MikeO

Israel 1-0 up....false hope? We'll see .

Interesting Louis. For a start I'm amazed only there's only 5% ethnic minorities in Liverpool, hugely less than most cities but anything that can be done to spread the net to the benefit of Everton and the community I'm all for. In an ideal world I'd completely go along with Zed, judge everyone as an individual but for that to happen everyone (or at least a significant majority) needs to go along with it and that's not gonna happen this side of armageddon as far as I can tell, certainly not down in this part of the country . Didn't we have a Vietnamese boat refugee on the books as a kid many years back? He didn't make it but I'm sure we did.

Infection cleared up then Steve ?

A sudden clear moment of self-awareness can be a troubling experience 250 .

Was going to mention that myself . Don't think you had to be there to see that someone who scored 383 goals in 433 games is a bit of a useful man to have on your side .

Does anyone know what happened to the countdown thread....not seen it for ages ? Oh...999,854 .

Now that is in very poor taste ! But extremely funny .

Tricky to put this together, different eras and all that. Think that there are only two undisputed places personally, Dixie and Nev....so.. Southall Stevens Labone Ratcliffe Wilson Steven Reid Ball Sheedy Rooney ( spit) Dean Subs (it's a European game so I get seven ) Howard Arteta Lyons Sharp Royle Whittle (fuck Fairclough, the supersub) Anichebe ( couldn't leave him off a European bench at the mo) Probably forgotten someone really obvious . Alex Young maybe but I have no memory of him....

He's in the starting XI tomorrow... England starting XI: Scott Carson, Micah Richards, Sol Campbell, Joleon Lescott, Wayne Bridge, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard ©, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Owen, Peter Crouch. Good luck to him, but most important don't get injured!!

Will have to agree to differ on this Bill. My understanding is that the amortisation in this context is in place to cover depreciation against the possibility of the player leaving on a free at the end of his contract and has nothing whatever to do with the payment terms. Even if we'd paid cash in full up front for Yakubu his value would be offset over the term of his contract and would appear on the accounts as amortisation. The Newcastle site explains it also... The club has to pay the transfer fee to the selling club. In the club accounts it then has to report how much it views each player's worth has declined each year. So for example Michael Owen for £16m on a four year contract costs the club 16/4 = £4m per year. This is what is reported as 'amortisation' in the club accounts. At the end of the contract the player can just leave on a 'free' so he is viewed as potentially no worth to the business after that.

Now it's gone and I missed it, ah well. 200,000 anyone?

Can be Bill..."Amortization (business), the allocation of a lump sum amount to different time periods, particularly for loans and other forms of finance, including related interest or other finance charges."...but not in this context. It's a fairly convoluted (as far as I can tell) method of accounting for the depreciation of "intangible assets" (players).

Not since Tesco opened their new farming and cider press supplies hypermarket Louis, they've started taking Groats ! Tried to pay with a sheep the other day but they had no chickens for my change (no flu-free ones anyway...I blame 250).

Thanks for that Louis. Can't see why it only counts on the initial contract though, surely the financial implication of someone leaving on a free is the same however many contracts they've had . But anyway as it's not real money it seems a bit ridiculous to me. Actually all economics is ridiculous....think we went wrong when we moved away from bartering in the village marketplace personally .

We've been here before. Individuals, companies, countries and any organisation in between that uses money operate using debt. If it's properly structured and you know what you're doing then it's a completely sensible way to do business....if you don't know what you're doing and just keep borrowing because people offer it (bit like one of my daughters ) then eventually (sooner rather than later) you're fucked. No idea what category Everton fall into because I'm not an accountant. Can one of you that is (or who understands) explain the principle of "amortisation of player regs" to me? I've read what it means (and I did A level economics, admittedly thirty years ago), but I'm still struggling. Whatever it is it cost us £9m. (I know it's "an annual charge made in a company's profit and loss account to reduce the value of an intangible asset to zero over a period of years," but charge made by who?)

I hate international breaks . Quiet as the fucking grave on here and no games after two a week for ages is pissing me off. It's cold. I've got no butter so I can't make toast until I go out and buy some and I don't want to.....anyone got some they could bring round? I'll pay for the petrol . Wait a minute, no I won't....not without a fucking bank loan . And another thing! Why do bars advertise live bands? What other sort of band is there? Dead ones?!?!

OK....the dialysis machine takes blood out of you, thins it out a bit and removes pottassium and urea and then puts it back in ' Sorted .

The croissants look particularly good .

Link to the videos (if it works)...Everton LINK....Tesco LINK

....not to mention it being factually inaccurate.

The lowdown: England's qualification is out of their hands. Their best hope of qualification is to finish ahead of Russia. But if the Russians win in Israel on Saturday, they will be one point ahead of England with one match to play - and that match is away to rock-bottom Andorra. England will not expect any favours from Andorra, who are on a run of 28 consecutive Euro qualifying defeats. If Russia lose in Israel, then England need only to draw (or win) against Croatia in their final match at Wembley to guarantee qualification. If Russia draw in Israel, then England will need to beat Croatia in their final match to go through, given that a Russia win against Andorra is all but certain. There is one other glimmer of hope for England. If Croatia lose in Macedonia, then an England win over the Croats by a three-goal margin will put them above their rivals. A 2-0 win would also be enough, but a two-goal margin in which England have conceded a goal (eg 3-1) will not be enough - as Croatia's away goal will mean they lead the head-to-head standings between the teams. Of course, should Russia have dropped points against Israel then any win over Croatia will suffice. The odds to qualify: Croatia 1/100 Russia 4/9 England 13/8 Think we have very little chance personally, and (shame though it'd be) part of me hopes we fail if it's the price of getting shot of the fucking idiot in charge.

Amazingly it's just been done...(LINK). Put me down for a tenner .

Unless he was psychic he had no way of knowing what Drogba was going to do so by the time he reacts it's too late. It's the responsibility of the nearest man to stop any opposition getting to the ball first. If Drogba had been running a decoy, Lescott had followed and someone had run into the space he'd left and had a free header....then he'd have been at fault imo.

Oops :| ...asked for you Steve but apparently there's another explanation, I now have a flat spot on the back of my head as a reminder :axehead: .

Should have listened . How about (talked about elsewhere) Jimmy Mac to win BBC Sports Personality. 66-1 at the mo but if he were to score the winner against Italy next week-end and put Scotland into their first finals since Licker was a lad his odds will plummet!