Lighthouse

That's the question I was originally asking though. Is there an actual genuine interest in watching women's football or is this just a flash in the pan because gender equality issues are a hot topic? If we're going to compare the women's game to men's leagues, it's probably Evo Stik League (or whatever it's called now) standard at the very best. I don't personally know anyone who watches football at that level, unless a friend or family member is involved and certainly not 11 million people. So that leads to the question, will people who watched the WWC continue to watch football of that standard JUST because there are women playing? If you're not interested in that standard of actual football, is having women on the pitch enough to maintain a consistent fan base? I'll give you an example, Natalie Portman posted a congratulatory message on Instagram, with a couple of standard feminist catchphrases. Fair enough, no problem with that but how often do you think we'll see her and other Hollywood actresses at the proverbial cold, wet, Tuesday night game in whatever their equivalent of Stoke is (Iowa maybe)? I fear this momentum and increased interest in women's football may be the same as our increased interest in South Korean rap, after the success of Gangnam style.

What a 10 years it's been!

The England men's team donate their wage to charity anyway, as they should. Representing your country should be purely about pride. I've no idea what the situation is in the USA but that should be the standard for several sports in most countries IMO. It still comes back to the same issue of where the money will come from. The WWC will attract nowhere near the viewers of the men's WC; fewer viewers, fewer sponsors, less money. As you say, it's a mad argument it's not going to happen.

No denying there is a pay gap between the top male and female players, the problem is it's just so subjective. There is no standard for men's pay, just whatever an agent can negotiate; and that can be anything from Alexis Sanchez down to some Isthmian league player, working part time as a welder. The pay gap is also often quoted without any suggestion as to where the money will actually come from. Plenty of empty sound bites, hardly anyone actually willing to buy a £800 ST and pay Sky/BT an extra £20pm to watch women's football.

I was on twitter earlier and the WC final was obviously trending, so I thought I’d take a look. Hundreds of tweets about the pay gap and how USA women have won four and get paid less than the men who didn’t qualify. Plenty of stuff to about Rapinoe and will she, won’t she go to the White House. Almost nothing about actual football. Literally nothing about, for eg. France’s problem RB position or should Sweden have played three at the back. The viewing figures have been decent but I do wonder how many of them have a genuine and sustained interest in the game and how many are just on the bandwagon.

I feel a much greater connection to players like Pahars, Lundekvam and Tessem than I do to Austin. In fact I remember him acting like a cocky idiot when he played against us for Swindon in League 1.

You do know it’s exactly the same ref that makes the other decisions? It’s literally the same person just having a better look.

One of those stories where there’s clearly more to it than is being reported. You’re lucky if the Police can spare four vans for an air raid, let alone a woman asking her husband to do some vacuuming.

How is Adam Clayton?

Why should we, "make his life a living hell," just because his agent managed to mug Les right off with that contract? He’s done nothing wrong. Leaking stories about him sitting out his contact isn’t going to achieve much anyway, we all know that’s what’s going on and nobody is angry at him, this is Reed’s doing. He’s not going to be chased down Above Bar Street with pitch forks any time soon and nor should he be.

TBH That would be my preference if he could find a club. Even if we have to pay 50% of his wages to play for another club for three years, it's better than paying him 100% to do f**k all here. I don't know him but I suspect he would take a move if there was no pay cut involved.

A complete myth, we don’t concede any fewer goals when he’s on the pitch when off it. He was on the pitch when we conceded 3 against Bournemouth, West Ham and Liverpool, not to mention all 6 at Man City. We sent him on when we needed to score at Newcastle, ended up conceding again. Everton at home, 2-0 and cruising - brought Long on with 15 minutes left and ended up clinging on to a 2-1 lead. He does not put pressure on anyone. He gives the ball away, he’s offside, he falls over. Cardiff at home was one of the most pathetic displays I’ve seen, throwing himself to the floor at the lightest of contact and winning nothing. If I want to see closing down, I’ll go to Homebase. From a Premier League striker we need an awful lot more than that.

Fair point, I’ve not watched either of their news coverage recently so I can’t really comment. I’m just generally wearing of anyone reporting the news who may or may not have an agenda.

Chelsea is our 8th league game of the season. Long enough do you reckon for 'Ole effect' to wear off for Lampard and the egos which run that dressing room to start disrupting things?

You could say the same about half of the tax you pay. If you've never used the fire brigade or been to A&E, why should you pay for them? It needs everyone to fund it so that it's there for everyone. You may not like it but it's an important part of why we're relatively well balanced and informed as a society. Everyone should have access to news other than the tripe written in the Mail or the Indy, otherwise we will end up like USA.

I think India 'letting us win' might already have stirred the pot somewhat.

Would love to see him back here, perhaps in some academy coaching role.

Then I can only assume he hadn’t turned up to training for three years prior to that.

I spent a few days stuck in a fairly soulless airport hotel a few years ago and my only entertainment was the usual, limited selection of foreign channels. I watched a couple of episodes of Little Britain dubbed in German, the surreal silliness of which had me almost in tears. It was only after half an hour of Russia Today I realised just how luck we are with BBC news. If you think ours is biased, you should give RT a go, their coverage of MH17 was a particular highlight. The bleakest part of the whole trip was spending the first afternoon watching BBC World Service and half listening to an British-African guy discussing African economics (I was that bored). I tuned in to the shame show, the following day, only to see a different presenter, who proceeded to inform the viewers that the other bloke as dead. Personally I think having a news service beyond the clutches of the Murdock empire is well worth the license fee.

White spirit?

If they carry on like this, I might give them a call.

Not to mention his: Daisy cutter hit tamely at the keeper vs Bournemouth, which went in off a big deflection. Shinning a ball at an awkward angle in a corner melee, to deflect it past Wolves keeper Catching Cathcart asleep 7 seconds into the Watford game. Fair play for chasing him down but it was a defensive bowler. I’m with you, he was lucky more than anything and missed plenty of easy chances in the same period.

The flip side being that he will struggle to get a decent contract in a years time if he does that, whereas his stock is still relatively high now and he has his current deal as leverage.

Not to mention the fact that he’s a striker with 44 League goals in a decade of senior football. He is Shola Ameobi in a posh frock.

Nope.