wacko

Michael Owen in telling-the-truth shocker.

Tag? It's a poster, isn't it?

Quite correct, although it is a side note that you may see slight over exaggerations and such on the internet work. You're telling this to a member of RAWK???

Apparently you can if it's Liverpool. Or Sunderland. EDIT: ta, bimpy.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it. But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing. The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season. you see it as opening doors, i see it as pulling up the ladder. I think it's a shame that the CL has achieved such importance. The huge financial bonus of qualifying tends to create a self-perpetuating elite. If someone can impose a fairer distribution of revenue between the CL teams and the rest of the Premiership, and between the Premiership and the other divisions, then great. Until such time, clubs are going to continue to prioritise promotion to / remaining in the Premiership and getting into / remaining in the top four - all at the expense of other competitions. That's the reality, and if we qualify for the Europa League, we'll be playing the same game. The money in the EL is a pittance compared to the CL. CL qualification bags you more TV money than winning the EL. The EPL (and especially La Liga) really need to spread the cash around more evenly. Of course, that won't do anything against the likes of Mansour or Abramovich. Mad ain't it. UEFA need to rejig it IMO and make the EL more appealing to be in and decrease the CL too as it's giving a select few clubs a huge advantage over others. I'd like to see qualification for the EL and CL rejigged entirely. CL qualification is full of league champions from tiny leagues (San Marino, Malta, Andorra, Luxembourg, Faroe Islands etc.) who are never ever going to make it to the group stage proper. I think it'd be better all round if those teams went into the EL instead, where they would have a fighting chance of reaching the competition proper, and the CL qualifying places similarly given to sides that have a chance of reaching the group stage. Excluding our own start in Q1 in 2005, I think only one side ever has made it from Q1 to the group stage. I think they should do away with EL for top leagues like the EPL, La Liga, etc., putting the current EL qualifiers into the CL qualifying rounds.

Why should Chelsea suffer (play on the FA Cup Sunday ahead of Wednesday CL tie) just because Liverpool refuse to play on the Sunday. To be fair, he does. You can disagree, but does have a point.

You have to keep the seeding in the EL and CL (though it could be tweaked a bit). If all the "big" clubs get drawn against each other at the start, nobody will want to watch the later rounds. and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it. But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing. The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season. you see it as opening doors, i see it as pulling up the ladder. I think it's a shame that the CL has achieved such importance. The huge financial bonus of qualifying tends to create a self-perpetuating elite. If someone can impose a fairer distribution of revenue between the CL teams and the rest of the Premiership, and between the Premiership and the other divisions, then great. Until such time, clubs are going to continue to prioritise promotion to / remaining in the Premiership and getting into / remaining in the top four - all at the expense of other competitions. That's the reality, and if we qualify for the Europa League, we'll be playing the same game. The money in the EL is a pittance compared to the CL. CL qualification bags you more TV money than winning the EL. The EPL (and especially La Liga) really need to spread the cash around more evenly. Of course, that won't do anything against the likes of Mansour or Abramovich.

Especially considering how winnable the competition could be. Don't forget the CL teams that drop down into the EL. There's often a couple of big-hitters in there. Yet it's very rare they do. http://i.imgur.com/7d2j9.jpg liverpools on there a bit, pompey, everton, thats spurs team wasn't great. look at many of the poor teams they beat aswell, us twice when we were poor, millwall, cardiff just off the top of my head. 10th, 6th, 10th, 1st, 15th, 1st, 6th, 1st, 1st, 5th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 8th, 3rd, 1st, 3rd. FA Cup winners are generally no mugs, a solid league position in addition to evidence the club "can win things" is a sure-fire way to get top players through the door IMO. look at the teams they often put out aswell, shows you in how high regard they have it. Well they'll put shadow sides out in the early rounds but take it more seriously late on. It's obvious it's a distant 3rd priority to the top clubs, yet one of them normally wins it. If we won it next season and finished 5th-8th after this season's efforts it would send a clear message we're a club that's going places. Probably not as big a message as finishing 4th like but you know. Beating a few big sides along the way and one in the final would increase that. what message would it send if we won it and finished 14th ? It would probably say that you're a side that can beat any other on its day, but lack the strength in depth to fight on multiple fronts. In other words, a side with a solid core and real potential. Like Hansdownerpantz pointed out, s*** teams don't win the FA Cup. Also, EL qualification. beat any other on it's day ? spurs have beat bolton watford,cheltenham and stevenage so far. chelsea have beat qpr, birmingham,leicester and pompey. We're only at the semis. The eventual winner still has to beat two Premiership sides, including one of the top four. As I was talking about winning the Cup, not reaching the semis, my point stands.

They love a good old petition don't they? If what the OP says is true does sound harsh, but I get the feeling there is a bit more to it than being portrayed on RAWK. Yeah. He's clearly a diehard fan, but he does organise coaches and tickets for people and presumably makes a couple of bob for his efforts, so from a club pen-pusher's point of view, he's skirting the line. The RAWKites are still right, though. When there are real touts standing outside the stadium every match, it's taking the piss to go after lifelong, diehard fans. Especially when the club itself provides so many tickets to companies who do exactly the same thing but charge much more.

Especially considering how winnable the competition could be. Don't forget the CL teams that drop down into the EL. There's often a couple of big-hitters in there. Yet it's very rare they do. http://i.imgur.com/7d2j9.jpg liverpools on there a bit, pompey, everton, thats spurs team wasn't great. look at many of the poor teams they beat aswell, us twice when we were poor, millwall, cardiff just off the top of my head. 10th, 6th, 10th, 1st, 15th, 1st, 6th, 1st, 1st, 5th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 8th, 3rd, 1st, 3rd. FA Cup winners are generally no mugs, a solid league position in addition to evidence the club "can win things" is a sure-fire way to get top players through the door IMO. look at the teams they often put out aswell, shows you in how high regard they have it. Well they'll put shadow sides out in the early rounds but take it more seriously late on. It's obvious it's a distant 3rd priority to the top clubs, yet one of them normally wins it. If we won it next season and finished 5th-8th after this season's efforts it would send a clear message we're a club that's going places. Probably not as big a message as finishing 4th like but you know. Beating a few big sides along the way and one in the final would increase that. what message would it send if we won it and finished 14th ? It would probably say that you're a side that can beat any other on its day, but lack the strength in depth to fight on multiple fronts. In other words, a side with a solid core and real potential. Like Hansdownerpantz pointed out, shit teams don't win the FA Cup. Also, EL qualification.

I voted yes because I think that'd mean we beat Everton in the semi. I'd like to see NUFC in the CL. Being in Europe damages your league performance unless you have a top-notch squad, but the CL is worth it. EL isn't unless you win it.

Was expecting some damning revelation from the suicide note or something. So a builder commits suicide because, as far as everyone can see, he took money and ran and couldn't handle it when he got pulled up on it. And someone mutters a bet and it's fact? This is from someone who expressly hates Owen as a human being in every form. Nope. From all the news articles I've read, it's exactly as you describe it. He apparently tried to rob Owen (I couldn't find out how the case ended), got caught, and couldn't handle the consequences of actions. I'm no fan of the Judas, but making up stories to make him look like an even bigger cunt is daft. It's not as if there aren't enough true reasons to hate him already. He is? Haha! I assumed the article was from a year or two ago. I thought he'd long since buggered off to play my little pony.

Yup. Apparently, he's the polar opposite off camera.

This one made me want to weep: NUFC's scouting and signings have been beyond amazing. It'd be absolutely brilliant for football if you guys got a CL spot.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Nope. There's now a read-only commentary thread during games. Officially: No idea whether it's down to the server getting overloaded or there being too many posts for the mods to keep up. Possibly a bit of both. RAWK's a much bigger forum than this one, so match threads get longer much more quickly and the server is under heavy load much more often. Also, I'd imagine that match threads these days would be very much of the broken record variety. The moaning is bad at the best of times. Yeah but I can't even see the read-only match thread? Today's thread is here. Dunno if it's for registered users only, mind. Not much schadenfreude to be had in there, though. The commentary is usually drier than, say, the Guardian's.

Really. A proper chatroom would be much better suited to live matchday threads than forum software. Seems to be coping just fine, though. The RAWK "new replies" page is down a lot, even at 4 a.m. Can't remember the last time it didn't load on here.

Nope. There's now a read-only commentary thread during games. Officially: No idea whether it's down to the server getting overloaded or there being too many posts for the mods to keep up. Possibly a bit of both. RAWK's a much bigger forum than this one, so match threads get longer much more quickly and the server is under heavy load much more often. Also, I'd imagine that match threads these days would be very much of the broken record variety. The moaning is bad at the best of times.

So? He could just as easily have said, "good riddance to the thieving git." I know you guys hate Owen far more than us lot, but having a dig because he didn't personally express his sadness at the suicide of someone who tried to steal over half a million quid from him? Really? There are plenty of perfectly valid reasons to hate on Owen. But having a pop for not being as nice as Gandhi is really stretching it.

Unbelievable... What's unbelievable about suing someone you believe has stolen £600,000 from you?

I had to Google that, too, and from what I can see, it wasn't a bet. Owen took the builder to court for charging him for work that hadn't been done and allegedly buying himself a house in Portugal with Owen's money. Obviously, I know neither of the men involved, but a builder trying to rip off a client is hardly a stretch to my mind. I can only think of one person I know who had building work done and the builders didn't try to rip him off somehow.

Plenty of foreign lands that he could go to where he'd end up being paid excessively. Too far from his horses.

Sounds like a fairly objective analysis to me (apart from the Gary Neville bit, the cunt). I'm no fan of the man that is Owen, but I don't see much wrong with that article.

Thank Christ most Liverpool fans aren't like you... Would be nowhere near this much fun Ta. I think

Mission to divert attention from rubbish, overpriced Liverpool striker: accomplished