He's gone.

Dear oh dear, just horrible. What a little scum-bag.

All signs point to Smith going to the Theatre of Merchandising. That is a very sad indication of how precious his (already bulging) wallet is to him. All this kissing of 'tbadge and luv for 'tclub clearly means nothing to him. Why else would he screw the Leeds fans (of which is apparently one) over and move to their most hated rival? Although I do find it hard to fully believe (so maybe I shouldn't be so scathing). He could command big wages at a number of clubs. Why go to a team he is supposed to despise by definition?

A couple of weeks ago every supporter would have thought 15th place to be a dream finale. We should have had Birmingham yesterday but I just thank God that this car-crash of a season is over.

Oh come on Phil, do you really believe that? Not every black person is hiding behind the veil of liberal 'dinner party' politics. Believe it or not, most are simply trying to get on with their lives in a society that is becoming increasingly suspicious and intolerant of any sort of multi-cultural existence.

Well what about murder, genocide, killing somebody's relative through careless/ bad driving, announcing redundancy, paedophilia, friendly fire, any kind of accidental damage / loss / grief caused to another etc etc. Come on Rovermatt you really must try to get a better grasp of reality than you currently appear to possess. Anyway back to the subject matter. What about deliberately elbowing an opponent perhaps? I know which I would rather be the victim of. I didn't say thzzzzzzzz But your comment on catching a grip of reality is spot on.

Indeed. If calling a black guy 'nigger' isn't worthy of an apology then I don't know what is?

Yes, comedians have been doing it for years. Is it not implicit that any 'group' can make fun of itself, but outside jest is frowned upon? Black, Jewish and Irish people have done it for ages.

The Porto president has claimed he will fight Abramovich (someone he has labelled as the worst man in football) to the death for Jose Mourinho.

This Chelsea nonsense is becoming boring.

Ron should neither have resigned nor apologised . In doing so , he has increased the power of those anti democratic elements in society who wish to curb freedom of speech . Hypocrisy reigns . For God's sake Phil, it has nothing to do with any raging liberal sentiments or political correctness (oh no! ) gone overboard. You simply cannot go around calling people 'niggers.' It is common sense and common decency.

My elderly neighbour used to have a dark brown cat she called "Nigger." It was a hell of a cringe when she used to call it in to be fed. And the black labrador owned by the damnbusters. See the exchange about that in Series 1 of The Office. "That was in the the 1940s, before racism was bad." Absolute comedy gold...

Cheeky buggers. I hear their sniffing around Prso also. Get your finger out Souness...

Hardly slanderous , Matt - he was talking to himself (or so he thought) . I wonder how many times I'd have been sacked at work if my every comment had been broadcast to all and sundry........Let he without sin..... I'm not 100% sure myself, when I wrote it I had just been 'engrossed' in a chapter on the the tort of defamation. I was on a roll. Now I understand why the mods are so edgy. So what if black people call each other 'nigger'? I really can't see any justification in a white man using it as a pejorative term. It's nothing to do with raging PC liberalism, it's bloody common sense.

Very true. The tabloid hysteria yesterday ('Bigot Ron' ) was laughable. Yes his unpleasant comments were worthy of a sacking, but he won't be jumping into a pick-up wearing white bed-sheets now that he's been 'outed.' That right-wing rags like The Sun and The Mail can scramble to the moral high ground on such an issue is so ludicrous, it's funny.

Theno, there's no doubt Desailly's elbowing incident was serious and he should be reprimanded by UEFA accordingly (I'm sure he won't be though ) but Atkinson's slur is both slanderous and highly distasteful. There is no way ITV could or should have allowed him to continue as an employee.

I doubt Desailly cares. The man's a multi-millionaire and a French international legend. He's won the European Cup, World Cup and European Championships. A United-supporting buffon like Atkinson shouldn't even feature on his radar.

What a tit. He's useless anyway.

Any of y'all heard the new stuff from Melissa Auf Der Maur? From someone that used to be in Hole, it is surprisingly good. Get hold of the utterly bonkers (but fantastic) Followed the Waves if you can.

My sister bought John Mayer's Room for Squares. It's the sort of music you would hear in the background during Dawson's Creek, but they guy is both a very accomplished musician and song-writer.

The Hendrix version of 'Little Wing' is brilliant (if indeed it's the same song)

My new Incubus album is in the post from Play.com. Should get it next month then.

A question that will no doubt be asked in many a quiz hence.

For any hip-hop fans on here I must recommend Dilated Peoples' Expansion Team. It is an utterly superb sample of the genre, excellent writing, stellar production. It's a must-have if you're into the old Rhythmic American Poetry.