broadsword

Perhaps there's a threshold beyong which extra height is of no benefit. I've never seen him have to leap to head the ball, he's always crouching (sorry) down to meet it. You can't get the same sort of power if you're doing that (I think). If they stuck the ball higher in the air and he leaped for it, he's have to get over it to head it down, otherwise he'd put it into the nearest block of flat.

That was a poor header he got in, you know the one where he should've scored but headed at the 'keeper, you could tell in his face afterwards that he knew. Thought he did OK at the time, but then again I'm used to players doing poorly for England. He'd be better off at basketball, his height confers no advantage in football and he's OK on the deck and can pass, but that's a minimum requirement for a top-flight attacker surely?

Is that the sort of note where the ink runs off? Mike Phelan still is a coach at Old Trafford isn't he?

So ... not Mike Phelan then? :-)

Tut tut tut, you should only say things on the web that you'd say face to face. Or do you regularly go around casting aspersions on people's sexuality just because their views aren't coincidental with your own outdated, misogynistic, smutty outlook. Look this one up: clunt.

... especially in Burnley.

Yeah, maybe we'll scrape 14th or 15th.

Being very pessimistic, it might become apparent that Hughes is the only one who can keep Bellamy on the straight and narrow. If results don't pick up and Hughes is sacked, Bellamy is one of the few class acts we have, would a caretaker be able to keep him onside? Quite clearly, scoring goals is a major problem for us, none of our strikers can hit the target (out of 6 games thus far). If we'd scored before Newcastle did, it would've been a very different story. We don't appear to have teh right grouping of players around Bellamy to bring out the best in him, so why did we buy him? Bring back Tony Parkes!

We have absolutely no cutting edge up front, none whatsoever. No threat in the 18-yard box. Newcastle weren't much better despite the 50 mill that they've spent. They weren't an individual team, they were a team of individuals. And it's they who should be villified as the bully-boys, they should've been down to 10 before they scored. Our strikers still haven't scored. Jansen played OK, so I am hoping for a miracle and he comes back to form after 2.5 years. Do you win the Texaco Cup for drinking a pint of the stuff? Batten down the hatches because we are in trouble. Again.

Exactly which million-pound earners will be out of contract? I seem to have this idea that Amoruso still has a year to go. And I bet the players that remain are hardly paupers, either.

I wasn't making a judgement on it, was just mentioning that it didn't surprise me, we have so few people attending that we can't afford to let some peple in for free. From what I was reading it seems carers get in free at most clubs, and at some clubs they let disabled fans in for nothing as well. Without wishing to pore over the figures, if attendances have been gradually increasing and this couldn't be sustained, then surely the figures would plateau, given that TV exposure is fairly constant and ticket prices not increasing *that* much? In any case, can you say for definite that there's been a gradual increase, and that this is now being met with a gradual decrease? My bet is that attendances showed a sudden jump in the early 'nineties as football became cool again (SKY TV/ Italia '90/ Premiership), and we're now possibly seeing a corresponding fall. The problem is that contracts are a commitment and you can't just tell employees: "revenues are falling, so we're lowering wages", it don't work like that. What comes after a boom?

Will this be the first game in which one of our strikers gets a goal?

"Lancashire All-stars" anyone?

I thumbed through someone else's copy on the train (no, really) and apparently Rovers are one of 6 or so clubs that charge supporters full whack, which is no more than what Chelskov are doing. Whether this is true or not, and whether it's right or not I don't know, but I'm not surprised with our attendances! I think football may well end up disappearing up its own bum. It's like a Mexican stand-off, no-one wants to break the illusory scenario that the financial fantasyland they inhabit is profitable, it's like an involuntary cartel, arranging to pay parasites and footballers far beyond their worth from an ever-shrinking pot of money. There was something in the 'paper this week about a very big blot on the horizon ... the EU may force Sky to only show 50% of live fixtures as it has a monopoly. Result? Man Utd etc auction their own rights off individually, Blackburn et al see a big reduction in their TV revenues (will anyone actually bother showing their games), and suddenly an even-bigger hole appears in the finances. With players on lucrative contracts which must either be honoured or paid-up, how the hell does the hole get plugged as expenditure will stay the same? Or will Rovers attract gates of 5,000 paying £100 each?

On the contrary, I'm well-chuffed that we won. I just think it's over-the-top. There's no "one extra day", we've milked it for one day, full stop. It's the opposite side of the coin to recreational grief ("Princess Di syndrome"), people feel they have to be seen to be celebrating, and the more of a celebration they can make of it, the better. It comes around every 18 months for gawd's sakes!

Would have to agree. I know it's been 18 years, but this sort of malarkey is not in keeping with cricket, leave it to the footballers, cricket doesn't need hype. Playing Jerusalem as we go onto the pitch as well, what the hell is that all about? Should we have fireworks go off every time a wicket falls. Village greens, stale beer, the Sun setting on the British Empire, the sound of willow on leather. That's cricket. Leave the razzamatazz to the Yanks. Or will we have an open-bus tour in 18 months time if we retain them?

Agreed. Despite all the years of pain, if you can't be a good sport, don't bother. Trust a Murdoch employee to pander to the basest tribal instincts. Shane Warne, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and co, you're great players (though McGrath's not always a good sport, is he? ), and it's a bit poor not to recognise the quality of the other side and devalue things with boorish chants. Let's hope the next series is as fun. How it could possibly live up to this standard I don't know. But jeez, this one's been good.

Chew on that, Terry Alderman, swivel on your Aluminium bat, Dennis Lillee, and look up to the skies and have a good blink Allan Border, because England got you beat, B'WANAS! To paraphrase Darth Vader: What a ###### fantastic day. It's seen the end of Kenobi and will soon see the end of the Aussie rebellion.

Sounds about right Den. At least then they'll know what they're facing. Easier to take English wickets than try to build a large lead in these conditions, and with limited time.

Unbelievable really that Newcastle, with all their star players could lose at home to Fulham. Should be an interesting 2nd half.

Nothing to do with Cooley, then?

Show me a man who laughs at defeat and I'm show you a Jamaican chiropodist with a sense of humour!

Just guess, but "lexia" probably comes from the same word stem as "lexicographer", so probably means "words", and "dys" means "not" (I think, as in dysfunctional). "Dyspraxia" is someone who's bleeding clumsy.

You could always send the link?

Didn't even bother watching it.