Red-Robbo

Yep. I like the tenor of this signing. He can opera all over the pitch, even be a falsetto number 9. Ballads to those Luton fans. They aren't singing any more.

"Suspicion of". I certainly have no knowledge of illegality.

The big problem is that he costs clubs a lot of money - both in salary and in some of the clunkers he buys as "punts". There is always the suspicion of the old pocketing of brown envelopes as well. If he was just smarmy and talked a lot of rollocks that wouldn't be so bad. Lots of people in football suffer from verbal diarrhoea.

A porn actress once told me this.

Republic of Congo (the former French colony) not Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire).

You can get 5 years for ABH, but as has been pointed out, the case would have to be sent up to a Crown Court for sentencing. You can only get a maximum of 6 months in a Magistrates Court.

Good point. By those using both, coke is used to blur out the lack of co-ordination and tiredness that often accompanies excess alcohol use. You can get more beers in. Unfortunately, cocaine won't cancel the impaired judgement and confusion that excess alcohol consumption brings, which often leads to aggression - especially as it adds paranoia and excess excitement into the mix.

See, I'd support the Staggies - should they ever by some miracle play in Europe - but I'm with those who aren't much of a fan of either of the Old Firm, with their sectarianist fans. "Thick weedgies who never go to church, knocking shyte out of each other to prove their variety of Christianity is better" is how Renton in Trainspotting described it. I just park all that stuff and enjoy the match as a neutral.

Ashton was a contractor at that stage, not a club employee. He joined Oxford as CEO very shortly after McInnes's departure. City were not his only client. He might have Stevie Wonder's eye for a good buy, but you are quite correct in saying he couldn't "force" the club to buy anyone. We can't just deploy the standard boogie-man to excuse some of the calamities that went on in that era. We set up poorly, our selections were illogical, substitutions were made too late or with the wrong players, often the team just looked beaten well before the match had ended. All the manager's job.

I believe Gary Johnson once threatened to play it...

Knock down ginger, in Street.

They tested positive for traces of Smarties and Sunny D.

You've made some very good points on this thread, and I have to completely agree with you. Funnily enough - in our distant past - theatre going WAS like the sports stadia of today, complete with booing, pyrotechnics and crowd disturbances! http://www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/henry4/papers/mthomas.htm

To be pedantic, it isn't clear from the song that she's a brass part. However, I have always found it odd that any club would adopt a song about a bloke who is about to commit suicide because he can't stop his missus going off with other men, as an anthem.

I think this will happen to be honest. There are no mitigating circumstances and whatever court deals with him will want to send a message to other idiots to deter them.

The risk is more of developing a long-lead degenerative brain disease, like Parkinson's or MND, than of instant death. The worrying thing is the more concussion-causing blows you receive, the more likely you are that lighter blows in future will cause concussion: Your susceptibility increases. Modern brain imaging and other medical tools can give club's medical teams a much more precise view of how much trauma has been sustained, its likelihood of recurrence. Also Nathan will have been assessed for post-concussion syndrome, which can cause depression, as well as lack of co-ordination and tiredness. My near-neighbour, a neurosurgeon, says it can never be an exact science however, because what happens in future games cannot be predicted. It will be a judgement call, a set of percentile parameters, and ultimately Nathan's call if he wants to play again. If he does, City may decide that isn't with us. Depending on the expert advice they get.

I sort of hesitated before adding his name to the role call of dross and in retrospect, I probably should have left him off it. 15 league clubs and 4 non-league clubs tells its own story though and there is something going on there.

Ah yes. Didn't see the late January dates. Another reason to doubt those who still worship at the altar of SOD....

But the set up was different when SOD came in - and still didn't achieve results. The scouting was poor, but that lead McInnes to suggest the likes of Foster, Wilson and McManus: who had all played at prominent clubs in the SPL. And you cannot blame "the suits" for the poor coaching or poor decisions, like trying to play Foster in midfield. "Del" has to hold his hands up there.

Sexstone stepped down during the McInnes managership and Mark Ashton, although he worked with the club (and others), he wasn't an employee at this stage, so therefore cannot be said to be "in charge". I'm afraid to say many of the transfers were McInnes's idea; players he was familiar with.

I'm glad someone else remembers how dire that spell was. One interview where he talks about how he liked City but the evil board stymied him and suddenly there is a mass donning of the old rose-tinted lenses. I had high hopes for McInnes, but his tenure illustrates the gap between English and Scottish football in the 21st Century. Players who looked decent north of the border proved unworthy of the task facing them here. Due to the Caledonian nature of much of this recruitment, I'm not sure all the blame can be offloaded onto Mark Ashton. Richard Foster, Stephen Pearson, Stephen McManus, Sean Davis, Mark Wilson, Brendan Moloney, Brian Howard, Matthew Briggs, Neil Danns, Jody 'party organiser' Morris, Matthew Bates. Not names to conjure with in 2012. Yes, he inherited a mess, but virtually every incoming manager does. Most get the job because the bloke or blokes before them have failed.

To play Devil's Advocate, a drinking culture was quite common at most clubs up to about 15 years ago. It's only in comparatively recent times in football that attitudes shifted, health and fitness advice was taken more seriously and a more disciplined approach favoured over the "boys will be boys" excuses.

No chapters on the career of Callum O'Dowda, fortunately.

It's simply called Cod, and it's by Mark Kurlansky. It also contains recipes made with said fish.

Very much so. It was in fact the Catholic Church's decision in the Middle Ages that you could eat fish on Friday, which hitherto had been considered a day of fast, that drove the massive demand and expansion of European fisheries. As European waters struggled to meet with demand, fishermen from the continent's western extremities went further and further afield to catch fish, particularly cod, which were big and slow-moving, hence easy to catch and much prized. Salting was the best way to preserve fish on long voyages, which is why you still get salt cod in Iberia and the Scandinavian countries to this day.