hutch

Probably a stupid question Duncan, but are your books available for Kindle? I've given up with the printed stuff it takes up too much space and weighs too much.

And to think I felt a bit miserable for five minutes after West Ham beat United. Wimp!

Source?

Why should we think it's a good idea to tie the manager to the club because he signed a contract? We're stuck with the pig's ear created by the PFA and Bosman that governs player contracts, but that doesn't apply to the manager. Give him a decent employment contract with 3 or 6 months notice period (effectively a rolling contract) and keep him at the club by making him want to be here. I don't see Ron as the type that has his head turned by agent talk or newspaper nonsense. Where we are now, there are far fewer "top jobs" to tempt our manager away. I don't want a manager that doesn't want to be here, whether he's under contract or not.

They have a dilemma. They aren't selling next year's season tickets yet, and normally they're selling early bird renewals from about March. Just a wild guess, but likely because they were planning a hefty price increase following promotion. Remember they froze the prices last year. So it will be interesting to see what they do now. They will definately sell fewer than last year now that they're still in the 4th Division. They have wages to pay up to the end of June, and they now have no income. My guess is they will try to dress up an ST price rise as an opportunity for the fan owners to make a heroic contribution to next year's league-ripping new squad. I think they'll end up about where they are now income-wise, with the price rise balancing out the reduced sales. But it will affect their other commercial revenues, and get them closer to their hard core of well below 10,000 What's probably more important is that Prudence would dictate that they don't fix any wage or transfer budgets until they have secured their safety certificate, particularly in the light of the Hillsborough verdict which laid some of the blame at the door of the club (Sheff. Weds.) and the certifying process itself. Unfortunately Prudence left Fratton Park some time ago.

So, presumably their transfer war chest is whatever they can get for those two.

Can I just check that we're discussing whether to keep Graziano Pelle here or let him go? The same Graziano Pelle that's first choice centre forward for Italy?

The only one they "fought off" was Balram Chainrai. Chainrai actually saved the club from certain liquidation, although his motives were questionable.

I think we're both saying the same thing, but one of us doesn't bill in multiples of 6 minutes

Only that our coefficient would improve if they win

Fook me that's outstanding. I don't suppose you'd have a go at predicting last week's lottery numbers?

Completely outrageous that fans have suffered the cost of travelling hundreds and hundreds of miles to watch the game, and all for nothing. Bournemouth fans had a fair old journey as well.

Didn't Northampton give them a guard of honour last week for finishing joint top?

Nobody did the double over us

What makes you think they have a financial plan?

It is indeed. It is evidence that it is the opinion of the expert. It is not evidence that the expert's opinion is correct. On any given day in the civil courts, around 50% of the expert opinions that are given in evidence are judged to be unreliable.

For the third season in a row. One could argue that Saints have now taken up Everton's previous slot, leaving Everton free to take Wigan's.

Pfffft. Next you'll be suggesting that you actually own your computer and the software that runs on it, just because you bought and paid for it.

But what if we finish eighth?

I suspect there are thousands of fans everywhere saying a little prayer. Please God, not us.

I don't disagree, I just raise it because, as a part-time South African I happen to know it from personal experience. I don't think it's a particularly relevant argument for either case, but Charlie does.

I know it's been said before, but does that explain why Mercedes makes all the "C" Class vehicles for the UK market in South Africa? BMW 3-series? VW Polos? Not to mention the Turkish Transits again. There are countless examles where stuff is manufactured by EU companies outside the EU for sale inside the EU markets.

That's a pretty powerful case for staying in right there :lol:

Sunday could well be a brilliant day.

I was mauled on here (in a Geoffrey Howe fashion) at the outset for anticipating the deluge of dodgy statistics from both sides. There are two things that realy trouble me: The rules require that we produce everything to EU standards, just in case we want to export some of it to the EU. Much of that is just common sense, but we should have the right to determine our own requirements. And companies should be free to choose not to meet specific parts of EU requirements if they have no business with the EU. The Germans wouldn't like that because it could give a British manufacturer and edge over his German competitor. But more importantly the open market does bother me. I don't feel comfortable that the French own most of our water and electricity, or that the Germans are eyeing up our railways. And the prospect of the Americans buying up our healthcare industry under TTIP is abhorrent. I'm not completely comfortable with the Chinese taking over our nuclear power industry, but that is under our control. If the British people dislike that enough, they can force our government to abandon it through our ballot boxes, the way it should be done. But we couldn't do that if they were German (or, heaven forbid, Turkish in the future). So, an EU without a veto on absolutely anything that we don't consider to be in our national interest, including the right of a widget manufacturer in Merthyr Tydfill to make doobries for export to Guatemala that don't meet EU regulations, isn't for me.