Legod Second Coming

Quite right DD. Sky actually SAVED football in this country which very few people seem to recall...

As someone who sold sports rights for a living once... God what a shallow life I have led... the problem with the idea of equal revenue is that no-one wants to watch Derby. As an agent, therefore, I am always looking to buy and sell the Manchester United rights, not Derby's. What a league structure does is say this to SKY: "Look old friends, you cannot simply have the rights to the top four, you must also pay for the rest. You can't have the cream without the milk." To try to be fair to its members. Then the league goes to the clubs and says: "Here clubs, we will split the money equally wth you all." Then the Commercial Directors of the top four say: "P!ss off, if we sold our rights indvidually, we could keep ALL the money, because WE know no-one in China wants to watch Derby, so come up with a structure that benefits the cream thanks." And so it goes on, and on, and on... And in a way it is fair and it is the free market. And in the free market some things get priced out of some people's reach, and football clubs become world brands and go and play on a world stage and so on... So, you have a choice. Is that what we want to be - ultimately a harlem globetrotter brand with United, Liverpool, etc, (which is where I can see them ending up now) or a club we can follow locally?? But by that, I don't expect us simply to wither and play 'southern league'. You should always be looking upwards and aspiring to do and be better. In the current Premiership? Maybe. In a future Premiership which will be a European elite playing in each continent regularly, with matches in China and Russia and Abu Dhabi?? No thanks. Not for me. I want to be able to go every fortnight, scream my lungs out and hope we win. Oh and ONE trophy in my lifetime would be MAGNIFICENT. Ideally, the day I die (assuming I am a ripe old age!!!!)

1. As someone who drives 25,000 miles a year on average, do WHATEVER it takes to finish this job ASAP. The real cost of you running to budget/time alone, is millions and millions in lost revenue for people like me, something that is never factored in by contractors (no blame to you for that clearly!!) but I wish the MOT would simply say, ****** to the cost, let's get it done overnight because the real cost to the economy in cones is immesaruable... (let alone going over time!!!) 2. Your initial post is a really cogent argument as to why people should stop thinking that Rupert is only thinking of the bottom line. He HAS to be planning for the long term. I think it's very pertinent personally that West Ham have responded to Curbs by saying that they cannot build the philosophy of a football club around ONE man - the manager. Because if they do and he leaves, then what??? This has been Rupert's argument from day one at the club. Finally, it appears he was simply ahead of his time, now that club after club is actually following suit!!! (I admit, that I am of the old school that handed the manager everything and left it with him but as I approach middle-age I'm beggining to reasses this strategy - particularly in the face of current events in the Premeirship...)

Buzz - deviation...

Playing Devil's advocate: 1. Would Clapton rig the amps and microphones himself then - and carry out the sound checks? Does he insist on hand picking the backing vocalists and the man who paints the set? 2. Did picasso go to Florence and mix the Prussian blue and Gaussian ink by hand himself? 3. Does the Captain select the mechanic who services the aircraft, recruit the stewardesses and insist only on flying in a Boeing, not in an Airbus secured by his head of procurement? Put it another way. It's 4am. It's dark. Around you are two hundred men, hunched below a rocky outcrop. In one minute you will give the signal. And you will lead those men to an assault on Goose Green - risking your life and theirs. As their commanding officer: Did you have to hand recruit every man-jack of them, train them, equip them and have them build a bond solely with you?? Or do you LEAD the men you are given with the skill, wit and courage for which YOU yourself were trained?? I wonder...

Well. Real Madrid - thirteen managers but league champions and European Champions more often that Machester United, one manager same period. Only other difference? Real have a DoF. United don't. What does that tell you about: a) the value of a DoF b) the need for managerial stability. Answers on a postcard to: Mr Dino Saur Tabloid School of Football Myths and Conventions Bunkum Lane Boloxville England.

Precisely! What the hell is some people's level of expectation??

The most succesful football club in Europe had 13 managers during the same time that Alex Ferguson has been at United. Which of the two clubs won the Champion's League most often during that period? And which has the DoF...

For me, football has never been about trophies. Yes, I love to win - of course. I then appreciate losing badly. I don't appreciate losing poorly, at all. But in order of what I am looking for, I want a BIG FAT A* in EFFORT - because beyond that, nature will take its course. Do the right things, work hard, try your best, give all of yourself -these are what I want my club to embody. If that delivers results, fantastic. Now, by accident or design, I can see EVERY player straining their sinnews for the club, working together as a team, trying things, learning things, attempting above all to play football. Do I want entertainment?? Well define entertainment? The bond between this club and me is not based on any heirarchical sense of trade - no-one in the right mind would CHOOSE to support this club. No-one in the right mind would choose to support a football club, period. For some reason, it means something to me though. Enough to spunk away cash, enough for my wife to have my signed Cup Final shirt framed for Christmas, enough for me to hollar when we score, to swear when we feck up and to moan when we lose. It's never, ever in my life been associated with money this football club. And by that I mean, I never considered my cash an investment, nor a cost, simply something I'm burdened to do - like taxes and National Insurance. So, what would be the benefit of a takeover? Yes, suddenly we could be Manchester City. We could win the Champion's League. That could be me, my friends, my kids in Russia, screaming and celebrating. Wow. Think of it. The glamour, the excitement, the relief, the euphoria... But above all, what do you want to win for?? PRIDE. That's what drives us all to win. The pride to look back and say - see, that's me, I did that. I won that. Me. Why else would a sportsman get out of a bed in the morning. Why else do we strive to succeed? Self agrandisement maybe. But above all to be proud of our endeavours and sometimes to have others share that pride. I don't go expecting my young team to get beaten, and I'm not averse to using whatever resources we have at our disposal. I simply think that by luck, and not design, we now have the opportunity to watch something grow. And yes, come harvest time, some wheat will surely be sold to market. And in its place we'll plant more seeds. And harvest again. And again. But finally, we might have an idea, a strategy, borne of survival instincts, but no bad thing because of it. Masochist, me? Well you would have to be wouldn't you?? Or is it preferable to win simply to be associated with winning? Because if that's the case, we're all supporting the wrong club. Superficial elation feels great but it doesn't sustain the soul. And in the words of a Chelsea supporter I heard after a recent Cup Final victory: "where were you when we were sh!t". Where I've always been and always will be, in the stands, hoping... And knowing that sometimes the journey travelled IS the destination.

Barry Wright-Phillips?

Is he a RB or CB? or Either?

I agree Tim that I think he's going for Hollywood a bit too often! Age!!!! Your first observation about KD looking to pass first I think is also spot on. Hoofing, no! I was a bit cheesed off towards the end on Saturday when Kelvin reverted to hoofing. We couldn't win anything in the air, even though both SJ and DMG did a pretty valiant job of holiding it up.

OOOOO, contraire mon ami. Some of his raking balls have found Holmes in acres and he has created goal scoring chances from them. Not every pass is short to be a good un.

ahh, I KNEW it. I KNEW you of all people would call it tippy-tappy.

Nah, not me DD. Would p!ss me off a bit now actually. Just seen an interview with Toon fans talking about Ashley - watch it on BBC.co.uk. It's laughable. One minute they complain Ashley is only in it for the money, then they bang on about needed Arab owners to buy success!! Buy success? Buy it? I want to EARN it. Call me old fashioned but if more people woke up wanting to be farmers than famous, the world might be a more industrious, considerate place. And we might all pay a fair price for a fair product and not shaft one another at the drop of a hat... Ah, feck, I'm just getting old!!!

Hear, hear. That's exactly what we should be doing. And proudly. And understanding that our talent will want to flourish and rightly so. I'd love them to stay but while I'm a romantic, I'm not a total fecking eejit!

Don't get me wrong, I might have enjoyed a tour around Barcelona or Madrid. But the net result of everything is that I have more connection with my team now than since I used to be able to talk to Holmes and Channon before the games because they were stood next to us. Give it five years, ten at a push and this is the only model you will have of football for the masses. The Premership will be gone, abroad. And either you'll pay £100 a ticket to watch a game a quarter while it travels the globe. Or you'll be sat watching a provincial club like ours. So, either you run down the platform and try to catch the gravy train. Or you accept that this is how it is and has been for countless teams exactly like ours for a generation. There is a dignity in poverty that isn't always obvious.

Agreed. Let's bring in Mike Ashley.

Ah, get over yourself. By accident he's given me my club back. Wilde couldn't do it by design!!!! And whoever is in the seat, I stand by my enjoyment of watching our talent not being the benefactor of an arms dealer, gangster, Russian Mafia, human-rights abusing dictatorship or worse. At least our Chairman's only claim to fame is that he's either too posh or too stupid for some fans.

Do you think Alpine, with all your knowledge, that if Lowe really, really wanted to get rich, richer than he was or is today, that buying a football club and getting OUT of the property business before the biggest boom in property prices the world has ever seen would be the way he chose to do it?? Whetever you think of him - and we don't have to guess - can you not accept he might just have a different way of wanting to take this club forward that he thinks is right?? When he came into football, whatever his reasons, he didn't surely do it for money?? He can't be stupid, you keep telling us how clever he is, after all...

Spin? That's up there with cash. Why did we bail out housebuilders today??? I'll tell you why. Because housebuilders have convinced the world that rising house prices are good. Good for whom??? For them, of course!! For them!!! Falling house prices bad, very bad. For whom?? Say you're buying your first house - falling prices = good. You're trading up the ladder - falling prices = good. You're trading down - falling prices = bad. You just intend to keep living where you are and paying your mortgage - falling prices matters not one jot. So for one in four people it might be bad. But here we are. Why? Spin. The world is full of it. All I do is tell you what I think. But you know what. Like Tom Cruise. You can't handle the truth!!!!

what I love about this site, is the knowledge base, incredible!! Good song, would never have known that until tonight!!!

Isle of Wight?? I'm not married to my sister thanks.!! I come from Petersfield and proud of it! Played football with the current Sheffield United Chief Exec. He at centre-half, me at left midfield... heady days. And yes, my local club was Pompey, where I could often be found when Saints were away, cheering on my local (lower division!!!) club with my mates who supported their real local club. But be reasonable. You wouldn't inflict that on your dog would you???

True. But it's once you're out of rehab that you realise what a mess you made of your life. Not when you're sky high on coke, hookers and champagne...