Bit unfair Bryan......I do quite like the (severely) edited highlights. Eh? Why?

I think I probably managed it Tyrone, just remind me again ...who was playing?

I wouldn't know..... I'm always asleep by then.

It seems the penny has only just dropped about Scotland not being allowed to use the £ and having to become opart of the eurozone. Hasty and poorly thought out decisions brought on by resentment and the misguided desire to bite the hand that has been feeding it for centuries. They'll learn their lesson of course but it'll be too late. Lets be honest just what does Scotland have to offer the eu?

Ski jump? Maybe on second thoughts I should have said Craven Brow!

Exactly. It's quite simple, if you cant beat them... join them. Getting this across unfortunately is like trying to push a pea up a ski jump with my nose. Personally I'd horsewhip such.

If that is the case as I suspect it will be then any club that has lived within it's budget and with a level head in charge will find good players will come extremely cheap. Wages will fall steeply and so will the number of hangers on. On the downside.... and there is always one, Ferrari, Bentley and Hummer shares will be in meltdown! btw "The problem is that it is VERY elitist because unless you have big crowds in the PL then you are never going to achieve the dream..." A fact few are able to come to terms with. Too many pull the bedclothes over their heads and hope reallity will disappear but the plain fact is that for people in this area to ever support a local team which is able to compete in the top division it is necessary to amalgamate with our neighbours. It was unlikely before FFP but once that is in place there really is no option whatsoever. btw good article that you found there Paul. I'd like to enjoy it more and throw some pebbles there way but unfortunately we are living in a glass house too.

I do that at every opportunity these days Gav. It means that I can leave when I'm ready and not when other diners are being served AND more importantly that I am present whilst my card is being swiped.

How odd Pafell. Most prefer I know prefer Turkey or goose.

Good point. The aussies invented sledging are now developing it further. Did we really expect anything else?

Really? Wow! Shock... horror!!! As far as I can see every cricketing nation does that. Happens in football all the time too.

Well done to the australians, they've won at a canter against our lot so fair play. But never mind pastimes that are quite literal kg past their time cos i'm pretty sure we'll pagger them at PlayStation games which appear to be the main thing these days...... Does anybody know a kid who got a cricket bat for Christmas back here? Also if cricketers are still getting paid for their efforts then I hope our lot put their ill gotten gains into their pension pots whilst the Aussies spend all of theirs on elecution and etiquette classes. It appears that they certainly need to.

It does rather point at the management Tyrone.

'Read the question carefully', was advice given before every exam at my old skoo Don.

Dunno how you could read it any other way tbh stuart.

I wager he'd struggle to recover 20% of that debt. But in his position it's family or a football club that is in the hands of people that have spewed £160m already? Not really a tough choice is it? Somebody has to put the plug in the bottom of the bath and turn off the taps.

I wasn't Yoda.... read it again. £1200 / 12 = £100. Well done Paul.

The debt is unmanageable and unrecoverable. Same as ours. The solution is obvious to me, unpalatable to some but inevitable. Bankruptcy---winding up----- NW United.

Nobody as boring as Boycott! Not an all rounder but just what is needed for a test match opener. Stubborn as a mule in defending his wicket and working the bowlers to soften em up for the rest of the batsman. (Unfortunatelt that stubborness saw him waste many years in the wilderness and denied him a batting record to top them all) Bowling at Sir Geoffrey in his pomp would have been like bowling at the back yard door! He should have been born this side of the pennines mind.

Fair enough comment o2g. I've never got away with that there but I guess the kicker is the wine/drinks bill. btw I'm speaking as one of twelve (obviously all wearing donkey ears) who forked out over £1200 to Anson Bolton last night for a four course meal followed by a cheese board and a choccy or two with a glass of champagne on arrival and another at midnight! I had refused to go when it was suggested back in September on the grounds of the ludicrous price but er indoors agreed and paid without me knowing. btw I must say at this point that everything was cooked and served to perfection as always at the Millstone BUT I get increasingly ticked off at establishments using the Festive season to effectively rip off their regular customers! If I'd not gone to the Millstone but instead gone to my local pub last night it would have cost me and er £25 just to get in, eat a few horses hooves and see the new year in! Considering the business I give them and the money that I spend over the year it's damned greedy and damned bad form. Compare this to the gesture by the Railway in Pleasington on Christmas Day of giving everybody their first drink 'on the house'. That is so much like it used to be a generation or so ago. ? Maybe I should have put this on the rant thread.

Doesn't Gary sobers get a look in in this debate? He was quite good wasn't he?

It is very good but imo given the competition around this area it's way too dear.

Just as an aside when it was 3-0 and the ashes lost why didn't we just come home? Nowt to be gained by staying there except a few bobsworth of gate money and we don't need it that much do we?

In your shoes I think I'd work on an 'ignorance is bliss' premise and a 'need to know' basis. Knowledge is power rem