Colos Short and Curlies

Yeah - he was interviewed in the 'Metro' paper in London and said something along those lines. He intimated that he wouldn't be looking for anything until his BBC deal expires which is in a couple of years I think. TBH I'd rather he didn't come back right now. Whilst it's clear Allardyce and Mort have got loads of work to do it's nice that they can do it without the likes of Shearer over their shoulders i.e: Without any pressure or influence from previous regimes. The pressure would increase should Shearer arrive as people's expectations would rise. I'm not knocking him here but we don't even know that Shearers any good as a Coach/Assistant Manager or at whatever role he might get in the future. Now's not the time to be taking chances with appointments based on heart rather than head. Shearer still trains with the first team two days a week and is coaching the strikers apparently. Where did you read that? I haven't heard that before and i haven't seen him in any training pictures either. I haven't read it anywhere, just what I got told. Get him in an orange bib!

Reckon we would have an agreement to 'buy' in Jan but he would be over here training before that

It's not 16k though. That's what it would work out at, IF they played the world cup all year. (Which they obviously don't) It was £40 a day for the world cup, which in a lot of cases would not cover loss of earnings. If I wanted to take 2 weeks off to play football I wouldn't get compensated at all! (as a point my company has a 'world cup' and we have to pay for all travel and take holiday/unpaid leave to participate in it) And before anyone starts, I agree that what they get is pitiful, but it is still an amateur game and therefore they should be rewarded appropriately (i.e not with very much). The only way the salary should increase is for the game to go professional and generate sufficient income to cover a central contracted wage - btw I reckon that a professional Womens game would have a sufficient audience to do so. So yes its a poor wage for representing your country, but is appropriate for the current standing of the game

Too thick? :giggle: Tell you what, I bet a few foregin mangers look at the mental ability of some of our players and it puts them off. Colemand oing great things as an ambassador in Spain at the moment

£16k for playing non-professional football? Doesn't sound bad to me.

We need more English players playing aborad

Sam could do worse than bringing Shearer on board as a coach or even assistant manager

Pro-Evo position tastic tbh

According to F365 Enrique has been 'woeful' this season. Though they do have Carr's return as a boost so they can't be trusted

I'm intrigued, how about goals in the first half? Guess. Ah.... but say a game has 5 minutes injury time in the first half, and 10 in the second. Technically any goal scored in the first 2 minutes after half time should be included in the first half should they not? No. Yes! You've got to consider the dirty technicality - 2 halves have to be equal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half Therefore if in totality a game lasts for 105 minutes (as per the original expample), the first half must be 52.5 minutes in length - the 15 minute break is actually an artificial break in the game. Hence, technically a goal scored in the 51st minute of said game is scored after the break, but technically in the first half of the game!

Draw a line infront of Butt/Geremi, exclude the left wing and there is your priotiy area. Attacking midfield, right wing and centre forwards (personally I think we potentially have a dynamic front line in Oba/Smith/Dukes/Owen but they obviously (so far) aint suited to Sams style of play)

I'm intrigued, how about goals in the first half? Guess. Ah.... but say a game has 5 minutes injury time in the first half, and 10 in the second. Technically any goal scored in the first 2 minutes after half time should be included in the first half should they not?

Oh and if Riquelme won't come I'd want Deco as an alternative!

Divvent worry, still got 11 days until Pool, plenty of time to get him crocked again

If Sam had only dropped points against Citeh, Pompey and the Mackems then we'd be ok. Its the Derby loss, Reading loss and Boro draw which have really put a spaniard in the works (I'll ignore Villa as they will pick up points at better teams than us this season). Stick eight points onto where we are now and we'd all be singing his praises

He's Big, He's Round He stands with fans in the ground Mike Ashley Or to the tune of Sharkey and George.... Ashley and Mort The saviours of the Toon

Statistics - can be used to prove or disprove anything you want. - Discuss Best league start in ages - Discuss "Easiest" season start of any other team in the league. Current league positions of teams we've played so far: 18, 8, 17, 19, 20, 10, 3, 9, 14, 12, 6, 16 2 teams in the top 7, 6 of the bottom 7. This is the worry and 3 straight loses in the next 3 games is entirely possible. Then what? Enter Shearer stage left would be my bet

Scary that stat about goals scored under Keegan, thought we would have averaged more than 2 a game tbh. Also nice to see that the dodgy Keegan defence conceded less goals per game than any subsequent manager

Statistics - can be used to prove or disprove anything you want. - Discuss Best league start in ages - Discuss 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 07/8 3 4 5 8 8 11 11 14 17 17 17 18 05/6 0 1 1 2 5 8 9 9 12 15 18 18 So when did we last have a better start? Does it matter? Sam hasn't beaten the 05/06 start therefore this ISNT the best start for ages

Statistics - can be used to prove or disprove anything you want. - Discuss Best league start in ages - Discuss Best league start for two years actually. More patter from Allardyce there I'm afraid. I'm all for giving him time btw, I wish he'd just cut down on the bullshit. Comparing win ratios at this stage is utterly meaningless though. In fact, I'd never seen the stat used until Oliver was using it to try and show how well his mate Roeder was doing. I remain convinced that it was infact Shearer leading the troops when Souness was sacked, and as such these games should not be included in Roeders win/loss ratio!

He only won something like 35% of his games at Bolton didn't he?

Pro-Evo-typo-tastic!

1. A Premier League Match 6. A FA Cup Match 9. A League Cup Match 11. A Scottish League Match 12. A League Match in another country. - Does the Welsh Premier count? 17. An English Derby. - Merseyside 18. An International 21. A European Championship Match 25. A Champions League Match 27. A UEFA Cup Match 29. A Cup Winners Cup Match 30. A Friendly 35. A Penalty Shootout 36. A saved penalty 43. Watched a game at the Millenium Stadium

International week, I'm bored at work and haven't started a topic for a while........ Carte blanche-ish in January (i.e. Mike has said money no object), you've got three players to transform the team. Try and make it realistic by accepting that Ronaldo aint gonna leave ManU and Ronaldinho isn't going to join us. Saying that have a bit of ambition. I reckon we need a winger (preferably right sided), an attacking CM with vision and a centre forward. Anelka or Huntellar(sp) depending on Sams pulling techniques Joaquin Riquelme All 3 would take a hell of a sweet talk to get them here, but thats my January wish list!

Dukes or Smith really, would have the Fat Aussie as first choice but it would appear that he wont be playing more than 2 games in a row