MikeO

It'd be even more impressive if it was the right answer . Was Herbert Asbury (no t) who wrote "Gangs of New York" and I can't find any mention of an Asbury (or Astbury) at Fulham. Doesn't mean it's neccessarily the wrong answer, could just be spelt wrong . And someone called Lennon was Everton's groundsman the last I heard Bill....a couple of years back so he may be gone....but the name stuck with me for fairly obvious reasons .

There are actually three chances for Champions league losers to drop into the Europa...it's very simple Mark . • Qualifying for the UEFA Europa League consists of four rounds. The domestic cup winners from the associations ranked 52 and 53 in the UEFA coefficient ranking, plus the domestic league runners-up from the associations ranked 35 to 51 (except Liechtenstein), the third-placed side from the associations ranked 22 to 51 (except Liechtenstein) and the three UEFA Fair Play winners enter the competition in the first qualifying round, which consists of two legs played on a home-and-away basis. • The winners of those 25 ties are joined in the second qualifying round by the domestic cup winners from the associations ranked 28 to 51 in the UEFA coefficient, the runners-up from the associations ranked 19 to 34, the third-placed sides from the associations ranked 16 to 21, the fourth-placed sides from the associations ranked 10 to 15 and the fifth-placed sides from the associations ranked 7 to 9. These ties are also played over two legs, home and away. • The victorious sides from those 40 ties progress to the third qualifying round, which also includes the domestic cup winners from the associations ranked 16 to 27, the domestic league runners-up from the associations ranked 16 to 18, the third-placed league side from the associations ranked 10 to 15, the fourth-placed side from the associations ranked 7 to 9, the fifth-placed side from the association ranked 4 to 6 and the sixth-placed side from the associations ranked 1 to 3. Again, these two legs are played home and away. • The winners of these 35 ties are joined in the play-off round by the 15 losing teams from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Also entering the competition at this stage are the domestic cup winners from the associations ranked 1 to 15, the third-placed league sides from the associations ranked 7 to 9, the fourth-placed team from the associations ranked 4 to 6 and the fifth-placed teams from the associations ranked 1 to 3. • The 37 victorious sides from these two legs qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage, which also includes the ten losing sides from the UEFA Champions League play-off round and the UEFA Europa League holders. • The losing finalist for the domestic cup competition will still be entitled to be entered for the UEFA Europa League should the domestic cup winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League. • The UEFA Europa League Round of 32 includes the top two teams from each of the 12 groups, plus the eight teams who finish in third position in their UEFA Champions League group. The winners of these 16 ties progress to the Round of 16, then the quarter-finals and subsequently the semi-finals. • The final will be played on a Wednesday night in a single match at a neutral venue, kick-off 20.45CET.

Sums it up for me.

A good point. If we'd have been offered that last October when we had nine points from nine games and were out of the UEFA and the Carling cups we'd have jumped at it. Given the injuries we've had since then the fact that we've got very nearly two points a game (1.91) from the following twenty-two and made it to the FA semi is a remarkable achievement (again) from Davey and the lads.

Exactly, if the conspiracy theorists are right then surely the whistle would have gone as soo as they scored rather than allowing Villa a couple of minutes to find an equaliser .

Ridiculous. They're missing the obvious fact that no matter how hard they pray God will be paying no attention because he'll be in the away end at Villa Park with his omnipresent setting temporarily disabled . I think it'll be a repeat of the cup game. 3-1 to the good guys.

Realistically you can get 14/1 on us finishing in the top four, if you think it's going to happen get your dad down the bookies and you could make yourself a tidy profit. I'll not be bothering. Arsenal are (at best) 1/6, but it's money in the bank imo.

Leon back to his best, great to see.

How different is this from the away game at Wigan? Lovely finish from Felli...

Current Player of the Year standings.... Jagielka 215 Arteta 164 Baines 137 Fellaini 132 Cahill 127 Neville 89 Pienaar 84 Osman 83 Howard 62 Saha 62 Lescott 53 João Alves Jô 38 Rodwell 29 Gosling 26 Anichebe 21 Castillo 20 Baadhi 17 Hibbert 15 Yobo 12 Vaughan 11 Yakubu 10 Van der Meyde 10 Baxter 4 Jacobsen 3 Valente 2 MOTM winners.... Blackburn (H)...Mikel Arteta West Brom (A)...Leon Osman Portsmouth (H)...Leighton Baines Stoke City (A)...Tim Cahill Standard Liege (H)...Segundo Castillo Hull City (A)...Leon Osman Blackburn (A)...Louis Saha Liverpool (H)...Phil Jagielka Standard Liege (A)...Phil Jagielka Newcastle (H)...Leighton Baines Arsenal (A)...Marouane Fellaini Manchester United (H)...Marouane Fellaini Bolton (A)...Marouane Fellaini Fulham (H)...Phil Jagielka West Ham (A)...Louis Saha Middlesbrough (H)...Phil Neville Wigan (A)...Tim Howard Spurs (A)...Phil Jagielka Aston Villa (H)...Joleon Lescott Man City (A)...Tim Cahill Chelsea (H)...Leon Osman Middlesbrough (A)...Mikel Arteta Sunderland (H)...Mikel Arteta Macclesfield (A)...Leighton Baines Hull (A)...Mikel Arteta Liverpool (A-league)...Leighton Baines Liverpool (A-Cup)...Phil Jagielka Arsenal (H)...Tim Cahill Manchester United (A)...Tim Howard Liverpool (H-Cup replay)...Phil Jagielka Bolton (H)...João Alves Jô Aston Villa (H)...Mikel Arteta Newcastle (A)...Jack Rodwell West Brom (H)...Steven Pienaar Blackburn (A)...Phil Neville Middlesbrough (H)...Marouane Fellaini Stoke City (H)...Marouane Fellaini Portsmouth (A)...Leighton Baines

Passed it through them....love it! Playing some lovely stuff.

That's a brilliant stream, best ever. Decent game, we're playing pretty well...no hoofing. Wigan looking pretty useful also though .

TC and Hibbo in.... Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Cahill, Pienaar, Fellaini, Jo. Subs: Nash, Van der Meyde, Castillo, Saha, Jacobsen, Rodwell, Gosling. Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa, Watson, Brown, Valencia, Scharner, N'Zogbia, Mido. Subs: Kingson, Edman, Sibierski, Koumas, De Ridder, Rodallega, Kapo. ....on the basis of that team I see three points . EDIT:Beat me by a fraction Jamie!

Sorry about that. Precautionary measure....my brother's just had a couple of polyps removed which turned out to be cancerous so he's got to have surgery. Moves me into a higher risk category because there's a certain amount of genetic factor in it so it's just to be on the safe side. On the up side my kid brother is getting married on the 14th (coincidentally my wedding anniversary also).

I'm having a colonoscopy. I'm more nervous :ohno01: .

Indubitably :graduated: .

They've messed up a bit by dropping their first points of the season at Leeds (Link), but it actually makes no real difference to their chances of the title. Needed to beat Arsenal again at home (draw was no good because of Arsenal's superior GD) and still do .

Reading Winter in Madrid by CJ Samson. Not the greatest writer I've ever come across if I'm honest but the story's entertaining enough...set in wartime Spain.

Look at the pictures HERE Jamie, try the pose yourself and then tell me that's not intentional. Definitely meant and ridiculously infantile. Who was it aimed at? Life ban is a bit extreme imo. I'd take their toys away and send them to their bedrooms personally .

What's the purpose (for want of a better word) of a short film like that Jamie? How and where does it get shown, and is there any money to be made from that sort of thing? It's a good subject and I imagine if it's well made (which I'm sure it will be ) it'll be an affecting piece. Good luck with it.

Yeah, top bloke, great attitude, true Blue! Best of luck to him.

No great loss to them....he's been a waste of space this year.

Losing the plot already....in his Football Focus interview tomorrow he says... 'Question was put to me by a friend who said, "If you don't do it and they stay up will you regret it?" And the answer was yes.....so I had to do it.'

Guilty as hell though by the look of it (certainly they're not appealing), they'll be lucky to not get more punishment.