CanadaSaint

I'm no happier about that stuff than most people on here, but what is to be achieved by going back there? Begbies worked for the creditors, not the fans, and so the Pinnacle deal (at least in the early days) was just as good as the ML deal from their perspective - possibly better if wages were being covered. They didn't really give a rat's arse about the buyer's future investment in players or, really, about screwing a season by leaving things so late. The Barclays Fry issue may warrant some more scrutiny if someone is interested enough to take it up. I'm just sick of it all though, Trousers - Rupert, Wilde, Crouch, Lynham, Fialka, Begbies. I wouldn't care if I never heard these names again. Let's rise above it, stop sniping at eachother and start rebuilding this club.

This weekend will be his first squad preparation, first starting line up, first tactical approach and first motivation job. He's right to wait and see how that works out and to make his own evaluation of the players. But I suspect he knows that he needs to analyze fast (some of which he's already done) and that next week will be nuts. I'd be absolutely shocked if he doesn't already have irons in the fire on a few key players, and just as shocked if we don't see arrivals by mid week.

I think I just fully realized how far we've fallen in five years.

If that was intended to convey "For the love of God let's park the pro/anti Rupert sh*t" I'm totally, completely and utterly with you. Keeping that futile debate going at every opportunity suggests a simple mind. And that's being kind.

Bernie Pask, wasn't it? Yes, I can relate to your original post because I was committed* enough to break four ribs and crack another five in a friendly. * Most intelligent people view that level of commitment as stupidity.

Well, it seems to me that we've had a tendency to take managers with good records and provide them with their first real blemish OR take people with not-so-good records and give them their first real success. At least during the Rupert era, but I'm not going there! I'll settle for more of a disciplinarian (which I think Pardew is) because - surprise, surprise - we've always been better when lack of commitment isn't tolerated.

You seem to have a problem with older people, because that's the sole basis for your post - not any kind of counter opinion. It looks to me like you may have some "issues" to deal with. Hypocrisy is just one of them - or a really sh*tty memory: Wasn't that derry's original point? And how did you get to be a "Pokerchampion" with a memory like that?

It's more than that, though, CL. It's the fact that some people post nasty stuff that they'd never have the balls to say to someone's face, and then try to excuse themselves by saying "It's not as if anyone reads an internet forum". I think a lot more people read these things than we give them credit for - players, managers, agents, owners, journalists. Short of running a proper survey they are the only real way of finding out what "committed" fans think. That's how the world works these days. It wouldn't surprise me at all if these forums have the power to convince players not to sign and buyers not to buy.

This thread is starting to remind me of an old saying. "Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty but the pig likes it."

As opposed to your namesake?

IMO we do need someone with solid lower league experience - life is very different down here and it's a far cry from Celtic Park and top European football. I can see WGS as a DoF but not as a manager at this level. But if they wanted a lower league manager I think it would have been done by now. If they want WGS for DoF he'll want to choose his own manager, so not much can happen until they have his final answer. Perhaps that's where the delay is.

Isn't quoting yourself a form of masturbation? Don't take that wink the wrong way, Thorpie.

About as happy as WGS would be with his reputation in TA's hands!

I have some reservations about the DoF position but I don't believe for a minute that we'd be where we are if we'd had a decent one for the last five years. Too many key football decisions were being made by what were essentially non-football people. We face the same danger now, even if we're much richer. I think WGS would shine in that role.

My Dad used to say that if it wasn't for the Milton Road wall he would have ended up in the docks. Thanks to TT for posting the vid. It shows that even the top sides had no idea how to stop Big Ron. It also shows what the game looked like when teams actually used the fifteen yards just inside both touchlines.

I hope that's duff info. If it was going to be Tony Adams I'd have thought it would have been done by now. It's looking more like someone who needs some convincing - money or other.

Fast as hell but that might have been his only cross with the right foot. Ever!

It's brilliant that we now have this super-rich backing but there's one thing that worries me. We can't completely re-tool the squad overnight and we're going to be relying on some players who might not have a longer term future here. Knowing that there's all this money back there, the crowd might be a lot less tolerant than they have been in the past, and this could erode player confidence really quickly. Once the window has closed and the cheque book is useless, that won't help us very much.

Wasn't Corp Halfwit gloating on here last week?

After forcing SLH into administration? How is that not a big issue, Phil? BTW, great work!

Plus, we're two weeks closer to extinction and I don't think the FL would want to be anywhere near the centre of that storm.

And here: http://emagazine.credit-suisse.com/app/article/index.cfm?fuseaction=OpenArticle&aoid=123285&lang=EN

Detective Canada offers the following suggestion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Liebherr There's quite a lot more out there on her.

Well, that hurdle can't be too high, given some people who have sailed over it.

I'd assume that the contract has already been written because Pinnacle had it. All they "should" need to do is change some names and minor details. Theoretically.