shurlock

Was all the way in Block 4, so couldn't see clearly; but did they have a decent shout for a pen after Jos slipped and let the attacker clean through?

You have such a way with words.

Cheers, had seen the stories linking him to Swansea. Has your mate heard anything else?

What are you on about? Are people knocking the article because its 'negative' (though in the weird and wonderful la la land of the mboard, it's a straight-down-the-middle commentary)? Or are people knocking it because its arguments are dubious which happen to be 'negative'? If its the latter, engage with the criticisms rather than dodge them and resort to lazy generalisations.

The same Rooney who talked up a move to Man City in 2010 coz they were offered to double his wages?

His or the club's position? There might be enlightened self-interest i.e. what's good for the club is good for Cortese but its not a straightforward case of Cortese putting his interests over the club's as Samuel's dim footballer analogy suggests.

Agree. Your last point is particularly important.

Thought last week illustrated how most people on here do judge stories -positive or negative- on their merits. Even before the follow-up BBC article came out, most people had accepted the Times article and had moved onto discussing its implications. Given the caricatures from the usual suspects, you would have expected it to be summarily dismissed. Far from it.

Didn't think Lallana had a very good game - punch looked more dangerous when he came on. Unlike AL doesn't feel the need to check back -and slow things down when he receives the ball. Only our fullbacks seem happy to attack the space in front of them. Davis has been excellent since MP arrived but wonder whether we've got the balance right at home. Surely we can throw a bit more caution to the wind -and accommodate another AM instead of the more steady-eddy Davis? Away it's a different matter.

Is he still writing about Cortese? This from a journo who was convinced in 2010 that the "little monster", Cortese, was about to f**k off to AC Milan. How did that one pan out? There is an irony here: our forum experts are quick to mock others for creaming themselves whenever a positive story breaks yet appear to jump on every negative story with equal verve. Bless their m***y, little cotton socks.

Definitely - United away was out best away performance. Just pointing out that among our supposed 'poor' stretch of form, there have been performances we can take real heart from.

Wouldn't call it poor. Lacklustre and slightly predictable perhaps but not poor. With the exception of WBA, we've been extremely solid. In particular, our away performances have taken a step forwards - the Spurs game probably ranks as one of our best away performances, if not best performances full-stop, this season.

Glad we're over the line and its all done. Has been an exhausting season. We have a decent shape and are looking very solid. We're able to adapt to different styles and shown we can beat most teams. AVB got it spot on when he said we have an 'identity'. We just need to populate the system with more quality.

Spot on

Well they put the m into the mboard. If you believe the press, the Liebherrs hadn't signalled their plans to Cortese, causing uncertainty and confusion. Pretty sure that with most of our players, lines of communication are opened early and each party knows where they stand, minimising any need to air things in public. In other words, using the media is a defensive measure. In other contexts, its pretty distasteful and often counterproductive.

Not necessarily analogous are they? In Morgan's case, perhaps, the feelers were put out early by the club and he wasn't left in the dark. Granted Cortese might have been stomping his little platform feet to get his way. But his behaviour may have been a natural response to the uncertainty hanging over his future. Not as if players don't use the press when they're unsure of similar things.

Does it include legal fees?

Can I have a PM? You know where this is going....

He did -the availability of any half decent CEO who, in other words, are two a penny

Perhaps Cortese has promised not to run up any more legal costs

94.29% of people will be happy. The CoC just got bigger on this news.

Bassett and wise have unfinished business

And perhaps they don't think Nik Nak drove a hard enough bargain with local companies and suppliers. Who the **** knows.

Would be very surprised if Cortese got his hands on all the TV money. True, the Liebherrs might not care less about trophies. Indeed, return may having nothing to do with on the field success but simply boosting the financial value of the club. The more modest point I'm trying to make is that if value-for-money is a determinant of investment, then it allows for more rather than less ambition. A value for money perspective, for instance, could have easily justified spending money after the 2003 FA Cup since Strachan had got blood from a stone. The club did not. Don't necessarily think that success on the field -winning in trophies in your words- and financial value of the club are two fundamentally different things. Of course, am not naive to think they are linked in any linear or short-term way (just ask the skates, risdale et al.) and perhaps this hazy relationship rules out some ambitions (CL football). But it would be equally naive to say that they aren't linked at a very basic level.