Chindie

It wasn't in anyway even vaguely believable. It got so absurdly stupid that really, it's hard to even give it any merit as entertainment. If ever you've seen his old skit about a guy playing a zombie arcade game and then hypnotising him to believe he was in the game, imagine that on a grander and even less believable scale. I really like Derren Brown's stuff normally, he's had the odd miss (the zombie thing for example) but his older stuff is at least either believable to an extent, or entertaining. This was just shite.

Could have been a worse appointment. Can't vote in the poll because I'm not really either for or particularly against his appointment.

R.I.P. any semblance of Derren Browns remaining integrity.

If anyone wants to see Derren Brown desperately jumping the shark, Channel 4 now or the full 'Bull...shit!'ness of it all, 4+1.

Walsall FC's record transfer is £175k, set in 1979.

Yes it is ...is this the 5 minute argument or the 10?

Your issue appears to be with hysterical fans but you quoted me in your little point scoring exercise, so I have a slight issue with that. I also didn't say they should go around appeasing hysterical fans, I said there was little evidence, i.e. a serious approach was never mooted in the press, just a few brief links that swiftly vanished. The media can do the appeasing for them. Anyway, since this isn't an argument the thread, nor you or I needs, the end. You should be happy I was happy to be proven wrong.

People should have more faith in the board rather than just writing them off for being cheapskates! (not saying you just pointing out) No, people should be skeptical in my opinion. And they've done what to warrant not trusting them? You shouldn't be just blind to thinking all they do will be good, but some of the grief they got was a joke. There was little evidence of us pursuing the right kind of appointments. Now there is. I don't think I gave them much grief in all honesty, and if thats your issue, have it out with some of the hysteria merchants who did give them jokesome grief

People should have more faith in the board rather than just writing them off for being cheapskates! (not saying you just pointing out) No, people should be skeptical in my opinion.

That makes me considerably happier.

Really enjoyed that first ep of This is England. Liked quite how funny it was at times as well. And some eye candy, even with the shite 80s fashion, in Kel and the red head girl who said... well, nothing.

Could be worse.

Cheers for the advice everyone This is particularly what I was interested in as well, cheers. Seems simple enough, though waiting around is something I really hate. Filling in the online form was as fun as I'd hoped. It asks questions quite awkwardly, particularly with reference to education subsidies. It asks if ou been in an education course that has finished in the last 3 months (for me, yes) and then if you received assistance in paying for that, again yes. A few pages later it asks for how many sources of assistance you are receiving. In my case I reckon thats 1, but I'm not actually receiving it anymore, I simply haven't paid them back yet... so is that still being received or not? On the safe side, I say I'm still receiving it... next page starts asking for the next date of academic year and all that jazz which clearly doesn't apply to me, so skip back I go and change it no I'm not receiving it any more... Thats the problem with forms, if you don't exactly match the criteria, it doesn't ever quite work.

That fills me with a bit more hope. Although, when I was job searching last summer, I popped into the job centre a couple of times to check their little computer things, and it was all the same results I could have got looking at the job search on their website. I'm not sure what having someone sat next to you would help there. But aye, gotta be done. I need work.

Hmm... not a good impression to give. I have heard they are staffed by idiots and people who simply cannot be arsed though so I'm not surprised. My dad had to sign on for a brief period recently after about 30 years of working and wasn't all that impressed. Hmm... guess what I dislike even more than forms? A lot of important stuff over the phone, hell. Particularly if the person on the end isn't the sharpist or if the scenario arrives where the answers for me don't fit the questions terribly well, nightmare. That doesn't fill me with confidence either. I could do with the help... Still, we'll see what happens. I also don't take being spoken to like an idiot well... It seems the job centre was designed to make me uncomfortable and mad. Argh.

I wish Rob! I managed to make about £400 last since about May. Down to slip pickings now which I don't want to touch. It should be said that that £400 was/is also the arse end of my overdraft. Erk. And a big overdraft it is too.

The bitter, bitter voice of experience there Darren? I'll look into doing it online actually, cheers, I'm not good with filling in forms with a pen, I'm terrified I'll do something wrong and have to start again so takes me forever to fill them out. Also saves me going down the Job Centre just to be given a form and pen and nowhere to write. The less time I have to spend in the place, the better. Do they actually help you look for work (which I'm sure they used to... or at leas the film Control has persuaded me is the case) by the way, or is it a case of just making sure your not taking the piss?

I like to think of it as promotion from tax dodger to scrounger

Ireland does backdating on JSA? Blimey. The UK doesn't unfortunately. If it did I'd be laughing. Well, maybe not laughing, but considerably better off.

I'm (finally) going to sign on tomorrow it seems. I should have done this months ago but in a combination of not getting round to it, other things getting in the way, and not being particularly keen on doing it (numerous issues make it a pain in the arse to get to job centre on a regular basis), I just didn't. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea what the procedure is at all. All I know is I'll need to go in once a fortnight, show them I'm actively seeking work, and that it's soul destroying. Any ideas what to expect? Or what I'll need to do/take with me? (Funnily enough the not going to sign on has actually been to my detriment, I've spent the last 2 months actually looking for work, and got nothing to show for it other than a smaller bank account. More fool me).

It was a nice touch for a while. I think your criticism of the mods there belies a bit of a lack of understanding. It's one of the more popular threads going and one that lends itself to some of the less... understanding shall we say, posters having a bit of a rant. Which in turn leads to the unwarranted discussion of different issues that arise which in turn needs clearing up. Along with running the rest of the site. The mods have lives off the site and do this for nothing, I don't think they can be expected to vet the entirety of any posting in the thread. Asides from which, they shouldn't do that anyway. The thread shouldn't be heavily censored, the General shouldn't be protected from the rough and only get the smooth. And any heavy censorship by the mods only opens them up to accusations of bias and so on... it's just not worthwhile. They do a good job, and can't be expected to do much more I don't think. Man Citeh have a similar thing going, for the record, iirc, if not as regular a feature. I was thinking more along the lines of his rather petulant outburst that suggested if we sold some more tickets we'd be more successful. Uncalled for in my view. Yes it had a purpose but some of it was so minor and didn't really need a board member doing it. The fact he's now buggered off because of a rather naive overlooking of what his comments might become in an open forum with media sniffing, and, imo, because the backlash is something he's not keen on from this month long shambles (he's never taken criticism that well imo), suggests that the purpose of the thread is over, and the minor benefit underneath all the other rubbish is perhaps not worthwhile. Perhaps a variant of the idea, with less of a board member and instead a liason, that has no link to the top level and only provides a place for critiques of ticketing/ground/match day experience might be more worthwhile?

On the sub theme of the General's temporary leave... I can't say it's that big of a deal. The thread is 99% sycophantic pandering to his ego or, at the opposite end of the scale, inane ranting. The General never provides particularly good answers to the big questions, perhaps because he can't, and shouldn't. Fair enough. It's not a big loss if thats gone, unless people are desperate for placation to such an extent that having the General repeat 'We'll get the right man' for a month is enough. The big questions he either tended to avoid (he has recently point blank ignored some pertinent questions from a few members, and downright ignored a good post to him that was somewhat constructively critical by Risso, for instance) or simply not answer with anything other than PR, and at times recently has verged on the rather offensive to fans. The more inane stuff, like problems experienced in the ground or with ticketing or so on, he was more useful, but thats such a small amount of the threads worth it's no great loss (and for the record, people, if theres an issue with tickets of any sort, call Nicky Keye, and tell her the General sent you). I personally believe, even if his break is temporary, it's no great loss. He initially was here to smooth fan/owner relations, and has kept it up spinning the line the club would like, which sometimes is accurate and sometimes, I would consider, is a bit of a rosier outlook than it might otherwise be, for 4 years. His thread has probably served it's purpose.

Irish would be a about a third the way through, Rev is right there I think. Saying that, whilst there is loads to go still, it isn't the most difficult of games so you could go through it pretty damn quickly if you wanted. I recommend not doing that though as it's a game to really savour.

Surely O'Leary was foreign as well? Good old Evening Mail.

I'm not Heskey's biggest fan (although I do think he can offer us something in the brief moments it all clicks), and he certainly wasn't with hindsight a good buy, but I don't think he's the worst of MON's reign. He;s up there though. I'd shove NRC as the worst.