Craig Short now a manager in Hungary

Presumably lifted from Saturday's programme! Ferencvaros sounds impressive but they're not what they were, towards the foot of the table and having games abandoned due to fan riots. It will be a challenge but that's when you usually get the break to be a manager.

I Was A Teenage Armchair Honved Fan is an early Half Man Half Biscuit track, I guess the title was (as usual with HMHB) an homage to an existing cultural reference, in this case a 50's shlock movie I Was A Teenage Werewolf. HMHB are from the Wirral (God I sound like AESF now) and are well known Tranmere Rovers fans, football playing a recurring role in themes in their music.

E.G.

Friday Night (And the gates are low)-a reference to Tranmeres habit of playing on Friday night.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit

And my own favourite football/HMHB reference, Even Men with Steel Hearts, which has the line "Even Men with Steel Hearts Love to see a Dog On The Pitch"

Spot on Oz. I knew there would be at least someone on here who would pick it up.

They used to let their support of Tranmere get in the way of possible rock stardom. They famously refused to appear on a popular music programme in Newcastle one Friday night (The Word?) as it clashed with a Tranmere home game.

I see from yesterday's match programme that Craig Short is the new manager at Ferencvaros. Of no interest to me as I was a teenage armchair Honved fan

My boss is a huge fan of Wagamama, I could take it or leave it.

I too am ambivalent about Wagamama - it's Ok but doesn't fill me with enthusiasm. Tampopo, on the same model in Albert Square, is better in my view.

Apologies if this is somewhere else on the thread but Simon Barker is now Head of Delegate Liaison (?) at the PFA and is a trustee of the National Football Museum in Preston - for those fans who remember the last time we had to sell our best players to survive.

Cheers Tris - is it expensive there anyone know?!

Hughesy - how about following the link and reading the menu?

Gord, hat did you reckon to the Duk? I have heard it is good but your expert opinion would assist. I am looking for a Preston based venue for a business meal next week, I would normally go to the Chop House but fancy a change.

Mike, if you need to be in the centre of town then Mr Heathcote's place would still be the best option if you want a good meal in quality surroundings - it's been rebranded as the Grill Room at the Olive Press but is little changed otherwise. If you can move a little out of town Inside Out on Higher Walton Road in Walton-le-Dale has been good the few times I've been there, although it's been a while. There's Thyme at the Sirloin, (which you could walk to from home!) and Gordon's recommendation of San Marco in Much Hoole is a good one if it's not too far out and quality Italian is OK.

Stanley House restaurant last night. Not for the people with voracious appetites seeking value for money but a superb and relaxed dining experience all the same. I could feed a family of 4 for a fortnight for about the same cost of course but the food was excellent and very imaginative and the setting discreet and selective. A very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere overall and one imo that is rather more favourable than it's great rival Northcote, where in my experience the staff are rather too stuffed shirt, overly invasive and a tad intrusive on what really should primarily be a 'social experience' rather than a 'Northcote experience'. Stanley House is costly of course as one would expect from any 5 star but if the drinks are kept in moderation the overall cost is not too bad for a special occasion. Alternatively if the drinks are to be free flowing and excessive then consider increasing your home loan to cover it.

I'll have to diagree with you about Northcote Manor. I've only been to Stanley House once and that was a while ago so I may be out of date but it seemed good but not great value for the price. On the other hand we were at Northcote on Monday for the wife's birthday and it was almost faultless, if breathtakingly expensive. I found the staff pretty relaxed, certainly no pretensions of grandeur that you often get at Michelin places. The tomato comsomme, ostensibly the filler course to make his Great British Menu into 5 courses, was simply outstanding.

Not really for this thread but I can't think where else to put it. I got a mailing from Northcote Manor the other day with some lunch offers and there is a location map which shows everywhere within 30 miles but completely misses Burnley - hats off to Nigel!

btw San Marco Much Hoole Sat night. Good food, good ambience and excellent value. Pity it's quite a long drive.

I've been to the San Marco a couple of times - both excellent - and it's only 10 minutes from home for me!

Anyone going in for him would probably get him at a substantial discount to the 5.8m Newcastle paid for him, but I still reckon they'll have to pay him a very handsome wage indeed.

The key is whether the Geordies can sack him or not. They should be able to because they should have amended his contract when they agreed to keep him after prison to allow dismissal for a further transgression but this is Newcastle we're talking about so god knows. If they can sack him I would have thought they would do so that they can save his wages for the remainder of his contract. That number would be a lot bigger than his transfer fee, which I suppose they could try pursuing him for through the courts a la Chelsea and Mutu, but I suspect that would be difficult.

If he's sacked and out of work he's suddenly both a hell of a lot more affordable and a club could write his contract such that it's ripped up with any further offence.

As Barton is reportedly on about 65k p.w. at Newcastle I would have thought this is just a bit of lazy journalism - simply linking him to Sam.

Can't see there's a cat in hell's chance of us actually signing him.

Given Newcastle are currently looking at ways of sacking him I would think his current salary is completely irrelevant. I don't think I want him either but I don't think not being able to afford him will be a problem.

Anyone evar been to The Mulberry Tree at Wrightington, just off juntcion 27 of the m6?

Going today for meal with the missus. Meant to be expensive though? is it?

It's excellent - I've been a few times. Modern British, similar to Heathcotes. Not cheap but decent value for the quality you get.

Blimey John I had you down for a PussyCat Dolls guy!

You were a long way out there Oz! These days I only really seem to listen to world music, although that said that's a hell of a broad church. I'll listen to pretty much anything out of west Africa in particular, especially Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam, Baaba Maal, Bassekou Kouyate etc. Still have plenty of time for the likes of Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, Brain Wilson and Leonard Cohen as well though.

I'm off to see Ojos de Brujo tonight in Liverpool - possibly the worlds' only Catalan flamenco/hip hop fusion band. Looking forward to a serious party night.

Anyone got any new films that they recommend?

Iv heard a few people mention a irish gang type film to be good "15 dead man walking" or "50 dead man walking" or summet.

Anyone seen it?

In The Loop, from Armando Ianucci, the maker of the satirical political TV show The Thick of It. Completely hilarious and featuring Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker, the world's most inventive swearer. You might have to search around for it though.

Yep, that interview happened Paul. Think John Helm (? Yorkshire TV's Sports presenter) presided. There was a documentary on ITV earlier this week - you might find it kicking around on one of the 'watch again' facilities, I think ITV have one these days - where part of the interview was shown. Incidentally, Michael Sheen also portrayed Kenneth Williams excellently in a 'documentary' before he did the Tony Blair thing.

I think it was Austin Mitchell, then Yorkshire TV presenter, now maverick MP for Grimsby.

Went to see The Damn United last night. I think it's difficult to asses a film which claims to give a true account when as the general public we can only be sure of some of the facts. It's a good film, occassionaly touching the real passion of football, it certainly paints a vivid picture of professional football in the late 60s/ mid 70s - you forget the terrrible grounds, the awful pitches and the thuggery of Leeds Unted! Martin Sheen captures, in flashes, Clough's public face which we all know. I don't think the film was unkind to him but I don't know what the family's objections to David Peace's book are. Good stuff, not brilliant but well worth seeing.

I've not seen the film yet but have read the book. The book is very dark and it's understandable that the family do not approve. I understand from reviews that the film is much lighter and kinder to Clough. In any event it's important to remember that both the book and the film are fiction, although based on real events - neither is claiming to give a true account.

See above post.

Back to it's best, as it should be at £120 for 2 people although that did include a little wine.

The only down side was the waitress telling me that it is David Cameron's favourite Manchester eating place.

And the place was packed out, which is a suprise for a Tuesday night.

You can keep control of the bill at Yang Sing by asking them to choose the dishes for you - you just give them a per person budget, tell them what you like and don't like and leave it to them. You will get stuff you would not have tried otherwise - we had razor clams last time which were amazing.

The supermarkets screw down the prices so much that producers have in many cases no option but to cheat and then screw huge prices out of misguided consumers. The term 'Fair Trade' when uttered in the same sentence as the word 'supermarket' is laughable and should really start within our own shores. There is little 'fair' in the tactics used by supermarkets in bludgeoning their suppliers until the pips squeak and screwing ever increasing profits that do not make it to the shelf and the consumer but rather to the pockets of the shareholders. Le Chuck no offence meant but the naivety displayed in your post is staggering.

Whilst you're right about the disgraceful way the major supermarkets deal with food suppliers in the UK, Le Chuck is absolutely right about FairTrade. This is a specific term which can only be used for products approved by the FairTrade Foundation. It relates to products from Third World countries which carry a guaranteed fixed premium over world market prices and also a small social premium, both of which are used for community development. I have been to Cuba to see the operation of FairTrade in orange juice production and am off to Southern India in four weeks to meet FairTrade tea producers. It's still relatively small scale in world market terms but it does work and should be supported.

For me the term "organic" has become catch all for better quality, taste and planet saving. It isn't neccessarily so and the whole issue of quality, sustainability, environment, climate change is extraordinarily complex. The difficulty I have with the whole thing is retailers are using a whole bunch of catchphrases, which actually mean nothing to persuade us to buy their product – fairtrade, organic, locally grown, traditional etc. I could bang on for hours. Consider two: where is the logic in buying organic French beans from Kenya in December? Sainsbury's promote locally grown produce. It's true it is grown locally, the phrase "locally grown" hides the fact it's shipped 100 miles to a distribution centre before being shipped back into the local area!!!! It's travelled 200 miles to get to the store but it was grown locally.

Great post Paul and I agree with the majority of your points - buying locally, in small quantities and often, preferably from as near to the grower as you can get, will generally be far superior. Even better, grow it yourself where you can.

I thought the same as you regarding air-freighted vegetables from Africa until I read Fred Pearce's book - Confessions of an Eco Sinner. The bookn is about travels to find our where his food and clothing comes from. On one trip he goes out to Kenya to see the green beans operation and comes back convinced he should buy more! Not enough space to go into the full reasons why but in a nutshell the extra carbon foorprint of the air freight is greatly outweighed by the benefits to the local communities that are growing the beans - it's proper development, allowing people who were previously at subsistence level to become self sufficient and set themselves on the road to proper economic development. There are much the same arguments to be made about fairtrade products as well. The majority of fairtrade foodstuffs on sale in the UK are crops that cannot be grown commercially in the UK and the fairtrade premiums provide a way for poor farming communities to get themselves out of poverty. I have met orange juice producers in Cuba so can be rather boring on the subject if you want!

At the other extreme, my wife treated me to dinner at Northcote Manor last night for my birthday - extraordinarily wonderful but not a regular event unless you have shedloads of money. Last night was a mystery gourmet and wine evening where we had to guess what we were eating and drinking - we were hopeless but it was terrific fun. We ate food we would probably never have tried if choosing from a menu but it was excellent - arctic char from Loch Ness, beef sweetbreads and goat from Cockerham!

Thyme at Houghton is very good. It's above some pub or other that I can't remember the name of.

It's the Sirloin Paul.

Just back from Glastonbury. Didn't really see Winey Amehouse as I was working in the WaterAid tent as a volunteer at the time. Thought The Verve were very average, but it might have been the comparison with Leonard Cohen who was on immediately before - his set was extraordinary, although I believe armchair viewers couldn't see him. Outstanding sets also from Balkan Beat Box, The Blockheads, Martha Wainwright, Cerys Matthews and the Handsome Family - probably none of these on the tele either. I was curious about Jay-Z - whilst it's not really my type of music he is a great showman and the first 5 minutes was a brilliant response to Noel Gallagher's ridiculous comments. There is a pretty good rule of thumb for most years - the best stuff happens miles from the big stages. You just have to be there - come along next year!

i had a discussion with a mate of mine,who is a drummer.i wanted to know who the best drummer is?i reckon its Akira Jimbo he says Thomas Lang.

what do you guys think?

Tony Allen comfortably.

I was reading an edition of Lancashire Life yesterday. It was last years edition, but there was an article about Craig Short in it.

He talked about his 6 yrs at Blackburn and said they were the 6 best years of his life. He also recalled living on a boat in the Lakes and driving down to Brockhall for training, then returning afterwards. He never liked golfing like most other players and always loved sailing. He's now [or was last year] running a sailing school at Windermere. He's also taking a coaching badge as back up, in case he ever feels the need to go back into football.

I've read an article about him in the last few months (can't remember where). He seems to be completely committed to sailing now. As well as the Windermere stuff he has been taking boats around the Med and even across the Atlantic.