James

I'm not sure that is true. I was in JJB today trying to buy trainers, I live about 90 mins train from WHL, and probably 6 hrs from SJP, but there was not one Spurs shirt in JJB, but there were NUFC 1st and 2nd strips. Thats that then , definitive proof. I know it isn't really like. Still tickled me that demand for football shirts near London is greater for NUFC than Spurs.

I find it highly unlikely that FIFA won't support this. I find it extra unlikely that anyone with a brain would support South Africa getting punished for the actions of the Togolese. It is called brinkmanship. The CAF would withdraw with that threat imo. If there was the remotest liklihood that FIFA would get all heavy-handed and start threatening one of their member associations in order to go against a rule they strictly uphold themselves, which of course there isn't. The rule exists to stop governments interfering with the appointments of managers, team selections, competition rules etc, for political ends. This is something completely different. FIFA may well be in a difficult decision when it comes to deciding whether to intervene. That doesn't mean that the CAF have acted wisely. I don't know anything about the political situation in Togo, but it doesn't take much imagination to come up with a scenario whereby the Togolese government called the players back for a day of national mourning in order to make some political use of the event. The political situation was that people were murdered, the whole Togo team witnessed it, and the players needed someone to tell them what to do. That is all there is to it.

I find it highly unlikely that FIFA won't support this. I find it extra unlikely that anyone with a brain would support South Africa getting punished for the actions of the Togolese. It is called brinkmanship. The CAF would withdraw with that threat imo. If there was the remotest liklihood that FIFA would get all heavy-handed and start threatening one of their member associations in order to go against a rule they strictly uphold themselves, which of course there isn't. Like I said, these political rules are enforced by FIFA, not CAF, UEFA or any of the others.

I'm not sure that is true. I was in JJB today trying to buy trainers, I live about 90 mins train from WHL, and probably 6 hrs from SJP, but there was not one Spurs shirt in JJB, but there were NUFC 1st and 2nd strips.

A lot of these deals seem to involve Redknapp as well for some reason.

Typical of the French to come up with a masterplan to cause disharmony. Terry is shit at international level anyway, Upson is more suited to this level.

I find it highly unlikely that FIFA won't support this. I find it extra unlikely that anyone with a brain would support South Africa getting punished for the actions of the Togolese. It is called brinkmanship. The CAF would withdraw with that threat imo.

Ozzie, the FIFA bans are for as long as the government interferes only and enforced by FIFA themselves, while this isn't just some political situation you cite, it is a situation where people have died and the CAF were unable to protect the Togo delegation. Therefore I find it highly unlikely that FIFA would support this, and the CAF should be sanctioned the only way possible if they see fit to proceed.

It is the CAF who has banned Togo, not FIFA.

Could we change the thread title so we know what this is actually about. FIFA should make a stand here. Unban Togo, or the 2010 World Cup gets moved out of South Africa.

Also, the fact that cyclists rely more on increased respiratory rates means absolutely nothing, as it doesn't mean that other sportsmen won't benefit from drugs. It is not cyclists competing against footballers. It is cyclists competing against cyclists, footballers competing against footballers, rugby players competing against rugby players and so on.

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me. It depends to what extent, which is why I asked. I don't see the problem unless he's one on one with someone like Nolan. An anti-obesity drug will increase the whole energy burning cycle, which will make him fitter during a match Aye, cheating then. As a related subject. Imagine bringing in a drug lift in sport, and just letting them become X-Man United ahohoho. But seriously, imagine it. Don't like the idea of 19 year old sportsmen being made to wake up and walk to the bathroom and back every hour just to stop them dying of a heart attack in their sleep personally. name me one footballer that needs to do that? Or one footballer that would ever need to be half as fit as a cyclist in the Tour De France? The reason they have to be woken up is because their heart rate is so slow is due to excessive training and fitness regimes leaving their hearts as huge fists of muscle. The respiration rate of a cyclist in full training means his heart has to be a million times fitter than a dude (say kevin Nolan) who 'runs' about a pitch for 90 minutes on a weekend. You can't make the comparison. a) he was talking about allowing drugs in sport generally. b) The bit in bold is completely wrong. The reason is that during EPO use, there are so many red blood cells in the body that when heart rate slows down during sleep, it can actually get blocked. It has very little to do with training regimes and could happen to any sportsmen that got involved with that particular drug.

To be honest, if it wasn't for the injuries to Taylor and Simpson, I'd put Kadar into the team for a month, but as it is just Colo of our first choice back four, I'm definitely happier to have someone with a few more games at this level already under his belt.

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me. It depends to what extent, which is why I asked. I don't see the problem unless he's one on one with someone like Nolan. An anti-obesity drug will increase the whole energy burning cycle, which will make him fitter during a match Aye, cheating then. As a related subject. Imagine bringing in a drug lift in sport, and just letting them become X-Man United ahohoho. But seriously, imagine it. Don't like the idea of 19 year old sportsmen being made to wake up and walk to the bathroom and back every hour just to stop them dying of a heart attack in their sleep personally.

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me. You must really hate cycling then. Not really, because you know the cyclists will get caught because their drugs testing is so much better. Some sports like football and tennis are in complete drug denial and will be until some scandal occurs in the future. Cheating's more prevalent in cycling because it's more beneficial to the athlete. Drugs benefit anyone. Better fitness equals better technique. And the financial benefits of standing out as a footballer are huge, so you'd expect some to try. Are you aware that the most infamous cycling drug doctor was actually a doctor at a top-flight Spanish football club, and was even offerred a job at Barcelona?

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me. It depends to what extent, which is why I asked. I don't see the problem unless he's one on one with someone like Nolan. An anti-obesity drug will increase the whole energy burning cycle, which will make him fitter during a match

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me. You must really hate cycling then. Not really, because you know the cyclists will get caught because their drugs testing is so much better. Some sports like football and tennis are in complete drug denial and will be until some scandal occurs in the future.

It is clearly been done to gain a fitness edge - there is no social esteem benefit a top flight footballer can get from anti-obesity drugs. Coke was idiocy and not cheating (and therefore he should have got off a lot lighter than the likes of Jaap Stam), but this is idiocy and cheating so no longer has any sympathy from me.

The annoying thing is lack of privacy in this deal. The administrators will probably be releasing minute by minute statements announcing who and what the current highest bid is. One thing that could go in our favour is that administrators will want the money in one big single installment. Ashley as we know favours this, yet not many other clubs can manage it.

It is worse. You are only cheating yourself with coke. You are cheating your opponents with what he has taken.

Failed another drugs test. Looks like he'll never pay off his debt to Chelsea now.

Like I said a couple of days ago, the watford board should have been man enough to sit down with Portsmouth and Newcastle and accept that they weren't going to get all the money they hoped for, but would renegotiate the clauses so everyone got something from it. Your board, by sticking to its guns, has fucked up true and proper. What a load of shite that is. Portsmouth shouldn't have spent above their means, and inserting clauses into a deal to drive the price down has bitten them on the arse, and they should deal with that. Why should Watford have to get less money - if there wasn't a x% clause stipulated in the £2m(?) deal originally then they might not have accepted it, and may have asked for more. If they get nothing from this deal, and didn't negotiate, it is their own fault. Its a typical bankruptcy scenario, a straight choice between nothing and a pittance, you should take the pittance as you will never get the full lot back. That is where Watford went wrong. Also loads of clubs were really stupid negotiating installment deals with Pompey, even after it was clear that Viduka didn't turn up to pre-season because his signing-on fee wasn't paid into his bank account clubs like watford should have realised that Portsmouth weren't a club to deal with unless it involved the full amount into the account.

Like I said a couple of days ago, the watford board should have been man enough to sit down with Portsmouth and Newcastle and accept that they weren't going to get all the money they hoped for, but would renegotiate the clauses so everyone got something from it. Your board, by sticking to its guns, has fucked up true and proper.

Nolan with legs though. I think he's better than you think having seen him play a few times this season. Now he has finally gotten into the centre and shown what he can do, I reckon he could be a player that makes the difference both this season and next before becoming more of a squad player as he was for us before.

OK, I know he has just hit the post against us so is slightly reactionary. But he has played well all season scoring plenty of goals for an average team. He is a better player than he was, and we are a worse club than we were, and I think he'd be a really useful player for us even if we get promoted. An immediate and cheaper upgrade on Nolan. In fact, if we could get him back, I'd instantly palm off Nolan to whichever desperate PL mug would take him. What are people's thoughts?