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.

What struck me about this "alleged" incident was that the nig... sorry , coloured person , felt empowered enough to get out of his car and hurl grossly offensive (to some) insults at the two white blokes confident in the knowledge , I suspect , that the colour of his skin would deter him from getting a thoroughly deserved kicking.

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.

Indeed.

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

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.

And the "Ron is old so eh says that kind of thing" is another crap argument.  Most people of Ron's generation do not use that kind of racist language.

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.

Ron says that when he was younger phrases like "nigger brown" were commonplace,

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...

Mind-boggling transfer, but it's about to happen.

The player is in Manchester talking to Sam Allardyce at the moment.

Cheeky buggers.

I hear their sniffing around Prso also.

Get your finger out Souness...

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.

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.

Whats up Jim? Have you just seen the wicket you`ll be playing on this weekend?

AS calls it the nanny state and I call it the cotton wool syndrome.

You, yourself have called Londoners names over the years. You racist.

Sorry Jim, even though we won`t condone what Ron said, we still won`t bite at a seriously sensationalised story that your sort love.

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.

I just hope for Atkinsons sake the masses don't take the moral high ground-holier than tou attitude, and start slating him.

The guys made a big mistake, I'm sure he knows that more than anyone and obviously regrets it big time, but some of the stuff I have read, admittedly in the tabloids, regarding Atkinson is ridiculous.

One outburst dosen't make him a racist, and I just hope that this incident dosn't give redundant scribes the chance to tarnish football with the racist brush again, lets face it slagging football has been flavour of the year for many 'journalists'.

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.

I see that you obviously missed the match MB.  I suggest you watch a re-run of Desailly elbowing Morientes.  All this other stuff is just a case of sticks and stones mate,  words no matter how offensive they are viewed are not as dangerous as that assault with his elbow.

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 wonder what Desailly most think

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.

There's a good story emerging over Ron Atkinson, who has had to resign from ITV Sport after making an off-air racist comment following last night’s game between Chelsea and Monaco.

Apparently, the words "Desailly", "nigger", "useless" and "f*****" were used, though not necessarily in that order.

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.

Surely you weren't shocked that after equalising after 87 minutes that we still lost?

Back on track though, have you ever heard 'Little Wing?'

It's amazing.

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

Purchased the new Incubus and Lost prophets albums, both of them are really good.

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

One of the "joys"(?) of having children is that I can legitimately watch TOTP now and again; did anyone see the strangulation of "Comfortably Numb" this week?

It was total sh**e - who the bloody hell are the scissors sisters?

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.

Been listening to plenty of Jungle/drum & bass, big fan of Grooverider!!

Also am enjoying listening to DJ Shadow!!!

Any other Drum & Bass / Breakbeat fans???

DJ Shadow is pure class, "Number Song" and "Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt" from Endtroducing / "Blood On The Motorway" and "You Can't Go Home Again" from The Private Press being personal faves. If you are into d & b you should check out Photek, the early stuff is very minimalist but Solaris is more expansive.

Then you must download the 'Cops 'n' Robbers remix' of 'Stem.' He samples Heat. It is soaring stuff.