sadoldgit

"I for one is not a dinlow." Maybe not, but your command of the English language leaves something to be desired Larry (unless you typed that deliberately for a laugh of course). So then, recruitment. An easy stick to beat any club with when results aren't going well. Alas it is not a perfect science. United are probably wondering why they bought Sanchez and resigned Pogba at this very moment. Vestergaard and Hoedt have both played for their countries so are clearly not mugs. Whether they are cut out for the rigours of the Premiership, only time will tell as some players take longer than other to settle down in this league. Should we employ the odd "amateur poster" from here to recruit players? Of course not. Would you go an seek medical advice or mental health advice from an internet jockey? Not if you are sensible. Trying to recruit quality on a budget is not easy (recruiting with a massive budget might give you more hits than misses but is still a minefield). Not only do you have to identify targets, but the club has to be willing to sell and the player willing to move to us. It came to light recently (despite the moans and groans on here that the club weren't doing anything to sign a decent winger) that we tried to signed Pepe from Lyon in the summer. He didn't want to join us (sadly as he looks like a quality player who would do well in the Prem). Mason Mount chose Derby over us apparently (down to the fact that he is a Skate). You start at the top of your list and work your way down. The further down the list you go the bigger the possible risk you take that they won't be as good. It doesnt end there. Once you have done your job and brought in players, they are then in the hands of the manager and coaching staff who may, or may not get the best out of the squad. We all know about the qualities that Gabbi brings to the team but only Puel seemed to get the best out of him, for example. Running a football club and managing the fans expectations is a totally thankless task for most. Steve Bruce did a good job at Villa last season but is out on his arse in early October this season. They may employ someone who will do better, but it isnt nailed on. We are probably suffering a backlash from a period when we were losing top quality players but still performing well in the league. It was never going to last forever and we dont have the monopoly on finding diamonds in the rough or producing gems from the academy. If you want to slag off the club's recruitment policy that is your prerogative, but lets not pretend that people who drive buses in the day, sort out insurance claims or sell houses are going to be better at recruitment than those who do the job professionally. If, they were, they wouldn't be driving buses, sorting out insurance claims or selling houses would they? The OP seems to suggest that we are not buying quality because we are not targeting quality. Surprisingly not every rising star is desperate to play for SFC.

I can’t believe you don’t get irony me old mollusc.

I dont think we should use the word "right" in her case Wes. I think "wrong" is more appropriate. Did you see her strange dance moves at the conference today? Odd woman.

Boris a "pinko?" Really? He may have the odd liberal leaning, but a pinko? I have him pegged as a self serving, self promoting, elitist, dyed in the wool right wing Tory but I can see how some of a strong right wing persuasion might see him as "wet." The fact that both Trump and JRM have come out and praised him should tell you something Duckie.

Baa! I really don’t care who is in government next as long as we get rid of this bunch of idiots. May and the bunch of pretenders jostling for her job are the most inept, spineless and untrustworthy polititions we have had in my lifetime.

Whilst not an expert in the degrees right of centre that all Tory MPs are, the likes of Johnson and Rees-Mogg do strike me as very right of centre when ever they express or publish their views. Rees-Mogg recently made a speech about how we were all going to deal with Brexit financially and he is clearly stuck in a time warp from the 19th century where everybody he knows has money and the rest of us only exist to make his and his mates lives easier. I accept that he has not acted as poorly as the likes of Hopkins, Robinson and Trump but he does seem to be stuck in a bubble of old Tory dogma that has no place in the world of 2018. I checked him out on Wikipedia because I was interested to see how old he is - 49 yet he looks and dresses older than me (not a crime of course, but why make yourself look like that unless you are hoping to get the Dr Who gig sometime in the future)? It describes him as being on the hard-right of the party. That is good enough for me! Given that he and/or Johnson could be lining up as the next PM should be a cause for concern for us all.

I dont know about you guys but I find it heartening that certain alt-right types are prepared to give up their liberty and livelihoods for the rest of us pure bred Anglo- Saxons. Arise Katie Hopkins, who is almost single handedly fighting the good fight in the media to keep the hoards of 'cockroaches" from our shores. For her sins she has lost several well paid jobs and has now been declared bankrupt. A true martyr. And then there is that bastion of all things English (not British, note) Stephen "Tommy Robinson" Yaxley-Lennon. In a recent interview with SKY, the alt-right martyr says "If I believe I'm morally right then I'm not bothered about what your law says." Notice that he says "your law" as if it doesn't apply to those of a hard right leaning or certain "morals." Despite the fact that none of the men in the case we are talking about had been found guilty at the point when our Stephen contravened "our" law of contempt of court (something that he pleaded guilty to) and the fact that they had been through a justice system that had allowed them to be released on bail, our Stephen decided that these alleged rapists (who just happened to be Muslims - anyone know if he breaks the law to expose white Christian alleged rapists?) were still a danger to society and needed to be exposed for the safety of the rest of us (as far as I know, not one of them committed any offenses whilst on bail). "The judge let down the British public. Those men should have been in a prison cell." So our Stephen knows more about the legal system than an experienced judge? Apparently not as he had to have the contempt of court laws explained to him. Still, it is good to know that our Stephen is looking out for us against these nasty foreign types. He also went on to say "To be honest with you, I don't care if it incites fear as long as it educates children and prevents them from being raped." Rape is a criminal offence. Inciting racial hatred is a criminal offense. What exactly does he think that he is educating children about? Breaking the law if Muslims are involved? The judge told him that "This is not about free speech, not about legitimate journalism and not about political correctness. It is about justice and ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly. It is about being innocent until proven guilty." As it is, the men were found guilty, but the action of our Stephen could have caused the case to be dismissed. That doesn't seem to compute with our Stephen who was only acting as per his moral compass and was saving our children. Yay! Let's hope his retrial fails and he spends more time in the nick. The alt-right love a cause and I have no doubt that Monsieur Pepe Le Frog will be on here soon to tell us all how badly misjudged Mr Yaxley-Lennon has been by the nasty lefties and pinkos. Given that alt-right supremo Donal Trump has his own appreciation thread, it is high time that our own defenders of the flag of St. George have their own thread. Knock yourselves out. It must be open season on Rees-Mogg and Johnson.

As ever, when called on your beliefs you obsfurate. You do it all the time not only when defending yourself but also the likes of Trump, Hopkins, Rees-Mogg, Johnson, Yaxley-Lennon etc. See the pattern? You are a busted flush pal. “Socialism is dangerous”

With respect Lighthouse, it is not the whiners here who are the problem, it is the serial abusers.

Don't let them get to you. There is a small group of posters who always seem to jump in at the same time and go on a feeding frenzy. They have been getting away with it for years. It's a shame the mods don't sort them out. I expect that they all used to get bullied at school and they are now getting their own back via internet anonymity.

I think I have asked you this question before, but does your boss know that you spend you days abusing people on the internet when you should be working? Anyway, feel free to carry on. It seem all that you alt right types can do. As already said, zero self awareness.

Pellegrini’s side currently 2-1 up against Barcelona.

Ok, as I have a few minutes to spare, let's dissect your comments shall we? For starters you have stolen my comment to you and those of your ilk from a while back. I suppose that I should be flattered that an internet warrior such as yourself is stealing my material. I must be doing something right. Secondly, you are apparently giving so little of a toss that three minutes after making your first post you went back and edited it to tell us how much of a toss you didn't give. Sounds like the actions of someone who gives a toss to me. Lastly I assume you are trying to make a jibe at my expense about the size of my ego. Given that a reasonably priced car really isn't all that big, it really doesn't work that well does it? Unless you are saying that I dont have a very big ego? But then that isn't much of an insult is it? You really must try harder hypo, your standards are slipping. Perhaps you should stick to nicking my material mate. You seem to lose it big time when you go off piste.

Only in your strange imagination. We are just people who see you for the strange individual you are. I am sure there are plenty of others. Jonnyboy is right. If you had one iota of self awareness you wouldn't post half the nonesense that you do.

You really are a very strange and unpleasant individual.

Not really as neither Lambert nor Fonte were members of the management team. If one were to be chosen I would chose Lambert over Fonte everyday of the week though given the way that Fonte behaved on his way out of the club. Wouldn't you? Also I see that Nordic didn't give Adkins credit as having played a key part in our success? Do I think that the current leadership is doing a good job? Does it matter what I think? I support the club in good times and in bad times and since 1966 I can remember plenty of bad times. So being a bottom half of the table Premiership club doesn't really enter into my bad time memories I'm afraid.

You say Fonte rather than Lambert?? Also o didn’t realise that Fonte was part of the management structure.

And yet he did at Anfield in the semi final. Short memory or just Pelle syndrome?

Yes it is. We hear on here all of the time about what little interest Gao has in the club and in football and then the next minute he is supposedly telling the manager to leave a player out because of his ethnicity? We have had some really bizarre conspiracy theories on here but this one takes the biscuit. Not that long ago people were calling for Yoshida and Stephens to be dropped. Now they are calling for them to be reinstated? Here's a thought. Perhaps Hughes doesnt rate Yoshi and Stephens that is why he isn't playing them. If Yoshida is such a problem with our branding campaign in China, why he is even on the bench? A bigger issue is our poor form. We aren't going to sell our brand anywhere until we become a decent team again (and despite all the moaning in recent years, we have actually been decent for a number of them) - it doesnt matter what nationality our players are.

Simms played a full match and Reed scored for Blackburn.

Seems odd that he can’t even get on the bench? Looks like a decent player.

So what has happened to Armstrong? Any news?

Jose gave away a penalty that was saved. Also Pepe scored a hat trick to win the game for Lille and according to the Manchester Evening News turned down a move to us in the summer. Sounds like United are after him.

Probably because he turned us down.

Yes it would. If it was that much of an issue for Gao why even have him on the bench? Why not just sell him? Could it be that Hughes doesnt actually rate Yoshi that highly? Yoshi is a great pro and is handy to have on the bench, but he really isnt a top quality premiership player. Whether he is better than Hoedt or not is debatable, but Hughes seems to think so and he is the one who has played at the highest level and watches them in training day out. When there was a debate on here about Hughes's appointment it was agreed that he wouldnt stand for any interference from "management" in team affairs. Do you really believe he would leave out a player he wanted to start with at the owner's behest?