the stain

Oh. Those aren't rumours, that's happened. I thought Steve might have something more...

Don't be coy! What are the rumours?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/02/hull-city-team-saves-suicidal-woman Why did he really take the squad up there? Was it only one life saved by this timely distraction? Hmm...

I'd love to teach you my ways.

:mad: There's only one way you could bend a group of boys to your will that quickly, and that way is both ILLEGAL and DEGENERATE. My lads worried out a breathless win on penalties this morning, showing stamina and not a little spunk. My new keeper put in a 5* showing on debut.

Neu! - Neu! Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor Fennesz & Sparklehorse - In The Fishtank

If you'll forgive me begging your forgiveness two posts running, you might be 'of a generation' who were familiar with two main Parties having a set of grounding principles and extrapolating current policy from them. I'm not at all convinced that's still the case.

I'm not sure there's any doubt over that. He admitted all charges and was found guilty. The contentious issue was the judge wanting to amend the sentence (initially little more than a couple of trips to a shrink), which is when he skipped bail. There may well be something dubious about that, but it would take a particularly head-up-anus view of the worth of his subsequent work to believe that any kind of moral justice has been served. Although I did love The Pianist...

Forgive me if I get this wrong, but I'm guessing you're not a Sun reader? Of course the Sun sways opinion. It's lapped up by millions every day. It just doesn't sway your opinion. Although I'm sure it was just a figure of speech, but if you did the exact opposite then you've been swayed by the Sun. [/pedant]

The time for Gordon Brown to announce a referendum on Voting Reform was about a year ago when the question was put to him. Frankly it has long been the only chance he had of success at the next election. Anything he says he's going to do next government is hot air because, as Ponty says, neither Labour nor Lib Dems will be in power then. Which is a shame as I've long been in favour of PR. Bum Twizzle might be right about the BNP making gains, but we'd be more likely to see Britain's fabled Silent Majority turning out for Lib Dems, Greens, etc as usual but this time being represented.

I can only hope you're not teaching spelling. So where's the document you are actually being asked to sign? I'm not petitioning anyone over one side of an argument.

Young people were always them, the little sh1ts. They've been getting away with it for years. One of these days someone's gonna do something...

Very odd business, it's not like they couldn't have arrested him at any point in the last three decades. Still good films or not, he did reighp a child and should do time for it.

Bah! Youth team back to losing ways. Signed a new keeper but somehow failed to put him in my starting XI (I'm sure I did it, but apparently not). Anyhow, got a youth friendly tonight where he can show his class. Senior team took a thumping from a high-flyer. There's a bit of a gulf in class in my division. Looks like I'm going to have to consolidate this season and save my pennies for some high quality players. Jeff, I'm avoiding senior friendlies as they only seem good for sustaining injuries. But I'll have a go on your kids, given half a chance. Next window's in a couple of weeks I think.

+1 The insinuation above that his sexuality might in some way equate to a mental health issue is particularly objectionable.

That mole's a saucy qunt and no mistake.

Surprised this slipped unmolested through the swear filter.

"... we obviously wish him the best with the remainder of his career and hope that he is able to obtain a place where he can play at International level ahead of the 2010 World Cup." Does anybody else hear a note of sarcasm in that?

Cheers man, some very helpful stuff there. Looks like I may only have a couple of potential stars then. I've just been pointed in the direction of this site http://www.hattrick-youthclub.org/site/welcome which has proved interesting. Takes a while to import all your information, and not as user friendly as Alltid for the 1st team, but quite a good source of stats once you get it running. What was most telling was the finance bit, cost of running the academy vs 'profit' (value of promoted players).

Absolutely, I definitely wasn't ruthless enough when I started out. Spent ages trying all the players in all the positions when really only 3 or 4 are anywhere near good enough, and even those are doubtful as future 1st team prospects. Get players in as early as possible, as they need a full season in the youth squad before they're eligible for promotion. Getting a decent keeper is proving tricky, although signing up any keeper at all should be the first priority for anyone starting out. I've got both my scouts looking specifically for keepers and neither of them are offering me anything at the moment. Next thing to work out is what kind of match-rating at youth level equates to a possible decent rating in the 1st team. One of my players got 6 stars this morning (I had thought that 5 was the maximum). Might have a trawl of the Hattrick forums to see if there's any advice.

Back to winning ways at the weekend for Amon Duul III, registering a 7-0 drubbing over what looks like being the division's whipping boys. Much more improtantly though, A WIN, AN ACTUAL WIN!!! for my youth team. Two matches into my second season managing my own youth team, and in a mirror image of last week's heartbreaker, Neu 74's plucky lads come from 0-2 down, with new northern nipper Eames dancing through their defence in the final minute to register my first ever win! I've actually shed a tear here at my desk. Couldn't be more proud of the boys.

:confused:

Basically it makes you feel like THE MAN for a very limited amount of time, maybe about 20-30 minutes. Then when that finishes, you want to feel like THE MAN again, so you have another go. It feels excellent while it lasts and there's no real comedown, you just miss that feeling of supreme self-confidence. The downside in the short-term is you have a room full of people jostling for position to get another line and generally being greedy, self-centered bastaads. In the longer term of course, it's very easy to see how someone could come to depend on that artificial feeling. Not a drug I particularly favour, but I'm struggling to think of a single one of my friends who hasn't at least tried it. 75% of that age range wouldn't surprise me at all.

I found Playmaking was a reliable first port of call. Get the spine sorted. Also make sure you give them a decent amount of Stamina training, I keep mine set at 20% Can't do a friendly this week, but I'm sure someone will take you on.

Sort out training, evaluate the skills of your squad to see who plays best where, get involved in friendlies to get an idea of your players in different positions. Get through as many of their start-up 'challenges' as you can to give yourself a bit of cash (you'll probably need to buy a player or two to give yourself any chance). Galling start to my new youth team season. 0-2 up and flying on 70 mins and looking like my newer recruits were really gelling, first goal goes against us and we crumble and contrive to lose. Probably a stamina issue, but for some reason you can't train that at youth level. I'll just have to hope they improve.