Stottie

Once the threat of relegation is over, start Nile Ranger in every game. He's got one in two for England U19, exactly the same as Carroll did. If you include Preston, Carroll took forty league games to get going. Shola and Loven are going nowhere as players, so its pointless playing them. I have my doubts about Ranger, but lets give him a proper go before signing some other hopeful.

The lads on Toontastic have a thread showing a net spend of nearly 50M now under Ashley, so don't hold onto your hats. To put that into perspective though, 50M is probably what we spent on Luque and Owen alone.

Chance #1 for the joker in the pack to come up trumps? STR8888888 LIKE A BANANA!

No offence, but even if he did want way, why would he want to go to Liverpool? A CL team like Arsenal I could understand, but Liverpool? With ManYoo, Arsenal, Citeh, Chelsea still with money, and Spuds chasing, the door looks all but locked. Liverpool have weaknesses all over the pitch, starting with their two center halves. Carroll could simply bide his time and wait for a big club to come in. Looks like he's been pushed.

Given the fee, I guess that cashing in on Carroll is fine by many people. Better to sell him than say Barton where we'd only get something silly like 5M when he's better than Charlie Adam. The blame one is that we could have bought a half decent striker last week as "cover" and then still sold Carroll. I guess that is what the half hearted approach to Boothroyd was. Like FFS before him, it all smacks of everything being a reaction and having no plan as to what the club is or needs to do.

A draw against Newcastle would have been a win if Hutton hadn't gone walkabout, that's 2 points gone down to Hutton's defensive frailties. He's done that 4 or 5 times this season and the points lost do tot up. I'm not saying he is the sole reason we are not higher than we could have been, losing at home to Wigan and away to Wham are just as damaging but defensive errors cost matches and points, and Hutton has been our worst defender by a considerable distance (imo). You serious? In that case, Newcastle should be in the top 3 if not for Perch, Simpson and Krul. If you add Smith for the Blackpool defeat and Bolton walking through us, we'd probably be top!

Yes and that, my friend, tells you all you need to know about how and why the audio has been made available in this way. News Corp really makes you sick. And I'm not defending them being "sexist", but I am saying it's a storm in a teacup, and ample demonstration (just like the Gordon Brown "bigoted woman" bootlegs were in the last General Election) of Rupert Murdoch's hypocrisy and power. Can't wait for that Cunture Secretary, Jeremy whateverhisnameis, to sign over the full rights to Sky to the evil empire. In the followup revelations from the Mail, a Sky cameraman starts by telling Gray there is a female lino and that she's supposed to be a "looker". I'm not saying he's being set up, but it would be an easy way to go about it. If sexism in the workplace is the problem here, that cameraman needs to be disciplined too, not just the high profile presenters. Let's see if that happens. fwiw, I'm not a fan of either, but I think its fantasy to expect their successors to bum the top four sides any less than Keys and Gray do.

Sorry if anyone has mentioned it but wasn't Andy Gray involved in the phone tapping allegations against the News of the World? That might have lost him some friends at Murdoch Central.

I assume most of those assists aren't simply square ball to Tevez.

I've not been impressed by SWP for a long time but he's got 9 goals and 15 assists in 60 games (48 starts) for Citeh second time round. They're good numbers and they must come from somewhere. Better than Jonas or Routledge, at least. Probably wants big wedge though.

Thanks. The Rawhide idea sounds good and good to know that at least there is the 2Unlimited one. If you can work the 5-1 (with the gesture) or Mackems hat-trick into the giddy up move em on part of Rawhide, you might get more traction. Its the same golden recipe as "Hark now here" and "Any any any O'Brien". Overweight, slow, and looks much older than he is, but scores tons of goals, is prepared to do an uncool celebration seemingly chosen by others, always says good things in interviews, and has an amazing record against the Mackems. In times gone past, that would be well into cult player territory.

Transfer request too, ferk me. Not the best team player as every says, but he scores goals. Not only does he score, he scores against everybody, a good few against the top teams included. Its not something everyone high up the goal charts does. If they buy Insomnia with the money, Wigan are down.

Do it mate, we need all the help we can get! Tiote's a big miss, so I think we might need some help from Gomes to get much from this game.

Thanks Dave, didn't know that about Fulham. Knowing us, we'd just pick up lots of injuries.

Unfortunately he didn't do it at SJP, but Bob Dylan's Positively 4th Street hits the spot lyrically. You got a lotta nerve To say you are my friend When I was down You just stood there grinning You got a lotta nerve To say you got a helping hand to lend You just want to be on The side that’s winning You say I let you down You know it’s not like that If you’re so hurt Why then don’t you show it You say you lost your faith But that’s not where it’s at You had no faith to lose And you know it I know the reason That you talk behind my back I used to be among the crowd You’re in with Do you take me for such a fool To think I’d make contact With the one who tries to hide What he don’t know to begin with You see me on the street You always act surprised You say, “How are you?” “Good luck” But you don’t mean it When you know as well as me You’d rather see me paralyzed Why don’t you just come out once And scream it No, I do not feel that good When I see the heartbreaks you embrace If I was a master thief Perhaps I’d rob them And now I know you’re dissatisfied With your position and your place Don’t you understand It’s not my problem I wish that for just one time You could stand inside my shoes And just for that one moment I could be you Yes, I wish that for just one time You could stand inside my shoes You’d know what a drag it is To see you

I'm overseas so I don't get to games, but do we have a song for him? For all his limitations, he deffo deserves one.

If Arsenal win the CC and say ManYoo or another CL team win the FA Cup, seventh goes into Europe. Is that right? If it is, we're not far off and results suggest another couple of players may be all it would take, even assuming a red or blue bindipper recovery. In that case, we should seriously consider buying, not selling. We dominated the team in sixth yesterday. For someone with our gates, scraping into Europe would get us what, fifteen million plus?

It sounds like Chelsea have run out of money. Lots of folks have done comparisons between their bench in the first Mourinho season and now. Before it was internationals like Crespo. Now its Sturridge and Van Aanholt.

Craig Burley tbf said the Tiote red card in the cup was an absolute joke and even pulled out the "all good defenders should hang up their boots now" chestnut.

During the Everton game, didn't he say Seamus Coleman's tackle on Nolan was fair when it was pen and straight red all the way? Remarkable change of tune from him, it must be said.

I mentioned it in the prematch thread, it's every fkn time! Jammy jammy twats. Not completely unexpected though, because they got a flukey pen right at the end against Citeh. If we'd pressed our superiority, it could have been wrapped up well before then. When it comes to this division though, I think we should be looking up not down. They're above us and that was all they had to offer with what should have been the ultimate motivation. If Seb Larsson wants big money, then ferk it they can have him, because they need him more than we do.

+1

Provided Shola isn't completely crocked, Smith is the only major problem in there for me. If the rest of them turn up we can definitely get something. Howay the Lads!

Has no-one been in for Elmander yet? I'm sure his agent will have put his name about looking for a pay rise. Bolton have to question whether he's worth foregoing three million or so for just for another fifteen or so league games.

On the subject of which, there is some twat on the pitch every time they score in this fixture. Why don't we have a word so the proper measures are taken?