stu0x

It'll be end of June. WWDC is mid June, they'll announce then and release within 2 weeks. All the previous models have been released end June/beginning July in subsequent years. The only exception was the 4S, because there was a problem with manufacturing on one of the parts so they missed the intended release date (June 2011). If those leaks are accurate, and they have changed the dock and moved the 'phones port, it'll probably be the final nudge I need to swap to Android (as pretty much the only thing keeping me on Apple was the dock, and moving the 'phones is just stupid).

Calciopoli II is looking, by all accounts, to be absolutely massive, bigger than the first time round, and with the political and economic situation in Italy being so different now, I think Monti would actually get support for a hard line stance on football in general. I think you will see a lot of players avoiding or looking to leave Italy over the next 12 months.

Jos, Guly and Chaplow on loan were all loans. Adkins doesn't seem to be interested in loans that we would have no subsequent ability to buy if they work out, if this went through you can be certain there will be an option to buy.

Only a couple of short years before he went to Pompey, Andres D'Alessandro was being touted as 'the next Maradona'... it would be quite a coup to get Lodeiro, but stranger things have happened. These South American wunderkinds are often built up to be potential world beaters from the age of 16, move to Europe very young, and often it doesn't quite work out for them. A change of scenery could be what he needs, and if he does well for us it wouldn't be totally out of the question to sign him permanently. Don't see how we can lose out with this one, really.

We will be 'linked' by the tabloids, along with Reading and West Ham, with every ageing journeyman, every player from the championship who wants a move, and every relegated player - as these are the three types of players newly promoted clubs are apparently suitable to sign. In the same way every European superstar they've ever heard of will be 'tracked by' United, City, and Chelsea, and every European superstar they've never heard of will be 'on the radar of' Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. I will bet my left knacker we don't sign Yakubu.

To be fair, it's Conte they're looking at, for something that happened before he was at Juve.

I would expect that in the near future, possibly even by the start of next season, the Club Player architecture will be migrated from Flash to HTML5, which would make it iPhone friendly. Of course you already have TuneIn but it just streams the Internet feeds, so no commentary. So it's an issue of licensing at the end of the day, not technology.

Sorry, it was a bit obtuse. I'll make it more clear. Essentially my point was that, particularly over the last few months, you have developed into a bit of a professional arsehole with a spectacularly patronising holier-than-thou opinion on just about everything. Whatever the topic, be it people's opinions on what they wear to a match, what they wear to the office, how they conduct themselves, or what they think about various aspects of the club, you will invariably pop up and preach at length in a sneering, condescending tone and imply that anyone who doesn't meet your own quasi-elistist standards is a subhuman peasant. OH MY GOD SOMEONE TOOK A PHOTO OF THEMSELF ON HOLIDAY??? THEY DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE!!!! So I found it ironic that someone with such a (albeit, ill-judged) massive superiority complex would choose to go on holiday to two places where you are obviously going to be largely surrounded by people of such low class and ethics. It's almost as if you're completely full of ****... but that can't be right, can it? Alles klaar?

Like rain on your wedding day, perhaps?

Vengabus

+1. I just alternate between the two depending on who has the better offer on, at any one time one of them will always have a 'sale' on for 4 or 5 shirts for a ton. At 20-25 quid each, they're miles better than the equivalent spend from a high street multiple. I tend to find the Lewin classic fit is a better winter shirt, and the CT is a better summer shirt. They also often throw in very good deals on ties (which again I've found excellent quality). Places like Hugo Boss are not what they once were. You are paying for the name and nothing more, the vast majority of their euro market clothing is now made in Turkey or Eastern Europe and a pale shadow of what it used to be. I had a 15 year old Boss suit coat that was beautiful, hand made and still looked fantastic, it got nicked recently and I went to get a replacement - the equivalent they're flogging now is just embarrassing, no better than a 50 quid Debenhams job.

Got a marketing email the other day from a Matt Fagg. Unlucky.

A milkman once delivered me some sour milk. Now I hate all milkmen. I think you have to draw a distinction between paid policemen (who are doing a job like anyone else) and specials. I think the term is apt because you'd have to be a special kind of person to want to do it so badly that you'd do it for free. Your own interpretation of the word 'special' is the important bit there Specials tend to be the keen as mustard, checking tax discs when they walk through a car park types. Paid coppers (particularly when they've got a few years in), not so much.

It's because it isn't just based on league tables, it rewards larger winning margins, wins away from home, etc. All of which goes to show that Brian "we were by far the best team in this division" McDermott was talking a fair amount of ****e. Yes they won the league, and deservedly so, but they rode their luck and squeaked through an awful lot of results, especially towards the end of the season.

Why would Alex Pearce know one iota more about the relationship between our Chairman and Manager than anyone else in the world? Because he happens to play football? As if that somehow makes him know what he's talking about. On the other hand, the OP has consistently demonstrated a rabidly anti-Adkins agenda since his appointment...

Depends entirely on the car though, it might be 2k on a fiesta but it's a hell of a lot more than that on something more 'desirable'. My mate has just bought a used X5 petrol, drinks fuel but he'll offset that against the 16 grand saving from buying the equivalent diesel model. So Alpine has a point

No, because you won't find a VW/Audi/Seat with the same combination of engine, kerb weight and chassis. That's kind of the whole point, the vRS is unique, just like the original Ibiza Cupra Sport was. And if you *could* find such a combination, it would cost a lot more. Which doesn't make sense. Because if you want to pay more for less, then pretty much every other manufacturer makes an inferior car in the same class (small diesel hatch), so just get one of them.

Skoda Fabia vRS (the old one, diesel manual). Golf GT TD engine in Polo body. I got one after a wealth of recommendations, and it's brilliant. Bomb proof, goes like poo off a shovel, and mine is showing avg 55mpg (and I have a pretty heavy right foot). Servicing and insurance are peanuts, especially compared to the laughable prices that VW and (especially) Audi charge for the same motors. There's a reason that Skodas fill 3 of the top 4 slots in the latest Autoexpress and JD Power surveys. They're ace, and only badge snobs think otherwise. New ones (post '07) are petrol auto, and consequently crap in comparison. People chop in their new ones for old ones. Ironically enough I now need to sell mine, really wish I didn't have to but baby on the way and wife insists its not big enough. So if you did want to go down that route, you could have mine at a very reasonable price.

Not just a nice ring, but such a fresh and original idea as well!

So as a left back, his job isn't defending attacks on the left side of the pitch? Interesting.

Would sell him for a reasonable amount (3mill). The number of times he loses the right midfielder is staggering.

Some of you have watched far too much telly... If it *was* an assassination, why on earth do it like that? If you want it to look like suicide, you throw him off a bridge, not put him in a bag. If you want it to look like a professional hit (as a 'warning' - however ludicrous that idea is), then you poison him, or shoot him in the head - you don't put him in a bag. The ludicrous level of conjecture is based entirely around a complete misunderstanding of who the various security services are and what they do. This guy was not James Bond, nothing like. He was a maths geek. His death will have absolutely no dissuasive impact on the security services whatsoever. It would be like trying to extort the CEO of Barclays Capital by kidnapping a bank clerk.

Dbl post...

I wouldn't go near a 3G(S) personally. Apple do the same trick with iOS that Wintel have been doing for years with Windows - ie each subsequent iteration of the operating system hogs more and more resources, making older devices obsolete. My old 3G ran iOS 4 like a dog, let alone iOS 5. Despite last year's delayed 4S release, all signs are pointing to the iPhone 5 reverting to the old release schedule - so it will be out in the next 6 weeks or so. If you hang on until then, you'll be able to pick up a iPhone 4 for a knockdown price, as all the early adopters who bought a 4 the day it was released will be just out of their 24 month contract and will be looking to upgrade to a 5. That is exactly the position I'm in... I'm currently writing this post on an iPhone 4, had it since release day so just under 2 years. It's very decent, more than capable of running every app I throw at it (and I have some pretty demanding ones on there), and the differences between a 4 and 4S are, imo, negligible. In fact in a few weeks you can have this one off me for a reasonable price

Also known as 'The Lowe Approach', and the reason we ended up with a squad of 40 journeymen and backup players. If a player wouldn't (at least potentially) directly improve the position they play in, there is no value in us acquiring them. We are a newly promoted team, not an established top half PL team.