Whitey Grandad

Did I hear something on BBC Radio 4 this morning along the lines of 'The Premier League are considering extending the parachute payments from 2 to 4 seasons'? I'm not certain but I think there was some comment about that helping Pompey. Edit: there's something about it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/09/premier-league-parachute-payments-extend

Er...... excuse me... hello.... :smt064

Good for them. Which part of France?

£900k for winning the semi-final, £900k for losing the final £1.8m for winning the final. Who'll get the money, I wonder?

I think the terminology is 'relegated from the Premier League to take effect from next season'. Not worth arguing about though. Unless of course you just want to string out enjoying their demise until the end off this season?

Well done! Do you ever quit whilst you're ahead, or is the secret to invest your winnings into further carefully researched ventures?

There was certainlky a lot of 'pressure' from Churchill for America to enter the war but Roosevelt was restricted by the strong pacifist elements in society. From the military point of view the attack was not a surprise and indeed the carriers were sent to sea as a precaution, but it was a massive blow to the Pacific fleet and the government would not have needed such destruction to have won over the American people. It may have been a miscalculation in that an attack by the Japanese would have been welcomed by some quarters of the military but that the resulting devastation was far greater than they had expected. Interestingly the Japanese had learned from the success of our attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto and had put a lot of research into attacking a fleet in a protected anchorage, even into how to launch aerial torpedos into shallow water.

There's always one team that starts off at a gallop and builds an enormous lead in the first part of the season but they always seem to fall back into the chasing pack after Christmas. The time to judge a season is at the its end and not half-way through, IMO.

Agreed. I was queueing for the toilets at the time so unfortunately my contribution went unnoticed.

Then I most humbly apologise, especially to Chewy. I'm not at my best when I've just woken up, which is no excuse really. Let's all just wallow in the glory of yesterday and the hope and expectation of 6 straight wins and a place in the playoffs.

You can't sell a pre-owned house in Florida because everybody wants a new one, and they are cheap too. I know someone who had a villa out there and spent the first two weeks of every visit cutting the grass and sorting out maintenance, and I know someone else who loves it there. Whatever you do, don't buy a property as an 'investment', buy it as a home. There are all sorts of different taxation in different countries, especially capital gains and 'assumed rental income'

I think the Japanese didn't need any provocation to attack and invade large parts of Asia and the Pacific islands. The war didn't start with Pearl Harbor, millions of Chinese were massacred long before then, starting in 1931, and in the Nanking massacre of 1937 the troops killed over 200,000 men, women and children. They don't teach this part of their history in Japan today.

I'm not having that. We have performed as well, and perhaps better, than ALL the other teams that are now, or have been, in the playoffs. What were you expecting? That we should win all our games?

I saw that he had given his shirt to someone in the crowd but I didn't know why. Well done Jason.

What about the Shipperley header that was wrongly disallowed at OT in the FA Cup? They never talk about that one, do they.

I can't see the HMRC letting them get away with it, otherwise I would expect a law change very soon. Could be retrospective?

They would have paid VAT on purchase and charged VAT on sales so the amount due to HMRC would be on the difference or 'profit'. In the unlikely event that they were to win a VAT court case then they would presumably have to pay back their sellers and reclaim from their purchasers. They must be sitting on 17.5% (or 15%) of the profit on player trading which they can't hang on to whatever happens. If VAT was not due then they should not have paid/reclaimed it. I would assume that a player trade contract would explicitly mention an amount separate from VAT.

Apparently not every player had this clause in their contract.

That Hurst goal is still being debated 46 years later, but the final score was 4-2 and so it might only have been 3-2. We still won the world cup.

Just enough points behind 6th place that we shall be talking for years about all the missed opportunities and if-onlys.

And we're still talking abou them! The more I see the Hurst goal the less it looks like it was over the line. I watched the game in black and white and I don't think there were action replays at that time so it was all a bit murky. What clinched it for me at the time is that someone else (Hunt or Peters?) had the opportunity to put the ball in the net and didn't bother, so it must have been clear to him. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I were 16 at the time and she was going on a school exchange to Germany that evening from Victoria train station. I can clearly remember all the fans from both teams 'celebrating' in the streets of London as we drove her there. She said that when she got to Germany they didn't talk much about the match.

The second Youtube link shows him to be conclusively onside. What's the problem?

I'm not saying anything.

In Wales they tie a sheep to a lamp-post. In Portsmouth it's a Saints fan.

That's called a leisure cente in those parts.