Wes Tender

Of course money is a significant factor, but you seem to think that it guarantees an unbeatable team. It doesn't, as Tajjuk proves, by shooting your post down in flames. And in my last line, note the words "seems", and "near future" and the observation that nothing is set in concrete. I wasn't throwing a bone in your direction to allow you any credence towards your viewpoint.

Blimey! You're going back quite a long time with a very mottley list there, Barry. Half your list aren't even playing. Are we to go back with equal validity to include Le Tiss, Shearer, the Wallace brothers, etc? Or might you accept that by producing major talents like Bridge, Bale, Baird, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana amongst others who are still playing at the top level, that entitles us to boast arguably the most successful academy currently in British football?

What exactly happened to Liverpool? The most successful club in Europe, yet they are only there in the second rate league by virtue of winning the second rate cup. And they are currently 8th in the Premiership. Chelsea who largely fluked winning the European Cup last year having been battered by Barcelona and Bayern Munich but winning regardless, are on the verge of going out. United won nothing last season. Five years ago, the argument was that nothing would displace the top four teams, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, but already Liverpool have sank down and Manchester City have replaced them and teams like Everton and Spurs will give them all a run for their money. What will be the effect on ManUre when Ferguson finally retires or pops his clogs? Somebody as wealthy as Abramovich could take over another Premiership club and spend like him and then things will change again. Nothing is certain and set in concrete, although the hierarchy seems to be established for the near future at least.

He wants to be in Turkish's and CB Fry's gang but doesn't have the imagination to think of his own put-downs, so has to plagiarise theirs.

I'm far more inclined to buy into Cortese's ambitions than yours, so call him naive if you wish, he is the one with his hands on the purse strings, so probably has more idea than you anyway, as your inside knowledge is nil. As far as I'm aware, the five year plan was to get into the Premiership, not into Europe. If you're going to ridicule the part that having home grown academy players playing as an important part of that scheme, then it's you who deserve ridicule. What about your list of teams that have ambitions to rise again? It's certainly a peculiar list, comprising teams who are right up there currently, like Everton and Spurs. And which of them have a history of a better academy than ours? Let's have some examples. And typically of a certain type of poster, you're already thinking about whether we should keep Sharp should we be relegated, when there is half a season to go with reported activity in the transfer window for players of the calibre that interests other major English and European clubs. But we can't buy them, can we, Barry, as that would rather fly in the face of your assertion that we will only have left academy players and young players of known but as yet unfulfilled potential (which is by definition what an academy players is, by the way).

You don't think it would have made any difference? So we wouldn't have scored more or conceded less? It's a shame that nobody told QPR that they should have been tonked by Chelsea the match before. We matched them for most of the first half and it took them until virtually half-time to gain a lead. But we stopped closing them down and allowed them too much space to punish us, something that QPR didn't stop doing. On paper, player for player, there are few teams in the World to match theirs in terms of player quality. But then matches aren't played on paper and on a given day, David can beat Goliath. Just look at what Bradford have done from the third division.

He had the chance to play for the mighty Saints and spurned it, thinking that he would be good enough for a regular starting place in United's team. Well, he wasn't and now he looks like a reject. Serves him right.

Blue Coley more like it, as Coley is a fish, so appropriate to our fishy friends down the road. As Lazlo says, enjoy Moneyfields after you're liquidated shortly.

And what's nearly more laughable, is that respondents complaining about it can't spell either! I'm particularly fond of the comment that "no doubt it was a foriegner (sic) who made the mistake. Was this posted by a foreigner, perhaps? And what's a herotic?

Well, the Mansfield chief executive reckons they should be awarded a replay, so so much for them not being bothered. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2900/fa-cup/2013/01/07/3654122/suarez-stole-fa-cup-tie-claims-mansfield-ceo And I read it that he kicked the ball into the net to make it look as if he had scored it in open play rather than with his hand. But I agree with other posters, that had it gone the other way, it would have been disallowed. Mansfield are unfortunate to have no clout compared to all the plastics who support Liverpool in the media and the game's hierarchy, so their bleatings about how unfair it all was will fall on deaf ears, much as our protestations about the weakness of the penalty awarded against Steve Davis was against Chelski.

I agree entirely. Regardless of whether most professional players do it, or that we also have been guilty of it, that is all irrelevant. That only goes to add strength to the argument that something needs to be done about it sooner rather than later. In this particular case, Mansfield have good reason to feel justifiably aggrieved that they are not replaying at Liverpool. If Liverpool went on the win the Cup, then fans everywhere will feel that it has been devalued by cheating. It is in the interests of the Football authorities that they are seen to be promoting fair play and that they can counter accusations that the glory teams gain an unfair advantage from the referees. With the modern technology available, there is scope for penalties to be meted out against players whose actions are clearly seen when matches and referees performances are seen in retrospect. Red cards can be rescinded in retrospect, so it is only reasonable that red cards be awarded retrospectively against serious foul play. And if retrospective retribution could be made in the case of red cards, why can't it also be made for other forms of cheating? Come down hard on it and these practices will soon be eradicated.

I agree, it really does sound pretentious, doesn't it? What a shame that this presumably amazing bit of kit isn't capable of improving the quality of the posts made on it. It really elicits the response at the end of a post "sent from my desktop computer using two finger typing" Surely there must be some setting whereby this piffling bit of self-promotion can be switched off.

I was going to respond to this, but it's just so inane, that it isn't worth the trouble.

The chants from Chelsea were all about how they were the champions of Europe. But then it took them until virtually half time to gain a lead on us, fielding a team which wasn't our strongest. With luck they will shortly be knocked out of Europe and soon knocked out of the FA Cup too, preferably by lower division minnows, to remove the smugness they showed today. When we next come across them in the league, provided that we are fielding a full strength team there is no reason why we shouldn't give them more of a game. After all, if QPR can beat them their last match, we ought to employ the same tactics of closing them down, denying them space and hitting them with fast passing. Although it would have been nice to have gotten something from this match, it wasn't our strongest team and we can now concentrate on the league. Another plus point is that three of our nearest competitors have to play replays. On another matter, how is that Chelsea managed to get in so many flares and pyrotechnics? What happened to the security? I'd have liked to have seen Mr Plod identifying the culprits and taking some action. Otherwise the FA should fine them to make an example of them. Oh well, I hope that they enjoyed their short journeys home and no doubt we'll be seeing their fans again in Southampton next weekend doing their shopping with their wives and kids in their kits too. At least they get to see their team play live once a year.

Godwin's Law

I was watching the American Sherlock Holmes TV series "Elementary" the other day. Although the programme was surprisingly good, having seen that the Yanks had been Philistine enough to have a Asian female Doctor Watson, I was also flabbergasted to see that Holmes had several naff tattoos. Surely a man of his supposed intelligence would never be so stupid as to have tattoos? Even accepting that it was an up to date version, it just didn't ring true.

I wonder who this was, sniping from the sidelines and adding nothing. Was this a sarcastic remark, against forum rules? As I said, anybody who expresses the opinion that it is not impossible is met with this sort of puerile put down. Just as a matter of interest, as you are one who does not believe it will happen, what analogy would you use to illustrate how unlikely it would be?

Are you a moderator? No, I didn't think so. So excuse me if I take no notice of your opinions as to what constitutes forum rules. You had better complain to the mods that Adrian's point was sarcastic and we'll let them adjudicate, shall we? There is no need to add anything further to this debate, as it has all been covered before, regardless of whether you yourself consider it a duplicate or a repeated thread. In any event, anybody who attempts to express an opinion that us playing in Europe is a possibility is ridiculed as a fantasist, so what's the point? We should just accept the opinions of those who know better than us, but who is going to tell Cortese that he doesn't know what he's doing and is wasting his time with us?

Was Adrian being sarcastic, or making a valid point? He is entirely correct in his observation that this has all been debated ad-nauseum before. Off the top of my head, there is also a forum rule stating that duplicating existing threads should be avoided. In any event, you obviously don't see the irony of you accusing him of making a sarcastic post in view of a comment of yours earlier in the thread. Pots and kettles spring to mind.

Cork for me. But the fact that there are so many diverse nominations speaks volumes of how far we've come this season. Surprising that Lallana and Ramirez are hardly mentioned, but testament to the solid contribution that has been made by midfielders and defenders who have made us harder to beat or who provide the ammunition for us to score goals.

The thing is, that as we're half way through the season, most of the teams also have a similar run of games in the second half of the season. Their run of matches isn't any easier, although arguably their initial run of opponents is not as dificult as say our opening handful were, so they might gain some confidence which gives them momentum. But unless they win with regularity, any momentum will disappear. A win against Chelsea will not be a big confidence boost if they then lose at Tottenham and Everton.

Ah, I thought that you had forsaken us, but one win against a poor Chelsea and you're back. So what went wrong with this team of superstars, which were so good that hardly any of our players would get into your team? And I love your list of upcoming fixtures which presumably you believe is an easy one. Spurs, well that a foregone conclusion for you, as you beat them last year and somehow you overlook having to play Everton twice as well as Arsenal and Liverpool. Saints away will be an easy match for you, won't it, because you beat us at home, didn't you? Oh, sorry, you didn't. But also Swansea, Stoke and Norwich will not be pushovers. As for the other teams, they will be fighting for their lives, like QPR.

So conversely we ought to be more attractive to those who like to be recognised by the masses of their adoring fans then? It hadn't occurred to me that footballers were such shrinking violets, playing in front of tens of thousands and on television around the World viewed by millions.

It might be argued in a broad sweeping generalisation, but not everybody wants to live in a big city like that. In any event, it isn't as if it is that far away either if anybody wanted to visit there at any time. Come the weekend and half of London heads down the M3 in this direction for some reason and one wonders how they can possibly bear to leave such a paradise.

In the land of the illiterate, the man with one GCSE is king.