sadoldgit

Walker Hollywood and O'Neil would put the fear of God into many people - and Terry Paine could be a nasty piece of work too for all of his skill.

I agree totally about the people who pull out suddenly and those who drive into the "safe" distance that you leave between you and the car in front. They can't wait for the traffic to pass before they overtake and pull out no matter what is coming behind them. As for parameters, well I guess that the police would say that driving in excess of any speed limit would be "too fast." I know a lot of drivers think tht they can handle speed and therefore the limits don't apply to them but the simple fact is that they cannot. Reaction times come down significantly the faster you go and any manaouvre you make has an affect on the people around you. Just as there is no "safe" amount of cigarettes to smoke or alcholoci drinks to drink, any any given set of circumstances the "safe" level of speed with situation/conditions. I was overtaken on a very steep, very icy hill last week when just trying to steer in a straightline was a nightmare. I was probably doing about 5 mph at the time and felt that was too fast!

The people I am talking about StL are the ones who just sit in the middle lane come what may with people having to overtake or undertake to get past them. As for speed. It is not speed itself, it is what happens when you encounter problems at speed.

Obvioulsy I am talking about the way some people drive on the roads here, which are often overcrowded and dangerous. I also think is is a bit unfair calling someone brain dead jsut because they want to drive at a speed they feel safe with. The roads are there for all to use and I don't think it to much to want to be able to get to A to B without being harrassed by someone who feels they have a right to drive faster. Wouldn't you rather get to your destination a bit later than end up in A & E or perhaps even dead? How would you feel if you caused the death of another person because you were impatient and overtook at the wrong time/place? There are few things worth risking your (or someone elses) life for. I don't thing a car journey is one of them.

The speed limit is just that. For many it is the lowest limit possible and they cause problems because they think it is okay to drive 10 or 20 mph faster. If you drive on a motorway reguarly you will know that probably the majority of drivers drive faster than 70 mph. Just because the limit is 70 mph it doesn't mean that you can't drive at 60 mph, nor if it is a 60 mph limit that people can't drive at 50 mph if that want to, without some idiot tailgating them. What is more of a problem is are the people who think it is perfectly okay to drive in the middle lane of the motorway when the inside lane is free. The middle and outside lanes are for overtaking. Once done so you should move back to the inside lane. The standard of driving on the roads is appalling and it is mainly down to a lack of patience. Who says that any of us has a right to get to our destination faster than the person in front of us? Yes it is a pain when the person in front is driving more slowly and we want to get on with our journey but it is the decsions that are taken then that often result in RTAs. Trust me, it doesn't make you more of a man if you overtake another man because you think he should be driving faster. Recently a guy went past me on a narrow county lane just before a blind bend. If anything had come round the corner it would have been a head on collision. I saw another guy tear round a roundabout with one hand on the wheel whilst talking on a mobile. It is the same kind of mentality. I know what I am doing, everyone else are idiots. As for speed not killing. If you suddenly become stationert when doing 5 mph you probably won't die. Try it at 70 mph and your chances of staying unhurt chnage drastically. Speed kills because forces increase when you hit something. It also means that you have less reaction time when you make a move. It is the people who think that speed is not dangerous who are the dangers on the road in the main.

I agree with you about John McGrath Dave, but we had many players in our side at the time who could and would mix it (as a number of other teams did). I still think that the "dirty" tage against Leeds has not been warranted for a long time, just as the Boring Arsenal tag means nothing nowdays.

The more evidence the police/CPS can compile against the defendent(s) the more likely a guilty plea before the case goes to trial, which is better for the tax payers (trials, even magistrates trials, are very expensive) better for the victims, better for the witnesses, better for everybody. We all want justice, we all want to live in a safer world surely? The use of DNA evidence goes a long way to make these things possisble. Have there been any cases where a conviction based on the use of DNA evidence has been found to be unsafe? We should also remember that a DNA database can rule people out of having committed a crime.

And he did like to play certain players, like Telfer, who many didn't rate. It works when you get results, it doesn't when you don't. Strachan didn't fancy Kevin Davies but the bloke is still doing a decent job in the Premiership.

Whilst I am not a big fan of Platini, I do think there is a lot to be said for clubs being forced to live within their means. A wages cap on players would be near impossible these days but a cap on clubs wage bill in line with their turnover could work.

Ah but is it still warranted? We were tagged with being an "Alehouse" outfit by Bill Shankley (and the comment was well warranted!) but would you say that was still true of SFC?

You are right, many people have plenty to hide but probably have done nothing wrong. The point is that if you have not committed a crime you should not be worried about your details being on a database. Supermarket chains and marketing companies probably know more about any of us and our habits than the police!

Sadly crime exists. Many crimes are solved when DNA tests are taken and checked against the database. If records were constantly destroyed there would be no sizable database. My details are on file even though I was not found guilty in the case I was involved with. Not great but I would rather that the police's job was made easier than worry to the nth degreee about my own civil rights. You are right about convictions but half the battle is finding the correct suspect and building the case from there. DNA identification helps to pinpoint suspects. If people didn't rob, murder, rape, fight etc etc we wouldn't need to give the police such measures. People can moan all they like about their civil rights but once you are the victim of crime you cab bet your life that you want the people that did it caught and convicted as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Leeds may have been "dirty" in the 70's but many of those players are either dead or long retired.

They are a hazzard, but less of one. They are only a hazzard to those who think they are on a race track. Speed kills, not lack of it. I work in a police station and see the pictures that are the result of people driving too fast. Not nice.

The problems on the roads aren't caused by the slow and cautious, they are caused by the idiots with no patience who think they own the roads and need to pass everything and everyone in their way and the at the speed limits are starting points not limits. The standard of driving on our motorways is appalling and they are death traps. I was chatting to an advance driving instructor recently who said that her job was not to improve people's driving, but to help them stay alive on the roads. Pretty much says it all.

It always nice to arrive at your planned destination a little late rather than A & E or the Crematorium though isn't it?

I lost interest with the Brigadier and Unit and all that Earthbound stuff. I suppose your favourite Doctor is a bot like your fav Bond, the one you started with. I liked the early balck and white stuff with Harnell but the best for me was Tom Baker (nice line in sidekicks). The Doctor has be relatively not some young trendy geezer.

Thought it was the 1st January, not 1st April

Interesting post John. As with the property market, we keep waiting for the football financial bubble to burst, but will it? Murdoch is a clever guy. He ran up debts so big that the financial institutionscould not afford not to carry on funding him. Perhaps it is that way with football. To many it would be unthinkable for football to implode and go bust. Perhaps the financiers will continue to fund it despite what is going on with the global economy? Despite its current dire state many footballers wages are still ridiculous and apart from the the odd club threatened with admin the grvay train rolls on and on. Would clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool be allowed to collapse? No one gives a stuff about SFC or what goes on with Brighton but can you imagine the fall out if one of the big clubs went?

I don't like the Big Brother thing but if people think they have more chance of being caught and found gulity if they commit a crime then I think it is a good thing. Lots of old serious crimes are being dealt with better now due to the use of DNA leading to the conviction of murders and rapists. Like anything though, good if in the right hands, wrong if in the wrong hands!

Building teams is all about chemistry. SOme should work but don't. Some shouldn't work but do. Sometimes you find the right combination by luck, sometimes by hard work, sometimes not at all. ferguson took a while before he got it right and very few managers hit the magic formula straight away and run with it. If Pardew had had the whole pre-season to bring in players and work with them I think we would have had a better start - not ideal having your pre-season at the start of the season! Still, without the minus 10 we would be sitting in the play off positions and you can't really ask for more from a new manager. It took Leeds several seasons to get it together so why do we think we will get it right overnight? We still have a way to go before we can match the Leeds and Norwichs consistantly but I am heartening by the fact that we have won matches when we havn't played particularly well. If the players that Pardew wants are available and want to join us there is no reason why we can't continure on an upward curve. Finally we seem to have a set up that is focussed, pulling in the same direction and is financially sound. So long as we are patient I am sure that better things will come.

No big deal with Alpine, he expects everything/one to fail! Jonah was one of the few to call it right when most people were going ape about the prospect of a new team in charge - before we knew anything about them.

Feel sorry for Wigley, did a good job for us before he made the step up. I wonder if things had been different if someone like Bobby Robson could have been brough in as DoF to hold his hand while he got used to the new job. He was hampered by injuries to key players and not being able at that point to bring in players. Still, it is all in the past and I wish him well.

Still spot on about Wilde though

Great player but I think he has some serious flaws as a manager (as much as I love his post match interviews). Despite his success with Celtic I don't think he was widely loved up there - shame he didn't take the Scotland job, that would have been interesting! If we can keep hold of Pardew I think he could become one of our best managers. We need to give him time though.