and said wait for the whistle. As the ref trotted away over to position himself on the far side of the penalty box (away from his assistant on the line), KdB just took the free kick and city scored with ease against a static Toon defence obviously waiting for the whistle, it was instantly disallowed. Ref went back to KdB and booked him for basically disobeying the refs instructions. Hargreaves and Jenus thought it was stupid of the ref, having a pop at Graham Poll the guest ref who said the ref was right, those two clowns started carping it was a stupid rule that needs changing.......pillocks! Guardiola showed them up as chumps in his post match interview, asked what he thought about KdB getting booked for taking the free kick early. He just said “what was that, I didn’t notice” voice off screen filled him in on events, and he pretty much said “whatever!”. Sorry lads Liverpool aren’t going to win the league, because KdB chose to ignore the instruction to “wait for my whistle” from the ref on a chilly night on Tyneside.

25 seconds and all Newcastles planning goes down the toilet

OMG its snowing just outside the metropolis of North Hampshire...... will the game go ahead??????!!!!!!?????!!!!:scared:

As was pointed out by Glen in the League 1 minus 10 blog, Valery does have a “I don’t give **** who you are” (probably spent too much time with Jack Stephens] watching the Chelsea and Leicester games, Hazard got minuscule change out of him all night, and respected the fact. Chilwell for Leicester was getting pretty hacked off with him, probably relived when immaturity saw Valery using up all the hot water in the showers first. Unlike others I think Gallagher has got it, he just needs a spin in the team. Hopefully if we keep going as we have of late under Ralph the time will come for him to get a proper go. Obsfemi, like I said elsewhere I think might he be getting a bit of intense conditioning, hence the Hamstring seemingly taking an age to mend.....Think he has got what it takes, with the right polishing he could be a devastating player in the new set up.

Mrs JBS was watching their game v Spurs, mid way through the second as I came to have a look at what was going on Zaha had just failed to make a pass. She pipes up “I can’t see what all the fuss with him is about” “he has telegraphed just about everything he has done this afternoon”.

How's your stand up career going?!!!

Think that was no home game for a month or so due to the West Ham Home and away being switched due to Athletics at the taxi payer arena. Best get the garden tools sharpened and golf clubs polished to make good use of the likely spare time.

Didn’t the money come from a loan against his own wealth to buy the 80%, sourced in Macau and channelled via Hong Kong to avoid the block the Chinese government put on rich Chinese businessmen to stop so much money vanishing overseas and not invested in China. The country that was allowing these guys to play on a long leash, as having a third party make money to re-invest in the state was far cheaper and effective than the state doing it themselves. Money and status does not buy you a get out of jail card in China like it can elsewhere (actually its quite good PR to nick one or two now and again), the state never has its finger far away from the leash retract button all the time. Sourcing a loan in Macau seems colourful in itself, from a part government owned bank he might be getting a little.tug on his leash. “Mr Gao” “about this outstanding loan” “we would like to see a meaningful amount repaid”. The Chinese hate to lose face, owning a foreign business the face loss here is greater than losing it at home as that’s reflected on the state. He is of an age to consider retirement, so cashing in a few chips is neither here nor there. Of course he could be pulling a Man City on FFP, by purchasing Platinum season ticket for himself, and pre match on Wednesday night, he unveils the return of Gareth Bale!!

Funny Old Game. That’ll put some welcome penny’s in their coffers. Watched the Bury v Lincoln game tonight - they were saying that when Lincoln got to the quarter finals a few years back the money they made from going that far paid for an impressive new training ground.

Was that Optica the bug eyed funny looking thing built at Sarum?

I have a funny feeling with Obafemis protracted recovery, that following Ralphs comments about him needing to be more professional about himself, that he is going through a conditioning process behind closed doors. Anyone who has watched him knows he has impressive pace, Ralph also seems very keen having him in the team because of it. So as well as well as making sure the hamstring is cured they are conditioning him to make sure it doesn't go again, and knock a few cheeky kilos off at the same time..........probably as a result of Ralphs back creaking when picking him up at Huddersfield. Just a thought, not a statement of fact. Think Charlie Austin covered the £4m outlay with that winning goal up at Old Trafford

Indeed very good, been around a bit and far play to him.

What does it matter, we don't have a game this weekend, we are not on the verge of buying Carlos Fandango from under the nose of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Liverpool. So its a quiet board at the moment, just a shame that such a tragic event has spawned such a fascinating thread, both educational and informative, featuring some excellent commentators who know their onions. Just think of it as the last day of the school term from many years ago and you have been allowed to bring your toys in: and stop living up to your user name

That just made me think of my first flight between Guernsey and Jerrsey on “The Little Yellow Plane” off we went out to the plane and were loaded 2 by 2, sat there waiting for the pilot, all of a sudden doors opened and people were shuffled about into different seats, doors shut again. Drivers door opens and in pops the pilot, has a quick fiddle about, turns around casually leans over the back of his seat looking like he is about to share a bag of boiled sweets and says, “Sorry about having to move you about Ladies and Gentlemen” “but if they had read my mind rather than what I had written down, we wouldn’t have had to mess about......right let’s go!”.

Targetts injury didn’t look too clever on Saturday, seemed to be in quite a bit of distress when he first sat down on the pitch.

Just read that via FB - it’s not until you read it that you think “no that can’t be right” ........ damning that it is!

........and a bloody great big one at that!

Blimey you were lucky that you were able to make that observation, I still had the evacuation film in my head, with the worry that if owt goes wrong, the pilot will be on his toes and gone, leaving me on my own to push the canopy further back, unstrap myself, bail, and pull the D ring, all before I hit the deck!! Talking of old crates, remember being on my first package holiday trip on a Boeing 707, folks were stuffing tissues in the cabin wall joints to block the draft whistling through them. Got to say though, reading Derrys findings i would feel a bit uneasy getting on a 34 year old single engine plane in winter, in the dark, and flying over that expanse of water.

In the meet the Ralph’s thing the other evening, it was said that both would be looked at when their loans are up in the summer. If Ralph can tame Boufals immaturity or temperament, he is the kind of player who fits the style of play. Carrillo I don’t think is quick enough.

I was sat on a 747 out of an icy Toronto Jan 1983, the stewardess was handing out the papers and as it was before back of the seat inflight entertainment. I took a copy of the Toronto Star as it looked thick enough to keep me quiet while waiting for the big inflight film to come on (Rocky 3). As I meandered through it there was a full page article about that flight and the volcanic dust all in sensational detail perfect reading at 35,000 feet!! - I should have turned the page but morbid curiosity got the better of me to read on. It was first time I had been that far in a plane and was aware of the route home up over the North Atlantic, also knowing that if we survived ditching in the sea we were likely to be done for by the cold within minutes. I thought they got lower than 17,000 feet as I remember a comment about being able to see the moon glinting on the waves as the engines fired back up...........journalists always sprinkle a bit of license on stuff.

Given that they are "company"assets they will be insured in some way. Shocking news though

You certainly don’t hear much about him, and Villa are one of those clubs the media like and will readily talk about (unless they have to due to our future King being a fan). But again any suggestion that he CDAJFU, is madness. Whilst he was fast and ran like he was slightly out of control bamboozling many defenders, do we really want another player to take up a squad number who could break again at any moment. Whilst cruciate ligament repair is impressive these days, that they have had it done is always in the back of a players mind. J-Rod was never really the same after his, Danny Ings whilst dynamic and darting in and around the box, you have to wonder if having suffered the same whether the regular hamstring niggles are down to compensating for it and trying to alleviate triggering it happening again, likewise Austin widely reported that WH wouldn’t touch him because his knees were shot, has missed games with us because his hamstring has issues. Even thinking about this bloke coming to us is madness, I would far rather have a nipper out of the academy improving on the job than a player operating at 85% of his previous ability and possibly missing a third of games laying on the treatment table.

Might be a mentality test by the boss, knows Gallagher is in his thoughts, but wants to see Sims as he is a stranger.