[Monolith]

Good to see Team Hession-Mills sniffing around the top of the fantasy table. Bring tha noise!

[Jaspersharpe]

Less than 50 points separating the top 10. Unbelievably close so far!

[nai]

happy with my start but there's a long way to go yet, need some changes for this week though.  I wonder what I used to do at work on Friday afternoons before fantasy football and predictascore?

Interesting

[GraemeA]

Just spotted that, you'd have thought the headline would be "Woman in high spirits after saving suicidal football team"

[nai]

Thought Brown would have signed her, seems to be the one person in Hull who actually listens to him.

[GraemeA]

Notice that there was no mention of Myhill saving the woman, or anything else for that matter 

[nai]

http://timesonline.typepad.com/sports_book/2009/10/punters-back-redknapp-to-quit.html

[Jaspersharpe]

Interesting. Seen this sort of thing before and it was all based on nonsense. When I used to trade on Betfair there were all sorts of rumours going round that George Graham was going to be the next Newcastle boss (think this was before Allardyce but don't quote me as there've been so many!).

I managed to get a few quid on him at around the 40 mark as the price tumbled. He came in to about 5 at it's shortest and I layed out (at about 10 IIRC) for a guaranteed profit either way. It was all total bollocks but huge amounts of money changed hands.

Be really interesting to see if this is the same.

[nai]

Same thing happened with rafa a few weeks back but sadly that came to nothing.

[GraemeA]

http://www.leaguemanagers.com/news/news-6426.html

Kevin the Clown gets £2million. Which by chance is the amount of his debts when he joined the Skunks. I wonder if he will see any of it

[tomtom]

Off to see Hull v Wigan in a couple of hours, but quite a good interview with Brown here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/03/phil-brown-hull-city-interview Despite my frustrations with him, its good to hear him maintaining a sense of humour --- and almost some overtanned self deprecating capability..

And the idea to walk (the team over) the Humber bridge? "The bridge was built with modern-day engineering and based on the fact that when an ill wind blows the bridge becomes stronger. The weight of the wind comes down and makes it sturdier." There is an analogy with the club, he told his players. "But I can also see others saying, 'What a load of shite that is.'"

[tomtom]

Ahhhh...... thats the sound of relief after watching my team win for only the third time this year.   

[GraemeA]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh...... thats the sound of frustration after watching my team throw away 2 points possibly because of Richardson being a tit

[Falling Down]

I watched the game on ESPN and thought Sunderland outclassed Man U in all areas..  I thought Bacon Face was going to have a heart attack in the second half when you strung that beautiful move together for the second goal.

So did Richardson kick the ball away or was he just tapping it back to where the foul was committed?  And what is that rats tail hanging off the back of his head?

[tomtom]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh...... thats the sound of frustration after watching my team throw away 2 points possibly because of Richardson being a tit

I er was going to mention that game, but being diplomatic and all that... Its been fun watching ManUre not getting things their won way this year (Falling down, old bacon face is worth a wad  ) and whilst you should have won its still a fantastic result.. You red and whites got a beady eye on europe yet?????

[butters]

Graeme - at least you got a point - we threw away one at Barnsley and it is probably the understatement of the year to say that things are not looking too good at the minute - bottom of the Championship and 5 points (might as well make that six with our goal difference) off safety. From listening to the commentary on the radio and we are a team with zero confidence and while I personally never thought that things could get any worse at Ipswich from a defensive point of view it apparently has.

 

[Jaspersharpe]

Amazed mine was the only FF team with Super Cesc as captain this week. Some big decisions to be made ahead of GW9.........

[tomtom]

Graeme - at least you got a point - we threw away one at Barnsley and it is probably the understatement of the year to say that things are not looking too good at the minute - bottom of the Championship and 5 points (might as well make that six with our goal difference) off safety. From listening to the commentary on the radio and we are a team with zero confidence and while I personally never thought that things could get any worse at Ipswich from a defensive point of view it apparently has.

 

Whats your thoughts on Keane? Is he that bad, or was there some incipient rot behind the scenes at Ipswich? Fans seem to have been fairly patient so far (judging by hull fans bloodthirsty standards!!)...

[Jaspersharpe]

Whats your thoughts on Keane?

He's a cock.

[Richie Crouch]

Amazed mine was the only FF team with Super Cesc as captain this week. Some big decisions to be made ahead of GW9.........

I know! I have super cesc and had left Torres as captain. Didn't know you could switch captain like! May have to use this function more to build a lead at the top 

[butters]

Whats your thoughts on Keane? Is he that bad, or was there some incipient rot behind the scenes at Ipswich? Fans seem to have been fairly patient so far (judging by hull fans bloodthirsty standards!!)...

Good job it is raining here in Sheff as this is going to take a while to answer!

During his playing days Keane was someone who I greatly admired (when he played football as opposed to being a total twat) but even given that he wouldn't have necessarily been my first choice as manager for the club. He doesn't fit the "family" club image that Ipswich have but with the takeover a couple of years ago and the subsequent expectations that has brought I can see why he was appointed. He is a proven winner on the pitch and as a young potentially up and coming manager it was probably an easy decision to make for him as it was a club that has history both in the league and Europe but was languishing in the doldrums. At Ipswich he has the chance to make a name for himself and move onto bigger and better things - something he hasn't shied away from saying publicly - but if he fails at Ipswich I think he is going to struggle to be seen as a potential Premier League manager and certainly manager of a top four club which is his ultimate ambition. Given the above theory I don't think that there is any way that he will walk out on the club - if he has any ambitions to manage at a higher level then he can't after walking out on Sunderland - so he will either turn it around or get sacked.

Anyway onto the Ipswich situation - we got promoted to the Premier League under George Burley circa 10 years ago now - had a magic first season and finished 5th which coincided with a lot of players being offered new and very big contracts but without the clauses that would have seen the amount we were paying the players being reduced should we drop out of the Premiership. The next year we were awful, got relegated and were stuck paying out huge sums to players on a severely reduced income. Burley was sacked, Joe Royle got brought in and a few weeks later we went into administration. We sold off players such as Bent, Ambrose and Holland at give away prices to try and reduce the wage bill and that was really where it all started to go tits up. To give Joe Royle his due he stuck it out at the club and we did reasonably well and apart from one year always being there or thereabouts even getting to the playoffs a couple of times but the real weakness of our defence started to show at about this time and has continued to become ever more obvious under subsequent managers to the point we are at now.

What we desperately need (other than a win by any means) is a quality centre back to organise our defence and if that falls into place then we have a chance - as it is we are low on confidence, prone to giving away a cheap goal early on and facing an uphill struggle from there on in every game we play. To be fair though we do seem to have improved a bit over the last couple of games and the fans definitely seem to be on the teams side by and large - they made it very obvious that they were still behind the team after the game on Saturday and I don't think there have been any shouts for the managers head yet. Having said that our next three games are Swansea and Watford at home followed by Plymouth away and if we don't get a decent haul of point out of those three games (six points minimum I reckon) then there could be a change in the situation.

[Jaspersharpe]

Looks like Belgium could do with Capello.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/oct/07/belgium-world-cup-qualifying

[Jaspersharpe]

http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/albion/albionnews/4673091.Seagulls_snap_up_Gunners_star/

 

[Jaspersharpe]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/oct/09/joy-of-six-great-world-cup-qualifiers

[nai]

Stephen Ireland's tasteful new motor