Dangermouth

Goodbye and the best of luck Nigel: you deserve it. Hope your career goes from strength to strength. You'll have a job by the end of the day no doubt. Presume only because we want a 'name' as a manager to help with attracting talent - some might not want to come because NA didn't have 10000000 caps, etc - should've gone for Beckham (jk). Now going to lie down.

I think he hears the call and leaves it/pushes it on. As the camera sticks to Shaw, we can't see what he's doing before the ball in and what he can see, but it's good that he's arriving in that area at that time.

Balanced argument: We aren't feared anymore at home, teams no what to do, get at us and you will get something from a game, it's that simple. We have no shape, no discipline and no organisation what so ever at home, and just a say enough away. You could see from the early part of the game that Saints had time on the ball and actually passed it brilliantly, we stood off, made them look great and all in all they have to be given credit because they pressed us and we don't like it. Can't blame fatty, but as unit tonight we bottled it, but that is as much credit to them as against us because at home we have no idea how to kill off teams nor completely cut them off their stride and break up play. Someone tell me we don't need a midfield enforcer and I will go mental, Ramires was truly awful tonight, has to be one of the worst passers I have seen and to add to that he has one feather to his bow and that's counter attacking pace, that's it. Not joking but this season is dead....Roll on summer and it seems I say that earlier and earlier every season.....It's just gets effing worse it really does. Passion and quality has all gone. Give me my Chelsea back. From a Chelsea forum, so both sides

Nice idea. Probably not gonna work. You'll need contacts, someone who can fit you in at short notice, someone who'll take an inexperienced teacher on a TEFL (see what I said about CELTA above - some might want this), a decent, trustworthy school, etc. Unless you plan to stay around for at least 3 months/1 term you're looking at a completely 'ad hoc, walk in and see' situation and the better schools won't take you. The crap ones are likely to just rip you off. You'll probably have to learn to lie a lot, too, so you say what you know they want to hear! Good luck if it works but at the very least there'll be a lot of planning involved just to find all the schools you'll have to visit.

If you can get up to the CELTA, gets you better placements. Otherwise, last I knew/heard the far East is still the place to go for the easiest introduction to the teaching side. Depends on if you like the culture/can adapt quickly on the other side of the coin. Used to be the case you could contact your local authority and you *might* get some experience working with assisting in some regard, possibly even with TESL although again it's more experience and lesson-planning practice than pay. South Korea has been highly recommended to me as well and their standard of English/level of having been Americanised (I'm lead to believe) makes it a good place to go initially. Of course, be wary of the bogus schools in e.g. Thailand that will pay you a week in arrears and then sack you on the last day, etc, etc. I had understood JET to be very competitive - i.e. hard to get into; maybe a bit of "Who knows who?" on this board might be useful? Obviously Western Europe is not very profitable; don't know much about the East/ex-Communist bloc but you should find they are A) good for totty (very, very good); very 'direct' i.e. if they think you're sh!t, they'll say it to your face then be friendly straight after - i.e. it's not personal. Supplement your school earnings with private tuition if you can - good moneyspinner.

Bit late on Blockbuster: here. Though they're still going (for now). DP makes a good point at #23 , but it's one that's been made time and again over the ages. But as long as everything's 'convenient' for people .... As for the streets, they'll one day be no-go areas save for chavs, drunken yoof and weirdos - e.g. people who 'like walking' (weird), 'exercise' (not in a gym - weird) or the genuine weirdos. Not to mention the homeless, ofc. A bit like Portsmouth now then

My understanding from the post on the P*mpey website is that it was PKF. So that's the transfer window gone then Unless they have a load of deals lined up ready to be faxed through at 21:59 or whatever time they have to be in by.

So it's not ok for JR to look to avoid injury, which he plainly did? And people would rather he was injured and perhaps never the same player again just so we got a clean penalty rather than one given by a referee for either: a mistake on behalf of the referee or a mistake on the part of the referee (I'll leave the smart people to get that straight away and the rest of you to have an aneurysm over it). The decision was made by the referee. JR didn't appeal for it. JR did say that he didn't dive. I believe the only dive was evasive, not one aimed to gain an unfair advantage. Is it ok for a Saints player to dive? No. But there was less furore over Suarez' s handling of a ball that put Macclesfield (?) out of the FA Cup when it was deemed that it was up to the referee to make the decision than there has been by the BBC with this particular case when surely the same principle applies. BBC pundits with the exception of a very few are useless (vnts.

Exactly.

So that puts us close to the centre of the universe then.

No way was JR 'diving' to get a pen; the man came from behind another one - he was obviously just trying to avoid being clobbered. The fact is, had he left his foot there he very likely could have had a bad injury and it would have been a penalty because the AV player kicked him and he had taken the ball away. So actually I think the ref got it right, even if his reasons were wrong.

And this fella: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2260896/Michael-Laudrup-says-Swansea-bids-Danny-Graham.html

@ Frank # 83. That is a problem we always face and always will until we have decent electoral reform: i.e. prove you deserve a vote, not that you can repeat the (incorrect) arguments trawled out by your great-grandfather as to why you should only vote Labour. Particularly as they are not the party he voted for as they don't believe in nationalisation, etc. I think the people of these islands think markedly differently to most in continental Europe, at all levels from 'intellectual' to 'peon', and this is borne by experience as well as other methods e.g. reading/discussing with other 'Europeans'. To a large extent we have become quite Americanised, but not inhered their societal checks and balances hence a large number of problems having arisen over the last few years. I am yet to be convinced that we will retain sufficient 'power' or influence to get what we want or what we consider is in our interests which is how we view things here politically i.e. first past the post vs. innumerable coalitions that often exist abroad where consensus-building and proper compromise are more readily accepted. The problem with this, as I see it, is that while many laws that emanate from Brussels work fine in other countries, as is the case with all laws, they do so because they are mostly invisible and in some way seen as acceptable and thus taken that way. That doesn't mean there is disagreement, of course, but that the laws work differently abroad than they do here. That is because of the culture and elements within it e.g. 'compensation culture' that are more pronounced here than elsewhere. I do not think that were law-making given fully back to Parliament, however, that that would be a good thing: self-interest and that of one's chums (either left or right) would dictate policy. @ Pap 84. I think the problem with the PIGS highlights the weakness of the EU as an integrated bloc. And don't forget, while it might be trite, there are 'local' rivalries e.g. the Italians disliking their neighbours the Germans, the Dutch disliking the Germans, etc that are likely to remain within countries' populaces' consciousness for many hundreds of years and are likely to mean that policy-making will either veer to and from a central purpose depending on the make-up of the constituents at the time or will be dictated by those at the centre of the bloc, almost will-he nill-he and that won't be England/the UK; if people haven't got it: we're not the EU's long-lost favourite son and never will be. The point you make regarding remoteness of decision-making is one that everyone should be concerned with, whether pro- or anti- because that is the crux of the matter. Look at how the US is governed for a comparitor and then add in a multitude of different systems and cultures and languages with historic prejudices underpinning them. It's something that hasn't and hadn't happened in hundreds of years and yet some people seem to think it can be done in decades. As to the value of 'experts' and in particular economists. Keynes or Friedman or who: the latest faddist who quotes others and has nothing new to say? Someone who believes more in modelling and repeating what is likely to happen e.g. a market analyst or someone who proposes a completely new economic structure to the world economy? Or just someone at the IMF who's a shoo-in for whoever has the most clout at the time? They might have influence, but if they had all the answers surely we'd have no mess? As to opinions, almost all as Frank/Wes said are likely to be swayed by a failure (if it is possible to not fail in this regard) to consider all the facts and act in a wholly unbiased manner. I concur that those in politics tend not to be the sharpest, though occasionally there are a few but fewer on the Left as of late, and that they are somewhat full of themselves to put it politely. It also strikes me as odd that a country gives another e.g. £20 only for the other country to give it back £5. Why not just give £15 and be done? God, that was long.

I was interested in the spread of each team's mentions. So I did QPR. They have had a lot of press in recent times and also have a wide spread. I don't know if this includes 'retweets' etc, but ultimately it becomes less and less informative the more you look at it. Nice idea though.

Interesting. Negotiations with many others from various continental European states has tended towards a bit of a 'please everyone a little' consensus when I've been involved in such. The other side of the coin is Eurovision. How much will/does this mirror what happens elsewhere? And who, ultimately, perhaps has the say on who goes to war and where (if ever required)? I've met many a Eurosceptic abroad, not just the English/British. And who determines who gets what influence and how? Ultimately the most powerful (Germany) or does their influence stretch only so far as protection of their national interest (ironic) or lending more money to Greece (flushing it down the pan) with a degree of enmity felt by both the Germans for subsidising the lazy Greeks and the Greeks for being told what to do by the supercilious Germans?

Apparently 'appy isn't ... about a lot of things at B'pool, like the chairman not wanting to spend money. Wonder if we could get watsisname from them on the cheap now? Phillips, that was it. And at least it means Blackburn won't challenge this year either; unless he actually is a good manager and his record is just misleading.

I might be able to get to this one and a couple of other away fixtures now so signed up online. Tickets of course not available yet, but there's something about being 'eligible'. Couldn't find anything about what this is or how to qualify. Can anyone shed any light on this? In the lower leagues I'd just turn up at the away venue and pay on the day or get a ticket from them direct so never had to be concerned with this.

Yep. Says it all. Thread closed.

Only the 3rd time that's been pointed out in this thread. Obviously 4 pages is too much to read. Try the Pompey Saga one ... .

Watching Coutinho it's interesting that often he shoots like Rivaldo: with a toe-poke so it's too quick for the keeper and that he he knows where the space is so is happy to flick it and run, relying on his speed. He also, while being mostly right-footed, likes to address (i.e. kick-forward in little pushes, as you do) the ball with his foot turned slightly in and into the centre of the ball so he can go either inside or outside - I like that. As for Gaston, if you watch him, often you'll see that he points to where he wants a return ball played and if players played with their heads up when they receive the ball they'd read him a lot easier in that regard. He too, knows where the space is and looks to push the ball into it and make use of it. He also has very good awareness of where other players are, both sets, but the team really should look to give him three options: two short, one long, but not so short that space is constrained. They do seem very static when he gets the ball, as they are otherwise tbh. A problem with English players.

We do have to remember that even though they're not at their best, Man U conceded 5 against Chelsea in a cup game this season too.

Banks. The ones who lost us all this money in the first place, by lending us illusory money. None of it really exists, probably, so we should just do a Greece. Thought the national debt was 3tn some years ago which was over £30k per person at the time - about 58 million then, I think. The interesting thing is the Americans just (and only can) spend borrowed money which they do or did get a lot of from China. The belief is that China won't let the US fail - bit like one of those situations where a bank/credit card lender (i.e. bank) keeps upping your limit to allow you to pay off the interest.

Well we need someone on the wings who can both play and has speed to give us that extra we're missing at times. We need someone on the same wavelength already as Gaston to get the best out of him and we need players who can cut in and also do productive things in the last 3rd of the field as Chelsea did yesterday which means that you're defending by not letting the other lot get the ball. Makes sense we'd look at him.

There will be replays for Sunderland, Stoke, Fulham, QPR, West Brom and Wigan. Newcastle are the only top-flight side out. That's good news. Don't care about the loss; do care about Fonte's injury though

NC said when he came here that's what he wanted. I expect him to get it and unlike Lowe he does actually have a clue about finances so I'm not bothered about that side of things. As Weston and others have said, however, we need to be in the Prem continually from now on for that to happen.