Minty

155-1 off 27.5 so far... I'll not tempt fate however, this is England after all.

Come on chaps, there's just no need for this all over again, it just devalues the thread.

I think the journalist needs to be taken to task and asked to name his source. Until he does so, it remains just another unsubstantiated rumour.

This certainly my view also, and as I said at the top, I'm not particularly worried at all. I have faith in NC and his overall management of the club and the business.

I think that's unfair manji. It's your opinion, fair enough, but I genuinely do not believe that Duncan has an agenda beyond having strong opinions about what is right or wrong for the club. I've disagreed with him plenty in the past, mainly on Saintslist, but I don't think he is bitter or has an agenda at all. 'Reading between the lines' is a dangerous game IMO and unless you know these individuals, I think such interpretations of a few words on a messageboard is misguided. I've said this before though: Ultimately, we can only make a judgement on other posters based on how well we know them and on our own perception of what they have posted in the past. I won't judge a poster just because someone else says I should or shouldn't, and equally, I'm not suddenly going to believe or not believe the club sale 'rumour' any more or less because of the Bournemouth Echo editors comment until I know more about his 'source', but I think it would be silly to rule it out completely. Things can change in football very quickly.

We live in hope...! How the current and ex-players staff behave is up to them, and I hope they can resolve their issues... it's just a real shame that there seem to be such vicious and entrenched views amongst some fans. Life's too short as it is, without going through it with any amount of bitterness attached.

All depends who this 'source' is, as always, but hypo is right and I think to dismiss it completely would be naive. That said, I'm not going to waste any time worrying about it because we have absolutely zero control over it and whatever happens, we are in an infinitely better position now than we have been for a long time.

Actually, that was SO bad, we'll probably go and win the tournament now...

I'm not going to waste more words on Cotton, suffice to say that Hatch sums her up well. The only thing to add is that anyone who actually says: 'I heart this album' or similar, needs shooting. Now then, Jo Wiley I have a lot more time for... she's a proper DJ who knows her music, and comparing the two is bordering on blasphemy IMO.

'Mutilate' in the good way or the bad way?

England vs Netherlands clearly being one of them, by the looks of things. I made less mistakes playing for Hythe and Dibden IV team in the New Forest League...

Wow. He is fat now. I'm not sure why I'm so surprised at that, but there we go.

Apparently they have issued a 'Notice of Intention' to appoint an administrator, hence the deduction.

Players like Oakley and Magilton were often viewed by some as being poor players, because the lack of movement and ability around them let them down. Midfielders can only do so much and these two in particular were often criticised for passing sideways to keep possession, and not forward, because we had lots of players who would not make themselves available for the ball, and/or our tactics relied on more direct play. Under someone like Adkins, Oakley would've been a well used and important player. Thankfully the majority of fans could see that they were good players, often in a poor team, but those who were too blind to see their ability were not insignificant in number sadly, and made themselves, and their tactical ignorance, known to anyone who would listen, and plenty more besides.

Fair comment... I just felt that drawing it out probably doesn't help, and perhaps a PM might resolve it? After all, the most important thing, IMO, is that we can actually discuss the issue at hand.

I think you understand it just fine UP... I liken the role to that of any customer service position... sometimes decisions have to be made that people won't like, but the key is in HOW that is then communicated, and that should always be done in an inoffensive and polite way that seeks to help the poster understand why the decision was taken.

I think you have a fair point and that the thread should be re-opened, but there's no point IMO devaluing it by getting arsey with the mods. They're not perfect, but they make all decisions in good faith.

Agreed, and although I said something similar above, I think it's worth highlighting again. And to be fair, it's not just this forum, it happens in a lot of places. We all do good things and bad. We all get some things right and some wrong. Being able to take criticism and discuss it like adults is the only way to improve yourself. I am sure that the club and NC in particular would welcome constructive criticism. Sadly, there are often criticisms of the club which are OTT and not constructive at all, but there are also perfectly valid points made which are worthy of discussion and consideration but some people just accuse posters of blindly wanting to criticise.

A couple of separate points here, that as usual seem to get mixed up into one confused discussion. 1 - The forum is 'in the club's pocket'. - Well, as um pahars has said, given some of Steve Grant's comments on certain subjects, it clearly is not. He has been harsher than most on some issues, as is his right, along with plenty of others, and all those posts are still here for all to see. If people could rise above their conspiracy theories and just debate the issues at hand with respect for different views, that would help a lot, but it seems the focus is usually accusing others of being pro-NC or anti-NC, to try and turn things into a black and white argument, rather than debate each issue on its own merits. 2 - Censorship - Like it or loathe it, Huntingdon and eurosaint above are correct and owners of any site have to be a lot more careful about content nowadays. People used to think I was harsh sometimes on my Marching In forum back in the day, but compared to now, I was lenient. But things change. It stinks, but that's life nowadays. 3 - The 'standard' of posts and members - This old chestnut will always come around. Simple fact is that far more people use the internet nowadays than in the early days of message boards, and so there are more people diluting the mix. You can't control that, and if one forum becomes popular and more people join, then even less so. I actually agree with some of what Turkish says, but there's no point complaining about it because there's nothing you can do except to have your own forum and invite only people you want on. The only way to 'improve' things (in your opinion) is to only reply to those threads you deem are worthwhile and ignore those that aren't... unfortunately, it seems the majority of posters prefer to reply and cause problems on threads they don't agree with or where they think people need to be told that what they've posted is rubbish... it just makes it all worse and fills to forum with crap. We're all different, we all prefer different things on our forums and message boards, but on a popular one such as this, you can't cater for niche markets. You either respect that and your fellow members and contribute accordingly, or you don't. That's not the owners/mods fault, that's just the way it is.

Exactly when we need them to lift the team and carry them over the finish line...

Frankly, the fact we're still in with a very good shout of automatic promotion, *whilst* being inconsistent, is a good thing... if we can rediscover our form AND find some consistency, then so much the better.

It's times like these the fans need to play their part... I hope they're getting behind the side and not letting nerves or anxiety take over.

The original story is bad enough, but some of this second-guessing is worse IMO. We don't know the facts, we don't know why the decision was made, and so speculating and making judgements on the back of that speculation is pointless.

Indeed. What purpose did that article serve? Is it going to change anything, or was it simply yet another way for MLT to have a pop at NC? And given that MLT seemingly doesn't know exactly what the reasoning is behind the players' unavailability, it's hardly the strongest of evidence. I've criticised NC in the past but as has been stated in this thread already, the way to do business with him is to discuss it in private and constructively. That's what NC eventually did with the Sun about the photo ban, and it was put right. Fans taking sides won't help either, but on the face of it, the onus appears to be on the organisers to speak to the club to find out more, rather than running to the press.

Are you dating my wife?!