I reckon my poor score is down to making 74 transfers over the course of the season. Half of these (maybe more) were due to picking Arsenal players, who, of course, get injured. The other half can be divided between injuries to other players (I have the magic touch!), and just sh*t decisions on my part. I also cannot pick players that I find reprehensible, so I lose out on the big scoring Wank Lampard, Saint Stevie of Me, Darren Fletcher etc etc.
World Cup Fantasy Football should be no-holds barred stuff though. Through gritted teeth I could even find myself picking Lampard. I'll make no excuses.
Come digging with me, we'll scavenge around the chazzas, I'll hip you to a couple of 'off the beaten track' boutiques, we'll have a nice cuppa at at chic cafe and compare 20p finds with the ill covers and interesting stains. We'll be digging buddies, like how Meriman rolls.
But Meriman take those shots because they stumble into towns where 'soul' is a mispelling on the fish menu, and records are priced in nickels and dimes. I do not believe there are chazzas in London not picked clean by the in-house valuers these days anyway.
In all seriousness, there's that VG++ meet going on this Wednesday, but not sure I can make it. If chaps from here ever do make a big London booze-up though... count me in!
Anyone been watching the BBC for the past half hour?
Is it just me or is Nick Robinson having difficulty keeping it together at the possibility of the Tories not getting into office...? I keep expecting him to start stamping his feet and shouting, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Seriously one of the shittest BBC commentators; he should move to Sky News or something.
1 ? Darren Bent scored the opening goal in 14 different games this season, more than any other player.
2 ? Only two players sent penalties wide this season, Jimmy Bullard and Louis Saha.
3 ? Had the league started on 1st January, Everton would be third; three points behind first placed Manchester United.
4 ? Rob Green made four errors leading to a goal this season, more than any other player in the division.
5 ? Different players to have taken a penalty kick for West Ham in the Premier League this season; more than any other team.
6 ? Kevin Davies has conceded the most fouls in six of the last seven Premier League campaigns. Davies' total of 121 is his highest ever.
7 ? Richard Dunne has now conceded more own goals than any other Premier League player in the history of the competition.
8 - More red cards were given out on 31st October 2009 than ever before on a single day of Premier League action.
9 ? Sunderland became the first side to have nine players sent off in a single Premier League campaign.
10 ? Frank Lampard scored 10 Premier League penalties this season, only Andy Johnson for Crystal Palace in 2004/05 (11) has scored more in a single Premier League campaign.
11 - Everton ended the season on an 11-game unbeaten run. Only Birmingham (12 games) went without a defeat for longer.
12 ? Own goals was Manchester United?s second top scorer this season after Wayne Rooney. No side has ever previously benefitted from more than six own goals in a Premier League season.
13 ? Wolves hit just 13 goals at home this season, the second-lowest total by a side who avoided relegation in the Premier League (Man City scored 10 in 2006/07).
14 ? Frank Lampard recorded the most assists this season, one more than Cesc Fabregas.
15 ? Arsenal substitutes contributed 15 goals, more than at any other side. Hull only scored one sub goal all season.
16 ? Manchester United won 16 home games this season, one fewer than Chelsea, in the last three seasons, the side that has taken the most points at home has finished top, whilst the side taking the most points on the road has come second or third.
17 ? Burnley became the first team in Premier League history to lose 17 away games in a single season.
18 ? 18 different players assisted goals for both Chelsea and Everton this season; more than any other teams.
19 ? Spurs had 19 different goalscorers this season, the most-ever for a club in a single season in the Premier League. Relegated Hull City had 18.
20 ? No player scored 20 Premier League goals last season, but five did this season, the most in a 20-team Premier League campaign.
Most likely choice is David Miliband. The other candidates with slim to no chance are Ed Balls, Alan Johnson, Harriet Harman, Ed Miliband and Alistair Darling.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Twice in one day.
I imagine that, in the US, there mightn't be quite so much fuss over a political journalist showing such a partisan streak, but do that in this country and you may as well dig a big hole, throw your professional credibility into that hole, and then take a massive dump all over it. I doubt Boulton will lose his job over this, and there'll be no shortage of people defending him for "standing up" to Campbell, but he's done as a serious political commentator.
I think Fab should publish personal ratings of all players after every single England match. Stir that shit up. I don't understand how Gerrard can be top rated but must admit I lost interest at the first page of stats.
The best part of these uncertain times is the thought that the obviously out-moded FirstPastThePost system, defended to the hilt by the Tories for so long, could be their undoing. They can't have it both ways, and this seems to be the best time ever to push through PR. Tory commentators going on about how they 'won' the election. They didn't, they got more votes than any other single party, but not enough to win. Either FPTP is fair, or PR is fair, but the Tories want to have it both ways to suit them.
Also talk of referendum; Tories will aparently have the option of voting for or against it. Of course they won't vote for it, and the Lib Dems will come away with nothing. Where was the referendum on the Iraq war? Govmnt had no problems doing that without the people's say-so.
Also talk of referendum; Tories will aparently have the option of voting for or against it. Of course they won't vote for it, and the Lib Dems will come away with nothing.
A referendum will be amongst 30-odd (well, quite odd) million people, and 305 Tory MPs votes will be relatively insignificant. However, such votes WILL be a proportional representation. Which is somewhat rough justice.
Re GB: we never had the chance to vote him in, but positively voted him out at the first opportunity.
I'm very hopeful that the politicos have heard the country's call for change. Now it's all about the wording of a referendum, or the details of the Labour guarantee of electoral reform.
If, as some of you attest, the country is at heart a socialist one, you must heartily embrace the opportunity to marginalise the Tories in perpetuity, even if that means swallowing some poison for a few years in having a Tory led government.
The irony of the situation is splendid!
Hurrah! Hurrah for us!
b/w if it doesn't come about, I suspect there are many of us who will never bother to vote again.
Also talk of referendum; Tories will aparently have the option of voting for or against it. Of course they won't vote for it, and the Lib Dems will come away with nothing.
A referendum will be amongst 30-odd (well, quite odd) million people,
I assumed they (Tory spokesperson) meant that the Tory-Lib cabinet would have a referendum on putting forward the idea of some kind of political reform... of course this stance seems to have changed from "might", to "yes, of course, the Conservatives are all about Democracy" since it emerged that Clegg has been talking to Labour and Brown announced he will step down.
A friend at work said he's gloating no matter what happens:
I don't think this election can be considered anything other than a disaster for the Conservatives. They poured millions into publicity and had the backing of The Sun (Britain's biggest selling newspaper), The Daily Mail (Britain's second biggest selling newspaper), The Times, The Telegraph, and Rupert Murdoch. They also consistently failed to capitalise on any gains from an incredibly unpopular Labour administration, which is almost unprecedented in British politics (usually whenever support for Labour declines, support for the Conservatives tends to go up). They also had the support of the only real constituents in British politics - the wealthy business class who were quite literally betting on a Conservative win and not because the Conservatives are tough on immigration (which big business incidentally doesn't give a monkeys about: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35618400-3056-11df-bc4a-00144feabdc0.html). Instead, as the Financial Times described the pre-election mood in the business community: ?The Tories, the hereditary party of business, are, according to pollsters, rolling unstoppably towards power. Bolly and bonuses all round.?
A friend at work said he's gloating no matter what happens:
I don't think this election can be considered anything other than a disaster for the Conservatives. They poured millions into publicity and had the backing of The Sun (Britain's biggest selling newspaper), The Daily Mail (Britain's second biggest selling newspaper), The Times, The Telegraph, and Rupert Murdoch. They also consistently failed to capitalise on any gains from an incredibly unpopular Labour administration, which is almost unprecedented in British politics (usually whenever support for Labour declines, support for the Conservatives tends to go up). They also had the support of the only real constituents in British politics - the wealthy business class who were quite literally betting on a Conservative win and not because the Conservatives are tough on immigration (which big business incidentally doesn't give a monkeys about: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/35618400-3056-11df-bc4a-00144feabdc0.html). Instead, as the Financial Times described the pre-election mood in the business community: ?The Tories, the hereditary party of business, are, according to pollsters, rolling unstoppably towards power. Bolly and bonuses all round.?
I agree with all of that.
The concern must be, however, that apart from The Guardian/Observer and the Mirror, every single national newspaper in the UK was backing the Tories; this means that if there is a Liberal/Labour coalition there will be nothing but smear while they are in office.
The concern must be, however, that apart from The Guardian/Observer and the Mirror, every single national newspaper in the UK was backing the Tories; this means that if there is a Liberal/Labour coalition there will be nothing but smear while they are in office.
Smear is nothing new though. Talk of the minority members of this 'progressive coalition' demanding economic favours that the country can't afford to deliver on sounds like a bigger problem - rumours that Northern Ireland would demand not to be effected by cuts/tax hikes etc. Westminster would need to show them the bank balance and give them the rude awakening that this country's skint, and that includes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, not just the English. That really would rile up the populace like nothing else.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Also talk of referendum; Tories will aparently have the option of voting for or against it. Of course they won't vote for it, and the Lib Dems will come away with nothing.
A referendum will be amongst 30-odd (well, quite odd) million people, and 305 Tory MPs votes will be relatively insignificant. However, such votes WILL be a proportional representation. Which is somewhat rough justice.
Re GB: we never had the chance to vote him in, but positively voted him out at the first opportunity.
I'm very hopeful that the politicos have heard the country's call for change. Now it's all about the wording of a referendum, or the details of the Labour guarantee of electoral reform.
If, as some of you attest, the country is at heart a socialist one, you must heartily embrace the opportunity to marginalise the Tories in perpetuity, even if that means swallowing some poison for a few years in having a Tory led government.
The irony of the situation is splendid!
Hurrah! Hurrah for us!
b/w if it doesn't come about, I suspect there are many of us who will never bother to vote again.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the sight of the Tories and their bloated, idiotic shills like Boulton working themselves into a gasket-blowing frenzy as they attempt to put up the argument, like the self-serving bastards they are, that it's somehow illegitimate or unconstitutional to follow existing constitutional practices. Essentially they're claiming that a combination of both the FPTP method (most seats) and PR (greater number/percentage of votes) entitles them to govern without having to make deals, even though we don't have PR and under normal circumstances no Tory PM would support PR as long as he had a hole in his arse. The landslide of bullshit - and they all know it's bullshit - they're pushing about Brown "squatting" in No.10 is laughable. They're well aware that Brown has to remain PM until this issue's resolved, yet they're clearly ready to undermine their own principles in order to unseat him and gain power. They are, quite simply, an epsloot shaar.
Also, can we finally dead this issue of whether we "elected" Brown once and for all? We the people do not, and never have, "elected" the PM. We elect a party to form a government, and that party's appointed leader then becomes PM. It really isn't that fucking complicated. And even if this total non-issue had any validity as far as the current predicament went, it only needs to be pointed out that, since 1950, there have been four "unelected" Tory PMs (Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home & Major) to Labour's two (Callaghan and Brown) to sink that particular Tory argument.
Personally, right now I will happily take a few years of a "who has the most sweets and/or toys" minority Tory government - rather them twisting in the wind for a while than having a Lib/Lab coalition presiding over either economic mismanagement (a/k/a failure to cut public spending) or betrayal of this country's weakest and poorest (a/k/a cutting public spending), thus damning both parties to the wilderness for a generation. That's your worst case scenario right there.
The boy Miliband the elder is at 4/6 today at the bookies apparently.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
At least you knew where you stood with Pol Pot.
Y'know, I'm suddenly quite relieved the British Army is currently fighting on two fronts, otherwise we could - theoretically, at least - be properly fucked. Of course, my somewhat bleak outlook may have been influenced by having seen Crimson Tide again the other night.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
Doc, who will you cosign as Lab leader?
The boy Miliband the elder is at 4/6 today at the bookies apparently.
Unusually for a youngin, Milliband, D. would appear to possess the requisite level of gravitas and political nous to make the grade, but I imagine that's a family trait. Personally, it will always be a source of great sadness to me that there isn't a third Milliband brother named Steve.
-related.
What are the bookies giving on Alan Johnson? Apparently, he's an ex-mod. Writer mate of a mate has done a bit of speechwriting for various cabinet members (incl. GB, I understand), and has in the past engaged Johnson in small talk on the topic of trouser widths. I'd be curious to know how strong his red & yellow Pye International 45 game is.
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.
SMH doesn't even come close to describing the vigorous neck work out I am currently performing.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
England's 30-man provisional squad
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.
Pretty much what was expected, really - no real surprises. I can't believe some pundits had seriously begun to float the idea that Owen Hargreaves would make the cut, although if he were fit...
No love for Zamora. Watch him get a sackful on Wednesday.
Comments
Cheers.
Now, to address these Duder-beating poasts:
I reckon my poor score is down to making 74 transfers over the course of the season. Half of these (maybe more) were due to picking Arsenal players, who, of course, get injured. The other half can be divided between injuries to other players (I have the magic touch!), and just sh*t decisions on my part. I also cannot pick players that I find reprehensible, so I lose out on the big scoring Wank Lampard, Saint Stevie of Me, Darren Fletcher etc etc.
World Cup Fantasy Football should be no-holds barred stuff though. Through gritted teeth I could even find myself picking Lampard.
I'll make no excuses.
You swine.
But Meriman take those shots because they stumble into towns where 'soul' is a mispelling on the fish menu, and records are priced in nickels and dimes. I do not believe there are chazzas in London not picked clean by the in-house valuers these days anyway.
In all seriousness, there's that VG++ meet going on this Wednesday, but not sure I can make it. If chaps from here ever do make a big London booze-up though... count me in!
Out of town, duder. Talmbout deep, deep suburbs and little satellite towns along the estuary.
Anyway......
Opposition = The Conservatives & Sinn Fein
Government = Everybody else?
Is it just me or is Nick Robinson having difficulty keeping it together at the possibility of the Tories not getting into office...? I keep expecting him to start stamping his feet and shouting, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Seriously one of the shittest BBC commentators; he should move to Sky News or something.
Hazel Blears for PM
I'm sure Norman Tebbit would like that.
I imagine that, in the US, there mightn't be quite so much fuss over a political journalist showing such a partisan streak, but do that in this country and you may as well dig a big hole, throw your professional credibility into that hole, and then take a massive dump all over it. I doubt Boulton will lose his job over this, and there'll be no shortage of people defending him for "standing up" to Campbell, but he's done as a serious political commentator.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footbal...t-own-goal.html
http://www.capelloindex.com/site/
I will ride for this.
B/w
Boulton is a fucking idiot.
The best part of these uncertain times is the thought that the obviously out-moded FirstPastThePost system, defended to the hilt by the Tories for so long, could be their undoing. They can't have it both ways, and this seems to be the best time ever to push through PR. Tory commentators going on about how they 'won' the election. They didn't, they got more votes than any other single party, but not enough to win. Either FPTP is fair, or PR is fair, but the Tories want to have it both ways to suit them.
Also talk of referendum; Tories will aparently have the option of voting for or against it. Of course they won't vote for it, and the Lib Dems will come away with nothing. Where was the referendum on the Iraq war? Govmnt had no problems doing that without the people's say-so.
Oh, and Zola sacked. Shame, he's a nice guy, but no surprise there.
A referendum will be amongst 30-odd (well, quite odd) million people, and 305 Tory MPs votes will be relatively insignificant. However, such votes WILL be a proportional representation. Which is somewhat rough justice.
Re GB: we never had the chance to vote him in, but positively voted him out at the first opportunity.
I'm very hopeful that the politicos have heard the country's call for change. Now it's all about the wording of a referendum, or the details of the Labour guarantee of electoral reform.
If, as some of you attest, the country is at heart a socialist one, you must heartily embrace the opportunity to marginalise the Tories in perpetuity, even if that means swallowing some poison for a few years in having a Tory led government.
The irony of the situation is splendid!
Hurrah! Hurrah for us!
b/w if it doesn't come about, I suspect there are many of us who will never bother to vote again.
I assumed they (Tory spokesperson) meant that the Tory-Lib cabinet would have a referendum on putting forward the idea of some kind of political reform... of course this stance seems to have changed from "might", to "yes, of course, the Conservatives are all about Democracy" since it emerged that Clegg has been talking to Labour and Brown announced he will step down.
I agree with all of that.
The concern must be, however, that apart from The Guardian/Observer and the Mirror, every single national newspaper in the UK was backing the Tories; this means that if there is a Liberal/Labour coalition there will be nothing but smear while they are in office.
Smear is nothing new though. Talk of the minority members of this 'progressive coalition' demanding economic favours that the country can't afford to deliver on sounds like a bigger problem - rumours that Northern Ireland would demand not to be effected by cuts/tax hikes etc. Westminster would need to show them the bank balance and give them the rude awakening that this country's skint, and that includes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, not just the English. That really would rile up the populace like nothing else.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the sight of the Tories and their bloated, idiotic shills like Boulton working themselves into a gasket-blowing frenzy as they attempt to put up the argument, like the self-serving bastards they are, that it's somehow illegitimate or unconstitutional to follow existing constitutional practices. Essentially they're claiming that a combination of both the FPTP method (most seats) and PR (greater number/percentage of votes) entitles them to govern without having to make deals, even though we don't have PR and under normal circumstances no Tory PM would support PR as long as he had a hole in his arse. The landslide of bullshit - and they all know it's bullshit - they're pushing about Brown "squatting" in No.10 is laughable. They're well aware that Brown has to remain PM until this issue's resolved, yet they're clearly ready to undermine their own principles in order to unseat him and gain power. They are, quite simply, an epsloot shaar.
Also, can we finally dead this issue of whether we "elected" Brown once and for all? We the people do not, and never have, "elected" the PM. We elect a party to form a government, and that party's appointed leader then becomes PM. It really isn't that fucking complicated. And even if this total non-issue had any validity as far as the current predicament went, it only needs to be pointed out that, since 1950, there have been four "unelected" Tory PMs (Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home & Major) to Labour's two (Callaghan and Brown) to sink that particular Tory argument.
Personally, right now I will happily take a few years of a "who has the most sweets and/or toys" minority Tory government - rather them twisting in the wind for a while than having a Lib/Lab coalition presiding over either economic mismanagement (a/k/a failure to cut public spending) or betrayal of this country's weakest and poorest (a/k/a cutting public spending), thus damning both parties to the wilderness for a generation. That's your worst case scenario right there.
The boy Miliband the elder is at 4/6 today at the bookies apparently.
Y'know, I'm suddenly quite relieved the British Army is currently fighting on two fronts, otherwise we could - theoretically, at least - be properly fucked. Of course, my somewhat bleak outlook may have been influenced by having seen Crimson Tide again the other night.
Unusually for a youngin, Milliband, D. would appear to possess the requisite level of gravitas and political nous to make the grade, but I imagine that's a family trait. Personally, it will always be a source of great sadness to me that there isn't a third Milliband brother named Steve.
What are the bookies giving on Alan Johnson? Apparently, he's an ex-mod. Writer mate of a mate has done a bit of speechwriting for various cabinet members (incl. GB, I understand), and has in the past engaged Johnson in small talk on the topic of trouser widths. I'd be curious to know how strong his red & yellow Pye International 45 game is.
Milli E 11/1
Ed Balls 10/1
Harriet Hormone 12/1
Johnson 7/1 the clever bet IMHO
Blair 1000/1
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.
SMH doesn't even come close to describing the vigorous neck work out I am currently performing.
Pretty much what was expected, really - no real surprises. I can't believe some pundits had seriously begun to float the idea that Owen Hargreaves would make the cut, although if he were fit...
No love for Zamora. Watch him get a sackful on Wednesday.