Dark Munster

At a guess, liquidation and starting a new club before the season starts makes it easier for the FL to deny the new club its golden share. So it's safer to do it half way through the season.

So you're saying HMRC have a cunning plan to liquidate PFC, and then bankrupt UHY Hacker Young & AA? I couldn't raise my hopes up that high. But as cunning plans go, that's the best I've ever heard!

Say it's not so! That means I have to give them a warm welcome. I'd better get my Saints shirt out, and start preparing some rotten eggs and tomatoes. CHEATING BASTARDS

Agreed. Thank God they haven't sacked him yet. He's the French version of this clown.

It seems so. Automatic -10 for going into administration, regardless of a CVA. Extra point deductions for those not coming out of administration with a CVA.

:smt038

Since 1990 the following have needed penalties at some stage to win the World Cup: 1990 West Germany 1994 Brazil 1998 France 2006 Italy The only exception was Brazil in 2002 who didn't need penalties at any stage. So the odds are, no matter how good a team is, they will probably need to win at least one penalty shootout to win the WC. So that's England f**ked then. :mad:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2010/article-1279183/WORLD-CUP-2010-Gary-Lineker-insists-Englands-players-start-practicing-penalties-ahead-finals.html I don't necessarily think we've prepared well enough in the past but I think Capello might be different,' said former England captain Lineker. 'You have to practice, absolutely you do. 'This argument that it's different when it really matters, well, of course it's different, but if you've hit hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of penalties, at least you've got an idea of what to do rather than go: "Oh, I've never hit a penalty before, this will be interesting". 'Really intelligent football people come up with this argument that it's different when the pressure's on. Well, yeah, but... 'It's like saying a golfer never practices a six-foot putt. Yes, it's different when it's for the Open Championship but it doesn't half help if you've actually hit a few. I just don't get the argument. There is no argument. It just doesn't make sense. 'You have to practice even more so when you're out at a World Cup because you know the chances are you'll have to take a penalty. You might be called upon, even if you're one of those who wouldn't normally take a penalty in any circumstances. 'If it's nine-all, you'll have to take one. You've got to hit loads, not just say let's all have one. I used to hit about 30 penalties every day.'

That reminds me of a manager in Scotland a long time ago (can't remember who), who said of one of his strikers (words to the effect): "He's bloody useless. He does practically nothing. All he does is score goals."

Half nice. My score: Mexico 10 England 3

Peter Crouch: 22 goals in 38.5 England matches. If he's not on the plane, and Heskey (7 goals in 57) is, then Capello has completely lost the plot.

It's mine the day before, so hopefully a dream present for both of us.

A lottery that the Germans (who practise a lot) always win, and England (who don't practise as much) almost always loses. Yep, nothing to do with practise. Damn those lucky Germans!

+1 Against the Germans or Portuguese.

And last?

True, but they have a scary amount of talent. France had an shocking manager last time, but got to within penalty kicks of winning.

Why can't England managers understand this? One of the best penalty takers of all time, but he still felt it important to practise. A lot. July-1990: vs. West Germany, World Cup, Semi-Final June-1996: vs. Germany, Euro 96, Semi-Final Jun-1998: vs. Argentina, World Cup, First Knock-Out Round Jun-2004: vs. Portugal, Euro 2004, Quarter-Final Jul-2006: vs. Portugal, World Cup, Quarter Final If it happens again this summer (especially against the Germans), I hope no-one is underneath my window when it happens, because a TV may come flying out of the window at that moment.

Practise doesn't guarantee success, but it improves the odds.

Robson, Hoddle, Eriksson and Capello all disagree. Which means England have had a succession of stupid managers. The only England manager in recent times who seemed to have partially prepared for taking penalties was Venables (and I hate saying that, because he was the biggest twat of the lot, otherwise). He actually won one shootout (against Spain), and matched Germany in a shootout on the first 5. Unfortunately he didn't consider the possibility of needing more than 5 players to take penalties.

I was thinking (and hoping!) the same thing. Pearce has learned the lesson the hard way, and now has seen the light. On the other hand, Capello appears to be very single-minded, and may be ignoring Pearce. If so, our only hope is that Pearce could try to have some penalty practise behind Capello's back.

June 3rd. Mark your calendar.

Indeed. England and Germany have proven that quite conclusively (in opposite ways).

Let's suppose England and Germany meet in the knockout stage, and it goes to penalties. And suppose someone offers you £1 million if you correctly guess the outcome. Who would you choose? More generally, suppose team A and team B meet in the knockout stage, and it goes to penalties. Team A has been practising penalties for 2 years, team B hasn't practised at all. And suppose someone offers you £1 million if you correctly guess the outcome. Who would you choose, team A or team B?

Oz eh? I bet you wouldn't want to cuddle one of these.

F**king unbelievable. Just when I thought England has a manager that could take us out of the dark ages, it turns out he is in the Bobby Robson (R.I.P.)-Glenn Hoddle-Sven-Göran Eriksson school of "why bother practising penalties?" That's right Capello, it's far too early to practise. There are a whopping 3 weeks before the tournament starts. Those idiot Germans have been practising since they were in their nappies. What good has it done them? Ok, they haven't lost a penalty shoot out since the time of the dinosaurs, and England have lost all but one in that time (the reason for getting knocked out of tournaments umpteen times).....but that's just bad luck, penalty shootouts are a lottery, right? :mad: http://tinyurl.com/2fd5r37 However, for someone as methodical as the England coach, it comes as a surprise to discover there have been no penalties practised. At this stage, he simply does not see the point. "It is too early to practise penalties," he reflected. "In any case, you could prepare for penalties and practise every day in training. But in a match it is different. "Shooting to win is not the same as shooting in training. "In training, the keeper is not very big. When you need to score to win, the keeper is really big and the goal is very small."