Been talking to Barry from work, he did the Q & A on last year's match. He reckons it's a 0-0. or a 1-0 to either side. I can't argue with that, let's hope it's a 1-0 to us

OK, but your comment doesn't cover close ball control which is a different matter all together and is the point that I am trying to make. There seems to be an overwhelming, and completely unscientific assumption that tall players have no ball control. Sorry, but it is just a fallacy perpetuated by the whole football industry which seems to beleive its own rubbish. If it thought through the assumption then it would take as read that shorter players have good ball control. We'd laugh at that one. Look at this for a collection of half-arsed garbage crouch-a-saurous Just like the excuse that players who jump for a header with their elbows smacking into an opponent's face are doing it for "leverage." I didn't take any physics exams, but I know it's complete tummy rubbish.

If you are 6'5" tall then, OK, you should have a bit of an advantage with the balls that come in at 6' 7". But my question was "why should you be a better header of the ball?" Sorry, but that just doesn't hold water. I know it's been repeated ad-nauseum but it is, to my mind, a myth. Why on earth should a short person have better ball-control than a tall person?

American, Jim is right, Crighton is a writer of fiction. There is almost unanimous agreement in the independent scientific community that global warming is here and it's real. Have a look at the top story in the respected New Scientist magazine and then type "global warming" in its search engine. You'll find some very sobering articles. Including this one

Just a few questions: (A) How tall has a player have to be before he is considered a "tall lad" (or any varient?) We really need to know. Imperial is preferable. 6' 3" seems about the lower limit to me. What do you reckon? ( Why is the "tall lad" assumed to have a natural born ability to head a ball better than anyone shorter? © Why does the "tall lad" allways get described as "For a tall lad he has good feet." Has anyone ever said "for a short fella he's got really poor feet?" Or the alternatives: "For a tall lad he has poor feet," or "For a short fella he's got really good feet." ] Aaaaah, for a tall lad he's very left-footed. (D) And as double corollory to (2) "That was a really poor header from Dickov. But that's not surprising since he's such a short fellow." Who ever says that? (E) Why is the "tall lad" assumed to have a natural born ability to jump "x" centimeters off the ground level more than a shorter person?

So why have these squirrels suddenly decided to become upside-down moles? Maybe get some moles and unsettle the squirrels? Or just catch them, shave their tails and get the rat man in.

I was at Ewood, Lucas Neill looked his usual self which is why he has been our first choice right full back since he was signed by Souness four years ago. It's easy to criticise defenders without explaining why. But let's face it, he's ideal for Liverpool. Their left side will be having their bowels turning to water when the teams are announced.

I suppose one answer is that you can "sell" your ST for a game that you can't go to. Obviously to someone you can trust not to get you banned. Or does anyone share their ST? Ten games each, or something like that? No doubt BRFC would have a hissy fit but there's not a lot it could do about it. BTW, congratulations on the ducks not evolving into geese and swans. Well done all concerned.

But be careful not to have a pop at the red squirrel [url= Aaaagh, bless.

There's "fast" and there's brick sh1t-house coming at you. If you are a defender there may not be time to mull over the nuances Re Matty: why hasn't he been loaned out again to get some decent games under his belt. Surely there must be clubs out there who would love to take a player of his calibre and give him a few games. Send him to Stockport County, it's next door to where he lives and he could enjoy himself taking the mickey out of division 1 defenders.

guardian report - quite nice shillitoe, can you please take that fit-inducing signature elsewhere. Please.

What was the name of that French forward who signed for Newcastle? Translated as "galloping horse" or something similar. He was their Grabbi. "Limping donkey" would have been more appropriate.

You don't really have the faintest idea how the planning system works do you? If it is Then how on earth does it make it to a national newspaper? That would be Local Authority Councillors. Then they would have to justify their decisions in front of a Public Inquiry. The Inspector would take into account the likes of "Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas" and all the other Planning Policy Statements. But never mind all that stuff. It's all "unspoken Government policy." No doubt you think Elvis is alive and feeding eels to the Loch Ness monster.

Shilitoe. Please drop it.

Sorry Phil, but your conjecture that there is some kind of secret agenda is just that. A conjecture. Unless of course you have a high placed mole in the ODPM. There are about 1.6m planning applications made per year in this country. Central Government deals with about 100 of them. There is a Parliamentary statement describing which applications are referred to The First Secretary Of State, it excludes just about everything bar a petrol refinery on top of Sca Fell. The remainder are dealt with by Local Planning Authorities. I don't suppose that you have ever heard of "Planning Policy Statement 7: Sustainable Development in Rural Areas", nor the other Planning Policy Statements covering a range of planning issues. Most of which have a history going back about 20 years. They are advice to LPAs. Not sure why you have dragged fox hunting into this

Here's another one from football365 which is so United-centric it could have been written by RFW. But it isn't going to spoil my weekend

Looks like I'm the first one back from the game. A lovely feeling walking back to my bike which was tethered at the top of Sir Matt Busby Way surrounded by a few thousand Red Scum supporters griping and a moaning like hell. And then zooming past the cars with the passengers reading the A-Z as they head back to Surrey or, if the plates are to be beleived, back to Ireland. Most of the journey back to chez Colin was along an ex-railway track converted to a cycle track. I think I did most of it with my arms in the air. We deserved that win, and don't let anyone say otherwise. Both teams has plenty of chances in the first half, to be honest half time could have been 3-3. Bentley, Dickov, and Grey all came very close. RVN, Scholes and Smith for them. MGP's goal was fairly good, but if I was a United supporter I'd be furious about the defending. A free kick from near the RHS touchline which he curled in. United's goal came from a powerful shot from Shrek which Brad couldn't hold and Dobbin tapped home. Then the Theatre Of Merchandising woke up for ten minutes. Then MGP shut them up for good. I can't describe it too well as it was at the other end. It looked like the United defence went to sleep a bit and the ball fell to MGP on the corner of the goal area and he thrashed it high into the top left hand corner. United then went on the attack but, somewhat surprisingly, Rovers kept their composure. No agricultural clearances, just some really skilled defending. The atmosphere at the end was fantastic. The team came over to our corner for some well-deserved applause and air-punching. Radio 5 Live is full of whinging Utd fans, pick those scabs boys. And Billy (from this parish) has been on. A win over the Scum. I might just have a small sweet sherry to celebrate. Looking forward to work on Monday & I hope that Chelsea keep their great big sticky mitts off MGP. I am Mr Happy. post 1 on this thread has been edited

Now I don't want to get all happy-clappy here; but surely everyone who went to T'uddersfield game noticed that there was a vast amount more young people at the game than for normal games. If no one under 16 was allowed in the home crowd would have been very spartan. "It's like a bloody youth club round here" muttered my elder relative at halftime. Now the only reason I can think, was that the ticket prices for them were really cheap. Hopefully JW & co will have noticed this. Reasons to be cheerful (part 1)

There was a big accident somewhere at the north of the M66 which really slowed down The Terriers' fans on their way to Ewood. Queues from south of Bury all the way to Haslingden. Me too BTW, I missed the first 15 minutes. The Huddersfield supporters (when they arrived) were great. Good luck to them.

Well bugger me backwards with a bargepole. I never actually thought of that one! I'm doing the 60 mile round trip again. I must be off my head.

I drove past the Theatre Of Merchandising today. There was a dead rat by the side of the road. I'm still trying to work out if this is some kind of portent. Or just a dead rat.

It's not just us though have a look at this

We’ve got a hopeless record at Old Trafford in recent years. We’ve played there eleven times since we got back into the top flight in 1992 and have taken only three draws from eleven games. Total goals for 9, goals against 22. 92/93 3-1 93/94 1-1 94/95 1-0 95/96 1-0 96/97 2-2 97/98 4-0 98/99 3-2 01/02 2-1 02/03 3-1 03/04 2-1 04/05 0-0 (hurrah) 05/06 1-2 (Yaaaaaaaaah, you beauties!) Forgive me for not trawling back through the records to see when was the last time we won there. Maybe one of our historians can look back through the decades. We seem to be able to pop up with one or two surprises away at the better clubs every now and then but that three pointer at OT still eludes us. All you need to know about getting to Old Trafford Football Ground is here away guide it seems to be still up to date. Back to the usual tried & trusted formula: I have asked a couple of work colleagues for general comments and chit-chattery. Take it away Peter & Neil The Glazer takeover, comments: Not deliriously happy about it but willing to give it a couple of years before actively joining the “Glazer Out” campaign or switching allegiance to FC United Not happy but haven’t thrown my dummy out quite yet. Time will tell Rovers have signed some donkeys, none more so than the £6m man Cicco Grabbi. Now I know that this will be more embarrassing than saying the word “penis” to a maiden aunt at a christening, but who is Fergies worst signing ever? We will laugh. Sorry. Then give us another couple. Have to admit that there have been a few in recent times: Kleberson, Djemba-Djemba, Taibi, Liam Miller, Andy Goram (cheap but truly awful), Howard, Carroll and Forlan (great in Spain though) to name but a few. The pick of the bunch though has to be Juan Veron, who most people thought would be a great signing, at only £28.1m. I knew that Fergie was going to make a few crap signings when he opted to buy Ralph Milne when John Barnes was on offer in 1987. Agree with most of Neil’s comments, although I disagree about Carroll. Wasn’t in the same league as Schmeichel or Van der Saar but he was only bought as support unlike Howard. Jim Leighton was also poor. Chelsea from a United perspective? The rest of us don’t exactly love them either. OK so Man Utd have bought a few titles in the past but at least it was done mostly with fans money. Blackburn have bought one too, thanks to a rich benefactor, although he was a passionate Rovers supporter. Abramovic is very different and Chelsea just got lucky. At least they paid us £14m for Veron. Unless there is mutiny in the ranks I can’t see anyone seriously competing with them for the title. Too much money for too many players. At least Blackburn and Arsenal could give us a run for our money. Is the Ferguson era coming to an end? Signings like Heinze, Ronaldo and hopefully Van Der Sar suggest that he has still got it. Unfortunately I doubt whether the Glazers will be offering the same sort of transfer kitty that Mourinho enjoys. Although I’m not particularly happy with our style of play at the moment (similar to Arsenal under George Graham), not sure who could or will replace him. Poisoned chalice. Is it true that J K Rowlings based Snape on Roy Keane? Ha ha. Hadn’t really thought about it but now you mention it…... Enough said Rovers: dirty @#/?s or what? Dickov, Savage & Neill truly fit into that category. The rest aren’t angels but at least don’t resort to thuggery until they’ve tried playing football first. No problem having hard men and mixing it a bit providing the team can play as well. Any particular thoughts on any Rovers’ players? Bellamy could prove a good signing and Pederson is an excellent player, and not just because of that goal a couple of weeks ago. I hate the way Friedel always excels against us, at least at Ewood anyway. Finally Ryan Nelsen is a decent defender. I admire Friedel, Pederson and Bellamy too, How do you see the game against Rovers going? You will lose!!!!!!!!! Probably 2-1 We’ll win 1-0. Harder to predict who won’t be sent off.

If you can spell "schaudenfreude" when drink-fuelled you're a better man than me.

Robbie Savage: decent footballer, got a bit of a gob on him though. He'd get half the bookings he gets if he kept it shut. AS most players wear elastplasts over the rings on their fingers maybe MH could slap one over Savage's gob before each match.