jjsaint

That was... obscure. 10/10 for originality.

Excellent.

JWP for me if he can handle the pressure (I thin he can). As he is likely to be sold along with the rest of our f*cking squad, I'll go for Gazzaniga. He's the man if you want the ball to end up in the net.

Ratebeer is pretty good, although it is American-led (and beer geek heavy) it's got good input on British beer. http://www.ratebeer.com/ Bottled Spitfire is in my opinion not nearly as good as a well-kept cask pint. So I'd recommend Spitfire very cautiously and add that it is far from Britain's top beer (even those widely available). Again IMO the US has a great beer scene, but they don't really 'get' UK beer. Americans like UK stouts and barley wines but don't seem to care quite as much for bitters and milds. One decent (although not amazing) UK-style bitter is Goose Island Honkers Ale. The hops are massively New World but then again same for many English bitters now.

Adam or Luke. Oh wait...

This is about right I'd like to add that if we get a manager of the Mackay/Lennon variety then my meltdown health bar will decrease. Unfortunately I can't imagine too many decent managers coming near us at the moment.

Cropper, Cork, Yoshida, Hoover, Lee Molyneux (loan), Reed, Gaston, Hayden Mullins (free), homeless guy Les Reed found on Northam Road, Osvaldo, Enoch Showumni (free)

I want to shout 'Boo-urns'

Let's get some f***ing strong s*** for next season, bottles of BrewDog Hardcore IPA, at 9.2%, may be strong enough to get me through next season.

It's very depressing... a Jewish conspiracy... haven't we moved on from this sort of thing?

I've seen a few friends sharing this stuff from Britain First, I'm sure it's a spoof site. I mean it has to be, doesn't it?

Cue the tinfoil hat brigade...

^ The news was just confirming what SNSUN said, not anything additional...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27492026 Wonderful news.

Signed. I rarely sign these petitions but I signed this one. If there's any chance of finding these men then it's negligence to call off the search.

How much would relegation cost us? If we sell all our good players without decent replacements then that's a question worth considering.

A great player for us, it's a shame he couldn't get one this season but it's a tough league. Take care Guly and the best of luck.

Lallana goal against Hull.

As you should do pap. I admit that I'd be disappointed if you changed your opinion, as it would only lessen the credence of my own beliefs to have such an ally.

I normally pick my battles, as I don’t really have the time or inclination to dispense my wisdom to those who are not in the least interested in what I have to say. But this is such a strange and egregious piece that one feels the need to respond. Cosmetic though it may be, he starts by quoting Harold Pinter, a well-known anti-US nutcase who happened to write some decent plays in the early 60s. It’s rather like quoting John Wayne to make a conservative point. The next two paragraphs I find unspeakably nasty, sullying Britain’s name and referring to Anglo-American foreign policy as terrorism. Dastardly? Sometimes. Terrorism? Never. He goes on to suggest that Putin’s unpopularity in the Western media is another smear campaign down to a concerted, planned attack as he is ‘occupying strategically useful or resource-rich territory, or merely offering an alternative to US domination’. He then mentions Putin in the same breath as Mossedeq, Allende and Chavez. I can almost imagine the rugged freedom fighter Putin with his guitarrón singing ‘¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!’ Or maybe not. But I suppose my main problem with the article is that I don’t believe it, and there is nothing within the article that would make anyone believe it. I have to admit that I don’t buy the idea that the difficulty in the Ukraine is fostered by ‘the West’. Nobody loves a good smokescreen like the Russians, and the mere mention of ‘CIA’ is enough to send the shivers down the spine of most anti-imperialist journos. (Pilger is also careful to name check all the popular enemies of the Left: Reagan, Kissinger – for whom there should be a version of Godwin’s Law – and of course, Nazis, neo-Nazis, fascists etc.) I feel like his main points are as follows: The US has done bad things in the past. Therefore, the US is obviously in the wrong regarding any foreign policy decision. Western European powers agree with the US only because they are puppets, not because they have reached an independent and reasoned similar conclusion. Blair’s gone. Bush is gone. The ‘lap dog’ excuse for simultaneously disagreeing with and exonerating one’s Government is no longer fashionable nor reasonable. At this point it’s really the word of John Brennan against that of ex-KGB agent Putin. Why do we assume the CIA is lying through their teeth, but Putin is a paragon of truth? Might not the actual situation be somewhere closer to the middle of that sweeping spectrum? Is the CIA involved the Ukraine? Certainly. But the idea that the crackdown on separatists has been not only aided but orchestrated by Western intelligence is a bit far-fetched. Is there anywhere in this article, or any link, that lends this any credence? Might it be a more reasonable explanation that William Hague (muppet though he may be, but that’s another post), when he speaks of provocation stoked by Moscow rather than Washington, may know a tiny bit more about the situation in Ukraine and not that he is in thrall of US-led Western intervention? I appreciate the fact that Pilger exists, however odious his Student Union politics may be. I am glad that we live in a society where he is allowed to spout this nonsense (good luck trying that in Russia, Cuba, Iran, etc.), and we do need someone of this level of idiocy occasionally to speak up, if only for the more intelligent and reasoned of us to feel more confident in our sometimes unpopular political leanings. I think at this point in history, the hard Left need to be wary of the idea that ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’. It is bad enough that the Left has been cosying up to militant Islamists for the last 13 years, now we have people like Pilger making a hero out of Putin: ‘[T]he only leader to condemn the rise of fascism in 21st-century Europe’? Christ on a bike. Don’t worry, there will be no war. Neither the US nor the UK want it, the public wouldn’t stand for it, and nobody can afford it anyway. Putin knows this, he understands that the West is weary of war. And that is why he has made his move now. He has been playing the waiting game. Let’s not pretend that anything else is at play.

I don't mind if you take me seriously or not. I'm just surprised that the 'four legs good, two legs bad' political world of Pilger and his ilk would hold any appeal. I see very little, if anything, in the body of that article which rises above supposition, prejudice, paranoia and sensationalism.

I read it this morning. In what misinformed fantasy world would that drivel pass as 'superb'? Come on, you can do better than that.

Klinsmann has been mentioned before. USA are in a tough group and have little chance of progressing. Even if they do I think he will me moving on after WC. Would I get lambasted if I also said Roy, he knows our playing style fairly well! Also I hate to say it but I think he'll be free by next season.

It's been a great year. I refuse to let the red tops and the Sky 4 ruin that for me. I think MP will go, his heart isn't in it. I also think we are more than capable of attracting another capable manager. Rupert's gone, we won't be looking to League One or the Dutch ninth division. I also think MP will struggle with the expectation at Spurs (if the rumours are true and that is where he goes) and may not be there very long at all. Shaw and/or Lallana. If they go, they go, but it should be for silly money. £20m for AL is derisory in my opinion. Luke should smash the record of highest fee ever paid for a defender. I say £30-35m for Shaw, £45-50m for Lallana. Maybe I'm bonkers but if Carroll went for £35m, Torres for £50m, £15m (or was it £20m) for Henderson, then it's obvious the money is there. Right now, I am basking in the glow of a great season.