Lighthouse

Phwooaaar. Not sure about that picture of Baj in a blonde wig though. Dodgy ground there.

Disturbing lack of rule 1 on this thread. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

The difference between us and the Skates is that we have actually got the money to pay for our opperation, much the same as Man City CAN afford to spend vast amounts of money on bringing in players on massive contracts. 93% may be very high for wages, but most teams have to gamble a bit to go up. When the Skates got promoted in 2003 wages were 108% of turn over. Having said that, the wage bill could use a trim. There are 7 or 8 players on it we just don't need, even without bringing anyone else in.

I'm Alan Shearer and so's my wife.

That's not the case here. Cestrian predicts a loss before EVERY game and comes out with more doom and gloom than alpine. He is someone on a wind up, be it Skate or otherwise. Another one for the ignore list.

2004 I think, but only at home.

I think that's pretty much it. You'd have to be a bit of a muppet to think a team who has failed to win it's last 5 games will just walk through a fixture Reading lost a week ago. FWIW I also think Wham will win, but it's by no means clear cut.

I didn't realise you had to wait in a line to be obsessed with West Ham. In any case, it's somewhat understandable don't you think? A West Ham defeat tonight is all but as good as a Saints win against Blackpool. I think these are some pretty obscure tangents you guys are going off on here. Middlesborough will be there or there abouts for the playoffs at the end of the season. It would take one heck of a collapse in form for them to have nothing to play for when we go up there. Should we end up in the playoffs and play them, a defeat tonight really isn't going mean all that much to them at all. I'd say the result at Portman Road is the only irrelevant fixture of the evening, if you're interested in Pompey's demise of course.

Cheering on the Posh for a second Tuesday in a row. Pressure will be on West Ham tonight, they need to win to get within striking distance of Reading before Saturday's game. I'd be happy with another draw here, Wham's 6th in a row I think it would be.

Didn't Spuds pay about £3m for him? Really can't see us signing him for that kind of money went he can't even make the bench in the NpC.

They are if you've already been promoted. If you want them to get you up, then you would just take them on a season long loan with an option to buy. Nobody in their right mind is going to give several year long permanent contracts to a player they don't even want.

Gamble is the wrong word, they are pointless signings if you don't want them. Lets say we got promoted and our first summer signings were Mullins and Huseklepp from the Skates. You'd be pretty p*ssed off.

I doubt that. Reading, Brum, Cardiff and Wham are/were all chasing promotion. I doubt if they go up they'd want to keep players like Mullins and Huseklepp.

Fair enough. As you were.

Has anyone actually seen/heard this somewhere other than in The Sun? I'm just saying...

Out of all West Ham's strikers only Carlton Cole has more goals than... Jos Hooiveld.

Feeling fairly good about this one, maybe it's just the weather today. Blackpool are a decent enough side, but really are nothing to write home about overall. Lambert, Lallana and Sharp are scarier going forward than than the two Phillips and our defence if far, far superiror. As long as we turn up, play our way and don't get suckered into another Millwall performance, there's no reason we can't get another 3 points.

That article is 5 years old, so hardly surprising.

I know when we won the JPT, there was a higher attendance than the Super Bowl that year. Made me chuckle.

Seriously, what was the point of that? Have you got nothing better to do than start pointless mongy arguments on the internet?

You are yes. Bummer, I got all excited for a minute there. If Wham lost their Friday game, they could get 84. If we beat Blackpool and Pompey we'd have 84, so promoted if our GD is considered uncatchable...unless I buggered up again.

Sorry, you're right, my logic was flawed. I don't get exactly how, it's actually got me in a complete mind f**k now. Surely if West Ham drop 6 points we need 6 less, but apparently not... Edit, actually I've got it now.

If Wham lost both we'd just need 8 points from 7 guarantee promotion, pretty much relegation form. If we beat Blackpool we'd need 5 If Wham lost their next game on Friday 6th we'd need 2 We would go into our game on Saturday 7th knowing a win would GUARANTEE promotion. Now who is that against? That's a fair few ifs, but it would be a complete fairey tale.

Current points needed to guarantee promotion is 14, but it could be 8 before we've even kicked another ball. A bit of a long shot but possible.

There are pros and cons to every result. Wham will have played their game in hand (trip to Posh Tuesday) by then so that will be clearer. Even if they win they're still a point behind Reading. This is the situation as I see it: Reading Win - would leaves us furthest clear of 3rd place, so perhaps our best bet for outright promotion. Would definitely put massive pressure on Wham and BFS for the rest of the season and would continue their run of poor form Draw - the most points dropped in total, with only 1 each not really denting our current lead, even if we lose at Blackpool. Would be the best result if we're hedging our bets with the other 2 teams. Wham win - puts them 2 points above Reading and is probably the worst result for us. On the other hand Reading have a tough run in and if we can get 2 more points than them over the next 3 games, we can get promoted by beating them at St Marys in April. Tough call. If Wham dont beat Posh I'd take a Reading win. If they do win I think a draw would be best. Poll mods?