Raccyboy

don't think you were being too optimistic Mike -- zenit winning the cup would have both raised their asking price as well as attracted more attention from the big clubs......don't think we have a chance of landing him anymore

agree with both of you, now's the time to sell him -- he reached his highs for everton with the uefa goals, now let's cash in -- 4/5 mil would be good business so soon for a guy from the youth ranks

the west brom/stoke comment is what I'd like to happen, not saying there's anything to suggest it will. but often the promoted clubs know they have to spend some cash -- therefore making noise that some of our guys can go could get their attention; don't see other prem clubs getting too excited about aj and definitely not anichebe. agree with your point about 4 mil for victor, but that's my point too!!! --> maybe a side like stoke or one of the others coming up (probably hull or bristol city) would see him as their "premier-league experience big summer signing" and pay over the top.

if west ham offered us 9 mil for aj it would be beyond fantastic. as for arteta if real are still paying the stupid prices they have in the past, then player and cash would very likely be too good to turn down. arteta was too consistently poor in the 2nd half of the season (injuries or not) to be indispensable.

not the kind of gamble we should take from an injury perspective - had he not had such problems over the years he'd be way out of our league... still we do need someone new upfront, don't believe there's any point giving aj another season - would only prove further that he's not good enough. let's sell him to west brom for 6 mil and offload anichebe to stoke for 4 - almost gets us to the stage where we could then buy crouch

don't agree about arsenal - if you go back to the start of the season they were given a similar chance of winning the league as the shite and were as long as 1/2 to finish ahead of spurs!!! I think they outperformed expectations for the bulk of the season and their disappointment only comes from fading away in the last couple of months (not helped by the loss of arguably their best performer of the season in eduardo).

2-2.......... no nail-biting though as villa will go down to west ham

and in conclusion: please let's not insult this site by posting the shit that comes out of k*nty keegan's mouth ever again...........please

spot on about not much joy to watch us at the moment -- virtually every single game we've played the past few months, the commentators say something along the lines of "not much to get excited about this half" or "not the most entertaining game we've seen". somehow, no matter who we play or how important the game is, our current style and quality of play makes every game a relative chore to sit through, the only exception recently being against villa last week. even against arsenal of all sides, it was a dull affair. agree that we need another striker -- johnson may "work hard" (which can also be interpreted as spends the whole match running after the ball, as you put it) but not really good enough is it? vaughn may be good if he stays injury free, but that seems at best to be a 50/50 possibility, so we can't really accept from a 2nd/3rd choice striker. in my opinion anichebe simply will not live up to what we hoped for from the promise of his youth team days. don't have a problem with yak -- IF the creativity that is lacking is somehow restored and he gets a few chances, he will put them away. but I got to agree we need another striker.

same result as first game this season, 4-1 to them

couple of good points made above: 1) anichebe will never be the player so many hope he will. he is slow, lacks basic skill and toughness, and does absolutely nothing for the side and we really should offload asap to one of the promoted side who might just believe that he's worth 4/5 million. maybe offer him to west brom and see if they bite. not a big aj fan, but can't believe people still think we should keep victor over him. 2) osman has been fine and a hard worker over the past few years. but if we really are looking at moving up a notch and really pushing for top4 he is not the type of player we need. while he can still be part of the squad for a while, we should never be pencilling him into our 1st choice starting 11 unless there is a big injury problem.

pro20 cricket -- an utter fucking disaster that could kill the game

still not fussed about this guy - hardly a consistently outstanding performer before and if he were to become one, he'd f*ck off the minute a champions league club started sniffing around

feel sorry for riise - one of my least-hated rs players.... can't say chelsea deserved it either, thought they were crap and rs outstanding at defending the lead - if torres didn't have an off-night they would have taken it 3-0. drogba clearly would rather be anywhere but playing for chelsea and the rest of the big names hardly looked the part. I reckon this rs team really should be competitive in the prem next season

please could someone tell me why chelsea/the fans/the media are so keen on getting rid of him? I've just had a quick look at the following overall records on soccerbase. as far as I know it includes all games under each manager (league, cups, europe) but I'm looking purely from an overall basis. of course, the longer track records should carry more weight and trophies are the most important thing, but anyway I think it's a bit harsh. sure, he's dull (just like gordon brown), but I reckon the players are just being twats being so hard on him in public. -------------Matches---Won---------Drew-------Lost Ranieri-----199--------53.8%------23.1%------23.1% Mourhino---185--------67.0%------21.6%------11.4% Grant-------47----------68.1%-----21.3%------10.6% Benitez-----233--------56.2%------20.6%------23.2% Wenger-----669--------57.1%------25.3%------17.6% Ferguson----1203------58.1%------23.6%------18.3%

dunno how anyone can tip us for a win given our recent form. yes they've hardly been great but far more chance of them turning things around than us at present. having said that, trekking all the way to liverpool on a thursday night is hardly the sort of thing that will inspire them. at best --- 1-1 (yakubu)

that guy is amazing AND you left out another detail -- it's 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 CONTINENTS so not only is he doing the runs, he's then got to fly or drive to the next continent each day......incredible

c'mon then -- next year you can do the full; sure you can do a sub-4:30 with some training dunno what next now. during the run I thought to myself there was no chance I'd put myself through that again, but now I'm looking for something to work towards again....we've got the two oceans ultra-marathon in cape town that is 56km (about 34.8 miles) so maybe try that next year... but really to anyone who has any thoughts of doing london next year, just go for it -- find a charity you'd like to support, join a running club and you can all do it.

3 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds very happy with my time... an amazing event - the support from the londoners lining the streets was phenomenal, every once in a while there'd be this big build up in the noise level and it would really help to keep you going - particularly for the last 10 miles! highly recommended for anyone looking for a good mental challenge...

there's no doubt that the RS track record the past 4 seasons is phenomenal, but as xavier says you need some luck to win trophies -- and really liverpool do seem to get some kind of break on so many ocassions, and we hardly seem to get those sorts of breaks; just look at the Goodison derby to sum up the fortunes of the two sides this season in one game! looking at arsenal, I actually like wenger but what kind of fcking moron can continue to not give walcott a place in the current arsenal starting line-up?!?!? anyway two potentially great semi's to look forward to , c'mon barca and chelsea! btw I was at stamford bridge last night, what a boring game and hardly a great atmosphere in the part I was sitting - think when you've been spoilt financially and in terms of the success on the pitch, it perhaps becomes a bit boring -- give me a battling everton at Goodison any day!!!!!

thanks for the support! just went to register today - getting pretty nervous right about now :worried: will post again when I'm back in SA to let you know how it went!

thanks! hoping for 3 hours 45 minutes..... would imagine that walking for 9 hours is more difficult, given that you're on your feet for much longer -- although haven't done either yet, so can't compare

prior to this year, I'd only done a few half marathons before, but got offered this entry and decided to give it ago. the thing is, Licker, as long as you train properly and gradually build it up, the problems you describe above should be avoided. most of the people in the club I've been running with were training for a 56km run that was a couple weeks ago and then a 90km run in June! now THOSE are seriously tough

I think the biggest problem a first-timer in the uk has, is that the main part of the training would have to take place in your winter. so apart from the cold, the short daytime hours would make it tricky - the choice then becomes running in the dark, wet and cold outside or the tedium of a treadmill. this will be my first marathon, so the fact that when I started training in mid-january (the peak of summer) it was only getting dark after 8 helped a lot. having said that, you'd be surprised how quickly you can get running fit AS LONG AS you train with a group/club to help you with keeping motivated!

I am in SA, but have arranged a work trip around it so at least I don't have to pay for the flight! and of course that's not the only reason I'm coming over -- there's the game against birmingham (I'd also planned on watching a uefa cup 1/4 final at Goodison )