gazza ladra

I found that book pretty disappointing. Basically, it is a rehashing of Simon Kuper's superior "Football Against the Enemy". Though the chapter on football in Iran is pretty good and the one one football/politics in the former Yugoslavia is interesting, the rest--- Rangers/Celtic, Barcelona/Real Madrid, etc.-- has been been covered ad nauseam. He doesn't really add anything.

Crap. Ack Ack Ack Ack

Shola and Babayaro. Most apt in that bunch. Neither one as bad as some pretend. (Still, I'd keep them on as squad players only)

Brilliant Orange is a great book. Also, "Tor!" - damn good history of German football

Rather play AZ than Fenerbahce. Wouldn't mind having quite a few of their players either-- Sanli, Appiah, Alex. (They can keep Kezman though.)

You noticed that too? Going into the the group stages you would've thought we were up against Barca, Inter, Werder Bremen, and the Harlem Globetrotters instead of Celta Vigo, Palermo, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Fenerbahce -- the way that some were talking.

I hear Shevchenko is available!

The sun shines out of Bellamy's ass.

Mad, yes. Want those three, no. if he keeps doing well for us as he has done, I'm sure the 'big guns' like Milan, Barca and co will be sniffing about. Lets see what Martins' reaction is then? He's already stated his love for Inter Milan having been there for 5 years, and how he misses the Italian way of life (loves Newcastle too apparently!) but just wonder what his reaction could be if they come in for him in the future Well, if that does happen we can sell him for a lot more money than we would get for Anelka, Kanu, or McCarthy. Actually, we could afford to buy all three plus a few more. If you really want us to buy those 3 then you must be mad Mad, yes. Want those three, no.

if he keeps doing well for us as he has done, I'm sure the 'big guns' like Milan, Barca and co will be sniffing about. Lets see what Martins' reaction is then? He's already stated his love for Inter Milan having been there for 5 years, and how he misses the Italian way of life (loves Newcastle too apparently!) but just wonder what his reaction could be if they come in for him in the future Well, if that does happen we can sell him for a lot more money than we would get for Anelka, Kanu, or McCarthy. Actually, we could afford to buy all three plus a few more.

I rate Anelka and all, but.... no. Martins is a great player--- who makes the team better, will get better himself, and will go up in value. I think that people overstate the negative affects that Le Sulk has on a team (citing stuff he did when he was 17 and all) but, that said, Martins has no such baggage or risk.

For those clubs. It is a question of aptness. Both Blackburn and Pompey are on limited budgets and they did very well with stopgap solutions. Don't think that either would've been the right fit for us, even at the cut rate price. Chelsea would've done well to sign either, though they would've cost them three times as much.

Yes, it was going backwards. Some don't believe the idea that Robson had lost the dressing room though, although I do. And yet, in your previous post you write "When Souness wasn't sacked I was further slagged by people like you for saying I'd give him nothing in the transfer window, people claiming Souness couldn't be judged until he'd built his own team having destroyed the one Robson built." Having it both ways and playing the martyr! But this is about you and people slagging you off. I have to admit that folks like you who were shouting "Souness out" very early on were right, and I, among others, was wrong. We gave Souness too much of a chance and we're paying for it now. That said, I don't remember the people who were willing to give Souness time to build a club being the one's who were slagging off other fans-- on the contrary. Any way, someone had to clear out the rot (Robson's rot). Witless Souness just did it with a match, that's all. And now someone has to clear out Souness's rot-- and Roeder is doing a decent job, with little money.

Right and right. Look at Wigan and Jewell. Sidwell is as good as gone. Imagine they'll lose a few more as well. Just waiting until the last day of the season to see who'll pull a Chimbonda.

Let's focus on Prem goals and the age of the acquisition: Kanu 10, 30 years old Martins 10, 22 years old McCarthy 10, 29 years old Kuyt 9, 26 years old Johnson 9, 26 years old Anelka 8, 27 years old Bellamy 7, 27 years old Berbatov 6,26 years old Shevchenko 3, 30 years old No question in my mind that Martins was the best purchase- brought speed to a team that desperately needed it. Great this season; also a player that you can build a future on. I'd rate them... THE BRILLANT: Where would these teams be without the acquisition? 1) Martins 2) Kanu 3) McCarthy SURPRISINGLY GOOD ---------------------- 4) Anelka 5) Johnson THE GOOD ---------- 6) Kuyt 7) Berbatov THE BAD ------------ 8. Bellamy-- they didn't need him. UGLY ------- 9) Shevchenko -- a disaster; done more damage (team chemistry) than good

Off the top of may head, I said sure Nobby go. Peru won't be playing that many games anyway.... and then I saw their group: Venezuela Uruguay Peru Boliva Still, I think that Solano should go and play. We shouldn't be relying on him to be our right back next season....he could put in a good word for us with Pizarro.

right, Dyer is obviously a right back.

Love to see them go down. They should've gone down 05.

Yeah, I went and did a little research and from what I could find the speed of a batted baseball (bbs) tops off at about 110 mph and that's with an aluminum bat. May be someone with a background in physics can get more out of this site than I did http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats.html

With our defenders? Its not that mad.

PREM ------- 1) Cech 2) Given 3) Jaaskelainen 4) Friedel 5) Lehmann WORLD ------- 1) Buffon 2) Cech 3) Casillas 4) Hildebrand 5) Given

Not a Blackburn fan by any stretch, but don't wins by English clubs in European competition help us when it comes to seeding in competitions? I know that we're very highly rated (well, vastly overrated) in terms of club rankings, and our status is only helped by teams like Blackburn beating Bundesliga sides. Could make the difference some day between being a top seed and being stuck in a group with Barcelona.

So it was not the hardest ever after all, but still up there. From the Guardian Knowledge. 1) David Hirst - 114mph (for Sheffield Wednesday @ Arsenal on September 16 1997) 2) David Beckham - 97.9mph (for Man Utd v Chelsea on February 22 1997) 3) David Trezeguet - 96mph (for Monaco @ Man Utd on March 19 1998) 4) Richie Humphreys - 95.9mph (for Sheffield Wednesday v Aston Villa on August 17 1996) 5) Matt Le Tissier - 86.8mph (for Southampton v Newcastle on January 18 1997) 6) Alan Shearer - 85.8mph (for Newcastle v Leicester on February 2 1997) 7) Roberto Carlos - 85.2mph (for Brazil v France on June 3 1997) 8 ) Tugay - 84.2mph (for Blackburn @ Southampton on November 3 2001) 9) Obafemi Martins - 84mph (for Newcastle @ Tottenham on January 14 2007) 10) David Beckham - 80.5mph (for Man Utd @ Derby on September 4 1996) http://football.guardian.co.uk/theknowledge/story/0,,2012031,00.html

I really rate Viduka, but he's not in the class as many named in the lists. Could've been.... if he gave a shit.

Gallas Terry Toure Neville Carvalho