revolution saint

So slightly under 25% of teams who have finished 2nd in L1 have got promoted to the prem at some point - that's actually higher than I thought it would be.

To be honest you're obsessed with someone on the interweb. Dalek annoys me as well but 500 quid to prove a point? Bonkers.

There will always be an incomplete picture if you want one to be there. How could I prove otherwise? I can't prove something that doesn't exist. I'm playing devil's advocate here but the argument doesn't stand up.

That's an assumption though. My point was that based on ability I'd have him back and frankly ability is all any of us can comment on with any authority.

I notice everyone who has said no has mentioned his attitude and not his ability. I don't know the guy from Adam so I'm not in a position to judge him on his attitude and certainly not to call him a cvnt. I'd certainly like him involved because I think he's got talent for whatever reason I think it's unlikely though.

I've got to be honest this forum is very polarised and from my perspective it does seem as if a negative opinion is jumped on quicker but that's also human nature - it's very hard to criticise a positive assessment and mostly because we all want to believe it. There are a few obvious WUMS - personally I don't think hypo is one of them and he is at least consistent. Sometimes he's wrong and sometimes it's just a difference of opinion but to be fair to him he's been called a **** today purely on the basis that initially he hasn't w*nked himself dry over the prospect of signing a CB that none of us really know much about. I'm not sure that being negative always equates to having preordained opinions or being agenda driven. Personally I wasn't that bothered about Fontaine - he sounded OK but I wouldn't have expected a world beater.

To be fair I don't think many of us can make a too detailed assessment of most NPC players. I think Maynard's good but 6M worth, probably not. The other thing to remember is NPC strikers are quite hit and miss - the game is littered with ones who have had a decent season and then not lived up to their earlier promise. I'd also rather not pay a premium just because the player is based in England. There must be some very, very good players around for half as much as Maynard is supposed to be worth. Imagine what 4M abroad would get you?

Hard to judge really without seeing them play a few games but on the face of it I think Fontaine might improve us - not sure to what extent though. Less sure about Waghorn, and doesn't obviously fit into the category of "better than we already have" but you never can tell. Shane Long wasn't exactly prolific before last season. I think I'd be "whelmed" if we signed either. FWIW I think the Waghorn rumour might be agents trying to drum up interest in a player that wants to move.

I find it quite interesting although I'm not sure why. I guess it's because they seemed bad signings and did have a bit of hype around them, as well as money spent on them. Take Pulis - didn't he cost 250K? That's the price of a reasonable house, now I'm not saying I'd rather a modest two up two down played in midfield instead of Pulis but.......well actually I am suggesting that.

I voted Cork, but it's hard picking a stand out clear winner. I just think Cork has taken us to a new level and enables us to play the way NA wants us to play. He wins the ball, keeps it moving and can spot a good pass as well - I'm hard pressed to think of a better CM we've had in years and bargain of the season so far.

Average wage is a bit of a distraction to be honest and doesn't tell the true story. I remember reading back when the average wage was 22K that if you actually earnt that you were in the top 10% of the earning population - just shows how the relatively small number of very big earners skew the average wage figure.

Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter Beatles - Norwegian Wood Billy Bragg - Price I pay Any of Bach's solo cello concertos The Jam - Funeral Pyre Book - 1984

No way! Wow you're just full of surprises

Mystic River definitely bears up to reading after seeing the film - I thought the film was excellent but the book gives much more layers to the characters. The Kenzie/Gennaro books are just as good and well written IMO much better than any other American crime writer out there at the moment.

I think I must have read virtually every Sven Hassel book when I was younger. I read "Legion of the damned" when I was nine and started from there until I was about 12. Amazing really that I was allowed to read that type of stuff at that age but I did and loved them. A friend of mine was banned from reading them so I had to smuggle them to him. I think the thing that stood out for me besides the obvious blood thirsty nature of the books was the camerarderie of the characters - they were mates in the same way our little gang at school were mates. Probably not the most wholesome reading material for pre-teens though. All good fun and I've often wondered what it would be like to read them again.

He lived in Blackfield and went to Hardley school as well.

Well I suppose it's Palace but even that's a fabricated fake rival. Have to be honest though, the interweb is making rivaly boring - a few keyboard warriors wind up some gullible people. Big deal - all it proves is every club has it's fair share of stupid supporters, us included.

Have to say I came close to turning the radio off, sometimes ignorance is bliss.

You're obviously right about paying over the odds for potential - you only have to look at Henderson, Jones and of course Chamberlain to see that. It is of course dependant on them fulfilling that potential to get your money's worth though and there have been plenty that fall by the wayside. Michael Chopra went to Sunderland relatively young and with a good record in the championship - in the premiership he proved that he's probably only good for the championship. I think fans as well as managers get blinded by valuations - the higher it is the better the player must be. Doesn't always work like that though. Just because Rodriguez is worth 6m to Burnley doesn't mean he's worth it to us, and if they raised it to 7m it wouldn't suddenly make him a better player either. Ultimately it's got to come down to individual assessments of the player and how he would fit into the team. If Nigel wants him and thinks he's worth it then fine - I won't be complaining. However, personally based on what I've seen I struggle to see what extra he brings to the team. No doubt a good player but what we lack is a pacy forward and not someone who likes to drop off a bit. The team has shown that it can find space and spot good passes but I reckon they'd be even better with someone with enough speed to beat a defence. Also would give the midfield a bit more space. I know pace isn't everything (Jonno Quick etc) but for the money being bandied around for Rodriguez I'd have thought you could get someone with pace, skill and a good finisher.

Personally I find Dennis Lehane's books are very good. I read Mystic River and then the Kenzie & Gennaro series. He's got a good pedigree as well having written a few "Wire" episodes. Oh and also Shutter Island which was a bit of a departure for him but a much better book than the film.

Not sure, think they stopped because they got done a few times for allowing alcohol on the coaches.

I remember doing a few travel club coach trips in the early 90's - boring as hell. One trip up to Anfield was back to back "one foot in the grave" videos. Never, ever had time for a beer before the game either. Went on a few Eastside Travel coaches which were much more fun though and a good laugh - always sorted out a pre-match pub for us as well. I won six cases of lager in a raffle on a trip up to Leeds once. Also got Bobby Stokes as an after dinner speaker for a game up at Newcastle which was a bit special.

It's all about opinions and you both could be right. I watched the extended Burnley v Burton highlights and have to say that he looked much more of a Teddy Sheringham player and more comfortable dropping a bit deeper though. Kind of the role that Lambert does for us now. Who knows though? You can never really judge a player untill you've seen him a fair few times live.

To be fair he didn't get much of a chance and a lot of the time Wolves were only playing one up front which made it harder for him. Strange one for me - I've always wanted to see us break our transfer record especially on a striker but I'm not quite sure what Rodriguez brings to the team. He doesn't have the blinding pace we're missing, he doesn't seem to have the vision or trickery of, say, Lallana either. He's got a decent scoring record but even YouTube doesn't make him look that great. If you were to compare him against players like Sordell, Ebanks-Blake or Maynard then I'd have him as the least obviously impressive player. Of course I'm sure that if we are in for him then NA knows what he's doing, and I'm not saying the lad is rubbish either.

It can be a pain and takes me about 40 mins or so to get to Portswood from Dibden. On the plus side if it ever gets really bad like an accident or Causeway gets shut then I just work from home. Also, although public transport is OK during the day and rush hour it's pretty poor after about 6pm.