shurlock

Used to get a good slap from the old man for calling teamtalk and clubcall on the sly when I was younger.

If I was George Osborne, I'd positively insist on it. Exotic tastes that lad.

The Lions are reverting to type. Fun while it lasted.

Are there any courses you know you would definitely enjoy more? If there are, perhaps worth considering a change. But if there aren't, don't underestimate how many courses, esp in the humanities and social sciences, feel the same once you get on the treadmill of reading lists, essays, seminars and lectures. The grass won't be that much greener and you'll just be couped in university a little bit longer.

Is that Kevin Colbert? The guy has certainly had the midas touch when it comes to draft picks.

Agree, its nonsense- the scenario-based questions can't be answered without more facts and an understanding of motivation; people are fraudsters -desperate to project an image to themselves and others and there's no agreed upon scale to measure reactions: one person's 10 might be another's 7 etc.

Nothing that conspiratorial but I wouldn't be surprised if particular blocks or parts of blocks were excluded.

Confusing OP -apples and pears who achieved what as both NA and AP had to deal with different challenges -fundamental rebuilding vs. getting the best out of the squad. FWIW, AP had more transfer windows to work than NA (3 versus 2) and he also spent more money (if you believe the numbers). Its also questionable whether more of the current team are AP's signings: Richardson, Lambert, Hammond and to a lesser extent Connolly are the only signings that feature regularly ATM. The rest were either around in the bad old days or were brought in by NA (technically Guly is NA's and was probably NC's inspiration - and if the experience of Papa Waigo is anything to go by, its not certain AP would have got anything like the best out of Guly). This is not to knock AP - he was forced to punch above his weight in terms of attracting championship-level players to what in August 2009 was a L1 longshot/sleeping giant/quasi-basket case; by contrast, NAenjoys greater room to manoeuvre and a larger field to pick from (though that's in part the product of the club's success and rising profile which he has overseen). That some of AP's players are still around is credit to his skills, though -if you believe the press- its also no coincidence that they are positions -RB, striker- where we are trying most actively to strengthen. To the extent NA has had less time or cash to spend in the market, the jury is probably still out on his transfer record. I think we'll have a better idea at the end of the season when we can judge the impact of the striker we will probably sign in January and how the defence stands up. Finally, what defines a canny operator is not the ability to spend big but to spot bargains - it didn't take a genius to identify Lambert as HCDAJFU in L1 (who knows whether AP would have still gone for Lambert had he taken us over in the championship). For me, deals like Chaplow, Morgan and Connolly give me as much satisfaction. Another hallmark is the ability to know when not to buy or rush into the market. Not every problem needs a new signing which can often just make things worse.

Would agree on this one.

AFC's anybody's shout - whoever plays least badly to secure home field advantage probably has the best chance.

No-brainer - finish your degree. The safety of university's the best place to be at the moment - with little or no work experience, you'll be torn to shreds in the real world. And you can't underestimate the regret you might feel later on. I know a couple of girls -one in her mid-20s and one in her early-30s- who packed in university and you can tell it grates. Doesn't entirely matter what you study either (whether you enjoy it is another matter). Get a 2:1 or better from a decent university and that's half the battle. Man up and count your blessings - and, even better, you get to do it all at the taxpayer's expense....

Dont disagree - and its definitely true of some areas. Thinking more of the suburbs that white English people have been able to move to -parts of bexley/greenwich in the south; southern hertfordshire in the north and essex in the east (never lived in west london, so don't know the surrounding area) -all within reach of opportunities in and around the capital). This is a voluntary process and has been happening for a long time.

True, it depends. I guess I end up comparing this country with other places I'm quite familiar with. My old man lives in Baltimore in the US, a city which is larger than Manchester and where two thirds of the population is black. I agree about generational effects - its also a tricky one. On the one hand, you have girls who want to have an education and take advantage of the opportunities in this country and some are even prepared to marry out; on the other, it means that many are also more confident about asserting their identity and difference and challenging mainstream values in a way their parents never dared to.

London's generally OK - there's enough movement that people can create their own communities or simply move away if they don't like what an area has become. Where groups and minorities form enclaves out of choice -often its simple economic necessity- its a massive two fingers up to multiculturalism but at least, movement provides an useful safety valve. I have more sympathy for towns up north where those options don't exist - along with all other problems of opportunity and the traditional bias of governments to the south. Saying that, ethnic minorities are still minorities -and its far fetched to talk about being a stranger in one's own town. Try living in other parts of the world.

Shame, you didn't stumble into Kilburn and have a nice mick welcome you instead. Talk about students, you come across as one of the most naive and sheltered posters on here -and you don't even have the alibi of being a nipper.

The ad is the commercial and marketing equivalent of being fisted by raymond briggs' snowman. Mugs.

Agree - owning a ST should be irrelevant to the allocation of away tickets; in the old days, when the membership system was in place and as long as you were a member, the club looked strictly at away games attended.

Hull away will keep the plastics at bay

Mate, you're a bore. If you're unable to distinguish between different type of articles: opinion pieces, unreferenced speculation, articles with directly attributable quotes and facts with which the journo/paper can hang himself if he gets it wrong (a la Sun), you're a helmet. Some posters may bury their heads in the sand to bad press while creaming themselves when said paper prints something positive; but a good majority take each story on its merits -and see how far each article meets the gold standard of good, sourced, attributable journalism. It happens that this article ticks more of those boxes than others -and yeh, this article is a positive piece. That's not to say this article is watertight: talk is cheap -and I take any reference to Barcelona with a pinch of salt; and saying that we invest £2.3m a year in the academy in itself is meaningless unless you have a sense what competitor clubs are doing/spending. But on the whole, its a tidy piece -it doesn't suck off Cortese -it rightly acknowledges the role of past regimes etc; and just as importantly, the journo has some skin in the game.

[video=youtube;t4z6fW-qRxM] Held in great affection by them.

Much more humiliating having it sung to you which happened in 2008. Even tempted to say that they knew what they were doing if they weren't such dozy northerners.

Always thought "this is the one" had the best potential out of the roses classics.

As long as we're pushing for promotion, league games are infinitely more important than any cup game regardless the opposition -and should thus be more attractive to a saints fan.

Don't know if its a moral thing. Am not interested in broadcasting my attendance or judging others. I take more than enough satisfaction from going to games and knowing that I was there when times were difficult and am now witnessing the recovery. What others do is irrelevant. Where I draw the line is when people who don't go to games want to have their cake and eat it. Avoid telling me to sit down when I have been used to standing up etc and don't try and shove your views down my throat. Those people are typically the exception but they exist; other than that, I'm a generally live and let live kind of fan

How many decent first-team coaches have turned out to be good managers?