derry

Mugabe looked interesting when he switched to right back. Hesketh looks close to breaking through but I think Stephens and Turnbull need to step up to the Championship on loan. Centre back is a difficult place to develop early.

As far as I'm concerned they are players of a rival team so there is no way I would wish them success. I do think that they are a lot worse than their opinion of themselves. Bringing in another load of players to add to an already large fairly solid squad will cause disruption as some of last years squad disappear and others slip down the pecking order. I don't think we are too far away in terms of performance compared to them. Last season the difference was their win at St Mary's, hardly a gulf. I like the way we are going, nearly £40m coming in and probably beefing up the 25 compared to last season. Time will tell although I did enjoy watching Newport (IOW)'s finest struggling to find a blend. Stoke 6 Liv 1 my favourite.

Tadic had a groin strain that needed rest but he just wouldn't stop training and wanted to play. In the end the club pulled the plug on him and made him rest. His injury restricted him and must have been a big factor in his play.

Best club. Southampton ( I'm biased) followed by Swansea. Why? because we behave best in the face of all the pressures of the Premier League. The Leibherr and Krueger leadership is classy, something the others haven't got. The scale of the growth of the club is way ahead of all the others. Liverpool, no thanks, unscrupulous with a vastly inflated opinion of its worth. Tottenham second to Liverpool. History is irrelevant because it's all about this season not about the past. It is also about the foundations for the future.

Any player going to Spurs needs to look at the long view. They are redeveloping WHL and looking likely that they will be tenants of MKD for three years which could well have an effect on their results. They may not be quite so successful in their away years. Still the money would be better.

He had a very ineffective spell in the latter third of the season. Most of the comments about his performance inferred that he was making sure he didn't get injured before the end of the season. Unless he signs a contract and commits himself I think it's time to move him on for the best price. I wouldn't be surprised if the England Liverpool connection hasn't been in full tapping up mode during the international break. Reducing our exposure to the England connection would be no bad thing. I suspect that Toby has had the same treatment from the Belgium Premier connections.

What a load of shapeless, unimaginative, sterile crap.

Stoke 6 Liverpool 1. There is no doubt they pay higher wages. As far as I can see Liverpool consider themselves as underperforming in sixth place and that they really have to challenge to win the Premier League. I agree with that so therefore they have to buy the players that will make them the equal or better than the top four. To buy the sort of player to do that doesn't come cheap at least £30m a time. Time to take their pants down again I think. £10m Brendan? :lol: you cannot be serious:mcinnes:

Is it the coaching or is it the intelligent talented footballers response to playing at a higher level with and against better players. The poorer players never seem to improve. The great players of past years would still be the great players if they were playing today, especially with the non contact. Just British players, Greaves, Best, Charlton, Law, Marsh etc would have thrived.

More importantly for me, how good is the coaching that players are allegedly exposed to for over twenty years after joining a club. JWP for example, dead ball excepted, can't shoot, tackle or beat a man. How can that be after eleven years coaching. For me the most improved player over the last four years is Fonte. I wonder how much of that is the man's own intelligence and the effort he has made to improve himself and survive in the Premier.

True but to be summarily dismissed makes it a gross misconduct issue unless his probation is terminated due to inefficiency.

The advice was take legal advice from a lawyer experienced in accusations like this. The boy now has been sacked for dishonesty. The evidence must be produced. The company is accountable. He will certainly be able to pursue the company procedures. However the big shadow of a lawyer concentrates the mind and can lead to a chicken out unless the case is cast iron. Managers are not averse to guilty verdicts if they think they can get away with it. Once the lawyer is known to be in the loop it changes the whole scene with no room for anything but a fair result.

Forget the employment issue, I would get him a lawyer, if he is innocent without doubt and the case is unprovable there is a defamation issue which a lawyer would pretty sharply concentrate their lawyers. I had long experience of defending pilots at disciplinary hearings, never lost one in over fifteen years and was often accused of using a sledge hammer to crack a nut because I was always ready to go to law.

Last year about the time of the Scottish referendum I watched an interview on Breakfast Television with the head of I think the You Gov poll company, explaining how the result of the opinion poll was formed. Not as I thought say 1000 people canvassed and the results published that was too easy. His explanation along the lines, "If we find the result isn't as expected we factor the result to give the result we think it should be" I found out yesterday he was married to Labour Baroness Ashton, ex EU Foreign Office Commissioner which possibly shows an allegiance. Small wonder the polls are a surprise if they aren't true samples. It was his poll that indicated 51/49 for the SNP that caused the panic race to Scotland by the leaders and panic promises. In the end 10% difference the other way. Same with this election. The poll that used the Local government results since 2010 was much more accurate showing Conservatives leading by about 10% from Labour before the election but disregarded. The exit polls were unfactored.

Nobody believed him.

Most of the Lib Dem seats lost outside Scotland were reverting to Tory which they had been previously. In any event the protest party was no longer and there were loads of other destinations for that vote. I suspect most of those that switched to Tory were reverting to their roots.

Voters just didn't believe that when push came to shove he wouldn't do a deal if it was his only way to be Prime Minister. As far as I was concerned that was the reality. I didn't believe him and it looks like a lot more didn't either.

I personally think that the English didn't suddenly decide to vote Conservative because of the SNP. It was just a number of things that added up for most people not least their dislike of Miliband, or Labours incoherence and state of denial over the overspending when in charge. They just weren't trusted. The thought that the SNP would put a minority English party into power against the wishes of the English people scuppered Labour. I don't think the English care about the Scots at all. They do care about the Barnett formula and what it represents in terms of privilege for the Scots over the English, not least in Education, Health and care of the Elderly with the English paying. If they want to go let them go but when push comes to shove the English will want them to be self funding which I don't think is part of their calculations. I get the feeling what they want is English funded independence.

The Scots making a declaration of UDI would be like the turkeys voting for Christmas. As far as I'm concerned they can fill their boots in that direction, it's their funeral, the English would be so much better off without them. How's the oil thing going up there? for example. I'm sure we can find a home for Trident, the Navy and RAF.

I think Cameron should offer them home rule. What they raise they spend, pay for any services, no more subsidies. their worst nightmare I think.

I thought that we had a referendum in 2011 and a large majority opted to stay with the present system. Not perfect but it mostly gets a result instead of a coalition.

The Labour party made a great issue of the NHS. To me that smacked of hypocrisy because the Labour run NHS in Wales performs abysmally compared with the English NHS. As for the Liberal vote collapsing, many of their seats were originally won from the conservatives eg Eastleigh. The coalition worked in some respects but I'm sure many were turned off by the duplicitous Clegg and Cable and decided to ditch them and return to their Conservative origins. Sturgeon and her comments about locking the Conservatives out of Downing Street were key for me. How dare she presume with about 9% of MPs to tell the English she was going to dictate. That made my mind up to vote Conservative. The Labour party was unelectable especially allied to the SNP and got what was coming to them.

If any of the three won't sign new contracts take the money.

Agreed but add it to £10m for a striker or use it for wages. Don't waste £4m on him.

Send him back. One match wonder, shows little in the way of courage or anything else. Spend our money on someone else.