Mowen

Didn't he turn them down when Fat Sam was sacked? Turned them down after Hughes left (when Ince eventually got the job).

That's the other side of the coin: beyond what the words Suarez used may mean, there's the question of what's racist, which is *very* dependent on culture. What would be perceived in hyper-sensitive Britain as racist would not be in other cultures less sensitive to racism. And then there's the differing sensitivity to perceived racism against different races: in the UK, people are very sensitive to racism against blacks but not against, say, Albanians because there are a lot of blacks but few Albanians. A few weeks ago, an extremely liberal, pro-immigrant German lass who spends all her time helping kids from immigrant families, who would never dream of saying anything anti-Turkish, told me that "laying an Obama in the White House" is slang for having a shit (there are very few black people in Germany, and most racism is directed against Turks, Arabs and East Europeans). ------------------- With regards to the FA's ruling: it's a complete cop-out. They've found him guilty of indecent/abusive behaviour and punished him for racism. An 8 match ban is ridiculous for what they've found him guilty of. FFS, Rooney got a 2-game ban for running up to the TV camera and shouting "fuck off" into it. They should have either given him a punishment typical of the violation they found him guilty of or had the balls to label him a racist along with clearly you've-been-found-guilty-of-racism ban they handed him. Whilst I agree with the first half of your post that's not necessarily the point. It may well be inoffensive in his culture but there are ramifications beyond that - he's been in Europe for some time by now and as such must realise that it's extremely offensive to refer to people in such a manner. He's not a complete idiot, surely he knew what he was doing and as such theoretically it could still be construed as racist? I'm just theorising mind, don't know the ins and outs of the case. Plus it's funny as fuck he's been banned for 8 games.

I sit next to a Uraguayan at work who's astonished it's an issue in the slightest, the culture and usage of the terminology there is completely different. Had a pretty interesting chat with him but he's a Suarez fanboy and blatantly loves a cheeky bit of racism so it was a bit one sided. There's a Tim Vickery piece on the BBC sport that starts off by giving an extremely good insight into the culture of the words, I've linked below. Unfortunately, despite some good work it's ultimately a shite article because the thrust of the piece is that the FA can set a good example by doing the right thing but doesn't suggest what the right thing is - that's beside the point though. My personal view is that the words may not be offensive in context with his national team mates but if he was repeatedly calling Evra that, as reported, then he was clearly doing it to cause offence. He's not that much of an idiot, he must have known how it was being received. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16262537.stm

I've always thought he reminded me of me.

Roy Carroll?

Completely agree Wullie. Everyone's obsessed with blaming refs over everything else these days; managers, players and most of all fans are utterly pathetic about it. Nobody looks at the cheating players (class comment in the WSC article I quoted - "They’re trying to control a game played at high speed, by top athletes, who are often trying deliberately to deceive them.") Obviously I get frustrated when the incompetence of a ref screws us over but as far as I'm concerned as long as they're not inherently biased I don't really care; it happens to both teams and I'd far rather look at how we've played over 90 minutes than the perception of what the referee has done to us - I'm exactly the same when I'm playing on a Saturday too. Realise I'm in a minority but complaining about decisions is as tedious as fuck as far as I'm concerned.

There are extra penalty area referees in the Europa league at the moment, I dot know how they're working in general but they caused a Tottenham goal to be correctly, albeit slowly, disallowed. Might be worth giving them flags but it worked on that occasion. It also looks like we'll have goal line technology soon. For all we've complained about needing it I'm fairly sure no technology has come up to scratch at previous tests. Personally I'm not interested in having replays of anything in addition to this. I know many people will disagree but I really think it would make the game shit.

Signed off Everton at 16 by the looks of it. That stat would be more impressive if I could remember how it was phrased, I think it meant that City had been their only ever club.

Simpson in the middle with Colo with Santon and Taylor at full backs would be a better option I reckon.

Agree. It would be a very sensible signing and would also appeal on the seeming 'resale' criteria. I thinks he's a great prospect and actually think he'll be a better centre half in the long run but it strengthens two positions in one bringing him on. Has he even got on the pitch this season? I read that he's the only player to have come right through their youth structure (and represented them more than once or twice off the bench I think) in the past 10 years the other day, shocking.

Alex is on the transfer list and would be a great signing. Probably would want CL football or prohibitive wages though. Bassong as Wullie mentions would be an excellent signing if we could get him for around £5m, extremely talented defender who can cover at left back if we're left short by injuries and there's still Onuoha who I thing could make a very good centre half in the long run and would provide cover for right back. He's probably even attainable on a loan with an option to buy given how little look in he's being given at City.

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/8082/38/

Southampton, Arsenal, Man U. About 2/1.

I thought that but someone made a decent point at work. A 3 game ban in the league is the standard but a 3 game ban at international level isn't comparable - 3 games of a 38 game season is a fairly small chunk of time but far, far fewer games are played at international level making the punishment more severe. I still think it was probably the wrong decision but I'm pretty pleased about it.

I'm pretty sure we've got 13 more points than from the equivalent fixtures last season. It's incredible.

Me neither. I just can't believe Ronaldo admitted he was wrong.

He'd have you eye out with that beak like. Dave would be facing the pillow anyway. Mouth full of down

Given that I've got Hatem and 3-1 I now think if we concede a last minute goal to win 3-2 it'll be the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Don't worry mate, I hardly ever win. Good news, this has completely unsettled me. Barely looking forward to the game anymore.

Given that I've got Hatem and 3-1 I now think if we concede a last minute goal to win 3-2 it'll be the worst thing that's ever happened to me.

£20 on us to win at 2.37 now I've seen that team. HBA & 3-1 at 100-1, Ba first GS @7.5, Cabaye to score in a win @9.

Compared to results last year (replacing QPR, promoted as champions, with Birmingham who were relegated in 18th) we currently are 10 points ahead of last year after just 9 games. It's been an astonishingly good start to the season. Fucking brilliant. (to save anyone else having to look that up, it's -2 for QPR/Birmingham, quits for Arsenal and Spurs, +1 for Villa, +2 for Sunderland, Fulham, Wolves and Wigan and +3 for Blackburn)

Nah, it's the little eyebrow-raise at 0:29 that gets me every time. I was going on about that the other day, and don't get me wrong it's arousing, but this is a bit special. It's like he's only just realised how good Leon is, it's incredible.

Nothing ever seems to make me laugh more that Alan Pardew's celebration at 1:32 in Leon Best is Mint. The synergies with the music are incredible, it's just out of this world.

"it's like he's been shot"

No match thread is complete without a Mowen "we'll shit/fuck/cock them" prediction. I thought that. He occasionally uses "cunt them" in extreme circumstances, I seem to remember finding that phrase pretty hilarious in the pre-Villa relegation game thread. FYI Pilko, laughing at a man's mental deficiency isn't very nice. And in my defence I'm fairly consistent, I'm pretty sure I repeated this claim in person to Wullie on the day. And I was almost right.