Chindie

Bloody hell I remember Superted, just. It got shown when I was very little, used to watch it. Anyone remember http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58eYhiHYi0. I got reminded of this a few weeks ago and checking it now is bizarre, it's just really weird.

Not bad at all, straight real cider, 6%, sharp but smooth, recommended if not the best cider ever into A 'berry cider', aka cider with berry juice in it. Still sharp and sweet, with a heavy long strawberry note that's actually slightly off putting on the end. Here endeth my Cornish ciders.

Even though I'm not an old duffer, it's Connery. He made the character his by, more or less solely, being the first to portray him. I liked Brosnan in the role in his better moments (Effectively only Goldeneye). Unfortunately he was lumbered with some truly crap plots, even by naff bond standards. Craig is too cold, and in Quantum of Solace basically becomes a completely unlikeable word removed. Roger Moore was a joke. He was far too camp and didn't really embody the role at all for me. Dalton is the one I'm least familiar with but I've always been told in one of his roles he came closest to what Fleming's Bond was. Gotta be Connery.

If he comes in as DoF I'll be considerably less supportive of the appointment. Which isn't saying much admittedly but still.

If it is to be Houllier, I'll support him, and he's certainly not the worst of any of the names we've gone for it seems (though thats more by virtue of a few of the others being an absolute horror show). But I'll think it's a rather limp appointment at a time we might have done more.

Chindie, I don't agree with a lot of what you've written, but staying on topic - who would you like us to try and get then? (given what you've said there). Being honest, my mind is blank on that front. Jol sprung immediately to mind but with Ajax in the CL all his worries there vanished in an instant - his imminent departure to Fulham was less about him wanting to go to London than it was saying to the Ajax board 'Stop pissing about', so even if we would/could/whatever pay the compensation, I'm not sure how much he'd want to come (made worse by, imo, issues with the club itself, re. money). I'm sure that, outside of the Premier League, there is someone who can do a job here. Be that someone in the lower leagues with promise, or someone abroad who has shown they could cut it. We're going to be taking a risk whatever we do, I'd rather we took a risk on a new quantity than the dross we've limited ourselves to, in part because of risk aversion at only wanting proven Prem men, and partly imo because we just won't pay for them. Even if a lot of these riskier guys wouldn't come, I'd like us to have gone for them, or tried. I'm really not sure what the names we've been thrown will do for us. Houllier is just... well we could do worse, we could hire Curbishley... but I'm sure theres better out there. But we won't go for them. It seems odd - we're so risk averse we'll, potentially, threaten what we already have. And then you add the fact that all these heavily linked names are out of work. The club already has chucked MacDonald at us, there's been what, even on here, people referred to as MacDonald propaganda on the OS. That worries me. We shouldn't be promoting a completely unproven, tactically naive man to the job of manager, one that he even doesn't seem that comfortable with. Even with the helping hand over him of a proven man (which I don't like anyway) why are we doing that? It stinks to me. But no I can't name many, but that doesn't mean the club shouldn't be fighting tooth and nail to get one, or even deeply consider one, which appears not to have happened. They've had long enough to do so.

I wouldn't use the General as a great source of information any more. Every name that has been consistently linked has been out of work or easily removed from said job. We've not been solidly linked to anyone that is in work. There was a brief link to Jol that quickly died a death. Moyes rumours appeared to be based on pretty much nothing (asides from which, if we genuinely did want Moyes, I think we're barking up the wrong tree entirely - we offer him nothing that could tempt him). Asides from that, all unemployed/in tentative roles (Houllier atm is in a back room role with the French national side IIRC, a director of something or other). And I don't believe we're the sealed vessel we have gained a reputation for anymore. Inklings of our intentions come out, in this debacle it seems to have become more than inklings and instead turned into open secrets. The man that arrives in our manager's seat will be cheap. I arrive at this conclusion based on this - we seemed exceptionally loathe to spend money this summer. Sell to buy was the word that then was spun into something that tried to make out it wasn't sell to buy when it was. Then we had a good manager simply walk out. I don't buy the Great Satan O'Neill line, spun by the club with Krulak's pathetic digs seemingly. I maintain a belief that something changed that forced O'Neills hand, and I'm fairly sure it was money orientated, given that O'Neill appeared resigned to letting Milner go and was already sanctioning the sale of other players, like Shorey... I think something changed that made him jack it in. It seems that we just don't want to spend anything. But just saying 'we're skint' is bad for business, so we wrap it up in other phrases. Krulak simply cannot speak solely as a fan. He's a board member. He has to reflect what the board would like. Make no mistake, his thread here is PR, it's a line spinner for us./ Sometimes it's nice and it's useful to the odd few, and gets Nicky Keye a few more calls a week. But it is PR at the end of the day and for whatever Krulak may say as a fan, he's reflecting the board as well imo. I'd love to see us pick up a good manager in work. Can't see it though. And imo, from what we've seen this summer, it'll be because we're not opening the wallet anymore. Which is fair enough. But they have to realise they severely threaten the use of any investment by Randy thus far by cocking this appointment up monumentally. Not everyone will agree with me but hey, it's what the sites for.

I think the 'honourable' stuff is doublespeak for 'won't/can't pay the compensation'. It's all well and good being honourable, and it's nice that we've been the nice guys of the League for a while, but there are times it's a detriment to us as a side and I believe this is one of them. It's foolish to risk our development and success for honour. Especially when it is entirely legal and acceptable to approach clubs with intentions for their manager. Were that not the case, what the club is doing would be right and good. As it is, its overprincipled to the point that, to be honest, given the other evidence of this previous month, and arguably the months beforehand, I think it's a straight up lie.

Interesting. I have seen this type of thing posted, that the club are taking care, or being thorough or making sure they leave no stone unturned etc etc etc I personally do not believe that. I just think they sre struggling to get anyone decent for not much money and are trying to make the best of a bad thing. My concerns over Houllier/Macdonald/Staunton are not diminishing That's increasingly my take on it as well Richard. Thats where I'm at as well. And I maintain the DoF will be a disaster. Houllier will just end up in the dug out, especially given his nature as a bloke, if we thought MON was a control freak, Houllier is infamous for it. He may start in the background but he'll either leave the club or be in the dugout sooner or later. And neither eventuality will be good for us, as the flaws with both MacDonald and Houllier illustrate. It's a sad state of affairs that we're left banking on freebies. That shouldn't be the case.

I don't think I'll ever find a cider I like more than Old Rosie. Unfortunately that stuff will give you liver rot and brain failure just by a whiff of the fumes. But still the search goes on.

Parents brought a selection of Cornish ciders back for me, gone for the one I'm least interested in to start... 4%, 'pear cider', in fact made by simply pouring pear juice into a normal cider, not too bad but I've had far far better. Looking forward to it's 6% straight cider big brother.

MrWeedMcGrass' current avatar is a hypercube, also known as a tesseract or 4 dimensional cube.

Thats a mean looking curry. (Also, Dick Strawbridge ftw. And Lisa Faulkner. Yum.)

I have no wish to convert people, so theres little for any rhetoric to do. Does he play an important role for the team? We did the best we have in quite some time last season with him barely near the squad. With the best defensive record we've had in donkeys. Is his role so utterly important it's best done from outside the team? Seems that way. I'd love to look on the positives of NRC. Unfortunately the positives are a very short list. He's defined by his negatives. A lack of skill, vision, or ability. He's all the energy in the world but that just isn't good enough. Having the energy to burst forward is useless if that burst does nothing, like we saw at the weekend. He's a player that is all physique, and these players tend not to be fantastic. Theres a parallel with Micah Richards at Citeh - all brawn, no finesse. Bodily, all the potential in the world to be magnificent in their position, let down by no skill and left relying on whatever their physique lets them do. I said earlier in the thread I'd adore NRC if he could hack the DM position properly. Or if he could be a cut price Essien. He can't. The things that NRC is praised for always return to the same old comments - his energy, his bite, etc. It's never his skill. I've never heard him praised on his ability to do anything, except maybe tackle, and frankly I think the jury's out on that as well. For energy, and bite, read 'graft, effort'. I think it is a fact that people praise him on those values and not the ones that he clearly doesn't have. If people are basing it on ability, they're keeping it quiet and, from what I've seen with my eyes, seemingly something that isn't present. It sure as hell isn't his technique (awful), his touch (atrocious), his vision (nonexistant), his reading of the game (he doesn't read it, he reacts) and so on. I'm not speaking down to anyone there, so you can leave the higher self stuff out of it. Some people appreciate that side of the game, good for them and thats their perogative. However, I want a bit more than that, and since this does appear to be a debate about NRC, I think it's fine to argue the toss of these approaches to him as a player. I think it'd be rather dull if the entirety of the debate was 'Well, I like NRC's efforts' 'Thats nice. I'd to see more from him ability wise' 'OK, we don't agree... I like NRC's efforts' and so on. You're barking up the wrong tree. I have an enormous distaste for NRC, yes, and I'm at a loss as to why people are so impressed by his endeavours. If I wished to use an ad hominem against anyone of his supporters, I'd be much more blunt. If you feel I am regardless, then take it up with the mods, as I believe it would constitute a post on poster in effect, an almost genocide-ic post on poster I think, which would, give the sheer support for NRC as evidenced on this poll, probably be worth a ban.

The thing about Petrov always being knackered and 'has no running' just isn't true and never has been, as is the passing always sideways and backwards (although frankly thats what I'd expect a decent DM to do, keep the ball moving, even if it has to be sideways, keep it simple in that position unless you're world class). But this isn't the thread for it. I will never like Reo-Coker. Thankfully, I won't have to put up with his presence in the team I support much longer. And for that I'm thankful.

The thing with Houlliers record with Lyon is... well, it's not that relevant to us. Most of his signings at Lyon were effectively doing what Bayern has often done - looking at who's been successful in the league and poaching them, because Lyon were/are the giants in France. He couldn't do that for us. Not by a long shot. At Liverpool his record falls down a lot, and that is slightly more relevant to us. He'd not be able to look around and pinch success stories, he'd have to identify talent, and sadly there he falls sharpish. I'm really, really not keen on Houllier (surprise surprise) and even less so in a DoF role.

Because in the same way a lot of people like and will fall for rhetoric, a lot of people like to see a player that grafts, that tries, that is full of running. Sadly, in Nigels case, for anyone unimpressed by that alone, he has nothing else to fall back on. Unfortunately, the people that enjoy graft above all, and effort, seem to outnumber those who are less than impressed by that alone. Ultimately, in my view at least, the numbers are flawed by this fact.

It's more possible than today. As the seconds tick by, the chances of appointing a new manager approaches 1.

I'm still at a loss as to what a person would get out of joining up to a rival clubs forum and then spending the entire time arguing how their club is fantastic and belittling and condescending the club and fans of the site that had been joined. It seems alien, pointless, stupid. This is a Villa site. We're going to slag you off. The presence of a pernickity, annoying, deluded, condescending, arrogant Spud is only going to make us hate them more.

****, you'll be needing a shotgun for that one Pompey. :|

I'll also jump on the 'get your wallet out and poach a manager' bandwagon. As Bicks says, if you're unemployed at the moment as a manager, it's because you deserve to be. And this is the field we're looking at. Horrifying.

I'd be tempted to try Sidwell ahead of him in a 3 with Ireland playing in the hole. For all his vanishing acts, Sidwell is still a better football player and has a enough of the box to box about him to leave Petrov to the finesse stuff and Ireland to rely almost entirely on attacking. If I were picking the team, and NRC played, make no mistake - he'd be playing in the infamous DOL Craig Gardner role - There Is No Alternative. Thats not an endorsement of NRC at all. It's the opposite.

Putting the plenty of players in quotes makes it seem like you are disbelieving of such a thought, which makes arguing the toss with you seemingly pointless, but still. I recognise we need the players, not that we need NRC. Had we another, even decent, CM, I'd have him out the door so fast his head would spin. I'd be tempted to have got rid of him anyway to be frank.

Just added this one to my ever growing list. Looks right up my particular street. This was on Film4 the other night, managed to record it on this recommendation and watched earlier on. I was really enjoying it till the last 20 mins, which in contrast to GarethRDR, I thought were shit and ruined the film. (Potential Spoilers ahoy) The final 20 has a revelation, yes, but the film then chucks in a load of...well, for want of a better word, attacks, on a certain demographic in a very heavy handed and rather... upmarket tabloid way. Really broke the film a bit for me, which till then had been a good example of a simple thriller. And the bird in it was hot. And then they ruined it. Nice pop culture reference in there though in that final part .

You can see Jupiter, to the south, at the moment, if you're lucky, as well.