Shays Given Tim Flowers

Whilst I appreciate the posts concerning adherence to our transfer 'value for money' policy so far given how well it has served us previously, doubts must exist as there is often a premium attached to buys that occur at the end of windows. The board may well decide that this premium is irreconcilable with their transfer policy. That being said I think we will get the players we need, though maybe not the specific players we want.

I can't blame City, Chelsea, or any other club. The way top, European football is designed creates massive gaps in spending and monopolies at the top that are exacerbated over time. Aggressive spending is the mst efficient way of success. It is the system itself more than anything else. There's a certain amount of truth in that "the system" thing, in that the game is now more than ever totally skewed to money. Don't get me wrong, the richer clubs always had an advantage in the past, too, but the gap was never, ever as wide as it is now. What we have now is more or less a direct correlation between money spent and success gained. This probably won't get much agreement on here, but whilst the PL has been good in some ways, in bigger, more important ways, it has seen the slow ruination of the English game, as money decides everything. We now can no longer realistically have an Aston Villa, Newcastle, Everton style club winning the league without a gigantic financial windfall. When i was a kid, I remember Cloughie taking Forest from nowhere and winning the league and European Cup. I remember Villa using 14 players all season to win the league. I remember that brilliant Everton side of the 80s (who would no doubt at all have won more European honours had it not been for Heysel). None of that can happen now, and it has made football much the poorer sport. I don't blame Man City for doing what they're doing, if they can afford to do so, and I don't begrudge any of their fans their success, either. I just don't like what it has done to the game. I also get particularly annoyed by the fact that, with our game awash in money, there's never any question of using that cash to subsidise ticket prices - the clubs would rather spunk it straight into the gaping mouths of agents and players, rather than the people who - through generations - have kept the game going, even when it was on the brink of collapse a few decades ago. And even if it did happen you get the feeling it would be very much a one off.

I think they are referring to an article that the Beeb ran the other day about the over-representation of Public school students in the Olympics. Think it was only applicable to some sports though.

Had a look at this the other day. There is now a non-refundable £300 fee for the application. Seems to be competency based now to a point with Fifa asking for indications as to your ties and experience within the game. You also have to sit an exam which covers domestic and international regulations. There is no need for any formal qualification prior to applying though. EDIT it used to be free up until 2010 IIRC and only required an examination on regulations.

Yep, I did that as well. Same here.

http://jaypgreene.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/godfather-horse-head.jpg

Used to have Adidas Power Soccer International 97 for the first playstation. Used to think the commentary was really good as it said Footballer Chris Reville should be better than this. Turned out it was a stock phrase of 'football at this level should be better than this'. Used several times per match irrespective of team. Also used to think that you would only get a yellow for two fouls in two minutes. Realised this wasn't true but still thought for ages that you would get a yellow for two fouls in two minutes.

sam allardyce still does Tbf hippohead also values the height you can achieve in that same kick. Long and high for him (like). He's not just one dimensional Icarus football.

haha obviously applying to footballers only, in terms of a civilian 41 is not old. one of my mates is 43 and is going out with a 21 year old. but thats another story, he's a pervert. Pervert ? hell no i would say "hero" if she is 21. Mind you if she looks like a box of frogs i would agree with pervert the sick thing is she don't look a day older than 18 lol can you imagine when he goes over her house for dinner and he's like older than her mum and dad hahaha you can only admire that kind of thing really. The guy is living the dream And the invention of viagra will extend that forever Pun of the day

Suarez is football's Eddie Guerrero.

Nope they are smuggled into the Cat 1 clubs tied and gagged and locked inside the academy forever. We arent allowed near them and must hand over any good players without question..... Seriously though we dont get as much funding and others can poach from us but they dont have to leave us or not pick us if they dont want to. Probably (hopefully) won't make much difference then. Still think it's embarrassing for the club. Officially we havent been ruled out but the reasoning will be clear soon enough. Greg(above) and Anderson pointed to it on the previous page too but it doenst sound like a problem which could have been easily sorted in time. I dont doubt the failure for whatever reason will be a disappointment to Ashley mind given his outlay in recent years. Edit: You beat me to it in your reply I was too quick to condemn if it is to do with accommodation provided for academy players etc. If the plans were unveiled in October last year and the audit was in March then that is clearly not enough time to secure purpose built accommodation. As a point of curiosity do we have much information as to Ashley's outlay below under 16's?

So you know exactly what criteria was involved and how we missed out? No I don't. It was however a stated goal of the Club (Publicised in February this year). The audit for clubs took place in March. Given the supposed emphasis on youth and the fact that these changes had been mooted for a while it seems pretty bad if the club haven't been able to get its house in order. A club insider (Journal February) said it was 'imperative' to Ashley's vision for the future of the club. If it was my business and I had missed out I would be pretty disappointed. I will wait for facts then http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/24264160.jpg Took you two attempts just for that? poor I have learnt something today.

So you know exactly what criteria was involved and how we missed out? No I don't. It was however a stated goal of the Club (Publicised in February this year). The audit for clubs took place in March. Given the supposed emphasis on youth and the fact that these changes had been mooted for a while it seems pretty bad if the club haven't been able to get its house in order. A club insider (Journal February) said it was 'imperative' to Ashley's vision for the future of the club. If it was my business and I had missed out I would be pretty disappointed. I will wait for facts then http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/24264160.jpg

So you know exactly what criteria was involved and how we missed out? No I don't. It was however a stated goal of the Club (Publicised in February this year). The audit for clubs took place in March. Given the supposed emphasis on youth and the fact that these changes had been mooted for a while it seems pretty bad if the club haven't been able to get its house in order. A club insider (Journal February) said it was 'imperative' to Ashley's vision for the future of the club. If it was my business and I had missed out I would be pretty disappointed. Edit I appreciate the point about indefensible being too strong a word, however, in my area of work for example, new regulations, schemes and criteria come into force fairly regularly. If you do not comply with them you go out of business. If it is education and accommodation as mentioned above then it would appear somewhere there has been a lack of foresight.

Seems pretty indefensible if we haven't been able to get it.

Agreed. Props to Ronaldo for saying more or less the same.

It wasn't only ever going to get worse, it was after we replaced him with Souness. Trust you to bring that up, has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The team hadn't played well for a long time and Shearer/Speed's decline compounded with ineffective summer signings made the decision inevitable, even if it could be argued it came prematurely. Anyway, RIP. Let the weaklings try to rewrite history. We all loved him and will continue to do so. The appointment of Souness is relevant, he replaced Bobby. I still don't agree with your comment that "it was only ever going to get worse." Based on what? He'd taken teams backwards 4 times in his managerial career and then turned it around again so why was it only ever going to get worse? Nobody is disputing that Souness was the biggest mistake. That only undermines the timing, not the sacking. I'm not going to build a case against SBR in this thread, no chance. It's obvious to most what should've happened in the summer of '04. It is, but it's not what you're alluding to.

Cherished and missed in equal measure. Keep watching over us Sir Bobby.

Signed on page 169.

The importance of this signing cannot be overstated.

Anyone who comments on Ed's blog*. They are all such tossers. Line-ups based on FIFA or FM of which im certain 99% of all line-ups are. *I know the blog has come in for a tough time before and I understand the gripe with it. That being said if you take it with a huge shovel of salt its pretty harmless.

How long till people stop posting him in their line-ups for next season?

The Banterbury Tales

Final Bantasy

Must be the heat because I haven't found anything that funny for a long time.