Interpolic

Barton: was well pleased to ship Parker out and get Barton in at the time. Thought he'd do really well for us. He hasn't. Batty: I clearly didn't know what he was all about at first. I was about 12 when we signed him and thought he was a clogger to begin with, but he showed me how important it was to win the ball and keep it simple. Became one of my favourite players at that time. Bellamy: I thought Bellamy was a complete waste of £6m when we signed him. He hadn't looked particuarly great for Coventry and Robson signed Cort the summer before in similar cirumstances, and that signing wasn't really working out. I thought Bellamy was average when we signed him and he turned out being absolutely integral to our upturn in fortunes under Robson. Bellamy's a truly gifted player and in all honesty I think it's a shame he's not settled down somewhere and been recognised as such. At the end of his career, he'll probably be looked back on as a journeyman who had his moments, but injuries aside, ability-wise he's up there with some of the best matchwinners of the last 10 years. Loved him.

What a great post. Love reading your stuff about Barcelona (and everything else as it happens). Keep it coming.

You charmer!

We sign two players in that position already and in talks with two more do we need more than that? If Taylor and Enrique are out for the next month or 2 we've got a backline of Simpson-Williamson-Colo-Kadar, with only Ryan Taylor as cover. If 1 or 2 of them get knocks or bans then I'll be getting a bit tetchy. Maybe they'll sign someone on loan if that happens, but I think we're looking a bit light back there.

People keep going on about strikers and midfielders - does nobody think we need a bit more cover in defence? Any news on Taylor and Enrique? Another couple of knocks back there and we're fucked. The defence is the main reason we're top.

"in a few minutes" about 15 minutes ago. Taping 2 channels on Sky+ so i.m left with fucking Desperate Housewives Will have to wait until 11 This, I'm having to watch this shit as well!

The instruction for Moses not to play doesn't look so over-zealous now.

Fucking hell, can't believe it.

This fucking moron who's doing the transfer patter on SSN (Dharmesh Sheth): http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5256/dharmeshsheth.jpg The 'take me seriously' tone of his voice would suggest he's discussing the disaster in Haiti. But nar, his sources reckon Benjani might go to West Ham. Just fuck off dickhead, stop taking yourself so seriously. Honestly man, what a knacker.

I hope you overhead kicked the f***er out the joint. Haha, I think I went 'That was Nicky Butt', she goes 'who?' and I think I said 'exactly' or something. Smooth.

I hope you overhead kicked the fucker out the joint.

Jesus Christ!

Someone's going to say it so I might as well get in quick. Is it not just that he's absolutely shite?

Wasn't watching the match to see the incident like but

'Different' is my dad's way of saying I look like a twat and we both know it, he was a diplomat in a former life.

Oh, dad! What? Just sounded like something my dad would say. He's always using words like 'modern' or 'a bit mod' or 'jazzy' to describe things. Sounds like my kind of er...dad. My dad's one is 'different'. What do you think of my Jesus look dad? 'Aye, it's different'. Always different.

Get your ears cleaned out mate. He said '2000, for Arsenal' oops. It's still a really pointless statistic - he was in Spain from 2001 to 2009, in which time he was pretty unlikely to score a goal in England.

It was cringeworthy. So many commentators don't seem to have the self-awareness to go "here, I sound like a bit of a cock here actually".

"What a waste of money" seems a pretty old-school chant these days.

Cracking finish.

Yeah exactly. Even if all countries agreed to it, exchange rates and differing legislation mean that it could never be a level playing field.

Eh, surely they'll just go somewhere else. What difference does it make?

Spurs - Leeds. Started late. Cheers. So the first game is the one that was on live on free TV only five hours ago. Nice one. They always seem to do it. At least today they featured the biggest 'story' of the day, not usually the case.

Fucking hell Andy, nice one. That's got to be the highlight of your Sainsburys career. Which Sainsburys? Heaton? Shiremoor? The one near the Benton training ground, whichever one that is.