Exiled in Texas

that sounds awesome!!! could never get away with having a hooters over here. some liberal preachy, stuck up gits would get a massive bea in they're bonnet about how its degrading to women etc etc and then councils would stiop issue'ing them with licences etc. With the number of lap-dancing clubs around here, the talent at hooters is definately 3rd string. Obviously more lucrative places for the girls to work. We also have a Hooters-Knock Off called Twin Peaks

Selling is not the problem, but can the buying club register the player for this season - or are you buying said player at the knock-down bargain price only to "loan" them to Pompey for the rest of the season, and then they join the buying club in the summer? Or are the FA granting exemptions to allow clubs to register ex-Pompey players outside of the window. What I'm talking about about is a full transfer with the buying club being able to field the player competitively straight away. Once a club goes into administration they can invoke a crysis clause to allow them to sell their players outside the transfer window with the transfer going through immediately. The Premier League/FA wouldn't allow them to do it last time they made the request because tney weren't in admin and therefore not officially in a crisis as far as the Premier League/FA were concerned. Ah, interesting. Wonder who is the first to go in the fire sale.

My beer-league Ice Hockey team plays at the American Airlines Center (Dallas Stars arena) every year in an in-house scrimmage game. It's been a key highlight of our season for the last 6 years that we have done it. We bring players, ex-players, friends of players and even out-of-town friends who return year after year for the game. We meet up in Hooters for a pre-game meal (beer/wings) and a quick oggle of the servers, and then off to the game. Game performance always seems to be inversely related to beer consumption It's an awesome feeling to walk up the the arena/stadium on game day knowing that you are about to play there. And when you step out of the tunnel onto the ice (pitch) and look around you at the stands it's fantastic. If you're lucky enough to score a goal too and have your name announced......well worth a few beers later in the clubhouse. I know you'll all have a great time and the cost will seem irrelevant once you score at the Gallowgate end and perform the one-arm Shearer salute.

Although we call it the "Transfer Window" it's really better defined as the "player registration window". Premier League and Football League already have rules on this (as do other countries hence how players can sign for teams from other counties outside of our window). As for finding buyers....that all depends on how good the bargains are

Old Board/New Board, Keegan, Ashley, Marmite - you either love it or hate it. No amount of logic or detail will be sufficient to convince those that don't want to believe it. Yes - Ashley screwed up with the Wise/Keegan/Kinnear fiasco, but I'm not convinced that it did anything other than bring forward relegation that was looking more and more ominous each season based on our tumbling league positions. And I do think that the club is better prepared from a financial position now, than it was last season or would have been had we stayed with Hall/FFS. I truely wonder what would have happened to the club had we continued to be run by FFS on credit, loans and blind faith and then suffered relegation - what position would the club be in - or would Pompey fans be saying "at least we're not Newcastle". I'm sure that we are coming out of this better positioned for the future, both from a clubs financial perspective, and also from the overall football market where clubs will have some huge adjustments to make. I think we are just ahead of the curve, and are better positioned than most clubs for the new football order that will soon emerge

Selling is not the problem, but can the buying club register the player for this season - or are you buying said player at the knock-down bargain price only to "loan" them to Pompey for the rest of the season, and then they join the buying club in the summer? Or are the FA granting exemptions to allow clubs to register ex-Pompey players outside of the window.

You don't see a problem with a club buying a player thinking that they are 23 with at least 6 year ahead of them in their prime and still having full see-on value. And then finding out that your 23yr old is actually 29 and is on the down slide within 2 years with minimal sell-on value. That's a false bill of goods.

I can see that becoming a standard part of a medical for any player whose age might just be in question.

If treatment is required then they can resume play at next stoppage. Their own team could even create the stoppage if needed to get their player back if they needed to - but it would be less disadvantagous to the un-injured team than the current "expectation to immediately cease play - and resume with throw-in back to keeper"

Then you're getting punished for genuinely being hurt, which isn't really fair at all. There are literally no drawbacks whatsoever I can think of to just letting the physios come on to treat an injured player while the play is still ongoing. And if Physio/Injured player is in the way of play - then IFK-Dangerous Play would be the resulting restart?

Correct - drop ball does not "require" both teams to be present. Often used when a keeper has posession but "may" be injured and no foul occured......the referee can just drop the ball to the keeper to pick up and put back into play. I know that I often refer to US High School soccer rules, which do not follow exactly the FIFA standard, but they have a few good additions. One being, if the referee stops play, not for a foul or misconduct, and one team is clearly in posession, then the restart is an IFK for the team in posession. (and if neither team clearly in posession - then drop ball)

Towlie - that was my thought....either sub now or wait for next stoppage in play (none of this "Come back in, anytime game is in progress"). I know that it's different playing with fixed subs rather than unlimited, but it might encourage players to get over it quicker if they knew that stopping play for an injury would result in them waiting for next stoppage after they are ready to return.

The busiest table needs to be called the "Treatment Table"

Duties of the referee: • stops the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensures that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted • allows play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his opinion, only slightly injured. Too many hurt but not injured players causing stoppage in play. IMO too many players go down injured and then jump back up after a quick rest (roll around looking for foul and gesture for a card). I disagree with the process that if the trainer is called on, that the player must go off but then can come back on anytime with the referee's permission. So a quick trip to the sideline and they are ready to play again and come back on 10 secs after play resumes. Were they hurt - YES, but were they injured NO. If play is stopped for treatment, then I'd like to see them have to wait for the next stoppage in play before coming back on. I'd also allow treatment at sideline during play (player cannot leave field - trainer cannot enter). If player cannot get to sideline and needs game stopped for treatment then either Sub now or accept treatment lasts until at least the next stoppage in play.

Millions of reasons, and each one with the queens face on it.

Regarding TV Blackouts - funny how some NFL teams always manage last minute sell outs when "Someone" buys up the last remaining tickets so that the game get on TV and they get the TV Revenue. We all know that the Club or Owner buys up $10,000 worth of tickets so that they get $100,000 worth of TV revenue.

There's no requirement to let the defence get ready before taking a quick freekick. That's the whole point of it. has our resident ref been in on this yet ? as i understand it, if they are going to take a quick free kick the atacking team still have get an ok from the ref before the defence has organised. some refs will let it go if it is in a non threatening area (ie not a shot). OK - my Ref Perspective 1 - the foul being committed takes advantage away from the other team, so the defending team has no rights. 2 - LOTG says the defending team must be 10 yards back - it's their responsibility to retreat 10 yards and the referee should only intervene if they are refusing to. 3 - Attacking team does not have to ask for 10 yards - that's a given, but if they ask for the referee to enforce it, then they must wait for the whistle (ceremonial restart) to take the kick. 4 - If the attacking team does not ask the referee to enforce the 10 yards, and elect to take a quick-kick then they have that right (and accept the concequences of defenders being closer) So.....no problem taking a quick free kick and catching out the defenders who were not ready. (Hope that the referee wasn't really interfering with defenders - but likely defenders looking to blame someone/anyone for their mistake).

[What If Scenario] What if a team (say, Newcastle) comfortably mid table, decided to play 10 reserves against the 18th placed team to give them 3 points and push 17th placed team (say, Sunderland) into relegation spot and down they go. Legal?? Fair?? [/What if Scenario] Legal?? Yes, according to some Fair?? Yes, according to some Funny?? Hell YES, according to all

I agree in principle with this, but can't think how it can be defined so it can be legislated. It also borders on match fixing if a team doesn't even try to win a game (yes, I know that's hard to define too).

Unless your John Terry and then you get a publlic appology for the red card and a free session with your pick of the WAGs

Not sure on the exact ruling but an interesting thing about NFL and the draft is that all players who want to enter the NFL must register for the draft, thereby giving all teams a chance to select the player. Of course there are way more players who register to enter the draft than there are draft spots, so many less talented players go undrafted. Only once they are classed as Undrafted can they be free-agents and then any team can pick them up. So there is no way to hide promising young players or sneak players onto your team without another team having a fair chance to sign them. All part of the NFL Collective Bargaining agreement between the players union and the NFL.

That's the shoot-out process that some high schools use in Texas for tied games. Ball is placed 35 yards from goal (easy with the grid iron stadiums we play in) and the attacker has 5 seconds to get the shot away. I was 10 minutes from going to a shootout last night (as the center ref) and luckily one team got a coupld of quick goals. Didn't want to go through the mechanics of timing the 5 secs and the drama of the shootout.....inevitably there are keeper/shooter collisions resulting in possible PK and ejections. However, all that said.....for the last-man foul, a red card and this style shot would see to deal with the infringement and replace the scoring opportunity. I thought they used a system in MLS or at least America but didn't want to say it in case I was wrong since I don't really watch them leagues. Where do the other players stand, sidelines? For my high school games, it's used only for deciding tied games in place of a standard Penalty kick shootout.. So all players are on the sidelines except for the keeper(s), the shooter (and the upcoming shooters waiting in center circle) just like a normal tie break penalty shootout. It's a one shot deal - no rebounds. It's not used in the normal course of the game except for deciding tied games.

Agree with this. We're a few stops away from the pen being taken from the centre spot with the player dribbling up for a shot on goal. That s*** can f*** off. That's the shoot-out process that some high schools use in Texas for tied games. Ball is placed 35 yards from goal (easy with the grid iron stadiums we play in) and the attacker has 5 seconds to get the shot away. I was 10 minutes from going to a shootout last night (as the center ref) and luckily one team got a coupld of quick goals. Didn't want to go through the mechanics of timing the 5 secs and the drama of the shootout.....inevitably there are keeper/shooter collisions resulting in possible PK and ejections. However, all that said.....for the last-man foul, a red card and this style shot would see to deal with the infringement and replace the scoring opportunity.

UEFA cap would be the way to go, but it's tough to make a fair cap across different countries with differing currency, tax bases and economies. Guaranteed that some one fo the top countries would complain that another was favored. Let the clubs fail....at some point the credit card bills become due and the spending has to stop. Some clubs just haven't come to a sense of reality yet.

Afar - Great post on american sports. In my mind the key difference between US sports and the rest of the world is that US sports are all franchises of a closed league. There are 32 teams playing in the NFL (simialr for NHL, NBA and MLB), and the only way to get an league franchise now is to buy an existing franchise from the current owner. There is no second tier, no relegation. For players it's an all-or-nothing situation where you play in the NFL with their rules on drafts/contracts etc, or you don't play at all. And as Gazzalad mentioned - the money is too great compared to the options. Drafts/salary cap etc work really well in leagues that are the absolute pinnacle of the game. But if there was an alternative to any of these leagues that paid close to the same amount then the concept would founder immediately. Cap the Premier league and players would move to Spain, Italy etc in football there are too many options to be like American Football.