brummie

Footballers these days have such a comprehensive disconnect with supporters that they can barely comprehend why comments like those might be offensive - not just before they make them (which might cause them not to, if they thought about it) but even after they've made them, and it has kicked off. Nolan's "if fans don't like it, I apologise" line seems to suggest that even now he doesn't "get it" why people might be fucked off. It's like Houllier saying "if i am going to lose 3-0, I would rather it was against Liverpool, because I like Liverpool" comment after we lost to them earlier in the season. People in the football industry can't even start to understand why the average match-going punter might get the hump. We're supposed to see things like they do, in their 40k a week dreamworlds. The entire football apparatus sneers at supporters, whether it be Sky and their skin-creepingly horrible presenters, the players slouching around doing fuck all for life changing sums of money and shrugging things like relegation off like you or I would a headache, or managers with their seeming entitlement to a well paid job on a never ending merry go round of mediocrity - because, frankly, that's what most of them are, mediocre. There's no point even hoping someone like Nolan would understand why people are upset. He didn't get it before he made the comments, he didn't think that maybe keeping shtum was the best thing to do, and even now he clearly can't see why you're bothered. Frankly, he doesn't give a flying on, and that is the saddest thing of all.

Our squad is tiny. We didn't even manage to name 25 players at the start of the season, we only names 23, and a good number of those were untried kids. Our issue was a large number of players who contribute fuck all, but were on very generous, long term contracts, thanks to MON. For example, who in their right mind would give a 32 year old Habib Beye a 3.5 year 40k a week deal? How much will Habib Beye be contributing aged 35? Because he's going to be snarfling 40k a week, regardless.

ha ha ha, from Luque's Wiki page

£20k/week? Wow, I bet we'll attract some right talent with those wages. Maybe ten years ago. So the severe salary cap has been lifted? Even if 20k is a little on the low side do you see it really being higher than 35k? A long spell of attempting to unearth cheap foreign talent is in our future. I've never seen confirmation of a rigid salary cap. I'd based my figures on £35k/week which I reckon is probably about the standard going rate these days, particularly for players that I assume Ian W meant would be going straight in and around the first team. I wasn't having a go at you btw, just making the point that the £35m won't actually go very far at all when you include contracts. I'd have thought it would be an overall limit, linked to turnover. That's supposedly what we're doing - say, keeping wages at no more than 60% of turnover. So as you say, you're looking at a couple of big contracts. The more people like Smith you can shift, the more room for manouevre. It is amazing how people so often ignore wages and focus on transfer fees. That is what Lerner asked MON to do - work on the wages bill - and the media took it as "stop spending". it isn't about that. We've shifted this window: Carew - 55k Sidwell - 30k Davies - 35k Ireland - 45k (a rough stab towards what you're paying of his 70k pwk) 165k a week. that's the best part of 8m a year. As Leffe said, the issue isn't "max earnings = xxx thousand a week", it is looking at situations where you have large numbers of players sapping decent money for little return. Unfortunately, MON left us with nigh on an entire squad of them.

Nice to see James Milner get a start. The gigantic cunt.

... and, incidentally, if I were offered 17th for my team right now, I'd probably take it, so volatile is the league this season

If you look at the table right now, the spread between 8th or 9th and 20th is very, very small indeed. There's no point saying with any confidence you won't go down, because right now, every single team between 8th and 20th is at risk, and all it takes is a duff run of results from a team at the upper level of that range, or a decent run from a team at the bottom, to totally change things. The worrying thing is, I've seen teams like Wigan and Wolves play this season and thought they actually look pretty good. They've even picked up some impressive results. It is the tightest PL for fucking ages, and quite frankly, anything could happen. Look at Everton, for example. Or Blackpool, who seem to be sinking fast.

I think it is a different definition of the word "plastic". The plasticity is not the lack of dedication to following sport - not at all. It is the looseness and changeability of allegiance to a team. Like the reprehensible, spineless turds who emerge from god knows where when Man U win the league, talking about their "beloved" United, when they've never been anywhere near Old Trafford. I could talk about this for hours, it winds me up so much, but I can probably explain it all via the use of a photograph, so here you go: http://www.footballtransfertavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Tim-Lovejoy-001.jpg

I was at that game. Your goalkeeper kicked Gordon Cowans into the back of the net after he'd had the temerity to score a penalty. It didnt make me dislike Barcelona, though. Just your goalkeeper.

I watched the match and, unfortunately, he is back. They were really very good, more convincing than I've seen them so far this season.

When we were at Wembley for the Carling Cup final last season, with five minutes to go, our end was packed still, and the Man United end was practically empty. Couldn't be fucked to hang around for the presentation. The easiness with which glory hunters latch on to success, and the casualness with which they shrug it off again makes me want to vomit. It doesn't mean as much to them - it can't - because they *chose* the easy route, they opted for a pretty much cast iron guarantee of lots of silverware. I would much rather my children grew up to support Birmingham City than Manchester United or Chelsea. The gloryhunter is the lowest specimen of all, no pride for their local region, for their local area, no pride for themselves, no guts and no spine. I absolutely loathe them, and, to be honest, if i start talking to someone with a southern accent and they start telling me they support Liverpool or Man United, quite frankly, I switch off, because their opinions on football are utterly null and void to me.

To be fair I know about half a dozen Chelsea supporters and all of them have been supporting them for years.My next door neighbour used to be a season ticket holder there,but stopped when Roman bought it because he didn't agree with the blanket buying of success.Manchester United and Liverpool are the pld school glory hunting twats tbh. I'm from near nuneaton billy loads of em there. disgusting. That said few toon supporters about because of mining and that too. Whereabouts mate?I'm pretty close to you by the sounds. Atherstone upon tyne...I always have to default to Cov though because nee bugger has heard of it. Full of placker mancs. There's a Cov city bus that pulls up on a saturday and no-one gets on it whilst the pub nearest is full of red shirts of the worst kinds. horrid. I'm in Warwick, and in my five years living here, I've seen about 10 Coventry fans in total, either here or Leamington. Plenty of glory hunters, like everywhere, but the total lack of support for Cov is amazing. I see far, far more Villa fans around here than I do Coventry. In fact, I reckon I see more Leamington fans than Cov fans. Oh, and as for changing team, bollocks to that. You just don't do it.

We played very well tonight, passed excellently, but conceding a goal after 50 seconds at Old Trafford isn't the cleverest thing. Nor is a second on the stroke of half time Still, some decent play, Makoun did very well and Bent scored again. Man United are looking like they're moving to something approaching top gear, though. That's the title won, I reckon.

He moved to us after O'Neill left. There's no getting away from the fact that he joined in pretty unusual circumstances, and he hasn't turned into some talentless chugger, but there is definitely something wrong upstairs with Ireland. Maybe a change of scenery will help, but I can't help but think that it was the change of scenery away from Manchester City that triggered his problems to go into overdrive.

He played up front for us this season a few times. Honestly, don't ask, it's better that way.

This just made me chuckle, spotted on one of our forums. Footballers. Fuck them, they're all the same, self interested cunts, for all that badge kissing and allegiance swearing.

I feel dirty for watching it most of the day. That Jim White is the most punchable cunt on the planet.

My thoughts exactly. I bet they're sat there watching Mock the Week on Dave. You lot deserve better, really, you honestly do.

They've lost an absolutely world class striker in all this, though. As a neutral, if you'd asked me if I would swap Torres for Carroll plus 15m, I'd have laughed in your face, not a chance, not a chance. Carroll might have lots of promise, but Christ Almighty, the seventh most expensive transfer ever? And losing a striker who'd walk into pretty much any team on the planet as part of the deal? Madness. They've bought Suarez who has done very well in Holland, but there are a lot more Kezmans than there are Bergkamps. Their net investment is also close to zero in all this, Babel + Torres = Carroll + Suarez

Trust me, that is the best way to be I've spent almost the entire day watching this shit, and I feel like kicking my telly in the cunt to make it stop.

isn't he the fella out of the 'Goal' movie? Aye, him and Diego Swarfega will save us! *beams with pride* My one meaningful contribution to this board in four years.

I'm actually thinking that Michael Bradley could turn out to be as good a move for us as any of the other three. A good window, on the whole, showing the imagination that MON so often lacked. If he'd been here, I'd have bet every single thing I own that we'd have signed Robbie Keane. And not on a loan, on a big money, multi year contract.

I have to say, as soon as I heard that stuff about the transfer request, my first thought was that it was Ashley trying to make it look more like Carroll had fucked the club over.

Anyone see Arry just now talking about Carroll?

"Gigantic Brainwrong"