Mike O

Happy birthday. Considering the way you've fought your corner, against all the odds, against any sort of sense of reality and against some truly scouse-hating vitriol (some writ by me), I reckon you've earnt your avatar back. I suggest (waddya think Loz?) that all you have to do is persuade Lofty to wish you some happy returns... Good luck!

I knew you wouldn't give up! Go on my son, stick it to 'im...

Sorry to offend, but by the same token 30 people were murdered at Heysel (i'm sure their killers are free as well). You're right, it has gone too far - my point, made rather pueriley here, I grant you, is that I hope we see an end to blinkered rose-tinted media views on a club / city that has as much shame in its history as any other. The Bulger death is part of that shame but I apologise if bringing it up here is inappropriate.

Come on, mate - don't give up now! Think back to ITV's coverage of the semis in 2005 and effing Tildesley's platitudes re. the kop - 'The most passionate, knowledgeable fans in the world' supporting 'one of the most venerable and respected clubs in Europe' vs 'the young upstarts of Chelsea'. Think how that made you feel. Think about the city that brought you Heysel, Joey Barton, Jamie Bulger, Brookside, Sonya, scallies, scum and Derek Hatton. Think about that for a sec. Now. Deep breath and onwards my friend! Sing it loud.... "You've got some history, you've got some history You were at Heysel, you were at Athens You stole from mothers, you stole from children You've shamed our country, you've shamed your city But you've got some history etc etc "

Just for the record Rob, UEFA do make one absolutely collossal point re. the ground / non-turnstiles etc which we're all getting hung up on at the moment. And that is.... There were two teams there that night and not one single problem was recorded re. the above in relation to Milan fans

This is all getting a bit sticky. For the record, I don't think Liverpool have the worst fans in Europe (as in worst behaved). That accolade must go to any of the following: Roma Galatassaray Leeds Cardiff Millwall etc etc I do, however, think that Liverpool has a very, very high percentage of stupid fans, witness their forum on bunking (can't believe the media haven't quoted that - anyone got any journo friends?) and sick, offensive fans (witness their forum on Madelaine's mum). And, of course, they've got Rick Parry. But most of all, I believe whole-heartedly that Athens has forced the media to remove its collective head from up the arse of the scouse scum and made it seen the light. The fact that the articles are all headed 'Worst Fans in Europe' is just wonderful. Finally, I'd just like to praise Rob for sticking around here and fighting his corner. My views on Liverpool are well documented but hats off to a fan who can keep his flag flying without resorting to lowest common denominator stuff.

What to do with Barton? Put him in a midfield with Bowyer and Savage. Stick Bellamy in front of them, bring big Dunc Ferguson out of retirement to partner him and to add a touch of class, slot C. Ronaldo in on their right flank. Behind them, try making a back four out of Eboue, Boula, Thatcher and Mills. Chuck in Bosnich as a goalie and call the whole lot Twat FC. Then make Keano their manager and watch them all sh*t themselves. Just a thought.

This sheds more light on the shame of the scouse... [web]http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=436072&cc=5739[/web]. I particularly like.... 'That was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children? Scum

That actually makes me want to hit someone f**king hard. f**king scum.

Just for the record, does last night make it into your 'history'? Or does it get filed alongside 'The 90s', 'Heysel', and 'Bricking Alan Smith's Ambulance' in the dossier marked 'No, La - tat won't us really, La - you must be moistaken'?

For: 1. He's completely buried our long-standing tag of being 'consistently inconsistent' 2. The best strategist we've ever had 3. The best man-motivator we've ever had 4. The most entertaining character since Cloughie 5. Created a ruthlesseness to the team Against: 1. Joyless football to watch 2. A certain classlessnes - he promotes a lot of dirty tactics - diving / player histrionics / him winding up refs before matches / post match whingeing / slagging off ex players without just cause (Eidur) etc 3. Obstinacy in sticking with Ballack, his Jokanavic. 4. Of late, he's completely lost his sense of humour That's it for the moment. Probably a stack more to come

Can we stop quoting from the Mail and the Express? It's been my long held belief never to trust a man who reads either paper as they are frankly for xenophobic small-minded women who like a bit of a gossip. Any male sports journalist who joins either paper may as well hang up his tackle and his credibility as a) a man and B) someone with an opinion worth registering in a cupboard labeled 'my career's gone backwards'. I don't mind bollox from the red-heads, but spare me the middle market crap (soon to include the Telegraph). Soon we'll all be quoting 'Now!' and 'Ok!' for our info.....

I've got to admire your bollox mate, that's hysterical.

It's really me Dorset! Just in a good mood today (new business wins and all that). Don't worry, it will soon fade.... I think Dawson has had an awesome season for Spurs and seems to be cast from the same grit as JT. The pair of them together could be awesome and a Dawson / Carvalho axis could easily compensate for a JT injury. Tevez in because.....well, because he looks like Zola's evil twin, an exact negative. I reckon we should give him the no. 52, tell him to hit young children a lot and encourage him to wallop free kicks into the face of the first guy on the left in any opponent's wall. As for Sheva....surely he can still live in London, we can still pay him (hey, WTF) and he can still kick around with his pal Roman whilst playing for another capital team? I reckon Orient could do a lot worse. That's better....

How to win back the Premiership next season? 1. Do not undertake a big pre-season friendly tour of wherever. 2. Keep JM and hold onto a 24 man squad. 3. Sell Sheva, Boula, Carlo, Geremi and Maka - all abroad (best of luck Carlo, Geremi and Maka, sod off you other two) 4. Buy Kaka, Tevez and.......Michael Dawson. 5. Revert to 4-3-3 6. Extra strength training for Kalou (who will be our player of the season next year) 7. Keep out of the bloody press (NB Kenyon / JM) Squad. GKs: Cech / Hedman RB: Johnson / Ferreira CB: JT / Carvalho / Dawson / Hutchinson (struggling a bit here...) LB: Cole / Bridge DM: Essien / Diarra / Mikel M: Lampard / Ballack / Cole AM: SWP / Robben / Kaka / Sinclair ST: Drogba / Tevez / Kalou / Sahar Ta da! - the Quadruple will be ours at last!

Can anyone help me? I'm going on my annual family hols to France over the summer half-term with a gaggle of other pals including a Derby-mad mate, also called Mike. We've done this for a few years now and not for the first time, Mike has found himself very distracted on the Monday of the hols as Derby hold their regular fight for a place in the Premiership. Trouble is, we've not found a means yet of being able to watch any play-off action from the South of France. This year he's bloody desperate (as I write, Derby are one home tie away from Wembley) and is considering flying back for the day just for the match (which could result in a divorce). To all you techno-heads, what are our options for keeping up with the play? Do Sky operate in France? If we buy a digital radio, will it pick up Fivelive in Toulouse? Are there any euro-broadband sites that stream the match live? I know we can listen to Five Live through my laptop but effing T Mobile like to charge me ?100's for the privilege (I paid ?600 for listening to a test match from Spain last summer). Any ideas?

Aplogies if this has already been posted, but this is an interesting view on modern football a la JM and Benitez from the ex Real man... Valdano It's very bitter but I think he has a point.....(ducking for cover now)

The post in general could also be applied to the history of Real Madrid..... Also, I got confused with the second manager being totally incompetent and a yes man and thought we were on about Claudio again...

Next week's final is a great opportunity to lay to rest the ghost of the 94 heartbreak, but it's also the 10th anniversary of one of the happiest days of my life. Like thousands of others, I can't get tickets for this year's match so I'd just like to compensate a little with memories of '97. My day went something like this... 10.30am - met up with my mates at The Blue Anchor at the foot of Hammersmith Bridge. Spent the next 2/3 hours drinking Guinness, indulging in a lot of 'extras', and starting to sing. 1.00-1.30pm - got on the Hammersmith tube to Wembley (via Baker St). The whole of Hammersmith station was Blue. Not one person on the tube wasn't Blue. I led the singing in my carriage all the way to Wembley. 3.00pm - got into my seat at the match exactly as we kicked off, took my jacket off and then.....43 seconds later....YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! 5.00pm - 5.30pm - left the stadium utterly delirious. 6.15pm - Baker St tube station - platform announcer to about 5000 Chelsea Fans: 'Your next train on this platform is the cirlcle line...you lucky, lucky bar stewards' 7.00pm - Arrive at Fulham Broadway 8.00pm - Totally pissed at the Worlds End pub. 100 of us lie across the Kings Road to prevent several buses making their way through. Funny at the time (honest!) 11.00pm - Walk from top end of Kings Road to Putney Bridge, out of my gourd (God, that felt like miles...) 1.00am - Home and bed for the next 14 hours For all of you going next Saturday, have fun and sing one for me! And a big thanks to Frode, Steve, Frank, Frank, Scott, Eddie, Dennis, Dan, Robbie, Franco, Sparky, Luca, Andy M, Kevin and especially Ruud. You are still gods down my place...

Here's another one for you... Remember the legend that was Frode Grodas?

We used to stand near the Tannoy connecting the Shed to the old West Stand. ?8 to get in, you could ring some mates up on the day to see if they fancied going and on a good day, Vinnie Jones would drop his shorts for you. God, does anyone remember that open sewer of a gents behind the West stand in them thar days? You literally had to wade through 2 inches of piss to get into the things. Lovely. I think they should bring back benches at the front of each stand for U16's. Charge them a tenne...sigh, one can but dream

It's difficult not to vote for Leeds, the only fans to have tried to gob in my wife's face (when we were in a box at Elland Road many years ago). In fact, I'll go on record as stating I believe them to be the most unpleasant fans on the planet, but.... - Dennis is there (my love for him will never waiver....) - And frankly, they're just not relevant today (how damning is that?). So the scousers take top spot for me as of now - and I can't see them relinquishing it for many years

Actually, I think that Hillsborough has a lot to do with the Media's modern-day leniency to the Scousers. It's not so much out of sympathy at the horror of that dreadful day, more the fact that the UK's biggest-selling newspaper (The Sun) laid the blame firmly at the feet of the Liverpool fans. As a result, that paper's circulation is still tiny on Merseyside compared to other UK cities and I think that the media as a whole have been over-compensating for that mis-placed accusation ever since. How it can totally blot out Heysel is beyond me, though. Mind you, 'that could have happened to any club at the time...'

Bit late in the day to say this, but Bluenut... that was a top, top post.

Hi Red, This maybe isn't the reaction you were necessarily expecting but here goes.... 1. I effing hate your club more than any other at the moment (OK maybe you were expecting that!) predominantly for its belief that it owns 'history'. It's pointless getting into the debate in detail as it's all been said before but the downright ARROGANCE of the stance leaves me breathless, reducing the witterings of JM to very little by comparison. But... 2. I love your paragraph above. Really love it and I hope it's all true. Because from where I sit (now only at home after 15 years of being a ST holder at the Bridge), CFC have got a long way to go before we can match that level of in-stadium support. If we're all honest (only actual match-goers need comment here) any long-term sustained passion at the Bridge was priced out of the ground a long time ago. But.... 3. Your view is undeniably selective (doh! It's a view afterall). My view of Liverpool fans includes endless songs about Munich, bricking away team buses (within the last two years) and, least we forget, storming the SB entry gates last week in the sort of numbers that suggest Hillsborough never happened. Yes we've got pricks too - it's just yours never seem to get noticed by the media whatsoever. As a massive Beatles fan it really pains me to say this but Liverpool - the team, the city, the people - are absolutely at the top of my loathing list. A sick part of me wants your fans to disgrace themeselves in Athens to the point where the media have to - absolutely have to - acknowldege that you are not the salt of the earth after all. Can't see it happening since the Mancs aren't going which is probably a good thing, I guess.... But.... 4. You seem like a nice bloke and your posts are always worth a read. Keep em coming