Whitey Grandad

That was so last century.

This is nothing like a free sarnie. The tickets have to be paid for, they're not free. To extend your allegory, it's like expecting your mum to get first choice of which extra sarnie to buy for you because at the beginning of the year she has bought a year's worth of shopping.

If he only goes to a few games then how can he be a true supporter? Is anybody really suggesting that someone who goes to four games in a season should have priority over someone who has bought tickets for nineteen?

That's a different argument. The complaint was about the removal of one of the benefits of having a season ticket.

You could apply that argument to any expenditure. There's a limit to everything be it a season ticket or a straw-carrying camel.

Not necessarily we don't.

I know which of the two I would prefer in my team and that's Bale.

Yes, absolutely, the season ticket should always hold priority. There is no greater fan than one who commits himself to a whole season.

Perhaps 4 for me, and I'm nearly 65.

Puncheon hadn't scored in ages and ages.

Talking of hockey sticks: http://capnbob.us/blog/2006/10/24/the-indefensible-hockey-stick/ The problem is that there is so much stuff out there on the Internet that you can find any point of view and any evidence that you choose to like.

A 20 year period!!! You have my deepest sympathies, and respect.

One of my wife's ancestors used to have a butcher's shop in North Hampshire. In 1893 the pub next door caught fire and his shop was burnt down with it. Luckily his insurance covered his mortgage so he wasn't out of pocket but he no longer had a business and eventually went bankrupt. The judge asked him to what he attributed his downfall and his answer was: 'A change of circumstances, and a wife whose expectations exceeded my ability to fulfil them'. You have been warned.

Oh yes, the scars run deep.

My son's ex-wife was originally a nurse but she spent 3/4 years teacher training and then the only position she could get was at some sink school down Shirley way somewhere. After a term or so she gave up and is now back in nurse retraining.

I watched a part of the Udinese - Juventus match last night. Os also came on for the last few minutes and did nothing much. The commentator made some comment about 'some observers think he'll be going back to Southampton in the summer' and about him not impressing at Juve.

I would say that he's been at fault for a few goals due to his positioning.

Are we playing for money or playing for glory?

Of course if ticket prices were lower there would be more money available to spend on merchandising...

That's my feeling too. He's a great prospect but a long way off the finished article. Like all these young prospects we have to live through their mistakes whilst they're learning their trade.

Unfortunately it often is. Even JJ Thomson put a comment in his notebook to the effect 'good result, use this' when he was trying to find the mass/charge of an electron.

Either way, the whole process discredits the conclusions and doesn't help the debate.

Has the data changed in 2 years or has the interpretation? The important part is the comment 'It would be good to remove at least part of the 1940s blip' which sounds suspiciously like massaging the figures to me.

New sales v. renewals

Turns up from the dead at Easter? Must just be a coincidence, surely?