On the contrary I think Brady is very clever and even worse very pig-headed. I just can't see Brum doing a u-turn and accepting a low offer from us. In the same regard as much as i'd like us to sign him I think we are paying over the odds at £3.5m.

Should I be worried that I agree word for word with you say Phil?

Seems like more and more people are doing just that Paul as this article below confirms. The growth in ethical consumerism in the UK is soaring and is now worth £24.7 billion a year, according to the annual Co-operative Bank Ethical Purchasing Index (EPI) published on 29 December 2004. The EPI, a barometer of ethical spending in the UK, shows that in 2003 UK consumers spent an additional £3.5bn in line with their values, an increase of 16 per cent on the previous year. The overall market share of ethical consumerism has increased by almost 40 per cent in five years. An extra £1bn was spent on ethical products and services in 2003. Most significantly, sales of Forest Stewardship timber increased by £225 million to £869 million and sales of energy efficient household appliances increased by £273 million to £1.1 billion. Sales of Fair Trade goods, such as tea, coffee and bananas, increased by £26 million to £85 million - growth of over 40%. The total value of boycotts rose to £3.2bn, an increase of £600 million on the previous year. Within this, there has been a significant increase over the past 12 months in the boycotts of certain US brands, particularly those associated with poor environmental performance or unacceptable labour practices. The value to these brands, in terms of lost sales, more than doubled to £1.8bn in 2003. Barry Clavin, Sustainable Policies Manager, said:"The EPI shows that in some areas ethical goods are continuing to successfully compete side by side with non-ethical products in terms of market share. In particular, sales of free-range eggs command forty per cent market share, whilst sales of energy efficient household appliances now have, for the first time, topped fifty per cent market share. It is noteworthy that both these markets have benefited from supplier, retailer and/or government intervention."

Fully agree about the human element it is what makes the game what it is. As i've said I don't want technology I just fear it is inevitable. I don't think technology was required the other night just competence/bottle rather than Linford Christie as he suggested. Maybe i'm being harsh but it's human nature as you say however I feel certain ref's are a little bit more influenced by the home crowd than others that's my point. I'm not arguing for a robot who is 100% accurate just someone to do their job with common sense, something a good few seem incapable at present. It was something I commented upon during the Charlton game how a good few officials seem to have lost any rapport with the players. Now of course it's partly the players fault but let's not forget they are the product we are paying to see, when the refs were not 'professional' they seemed to have a much better rapport.

You're not sure what i'm trying to suggest yet you make about 4 or 5 assumptions based on my post. For the record I don't like Riley, i've feeling either way for Hackett and as for big clubs well I enjoy watching Arsenal & Chelsea so not sure about that one. You think Poll has made a bigger blunder than last night, i've never seen a bigger blunder than last night. I didn't state that any club had bunged the ref so not sure where you have that one from. I strongly feel that certain refs are swayed by certain clubs, you can take that as meaning all refs are cheats and I hate them all and all big clubs if you want but it's no true. One final question have you never sat ot Old Trafford and thought we're never getting anything all day here. No?

Meant to post this earlier, the FA have exonerated the poor linesman and released the following statement. The FA Line is as follows. An FA spokesman after the game absolved the linesman of any responsibility for the apparently mistaken decision not to award a goal to Spurs after a shot from the halfway line crossed the goal line by at least a metre. "The shot came in from an unusual distance and as such caught the linesman out of position forcing him to race back towards the goal as the play developed", explained the spokesman, "As he ran, the United scarf he was wearing under his shirt came loose and fluttered up into his face obscuring his view and preventing him from making the call. It was just one of those things."

I'm not saying Reid is better than Johnson just relaying what I read. I do think that Reid is playing well and should get better but I personally would rate him as a pretty similar to Johnson on what i've seen so far. Both decent players who are never going to set the premier on fire for me. I see signs in Reid that he can step up a bit more but not 100% convinced. As for Johnson he's done ok a few times i've seen him but he's no better than say Alan Mahon on the whole, a cracker in the 1st but not quite good enough for the top league.

Interesting the comments on Johnson. I read a brum board after we played them and they were all raving about Steven Reid saying if only they could have him instead of Johnson. Strangely inconsistent with the views of some on here who feel that letting him go was a terrible decision.

Yes and if you honestly believe that all clubs get treated equally then you are extremely naive. You can post all week long about incidents that wouldn't benefit from technology you'll get no argument from me, i'd hate to see the game go down that road. However unless we get some honesty from the officials as a whole like admitting mistakes instead of having Hackett come on to defend every time we will be forced down that route. Riley said after the Chelsea incident that he had his whistle to his mouth in anticipation of a foul that he thought was going to happen but it didn't. In that case why doesn't he keep it in his gob all game as there may be a foul at any minute. The answer of course is because he was going to give the penalty but bottled it but because he's a spinless tosser he can't come out and admit his mistake. Hackett defended the linesman by saying that not even an olympic athlete could have got the right position to see the 'goal' yet people throughout the rest of the stadium including both managers saw it clearly. Someone said the linesman was tired after running up and down the touchline all night. Why was he doing that he should only be in his half and even then only be running when the ball is near and seeing as Man U had most of the ball he would have had about 10-15 mins of jogging to do, poor lamb. Whilst I don't believe it's a case of them all being cheats I do believe they are not doing the job they are paid to but more importantly too many are stealing the headlines. I won't stop watching the game because I enjoy it but i've never paid to watch a referee so why do I have to keep watching a performance by one. Incidentally I thought it was a great game tonight and I thought Poll was not too bad. A few mistakes but at least he made the decisions and the penalty was never deliberate handball.

Certain of staying up I could have sworn you were 4th from bottom. Obviously not short of confidence if nothing else.

Stu I thought my post cleared it up in that the buses don't start running until 21.00 so well after we will hopefully left the area in one piece. cheers

From Arriva Trains Wales website :- From 2100 on Saturdays 8, 15 and 22 January, and until 1730 on Sundays 9, 16 and 23 January, services between Newport and Hereford will be replaced by bus services in both directions. So fingers crossed we should be ok. cheers

You can either defend him or you can't, who the teams playing are irrelevant. It doesn't making defending the indefencible any easier. The ball wasn't just over the line Spurs could have parked their bus in between the gap between ball and line it was that bad. As for the technology comments which I agree on to an extent you say the game has survived without yet you propose to change the rules to allow some random bloke in the stands to make a decision. On which incidents? Any or all? If so what happens when he's wrong as we are undoubtedlty from time to time. Agree completely about the last bit but still can't understand how you can excuse Stevie Wonders brother for his performance as linesman. What irritates me most is I was only talking about Man U the other day as Fergie was praising them for being the cleanest team in the league. In the first half last night if a Spurs player recieved ball to feet he was either clattered or barged in the back yet every free kick was greeted with howls from the crowd and slowly the ref stopped giving them. 2nd half Spuds youngster Marney gets clattered by Keane but gets nothing so he loses his head for a minute and runs around, nothing to bad but leaves his leg in on Scholes and gets booked. Harsh maybe but when you see the uglier Neville take out Ziegler after he makes him look a clown for the umpteenth time in the game and escape you begin to see the pattern. No matter because the half-wit that is Neville just clatters him again not a minute later and the ref has to book him. Later on Keane trips said youngster again and leaves his foot in and gives him a friendly kick to the head, just a little reminder of who's boss you could say. Nothing given. Oh and don't forget Heinze or Hintze if you prefer, the man with no control of his arms apparently. 5 times in the Christmas period he has caught someone in the face and last time it was Keane's turn (Robbie not Roy). Yet strangely his manager who has a bit of a thing about flailing arms(only when it's Vieira maybe) is silent probably still seething about Rooeny's disgraceful ban for nothing. So my point is that if I genuinely felt that the Man U cheats are treated like the rest then maybe I wouldn't be so annoyed but some teams are just more equal than others in the officials eye's.

It's a rare occasion to be able to agree with both Tris AND Scotty but this is one of those. In my opinion, football would much poorer with video technology. Personally I don't want exact decisions or the best team always winning. The controversy, disputes and arguments make football what it is. A game of passion and, at times, injustice. Many times I've been clutching my head in frustration at some idiot of a ref denying Rovers but football wouldn't be the same without it. No controversial goal line decisions? What'd be the point of that? Give me talking points and managers declaring "we was robbed" anytime. I completely agree with the point about video technology but my fear is now because of one man who is either incompetent or a cheat (not crass or unfair just fact) we will almost inevitably go towards it. My fear with use of video is that it is said that it would be used only for incidents like this but how often do you get one of those. If so much money would be invested in it then inevitably it will get used for other incidents and then what are you left with. On the subject of the linesman I think Percy mentioned that at normal speed it would have been difficult. Not so on this occasion, you knew straight away from any angle, on further replays you can even see all the fans with heads in hands. People say that the official has to be sure but lets be honest how many times have you seen an incident and been convinced only to see it again and be wrong. It's human error and what makes the game good and worth talking about. Last night wasn't about human error but some gutless wonder who either didn't want to make a decision or so incompetent he should be sacked it's that simple. That is what irritates more than anything is an official who simply refuses to do his job at all, not take the risk. I give refs plenty of stick but if they give something that is wrong but then come on and admit it I think they should be praised to the hilt. It's tossers like Riley who lie to cover up for their own inadequacies that annoy me more than anything. So to cut a long story short no I don't video technology either but you can bet your life we'll get it soon and it'll be even sooner thanks to gimps like that linesman last night.

Cheers Stu nice to know they are on the ball. Daft thing is National Rail said it's too late now for any works to be scheduled but obviously not.

Ricky where did you here about the rail problems. Nothing on National Rail and the helpline don't know anything about it either.

My thoughts exactly. I honestly don't believe that linesman couldn't see that, the whole ground knew it had gone in but he didn't have the bottle/guts to give it.

Agree with Theno about the wind. It's easy to underestimate how much effect it can have but it's such an advantage at times. Knowing every clearance is going for miles and every ball in the box will put the defence under pressure.

Cole has missed a lot for Fulham this year (and for us last). Dickov has one less than him at this point. The problem isn't Dickov, it's the lack of a good consistent partner for him. still anti-Cole, he's doing fairly well in a struggling side, he's played less games then Dickov and doesn't take pens, so thats not too bad, "I think everyone should stop comparing the two from now on, and judge at the end of the season. having said that Dickov's doing very well my his standards, better then I thought, so really we need to be looking else where for GOALS, expecting Dickov to do all the work is what I think is getting to some fans down, if we had two other strikers producing half as well he would get much stick and A LOT less pressure, but expecting Dickov to do this by himself, probably is going to make things very close. I wouldn't mind adding another striker at this point Really agree with this point. I think you've given Dickov a lot of stick but you are honest to accept he has done better than you thought. Comparing him to Cole every week is no help to anyone as you say. The fact is Dickov on his own isn't good enough and when he's poor which he will be then we don't have a lot else at present. We really need someone as well as him not instead.

Yes but which market dictates that. Paul raises a fair point about paying a fair price but the options are there for people. The co-op have a fair trade campaign where they pay the producers a 'fair' price you can read more here. There are tons of other ways you can make a difference or you can do nothing, it's up to you really.

If we were to sign Savage I somehow don't think he would be living in Blackburn. More likely in Cheshire and therefore not that far away from Wrexham at all.

Looks like tickets aren't selling that well. Only 500 so far and we've given half the grange end back. link

I think you'll find the majority of Everton fans didn't want Rooney to go but in the same way as we were with Duff were resigned to it. It's a bit different from actually wanting the club to get rid of your best player.

If it's the one we went in last year it is called the Cap n' Gown and the station is Witton. Have a good one.

Dwight Yorke is a class above Dickov, in terms of ability. What he brings to the team however is a different matter. Class will get you so far but you will always need to work as well, otherwise it's just wasted. I'd still be inclined to agree with Scotty on who i'd rather have, however he hasn't slated Dickov in recent weeks for being nothing other than a nuisance. Today showed what a nonsense that view is.