In the fantasy world of the sandbox, Liverpool will win the Premiership, 2006-07

He gets to beat Mad Martin Villa on 13th January.

Also systems thinking doesn't make you fuckin fast enough to catch Gabriel Agbonlahor, does it? Does it?

(I accept that Pompey will win).

hello Curbishley?

Current favourites: Curbishly, Dowie and some people who didn't manage Charlton - Eriksson, Vialli, Ranieri, Jewell

66/1 if you fancy a flutter on Paolo Di Canio :)

Woah Teddy Teddy at 66/1 could be a nice speculative flutter, or maybe you'd prefer Kenny Dalgleish to get off the golf course at 100/1. Neil Ruddock 150/1 is possibly best left alone.

Admittedly there is some grim anticipation of the exact way he chooses to tenuously use this shocking news as an excuse to reaffirm that he isn't a middle class football tourist but wou'unt it be noice if West Ham fans were all a bit more maaaad and dandyish like him, though.

So far the Billy Joel Uptown Girl Russell Brand version goes: "Upton Park, we're the Hammers we're from Upton Park". Having received endorsements in print we are going with the line, "We're just a bunch of East End boys, now were going to make some effing noise, some effing noise." Imagine that to the tune of Uptown Girl, I think you'll see it works. Within one short year we will be singing that song at Camp Nou. I'll be at the front with pompoms and a bra, wiggling my sweet little tush as the travelling pride of West Ham fans do harmonies in the "Whoa ooooooooo" bit.

Liverpool didn't win the Premiership 1996/97, but they nearly did. Was Roy Evans underrated? (and how do you spell that word: underrated / under rated / underated / under-rated?)

The hallmark of the Houllier era was to start like an express train and then slump out of contention with some terrible winter form (2002-03 being the prime example). There was a moment in the 01-02 run-in when it seemed like they'd hold Arsenal at bay but it quickly passed.

That article's mention of Evans being unable to control his talented but wayward squad certainly rings true; oh, the stories you'd hear about those naughty boys...

Chelsea will today announce losses of £80m for the last financial year, a £60m reduction on the £140m deficit recorded in 2004-05. The £80m loss, the lowest recorded in the three full years since Roman Abramovich took control of the club, takes the aggregate losses during the Russian's ownership to £308m and his total spending on the club over £500m....
The loss...is largely attributable to the Russian's bank-rolling of player transfers...to ensure the club remained a going concern...
The percentage of turnover swallowed by the club's wage bill is thought to have increased to more than 75%...
...Kenyon will see the figures as evidence that his mission to make the club break even by 2009-10 remains on track.

Assuming for a moment that Kenyon can get Chelsea to break even by 2010, how much will they have lost by then? £400 million? Even if they start to make a profit after that, how long would it take realistically for Abramovich to get a return on his investment?

"Alan Pardew was a cancer", Eggert in diplomatic mode there

As for Benitez...increasingly it seems he'll mess around for another 2 or 3 seasons and then be gone too.

That Giggs free kick was marvellous, as was Larsson's dummy-then-chip that very nearly came off. Not sure about the Vidic push at all, but it's always amusing to watch Andy Townsend get in a tizzy.