I disagree. How is the club making a statement of "we made a mistake" going to make someone change their decision of not coming back? It's up to the club to balance the risks of being open an honest in the event that they did screw up, than to make a commercially slanted statement. It is all still speculation of course, but if they did screw up, I would rather they covered it up with a token statement about technical difficulties. That is just as likely, if not more to change someones decision than making an open admission of incompetence.

You have more optimism than I. You know Viduka is going to have a stinker against Crotia. After all, it was touch and go weather he would play for their national team many years back. He seemingly wanted to. Not saying it will be deliberate, but he's going to be a easy target for sledging during that game should he play. I don't think Australia will go through. I am going to keep my feet firmly on the ground, and be happy that they are in the finals after nearly 40 years.

I hope you win. Fiber is good. It keeps you constant

Have you heard Bill Cosby's "Daddy, I need to pee pee" sketch? Basically goes that his wife makes him take his young daughter to an American footy match. His team, who rarely win, are inches away from a touchdown, high tension and all... and his daughter demands to go to the washroom. Sounds like you have a little in common with Mr. Cosby.

Not going to pre-empt anything, because I am not sure how he is playing. But last season, when he switched to the left, Emerton seemed to be far more effective. He provided the cross for Kuqi. Is this happening again?

I think theno's being ironic, seeing as this thread has got legs seemingly out of nothing more than the obvious hometown links Dunn has with Rovers.

I don't know why I read that as Grabbi...

I think the links wrong. This ones about Gallagher.

Just a bit of advice, don't take it personal. You would do better not to choose a professional footballer as a hero. In fact, you would need to apply good judgement when deciding on elevating to hero status, anyone you didn't know personally. I am assuming you don't know Dunn of course.

Does anyone know what illness discussed in this article Dyer has? They make it sound like it is common knowledge, but as far as I can tell, Newcastle announced that Dyer has an illness without elaborating.

It could also be said that you should be using the forward/neutral-quote ('), not the back-quote (`)

Kuqi is one of my favourite current Rovers players. He's like a big version of Dickov, who I also admire for the same reason, a great work ethic. Thankfully, Hughes has instilled a good work ethic throughout the squad. And I don't care what anyone says, he is Premiership standard, because he was deemed fit enough by a premier league club to play in the first team. To me, that is the standard.

And for my compatriots... Eriksson keen to avoid Australia

Australia for me Hope we draw England in the group stage, to guarantee that we get a match against them. I am in Paris for the forseeable future, and if I am still here come the time of the World Cup, I'll be taking that once in a lifetime (hope it's not another 37 years for Australia to qualify though) opportunity to see the Socceroos play in the World Cup finals. Almost forgot... just had a look at the pools for the draw and, does anyone know why Serbia & Montenegro are in a "Special pot"

Was Todd's sending off justified?

No... he's just finished, period.

And can we stop talking about Matt Jansen now? He wasn't even on the subs bench, yet a couple of posters on this thread predicted him to play a part tonight... sadly, he really is well and truly finished, and everyone needs to move on. He'll be all right for the rest of his life, don't worry about him.

the exuberance of youth

I was going to reply at the time that this is quite an idealistic view of the situation. Regardless of how accurate andy's post is, there's little reason to believe Keane wouldn't play for another Premiership club.

Although this thread is probably full of "guidelines" contravening posts, I make a personal plea to let it live mods. Jan vs. Shilito15 is hilarious, and I want more. Go'on Shilito, don't let her have the last word like that

Really? I always think Savage has a more of a squat running style. While I recall Tim Sherwood had a Patrick Viera like (I know... ) up-right running style. But I'm not sure to be honest.

Rest in peace George Best.

Agree with you 100% Paul. Unfortunately, you know that there will be such a period of mourning, *should* Mr. Best die. Caveat emptor other readers. Jim has a background in media, and it is always in the media's best interests to extract the maximum coverage over what I agree is a public interest story. Obviously, I disagree with the "quite right" bit. As unlikely as it seems, I hope Best can somehow pull through, and we won't have to have the discussion.

In your opinion, does Ronahldino exhibit similar attributes? Because watching Madrid, Barca last night, that's what struck me about his second goal.

What was that theno?