Most people don't commit suicide when they hit rock bottom. Usually it's when they're starting to feel better and on the up, as that's when they feel they have enough energy and 'confidence' to go through with it. I don't want to speculate on what happened in this instance, but I think the players union need to look at setting up an educational facility of some sort to help ex footballers. Being out of the limelight is a tough nut to crack for many former stars. They have been pampered for most of their adult life, and before that, by their mothers. So something to help them get settled into real life and how to manage the daily grind. I am by no means saying this is the case with Gary Speed, but his tragic death brought this issue to the front of my mind. My thoughts are with Gary Speed's family and close friends.

RIP Gary

Wenger said something along the same lines after the QPR - Chelsea game, and I don't recall anyone slagging him off. I realise Blatter is President of FIFA but still, Wenger is a big name in football as well. Here's a paragraph from an article from the Independent: "How much credit can you give to something that is said on the pitch in a passionate situation?" Wenger said. "How deep do you read?" He suggested, with a rather more trivial example than the one currently in the news, that insults on the football pitch are "reflexes" rather than considered speech. "If you have played football, you have said something to your friends sometimes that you are an idiot – but you do not really think that he's an idiot." During a football career there are quite a few 'heated' situations. Sometimes people say or do silly stuff but I think as long as people can shake hands afterwards and apologise when an apology is due, then one shouldn't read too much into it. There's a difference between one nasty tackle and being a nasty player. However, if John Terry denies having said something racist during a game and it turns out he did, then I think he should get a ban. Professional athletes are paid vast amounts of money too, and probably should be able to keep it within the rules. I don't like Blatter, but I think this particular hounding is over the top. Link to article mentioned above: Wenger offers words of comfort for beleaguered Terry

Done

Guess someone wanted it more than me. Hope you're happy with the price you got

I've been on the lookout for one of these for a while, as well as a 125 year anniversary shirt. Hopefully I can win the bidding

I'm very interested. Size 44-46 is aprox an L, correct?

Sad to see him go, but can imagine that when not playing and not getting himself fit he's a disruptive element in the dressing room. Can we get anything proven that Kalinic can work off for the kind of money WH are paying for Benni? Beattie perhaps but imo that's a risky signing, he hasn't proven himself in the top flight for a number of years now. We always sell before we buy. From a pure business stance that's okay but if yet again we don't have a replacement lined up we're asking for trouble. Why are we always waiting to be in a rush come end of the transfer windows?

GOLD

If anyone has one of these lying around and want rid I'll happily buy. I regret not buy it when we wore it 10 years ago and with the voting going on these years I suspect it'll be a long time until we see orange away jerseys again. Size L (M also accepted )

I thought Petrov had a good second half (didn't watch the first) and cut inside as well as going on the outside to cause Neill lots of problems. He also set up the chance where City scored. Not saying Neill had a bad game but Petrov must've gotten some change out of him as he served several good crossed into the box during the 45 minutes I watched.

Neither is Berbatov; the second season is normally difficult for strikers because they get a lot more attention from the opposition's defenders. Benni hasn't been scoring as many this season but I'm sure he'll total 12-15 league goals come end of May.

What's really ironic is that Dwight Yorke was one of our fittest players at the time. Obviously he conserved his energy for the beep tests.

As long as he gets his fair share of goals I won't complain about his work ethic defensively. I don't see why he should chase the ball by the corner flag when he's already 10-15 yards behind Terry. If he's there closing him down then the whole team needs to push up along with him and that was clearly not the strategy on Sunday. Roque didn't work his socks off either imho, though he did win his fair share of headers that could've created some danger if they had hit the path of Benni. As for his lack of work ethic affecting his teammates...this is his second season for us and nobody seem to be easing up, on the contrary they seem to be working harder as a unit than ever. Matty knows he still has a lot to learn and that he'll get his chances in the right games, and if he continues to grab his chances and improve he'll be the regular starter and Benni will be on the bench - that's when you're guaranteed a dent in morale.

I remember reading that Dugarry had a look at our facilities before opting to sign for AC Milan. Apparantly he was very impressed but the chance to play for AC Milan was too good to turn down.