lanky316

Wasn't one of the factors leading to WW1 an assassination. That bloke Archie Duke who shot an ostrich because he was hungry? so theoretically a WW1 story could be the build up to war rather than the actual war itself. There were commando raids on the trench lines so I suppose they could use that but agree it doesn't lend itself to the idea of the game that well.

I doubt we'll see more Zsasz, it looked like a nice minor homage to fans of the comic books and no more. I doubt most people watching even noticed.

Ordered this last week and Play still not looked at the order apparently AC3 sounds interesting in that setting though, It springs into mind in a similar way to Empire Total War though in that a few things'll be done differently due to the change in eras but that may not be a bad thing.

Just gone to give it another try seeing the resurrection of the thread. Looks like it's only the trial version as it's asking about activation and shizzle and saying I've only 10 days to evaluate it. I don't know did people use the mirror or the first link?

Anyone explain how Richardson running after Corluka and kicking him off the ball is only yellow? Still after a shit start Spurs've been a lot better. Good game, hope we can hang on and keep the points, even a draw won't be a disaster now.

People do sing along. Just not to the level which seems to have become the normal in NHL arenas in Canada. There are a lot of people who just don't know the anthem though. In schools here the anthem isn't played like it is around the world. Most people don't sing during the anthem because the tradition is to lower your head and pray or at least appear to be paying respects during the singing, much like you do during the Pledge of Allegiance. Guess that makes sense. I'd just assumed it was because they get whichever starlet who happens to be available to do it and they could never sing along due to not knowing how they were going to butcher it.

Other way round but I'll take that! Great games today. I can't see Man Yoo Wolves having the same spark as some of the games today but here's hoping for a cracker.

NEWCAAAAAARRSTLE!! Could've been funny if they'd turned up in the first half.

Enjoyed all the football today, lowest scoring game today is Spurs/Bolton and that's had plenty of incident as well. Pav winner with an assist from Kranjcar would be nice.

I only lost 2 points for the missed penalty thankfully. I'd thought my league was harsher but I can live with that. Isn't Crappenburg doing the Spurs game? Can't moan too much today as got two penalties but he's still doing his bit to try and hinder us

Encroachment I believe. Never understood why they make you retake if you score direct but there you go.

We signed Hayles from non-league Stevenage Borough to Bristol Rovers before Fulham, which was the time I was talking about more than his time at Plymouth. But I agree, he wasn't bad in any sense before hand. I didn't mean it that way. Wrong choice of words, you could say. At Rovers he still averaged a goal every other game though. Superb game changing player, wish we'd had more bonuses to do with sell on fees, or just kept him, Borough would be in the Premiership by now However the reference to DJ Campbell. Fuck knows how he done good, barely hit a barn door for us thus the release to someone stupid like Hayes and Yeading!

Consider that Ian Holloway helped turn previous turds Barry Hayles, Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington into goal-scoring machines at their given levels. He has the pedigree of taking out of favour strikers and giving them their fire back. I'm happy to bet on Ollie turning Beattie back into the striker we use to see at Southampton. Barry Hayles was a good player and was a big part in getting Fulham up to a stable Premiership side. He probably wasn't up to 30 goal a season Premier standard but was still creeping around double figures most of the time he was there, only started struggling as he reached his mid 30's. He'd had a good 10 years of goal scoring pedigree before his spell at Plymouth with Holloway and with a record of a goal every other game for the first 5 years of his professional career suggests he wasn't "turd" he just didn't get loads in the Premiership. Holloway got a decent spell on his way back down out of him but Hayles always had that ability. His top goal tally in the Premiership isn't that bad at 12 for a newly promoted side. Can't really blame a bloke for aging!

Can't see why people are arguing over Rafaels red card. First foul a late, studs up knee high challenge. Certainly a booking and the second one a sneaky trip when he was beaten (or do people still believe the hands up, "never did nothing ref" ploy?). Easily two yellow cards and the only complaint you can have is at his naivety, had it been Rafa or Palacios would've been furious, not at the decision but at their stupidity. Think the only reason people have a complaint is that he was the only Man Utd player who looked dangerous going forward and without him they were never going to create a real chance. Bale showing he still needs a lot of work though, completely off song and he should've got rid of Rafael much earlier by running at him. Evra showed how to deal with being on a booking by not making an effort to tackle Lennon just trying to control space and make it harder for him.

For a one off I don't see a problem and as it's during a quiet year would rather see this than promotional friendlies with the likes of Thailand. Actually a good excuse to get rid of those fucking stupid ones in September...

4 years in after playing the same way (bar minor changes) I finally snapped at the weekly "I assume you're going to be keeping it tight and playing ultra defensive?" (paraphrase) question and added "like we always have you ignorant whore" to the free flowing attacking game response. Did get a laugh when the reporter mentioned my "foul mouthed tirade". Are there any good media add-ons that offer more questions and sources and the like?

Good, what a massive cunt! Didn't think it'd take long for it. He'd never been near Broadhall Way in his life but people recognised him as a twat from a couple of pubs. Hilariously the Sun have got his girlfriend claiming a relationship and the twat doing it in her honour. Not bad, I assume she's been around the whole team since he approached three players before Laird which shows just how drunk he was before the game that he didn't even know which one he had to deck for her

Was quietly hoping for West Ham at home for Stevenage but Reading at home's got a potential for another upset on a lucky day with a good performance. Spurs travel to Fulham which could be a shitter as well. Should win but can't always tell. Not the best draw for my interests really.

Second and third from Defoe as well. Starting to look fairly comfortable now, as long as they're not drawn at Nolongerboro since I'm hoping for them to not meet until the final

Just seen them both at half time. For the penalty, it looks like a swing and a miss and Berba went down, might have caught him with his air kick but fairly soft. Can see why it's given but would be pissed off with how soft it was. Sending off, he's left the floor with a desperate lunge and has to go, made worse by not getting the ball which sometimes is used as a defence (sending off for the Geordie lad for example). Rafael seems to have got away with barely a mention. He doesn't leave the floor so dramatically but had Meireles not pulled out of the challenge it could've been nasty. Back to Spurs' looking incredibly pedestrian against Charlton... Thank you Andros, sounds like a decent goal.

Seeing Grazioli's reaction at the end (compared to Smudger) was a bit odd. I suppose like you say having only played during that fairly short spell he himself doesn't feel a strong affinity for the club but is one of those right place right time people who happened to score the FA Cup classic moment goal. I suppose it's like Roy Essandoh at Wycombe who had a short spell there scored the winner in the FA Cup Quarter final and will stick in FA Cup history but by the end of the season he was unemployed and has gradually worked his way down (currently playing in the United Counties Premier League...) from there. Gary Crawshaw (who scored up in the replay) was a lad who played with Stevenage right through the non-league ladder and to a lot of fans is more of a legend (never seen Grazi turn up in a best Boro' 11 ever for example) but to the media Grazioli'll be the face of the '98 cup run. Not that we don't appreciate that memory of course! Found the incident with the coin, it was right at the end. You can actually see the coin fly in from the away end so really don't know why the commentator could've thought it was Stevenage fans ruining it! It wasn't Laird either so clearly wasn't the same bloke who got him later.

Hmm, it wasn't a Scotty Laird one was it? The plot thickens I'll go back and rewatch the game properly (until ESPN lose footage a couple of times in the second half...), don't want to right now since Spurs are on in just over an hour and I'm hoping to catch that somewhere, mind you as it was down near the away end that would be in the last half hour I suppose, try and catch it. You're right on the "management" team though. At the time they were under pressure and that we legitimately saw a chance of an upset and had the nerve to say so got the better of them. It was funny they resorted to all sorts of mind games but I think for the most part they lost to the cheeky little gits down the (admittedly quite long) road. The players and management at our end knew we'd only really get one chance so had fun with the attention. That they got so worked up and we were just enjoying ourselves led to the bad blood and then to only edge it at St James' with THAT goal, one of those that in an instant you can't tell and would normally have not been given but don't think anyone could say for definite, it led an element of unfinished business. For the record I do think you edged it in the replay and deserved to go through but as you can guess we've waited to bring back the feud, sadly you were far more sensible and gracious this time round

One of the first Geordie supporters to have claimed that as a fact, including those there that day. At the time only the lino thought it was close to crossing the line and every analysis following showed the whole ball did not cross (for what it's worth). Not to mention the smear campaign and quite pathetic abuse hurled at us from Newcastle management. Personal favourites being "Ground not good enough" - yet good enough for England - "balls bounce too much" and "they don't use official footballs" Of course it did lead to some hilarious moments because we just took the piss more leading to more outrage and in a roundabout way the decision to award that goal. Just watched the post game coverage on ESPN, did John Barnes really treat Bostwicks "I wasn't even born last time" comment half seriously? He doesn't look 12 years old to me!

Shearer is a wanker it never crossed the line. *needs singing emoticon* Fantastic result and I don't think anyone would argue that we were the better team. Ended up missing the last train home in the end. Think we can win it this year Didn't see the Scotty Laird incident so surprised it was over his shirt(?) according to the post above. Maybe he'd already promised it to the shirt sponsor, I know Dave Bridges shirts on it's way to me dad for that reason but sounds odd. Never underestimate the Stevenage chav I suppose!

Both looked pens to me, certainly the second one. Would it have looked soft had Walcott went down? Yes, it'd have looked hilariously theatrical. A slight sweep of the shirt which would barely knock you off stride at best, come to think of it, it didn't knock him off stride and we're not talking about one of the great balancers of our era!