Ken Tone

Am not at all confident personally. I thought the second half against Milwall was a bit of a reality check. We were trying to play our pretty passing game and they simply wouldn't let us. On the basis that, whilst milwall are a solid championship side, they are unlikely to be title contenders, that was a sign to me that we will certainly not walk this league. Our players are not so stand-out good in this division as they were in L1, and top championship players will give them a much harder time. Looking at Leicester's "team", they have some excellent players, so once they do click as a proper team, they will be at or near the top. We just have to hope that this weekend isn't when they click. I don't think we can read too much into the Forest game either btw. That's a fairly intense local derby, and results in such games are often out of line with form in ordinary games. (I still think we'll have a good season mind you.)

'On top of A levels' ..exactly. They are not a sensible or credible alternative to A levels

Don't know how much you have to do with UCAS as opposed to reading Cambridge International Board's propaganda, but if you look at the most recent official figures some 250,000 went through UCAS into uni, 45,000 BTEC National or similar, only 2500, the IB and 680 .. yes 680... the pre-U. It's another place for weak independent schools to hide from competition.

Good grief. What game were you watching? Cork was superb.

The fact remains that only approximately 1% of the number that sit A levels take the IB instead. Seems a pretty risky choice to me to go for something that unusual and unpopular. And how can examiners ensure reliability and validity with a population size of 2500? Many (not all I admit) of the places that offer it are small independent schools that don't want to be shown up in the A level league tables by their better (and much cheaper!) state sixth form college neighbours, so go for the IB simply to avoid easy comparison by gullible parents.

Why on earth did she choose the IB? It's such an obscure qualification that many university admissions tutors know little about it and offers are often very high. And the numbers sitting it are so small that the marking isn't very reilable. I've seen official UCAS figures showing only about 2500 students went to uni last year with the IB, compared with c. 250,000 with A levels. But if she does get a decent offer and she is bright enough to anticipate getting a decent degree, she should still go to uni. Even with the new fees it still makes sense financially in the long run. As to pillocks saying 'everyone passes A level now', they overlook the simple but important fact that students who are likely to fail, nowadays drop out at the end of the first year in the sixth form because they do badly in their AS exams. So of course the A level pass rate is high ....you don't take it unless you have already passed AS well and have shown you are likely to succeed at A2. Before year 2000, some students wasted 2 years then failed. Now they only waste 1 year and only the good ones sit the final A level exams in year 2. So well done to anyone who has just passed. Ignore any bitter old failures on here!

Some of us regular fans wash our hands too you know Come to think of it why haven't we had a thread on how useless the current hand towel dipspensers are? It's right up there with the parking charge and programme cover picture scandal IMO.

I agree ..mostly ... Actually I think Martin may well yet develop into a cracking player, but even so he is not a good partner for Fonte, who in spite of being bloody good is remarkably unable to to adapt to playing on the left side, so really needs a left-sided partner. Seaborne ought to be that, but is he good enough for the Championship? .. maybe, maybe not. Hence it does make sense to sign a player such as Killgallon on loan to see if Nige can nurse him back to form. As long as we've agreed a fee in advance, if it works we sign him permanently, presumably fairly cheap. If it doesn't we've lost only some wages. Meanwhile in the longer term if Martin wants a permanent place in the team, he will either have to learn to play on the left even though he is right-footed, or try to displace Fonte one day. (I'd practise kicking with my left foot if I were him!)

I'm beginning to wonder if we are looking at the wrong sort of striker all together - assuming the rumours have any basis in truth. We have Connolly, Barnard and at a pinch Guly and De Ridder that can play alongside Lambert. What we don't have really is an understudy for Lambert. Shouldn't we be looking less at mobile goalscorers, and more at a big target man, good in the air etc, in case Ricky gets injured, or to give him competition anyway? Virtually every other position in the team has 2 players at least competing for it (about 5 for left back!!!). Who is competing with Ricky?

If we have the guts (or more importantly the fincancial muscle) to resist a big offer and force him to honour his contract, he won't be able to play indifferently. He will still need to impress future buyers. He'd have to give 100%.

IF these quotes are accurate, and that is a big if given the tabloid press's track record, then I don't think it is about wanting to play at the highest level. It's more about wanting to earn at the highest level. If it was about the playing, he'd be better off staying here and learning his trade. At a top club he'll either not play much at all, or be farmed out on loan to somewhere like Saints anyway, but somewhere that won't care as much about his development because he won't be their investment to sell. The huge money at the top of football is really damaging the sport as whole IMO.

That's taken from the Sun, which appears to have got it from the Mirror since it contains some identical phrases, and as we know the Mirror has in the past 'authoritatively' reported that he had already signed for Arsenal, most recently saying he would definitely be unveiled as an Arsenal player on July 1st for example. All these papers just feed on each other's rumours. Notice the way the Sun's report implies, but doesn't quite say, that he's given his first interview exclusively to them, yet contain identical phrases to what was in the Mirror a few days before. He may or may not leave soon, I haven't the faintest idea, but either way I am damn certain I do not believe these tabloid reporters actually really know anything more than the rest of us. They just keep writing rubbish they've got from each other, then occasionally one of them happens to be right -- in the same way as a stopped clock is right twice a day -- and then they claim success, ignoring the hundreds of times they got it wrong. For God's sake --- the Sun. Does anyone really still believe any Murdoch paper?

I take it you haven't had many dealings with the press? I've had some. If a reporter talks to you on the phone he or she can pretty much make up what they like. Unless you have taped the conversation (like they usually do) how could you prove you didn't say what they claim? They don't usually completely invent, but they do twist and re-interpret. (The reporter won't usually push it too far because he wants you to trust him next time.) The person 'quoted' is then left in the invidious position of having to decide whether to let it go or to make pompous statements along the lines of "that's not quite what I said. I actually said ...." which a) makes him look a ****, and b) gives the whole story even more publicity. The only ways round this are to talk to no one (virtually impossible), to employ an agent to talk for you (dangerous), or to answer every phone call with a very careful written statement that can't be misquoted (takes huge self discipline and effort). None of these are likely to be in the armoury of a 17 year old football player, with the possible exception of the agent ...which in Alex's case is his Dad , another presumably not very bright, footballer. (To be fair Chamberlain coud be a genius for all I know, but let's face it few footballers are.)

My nephew has just bought his son a new Chelsea shirt for £60! -- £60 for a child! (Mind you since they live in Somerset and the boy is on Bristol City's books, it serves him right for buying a plastic shirt) Puts our prices in perspective.

You know I'd never realised before just how much Dodd looked like Gary Glitter!

This. "Football player in visit to in-laws shock". (Someone has to fill the gap between the 'News of the World' closing and the totally different 'Sun on Sunday' opening)

This, unless we have some surprisingly good signings yet to come.

Just in case anyone else has received their car park season ticket renewal reminder with a weird rule about being parked at least 30 mins before the game, I've checked with the club and this is a mistake. Only applies to parking at the ground itself, as in previous years, not to off-site car parks.

thanks

Please will someone tell me who now does David's job? ..preferably with a contact email address. I have a query over next year's car parking season tickets but the person directly in charge of that appears to be on leave for 2 weeks. Thanks

I've always seen Theo as an eventual central pacy striker ..the next Thierry Henry, who also started playing out wide. Maybe Wenger agrees.

I renewed over the phone .... no wait, no parking fee, no charge for a credit, as opposed to debit, card, and they will be posted to me when printed.

Bloody hell you lot. How do expect us old farts dozing in the Kingsland to join in if you're all singing different words. Get your act together, and remember .. stop mumbling and enunciate.

No doubt they are aware that the phrase comes from Shakespeare, with 'we happy few' ;-)

Seems almost a shame to interrupt all the prejudices here with some facts, but: 1. The 5 training days were introduced by Kenneth Baker, in addition to the days school teachers were previously required to be at their place of work. Thus in effect they were taken from school teachers holidays, which are now 5 days shorter than they were before. 2. The dates of training days are set by the school itself. The local authority agrees with the unions the dates of 195 term days a year. The school then chooses which 5 of those not to teach. Most schools do place some of those days at the beginning or end of a holiday period. They could do that with all 5 if they chose, but prefer to put some in the middle of the term. Parents may well have a legitimate complaint if a school puts all 5 in the middle of a term. (That bit is opinion, not fact!) They are supposed to give at least the year's notice of such closure days. 3. Many teachers are not on school teacher terms and conditions. FE college staff for example mostly have 35 days leave per year, still quite generous by private sector standards, but much less than school teachers receive. But they also cannot usually take leave during term time, so miss out on off peak holidays and cannot take odd leave days off for eg Wimbledon, friends' weddings, away evening Saints games, etc 4. Legally all employees in this country are entitled to a minimum of 28 days leave. The sneaky bit is whether the 8 bank holidays are included in that, or extra to that. 5. Virtually every profession requires work outside of the time spent in the office/classroom/whatever. To think of teachers working 9-4 in term time only is like imagining all bank workers stop when the doors close to the public, or vicars only work on a Sunday. But it is a two-edged sword ... as some posters have already said many professions do involve evening and weekend work, not just teaching. 6. By the way, private schools generally have considerably shorter terms and longer holidays than state ones. It always amazes me that some parents will pay a fortune to see their children taught for less time by staff who don't even have to be qualified, and indeed frequently aren't qualified.