St Marco

Interesting to see James with 7 assists. To put that into some perspective for people. That is more assists then anyone in our team last year had for the whole season. Surman was top with 6. To put that into further perspective that means he has a 1 assist every 2 games ratio. To put that into even further perspective that is over twice as good as Morgan, who most feel to be our most creative player.

On the way back. First half we were gash. Played too negative and created nothing. We were lucky to go in 1-0. Formation was wrong. Second half we changed it about and went with 2 up front and were miles better. We should of scored 2 or 3 and had a goal dissalowed which looked ok to me. All in all should of been a draw. They played great in 1st half and we played great in second. They got lucky and had some decisions go their way. In terms of creating chances we were the better team. They are a decent side and so are we. I don't feel bad about losing at all as i know we gave a good account of ourselves in the 2nd half and their keeper was probably man of the match, which say's a lot. Those feeling all angry and throwing their toy's out the pram need to get real. We were in admin 4 months ago on the verge of going under. Started the season with a **** team and no manager pretty much. In 4 months we got up the table from last to 12th. We are now 13th 10 points from the last playoff spot. We are not out of it yet. 10 points is a huge gap but we still have to play majority of the teams again, all of the teams except Colchester again. Lot's of points to be won. If we go back on the run that saw us win 13 of 16 games then we have a great chance. The next few league games will tell us where we are at. Lose to Millwall and Huddersfield and were out of it. But even if we are out of it we still would of been in the top 5 if we didn't have the minus 10. I think we need another winger and possibly another striker. Lambert is the man and Connolly is good but when Lambert is in-effective we don't really have someone who could come on for him. Antonio will be a decent player but he makes a lot of mistakes when in good positions. At every chance today James,Thomas and Morgan tried to cross the ball. Majority of them are pretty good. But Antonio tries too hard to take the player on and then once he has done that doesn't produce the goods. I would start with Waigo out there now and bring Antonio on only if we need the outlet. Waigo has far better control and has the knack of getting in the right places. And the last thing is i think it is time for Kelvin to come back in for Bart. The lad has done well and fair play to him but he can't seem to command the defence as well and doesn't seem to make good throwing/kicking decisions. He did a really poor kick and we were lucky not to go another goal down from it. Maybe it is just me but i get the impression he does not have the same confidence as Davis does. So a loss to a good team, not the end of the world.

Think i must have cursed my PS3 by saying good things about it as it died yesterday Was watching Transformers 2 on Blu Ray and about 20mins in the fan started to go mental, like a vacum cleaner being turned on. Then literally 2 seconds later a high pitch squealling noise coming from the disc drive, and then poof, dead PS3. Ring up Sony and basically have to proove the PS3 is mine by giving out **** loads of details like receipt number (lucky i kept that) etc.. Firstly the guy tries to tell me it is my tv that is broken even though it is working fine with the other gadgets. Then say's it is the av cable even though i try to explain it is using hdmi output. Then say's i must have a warped blu ray disc even though it would not turn on...Was then told it was a busted hdmi cable, even though again i tried to explain was not turning on...Was then told it was the power cable. So ran to my brothers house, plugged his ps3 cables into my ps3 and again no joy. Re-rang Sony to explain it was not the cables. The guy then said i must of had something on top of it and it was not the ps3's fault, even though it has nothing on top of it, and never has. Basically was getting the impression i must have broken it, it could not have been just the ps3 dying. I mentioned to him i had paid for an extended warrenty and wanted it fixed. Eventually they agreed to sending out someone to come pick it up and run for tests. Now maybe i just had a 1 off experience but it was a total joke trying to get them to agree there could be a fault. Firstly they tried the "is it a legit bought ps3" angle. After producing the receipts,warrenty numbers they then talked about the ps3 itself. The whole conversation seemed they were told to try and not take the ps3 back at all costs. I have no doubt when it goes back they will just send it back saying it is my fault or not covered by warrenty etc.. I have had 2 360's break and that process was as simple as fook. I even got a free game and a controller out of it. The people on the phone did a few tests to try and see if it was not the 360, and then just ordered it to be send in. No need for receipts or stuff like that. So maybe i just had an arsehole of a phone support guy and was a one off but getting them to even think about fixing it was a complete nightmare.

It's interesting reading views on James. He seems to be one of those players who can divide opinion. Personally i felt he played pretty well today. For the second game in a row he looked like the most creative player out there.

RAGE - PS3, 360 METRO 2030 (this game is going to be fecking scary!) - 360 DC UNIVERSE - PS3

BIOSHOCK 2 - PS3, 360 HEAVY RAIN - PS3 LAST GUARDIAN - PS3 WHITE KNIGHT CHRONICLES - PS3 FABLE 3 - 360 LOST PLANET 2 - 360 (timed exclusive so will obviously go to PS3 too) MAX PAYNE 3 - 360, PS3 KINGDOM UNDER FIRE 2 - 360 Ninety-Nine Nights II - 360 BRINK - PS3, 360

MECHWARRIOR - 360 METAL GEAR RISING - PS3, 360 BAYONETA - PS3, 360

Lot's of cool games coming out ALAN WAKE - 360 GOD OF WAR 3 - PS3 FINAL FANTASY 13 - PS3,360 MASS EFFECT 2 - 360 GRAN TURISMO 5 - PS3 CRACKDOWN 2 - 360 DEAD RISING 2 - 360,PS3 MAG - PS3 SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION - 360 HALO REACH - 360

Think it depends on how much your wanting to spend really. I own all three and love them all in their own ways. If you want cheap HD gaming then obviously a 360 is the way to go. You get one for about £99 in places. Which is £150 cheaper then the cheapest PS3. The thing with the 360 is if you use the extras then they are there for you to choose. For example Wi Fi. The PS3 has this built in. That is great if your computer is miles away from your router. It saves having to put a **** load of wires all over the house. But most people have their router near their tv, so just a £2 ethernet cable would give you a better connection then the wireless one. There are lots of examples of this and it just boils down to what you intend to use it for, how much you plan to use it. Blu-Ray is only on PS3, if you have an HD tv then watching these films can be a great experience. If you don't watch many films then again is a bit pointless. The same can be said for browsing the net. If you have a PC then your most likely use that for your browsing. But if you have a family who hog the pc then the PS3 gives you another way of doing it while avoiding arguments! Although if your a Facebook type person then you can use that on your 360. If you have Sky tv you can watch that on your 360 too. So for me personally i use my PS3 for watching films and playing games. I use my 360 for playing games and playing online sometimes. Xbox live is a far more stable online experience then PSN. The downside to that is you have to pay a monthly subscription for it.....You still get all the demos and things without it just means you got to wait like a week extra to get them. Where as on PSN those things are instant. The Wii is more of the **** about with friends console. It hardly ever get's used. Getting the new Super Mario game was the first one in a longtime. All of the consoles have great games on them. Whatever your into your bound to find something your like. So as i said i think it depends on how much you intend to use it and what you use it for that defines what is the best console. If you buy something for hundreds of pounds and only use 1 or 2 of the features then is a bit pointless. They are all fun and in my opinion are all worth the money now. They also have some amazing games coming next year.

some amazing deals out there right now HMV were selling Rock Band Beatles full band with game for £39 on 360 and £49 on PS3, it is sold out online but might be able to get that in some stores. Amazon have the same deal on but is about £55 if i remember right. Steam have a great sale on too which will add new games every 24hrs, can get GTA4 for £5! And Stalker for like £1.30! That is a class game. Game have a great sale on too. They were selling special editions of street fighter 4 for £11 but are now sold out, hopefully they add some more stock in next couple of days! EDIT: sorry did not see the other steam thread

I don't think we need one, it is that simple. I appreciate the efforts of those who try and do what is best for the club but in my opinion i don't think he always did that.

Which he is not. I remember him trying to preach about how bad things would be if we tried to get rid of Lowe, remember that article he did about Lowe and Wilde returning would save the club? The only person he speaks for is himself. And i think it is time he like all those connected to the old regime fade away. A clean sweep was needed and that includes Nick.

Think it's been a good year for some decent games If i base it off of the games i have played the most this year then it is deffinatly either Forza 3, Fifa 10, Total War Empire, FM10, Fight Night 4, Streetfighter 4 or Left4Dead 2. The ones completed that you can add to the list would be Uncharted 2, Dragon Age, Batman Arkham Asylum, Resident Evil 5, KillZone 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. All good games, hard to choose 1 that is head and shoulders above the rest. For me it has to be about how long you will keep playing it. Games like Uncharted 2 are amazing, but once completed feel little chance of going back.

Again as mentioned before. Simon Cowell does not own nor even have shares in Sony BMG, he just works for them on a salary. He works for them by giving them exclusive approaching rights to the acts on his SyCo label, which they also own a majority stake in. A lot of people have misunderstood that whole thing to try and twist the knife a little when in reality it is not like that. Simon Cowell will not get a penny from Rage Against the Machines song. Sony BMG are owned by Sony Corp and Bertelsmann AG. However Sony Corp just bought up their rights and will rename the company Sony Entertainment Inc from next year. Sony Corp are one of the biggest electronics companies in the world. Who are on the stock market and owned by shareholders. Of which Simon Cowell is not one. Just thought i should clear that up.

I was involved with it yes but nothing major Lot's of people were and it just snow balled. At the end of the day i think the great thing about the whole thing, other then making money for charity is that it made the charts exciting again. Like how it used to be.

Well have they not? If you forget the politics, forget the people involved, forget the whole last 3 months etc.. What song did you prefer Joe's song or Rage Against the Machines? As Zane Lowe said, say someone else won X factor this year, those twin fellas etc.. Would Joe have got a number 1 with that song? If he just released it the week before xmas? Obviously he wouldn't. He would not even make it intothe charts. Basically meaning if he was not known on a tv show nobody would of bothered to even buy it. The fact Rage won is a huge achievment. And the far majority of the actual music industry will be happy about that. The only people who wont be happy are obviously people who backed Joe, the X factor makers/judges etc.. (as the prize for winning the show was a number 1 at xmas remember). People say Rage will be forgotten in a few weeks but they haven't been forgotten in 17 years....Will people be playing Joe's songs in 17 years? Doubtful. Joe like those before him are a tool used simply to exploit a feeling created by a three month campaign. Rage should not even have come close to that. He will be forgotten like those before him, Shane Ward and some guy called Leon. While Rage will be playing to sold out arena's all over the world. Which brings me onto that anyone who bought RATM's song, if you keep the receipt you will be able to go to a free concert that Rage will put on next year to say thank you.

The people have spoken While others have tried to hate on the whole thing im glad the majority of people got what it was about. Biggest 1st week sales in history. At the end of the day, if you prefered Joes song to Rages then fair play to you. But i don't think i know a single person who prefered it. None of my mates did, non of my family did. Makes you wonder who did? And if they were buying it for musical reasons or other reasons? So well done guys we made history!

I think a lot of people bought it for various reasons. To begin with it was just an alternative to what was on offer. Like sort of how channel 4 do an alternative christmas message. But as it grew in popularity i think we got all types of groups, some good some not so good. But i think the far majority of the people who got involved just wanted a change. In a way even though it is about music, the actual 2 songs are not important. It is sort of the principle of how those songs came to be, both created for very different purposes. As Tom mentioned theirs was made while they were roughing it in the slums of LA. Where as Joes was written by a very well paid writing production group at Disney for someone else. Even if we do win it won't really change anything. The reality shows will still come, they will still be un-avoidable in your daily lives. Just hopefully now they might realise that while a lot of people like these shows, there are also a lot of people who have had enough of them. And maybe it is time to cut back on them, try something different. Of course they won't do that while suckers pay a quid a time to register a vote. Easy money.

We'll the time is now over for another year. We'll done to those who got involved by either buying the records or donating to the charities. We managed to raise £60k before the proceeds of the song are added to it which is simply amazing. After having no show to promote the song on for the past three months i think anyone who got involved can feel proud of what we did. We will make a fair few people slightly more happier this year, people who really need our help. Not going to just make someone rich. I think the totals will be very close, could go either way. But realisticly you have to say we probably came up just short due to Joe having a physical cd out there. Based on download stats Rage Against the Machine topped basically every single chart. In any other week it would be a landslide win with those stats. But as feared the grannies have been out in force and bought Joe's song. It will be reported this was the closest xmas number 1 battle for a long long time. It will most likely be year number 5 for the Reality machine and while Simon Cowell is on his sunny island counting his money made from Joe, our money will have gone to bring a smile to some vunerable people freezing their ass off on the streets. While Joe will be forgotten in a few weeks what we tried to do will linger for a longtime. So fingers crossed we won, but even if we didn't, we gave it a hell of a shot and proved that like minded people can come together and try and change something. So well done

I thought he was our most creative player. He did two outstanding crosses were Lambert narrowly missed and then again to i think Hammond. Then when he was put into defence when he got a corner which Gobern almost scored from. I felt if we were going to get something it looked likely to be from a cross, probably one of his. But it is a game of opinions and that is what makes it great to talk about.

On the way home. First half thought we were not really in the game to be honest. Seemed a bit in awe of them and gave them too much respect. However i felt we defended well as a unit at times, probably lucky to go in 0-0 though at half time. 2nd half we were much better and played some cracking football. James stood out for me as did some excellent crosses. Lambart had some good chances and the one he missed at the end was shocking. But he is entitled to miss a few, he has earnt that right. A great goal scored by them though. Overall i think there was not much difference in us and them. We both sort of play the same way trying to play neat football. Have some class individuals but work well as a team. It could of gone either way it was that close. I don't feel down at all. Leeds are a very good team and have fallen a lot harder then we have. They have had the extra year or so to sort themselves out and i think next year we will be like the Leeds of this year. We will be dominant in the league. But considering where we were only a few months ago to see how far we have progressed i think winning 13 of our last 16 games? Is amazing. We are not the finished article. I think Leeds are the best team in this league followed by us and Norwich. The players did well and should not be downbeat about the loss. We showed we can play them in their very loud stadium and not shy away. Them coming to St Marys will again make a great occasion. You win some and you lose some. This was a narrow loss to the best team away in this league. Well done lads. Now let's maul Exeter next week!

Last day to buy today. Interesting article here http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/2778291/X-Factor-star-blasts-rival-Rages-riffage.html Joe slagging off Rage and throwing darts at their picture. He says after listening to the song for the first time "they are awful, a zero out of ten for me, they would not even get past boot camp on the x factor. I would be so upset if i missed out after putting so much effort into it". Considering Rage have not slagged him off, have said multiple times it is not about him, he was not even the winner when the campaign started, have said he seems a nice guy etc etc think it is pretty low for him to act like that. Just another example of how fake he and the image he has to portray is. So if you have not bought yet, but want to, please do. It is only 29p at Amazon. It goes to helping homeless people.

Am i the only one getting a bit of de ja vu? Didn't someone say the same thing about the CCC when we were getting thrashed 5-1? Other then that i agree! But i think our team could compete in the CCC. We played a prem team and were the better side for most it. The big difference i notice from the later half of our prem days and all through our CCC days is we now have a team with a real team spirit. First time i a longtime we can say that. The players are not here just to get paid like basically our teams over the last 6-7 years. They want to do well and will not give up. Our win in midweek shows that attitude. In my book there are two people to thank for that. Our great leader Markus and our manager Pardew. With these 2 guys involved i have no doubt we will get better and better. But they will do it in a way that does not harm the club. The prem league is a hard league, we wont win it. But we could deffinatly get to a point where we can compete. We have all the things required to do that, including now money. The prem league landscape has changed since we were there. The gap between the supposed top 4 and the rest is not as big as it used to be. Look how many games those supposed top 4 have lost already this year. I watch the team where ever they go. But i have to be honest and say i miss the days of going to places like Old Trafford,Anfield and thinking "we might get something". I would love to see us back there in a position similar to say Spurs, Villa etc..

Plus also it is just wrong reporting trying to mislead people. Simon Cowell WORKS for Sony BMG. He is not the owner of it, he is on a salary. He is not a share holder. Rage are on a label owned by Sony. Simon Cowell will not get a single penny from sales of Rages song. Where as he will if Joe wins. Joe is signed to SyCo. A company owned by Sony after Simon Cowell sold most if to them. He controls that company and any product coming out of there will bare his logo. He owns the rights to the company. He gets all the people on his shows to agree to sign with SyCo before the show has even started. As mentioned it is reported he could take as much as 80% of the profits from Joe's song. I think people need to understand that. To put this into a different perspective like someone did on the sun. It is like Fergie selling a player. If he sells a player that money goes to the people who own Man Utd, not to him. To compare it to football is of course silly. But you could say it is similiar to Man Utd winning the title every year. People would love to see a different team win it now and then. Maybe a team who did not cost much, have a team spirit and make you happy to watch. A team like us

Yeah, it was very funny! Like afterwards she said "we did ask them not to do that, but they did it anyway". I guess she never listened to the lyrics of the song then. Everyone could see it was coming a mile off!