Runehammer

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I pretty much agree with you here, a coach and a manager are not the same thing, you may find someone who is exceptional at both but it's rare.

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Hmm, if we had all internationals decided on the toss of a coin I think Hodge'd be awesome, seeing he's a champion tosser.

Ignorance or jealousy tho'?

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I tend to agree with the comparison with Keegan but absolutely not for the reasons you give, Keegan was totally honest to both us and himself, he wanted/needed a new challenge to keep himself motivated, I think he felt he'd short-change the club by not giving his all (in his own mind at least). I don't believe he ever thought we weren't good enough for him. Suarez has done pretty much the same thing (being honest to himself that is); the difference being that what he's said regarding LFC isn't worth a damn. On that pitch tho' he's never given less that his all (compare and contrast with Torres) so he gets no animosity from me. I don't see how he fits in Barcelona''s set up (personality wise at least) so I don't think it will be all roses for him, it will be interesting but I would like to see a repeat of that Hamburg super cup meeting v's Barca in the upcoming CL.

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Celtic would be in with a good shout for second.

There are a few clips on Youtube but they are awful quality (as you'd expect). Despite this sentence coming from a piece on the Fail online it brilliantly sums up the man: When the Italians of Palermo came knocking on the door of his terrace house in 1952 offering a £10,000 signing-on fee, £100 a week, a staffed villa on Lake Como and a Maserati — on top of what would have been a record transfer fee of £50,000 — he chose to stay on £12 a week at Deepdale, explaining to his bewildered suitors: ‘I’m a Preston man, always.’ That's a proper legend; RIP.

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Surreal this, utterly ridiculous decision by the FA.

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Yes but it's bonkers, suppose you have a flu epidemic or unfortunate spate of injuries and have 5-6 first team regulars ruled out, that team would be a whole different prospect on recovery, not to mention teams fielding "weakened" sides when it suits them. The kind of scenario it seems to me that AW is looking for would exist only in subbuteo leagues.

He'll have no choice but to abandon the game!

The law for South Americans yes. The law for English internationals, former team captains at that, is yet to be determined.

RIP Miki, cruel loss of such a young man, condolences to all his friends and family. YNWA

I agree totally, I think they have been negatively briefed against him on the basis of agenda driven fantasy. I would say however that I actually think Martinez would have been a very good "dark horse" appointment if it were not for the fact that Rafa (at least) is ready, willing and able. The fact they won't even speak to him fills me with dread tho'.

It's also common sense, clearly the owners are more than happy with the youth set-up that Rafa put in place, and the personnel running it that Rafa also installed. Rafa is all but guaranteed to slot back in and hit the ground running since a good number of our current players also know exactly what is expected of them, so for me, to not even talk to the guy is utter incompetence. It seems to me that Martinez is viewed as "Rafa-lite" and that's what they are gambling on, the knives are still sticking out of his back IMO.

Yes Arsenal and Chelsea were who I have in mind, both are seemingly on par with us right now but they are both in decline, Chelsea because of their ageing squad, Arsenal tho' looked to have trodden the course we seem to have embarked upon and yet have inexplicably failed to follow through and, on top of what you correctly mention, don't look to be that attractive a proposition for recruiting the kind of player needed, Champions Leage football or not.

Lest we forget, back in the day winning the old league cup was seen as doing the business part 1, Euro qualification guaranteed early which allowed us to concentrate on winning the league. Ok nowadays neither cup (domestic or Europa) is deemed worthy and a title challenge, alas, is still a season or 2 away; nonetheless the same principle applies, winning a trophy in february would be a massive boost and IMHO help achieve the goal of 4th place. The two are not mutually exclusive and this is without even mentioning the FA cup, which is also a viable target. Personally I'd even take the league cup over 4th as things stand because; first: we are long overdue a trophy and second: the squad we have is only going to get better as it matures and we are in a position already where we have 2 players for every position and can finally only look to buy players that are definite upgrades, rather than the kind of stop-gaps that were being touted this last window. The club is finally doing things the right way for me, sit back and enjoy the ride!

Way beyond irony - steelony maybe.

Would like Crawley but its gonna be Chelsea, its always Chelsea.

Think this is absolutely spot on however I am not so sure the club didn't just do what it did in good faith (ie that the panel would have been mostly even-handed in their deliberations even if biased towards a guilty verdict). This case is wholly unprecedented in my lifetime and Suarez, and the club, has had a number done on them. I'd love us to take it further but my understanding is that CAS is a non-starter as the FA have to agree to it too, in my opinion all that appears left is a defamation suit but I wouldn't hold much hope of success with that either, it will take forever and do us no end of further damage.

In that case, sadly, you make a fair point although I still think our stock is higher than one might expect, and hopefully some gems will be able to see that we are an exciting prospect.