Martin Lol

I imagine RobW edited that in. and a few other things by the looks of it. also, why does everyone on this forum post articles without links? they copy and paste a whole article, usually no link, sometimes not even a reference! the link by itself is usually generally imo. The link is: http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article2055522.ece

Your argument really doesn't hold up. There have been a number of youngsters breaking through into the senior squad, probably a lot more now than say pre Premier League days. The comment that the reserve league is simply not good enough implies that Chelsea are winning the league/not getting adequate competition. In fact, Chelsea are 3rd in the Reserve League, their last game being a 3-1 home defeat by Watford. As I said before, Man Utd have imho the right idea with Royal Antwerp and Spurs have broad agreement for association with Zaglebie Lubin in Poland and FC Brussels in the Jupiler League. Personally I would be far happier to see those arrangements finalised than linking up with Leyton Orient.

But what if Darlington or Hartlepool keep getting promoted? Spain has a no promotion rule for the B teams, how would you feel if you were a Darlington fan? I'd be p*ssed off! More to the point, if there were a number of B teams being introduced, further down the food chain there will be clubs being bounced into the Conference. No, if Chelsea want a B team or an agreed feeder club, let Abramovich buy a team in Scotland or France and ship the rest of the squad there. The agreement that Manure have with Royal Antwerp is the way for Chelsea to go if that's what they want.

Don't know about being the next Rio but he did look very solid in the last match against Nothern Ireland. Having said that, it was only against Northern Ireland. In that age group Croft was head and shoulders above the rest of the squad abilitywise and maybe he believed the hype. For whatever reason he lost his way big style, but he wasn't the first and certainly won't be the last not to live up to expectations. I don't think this is the best England squad there's been and of the ones I've seen only the Villa striker and the Spanners keeper have really impressed. You can get a pretty good idea of how good the youngsters can progress though. More recently, Steven Taylor and Tom Huddlestone were outstanding in their age group and I still believe both will go on to be fixtures in the senior England squad. I agree that I'd like to see more coverage of the u19/u20's but if Sky choose to sponsor the kids, it's the kids that get the broadcasting time.

Agreed too much money went on Pennant, but the rest look like reasonable deals. Admittedly there are some that have been given an opportunity to be a success rather than expecting them to be a success, but the transfer fees reflect that. If they were all sold, there would be few that wouldn't return their initial outlay, so I would say his overall record is pretty good. As for Reina, I would have thought he would be ranked as good as Given, not better or worse, £6m would be a fair price for him. I personally still would prefer Given in my team if I had to choose one or the other.

are playing tonight against Scotland in the Victory Shield live on SS1 at 8pm. Should be a good game as the Scots have one of their best batch of youngsters for a long time, including Gordon Durie's boy and Robert Fleck's nephew who are both on Rangers' books in spite of attention from Chelsea. The Scots currently top the group, England need a victory to win the competition. No Toon youngsters as far as I know, but there are a couple of kids with real potential in Villa's Nathan Delfouneso and Sanchez Watt, yet another decent talent out of the Scum Academy. Spurs did have 3 in the squad, the best one has pulled out with injury although Adam Smith has looked good on occasions. Always worth watching the (possible) stars of the future.

Not that I give a shit about this incredibly puerile argument, but you could point out that if the capacity is 36,000 and the average for that season is over 35,000, then it is pretty much safe to say that every game was either close enough to a sellout to actually be one (ie 35,900 is a sell out effectively) or there were games when away teams didnt fill their allocation. not really as you have to remember that because it is an average then there has to be a good few games where the actual attendance is below even that. But not that many, as the attendance can never be above 36000 - so for the average to be almost 36k, the lowest gates must have been still quite close to that, or the average would be much lower. If you get my drift. Not that I care about their attendances, my main objection to Spurs fans is one half decent season and they think they're Barcelona all of a sudden. You're pretty well spot on regarding the attendances, Spurs report attendances on bodies going through the gates, not tickets sold, so the money is received even though there might not be a bum on the seat. Matthew Collecott, the Finance Director said in the Annual Accounts published today "FA Premier League gate receipts increased by 4%, which reflects increases in ticket prices rather than capacity as we invariably play to a full house. The ongoing challenge remains maximising the number of ways we utilise the Stadium as season tickets have remained at record levels and the waiting list is ever increasing and heads towards 20,000." http://admin.tottenhamhotspur.com/docstore/prelimresultsdec8.doc Can't honestly agree that Spurs fans, generally speaking, think we are anywhere near Barcelona, EPL Top 4 etc, most are realistic to accept that we are probably at least 3 years away from making a serious challenge on the top 4, let alone Barcelona! I'd happily settle for a top 6 finish this season, although I think we'll come up short tbh. The figures were for last season, and as I previously pointed out that was the first season you consistently managed to fill your little ground. You were in the top 4 for most of the season, so you fuckin should! This season the demand has went down yet again, despite being unbeaten at home, and you're now down to the 2004 levels of 34,000 again i.e Boro. "I'd happily settle for a top 6 finish this season, although I think we'll come up short tbh." I agree I think you'll be back at your natural level this season 10-14th, which indeed I predicted before a ball was kicked. Demand for tickets isn't going down, still as high as before. With regard to Spurs' finishing position, I wasn't thinking of 10-14th, more like 7th or possibly 8th. Still, your prediction may turn out to be accurate, time will tell. Out of curiosity, when you made your prediction about Spurs before a ball was kicked, did you make a similar prediction about Newcastle? My main prediction was we'd finish above Tottenham, and I put an open bet to anyone that wanted it that I'd give you a 5 point start. I stand by that. If we beat Blackburn we could be 6 points off a CL spot with a game in hand. 34,000 is not selling out. Selling 34000 tickets I agree is not selling out. Having an official attendance (through the gate, not tickets sold which may have made the figure higher) of 34154 then add back the 1183 tickets returned by Boro, a total of 35337, suggests that the match was still very close to being sold out. Not overly optimistic about Newcastle beating Blackburn but would be pleasantly surprised if you did. The game in hand is against Chelsea and I am even less optimistic about Newcastle getting 3 points from that match.

Not that I give a shit about this incredibly puerile argument, but you could point out that if the capacity is 36,000 and the average for that season is over 35,000, then it is pretty much safe to say that every game was either close enough to a sellout to actually be one (ie 35,900 is a sell out effectively) or there were games when away teams didnt fill their allocation. not really as you have to remember that because it is an average then there has to be a good few games where the actual attendance is below even that. But not that many, as the attendance can never be above 36000 - so for the average to be almost 36k, the lowest gates must have been still quite close to that, or the average would be much lower. If you get my drift. Not that I care about their attendances, my main objection to Spurs fans is one half decent season and they think they're Barcelona all of a sudden. You're pretty well spot on regarding the attendances, Spurs report attendances on bodies going through the gates, not tickets sold, so the money is received even though there might not be a bum on the seat. Matthew Collecott, the Finance Director said in the Annual Accounts published today "FA Premier League gate receipts increased by 4%, which reflects increases in ticket prices rather than capacity as we invariably play to a full house. The ongoing challenge remains maximising the number of ways we utilise the Stadium as season tickets have remained at record levels and the waiting list is ever increasing and heads towards 20,000." http://admin.tottenhamhotspur.com/docstore/prelimresultsdec8.doc Can't honestly agree that Spurs fans, generally speaking, think we are anywhere near Barcelona, EPL Top 4 etc, most are realistic to accept that we are probably at least 3 years away from making a serious challenge on the top 4, let alone Barcelona! I'd happily settle for a top 6 finish this season, although I think we'll come up short tbh. The figures were for last season, and as I previously pointed out that was the first season you consistently managed to fill your little ground. You were in the top 4 for most of the season, so you fuckin should! This season the demand has went down yet again, despite being unbeaten at home, and you're now down to the 2004 levels of 34,000 again i.e Boro. "I'd happily settle for a top 6 finish this season, although I think we'll come up short tbh." I agree I think you'll be back at your natural level this season 10-14th, which indeed I predicted before a ball was kicked. Demand for tickets isn't going down, still as high as before. With regard to Spurs' finishing position, I wasn't thinking of 10-14th, more like 7th or possibly 8th. Still, your prediction may turn out to be accurate, time will tell. Out of curiosity, when you made your prediction about Spurs before a ball was kicked, did you make a similar prediction about Newcastle?

Not that I give a shit about this incredibly puerile argument, but you could point out that if the capacity is 36,000 and the average for that season is over 35,000, then it is pretty much safe to say that every game was either close enough to a sellout to actually be one (ie 35,900 is a sell out effectively) or there were games when away teams didnt fill their allocation. not really as you have to remember that because it is an average then there has to be a good few games where the actual attendance is below even that. But not that many, as the attendance can never be above 36000 - so for the average to be almost 36k, the lowest gates must have been still quite close to that, or the average would be much lower. If you get my drift. Not that I care about their attendances, my main objection to Spurs fans is one half decent season and they think they're Barcelona all of a sudden. You're pretty well spot on regarding the attendances, Spurs report attendances on bodies going through the gates, not tickets sold, so the money is received even though there might not be a bum on the seat. Matthew Collecott, the Finance Director said in the Annual Accounts published today "FA Premier League gate receipts increased by 4%, which reflects increases in ticket prices rather than capacity as we invariably play to a full house. The ongoing challenge remains maximising the number of ways we utilise the Stadium as season tickets have remained at record levels and the waiting list is ever increasing and heads towards 20,000." http://admin.tottenhamhotspur.com/docstore/prelimresultsdec8.doc Can't honestly agree that Spurs fans, generally speaking, think we are anywhere near Barcelona, EPL Top 4 etc, most are realistic to accept that we are probably at least 3 years away from making a serious challenge on the top 4, let alone Barcelona! I'd happily settle for a top 6 finish this season, although I think we'll come up short tbh.

The latest installment highlighting what a truly magnificent support Tottenham Hotspur have. Before anyone says "it's New Years Day", so F***! We had more at Southend (pre-Keegan) on NYD 1992, I know that for a fact because I was there....oh aye and we lost 4-0. Newcastle upon Tyne - Portsmouth 339.6 miles London - Portsmouth 74.4 miles I was at Portsmouth last year, bought a ticket off Rosstoon, who uses this board to verify it, it was at the height of Souness' shite football, and as I recall it was one of the most blunt toon attacking performances for many a year. Despite how dire we had been, we sold our full allocation of 3,000 tickets, speaking to some Pompey mush he said he couldn't believe how we can take more than the London clubs who are just up the road despite us being shite. There's a Man City pal of mine who often says yeah you sell out down London because of "Southern Mags". Why don't these gobshites make up their minds, on one hand you people (particularly irrelevant Tottenham and Scouser fans) saying, only people from the NE support us, the next they're saying we have good southern support which is why we fill our allocations down there. Either way contrast that 3,000 with this pathetic 1,600 allocation Spurs are taking, in a good run of form just 70 miles away. You could probably do it in an hour by car. That's not much more than us going to Boro. Imagine Spurs bringing 5,000 to Sunderland on a Wednesday night in the League Cup, because we've just done the opposite down at Watford. It doesn't matter what spin you put on it, Newcastle have a fantastic support, we get abused left right and centre off jealous wanks, from lesser clubs like Man City, Spurs, and Villa. In closing my conclusion is Tottenham Hotspur will always be a nothing club. Comparing Tottenham's support to our support, is like comparing, those pathetic gay Noonan brothers (Manchester's top gangsters ) to the KGB in it's peak. The allocation of 1658 isn't what Spurs wanted, it was the maximum that Pompey offered due to police not being available after New Years Celebration shifts. The same scenario has occurred with the Cup match at Cardiff, we haven't been offered what we wanted. From the Cardiff City Official website: Although the rules of The FA Cup competition entitle us to an allocation of 15% of the stadium capacity, it is not possible for Cardiff City to accommodate this without the Club having to completely reverse their usual plans for access, segregation and exit from the Stadium. Understandably, for such a high profile match, stadium security plans quite rightly take priority and in the interests of safety and security for fans from both Clubs and given the match is live on television, we have agreed to follow Police advice. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the Noonan Brothers, as I have no knowledge of them whatsoever. You obviously have a far more select circle of acquaintances than others. PMSL :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Funny then how Norwich and Wolves' took their full allocation of 3,000 at Fratton in 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 respectively at Nea Year (yes I know they were on a one season jolly up), the police not bother going on the piss the night before then? The allocation is what we are offered, not what we want or what others might have received in the past (assuming your figures are correct). Pompey offered 1658 tickets, Spurs have taken the full allocation. Not rocket science to work that out.

Seconded.

The latest installment highlighting what a truly magnificent support Tottenham Hotspur have. Before anyone says "it's New Years Day", so F***! We had more at Southend (pre-Keegan) on NYD 1992, I know that for a fact because I was there....oh aye and we lost 4-0. Newcastle upon Tyne - Portsmouth 339.6 miles London - Portsmouth 74.4 miles I was at Portsmouth last year, bought a ticket off Rosstoon, who uses this board to verify it, it was at the height of Souness' shite football, and as I recall it was one of the most blunt toon attacking performances for many a year. Despite how dire we had been, we sold our full allocation of 3,000 tickets, speaking to some Pompey mush he said he couldn't believe how we can take more than the London clubs who are just up the road despite us being shite. There's a Man City pal of mine who often says yeah you sell out down London because of "Southern Mags". Why don't these gobshites make up their minds, on one hand you people (particularly irrelevant Tottenham and Scouser fans) saying, only people from the NE support us, the next they're saying we have good southern support which is why we fill our allocations down there. Either way contrast that 3,000 with this pathetic 1,600 allocation Spurs are taking, in a good run of form just 70 miles away. You could probably do it in an hour by car. That's not much more than us going to Boro. Imagine Spurs bringing 5,000 to Sunderland on a Wednesday night in the League Cup, because we've just done the opposite down at Watford. It doesn't matter what spin you put on it, Newcastle have a fantastic support, we get abused left right and centre off jealous wanks, from lesser clubs like Man City, Spurs, and Villa. In closing my conclusion is Tottenham Hotspur will always be a nothing club. Comparing Tottenham's support to our support, is like comparing, those pathetic gay Noonan brothers (Manchester's top gangsters ) to the KGB in it's peak. The allocation of 1658 isn't what Spurs wanted, it was the maximum that Pompey offered due to police not being available after New Years Celebration shifts. The same scenario has occurred with the Cup match at Cardiff, we haven't been offered what we wanted. From the Cardiff City Official website: Although the rules of The FA Cup competition entitle us to an allocation of 15% of the stadium capacity, it is not possible for Cardiff City to accommodate this without the Club having to completely reverse their usual plans for access, segregation and exit from the Stadium. Understandably, for such a high profile match, stadium security plans quite rightly take priority and in the interests of safety and security for fans from both Clubs and given the match is live on television, we have agreed to follow Police advice. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the Noonan Brothers, as I have no knowledge of them whatsoever. You obviously have a far more select circle of acquaintances than others.

............ are on collision course over stipulating a mandatory umber of home grown players. Fifa must drop a proposal to limit the number of foreign players fielded by European clubs or face legal action, says Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein. Fifa boss Sepp Blatter has proposed that European clubs must field a minimum of six home players. But Dein, chairman of the G14 group of top clubs, said: "This is totally illegal and it will be challenged. "If Fifa want to light a fire then so be it, but it will be a very hot one. I hope this idea doesn't go any further." G14, which represents 18 of Europe's richest clubs, is at odds with the world governing body over a number of issues. It is also involved in two court cases related to the release of international players and compensation should they get injured. Dein said: "I appeal to FIFA for a period of calm. We are currently on the road to resolving a lot of the problems in the game, so there is no need to cause any more headaches." Blatter believes his rule would protect the game at national level and bring clubs closer to the fans. However, many within the sport, including European football's governing body Uefa, think the proposal is a breach of European law and rules of a free labour market in the European Union http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6219798.stm I don't know how how strong the legal case is but, liking to see English players and Academy products coming through, I hope FIFA win this one.

Not exactly setting the highest standards as role models. I'm hearing that Levy and Comolli went ballistic when they found out yesterday. "I'm hearing". You mean you read it on another forum? Nothing on Spurs' forums yet about the reaction at WHL. I've been told they went ballistic, what they will do about it (if anything) I have no idea.

Not exactly setting the highest standards as role models. I'm hearing that Levy and Comolli went ballistic when they found out yesterday.

Admittedly only saw the highlights, but I can't see how some are saying that it was a lucky win, thought overall Newcastle were the better team and deserved it.

Disallowed because Styles f*cked up then didn't have the balls to admit to his mistake.

Making me look a complete joke? You're a mong of Michael Carroll proportions pal. You abuse the toon for getting 48,000, yet one week later Boro end sold out and there's 2,000 empty seats in the Spurs end, in their best home form in 20 years. Honest mate just go away you're shit, and you're using up bandwidth on here. Does lying just come naturally to you? Boro did not even nearly sell out there allocation you drunken hooligan. Quit lying its unhealthy. Returned 1183 to be exact. Having said that, there were still a few empties in east upper and west lower. What Newcastle fans can never wrap their heads around is the fact that our tickets cost about half as much again for some matches, twice as much in others. My ticket last night cost £42, to watch Newcastle at WHL costs £71. If the ticket prices at SJP were doubled, I wonder how many empty seats there would be then? You sit on a throne surrounded by lapdancers or something? West Upper................ no lap dancers, no special treats etc :winking: http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/tickets/ticketinfo_prices.html Can't speak for others but I'll see 6-8 matches at SJP this season in addition to Spurs' visit as I have done for the past 30 years. Not everyone can afford to travel to away matches if they want to see the home games and, as Paul Mosley said, £71 to watch newcastle play at WHL is f*cking ridiculous.

Making me look a complete joke? You're a mong of Michael Carroll proportions pal. You abuse the toon for getting 48,000, yet one week later Boro end sold out and there's 2,000 empty seats in the Spurs end, in their best home form in 20 years. Honest mate just go away you're shit, and you're using up bandwidth on here. Does lying just come naturally to you? Boro did not even nearly sell out there allocation you drunken hooligan. Quit lying its unhealthy. Returned 1183 to be exact. Having said that, there were still a few empties in east upper and west lower. What Newcastle fans can never wrap their heads around is the fact that our tickets cost about half as much again for some matches, twice as much in others. My ticket last night cost £42, to watch Newcastle at WHL costs £71. If the ticket prices at SJP were doubled, I wonder how many empty seats there would be then?

True, but still better to be in the top half of the league than not. You should be on the telly or something with insightful comments like that. I find it amusing they're having a go at us for 48,000 - only THIRTEEN thousand more than they got !!!! We're p*ssed off at Shepherd and Roeder, and on the verge of outright boycott of the club in protest, 9 goals in 14 games, in relegation bother, yet STILL get THIRTEEN THOUSAND (I think it worth the capitals) more than they get. Both visiting sides - Wigan and Portsmouth - were hardly big draws - neither take many with them.So if we're bad - WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MAKE SPUD FANS ?? Not me if you read my posts again. Spurs' home ticket allocation was sold out and Newcastle's was about 1000 shy of doing the same. I don't see any reason to have a pop about this as there's very little difference in my book. The fact that Newcastle's attendance was 13000 more is down to the size of the stadium, not the support in it. Easy to say when you have a much smaller stadium. Impossible to prove though. True, especially when Newcastle is a one team city, which is an advantage that Newcastle will always enjoy. With fingers crossed, maybe we'll be able to see if Spurs are capable of filling a 48k stadium in 5 or 6 years.

One of the lesser talented foreign youngsters who went through their academy. Good championship standard, maybe lowly premier league, not good enough for Newcastle (in my humble opinion).

Word. As Rafa said, the competition has never been the same since the group stage was introduced.

With you proudly showing around your signature about being geordie and bla bla bla, it doesn't mean that you can post whatever you want here related your beloved Spurs club (traitor then I can say?), which is not relevant at all to NUFC :roll: Talk about the players Spurs want, who NUFC also want, it's fine... Talk about the Spurs players who previously was in NUFC, or the other way around, it's fine... But this one... blueconfused.gif This was simply asking if any French based fans here if they had any info about him as I knew nothing about him, no more, no less. It wasn't a case of saying 'look who we've signed' because at the time I didn't know whether it was good news or not. As for my Geordie background, I'm London born and bred and proud of it. My mum was a Geordie through and through and equally proud of her roots, though I suspect that if she was alive today she would be less than impressed with some (and that's not including you) who regularly contribute here.

True, but still better to be in the top half of the league than not. You should be on the telly or something with insightful comments like that. I find it amusing they're having a go at us for 48,000 - only THIRTEEN thousand more than they got !!!! We're p*ssed off at Shepherd and Roeder, and on the verge of outright boycott of the club in protest, 9 goals in 14 games, in relegation bother, yet STILL get THIRTEEN THOUSAND (I think it worth the capitals) more than they get. Both visiting sides - Wigan and Portsmouth - were hardly big draws - neither take many with them.So if we're bad - WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MAKE SPUD FANS ?? Not me if you read my posts again. Spurs' home ticket allocation was sold out and Newcastle's was about 1000 shy of doing the same. I don't see any reason to have a pop about this as there's very little difference in my book. The fact that Newcastle's attendance was 13000 more is down to the size of the stadium, not the support in it.

True, but still better to be in the top half of the league than not.