Talk about delusion . 30 is no age these days . McCarthy can't keep up with the "top dogs" because he doesn't have their application and dedication to his profession . To a large degree he has wasted his talent . Thankfully he has competition this season . Otherwise , if he had remained first choice striker we'd be fighting it out with the Dingles at the bottom of the league . For the record I'm still worried about our midfield supplying whoever our forwards are .....

You must be making it up . I wouldn't put him in the top 100 ....

Exactly ...... OK - Le Chuck ....you win . Now go and send a congratulatory telegram to Mr Owen for having the most impressive goal scoring statistics for last season . ....and then go and give Torres a bollocking for not being up to the same level as McCarthy

And this week's prize for pedantry goes to .......

Statistics eh ? Anyone on this messageboard could score 3 out of 4 penalties and make his percentage of chances scored look respectable . The details aren't there . For example how many non penalty chances did each player get ? - Michael Owen might have the best statistics but if he only had 3 chances all season and scored once it doesn't mean that much compared to someone who scored 10 out of 30 chances . And if the former was a penalty it means even less .... Just one question remains . Who would you rather have in your team - McCarthy on 28% or Torres on 19% ?

9 prem goals this season An improvement on the year before I suppose .....

He's scored a massive 9 goals this season , spent a lot of the time on the bench due to his fitness and attitude problems , and did nothing last season . Common sense , as opposed to blind optimism , tells me that we're flogging a dead horse here . Like Pedersen his career is just going to peter out .........taking an unjustifiably large wage while living in the comfort zone . Next term we'll need to step up a gear or two . We can't afford passengers .

Ask Waggy ...........

You're being more than a bit harsh on Eddie , here , Drog . Regardless of the footballing qualities of Barton - and IMO you're seriously over-estimating them - football isn't like any other business . Everyone should know that much by now ! There are all too many supporters out there who would not countenance Barton playing here , even if he was a free transfer playing for a fraction of what he was before . The board cannot send out glossy season ticket flyers emphasising that we're a family club , encouraging kids and families to attend and then have thugs like Barton pulling on the shirt . At the very least it would give the waverers an excuse not to come down to Ewood ; at the worst it deter present supporters from continuing to do so . It is not as if we have the choice between keeping the present set of midfielders OR signing this ar$e . There are other choices out there ...most of them not raving psychopaths . Signing Barton would be madness for Allardyce ; if it went wrong his detractors would regard it as the final nail in his coffin . And all for a player who's just a tadge above the average prem midfield player ? I can't believe he's stupid enough to risk it .......again . Nor should anyone encourage him in contemplating such idiocy .

Fat , useless and a waste of space - another liability . Get rid , Sam ....

There are none .......apart from the incident where he dropped Micky Gray whilst remaining seated in his chair - but that was more amusing than anything else ..... At the risk of incurring the wrath of my friend AESF , I have to say Rooney's a wonderful lad IMO - more energy and enthusiasm in his little finger than a lowlife like Barton will ever possess . And Barton is just your average run of the mill midfielder ; the odd good pass every now and then but nothing on the consistent basis that would justify any half decent team in the prem taking a risk with . Having said that the incident against Liverpool was a border line red card - somewhere between a red and a yellow as I said at the time ...

That does suggest to me that Rooney has come to terms with the deficiencies of his upbringing in Liverpool and is making solid progress in establishing a more cultured aspect to his outlook on life . Well done , Wayne ......

Probably the most simplistic and naive comment I have ever read on this messageboard . Try for one minute to contemplate the logistical , military social and political (as well as a whole host of other problems) that would be necessary to make this happen . What then do you propose "the West" do with the crop once it has been meekly handed over for this risible sum of £1 billion ? Burn it ? Give it to the junkies for nowt ? You make it sound like a transaction at Tesco ......get real

Come on , Bucky . You can't compare the legalisation of drugs with horseriding FFS . If we went down that road the we'd have to ban cars , trains and planes and nobody would be allowed to get out of bed in the morning . These are NECESSITIES just as horses used to be - ie , they have never been illegal . Horseriding and paragliding don't have a wider social context in the manner that drugs do . I see entirely your point about the relative dangers of "soft" drugs such as ecstacy but alcohol has always been legal and making previously banned substances legal would be the thin end of the wedge . You know as well as I do that it wouldn't stop there . What would inevitably happen (as I've explained on numerous occasions on this thread) is that the harder stuff would go legal drip by drip and then the taxpayer would end up paying the bill for the hopeless addicts who use the stuff and are too incapable to work to pay for it . I for one am sick to death of paying for the self inflicted failings of others and don't want to see the streets further littered with dossers . The line has to be drawn and it makes no sense to keep re-drawing it just to cater for those who think the lowest common denominator is the ideal level for society to fall to . And anyway it's all totally irrelevant . It's not going to happen because it's not politically expedient for any political party to legalise even the soft stuff . How the hell can any party have never ending campaigns against the dangers of alcohol , obesity , etc etc .....and then say it's OK for drugs to go into the market ? It's not going to happen however many scientists mouth off about it all . Who takes any notice of these so called "experts" anyway ? On this subject you can choose a boffin to suit any side of the argument ; they're ten a penny !

....as opposed to using a ridiculously stupid and emotive comparison with horse riding to back up their argument ! Aimed at , no doubt , the simpletons who believe that because one substance (or activity in this case ) is dangerous then every other - and more- dangerous substance should be made available to the ever increasingly dumbed down populace . Oh - and for every scientist who backs your claims there's another who will refute them . One thing we do probably agree on ; this schoolgirl Home Secretary is way out of her depth . It's either the 70's style uni' education she had ....or the drugs she experimented on