hughieslastminutegoal

A deal that may have pushed some of Stoke's money towards Tony Pulis's son in lieu of a manager's rake off? Absolutely not. It doesn't happen.

Well, if you must go to the under-10s disco....

He said "turn AND face", numpty.

"Look, when I say I'm paying for the drinks tonight, I don't want any of this 'but I thought we're going dutch' stuff, ok?"

If the shooting cap fits....

I hesitate to mention I said Euel would be our saviour on the tread with that title. The bit I really don't get is the logic that you pay him NOT to play, and then expect to be able to sell the guy who hadn't been given the chance to put himself in the shop window, expecting to p*ss him off so he leaves for ANY offer at all (why would he?). Nonsense management.

Not everyone is using hindsight. There were a tidy few who predicted it all right at the start. Or were they just negative, or clever, or perspicacious, or "lucky" guessers? One or two posters seem to be peddling the idea that earlier in the season we couldn't afford what we are doing now, but having saved "enough" we now can do it, like it was Lowe's plan all along: "We'll get to the end of February and if we are adrift in the bottom two places we'll get rid of JP and play Jason, Rudi, Marek, and get an experienced centre-half, it's that simple. I don't know why these football types make such hard work of it all."

No, he has more experience at this level (though not CCC per se), as so many of the Lowe apologists have stated all season long. But not as much as I'd have liked, though....

Why "freeze him out"? Use him if you are paying him - if they'd have found a buyer then ok, but it's the freezing out to p*ss someone off, resumably trying to get them to go somewhere on worse terms, is the bit I think is crazy, and, frankly, a bit immoral.

Unfortunately assaults causing death rarely result in murder convictions. The recent case of the completely innocent bloke in the supermarket who was punched and killed by a moron following the demands of his slapper girlfriend only got a relatively short sentence for manslaughter. The doorman who puched and killed the Southampton fella in Bristol got the same. Years ago if you hit someone not caring about or considering what the results mught be it was often treated as murder - now people get a way with saying they didn't intend to kill, and get the light end of a manslaughter sentence, at worst. In my book, if you attack somone with force not caring about the end result, you should get a long sentence.

I'ts great to read that so many think we have a chance - now that we have a centre half, we are using some of the experienced players, we have got rid of a manager with no experience at all at this level, and are playing more or less 2 up front.... - oh, all the things the critics were saying before the bl**dy season started....

I know exactly what you mean. Yep, who is there? Who would run things, and how well would they do it? I just don't know. Do you? Oh no, you were wondering the same thing. I do like these meaningful/stimulating/amusing/gut-wrenching discussions. Still, back to Beatrix Potter and Piglet Bland.

Interesting - so you wouldn't be one of those urging fans to go to support the team even if they are not happy with things, staying away being by your definition the only way to register one's dissatisfaction?

Rupert is told yet again that the Hornets are not Wasps reserve side, and that the only conversion there's been around here is Wilde's recent turnaround.

Nicholl could have been good, but Tony Adams seems very similar to me - clearly a good player, clearly contributes in a team situation, but maybe wasn't/isn't the real deal when it comes to final managerial responsibility. Souness - I can't agree - the bloke has been useless virtually everywhere, unless he can buy success in an uncompetitive league. He certainly has no time for a youth system. I'd have liked to see Sturrock supported for longer and with some cash. It galls me that Redcrapp takes the credit for Peter Crouch when Sturrock signed him, but was (IMO) prevented from using him as he wanted because RL wanted to play Beattie to get a better price for him in the winter window, even though Beats clearly was not up for it at the time. His health issues would maybe stop me from being quite so keen on Sturrock now. But I certainly think he's better than Plymouth's current form suggests.

I pretty much agree with you, and the way you put it. However I do think there is a degree of class attitude about it. Lowe did not come into football because it was something he always wanted to do, but thought he saw the opportunity to gravy train at the Stonham site - a money thing. Once tangled up in it, he screwed up by not getting what he wanted at Stonham, the Council called his bluff and he got railroaded into St Marys instead. He still thought he could make money, but has shown a predisposition to disrespect football fans and more or less everyone else connected with the game in this country. He doesn't like us, doesn't really want to involve us, but can't face extricating himself until he can do so so with a profit. I cannot help but think his natural dislike for us and our game has a class element to it. But if you don't like 'class', try 'supercillious and condescending' instead.

I don't think it's racist at all - although the majority of sheep are white and curly-haired, there are black curly-haired ones as well. And they aren't all welsh sheep either, some might have come from the Cotswolds. So I think actually you would be praising them about how undiscriminating the Cardiff fans are. After all, they are a Welsh club playing in an English league, they deserve all the credit.

Like I told Fartypants some threads ago... but he's a (very) slow learner.

The question is why wasn't it hard and intense before, and if it wasn't, why didn't Wotte, Hockaday or anyone else get something done about it? It's been bleedin obvious the payers weren't fit enough all season. I don't know, but maybe the training regime getting tougher has something to do with Killer getting involved?

It only takes one bad apple to turn the rest rotten. Rot Unrestricted Permeates Everything Right Throughout - Lowering Our Wholesome Expectations. QED

With chubby, bright rosy cheeks like that, Rupert must be a love cherub sitting at God's right hand .... or an exceptionally experienced single malt connoisseur. Sarcasm, wot sarcasm?

Yes, you clearly ARE a banker, and of course you only brought the world to the brink of financial collapse because you only worked within the rules... oh except people like you tell us all what the rules should be... and oh and they aren't really designed to ensure you and your ilk make loadsamoney, and allow you the ability to hide bad risk among good risk, and use that "security" as security to hide yet more bad risk, and so on and on down the chain of loans. But it wasn't the bankers who did all this, it was those nasty "credit agencies". Well if you want the "right" answer only ask people who will give you the answer they know you want. And even then it is really all the fault of the Labour government. Because their regulators were crap... oh but the regulators are bankers.. You total, total pr*ck.

I thought this was a football forum, but an excellent synopsis nevertheless. And if there was ever was proof that the saying "put a poacher in charge of gamekeeping" is total garbage, putting bankers in charge of the financial regulators is that proof. Jobs for the boys and don't rock the boat. Very dangerous greedy (b)ankers every one. And as for the steering wheel, the governments (and just about every other "business" person) deluded themselves that fiddling around with the interest rate was the only steering device required. Turning the wheel doesn't do a lot when you've just driven over the cliff.

Maybe you should have waited...