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The People's Republic of Clogher
I'm surprised that more clubs haven't expressed an interest in Eduardo. He's young for a keeper and is the only member of his squad who I'd argue had anything like a good World Cup.

It must have been hard for Ronaldo (cry me a friggin' river, I know ) trying to function in such a negatively set-up side. He didn't completely bomb like Rooney, though, because I've seen him many times have games where he's been completely excluded. Rooney came back and demanded the ball, and this just highlighted how out of form he was.
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



that's me through to the finals in our family sweepstake. Can't say I was rooting too much for Holland tho. Some dirty play there. Can't wait for tomorrows game.
Been an interesting world cup




It was some goal, wasn't it? Diego's was a belter, too, but I can't find that one, so here's his United goals. I loved this bloke.


"He comes from Uraguay, he made the Scousers cry"

Anyway, transfer news from yesterday. Sorry it didn't appear earlier, but I'm not well atm.

New Barca President, Sandro Rosell, insists he won't pay anywhere near the £60m asking price floated for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas. So say The Mail.

The Press Association have Lazio president, Claudio Lotitto, ready to negotiate Aleksandar Kolarov's departure provided the right offer comes along. The Serbia left back is under contract for a further season with the Serie A outfit and is a reported target of Manchester City and Real Madrid.

They also have a story from Zlatan Ibrahimovic's agent, who has quashed speculation the Swedish striker will leave Barcelona and return to Italy's Serie A. Of couse, a pedantic man (like me, for instance) could say that he hasn't ruled him out leaving Barcelona. Just leaving it for Italy.

Lots from the P.A. today and another story from them has Inter turning down an offer for Mario Balotelli from Man City, according to his agent.

The Daily Telegraph has Roman Abramovich flying to S.Africa to try and sign Torres for £50m.

The Mirror say that Man City have offered £35m for Torres.

I only mention it because he's the new manager at Liverpool, but Roy Hodgson wants to sign Joe Cole. He won't be going north, so it really doesn't matter.

The Daily Star has Pep Guardiola making a "secret visit" to Spain's World Cup training base to talk to Fabregas.

Interesting story in the Mail, which has Rafa wanting to sign Gareth Bale (of Spurs) or Liverpool's Glen Johnson as a replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Maicon.

The Daily Mirror has a very funny story, in which they claim that United are making a £25m move for Wesley Sneijder. Hmmm... Not unless they've got a sweepstake in the office on just how harshly they'll be told to "**** Off" they haven't. £25m's about what Real paid, isn't it? I said I thought he'd cost £40m after the CL final but, after the World Cup he's had, I think you can add £10m on that. I'd like them to say "Yes" though.

The Sun has Chelsea 'leading the race' for Sami Khedira. Stuttgart are looking for £12m. The Sun also says Bayern have 'warned off' Premier League teams from making bids for their World Cup stars. The paper says that Chelsea want Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Mueller, while Manchester United want Phillipp Lahm. Schweinsteiger's possible, IMO, but I think the other two would want to stay.

West Ham have made a £5m bid for Pablo Barrera and, again, that's from The Sun.

The Mirror has the following three stories.

Newcastle United want to take the young United midfielder Tom Cleverley on loan for the season.

Allardyce wants to sign Rapid Vienna's £4m-rated Croatian striker Nikica Jelavic, but may have to wait for a potential takeover of Rovers to happen before bidding.

Man City have offered Robinho to Valencia on a season-long loan as they try to save on, at least, part of his £150,000-a-week wages.

The Mail has Jermaine Pennant being offered to West Ham and Wigan by Real Zaragoza. However, Wolves have rejected the chance to sign the player. Rejected by Wolves? How the, slightly, mighty have fallen.

The Nevller tells it like it is in The Sun, where he says England are stuck with the players who flopped at the World Cup in South Africa for another two years because there simply aren't any youngsters good enough to replace them. Don't you love Gary Neville? OK, if you don't support United I know you don't but there are few players who are prepared to speak their mind and stick by it when/if it offends people.

Whereas The Mirror has a mercenary story. Yaya Toure says that one day he would like to return to Barcelona, the club he just left to join City on a reported £200,000-a-week contract.

The "Neymar to West Ham" saga continues in The Mail today. They have his father praising the move for his son, saying "He would adapt there for a while and would later reach a big team in a short space of time," said Neymar Silva.

People of England, get ready to The Mail reports the following: Social networking website Facebook is in talks with the Football Association about becoming the new sponsor of the England team.

OK, the early gossip from today looks like this.

Arsenal have overtaken Spurs in their attempt to sign Serdar Tasci from Stuttgart. No fee is mentioned.

Also in The Sun, Keisuke Honda has put Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool on alert after admitting he is considering his future at CSKA Moscow.

The Mail have City being 'linked' with Lukas Podolski for £16.5m. So there's another forward to add to the list.

The Mirror have Roy Hodgson blowing his, reported, £15m transfer kitty on FC Twente's winger Bryan Ruiz. £13m is the reported price. Still, once Gerrard, Torres, Johnson, Mascherano, Reira, et al leave, he'll have lots of money to spend. Hell, he may even outspend City.

The Mail has United making 'discreet' enquires about Karim Benzema. Well, they're not that discreet, are they?

They also say that Sunderland are 'exploring the possibilities' of taking Ghanain Dominic Adiyiah from AC Milan on a season long loan.

The Mirror says that Capello's frustration with the England squad started at half time during the warm-up match with Platinum All-Stars before the World Cup, when he broke a glass tray.

In the file marked "Old Players Talk Bollocks" we find a new entry from West Ham legend, Tony Cottee. The Sun says he's condemned the Football Association for its decision to stick with Capello as coach. Cottee feels FA bosses should get rid of the Italian and bring in former England boss Terry Venables to head a think tank to sort out the national set-up.

The Mirror also tells us that Everton's Dan Gosling has walked out on Everton for nothing after the club failed to put a new contract offer to him in writing. Everton made a verbal offer to Gosling but the Premier League sided with the player due to the club's administrative error.

Another Mirror story, and Fergie annoys me by saying that Diego Forlan could've been a United hero and that the club sold him too cheaply. Then why did you sell him? I don't remember him wanting to go. Did I miss something? I remember him being a fan favourite. I remember him scoring and being unable to put his shirt back on. I remember him scoring against the Scousers. But I don't remember him wanting to leave. Maybe I'm misinformed.

Lastly, The Mirror reports that NASA has chipped in with the global damning of the Jabulani. Aerodynamic experts from Nasa's Ames Investigation Centre stated the Jabulani becomes unpredictable at speeds above 44 mph and also blamed the ball's light weight of just 440g for its poor flight and lack of *consistency - known as the 'knuckle effect'.



The People's Republic of Clogher
that's me through to the finals in our family sweepstake. Can't say I was rooting too much for Holland tho. Some dirty play there. Can't wait for tomorrows game.
Been an interesting world cup
I only had half an eye on the game, to be honest. Enough to realise that Diego Forlan is a dead ringer for Sally Gunnell, anyway.

Dunno if this has been a great World Cup or not. The abiding memory so far has been this.



Man, I saw this thread and was like, "yay, football!" then I realized it was soccer, then I remembered Americans are pretty much the only people who don't call it football, then I got depressed at how America-centric I am.
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"I want a film I watch to express either the joy of making cinema or the anguish of making cinema" -Francois Truffaut



there's a frog in my snake oil
Some dirty play there.
Van Bommel is such a thug. And he makes it even worse by regularly staring out / castigating the people whose bones he's just tried to break.

Aside from that the dutch have snuck in there under the radar. Some nice touches from Van P from what I saw, but he's still not shining up top. Hardly heart-stopping stuff all told.

Pretty annoyed I'm gonna miss most of the game tonight. But it seems Paul the Octopus has opted for a Spain win.
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



Hope you feel better soon Honeykid. Your footie roundups have been the first thing I read coming on here

I only had half an eye on the game, to be honest. Enough to realise that Diego Forlan is a dead ringer for Sally Gunnell, anyway.
wow yeah! I thought he reminded me of someone

Man, I saw this thread and was like, "yay, football!" then I realized it was soccer, then I remembered Americans are pretty much the only people who don't call it football, then I got depressed at how America-centric I am.
no, you didn't realise it was soccer, you realised you're calling football the wrong name!


Pretty annoyed I'm gonna miss most of the game tonight. But it seems Paul the Octopus has opted for a Spain win.
and Paul the octopus was right. Scary!



The People's Republic of Clogher
Paul the Octopus is a chancer. There, I've said it!

He's the German James Cordon, with more talent.

Cracking match last night, one of my favourites so far - tense, exciting and only one goal. Proper football.

Spain, as was probably expected, played a lot better against a team who genuinely thought they had a chance of winning and thus didn't set out to only frustrate the Euro Champs. I'm getting bloody annoyed at all the "After all their tippy-tappy fanny football, the go and score from a corner" nonsense.

Lazy commentary, lazy punditry and probably one of the reasons English football is so bereft of skill - Passing the ball is all very well but real men hoof it to the big lad up front. Then Shearer had the brass danglers to say that coaches in England were probably a bit lacking?

We pay these clowns, remember that.



OK, I've got a bit of catching up to do. I had to listen to the Spain/Germany game, as I felt too ill to watch it. Sounded like a decent game. I'm looking forward to the final. Still hoping Holland win, though it's looking like Spain, isn't it? They're not Euro 2008 good, but they look good (and confident) enough to do the job. Anyway, on with the gossip.

Arsenal have signed defender Laurent Koscielny, from Lorient, for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be £10m.

The Sun have Arsenal willing to spend £20m on Mesut Ozil.

imscouting say Real are ready to join United and Chelsea in the race for the signature of Sami Khedira.

Rafa is looking at Micah Richards, so say The Times.

The Mail say both Barcelona and Juve are looking at taking Patrice Evra from United.

The Sun say that Villa will go after Scott Parker, once Milner moves to City for £25m.

Whereas The Star say that O'Neil wants £15m plus Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha for Milner.

The Scottish Mail says that Celtic want S****horpe's Gary Hooper and will pay £2m. *Edit: Just checked this and seen what the filter's done. I'm leaving it in. *

imscouting reports that Bayern Munich are after Gregory van der Wiel, who is rumoured to be an Arsenal target.

Fergie has given Patrice Evra a month off, a week more than the other United players at the World Cup, that's in the Daily Star.

Mesut Ozil has ridiculed England players for saying they were bored between games in South Africa. Ozil said: "If you find the greatest tournament on earth boring, then you probably shouldn't be there."

Felipe Melo could be on his way out of Juventus, after the General Director said that he'd be willing to listen to offers for him. The Gazzetta Dello Sport says that Melo could join Arsenal this summer in an exchange deal which would see Gunners left-back Gael Clichy move the other way.

The Press Association has Luis Fabiano's agent playing down talk of a move for his client to either United or AC Milan.

The PA also have a story which says that the Lazio President, Claudio Lotito, has put a fee of £18.7m on Aleksandar Kolarov. The left back is said to be a target for both Man City and Real.

A couple of papers carry the story that United are, indeed, interested in Wesley Sneijder. The Mirror says that Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has confirmed that United have made contact regarding him. While The Mail has United willing to offer (a rather specific) £29m for the midfielder and also has them looking to spend £30m on Mario Balotelli.

The Sun has City looking to offload Shaun Wright-Phillips, with Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham said to be looking to pay the knockdown price of £6m.

Interesting rumour in The Mirror which says that Barcelona might have to abandon the deals for Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano because of the financial problems at the club. It's been reported that Barcelona have had to borrow £120m to pay players wages this year and new club President has gone on record to reject rumours that the club is bankrupt.

With that news in mind, The Sun has a story in which Mascherano's agent is back on the Inter tip, talking about his clients relationship with the new Inter manager. The figure suggested is around £25m. They also say that left back Insua is wanted by Fiorentina and that, for £5m, they can have him. They say that Liverpool need the £5m to make a bid for Wigan's Maynor Figueroa.

The Times tells us that Gael Clichy may be on his way to Juventus, if they sell Fabio Grosso to Atletico Madrid. Of course, with the breaking news about Melo, this may be reduntant already.

The Guardian has a story which is either spot on or very strange. They tell us that Manchester City will make an improved offer of £24m for James Milner but will turn their attention elsewhere if the latest bid is turned down. Now, as everyone and their dog said City's last bid was for £28m, they've either improved their bid by lowering it £4m or everyone was wrong before. That, or The Guardian just forgot what the 'agreed figure' was on Fleet Street and, now, look a bit silly.

Eidur Gudjohnsen is staying on loan at Spurs for the season. So says The Sun.

The Indepentent seems to have interviewed West Ham co-owner, David Sullivan, in an opium den or something, as he claims in their paper today that West Ham were due to sign Miroslav Klose on a free transfer this summer but the German's excellent performances at the World Cup have made a deal "unlikely" to go through now. Now, as I said similar things about the people who were telling me that Tevez and Mascherano were going to West Ham a few years ago, I have to admit that this is possible... He really could've been in an opium den.

The Mail has Sunderland and West Ham after Asamoah Gyan. £7m is the fee reported.

They also have Dan Gosling moving to Newcastle. They say Newcastle are confident of getting their man.

Sticking with Newcastle transfers and The Sun says that their looking at Jonathan de Guzman, the Dutch winger, who's been released by Feyenoord.

Also in The Sun, Wolves will bid £4m for young England defender, Michael Mancienne, from Chelsea.

David James is going to hold talks with Portsmouth about staying with the club. The club say he'll have to take a cut in his £40,000 a week wages to stay.

Fulham have said that they'll announce their new manager by the end of next week. Sven Goran Eriksson is the favourite to take over, while former West Ham defender Slaven Bilic is the newest name being banded about.



The People's Republic of Clogher
My beloved Glens are broke.

We've not paid players for 5 weeks now: The club put this down to lack of people through the turnstiles in the close season but we've been in debt to the taxman for ages.

What's doubly unfair is that the scum from Windsor Park are getting a new stadium to go with the huge (for NI football) lump of cash they get every year for allowing the national team play there.

Still, rumour has it that Barcelona are also broke so at least we're in good company.

Lookilikes! Michael Mancienne is Snoop from The Wire. Only less butch...



I won't even pretend to know anything about league football in Ireland (and I mean the whole of Ireland here) but the attendances for Irish League football have always been pretty low, haven't they? Not surprising when you have English League football across the water, as well as the Old Firm. It also has to compete with Gaelic Football (or Football as I believe many call it over there) Hurling and, of course, Rugby. I suppose, as over here, with the increase of glamour and the level of Premier League football over the last 20 years, unless someone took a child every week or they just loved their local team/league, there's little competition given the choice between the two leagues.

Anyway, not too much early news, atm.

City have rejected an offer of £16.7m from Besiktas for Robinho, as they want more.

The captain of Sunderland, Lorik Cana, has signed for Turkish side Galatasaray SK for a fee said to be a little over £5m.

More Sunderland news and Sol Campbell has been in talks with them over a deal.

Owen Hargreaves is out injured (again) and will miss the start of the season. Fergie said on MUTV that he didn't know how long he'd be out for. He's also unsure whether Rio will make the start of the season.

Spurs may be setting a new trend this season, after they announced that they'd have two shirt sponsors this season, one for league matches and one for cup games.

Standard Liege's Milan Jovanovic has signed for Liverpool on a free transfer. The striker had also been linked with AC Milan, Juventus and Valencia.

The only other news of note, IMO, is a few quotes from Arsene Wenger on Almunia from a Kenyan paper, The Standard.

Arsene Wenger says he will "make an announcement on the goalkeeping situation after the World Cup". Wenger said: "[Current number one] Manuel Almunia is a talented goalkeeper. In training, he is superb, the only problem is that he gets nervous on big matches, thereby making silly mistakes."

So, if the Schwartzer deal goes ahead, it sound like he may well go straight in as the #1 pick.



I won't even pretend to know anything about league football in Ireland (and I mean the whole of Ireland here) but the attendances for Irish League football have always been pretty low, haven't they? Not surprising when you have English League football across the water, as well as the Old Firm. It also has to compete with Gaelic Football (or Football as I believe many call it over there) Hurling and, of course, Rugby. I suppose, as over here, with the increase of glamour and the level of Premier League football over the last 20 years, unless someone took a child every week or they just loved their local team/league, there's little competition given the choice between the two leagues.

Anyway, not too much early news, atm.

City have rejected an offer of £16.7m from Besiktas for Robinho, as they want more.

The captain of Sunderland, Lorik Cana, has signed for Turkish side Galatasaray SK for a fee said to be a little over £5m.

More Sunderland news and Sol Campbell has been in talks with them over a deal.

Owen Hargreaves is out injured (again) and will miss the start of the season. Fergie said on MUTV that he didn't know how long he'd be out for. He's also unsure whether Rio will make the start of the season.

Spurs may be setting a new trend this season, after they announced that they'd have two shirt sponsors this season, one for league matches and one for cup games.

Standard Liege's Milan Jovanovic has signed for Liverpool on a free transfer. The striker had also been linked with AC Milan, Juventus and Valencia.

The only other news of note, IMO, is a few quotes from Arsene Wenger on Almunia from a Kenyan paper, The Standard.

Arsene Wenger says he will "make an announcement on the goalkeeping situation after the World Cup". Wenger said: "[Current number one] Manuel Almunia is a talented goalkeeper. In training, he is superb, the only problem is that he gets nervous on big matches, thereby making silly mistakes."

So, if the Schwartzer deal goes ahead, it sound like he may well go straight in as the #1 pick.
Exactly, the whole things counter productive because as you say, the Irish tend to focus on the English premier league. The talented young boys in Ireland grow up with dreams of playing for Man United and Liverpool.

I have two reasons for not supporting the premier devision in Northern Ireland

1: Like everything in Northern Ireland my backing becomes some sort of political/religious statement and I find myself grouped with moronic extremists.

2: Why the heck am I going to pay £10 to watch Limavady, or even Derry in the eircon league when I can pay £35 and travel to one of best stadia in the world and watch some of the most talented young players in the world.

Gooner, always and forever.

Shame, was hoping GG Buffon would be a saviour.



The People's Republic of Clogher
There are a few English teams which I have a soft spot for, mainly because I lived in their catchment areas and went to see them when I could but there's no way I'd call myself a 'supporter'. Football should be about more than just picking whichever team is on TV a lot when you're a kid, it's about where you're from.

Of course, the Barcas, Man Utds, Liverpools etc take millions upon millions each year from people who've never even been to their grounds. When I was a kid most of my friends supported Liverpool because it was the 70s. It's Man Utd over here now, as well as the 'traditional' Celtic and Rangers brigade who I've got even less time for because that kind of support is usually based on something other than football, if you get my meaning.

If Georgie Best hadn't been from Belfast would there still be as many Man Utd supporters clubs here? Probably - They're as recognisable a world brand as Guinness, Marlboro, Ikea and Durex.

My stepdad's a Man Utd fan, by the way (my dad's a Glensman), but I'll give him a pass.

He's from Salford.



Before I post todays transfer gossip, I'll catch up on yesterday.

The Star said that Chelsea are going to offer a paltry £30m for Torres. I presume that's just an opening gambit to get the ball rolling.

The Mail reports, as does everyone everywhere I think, that Wesley Sneijder will turn down any offer from United as he wants to stay at Inter.

In the Daily Express they add to this that Fergie may now look at Mesut Ozil, who's price has risen at least £5m during this World Cup, as £25m is the price mentioned. I'd like this, as he looks even better than Sneijder did at his age, which is when I wanted United to buy him.

The Sun have City offering £20m to Chelsea for Drogba. Surely that's a non-starter, isn't it?

Still with The Sun and with City, they have a surprising story which has City spending NO MONEY and picking up Richard Wright on a free, after he was released by Ipswich.

The Star brings us the news that Barcelona have admitted that they'll have to sell Zlatan Ibrahimovic in order to sign Fabregas.

The Sun says Chelsea are going to miss out on Gregory van der Wiel as Bayern Munich will sign him for £14m.

Avram Grant wants to keep Matthew Upson at West Ham.

OK, on to today's news.

imscouting says that Barcelona President Sandro Rosell will meet Arsene Wenger before the World Cup final over the potential transfer of Cesc Fabregas.

The Daily Mail is hedging its bets today, with the news that Mascherano wants to go to Inter or Barcelona. So, the place he's been linked to for the last year or the place he's been linked to since his previous manager moved there. Well done, lads.

They also bring us the news that Craig Bellamy is about to turn up at Spurs to the tune of £6m.

The Daily Telegraph has Chelsea bringing Bruno Alves to the club, after agreeing to sell Ricardo Carvalho.

The Daily Mail have offered David James a player-coaching role at the club.

More from The Mail and Sunderland are thinking about making a £7m bid for Michael Carrick.

The Guardian are covering their bases, with a story which has Roberto Mancini approaching Inter Milan for Mario Balotelli, as well as a move for Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko.

In The Independent, 'Arry puts a dampner on any and all stories linking Robbie Keane to Celtic: "We paid good money for him and to loan him out again wouldn't be a goer." Gawd bless the Queen Mum!

The Daily Record say that Joe Ledley has passed his medical and should sign within 48 hours. Something that seems to be confirmed by Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, who was also interested in signing the player. He's quoted as saying "As far as I was concerned, Joe had gone and signed for Celtic. So, that's the end of the matter,".

Lastly, Gary Neville will sit out United's US tour after picking up a calf injury.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Any thoughts on tomorrow, HK?

All I'm saying is that this is the weekend of the 12th of July and there are a Dutch team playing in orange in the final. King Billy, and all that.

It is written...

Aaanyway. Did you hear about Gazza turning up when police were surrounding now-dead gun nutter Raoul Moat claiming to be a friend and offering a can of lager and a shoulder for the ginger Rambo to cry on?

The poor bloke seriously needs help.




Aaanyway. Did you hear about Gazza turning up when police were surrounding now-dead gun nutter Raoul Moat claiming to be a friend and offering a can of lager and a shoulder for the ginger Rambo to cry on?

The poor bloke seriously needs help.
was that true? my son told me that and I thought he was making it up!..he said Gazza had KFC too


Y forgot it was the twelth Taccy. I remember the marches in Liverpool when I was a kid. I was taken on one once by another kid in the street all the way from the Dingle into town. My mum went bonkers.

see the match tonight? I loved that Forlan goal tonight where the German goalie just stood there motionless with his hands on his hips



The People's Republic of Clogher
The Gazza thing seems to be true. I've not heard it myself but he was interviewed on 5Live soon after it happened, sounding a bit the worse for wear. That poor guy's gonna be found in a ditch some morning if his 'friends' don't forcibly get him committed somewhere.

Heh, I was amazed when I moved to the North West that one of the few places outside NI that celebrates the Battle of the Boyne was Merseyside. Don't they call it 'Orangeman's Day' or something? Needless to say I was just as likely to be seen at a parade in Southport as I was back home. ie: Not at all.

Those proud Dutch Protestants against the dastardly Spanish Papists? Only on winner.

At least on the Shankill Rd, anyway...

Didn't see the 3rd/4th place match, don't think I've ever watched one of those.



Any thoughts on tomorrow, HK?

All I'm saying is that this is the weekend of the 12th of July and there are a Dutch team playing in orange in the final. King Billy, and all that.

It is written...
lol.. I had no idea that was the case.

I'm torn between the Dutch, who I really want to win, even though it'll mean Dirk "The Labrabor" Kuyt will be a World Cup winner, and the Spanish team I plumped for (along with everyone, of course) at the start of the tournament. I think it'll come down to how David Villa plays (is he the only world class player to turn up at this tournament?) and if Wes Sneijder can keep up his streak of lucky and important goals.

I still want the Netherlands to win, if only because they should've won in '74, they've given us lots of talented players over the years and their female fans just appear to be better looking, IMO.

So, yep, I think Spain will win but I'll be cheering for the Dutch.


I didn't hear anything about Gazza and the nutter, or vise versa. Partly because I've been asleep for most the last 48 hours and partly because I've paid hardly any attention to that idiot running around. Glad that he shot himself, though. Saves him causing any more trouble for anyone. It's not like he was going to give us (society) anything but pain, was it?

I also spend most years waiting for Gazza to die. Such a shame, but there's no other end for him unless he drastically changes his way of thinking. Maybe, like Best, he can't.

I might be able to post the Sunday gossip sometime later tonight. However, after a quick look at it, it looks awfully familiar, tbh.

The only thing I'll mention here and now, because we have an Everton fan as a regular, is that it seems that Steven Pienaar is looking to stay at Everton rather than leave, and is looking over a £55,000 a week contract.



The People's Republic of Clogher
I've been waiting for Shane MacGowan to croak for 20 years but he's well in his 50s now and will probably outlive us all. Gazza's different, though. As well as being an alcoholic he's clearly mentally ill.

He apparently knew Moat from his days as a nightclub bouncer and, I suppose, his bizarre intervention was his way of trying to diffuse a really tense situation.

You're probably right about Villa. Schweinsteiger, Robben, Sneijder etc are guys who've been knocking on the door for a while and have taken the leap to genuine world class in this tournament while the likes of Muller have come from seemingly nowhere. Robben is probably cheating a little because he'd already be one of the world's best players if not for him being made of glass.

I, too, want Holland to win (and not for Orange reasons ) but I think Spain will do it. They've done just enough so far to justify the 'best in the world' tag because they've/Villa has upped their/his game when needed most.

I think a really important factor for the Spanish is how Puyol has played his way into form as the tournament has gone on. Old Deidre Barlow is beginning to look like the player he was a few years ago - The one John Terry thinks he is.

Off to watch the GP now and if those classless Red Bulls will sail off into the distance or take themselves off at the first corner...