Ha ha! Yeah, that'd go down a storm with Leeds. "We know you're skint, but do you mind if we have him on loan for a season? Whaddya mean 'get knotted'?" Well Ipswich loaned out Bent, and WBA did the same with Roberts. But I guess if there was any chance of it happening it would have done so by now.

Can't say that I did. It looked to me that he made a half-arsed attempt at a save he that he knew he had no chance of making because of his gormless positioning.

His injury problems are a real concern - apparently he stopped playing internationals (the dastard!) because the extra games would have shortened his playing career. I'd much rather we got him on loan for a season first to try before we buy - like Babbel, for instance.

I haven't heard anything about this. How very odd. Any reason given?

Maybe he remembers Pete Townsend from his childhood? who? (Groan)

Erm, quite...

I was 6 years old in 1989 I can't remember much to be honest. My point is that if that incident hadn't occured, another scapegoat would have been found to sling mud at - the guy that broke Rooney, for instance, or, failing to find an external one, the Beckham canes could have been dusted down after 6 years.

Oh, do they not count? And saying there would have been no 'outrage' had such a goal gone in at the other end - you're kidding yourself.

I'd rather Fergie be made the captain now rather than him having the arm band in every game except the few that Flitty plays. Remember Liverpool having three players going to pick up the UEFA cup first? Farcical. I feel sympathy for Flitty, who has been a magnificent servant, but no room for sentimentality and all that.

SLIPKNOT - NOOOOOOOOOO I saw those nasty clown people at the Carling festivel a few years back. The lead singer has got a good voice if he would just stop screaming half way through a song. Check out his solo effort 'Bother' (which was then adopted by his equally lamentable offshoot, Stonesour) on the first Spiderman soundtrack. A very nice tune it is. This is actually a reply to the quoted post, I couldn't be bothered going back to find it. Ahem, anyway, there's few things get on my tits more than slagging of singers because they scream/screach out the lyrics. It's as much a form of singing as any other, except a lot harder to sustain. I'm no fan of Slipknot, but Corey Taylor has a masterful voice. How the singers in bands like Arch Enemy, In Flames and Childern of Bodom can sing in that style for more than a few verses and still be able to talk astounds me.

Computer's been in the shop since Friday, so this si the first I've seen of this thread. The treatment of Meier (for making the correct decision, I hasten to add) has been shocking, and typical of the Enlgish gutter press*. You can set your watch by this sort of thing - England go out, scapegoat must find. Ask yourself this - if an identical 'goal' had been scored at the other end of the park, and Mr Meier had allowed it to stand, would the "England Robbed By Blunder Ref" headlines still have been written? I think so. *Ian Wright's reaction in the studio afterwards was both disgusting and hilarious in equal volumes. "He's a cheat". What a ######.

Why did my computer pick last night of all nights to be on the blink? I can't believe I missed all of this. How about a poll to see who wants to let him back on for the benefit of those that missed out on the proceedings?

Just wait it out, matt. Take a few deep breaths.

Did I ever tell you you're my favourite?

Back from the Sweden Rock Festival, it was a great few days of rock/metal. On the first day Judas Priest were superb reunited with Rob Halford and the setlist included none of the dreadful songs they recorded with Tim Owens. The current Helloween line up did a great job of being a tribute band performing all the original band's songs. Friday had less of the good bands but there were a few pleasant surprises, such as Danger Danger. What I saw of Monster Magnet before I abandoned them to go watch the excellent Brainstorm was pretty impressive. Exodus were pretty good too. The final day was the day though - Lost Horizon were band of the festival despite only having a 40 minute set (plus we met Stefan Elmgren and Oscar Dronjak from Hammerfall in the crowd) and Children of Bodom were pretty great too. The second last band I saw (In Flames were on afterwards, but who wants to see a bunch of overweight sell outs?) were Nightwish who were really good even if I didn't know half of the songs (although the bass player did see fit to puke some "George Bush isn't a nice man" nonsense over us after they covered Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction). This last part I'm going to type with certain trepidation around these parts, but the headliners Europe were a big surprise - they were actually good! It turns out all their songs aren't synthy Final Countdown-style nonsense. It was a great atmosphere in a huge crowd of Swedes going crazy over the local heroes. Now to make good my escape before fleming savages me.

....the mind boggles.

It was probably, like most of the 'documentary', staged, but the point is a good one.

Probably quite a lot in Russia.

There's a difference between rivalry an abject (and foundationless) hatred. It's funny, but Old Firm fans (yes, them again) seem to be the only ones to get castigated for taking rivalry 'too far' becuase religion is drawn into the equation. But, hating a club to the extent that you hate people from the town just because of where they're from, isn't that just as bad? And compromising the future of one of our brightest young stars because we can't bear to see him at such a club? Ridiculous. Personally, i've never met a person from Burnley, but all joking aside it doesn't make them bad people (well, except for the BNP ones...).

Korn over Slayer? :shakes head:

How were Slayer and Cradle of Filth Cornwall? (If you saw them). And what's up with Lars - not that I've got any real sympathy for him. EDIT> Lots of credit to Lombardo and Jordison, two of my favourite metal drummers (even if Slipknot are pretty cack), and neither get any real recognition for their skills - both of them are better than Ulrich in any case.

Hope your form continues - you said the same about Stead!

Good news this week: Creed are gone and, hopefully, never coming back. Bad news this week: Evenessence have a new single out already. Cue much slavering over the faux-goth pop act from 'disillusioned' teens (read, spoilt little west-end goblins in a strop cause they were told to wash the dishes).

Hmm I think you'll find they've scored about the same amount of goals for Scotland, Crawford maybe edging it - he has got more caps after all. But then, judging by your closing comment you probably don't support Scotland just now because we aren't doing very well, eh?

You've never watched him play, have you? my mate saw him loads at city and he says he gives 100% but very little else ,he thinks hes one of the worst strikers ever to wear a city shirt....my thoughts are ???mmmmmmmm???not sure,i know when ive seen him ive never once thought that lad lad would be good for rovers. My point was more that he's clearly a player with pace, unlike the one AndyC must be thinking of. I've seen him playing for Scotland and I'm certainly impressed with his workrate - he hasn't scored many goals for us, but he has proved that he can score goals in the premiership.