Pride of London

If you were to be knocked out by a f**king herb you'd at least hope it was Hemlock!

They've all got money on fewer than five scored in the match!

You see Roman is Jewish and the Sheikh is an Arab and Sky is notoriously pro-Palestine innit?

But like we'll finally get to see if they are just bros or if there's really loads of sexual tension. I for one am thrilled.

Something was coming after all?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbwXqoJGuo I don't know what's more surprising, the fact that Paul McGrath's released a single or the fact it's actually pretty decent. At least there's some genuine emotion in it as opposed to xfactor , american idol etc. Warning I am most likely wearing very strong emerald tinted spectacles

The showed Only Fools and Horses two episodes a day on BBC and it was the only thing worth watching during the day on Irish or British TV. Cash in the Attic , Bargain Hunt etc. who actually likes that absolutely dirge? The worst has to be the one where they have people buy sh*te houses, the people make them less sh*te and they bring the cameras round. How is that bloody entertainment. Has to be government mandated to discourage people from living on the dole or something.

Zoolander, it's just really , really ridiculously good looking.

-Song for a Raggy Boy -The Commitments - The Snapper - The Mammy - Garage

That stuff with the fake blood was despicable but there was a good long ban afterwards when it was found out, how often do we get the pleasure of seeing players banned for diving though? If it ever happens to Alves or Busquets please let me now, think i'd replay the tape until it wore out!

Typical of course the press have one rule for us and another for everyone else... I'm sure St. Fergie never ever talked to a player without asking!

Was there any actual evidence with the Kakuta thing whatsoever either?

That's the truth... still I can see this being used to majorly damage the club by banning us from buying anyone in if they push the issue

In England football was always the working man's game, and I've always thought the English working class had a great sense of fair-play and that's reflected in the attitudes we have in these islands naturally enough. The problem is that the global game is reflected one ideal which is very divergent from what we're used to and want to see. If the game was run from England as opposed to France I think our attitude would be the one we're trying to foster and if we're being fair I don't think that'd be right either, as much as I dislike it if that's they way they want to play let them play that way. The problem is in my opinion where there's an influx of players from one tradition into another it somewhat dilutes the game, but more pressing an issue is that at international level, and in the international club competitions they don't balance between these two traditions, they laud one and deny the legitimacy of the other. I mean I wouldn't have time for Lee Dixon but he was asked on Football Focus how would he change the game, he said bring back the tackle from behind and have a red card for diving and book for exaggeration. It's gone too far when I have common ground with former Arsenal players, I tell you that much!

It's really strange as a supporter of the ROI team seeing English players get the treatment they do. Even though we have club allegiances here they don't really matter at all to the supporters when the national team plays , we don't have anywhere near the talent pool to pick and choose players who we'll hate wearing the green jersey no matter what they do. I mean Robbie Keane played for Spurs but I'd support him until the end wearing the green jersey. I just think it's a different mindset, especially being such a small country where football is about the 4th most popular sport to play the same players stay in the team not based on reputation but on the fact that we simply can't produce anyone better. I mean the huge problem with the team currently is that we haven't got a single central midfielder of any real quality to replace Roy Keane

Watching the Real Madrid v. Barca tie in the CL last year you saw the best players in the world plying their trade, but what you also saw a hell of a lot of was diving, whinging and moaning. I don't think anyone makes the not "real men" argument about say swimmers, jockeys, runners or tennis players for example even though those sports obviously have absolutely no contact. I don't think I've ever seen anyone fake an injury in those sports, and if one were to fake an injury in the sprint you wouldn't gain an advantage. I've lost count of the amount of times they say that the tackle is a dying art, and what a pity it is that they keep disabling defenders. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you severely limit what defenders can get away with the whole team will be set up so as not to concede. Play acting and diving are forms of gamesmanship that make the spectacle far more frustrating to watch, my abiding memory from the CL Classico isn't a goal but Pepe (admittedly a sh*tehawk) getting sent off for a tackle when he clearly went for the ball. I mean defensive players would be the ones that I think those sorts would view as real me, tough tackling, no nonsense , I mean the nickname "Chopper" says a lot about what role there was for them. I think that when you just see these guys getting so emasculated on the field that all they have to do to get a yellow is tap the player, if the attacking player is at the right angle as to fool the referee. Fifa have taken a game where to succeed you needed a good mix of tough nuts and flair players, and bar stewardized into one where the rules are designed to suit flair players, the skills that these lads have are being rewarded, whereas the skills the other lads have are become disenfranchised totally in my opinion. I watched the Slovakia Ireland, and Madedonia Russia games last weekend, and there was a free kick every third minute. I think there was one genuinely dirty tackle in either game. It was about 30 minutes into the Ireland match before I'd have felt compelled to award a free. I think it's even harder to watch as a neutral, I can overlook and excuse things that the Irish team do pretty easily, but if you don't have an allegiance it isn't just whoever you're playing is ruining the game, but it's everyone! I honestly believe all this tippy tappy nonsense is a simple evolution of the fact that the governing body thinks people just want to see loads of passing and no contact at all, I think the reality is very far from that, and I think with the financial set up of the sport it allows for one team such as Barcalona to have a huge advantage by having a flair player in every position, because legally stopping these players is made ever harder. I honestly believe that FIFA are destroying the game like this. Imagine if hey banned scrums , rucks and mauls, and only allowed ankle tap tackles from behind, imagine how truly emasculated the forward line would be. I think that's what we're creeping towards as to counteract what FIFA wants the vast majority of teams are playing far more conservatively.

I remember being about 5 years old trying to watch the BBC but the screen being very blurry, it was a crap aerial signal. I must have liked the name or the colour or something because whenever the next match started, i would ask if the team in blue were Chelsea. I think when I really got into it was a couple years later I thought Zola was immense, I was playing football but I was really atrocious even for that age, but I just thought he was a little magician and seeing a guy who looked so different to the rest of the footballers beating them all really inspired me and kept me going. I also remember Chelsea having managers who actually played and thinking that Ferguson and Wenger knew nothing as they wouldn't put on a kit and run out on the pitch. My family would have traditionally been a Rugby family and they had no soccer allegiances, I still remember getting the first Fly Emirates sponsored jersey , the first football jersey I ever had, for Christmas. I really don't think I could pinpoint to one precise moment when I knew that I'd always love Chelsea, I never met anyone else who supported Chelsea until into the Abramovich days. I suppose the fact that everyone else supported Arsenal, Liverpool and United and were such absolute know-all cocks lead me to dislike those teams intensely too.

Great news for Shamrock Rovers, and anyone who likes a good laugh at Spurts!

Ha ha, we'd be unstoppable again!

If we still had Ballack we'd win every time, as long as we had a little Overbo like a hare for him to chase.

Ah Vlad Villas Boas, one of Roman's cronies, did you not get the memo?

Qui Gon Jin!

Excluding Star Wars: Episode 1 I'd have to agree there.