positivepete

The failure of this deal was quoted in the Financial Times yesterday in the article about Banc de Binary giving up their licences

Palace are looking for a centre half. Hero's return?

I am off to Bucharest tonight on business. My client is a big Steaua fan, I will check with him.

I think Gardos might be included, Stephens on the bench

Rowlett for Black? He has been on our radar for some time.

Can't be true. Jose has never scored at Anfield

That was the first time in years I have been able to hear any announcements in the middle of the Kingsland.

I am on the Easyjet flight on Tuesday at 18:05

It is his kicking that worries me the most. He really is poor at that and inevitably gives possession away. Steak in this regard was brilliant. Mind you Frasers ball skills mean that Pep will never sign him, so that is one club off the list. I agree his form is not the best at the moment, and he is spilling more shots than he should, but I emphasise form here. He is capable, although I think some other teams have worked out he is vulnerable to shots low down close to his body.

Shot up to 52 in the current club rankings after Thursday, last time I looked we were 99, just above Wigan! http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/seasonclub/

A very enjoyable evening and what a dramatic match. It started well when I was walking from the railway station with my grandson and met a group of Inter fans unsure of where to go. We walked a chatted for a while and one of them gave his Inter scarf to my grandson. Thanks whoever you are. The trip over there, and both matches is a good reminder of how enjoyable it can be to be involved in European football, especially after all the club has been through. Let's hope for some goals for, and a win in Prague; we have failed to score in four of the last five away European games I have been to.

Not sure that is correct, under Strachan we probably didn't have 34 shots at goal at home all season!

Seem to remember a home game where we missed two penalties in the first half in the "dark days"

Glad that Romeu will get a rest during the international break. He certainly seems to be part of the core three at the back with Forster and Van Dijk.

A few quid in Rosie's account should do it

Aphrodites Child were first with a 666 album if I recall correctly

Good morning HBS from the travelling fans currently in Tel Aviv. Just off for a stroll on the beach, enjoying the local hospitality. Looking forward to a good game and great atmosphere tonight

Saints did most a biological age tournament this summer i recall, including Stoke City I think. Not sure what age their players were compared to ours!

Thanks Monk, kicked off a decent discussion. I did hear recently that we dropped a ten year old goalie as we did not think he would make the required height which i think was over 6'2". With regards to the other points about picking skill over physique, I watched many Tyro rep sides being picked as a result of a height line up. The one year I ran the rep side, instead of a match to decide the squad I first set up a round of six exercises with a group of coaches designed to test skill and awareness to eliminate contenders before a final trial match against a club side. It resulted in 60% of squad members who had never been picked for a rep side before, and a decent side who played good football. So to answer the point, yes there a a lot of players who do not get the chance who are decent, it all depends on what you are looking for in a player, and often if you can do a job that the manager or whoever is looking for. Steve Guppy is probably the ultimate example of this, going from Colden Common to Wycombe and following Martin O'Neill to other clubs. It is often a matter of luck as well as talent, much the same as the music business.

I met Rasmussen Ankersen last week (Brentford and Midtjylland), and he was talking about spotting players that were undervalued, and he mentioned about street footballers often with poor facilities and how they get to a level of competence earlier than academy kids with better facilities and controlled hours of practice. One measure being that it takes 10,000 hours to reach a level of competence. The point about poor facilities was that those using poor facilities were hungrier and had a potential to improve when eventually training under better circumstances. One interesting point he made was about the athletics club in Kingston Jamaica where all the sprinters come from, a grass track, and a coach who you would not pick out as being the coach, but who could spot the little things that make a difference that others cannot.

Another funny quip! Be good if Charlie could get fit, he looks a long way off being able to play a full match.

It would be good if Austin could concentrate on staying on-side, it is not that he is so quick that he confuses the officials Papa Wago style. Some of his off-sides last night were as embarrassing as the spat over the penalty. I am happy for players to be competitive over wanting to take the penalties, but that should be sorted out on the training ground, not on the pitch where it could easily go wrong. Whilst I was not happy with Austins attitude last night, Tadic does have form, I also seem to remember spats with JWP over who should take various free-kicks.

So are we being racist against white kids because we think they don't have pace and power? Or are we just finding players who have certain attributes to play in certain positions, and it just happens that players who have certain attributes also often have the same background,

I expect tomorrow's group will include a few of the no shows in Denmark who had their credit for that match removed. Don't think Denmark went down below 5 aways as my lad went and bought a ticket in the home section, but couldn't get an away ticket with 4 aways.

He usually posts these types of article in the autumn. I think Leicester will be an interesting case in the next couple of years