timeEd32

And who on earth is this a reference to, out of sheer morbid curiosity? Paul Barron I would assume. And when was Paul Barron one of the best goalkeepers in the country? I thought he meant Paul Barron should stay as a coach because we had one of the best goalkeepers in the country. I assumed he meant Given. Could be way off though.

Bullshit. This is what all sports are like. Angry. Confused. Angry. Can't believe we posted back to back and neither of us went for the obvious joke. How devastated are we?! Holy s***. You got lucky, Apisith! Ya c***s I'm confused as hell as well, but I have to say that apathy is the dominant emotion. I just don't know how much more you're supposed to take, how much more you have to wait before the payoff. I don't see it paying off in the medium-term, let alone the short. Supporting this club is just some sado-masochistic s***, man. At least let us have one good season so I could have a good summer, enjoy the transfer rumours, dream of us being back in Europe again. This past summer doesn't count because fear of relegation was what I felt. The payoff was going to be surviving this season and showing some potential. We can't even have that, man. Being a Knicks fan is good training for this shower of s***. Ashley is like Al Davis without the past to constantly live in. Dolan without the father. He's a mess. For the Knicks to compare to this shit, Amare would have to break his leg next week and D'Antoni would decide to quit after Melo gets traded to the Nets. And even then you don't have to worry about relegation and disappearing into nothing.

A mixture of apathy and anger, but also anxious to see who gets appointed. Trying to remain optimistic, but it's near impossible.

That's nonsense. We never would have gotten relegated in 08/09 if Keegan was the manager the whole season. Wouldn't have come close to be honest. We've already seen what happens when you throw the club into turmoil. The one positive, compared to the relegation season, is the players we have now have shown some fight. Although we may not see that anymore. Liverpool and Birmingham are both games we could have gotten something from. Doubt we will now. We'll be in a serious relegation battle by the end of the month.

Twitter talk is suggesting the Pardew deal has been ready for weeks but Hughton kept pulling the results out. :undecided: Yeah, so why the need to leak that? Most of the time when information comes from sources close to a person it's be done purposely.

There's no quotes from Pardew, but it seems odd to me that someone close to him would leak that he's interested if he was already lined up to come in. I realize that I'm clutching at straws here.

Just went from 1 to 7.

Think there's probably something in this. This is un-fucking-real.

The hate of Routledge is pretty embarrassing.

I don't know why, but you're constant hate of Lovenkrands really cracks me up. Probably because I'm sick of the little fucker myself.

Might as well just make Brazil permanent hosts then.

Found this for Spain/Portugal - "Criticised for not specifying 'a clear operational concept' for safety and security and not providing sufficient details of its IT plans." This is mentioned for England - "Contractual issues surrounding the number of 'venue specific' training sites." Not sure if that relates though - could crowd behavior be a factor?

That would be the day I ignored the World Cup entirely.

This has to be said by someone who did not witness the shambles of the cricket world cup in the Caribbean. Not aware of the cricket, but I can't imagine that this would be anything other than an unmitigated disaster.

It was official. Here's a link from when they announced they were dropping the policy: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/10/29/switzerland.cup/index.html The rule is a continent can't apply to host if it has hosted one of the previous two. South America is in play for 2026, although as someone mentioned they may have their sights set on Argentina/Uruguay for 2030. That would essentially make it Africa vs. USA for 2026.

I thought they got rid of the rotation policy and the only limit is that the continental confederation hasn't hosted either of the last two? So South America would be eligible again.

Why can't South America bid for 2026? I do think the USA is in great shape for that one though.

Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl says on Twitter: "Qatari delegation members getting handshakes & some hugs from FIFA voters."

Wasn't this known already?

9 changes from the weekend's side. Imagine the reaction on here if we had a chance to go to the semifinal with the kindest QF draw only for Hughton to throw it away.

The 18 potential cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York (NJ), Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. Indy would stand a good chance with no Chicago or Detroit in the mix.

Meerkats decide Second City Derby winner... http://www.birminghammail.net/multimedia/sport/birmingham-city/video/2010/11/30/meerkats-decide-who-will-win-second-city-derby-97319-27740881/

We could go back and forth on this all day so I'm just going to stop here. Also, I think we're using two completely different meanings for redundant. I'm certainly not going to pretend to be an authority of stadiums in Korea/Japan, but the stadiums the US will have on offer are not too shabby. Just three that would likely be used. New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey (close to NYC) - brand new this year http://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2010/04/20100412_nms_560x375.jpg New Cowboys Stadium in Dallas - brand new, cost over a billion dollars, the HD video screen is 60 yards long http://uvtblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Inside-Cowboys-Stadium-Fisheye.jpg University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona - this one is four years old http://www.cocktailmatch.com/users/156/blog/University%20of%20Phoenix%20Stadium.jpg

Please tell me where I said it's a joke if Portugal, Spain, Russia, Belgium or the Netherlands get it before England does. Although I might argue Spain.

I'm not talking about countries that haven't had it before. I never said England deserves it ahead of Russia, Qatar, Australia, or any country that hasn't had it before. I do think there should be some logic in an order for countries that have had it (assuming they can handle hosting it again). For example, I think it would be ridiculous if France or Germany hosted again before England or Spain.