BlyBlyBabes

Presumably some funds would have been saved/budgeted for the January transfer window? OTBC

Master Bentley is our best balanced attacker - seven shots today, none on target, seven off target. Glory hunting I think they call it! Gazza - a ''forum guru'' - is our best balanced contributor. Seems from the evidence above & from elsewhere on this forum that she has a chip on both shoulders. Gazza, mate, just what is it that constitutes fancy words? Is it those used when you are losing the argument, or what? OTBC  

POTENTIAL HAS A SHELF LIFE Worthy must ensure that Bentley understands this, and that if his output level is unsatisfactory he will be dropped. We are back in the hardest & harshest end of the business now - the Premiership - with no room for sentiment or favours. IF THEY''RE GOOD ENOUGH. THEY''RE OLD ENOUGH Shackell, Henderson and Jarvis must be given their chances before half term to see if they can cut it this year. OTBC.  

Super legend Kevin Keelan. The king of buzz. Brilliance, style & drama personified. OTBC  

Referring to Delia as ''this woman'' is rude in any language and is an indicator of character. I think Monsieur you have been caught with your pants down. OTBC

Yes, Peter but........... "There is no panacea which will achieve total safety and cure all problems of behaviour and crowd control. But I am satisfied that seating does more to achieve those objectives than any other measure" Taylor, 1990, in his final report. Now who does he agree with? ...does more to achieve this than any other measure. This makes it a very difficult matter to address. The trick, I think, is to campaign for experimental, safely-designed standing areas. The challenge is who will fund the experiments. City should do a cost-benefit analysis on the team peformance benefits of an atmospheric versus a sterile ground. Improved team performance goes to the bottom line, thus creating more investible funds and a virtuous circle.   In the interim, however, persistent standing in seated areas leads to the type of problem experienced by kennyfoggo in the original post in this thread, plus the intimidation of other members who would wish to remain seated ''most of the time'' but are scared to stand up for their rights. In support of safe, all standing areas. OTBC

Gazza. South stand? I thought you only stood in the Barclay........and the rest was for the prawn sandwich brigade. By the way, who was Chairman when the new Barclay was built? Maybe you should boycott that as well. OTBC.      

Nigel''s face at Sunday lunch. Santini''s face at Sunday lunch. C''est la vie, Monsieur, did you not know that Nigel is the next Arsene Wenger! OTBC P.S.  AJ - if you will not downsize your signature, could you please use the spell check provided!!!!!!!!!! One love.  

Brum Uni Forgive my ignorance, but what does IMO stand for? OTBC  

Er....... I gather that a] in order to ''ACTIVELY get behind'' City one must stand! What an insult to all those who sit. b] only those who stand in the Barclay support City passionately! c] if I sit in the Barclay next home match either nobody will stand in front of me because they will look behind first and see that I am sitting!! or if somebody stands in front of me "most of the time"'' he/she will sit down when I ask them to!! Gazza, nothing personal, but check out the first post on this thread. Where does one draw the line? You would be better served, I submit, spending your undoubted energy in campaigning constructively for areas specifically designed for standing. If most people in sections of the Barclay continue to stand, it will only take one incident that snowballs for the FA to act and close those sections. I suppose we will then have aggro in Carrow Road. By the way what does ''STANDING in the Ketts Tavern all evening talking football'' have to do with this debate? C''mon, I challenge you. Start an organised campaign for experimental standing areas, First problem - how would they be paid for? Fatboy and Meeky are you going to join in, or are you just watching and waiting ; for fireworks? OTBC One love.

Gazza. I am not sure that the Barclay is your ''natural home", but I will not be harsh. The Barclay was my home for many years from 1959 until late 70''s when I was forced to take refuge for some years in the South Stand due to the yobs and thugs creating violence in the Barclay. Thankfully, that aberration ceased with the introduction of seating. I am glad that you make sure that everybody behind you is standing up before you yourself stand. Pull the other one, its got bells on it. OTBC P.S. By the way did you see your namesake playing for Boston on TV the other day and  short-arming all in sight!!?? One love.  

I see that Jim Brennan has been dropped from the Canada squad [FIFA ranking=99] for the recent & current World Cup qualifiers ostensibly because he has been inactive recently ........according to the Canadian Head Coach, a certain Mr Frank Yallop who was quoted as saying that ''It was mainly a coaches decision'' - whatever that means.  Result. Lost 2-0 at home to Guatemala (Aug 18) . Held 1-1 at home on Saturday by Honduras. Playing Costa Rica away on Wednesday. Soon eliminated one suspects. Jim used his summer playing for Canada against Belize in a two leg qualifier, scoring in each match if memory serves me right. Seems odd to me. How come all the ''inactive'' internationals at Arsenal, Man Utd etc etc are picked for their countries'' matches. ???????????????????? OTBC  

Just voted for Greeno. Problem is they have Calamity with twice as many votes as him at the moment. (5% to 10). Robinson leads with 55% (fair enough), but they have Kirkland with 23% and he''s injured! At least he is rated above Wright & Walker. OTBC.

Great spot, Gorleston Jim.  [I miss my walks along the cliffs & back along the beach ] Great stuff. On TV too (Sky) Time to stand up & be counted Greeno. Good luck. OTBC  

[quote]you old trouble maker kennyfoggo i sit (or stand most of the time) just behind you, will come and say hello next game most of you know my views on standing at matches, so i won''t repeat it all ...[/quote] What on earth makes you think that you have the right to stand "most of the time" in front of fans sitting behind you who have paid good money for their seats? Quite frankly I am rather tired of the forum allowing posters to preen about and promote this type of boorish behaviour. By all means campaign for standing areas. I will support you. but until then please do not inconvenience the good folks behind you "most of the time". OTBC        

One thing that both Bolton and Charlton do is cast their nets wide. Worthy, check out Brian Ching of USA. He has just pushed Brian McBride out of the US starting line-up in the World Cup qualifiers (no easy task). Made his debut yesterday & scored. Also scored in recently in the previous qualifier coming off the bench. Had 2 previous substitute appearances against Wales & Poland earlier this year. 26, 6ft 1in, 195 lb, sharp, prefers 1/2 touch link up play rather than individualism. Hungry - first player from Hawaii on US national team & fought back from serious injury last year. Plays with San Jose Earthquakes in MLS and is second leading MLS scorer this year. If you like him, try & tie him up quick for January before somebody else gets in! At least have a look. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. OTBC.           

Surely Calamity James must go now. []. He nearly won the match for Austria all on his own. Ericsson needs to give both Paul Robinson and Robert their chances now. Kirkland must also be given an opportunity - but only if he can get over his susceptibility injuries. [What is it with Ericsonn? Both with goalkeepers and England''s chronic inability to ''close out'' matches?]. Greeno''s time is here Sven. OTBC    

Very good a1canary. The wizard has no clothes. Methinks he does protest too much. OTBC

.............to give Zema a chance, by extending his contract to at least the transfer window in January 2005. After all [a] Worthy signed him so he must have seen something he liked, [b] we paid 350,000 for him, [c] City have stood by him whilst he fought back bravely from two terrible injuries, [d] he is 27-28, tall & powerful, [e] he was doing well at the start of last season before his second injury. It might just be that given a couple of starts his luck changes, his confidence soars and he suddenly fulfills that potential that Worthy obviously must have seen. After all what would have happened if Archie Macauley had given up on Terry Bly? Let''s give the lad a fighting chance. He deserves it, and I think that Worthy owes it to him. OTBC

Exactly, Foghorn, exactly. Andy D''Urso admitted his error over Barry Ferguson in his match report. He has been suspended for 28 days for ''failing to apply the laws of the game ''. What did Poll put in his match report? If he reported the facts, he should be sanctioned like D''Urso for failing to apply the laws of the game- innocent confusion can happen to the best of us. If he tried to spin doctor the incident as he did after the match, the FA should conduct a serious investigation starting with establishing motive. Seems like one law for the rich, and another law for the poor to me. I read somewhere that Sky has something like 22 TV camers covering each of their live matches, so there should be no shortage of evidence. The multitude of reporters and pundits also seem to have a fairly unanimous view on the matter. OTBC

a1. What Helveg said would be er, culture shock? Premiership to Serie A, a step up? or Serie A to Premiership, a step up? Discuss class! Different styles. Evidence from European & World Cup competitions would suggest that the Serie A style and ethos is more effective in achieving high class results than the Premiership. However, give me the Premiership any day for high class entertainment. Helveg & Jonson have never played in England before. Hence, culture shock''. But I believe they are both class, will adapt & prove to be great signings. Holt & Svenson are clearly feeling ''the step up''''. Good Championship level players, but lacking that vital "something" at Premiership level. I do hope they can prove us wrong. It seems that in the end we really agree, a1. Cheers! OTBC

Somebody should also be deployed to pressure Lehmann physically and niggle at him mentally. He can be very impulsive and erratic. OTBC.

Helveg - 10 years in Milan & captain of Denmark - "clearly feeling the step up". You must be joking. More likely suffering from culture shock (e.g. the speed & intensity of the Premiership) or overconfidence (needs a little figurative kick up the b*ckside). He should soon sort himself out. I thought that Jonson looked class when he came on at Newcastle. I have a hunch though that in the long term Doherty & McKenzie may prove to be our best signings. I would really like to see Saffri given a run soon instead of Holt. OTBC.

You''re right Vicar. He did hold it up brilliantly. If Worthy is going to use Leon mainly as a sub, I think he could well be brought on earlier to good effect. But he should also be given some starts once September arrives in order to see how he goes. OTBC

FROM having to put up with Chris Waddle''s pathetic and repetitive pre-conceived comments in the Palace match on BBC Radio World Service live commentary - everything City (+ Palace ) did wrong elicited the comment "....not of Premiership quality'',not of Premiership quality at all!" [when Damien Francis sliced a snapshot 5 feet over the bar near the end, hear Twaddle - Oh dear, you see what I mean again - not Premiership quality!!! Well, well, well -who was it that cleared the bar by about 5 feet in the 1990 World Cup penalty shoot-out aginst Germany?? Talk about twaddle. The commentator - Murray? - was almost as bad. Definitely not BBC quality and not what we pay our licence fee for. Do better BBC. TO utter frustration. Local cable TV company scheduled to show Man Utd match live, so american Fox coverage blocked out. Then tragedy "unable to bring you this match due to technical difficulties" Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Had to put up with packaged highlights later. Both Sky TV and american analysts fairly complimentary about City''s resolve and late pressure. TO unalloyed joy! Live TV coverage today of Newcastle match. What a splendid, heart warming performance from City with a gutsy and stirring second half fight back!! Also, brave team selection and substitution strategy by Worthy. Ball posession which is so absolutely critical in the Premiership seems to be improving. Congratulations too to the match commentator (?) and comments man (Kenny Samson) who were quite balanced and certainly increasingly impressed and complimentary about City''s performance and potential the longer the match went on. Of the new staff, Charlton looked good, Bentley OK, Jonson looked class when he came on, but I have a hunch that Doherty may prove to be the best of the summer signings over the long term. FINALLY TO Arsenal on Saturday. Again we are getting it live on TV. My cup runneth over! Will Arsenal relax and play a blinder, or will they not be able to get themselves fully up for the match? Give it your best shot City - but don''t worry - whatever happens you have shown everyone that if you do things right through the season that you can really belong back in the Premiership. Worthy. Could you not bring on Leon as a substitute a bit earlier. You might well be very happy if you do!! OTBC