Essien, Drogba, Kallou and Obi are all Chelsea players- the first two arguably the best they have. If I were like Mourinho and on gardening leave, there would be nowhere else but the ANC I'd be this January/February. Manucho, the Angolan Man U have signed looks a frightening prospect if you think about him playing alongside the likes of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo.

Carlisle United presumably had a say in it. What was Garner's contract position?

Bonkers in America

Really pleased Zura has signed his contract committing himself to Rovers to 2011.

The twist in this one is it was reported widely he was offered £50K at Liverpool. There was a lot written that Neill was going for £70K at West Ham when it turned out he was going for £55k and a verbal of £70K which it seems is going to be dishonoured. So he swapped Champions League football for £5k a week on his basic. No doubt Liverpool players also get bonuses that West Ham players cannot possibly get because they don't play the games so he might not even be financially better off at West Ham.

Unless Turkish TV has a standard tape they play for games from Ewood Park, it was all boom boom boom gerrintoem. Or am I missing the irony?

Sorry about the web site but this is one of my all time favourite goals. Sparky against Spain.

The Independent Man U supporters have used the Freedom of Information Act to look at Government reaction to the proposed Glazer takeover of Man U. It appears there was considerable concern and amendment of legislation which would have enabled a referal of the bid for Monopolies Commission review contemplated. However, an assurance by the Glazers they wouldn't raise prices headed that off....

WHam's £20m losses means no pay rise for Lucas. The article isn't exactly oozing with sympathy.

Good luck to the lad in Ghana captaining South Africa.

Barton remanded in custody to 16 January.

Heard the drummer again last night but he seemed to be more discriminating about when he banged which was good. On TV the crowd noise came over very clearly- don't know what it was like in the stadium. BBC on ground atmospheres

You are correct that he had not taken up the offer of a new contract. But rules for under 24 year old players on Bosmans means that compensation has to be paid if a contract has been offered. Yes Rovers did sell whilst within the old contract period and have pulled in around £1m for Jay with the promotion bonus being paid.

Quite agree. But he was on the books, local, wanted to stay and it was an almost risk free roll of the dice to renew the contract. Its not working in the sense that we are not gaining but Rovers are unlikely to lose. Gally was good at Stoke bad at PNE. Derbs was not deemed good enough at Plymouth and scored a goal a game at Wrexham.

Rovers will be recovering a good proportion of his wages from Stoke last season and Preston this season. Let's say £250K isn't recovered, what would you think his transfer value would be even after his less than inspired appearance in a PNE outfit which is clearly falling apart? He has a full cap for Scotland remember and I'd be astonished if there wouldn't be a bunch of CCC clubs interested if he were offered at around £400K with Rovers paying the player £150K of that to adjust his wage down to CCC levels. Gallagher is showing a worst case outcome (other than a long term injury) in being useless at PNE but from a financial perspective it looks a cash neutral decision to have extended his contract. Had he done as well as at Stoke or even improved during his spell at PNE, we would have been either quids in or got a very decent squad player.

I am a Liberal in the European sense but I always understood American libertarians to be opposed to Government interference with the individual's unfettered right to chose. I believe Ron Paul is opposed to the Federal Reserve and also the FDA's ability to proscribe any drugs or treatment's before they are medically proven unambiguously bad. With regards to majority positions, if you frame the question as to whether 60,000 people should be incarcerated in British jails primarilly because they are junkies, you will find I am in a significant majority in saying no they shouldn't be.

Hughes has already told the Lancashire Telegraph that none of the triallists so far have impressed.

touche

Cannot remember where I saw it but that's not the first time I've heard mention of Ngobeni- the beni bit stuck in my mind for some reason....

It was interesting that the TV "expert analyst" on the commentary backed both MGP and Benni when they shot for goal with the other better placed all three times it happened saying that the player himself was low on confidence and desparately needed a goal. Some of MGP's cock-ups have been so bad in recent games (dribbling the ball out of play when under little pressure for instance) that it simply has to be an in-the-game mental thing. I suspect he must be looking in very good nick on the training ground or else he would have been dropped. At the moment we are seeing a perceptual lag in comments on this thread. He has been terrible so posters are seeing MGP still making mistakes in current games and saying he is awful. The reality is he has definitely improved of late but is still short on confidence and lacking the instinctive decision-making all footballers thrive on. I would take a 4-4 draw at Ewood on Tuesday if MGP and Benni got a brace each.

Ferguson fines the party-goers £1m and donates the proceeds to charity

Judging the by the tiny minority you find yourself in, you are the one less in touch with reality.

The more I think of it, the more the idea of charging McDonalds with Actual Bodily Harm appeals.

digging in rarefied atmosphere? particularly 100% of the world's population extremist centrists I think is another recent contribution Your posts maybe misguided and naive but there is always some entertainment value. PS I think your mate drog was the one who wanted to sign Joey Barton. I had a post removed that would have reminded him but well done for having a go on that thread.

As Barton arrived with imprisonable charges already hanging over him, if Newcastle's contract doesn't cater for what happens if he got sent down and if he got into any more bother then I have absolutely no sympathy for them. They have had prior experience with Bellamy and didn't one or both of Dyer and Bowyer get into some serious trouble as well? Just as well the Newcastle shirt has bars on it- gets the players aclimatised to their new abode. Barton faces 6 months sentence. If that Times article is true, this incident looks bad for BFS- giving him the OK to be in Liverpool and personally vouching for Barton's good behaviour to the board. BFS is history unless he pulls some spectacularly good results in the next few days.