Mowen

I agree, but I can only assume he was sold on going to Villa by being told he'd be first choice - in which case he's got every right to be annoyed. If that didn't happen, fuck him.

Barry for me looks more comfortable in Internationals than he does in the Prem. I know that seems weird, but to me he just seems to suit international football. I thought he was excellent in qualification, cool as fuck and massively surpassed my expectations.

Out of interest when did you start watching English football? That isn't a dig in any way, genuinely interested.

Second half I agree with. First sentance I couldn't disagree with more, he's up there with Keith Curle when it comes to cuntish footballers for me.

Use your own interpretation of 'best' as other than Leon there isn't a universally agreed one in this sense. My personal definition is them at the peak of what they've shown (so far anyway). Nearly posted this before but haven't got around to it, but the England thread reminded me. I've gone since Gazza for two reasons: 1) A huge number (particularly on a Newcastle board) regard him as the most gifted player they've ever seen 2) It roughly coincides with my experience of watching football (I've just turned 24 and don't remember Italia 90) I know this will provoke a fair amount of debate and they've all been cracking players. For me, gingernut shades it. Ropey tackler, but fuck me he had everything else. I think he's the best passer of the lot, fantastic goalscorer and one half of the most dominant, and probably best, midfield partnership I've seen. He was an utterly magnificent player and underrated like crazy imo. If I were to rank them in order I think it would go Scholes, Lamps, Gerrard, Becks - although I do think Becks was a superb player. FWIW I think Gerrard will end up winning the poll. We'll see.

I agree, 2 years ago I thought he was the best CB in the world. Is that really relevant anymore though - will he ever reach that form again?

Has he? He's certainly outscored Gerrard in a number of seasons, of course that's nothing to do with the role he's played within the team or the fact he plays in a far better team. As for outplayed, you're actually strangely not alone in that assertion, remarkably I've seen the odd other person saying the same, completely baffles me though and always will. Lampard has been (Drogba apart) Chelsea's best player for a while though. He's one of the reasons Chelsea are and have been so much better than Liverpool.

I was actually going to go to this, it isn't as far for me as it would be most but it's still a fucking mission from London to Plymouth. Got a mate from uni who's from there and a big fan and we were planning on heading down together. Fucking shambles that they can do this. There's a non-stop shite advert reminding us what a fucking long way it is ffs, even dipmar knows this isn't on.

Spot on. Dekka's a reet cunt though.

In an ideal world Hargreaves would be ahead of Carrick there, he just won't be fit though. I'd still start the team we had throughout qualification fwiw.

I'd have Brown over Richard, much better defensively. I reckon Milner's ahead of Beckham now too...other than that it looks alright to me.

Bunch of cunts. I seem to be spending half my time complaining via email to no avail these days, one more can't hurt.

Defoe and Rooney up front together: England look shit. Do the math, as the great Clive Tyldsley once said.

Good player. Hasn't he already played for two clubs this season though? Do loans count though? Not a clue. I'd love him in though so hopefully not.

Good player. Hasn't he already played for two clubs this season though?

He used to be a Watford fan. Never realised that. He's a complete cunt that bloke. I saw an interview with him once where he was responding to people calling him plastic because he doesn't bother getting to many games. He said something along the lines of; I'm a normal bloke, I like going out, having a good time, meeting girls. I've got a life and can't commit to going to the football every week and I think it's pathetic people would criticise me for that, I love the club as much as anyone. Fucking piss kidney.

£5 on Birmingham, Bolton and Burnley wins £35. £10 on Newcastle and Swansea wins £24.

No-one knows what actually went on though. Terry could have been rattling her whilst they were still together for all we know. Not all that upset about Bridge not being in the squad mind.

You should check out the cat that got all the way to a vets on its own despite having a can on its head.

Milito got booked for a piss poor dive in the 1st half. Lucio went down easily a few times. General shirt swapping on corners/FKs. But not too bad on the whole. Not having Conceicunt or whatever his name was anymore will have improved all that I guess. Flavio Conceicao (of Portugal) with a Portugese ref & linesman. Cheats. Was he not called Sergio? Wanker though.

Milito got booked for a piss poor dive in the 1st half. Lucio went down easily a few times. General shirt swapping on corners/FKs. But not too bad on the whole. Not having Conceicunt or whatever his name was anymore will have improved all that I guess.

Roeder did brilliantly for half a season to get us 7th but it was still pretty obvious to most that he wasn't the right man long term. I respect Hughton greatly for what he's done so far, he's got a long way to go to convince me he's good enough though. Hughton comes across a lot better (not just personality wise, or his reluctance to refer to himself in the third person, but in terms of talking sense) than Roeder ever did, in my opinion. Yeah he's less of a prick but Roeder's achievements were more impressive imo (not to discredit Hughton). The difference between the start of that season and the end was insane. agreed, was nothing short of a miracle to get us a european spot. roeder's achievements then outweight hughton's now as he did it in a better league. which is why for me 'earning' a shot at managing us shouldn't come into it. either you think hughton is the right man to lead us for the next 3 or so seasons, minimum, or he is not. no point pissing around with a manager you are not sure about on the premise that he has 'earned' the role. if we go up, yeah, he probably does, in a perfect world, deserve a shot at the premiership, his rightful reward. but everyone knew roeder wasnt the man for the job and we made a mistake with him out of some misguided sense of loyalty. if hughton stays on next season d id hope it is because he shows he is a capable manager for the future, not because of anything he's done in the past. Some here seem to forget that Roeder had a far far better squad than Hughton has and ever will have. Roeder was very lucky in having many players available back from injury who weren't available for Souness (Souness was shit, though). Also Roeder had fairly "easy" teams to play against. And of course, like often said, almost every manager has his "honeymoon period" which Roeder certainly had. he was also managing in the premiership. in terms of relative quality to the league they were/are playing in, Hughton's got a far, far better squad than Roeder ever had. Given Carr Bramble Moore Elliott Solano >> our current side (even in terms of relative qualitiy to the leagues imo) Dyer Parker N'Zogbia Shearer Ameobi That is absolutely mental. By the way, team that started against West Brom in a 3-1 win at home was this: Given; Carr, Moore, Bramble, Babayaro; Solano, Faye, N'Zogbia, Pattison; Ameobi, Chopra. Only difference for a 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea on the last day of the season was Emre in for Pattison.

Only saw the last 10, I assume Inter are still the same cheating cunts they always have been? Tie looks nicely poised mind.

That's probably the worst idea I've heard in my life, to be fair. Stick around, there's plenty where that came from. I once PM'd James to see if he wanted to present a documentary I was thinking about making.

Good commonsense signing.