nzlatic

That'll change when we're top of the league! 4 very winnable games out of the first 5

Misleading username, moved back from NZ a while ago, on the south coast now. But interesting to hear he could be heading over there. I've lost touch with the NRL since coming back as it's not readily available on tv here. Pity. My concern about what he said about Tomkins is someone coming in and talking about signing big name players. The next owner here needs to invest in the club infrastructure, not spout off about expensive signings. If we can build slowly with the right backing then there's no reason we can't make progress upwards.

Little bit of sneaky online reading I've been doing at work suggests he was more focused on building something long lasting than coming in and flashing the cash when taking over at Salford. Much more fitting approach than the prem in 5 years false promises type character. The MEN quote "Extra investment to take it to the next level" - that seems a very realistic goal. Then again, there was talk of Sam Tomkins etc. So I'm optimistic but cautious if this is going ahead.

Offside rule - the annoying thing is that someone can be ahead of the defence in the middle while the ball is played down the wings. He's not offside because the pass wasn't to him, but he's 2 yards ahead of the defence when the cross comes in. Other annoying thing for me is how commentators either ignore or include pre premier league stats depending on what suits them. ie talking about all time goals/appearances (that actually only include prem players) but next thing talking about Man Utd's 20 titles.

A major plus for me is his distribution. Normally the ball with a keeper means an aimless punt but with Bouzanis he's looking to find a player out wide and keep possession, or set up an attack if possible.

A gift shop in the airport and fcum trying desperately to forge links put me right off St Pauli. Lower league German football is a real eye opener. Fans who enjoy their day at the match and clubs who look after them. Done hamburg and Berlin previously, Munich this year.

Heard a lot of moaning in the queue and again on here and I don't really get what the club has done that's so wrong? Season ticket holders got first dibs, vouchers next, then open sale to the hardy souls willing to brave the weather and queue up. What's wrong with that? Having been out in that weather for nearly 5 hours I would have been well pissed off to be told that we'd sold out on the internet or over the phones. Plus phone/internet sales are much more open to abuse and touts leaving even more real fans without tickets. If you're willing to queue up for hours in that :censored: then you've earned a ticket in my view. In hindsight maybe they could have limited the open sale to 2 per person from the start, then open phone sales tomorrow if there were any left, but not many people expected us to sell out so quickly - plenty of people on here were saying how there'll be loads of tickets available. And the talk of how proper fans may miss out because of part timers, what are the club supposed to do about that? Make everyone pass a Latics loyalty test to get tickets? We all know the crack, we're a small club with a :censored: old ground that isn't equipped to handle something like this. I think the club did about as well as it could do in the circumstances.

I've missed the good stuff as since being back in the country I've been able to go to 5 games: Bristol Rovers (H) 1-1 Dagenham (H) 1-1 Hudds (A) 0-0 Carlisle (H) 0-1 P'boro (H) 0-5 But from watching how teams deal with out threat it's not surprising we are struggling. In all the games I've seen our main attacking threat comes from quick one touch passing working the ball out wide, then cutting back in. All it's taking is for the opposition to press our midfield and defence and to double up on wingers. They are free to do this because of the lack of threat from our strikers leaving the only outlet as a high ball into the front man/men who more often than not struggle to win it or if they do get there first, there is little support. We're desperately short of a striker who can offer a threat by himself so teams have something else to worry about and can't commit so many players to closing down our midfield. Watching Mackail-Smith yesterday was a real lesson in good forward play. He was constantly looking to get away from his marker and to make dangerous runs across or behind the defence. You just don't see this from us. Another major difference was when they did break their midfielders where sprinting upfield to join them in the box. For us, there was little threat on the overlap from Evina and Lee yesterday - possibly because they couldn't commit due to the threat of the P'boro forwards. Another thing, how many headers have we scored this season? Our crossing has no pace on it and no one seems capable of attacking the ball.

The fact that I didn't get the dole is irrelevant. My point was about the number of people in unnecessary jobs. Same as point 3. And it's not just the amount of waste or unnecessary jobs etc, it's that the majority of public services are utter :censored:e. Why is it good that the health secretary is the top of a chain of accountability? They aren't in charge of patient care. It's far too easy for people to say "well, sorry the decision came from above, nothing I can do I'm afraid." You seem very proud of this record investment in NHS, but what has that resulted in? Let me guess, there are some statistics about reduced waiting lists etc? Maybe some polls asking people what they thought of the service they received in the NHS might be more accurate. All you hear in the media about the cuts is how unhappy the council workers are, or how the surgeons don't think the reforms are a good thing. Shocker. What about the people that matter? The ones that suffer the consequencies of the inadequacies of the public sector services all across the board. Are they happy with what Labour did? I'm guessing the general election answered that. Your last point - yes, change was needed. The country is in a right state after 13 years of Labour rule and you can look to blame as many other people apart as you like. How about a bit of accountability for that?

I've been reading this and other political debates on here for a while and thought I'd throw in a couple of personal examples of how I've found the country not to be this Labour run utopia that you seem to be suggesting it was before satan etc got in power (presumably by some sort of mind control trick). 1. When I got back from NZ I was living at my folks place while job hunting. I went to see if I could get some dole to tide me over. 2 burly greeters at the door to see if I was in the right place "I'm here to claim dole". A small queue to get to the next 2 greeters (less burly, more patronising) "I'm here to claim dole". I was then told to go upstairs and register. I get to the bottom of the stairs where 2 more greeters were checking I was in the right place "I'm here to claim dole and was told to go upstairs". At the top of the stairs 2 more greeters checked I was in the right place "I'm here to....etc". I was directed to a receptionist who gave me forms to fill out and told me to wait to be called. Then I was called to see someone who checked I was in the right place then essentially put my details on the computer. Then I had to wait again to see someone who gave me all manner of leaflets and took me through some jobs on the internet, all of which I'd seen myself. Oh, all this was after spending 90 minutes on the phone to the dole office beforehand going through my situation and registering all my details. But no, there are no "non-jobs" in the public sector and no waste at all needs addressing. In the end I didn't get it, but I won't bore you further with the tale of my attempt to speak to the person who made the decision "Sorry, it wasn't me that made the decision so I can't help..." 2. My dad became ill last October and was admitted to hospital. What an eye opener that was. My first thought was how you are bombarded with the product of a bored HR team trying to justify their existence - posters and displays galore explaining things such as why patients have dedicated meal times (probably a product of this "record investment"). I also found out that being a doctor in a hospital seems to be a Monday to Friday 9-5 job. He had a scan on Friday to determine the problem (after 2 weeks of repeated failed attempts at a colonoscopy), however the doc could not see him to discuss the results until the Tuesday. Turns out he had advanced bowel cancer and needed an emergency operation. 48 hours later he had the op, then a day later was moved from intensive care back to the ward and didn't see a doctor again until Sunday when one was called in because he was dying. He died on the Monday night and every conversation with the medical staff following that seemed to be all about them covering their arses in fear of a law suit rather than explaining what had happened. Not that we were looking to blame anyone, he was 85 and had had a good knock. 3. When registering his death we turned up at the registry office for our appointment and there was no one else in the waiting room, but 6 people in the office area stood around nattering. We were told to take a seat and were seen (by one of the nattering registrars) after a 10 minute wait. On leaving they were all back in the office gossiping away. The NHS is in need of massive reform. Whether the government will do it properly is a question I'm not informed enough to answer. But our case was not a one off. My mum spoke a lot with other patients and their relatives and they all felt the same - the NHS is a disgrace. And this was in Doncaster - a very Labour town. And as far as I can see, there is massive waste in the public sector - far too many poorly educated idiots in unnecessary admin jobs. But hey, at least Labour got unemployment down. I'm no Conservative - Futcher's Briefs summed it perfectly. But for anyone to argue that some sort of change wasn't needed is totally blinkered.

I agree with this. The "push to pass" idea is the wrong way to solve it. Cars need to be able to close in on another. They get within a second now and they can't get closer. Less reliance on aerodynamics would probably help but I'm not an engineer so have no suggestions. Turbos - maybe. If there was no limit on use other than how much fuel it used up that might be less artificial but I'd still prefer the issue to be tackled by introducing more mechanical and less aerodynamical grip.

Just seen this thread for the first time which is a shame. Interesting to read other people's views on this season. For me talk of it being the greatest season ever which I've read elsewhere is off the mark. Yes it's been exciting with the championship lead changing regularly and there being 4 still in with a shout at the final race. But how much of that was down to car failure/collisions/adverse weather? I may be wrong but looking back I can't remember much actual on track overtaking for position when it came to the lead or the podium even. Or a leading driver coming up through the field after an early problem or bad qualifying. It was a good season but not a great one. I don't want to see Indy style multiple overtakes but just 1 or 2 genuine ones would be nice. Whether it's the tracks, cars or drivers attitudes something needs tweaking as the number of quality drivers out there these days is higher than a lot of those glory years people talk about.

I agree. Monty Brewster for PM...

I blame champ manager too, or football manager these days is it? Everyone's an expert because they took latics to champions league glory and england to 4 world cups on the trot.

I'm surprised by the amount of regulars who say they have stopped/will stop going to latics because of the quality of football or the lack of success. Fair enough if the cost puts people off, difficult times and all that. But, except for the floaters, since when has supporting latics been conditional on how well the team is doing? Granted I'm not in the country to see the football at the moment, but is it really so much worse than the Rickers/Salt/Dudley/Thom days?

Mmm. End of the world was not quite what I was going for. First up, I was trying to offer a potential positive side to relegation. Secondly, I was saying that promotion wouldn't guarantee a big increase in crowds. But I suppose if you're going to be selective with quotes from my post then I guess it could have got misconstrued. And I said I was an optimist, not a blind optimist. There is an attitude that comes across on here of negativity. This wouldn't vanish if we went up. We'd be moaning about not spending enough, not winning enough, not being entertaining enough and the crowds would soon drop if we were struggling. People are looking around and saying "why can't we be like them? We were in the prem 15 years ago". As far as I'm concerned, supporting a team like Latics isn't about being in the premiership and having a team full of free transfer foreigners. Going to Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, putting 11 men behind the ball and praying for a 0-0. I'd be much happier being lower down the food chain but with a team full of youth team products who play like they actually give a flying frig.

What about Doncaster? They were on the verge of going under and playing to crowds of a few hundred when they got relegated to non-league. A bit of stability followed, then a push for promotion and suddenly the crowds were flying back in and they were getting a few thousand by the time they were near the top of the conference. The club and the town needs some sort of 'feel good' factor. Even if, by some miracle, we scraped a run together and got promoted (not going to happen but just say it did) there would be little change in the crowds in the Championship. People would be preparing themselves for relegation and at the first sign of trouble we would be back to 5000 again. When was the last 'feel good' time at BP? 1990-94? All the marketing gurus and ideas in the world won't attract crowds back to BP. Promotion probably wouldn't either. One thing that might is a squad of local youngsters starting from scratch together, building a style of play, building understanding and working their way up the league. To be honest, I can't see that happening in this division as the demand to get out sees the constant short-sighted purchasing of journeymen and dodgy loan signings. Just to clarify, I don't want to get relegated. What fan would? Just suggesting a possible silver lining, irrespective of how unlikely it might be. I'm just an optimist.

Same thing was on the main evening news here in New Zealand too. Didn't help much with trying to persuade the missus to go to a game at BP when we're back in England.

Can anyone clever tell me why it's UK and Ire only? I understand why for BBC and Sky websites, but why on the FA? There are no subscriptions or licence fees involved. Keeping my fingers crossed for internet sources of ill-repute.

Ah Sheff_Latic, another NZ dweller. I'm hoping for the stream being available overseas, otherwise it could be dodgy sources. As you're in Wellington are you going to the World Cup qualifier? Glad I got my tickets before the 1st leg. 35000 sell out, should be a cracker.

Does anyone know if this live streaming will be available overseas, or UK only?

How do you rate England's chances in the RL 4 nations coming up? The aussie squad looks stupidly strong again, even with Folau out, and NZ are confident after winning the world cup (still not sure how they did that!). Have England improved since the world cup? They show the super league on sky over here but usually early on weekend mornings. Not my most lucid time of the week.

I was reading one an over-by-over report of one of the Ashes tests. England were well on top and on their way to a win but just about every comment from readers and the commentator was one of how it would be possible for England to lose from that position. Granted, most were tongue in cheek but it showed a general attitude among the British - one where we expect to lose. We almost prefer it if we do. A plucky loser with a hard luck story gets much more public backing than a hard-nosed winner. Henman vs Murray, Damon Hill vs Lewis Hamilton for example. This is the attitude of the general public, so it probably spreads to english sportsmen too. We do do pretty well overall by making the closing stages of most tournaments but our peverse enjoyment of being a plucky loser could be our undoing. I don't know, but I'm guessing the likes of Lance Armstrong, Michael Schumacher and Ricky Ponting are loved in their respective countries. If they were English they'd probably be slagged off to the point where they fell off their perch pretty quickly.

Spencer Pratt and his spooky flesh coloured beard. Has this board sunk to a new low?!

Is it Sean 'P Diddy' Combs?