Chris_R

Thought he'd be way older than 40. I remember him well from the early 90s. RIP.

Banned for the semi and I can't see them making the final, so it's effectively over for him this tournament. Hopefully. We just need to wait for Keegan to come back of his holidays now. Someone mentioned 2 weeks time?

I can't see him leaving unless it's to one of the big 4.

Sounds pretty damning tbh. He's gone.

I don't know how they cope on several thousand a week, I really don't. Let's have a whipround for the poor little buggers.

Chances of us being randomly selected to be away for boxing day 7 years in a row are 0.78% Draw your own conclusions.

No, when they're asleep is the best time to play them.

Yeah, only one player in it this year. More interesting would be who will be runner-up?

Looks a good player, very lively and good on the ball. Obviously his value has just shot up but I'd be delighted if we did manage to snap him up.

I'm glad he had a bad game. It doesn't make him a worse player than the one some of you were beating yourselves off over a couple of weeks ago but maybe for once a player who we're interested in will see his value go DOWN before we get them? If we're genuinely after him, I hope he plays in the next game and gets sent off after scoring 2 own goals. It might knock another couple of million off the value.

Another non-story from the Chronicle.

Easy choice for me: I've already seen us play in the Champions League. I've never seen us win anything. Give me the trophy please.

Yeah, my missus struggles to seperate nations from teams too bless her. I've heard comments before like "Why's Alan Shearer playing for England? I thought he played for Newcastle?" I keep explaining it to her, but she keeps asking the same questions: "Why's Michael Owen playing for England? I thought he played for Newcastle?"

Have you ever had car insurance before? It continues for another year unless you specifically cancel it. No excuses IMO. Throw the book at him. Preferably still in the book case.

We don't need to be finding understudies for Butt, we need to be making him the understudy. I'm not worried about transfers just yet, but the fact that Geremi and Butt are probably the only midfielders we have on the books (assuming Emre is sold and Barton sacked) is terrifying. I presume you mean central midfielders, otherwise I'd have to point out the continued existence of N'Zogbia, Milner and Duff for starters.

Well Keegan, Mort, Wise, Jiminez etc have all cut him out of the loop now, so he's like a bear with a sore paw. Now that Fat Fred has gone he no longer has the ear of the chairman and the new regime are significantly less happy to air their dirty laundry in public, unlike in the past. Transfer negotiations are now done in private rather than in the Chronicle, and Alan's not happy so he's sticking his oar in. It's blatant.

Spot on, that's what I usually do. Cancel my DD on my online banking account, call them and tell them, they ask for a letter, I say no! JD Your credit rating must be wonderful. It's up to you if you want to do this, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. I can't stress enough to people - Cancelling the DD does NOT cancel the contract. If they need you to write in, then write in. If you don't like writing in, then I'd suggest you actually bother to read the T&Cs next time to see if you need to write in to cancel before you sign up in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I'm cancelling my Setanta too (See page 1), but I've got no right to complain about how I have to cancel it when I've agreed to the terms and conditions when I joined.

That's really not a good idea. However much you disagree with the priciple, the terms and conditions of the contract (You know, the ones that you agreed to when you signed up? Remember them? You read them, of course?) state you must cancel in writing. Cancelling your DD will not cancel the contract, the contract will still run you'll just end up owing them money, which they're fully entitled to persue you for and your credit rating will be screwed because you couldn't be arsed to find a stamp.

I was already considering cancelling. Mind made up.

Plus, can you imagine the absolute mongfest on here if we DID re-sign him? "OH MY GOD WE'VE SIGNED AN OLDER PLAYER, KEEGAN DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING, WE SHOULD BE SIGNING MESSI AND FABREGAS. WE'RE GOING TO GET RELEGATED!!!ONE!!ELEVEN" So no, let's stay clear, it's just not worth it. Good luck to him with wherever he goes though, I'll always keep an eye out for whichever team he's playing for.

Love him, but he's past it and going down hill. We need to look to the future.

Thaksin confirming his insanity. I see what Dave says about it being possible that Hughes is trying to force Chelski's hand into making a move for him rather than being genuinely interested in the Man City job, but either way I think Man City is a poisoned chalice and Chelsea will be looking elsewhere tbh.

I like Crouch. He's not all about heading either, he's remarkably adept with the ball at his feet. I think he's under-rated by way too many people.

Pedro V Brighton a good shout as well, loved that one. The slide to win the ball back, then to stand up with the ball, turn, and lob Corrigan (I think) all in one movement was glorious. Also, Roberto Carlos against France in Le Tournoi. OK, I'm sure we can all find better free kicks, but it was something different. He just got so much swerve with the outside of the foot. Again it's one I like because I saw it live (Well, in a pub) with my mates. At the time we were OK footballers ourselves and all played quite a bit, and a few days later we all assembled on the local pitch and spent a good few hours taking turns in trying to recreate it. We failed. Most of the time we failed pretty spectacularly.

We have plenty of time. According to the doom-merchants there'll be no transfer activity to clog these boards up for about another 91 days anyway.