Troll

Come on, who'd honestly pick Forster over Given?

They both seem like similar players right now, but Gooch has the potential to adapt to this league and become a much better player. Bramble's had years to do that and still not managed it.

£2 on Newcastle, Man Utd, Chelsea, West Brom, PSV, Werder Bremen, Bolton and Celtic. 64/1

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/eiir/IIRCaseIndivDetail.asp?CaseId=42215547&IndivNo=1&Court=LIV&OfficeID=32&CaseType=B

I'd take Gooch over Bramble, but then I'd take my grandad over Bramble too. And he's dead.

Points from the Israel and Andora games, not goals.

Yeah. 0-0 would have been great, 1-0 better, 2-0 still pretty good, gutted about the last goal. Oh well, still £3 up.

£1 on each of these for the England match: 0-0, 0-1, 0-2 HT - Draw, FT - England <3 goals I really hope Andorra can hold on!

"whose willingness to discuss new contracts with his young players is in contrast to his caution in handing extensions to senior players like Titus Bramble, Nolberto Solano, James Milner and Antoine Sibierski." Makes it sound like Milner's old and past it, when he's only a few months older than Pattison and has a lot more potential.

If you took out any player and replaced them with out next best available player for that position (Carroll instead of Martins, Edgar for Solano, Harper for Given, etc), we'd be in a much lower position without Martins.

I really can't see a team like Newcastle being invited. Last year it was Inter, Man Utd, Ajax and Porto. It'd just be humiliating.

Would that be allowed under EU rules?

We'd all have to do away with our academies if that happened. It's not just the draft in US sports though, it's the lack of big money transfers. Players are more commonly traded for draft picks. Would never work in football though.

I saw a guy who looked a bit like Babayaro when I was on the way to Greggs. Maybe he's involved too!

He'd need to get his qualifications first too, so it might take even longer than 2 years.

No-one actually rates Duff though.

First-half diagnosis? Shite. Second-half diagnosis? Shite. Full-time diagnosis? Shite. Star man for United? Hahaha. Worst United player? Too many to choose from. Opposition comment? Shite. Should have been a pushover Toon-pros? They all look like amateurs to me. Toon-cons? We were shite. Post-match feelings? Shite.

Martins is Nigerian. Shola is of Nigerian descent. Surely if it was racial we'd be giving Martins just as much stick?

Do you have any reason for thinking it's racial? Any at all?

Ran to the bookies at the last minute to stick £10 on Kauto Star today. Only got 5/4 but £12.50 up isn't shabby.

That's kind of what I meant. There's no way we could switch to the franchise system (and I wouldn't want to anyway), and on top of that the draft wouldn't work because clubs have their own youth systems. It's just incredibly hard to build for success because with the way the money works, the divide between the top clubs and everyone else gets bigger and bigger each season, making it difficult for anyone else to break into it.

I'd kind of like a win to be worth 2 points again, but that'd lead teams playing for draws as well if a win was less valuable. I'm just sick of title races being over so early or between two clubs. I think the thing I like most about the American sports system is that teams are all on a much leveller playing field. At the start of the NFL season, for example, it could be anyone's - there's no big 4 or anything. I don't see any way how we could get something like that over here though, and I don't think adapting the American franchise system would be good at all.

That's why I said shootouts weren't the way to go. I don't have a solution though, I just want to see the league a bit closer.

I'd love to do away with draws to make the league a lot closer and so that teams would have to go for a win, not just try for a draw. Shootouts definitely aren't the way to go though, they're too random.

I really don't think he's doubled in value in less than a season.