MalcolmW

There is always a risk that errors in grammar can lead to a misunderstanding of meaning. I do find it annoying, but then on here misunderstanding is all part and parcel.

In Switzerland?

So you'd welcome G Neville onto the staff? The cheapest place to buy a Sunderland shirt is Newcastle city centre - you've just got to make sure it can't be seen in the bag as you leave the shop. There's a difference between fans' attitude and that of "football folk" to old allegiances. Busby captained City and then coached Liverpool before WWII. It's said that both of them hoped to get him as manager after the war, but he chose OT.

There are curious parallels between Sam's playing career and his managerial one. Each was begun with a long stint at Bolton becoming an icon, followed by short spells everywhere else. As a player he'd figured out that 12 month contracts were the best reward, provided that you could continue to get them. In management while he began with a 10 year contract at Bolton, saying he would retire at 55. What he achieved was way beyond initial expectations, but his ambitions outgrew the club's finances. The move to Newcastle may have looked right - big city club with 'potential' - but the fans never took to him (not least because he'd both played and coached at Sunderland). Some Blackburn fans also had issues with his Bolton career as player and manager. In each case he was unlucky with new owners who wrongly thought they knew better than him. Apart from anything else WHU fans will be aware that he played for Millwall....

It's great to think that maybe Fergie is hanging on at OT for long enough to see Darren as a viable successor. That really could get them moving - down.

Giggs was leaning forward - his head was beyond the defenders - OFFSIDE!

Batrca lost 2 league games this season - 1 home and 1 away, to clubs that finished 15th and 19th.

Accepting your point, but why undermine it with factual errors. In anybody's book an "ever present" plays every match. Hunt was a regular first choice for all those seasons but he missed over a quarter of the league matches, mainly due to injuries. S over the years the academy has produced for the first team Nolan, Hunt and O'Brien. We really should be producing at least one player per season from the academy into the squad. Is it that the gulf to Premier League is too great, even with a season out on loan, or what?

Maybe this is too deep for me, but I reckon 2-5-12 is better than Crystal Palace's 1-6-16 whichever way you look at it. Yes the away record was the worst in our league, yes we need to improve considerably, but why make assertions which are totally without foundation? Or is checking facts just too much effort?

17 June

Al Habsi appears to have been the better keeper in the last season. He was also responsible for keeping us away from relegation on his only run in the regular team. He also Kept the team in Europe long after the manager wanted. Keeping Al Habsi + Bogdan and selling Jussi for 2-3M seems a better option than selling Al Habsi, who is younger, in better form, but generally undervalued. Jussi may be past his best, certainly has a good reputation based on past performances, but is widely over-rated, and has a weakness in his temperament which makes him a liability. Sell!

If ManU win this will marginally improve the coefficient of all English clubs in CL or EL for the next 5 seasons. For this reason only I hope they win with their usual luck. Preferably a penalty awarded for simulation which strikes the woodwork twice but clearly fails to cross the line. And at least 2 reds for each side would not be amiss. The significance of the coefficient is that it may be critical to a club not in Europe for 5 years for seeding in the 4th qualifying round of the EL, or for deciding whether a club falls in pot 3 or 4 in the group stage. If you cannot stick a win even for that then a drawn match after extra time, losing the trophy on penalties, would be worth half the coefficient increase.

The only advantage with signing Barton is if he can be fined 2 weeks' wages every week...

Wasn't he sacked because they thought he was going to join BSA at Newcastle?

Before the West Ham game I was worrying where our next points would come from. The fixtures were lined up with potentially every opposition needing points, with us on a complacent 40. So the fact that West Ham had so little to offer was good news. The performance against Arsenal was a positive reaction to you know what, other times poor. Btw, why should players fight for an extra ?4.53M in order to displace them from the team (potentially)?

Did we by any chance have a sell-on clause in the sale of Anelka? 10+% discount would help.

If Newcastle are releasing arguably their best player of the season, then they know something the rest don't.... treat with extreme caution. That said, he has had a very, very good season.

Did he cross the line - totally?

Nadal is 2 sets to 1 down in the first round. He'll have to go to 5 sets to win but his opponent is Isner who won that 70-68 final set at Wimbledon last year (bit of a server!). I'm watching on freeview 301.

When Brondby signed him as a striker they actually used him as an attacking midfielder for the first season - and won the Danish cup and league double.

European u21s is 11June to 25 June in Denmark World u20s is 29 July to 20 August in Colombia.

No - the money on the England bid was wasted anyway. The Russian presentation was very straightforward: we have the money and facilities to host, and the tournament has been held in Europe 10 times before, twice each in Italy, Germany and France and also in Switzerland, Sweden, England and Spain. That's 10 times in Western Europe and none in Eastern. We are ready, willing and able and in these circumstances the prospect of 11 in the West and none in the East makes no sense. Difficult to argue agaonst that, really.

Accept the point about ITK form. Reading/Swansea are Team 20. Since there is no obvious pair they could be paired with any of the other oddments. If, say, Everton or ManCity were involved in the playoff then the Team20 route could not be used. I can see that Sky might see a draft, but there should always be enough attractive matches available for them, and for anyone there to leak such sensitive information would qualify them for an Andy Gray award.

Go easy on the tickets to Norwich. The first step is pairing the clubs, one home one away for each set of matches. Some pairings are obvious: Liverpool - Everton, Man City - Man United, Chelsea - Fulham, Spurs - Arsenal, Newcastle - Sunderland, Bolton - Wigan (so GMP have just 2 home in area). I suspect West Brom will be paired with Villa rather than Wolves, because of their proximity to Brum city centre. The first draft of fixtures may possibly have been produced, but this is then open to comment from clubs and police, and maybe other 'interested parties'. If ANY change is made this will have knock-on effects. For example, at the outset no club can be given 3 successive fixtures all home or all away (although obviously this can arise from postponements and rearrangements. So even if Norwich away is genuine in the first draft, a negative comment from WM Police re West Brom's pairing would require a wholesale change. In fact a complete rescheduling... so wait!!

I'd take a longer view. While we all HOPE for a good start, improved away form while keeping a Fortress Reebok, and progress in the cup competitions, results can be below par for many reasons. A knee-jerk reaction serves no purpose whatever. Abramovich may be impatient - that's his problem. I think most people would expect that if he had stuck by Mourinho then Chelsea would have won the Champions' League by now. Our bottom line aim has to be to retain Premier League status for as long as possible. OC needs some 'success' to continue to build on his reputation - which is likely to eventually lead to him moving on. From next season the FA Cup winners, alongside those of the other 5 top ranked countries, will qualify directly to the Group Stage of the Europa League. It is clearly more feasible to win a cup than to finish in the top 4 in the league. In terms of relegation issues, Blackburn Venkys and Wigan Whelans could feature again, and probably 2 of the promoted teams, but we need to compete with the Sunderland/ West Brom/ Stoke types to keep away from the dogfight. Abramovich has money - Eddie Davies has sense.