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Totally agree with this. Except for the being Welsh bit.

Perhaps?? But that's a different argument. African Internationals benefit from having every single June and July off, year in - year out. The fact that a handful of European clubs have to make do without a few players from it's squad's for about a month isn't reason enough to alter the African football calender imo. To assume the world football calender should be organised to accommodate the Premiership, Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga is beyond arrogance. So african teams don't play in the world cup now?!

Interesting opinion piece on f365, show's reasons for and against. My biggest reason against would be that if he was successful there's every chance he would leave us for the Mancs, which would hack me off no end. Mark Hughes Pressed on whether he was interested in filling the managerial vacancy at St James' Park, Hughes' non-denial denial on Sky Sports before Blackburn Rovers' victory at Bolton said everything. Swapping the steady stability of Blackburn for the irrational instability of Newcastle United would constitute a gamble but it is one that Hughes must take if he is to fulfil his ultimate ambition in management. The 'push' in any decision to leave Blackburn would be the understandable conclusion that he has taken the club as far as he can. The last two months have been disillusioning with a sudden slump occurring immediately after the Welshman declared a top-four finish was "realistic". With an average attendance of just 23,000, Blackburn are punching above their weight even in mid-table. Newcastle's most attractive attribute is that they are at rock bottom. The only way is up - especially now that billionaire Mike Ashley has pledged to provide the finances to instigate a meaningful revival. And it is only by proving that he can spend substantial funds wisely - something he will never have the opportunity to do at Ewood Park unless Jack Walker is reincarnated - that Hughes can state his case for succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Moving from Blackburn into the Old Trafford hotseat would be a mammoth leap that the club's plc hierarchy is unlikely to sanction. Newcastle, on the other hand, with its 'big club status' and 50,000 gates, represents a natural stepping-stone in Hughes' career path towards his desired destination. The risk for Hughes would be to not accept the opportunity because - with Martin O'Neill and David Moyes settled at Aston Villa and Everton respectively, and Juande Ramos and Sven-Goran Eriksson settling in at Tottenham and Manchester City - few other comparative stepping-stones are likely to become available in the near future. In that sense, staying at Blackburn would be stepping backwards.

I guess the best answer for all concerned would be take the Prem down to 18 teams and have a winter break like everyone else?

I'm ambivalent to be honest. Better than Redknapp in my view though. Still a few others i'd prefer. Would back him if given the job, obviously

every two years. This is what bugs me. It should be 4 years. Why? Make it more prestigious. An African player can realistically take part in 6 ANC's whilst he could only play in the world cup 3 times. Don't you think that African football needs a bit more exposure? Not, really. By that logic they should have the women's World Cup every fortnight. I just think that Africa needs to hold their continental championships more often than Europe or S. America to get a bit more attention/sponsorship than they would if were held every 4 years. Holding the ACN when, and as often, as they do raises the profile of African football and that can only be good for the sport in general. Not if it starts to limit the players' chances of getting moves to bigger leagues as the clubs can't afford to lose them though, which i think is beginning to happen as teams have become more dependent on their African contingent. Maybe now is the time to move the tournament as African football clearly does achieve a lot of exposure, hence the number of African players in the prem Surely that's for the organisers of African football to decide, no? Or do you know better? Also would there be as many African players in the Premiership if they were not 'in the shop window' quite as often? No, actually, it's for me to decide, i am the ruler of Africa and by proxy the ruler of all football that takes place there, thus i will be moving the tournament going forward, i just decided to voice this in the form of someone hypothosising on a newcastle forum... As for the shop window argument, i understand that, i was offering my view as the flipside. It's chicken and egg, you can very easily argue both sides.

i understand why you're asking but i'm not going to answer, all i can do is get on with being manager of Blackburn whilst this is all speculation... That's basically a paraphrase. Certainly wasn't ruling himself out and seemed to be implying he wouldn't be against it... Rather similar to Redknapp prior to it all coming out...

He certainly didn't say he wasn't interested in his after match when he was asked.

get in, had half time / full time bet...

every two years. This is what bugs me. It should be 4 years. Why? Make it more prestigious. An African player can realistically take part in 6 ANC's whilst he could only play in the world cup 3 times. Don't you think that African football needs a bit more exposure? Not, really. By that logic they should have the women's World Cup every fortnight. I just think that Africa needs to hold their continental championships more often than Europe or S. America to get a bit more attention/sponsorship than they would if were held every 4 years. Holding the ACN when, and as often, as they do raises the profile of African football and that can only be good for the sport in general. Not if it starts to limit the players' chances of getting moves to bigger leagues as the clubs can't afford to lose them though, which i think is beginning to happen as teams have become more dependent on their African contingent. Maybe now is the time to move the tournament as African football clearly does achieve a lot of exposure, hence the number of African players in the prem

I'm certainly not suggesting we should sell him, in fact quite the opposite, i just hate the fact some people seem to think he can't be dropped. I remember when he was and he demanded a transfer, which wasn't exactly the best attitude, however when he was recalled he was awesome, maybe something similar would have been better this season, as a kick up the ass, instead of him waltzing back into the team when fit. As for the Bolton keeper's error... Would he have saved that header had he stayed on the line? It went right in the top corner... I know he didn't get anywhere near the ball but the same outcome would have resulted

Honest question, but i suppose this could be construed as racist / xenophobic, are all the grounds they're using equipped with floodlights and the likes?! At some of the past tournaments they seemed to be playing on greens out the back of people's houses with a few goals stuck up

Thay's one of the goals of the season from Nolan...

A lot of talk about moving the tournament to the summer so it's in line with the euro championships. Be feckin warm though.

Actually yes, he did nothing to warrant being dropped earlier in the season and i'd have him in the side at the minute. NB - i'm not saying given has played particularly badly, he had a good first half yesterday, but anyone who thinks he couldn't have made a difference with the first two goals is kidding themselves. Certainly not the first time this season either. No keeper in the world would have saved that freekick tbh. He only saw it when the ball was 3 yards from him. Given is miles better than Harper. Sad that when the team go through a bad patch (like the last few seasons unfortunately) then people think getting rid of Given will solve it. Madness. I don't want to get rid of Given, i just feel Harper had the jersey earlier in the season and did nothing to deserve having it taken off him. I also think since given has come back in he's looked a little dodgy with free-kicks and crosses. His distribution isn't amazing either, altho it's never been the best part of his game. Shot stopping is still (on the whole) amazing, such as from Ronaldo's shot in the first half. I also don't believe you can say no keeper would have saved that free kick - he got a full hand to it, which means he should have saved it, it wasn't hit totally purely and once he got down there he should have knocked it round the post. You could see he was annoyed with himself.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5186/analgc8.jpg

I'll be a little controversial. I hate the idea of Houllier. He's a shit Benitez, defensively minded, makes a raft load of bad signings and has a dodgy ticker. I think it would all end in tears and we'd be back to square 1 with a fuck load of average players on huge wages.

Actually yes, he did nothing to warrant being dropped earlier in the season and i'd have him in the side at the minute. NB - i'm not saying given has played particularly badly, he had a good first half yesterday, but anyone who thinks he couldn't have made a difference with the first two goals is kidding themselves. Certainly not the first time this season either.

a) how many goals would not have occurred if Smith hadn't been in the team b) has any keeper in the prem let in more free kicks this season than Given? He just seems to have some kind of mental block to saving them

Maybe would be more likely to apply if they didn't have an incredibly successful manager! Not that i'm saying our fans singing shearer's name means they all want him as manager...

He didn't move?!

How the fuck was that free kick allowed to be taken from there?!

Few shearer songs... one to the tune of 'footballs coming home' but couldn't make out the words?

get smith off... already!

That tosser from the halifax is the only thing singing here