I'm not usually pedantic, but I thought this was quite amusing... The long term is not just here and now its here, now, and at least until Glazier screws up the SkyTv deal or a superleague is formed.

Does the ignore user thread complete wipe out his post, or does it leave a "placeholder" saying something to the effect of "this user is ignored"? Just curious, as I'm thinking about using that feature myself at the moment.... As to this silly "Walker Out" notion. Jack not only shelled out the cash to make Blackburn a successful football club during the title run, but he also invested to make the entire organization financially stable from a business standpoint. Does anyone really think Chelsea is in a stable financial situation based on their current spending? Absolutely not. So why follow them on a path that we cannot sustain? Mortgage the future of the club for glory in the present.... I don't see how any supporter of a club with the history of the Rovers can even think about that. So if Vinjay thinks Jack's plan was to spend all of his money to earn Rovers the title at the expense of the future... Let him believe that foolish nonsense to be the case, as misguided as he is. Personally I look forward to the club continuing to compete in the Premier League for years to come.

Anyone interested in playing tonight? I'll create a table... USRoverME is my screenname there to, so the table name will be something like that

Well the wife is going out tonight, so I'll hopefully be on in a bit! I usualy play on a different site, but I'll give this one a go...

just had my best YP ever... 2800 TSI a 17 y.o. passable keeper that the hottrick tool rates at like a 6.94 if only it had been next week!

Since even with 3 strikers (where I'll have no formation exp) I cant match his central defence, I'm leaning towards 4-5-1 AOW, offensive winbacks, offensive wingers, and offensive IMs. I'm going to try and just lose MF, so that he doesn't get the advantage of CA, and then hope that I can score a chance or two from the wings, which I should be able to get to a point where my attack is only 1 full level rating below his defense.... we shall see.

I'm in a similar position American. I'm #2 right now 2 pts behind the leader, and we square off at his place next week. Winner of the game takes 1st place in the league and has a good chance to taking an auto-promotion spot to div 5, depending on where the point line and GD line falls. So I have to figure out how to beat a defense trainer playing 5-4-1, with a better MF (even though he always CAs) and a defense that pulls out solids in 2 of 3 locations on a routine basis. Luckily he usually pulls his extra CD from the same wing, and has the same weak side in his D. If anyone has some spare time and some advice to give, I'd appreciate it. Match ID 36877110

So let see everytime fans "antagonize" a player, he'll obviously score... So how come evertime we root for our team we don't always win?? Seriously, the fans can make a great atmosphere (for or against a team and or player) but to state that the only reason those 2 scored, and hence why Rovers lost, is because we insulted a couple of millionaires?!?! You need to have your head examined

If ya need help its easiest to do in game.. feel free to HT mail me at any time.... my name is joehouse and I'm Wilderness Wanderers in the USA... I'm fairly new myself, but I can help ya with the basics if you need first advice: read the rules all the way... second advice: read the rules again third advice read sites like hottrick.org and http://www.databased.at/hattrick/index.asp that's where I started from! and good luck

I don't have as much experience as pg for sure... but from what I've been gathering from the conferences... no-one can really answer the question about the loss of supporter numbers because of the recent changes to the formulas. There are stories right now of people promoting and gaining supporters in a higher div even after losing 3 in a row... With the new formula for supporters and attendance, it may not be a serious problem. And since I think I've seen things where the HTs have said they want to make it less appealing to throw promotion games etc... I think the formula changes would treat you better if you promote. I have a feeling that if you are on the low end in terms of fan club size for your division, you'll be hard pressed to lose many supporters over the season. Sure you'll lose some when you lose games, but you should gain quite a few when you win games.... but like I said, this is a guess based on what I've been reading.

Randall, It depends ont he waiting list and the amount of teams that come free... When I joined it took 4-5 days and there wasn't ahuge waiting list (at it was about this time last "season" There aren't many open teams left in england, but w/ a small waiting list, you should be in about that range I'd think...

Anyway, to get away from flittly and back on topic.... *gasp* Waggy, you point about blooding youngsters is well taken, and most on here wold likely agree that giving some young players a short stint in the prem isn't a bad idea. But Surely finishing as high has possible has to be the goal.... Phillipl's point about the difference in money from 17th to 7th place is vital money for us. I doubt that a young player getting 20-30 minutes instead of a full 90 is really going to cost us the same 5 million down the road....

I'm glad the FA saw the light and dropped the charge.... maybe seeing the actions of their celebrated Manure team made them realize Todd wasn't so bad after all! The FA showing some spine.. incredible... still shocked. Hopefully Todd can get some payback from the media, he deserves it!

I believe it was an accident pure and simple.... however, will that really matter to the FA? Sorry no, we'll have to deal without Todd for a few games I'm sure... In terms of evidence (again like the FA cares about that...) there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that it is an accident... but I have to admit the covering I was watching (Fox Soccer Channel here in the US) showed two shots while van persie was being cleaned up that had me thinking it might not have been an accident. Not conclucive evidence, but when everyone hates you (not that we care) evidence is second to public opionion in the court of the media. 1) They had a close of of Todd's face just after impact from direclty in the line of his run... and well, it might have been surprise, but for a bit it looked like Todd had flown off the handle... In fact the commentator had been protesting that it was an accident until he saw todd's face and arm in that shot.... then he wasn't so sure. 2) There was a shot of Todd waiting for the restart. They stayed on him for a minute or so. He had his head down, and had a bit of the look of a child waiting for his father to come home and give him a beating, that look of "oh man, I just messed up big time, and this ain't gonna be pretty..." To everyone saying "well Todd said it was an accident, so it must have been an accident." Sorry, but get real.... If he did do it on purpose, what's he going to say? "Van Persie just scored another goal against us so I decided to plant an elbow in his face. I guess I'm sorry now, but did you see the look on his face when I smashed him up! Yep, he'll think twice before scoring against us again!" He'd be villified for life if he admitted daring to touch an arsenal player on purpose... Good Luck Todd, hopefully nothing happens, but I just don't see the results falling Todd's way.

For some unknown reason my opponent must have MOTS last night as he produced his best MF rating by 2-3 sublevels at home. I ended up losing 3-2 knocking me back into second place 3 pts behind the leaders who I play the last week of the year away, but I doubt I can beat. All in all it's been a good first full season. I didn't really want to promote this year anyways still need to really strengthen my Defence and MF if I expect to survive in a reasonable V series, but with 3 wing trainees nearing formidable, all with potential to reach outstanding early next year, my squad at this time next season should be well placed to promote and survive.

woohoo! good training week....I know have 3 excellent wingers (2 at 17 y.o, one is 18), the other 17 y.o. is a week or 2 behind, and the 18 y.o. should pop next week! Also come to find out that maybe the generalizations for a passable soach being a week per level slower than solid" don't hold for 17 y.o. winger training.... but we shall see....

My players and coach must really not want to promote since for the second week in a row (this time at home) we've "pulled back into the defensive zone" with a 2 goal lead... (this time in the first half!!!) when we are virtuallty tied for first based on GD and Goals scored! augh!

I won 3-1, however I dropped from 1st into 2nd place. The team taking the lead won 3-0. Since we were tied on points and GD before the game, I'm now one behind on GD. (I had first basically cause he's a defense trainer and I had scored more goals...) Could come down to a fun rematch at the end of the season, last game is between him and myself.... On another subject, its frustrating to be stuck behind a team playing 5-4-1(w/ 3 inners) and CA tactics while getting 76 percent of the possesion against some teams in my series....

A point is a point no matter how or when it comes our way. It doesn't have to be pretty, just effective.... look at Nelsen.

And the final words of the live commentary were something to the effect of "There's an hour and a half we'll never have back, we're sorry people" what wit....

Amusing comment on the soccernet.com live commentary:

woohoo, a win tonight, and a shock loss by the first place team puts me in first on goal differential... I might promote a year early since I don't see a loss brewing until potentially a rematch with the team I just passed in the final week of the season. I also had my first YP at solid, and my best YP ever, TSI of 1120, passable passing, but only inadequate in defending and winger... had to TL him, but if he doesn't sell I'll train in winger and sell later.

I agree we are not there yet, and I know optimism is running high, but lets be real here. Supporters getting their hopes up and talking about the next round and the finals is a GOOD thing, not scary. We are playing well, we've got players who look up to it and shouldn't look past the game, what has anyone from the staff or squad done that's scary? I don't see it. Now if hughes or the players start coming out and talkng about how nice Cardiff is this time of year... then I'll worry. Till then, I'm excited about the current form and looking forward to the match!

gotta love soccernet.com Giving us the most important information like: However, there is one aspect of Lancashire life he does not believe he will ever get used to - mushy peas. He said: "These squashed-up peas are the most disgusting things I've ever seen. "They are just rotten and the people at the club now know not to put that anywhere near my plate.'' Nelsen is hughes best signing

NO! Anything more than 3 inner mids will lose training for you. Any formation with more than 3 IMs (or CDs or Forwards) will make you lose training for the whole week, evn from the match with an acceptable formation. Remember that wingers get PM training as well, but only about 50% of the training recieved by an IM. So you can either rotate who gets the 50% (slowing everyone down) or choose some of your trainees to be "long-term" trainees. But don't play 3-6-1 for training!