LDRover

I'm with you there EIT, we would've declined quite rapidly in a Souness style had Hughes stayed. As you quite rightly say, the pinnacle was when we had a fit and firing Bellamy, since then it got worse and last season was downright awful to watch. No exciting football, players who looked like they were believing their own publicity, a pitiful record at attacking and defending set pieces, no pace throughout the team, an emphasis on counter attacking play without the players to carry it out and when given a lifeline in the last game of the season, a bottle job that Jean Van de Velde would have been proud of. Hughes leaving was the right move at the right time for all parties, of that I have no doubt. Whether the same can be said of Ince's appointment, only time will tell.

Nice one Jim, let me know when he's making his debut at the zoo, I may be enticed along, by the way, who's training him? As for Ashanti Prince, he got a couple of injuries and we decided to retire him. Can I just say that there's a lot of bad publicity of what happens to dogs when they finish racing but our trainer Darren Hampson put us in contact with a good greyhound rehoming kennels in Stoke on Trent. So Ashanti is now enjoying his retirement and we can enjoy the memories of his (all too infrequent!) successes.

A Rover she most certainly is, despite being brought up on the dark side.

Funnily enough Suzanne Geldard is a Rover, and she reports on the apes. Has Paul Plunkett gone now? Don't recall seeing his name or contributions in there for quite a while.

I'm with you brother, we cannot just gloss over his tenure at Newcastle as a 'blip'. The Bolton scenario was something he built from nothing, and all credit to him for that, but he'd be taking over something that needs tuning rather than demolishing and rebuilding here. I don't think he can or will do that.

I'm sure Atko still lives at Jack Key's in Darwen, last time I heard of him he was Stalybridge Celtic assistant manager.

I believe he makes his money on repeat fees of TV Burp these days anyway.

Mokoena really is thick as pigshit.

Just to confirm that the 'Legends of Darts' tour is at King George's Hall on the 20th June. The players participating are John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Peter Evison, Bob Anderson, Cliff Lazarenko, Bobby George, Dave Whitcombe and Keith Deller. Just looked at the website and also noticed that Paul Booth (formerly of the Hordens) is MC for all the tour dates too. Should really put up a link but if you go to the stars of darts forum it's on there somewhere.

I thought Jim Bob had just released a solo album recently? Nevertheless, good to see them back on the road - saw them at the Academy in 1991, they were quality.

And the moral of the story is, never change your mind. Well done with Katchit Hasta, can't believe I jumped off.

With you on Katchit and L'ami Hasta. Good luck to all who are playing. EDIT - Well that's what I thought originally, ended up backing Straw Bear EW and Rippling Ring in the 2.00 for the win. I've binned L'Ami, here's hoping I don't regret it.

Just hope that Katchit can prevail in the Champion Hurdle, must have a chance. Also quite interested in Straw Bear at a price...have a feeling the Irish might just get turned over in this one. Can only be Kauto Star in the Gold Cup for me Hasta and his 2nd successive Betfair Million pounds. Find it hard to believe he's still odds against on Betfair - buying money for me that is. Not really looked at the rest of the card closely yet, will get down to it tonight.

Mughli on curry mile is bang on, great food and service. Also like La Tasca on Deansgate. Best Italian restaurant I've been to has to be Carlo's in Colne, if you can put up with the area and gobshited nature of the natives it's well worth a visit. Good shout for Dean's Cafe though - always good to get a shoe shine off the rats in the toilets.

It's those Uncle Jack's FC boys on a Sunday after the game. Tight as submarine doors they are - the lot of 'em.

Nice one Jim, hope it goes well for you.

Have it on good authority that King George's Hall has been confirmed as a venue for the forthcoming 'Legends of Darts' tour this summer. Dates are not confirmed as yet though. Players confirmed are Bristow, Deller, Whitcombe, Bobby George and John Lowe with more to follow and will take a similar format to the current PDC Premier League. Should be a good night - I'll certainly be going.

Congratulations to the consummate pro John Part, never was a title more deserved and as 3 time champion he can quite rightly be called a legend of the sport. Although the averages were lower than usual this was more than compensated for by how competitive the games were, there were very few one sided games..the final unfortunately being one of them. Now it's on to the BDO event at Frimley Green on Saturday where, contrary to the diatribe spouted by some in the PDC (who should know better) the standard of play will be comparable to what was seen at the Ally Pally. Only thing different IMO is the standard of coverage and the razzmatazz, Martin Fatzmaurice's intro's don't hold a candle to John McDonald's and no-one's got a better walk on than Mardle. However, should be good entertainment all the same and my money (for what it's worth) is on the boring Yorkshireman with the fat wife , John 'Boy' Walton.

England are sh1te, let's move on.

The Sun, page 21 , column one from Saturday 24th November. Headline - "Swan is hardest in Britain" Story of a swan who's been attacked by a pellet gun, crossbow and air rifle and lived to tell the tale. Never been a swan fan but the question is, could a goose have taken such punishment? I'm not so sure. Respect for the swan.

stymieing , contemporaneously , meritocracy. Is it just me???

This is a cracking tournament as far as averages go. Barney and Wade both averaged over 100 yet still lost. Of the others, Jenkins, Taylor, Scholten and McDine have all been averaging over 100 consistently. Mark my words, if the boy McDine plays as he did last night against Wade and keeps his bottle he will win this tournament. He was absolutely outstanding last night. Watch out for Scholten though, an average of over 107 last time out and he's looking crisp on his doubles. That allied to his usual scoring power makes him very dangerous indeed. Then there's Taylor's old nemesis Johnny Part, he's a live danger too. Darts - it's the new rock 'n' roll doncha know.

You say bare minimum but when you look at the FIFA rankings we ended up where we should be (ie- ranked 5th-8th got to quarter finals). It's time we took a leaf out of the jocks' book and lowered our sights. One major title in history does not make us a shoe in for every major tournament, we're actually not very good. As for good luck, I don't call losing in two consecutive penalty shootouts as good luck. In my opinion Eriksson will go down in history as a poor manager only because of his nationality and nothing to do with his achievements with the team. Remember that Venables played only 5 meaningful internationals (all at Wembley) and only won 2 in regulation time. He had no arduous qualification games as England were the home nation yet he's still revered as some God like genius in regard to football management. Baffles the hell out of me. 50 million does help, granted, so what excuses do Curbishley and all the previous managerial incumbents at Newcastle have?

How did Sven get 'found out'? Only took us to every major tournament, something all Englishmen would go a bundle on this morning if it was true. I notice he's not doing too bad at club level right now either.

Just keep your eyes peeled in the next few days now for Teflon Tel to use the media to distance himself from this shambles. It's as much that wide boy's fault as anyone. Anyway, what shouldn't be forgotten is the way that the media basically hounded Eriksson out and clamoured for an English manager. Sometimes you've got to be careful what you wish for.