MKSC

Does the person who makes the first post on page 300 get some sort of award?

That's never Neesy. Too slim.

You should be ok actually QBG, I forgot that only members and ST holders can buy L7 tickets this season. So I guess we'll go either Gallowgate or Leazes. Looking at the blackpool game there are plenty of places available in upper and lower tiers. Should be no different for the Wigan game.

And in addition, who wants to put me up for the night? I don't promise that I'll put out like, but if I'm drunk enough I just might.

Don't think I'll be driving up Lucas. It cost me way too much last time, even with contributions from you three. I'm gonna book my train tickets in the next couple of days. About £40-50 return. Getting the early train on Saturday morning, leaves Kings Cross at 06:15 and gets in to Central at 09:34, leaving a little over an hour to get to the pitch. If you wish to join me then book yeself on that thar locomotive. Can get any time back on the sunday, the price is not a lot different for any of them. Go here to check out the times www.eastcoast.co.uk or get on the megabus which is cheaper but the overnight gets in to town at 0600 which is a lot of sitting around, especially if it's cold. As for match tickets, I'll book in the same place as you lot, but I'm not doing the stump up because I've done that before and got shafted. No reason why we can't go online and book tickets in the same block/row once they are released. If we all do it at approx the same time we can get tickets next to each other. Always plenty of space iin L7 10 days before a game, especially against Wigan as it will hardly draw a capacity crowd.

Will we be going for an 11:00 kick off? I presume that leaves enough time for people to get back to the match, or 10:45 at a push. I can get the train up on the morning which is supposed to arrive at 9:34. I think Yorkie normally comes in on that train as well.

I'm in. Obviosuly I am a blue legend of epic proportions.

Chelsea absolutely ruined SWP. I've heard many a City fan say that he's just not been the same player in his second stint that they remembered from before he went to Stamford Bridge. If he could get back to the player he was 6 years ago then he would be an awesome signing for us. If he's the same one that's been knocking about the last two seasons then I'd rather we stayed clear of him.

It is early in the season, but the first few weeks can usually give you an idea of who is in with a shot of staying near the top of the table. Liverpool and Villa have got real problems in their squad and unrest/uncertainty behind the scenes. Right now they look a long way off last seasons performances and I'm not sure there is a lot they can do to improve other than hard graft and teamwork.

Yeah, what a way to welcome him to English football. Poor bloke, joins a premier league team and gets driven to Accrington for his first game. He'd be trawling through the contract for a release loop hole withing seconds of seeing the place.

I had us down for a maximum of 1 point from these two games, so we are ahead of the game in my eyes.

Neesy. Eventually you will understand. Scholes is a class above most of the midfielders in the Premier League. He will still look good against the top teams, even if he does have a lack of pace, his awareness, quality on the ball and vision will see him through. Fletcher and co will do the running for him.

Just back from the pub so haven't read this whole thread. FWIW here is my opinion. Obviously we won't play teams as good as Manchester United every week, but we need to retain posession better, get tighter to players in and around the box, and not dangle legs in when we should be going in 100%. For me what stood out was how poor our full backs were. We know RB is a tricky position, Perch/Raylor/Simpson is the choice and that hardly inspires confidence. But Jose just looked lost at times. He gave the ball away too often and gave Valencia way too much space. We looked ok early on but from about 30 mins in it all went tits up. Scholes was AWESOME. Seriously, he just gets better. But Rooney, woeful. Whatever is ailing him it needs to be sorted ASAP or they will have trouble against the better sides. Carroll should have scored but we had precious little else going on in the game bar a couple of crosses that caused minor problems. Would have liked to see Vukic come on rather than Shola or Xisco. But I'm sure he'll get his chance. None of us expected more than a comprehensive defeat from today, and we got it, but I am a little more concerned than I was 5 hours ago because we made some very basic errors today. We desperately need a commanding midfielder and a new RB of premiership quality. Harper doesn't inspire me either, although he did little wrong tonight, it's just a feeling I have. I've said it in other threads, the important games this season will be against the teams finishing 10th and downwards. So that starts with Wolves in 2 weeks. If we get something from Villa next week it's a bonus.

I can see him being very successful. He's got some time under his belt coaching and AssMan-ing at Bolton and Sheff Utd so he's gone about it the right way. If it goes well I would be more than happy for him to manage us one day.

The wife works for William Hill. Dropped her off this morning and the football display in the window read Man Utd 4-0 Newcastle. I soon swapped those numbers around. The price looks a bit short now though.

It was mentioned on MOTD yesterday. Hansen said he was going, as was Given, and they were going to discuss his current predicament. Yeah, discuss, my arse. Big Al "So Shay, on the bench at City now. How's that working for you (snigger)" Given " "

What a keeper Almunia is!!

Offsides. David N'Gog 4 Arsenal 1 Terrible forward play, especially as he's probably quicker than the arsenal CB's.

Come on Disco man, I reckon the West Ham supporters team are better than the actual WHU first team, and NOFC would certainly have given Wigan a game yesterday. There is only a certain amount of form that can be found when you are piss poor. How much do you expect them to improve without significant signings and possibly with some departures (N'Zog from Wigan and C.Cole from Wham have both been rumoured as leaving soon).

For me, Blackpool weren't that good. Pretty much every chance they had was because Wigan were so terrible defensively. They might get lucky because it looks like West Ham and West Brom are also very poor. I don't expect a lot from Wolves, Stoke or Bolton either. Sunderland, Birmingham, Fulham and Blackburn are maybe a small step above the rest but not far enough to consider themselves safe, and still a mile away from the top 8 teams. If we win most of our home games against the sides mentioned above, and pick up some points against them on the road we'll be ok. Anything we do against the top 8 teams is just bonus points. Current Verdict. We'll be ok, and comfortably so.

Very nice Gaz. You're a proper poet.

Do you really think us playing a full strength side in a league cup game in September is going to have that much effect on if we stay up or not in May? Do you really think the club would implode if we went down again? The way I see it the board and management are being far more sensible than in previous seasons. For me that is going to make it less likely things will go wrong should we be relegated again. Obviously I want us to stay up but if we went down it wouldn't be the disaster it could have been last time or that many on here make out it could be. There is only room for 17 teams to stay up, if we aint good enough we'll go down and that's just the way football works and we'll have to deal with it the same as anybody else.

Can fully accept that. Obviously there are times when you may need to as you say. This time however is likely to be 3 days before we play Wolves away, a game where even a point could be crucial by the end of the season. To suggest taking a full strength team to a Southern team in the Cup(should it happen) in this instance is never going to be worth a risk in my eyes. Would you feel different if it's a team based in the north? I'm not sure why it would make a difference if it's Huddersfield or Southend.

Have you been reading something different to what i posted? You again use the tiredness excuse as though anyone else has mentioned it, nobody has rolled it out, its all you, the league is the priority, end of story thats not an excuse its a fact. It may be horrible for you to be watching our kids away to Brentford in a one off game but for most fans the prospect of Championship football again is far worse. We have a shockingly small and poor squad, to take any risks is madness at this time. So if treating the League Cup as unnecessary for a year is beyond you then tough. Saying that you start off saying the League Cup is a chance to win a trophy then big up the fantastic acheivement of bombing out by the Qtr Finals(or Semis if we are lucky) excellent work... If YOU turn up at a first team match that the manager has publically stated long in advance would be largely youth/reserve players then thats not me using pansy excuses thats your personal stupidity tbh. Again, I wasn't bringing up tiredness becasue somebody else did, I was adding it to the list of things people say when trying to justify playing a weakened team. Just becasue the league is the priority (a statement I wholeheartedlyagree with btw) doesn't mean we shouldn't play a strong side against whoever we draw in the League Cup. We treated the League Cup as unnessercary last year, I was hoping we could get back to normality this season. I'm under no illusions that the chance of winning it is small but does that mean we shouldn't try? I not sure if you are getting at me with that comment about a one off game, are you assuming I would only go to a game if it was round the corner from me?? If so then I can assure you are way off the mark. This current obsession teams have with survival being everything and playing weaker teams in cup competitions is a cancer on football. If we went out for 38 league games and as many cup games as we can get through, giving everything and playing to our maximum ability, but still went down, I'd be ok with that. Upset, disappointed, gutted? Yes. But I'd feel a whole lot worse if we go down without bothering to try and have a successful season. Your attitude is exactly what the Premier League want of their fans. Nothing else matters but staying in 'the best league in the world'.

What's unnecerssary about the League Cup. It's a chance to win a trophy. As for tiredness, it's one of the reasons people roll out when explaining why they palyed a vastly inferior team in a cup match. It's all a crock of s***. We should be putting out pretty much our best side in every game. Do people seriously not want us to have a bash at getting to the QF or SF in the League Cup? If I turn up to a first team match I expect to see the first team. If I wanted to watch the reserves or youth I'd go to one of their games. You can come up with as many pansy reasons as you like, we shouldn't be resting players and that is that. Couldn't disagree more. Doesn't surprise me having seen your substitution policy for NOFC games.