pap

Didn't miss a point. Was giving my honest opinion on NA so people know where I stand.

You don't seem to love Saints very much at the moment.

So which Nationalist parties do you like then, Bazza?

You are precious, CB Fry. You narrow the debate by responding to the one part of my large post you felt you might have a chance with, then take your ball away when even that is explained to you. In a sense, you're right - there is no point debating with me, although not for the reasons you suggest. First, you're just not interested in any opinion supporting the new setup. More importantly, it's academic. MP will oversee more games for us, while Nige will get another job. Both sets of events are going to offer insight whether NA's sacking was an effective decision. So let's wait and see, shall we? In the meantime, I suggest you temporarily support Stoke. You seem to love them, and I can't see them shipping their manager anytime soon.

NA knew his job was done at the end of last season. By the end of this season, we'll know whether this post is accurate.

Swansea are a very well run team, specifically set up to survive the rigours of the managerial merry go round. If they win the League Cup final this year, they'll create a number of permanent Swansea fans, particularly around their own turf. The fact that you consider a Stoke a success says it all really. No harm to the club or its fans, but that team is set up to be grindingly effective for Premier League survival, to the exclusion of all else. We've had to endure a fair bit of scrutiny after the NA sacking, but that'll die down after a few results. Those poor bastards still have to be Stoke. Let's briefly touch on the rest of your post. Forest were billed as promotion candidates at the outset of last year. They ended up in a relegation battle. Leicester and Notts County were both mental enough to think Sven was the answer. Wrong. More examples? How's about Huddersfield, the perennial bridesmaid during Lee Clark's reign, or Cardiff under Jones? How's about the League One champions? New stadium, nicely bankrolled - a much better team than us according to their fans. All of this football lark seems to be a massive gamble, and in hindsight, that's exactly what it turns to be in a lot of cases. I don't get the sense that we're gambling. Some would immediately point to the MP appointment as evidence that we are, yet I'd disagree. To me, it looks like it could be a match made in heaven. We're a club that is known for producing young talent; MP brought 17 players through the youth side in four years at Espanyol. What part of this are people not getting?

I don't think we'll get a 45K stadium anytime soon, but I don't think a large stadium is impossible. It'll just take a while. Look around at the best supported clubs in the world, those that pull huge international audiences. That's been achieved on the back of a lot of things - goodwill tours, transfers that you might term as having a merchandising or national interest angle. Mostly though, it's all based on success. Now I'm not saying I necessarily want to attract Dutch and Scandinavian fans like da Reds do, but I do want us to fulfil our potential in our own city, and for the club to build on the respect it has for being a centre of footballing excellence. I know certain pundits are maximising the "neutrals will never support us again" article. They clearly don't remember the Dave Jones political football, where all the same things were said. Minutiae of recruitment decisions aside, Cortese has been correct in the overall plan so far. My honest opinion of NA is that I was never fully convinced of the "NA is a genius in the background" versus the cliche-replete press conferences that we got every week. The first acid test will involve Adkins ultimate destination. Champ or Prem. Personally, I don't think there is any Prem team that'll take a chance on him. I reserve the right to be wrong. By almost any other standard of employment held by anyone on this board, NA got a great severence. He did not get acknowledgement from the club, but then at the same time, he did get acknowledgement from almost everybody else in football and Cortese had to absorb all the "mental chairman jibes". Cortese isn't an idiot. If anyone thinks he is, I'll refer you to all the other sleeping giants that have managed similar bluster but none of the results. Notts County. Forest. Leicester. NA was clearly a top L1 manager and a great Champ manager (given the right resources). Never proved to be an effective Prem manager. Moreover, Nige knew his cards were up last season. PS ... On the scurrilous accusations toward the IT industry: yes, we get blaggers, but they are quickly sniffed out. The chasm between the stated abilities on their CVs and their actual abilities in practice becomes the stuff of legend. I genuinely welcome the influx of these chancers into our profession. They make us pros look so much better.

I'm asking the question for precisely that reason.

Across the board or confined to nationalists?

Which on overall performance, they have no business doing.

Soz, only just seen this. As an expert ( I play Football Manager ) I know a lot about this stuff. I think you can make changes to your squad in January. I do think we'll flog a load. Loads of aspiring Championship teams would love to get their hands on boys who've done the business. Many of our current 25 man squad might not be eligible (on account of signing for another team, etc). Going to be interesting to see who we let go as much as who we sign. Any guesses on highest profile casualty?

On one level, I really like Blair being a Middle East Peace ambassador. Has a real Ministry of Love feel about it.

No one in the establishment will have it, as Lord D points out. We've already had the US voice stern disapproval about our exit. The referendum will have a good chance of happening if the Tories win a majority, but no chance of actually succeeding. It's going ahead for the same reason the AV referendum was held. Put it out there, get it defeated and kick it into the long grass for another 40 years. This has been an ongoing issue since Maastricht. We have had numerous Parliaments headed by governments of different colours in that time. None has properly addressed the demand for an EU referendum. So now you have one. The only catch is that the Conservatives have to win the next General Election, and the referendum will most likely be rigged, even if the vote count is 100% correct. The powers that be don't want this, so you can't have this.

Yes, something that all major parties hid behind. The net result was broadly the same, except instead of having a clean break that the constitution would have provided, legislators ended up grafting Lisbon onto existing labyrinthine legislation. Thing is, Europe makes a lot of sense under certain systems of government. It's a good size for a self-sufficient planned economy. What we have is a gigantic capitalist market, which facilitates British companies to say "hallo, we'll move these good jobs to Poland" and Eastern Europeans to say "hello, we'll take those spare jobs in the UK". No harm to the Eastern Europeans - if I was in their position I'd do exactly the same. The executives that are literally moving our futures overseas? No time for them at all. The EU wasn't a bad idea in principle; a fraternity of old foes finding common cause to avoid future conflicts. These days, just seems like a handy mechanism for divide and rule across a continent and making sure everyone goes along with the financial scam.

I cited a likely win in the Scottish independence referendum as Dave's potential Falklands moment. Whatever else I find distasteful about this government, can't accuse them of lacking balls on big political gambles. Labour have to offer parity on this or they'll be destroyed.

Undoubtedly. Kills the UKIP split too. They will try and wriggle out of it afterward though.

It is merely out of respect for their coalition partners that they don't have the question now

Let me guess... After the general election, right?

Deleted. Poor taste.

If it is, he's obviously imagining me thinking about the same rosy future.

Excellent work. Certainly had plenty of practice!

It does allow a clean break, and letting your head rule the decision, probably the right thing to do. Realistically, are these boys ever going to grace the first team again? I don't even think the likes of Fox are safe. Basically, anyone that isn't first choice the first team or likely to get into the first team will be moved on. They might not all go this window, but they will go - and will be replaced.

The Afghanistan war is a load of balls. I bet that oil pipeline the Taleban said they couldn't have is there now.

Bob Paisley only ever managed one team.

Restore Adkins and whip Cortese up to Court Leet.