canarydan23

Plan B, the case presented to the European Court is between Karen Murphy and the Premier League. Sky are not involved.

In respect of the ruling, a European Commission has advised the European Court to rule in Karen Murphy''s favour (the pub landlord in the case against the Premier League). The court are entitled to ignore the advice, but it is rare that they do and only in exceptional circumstances. Whether pressure from a massive corporation works as "exceptional circumstances" I do not know, but they European Court should rule in Karen Murphy''s favour. The pubs undertaking this offering are essentially relying on the European Court accepting the advice of the commission. The ruling will then be fed into th High Court in England, where the judge will have no choice but to rule in Karen Murphy''s favour and a precedent will be set that will prevent Sky taking any of these pubs to court. If the European Court rules against Murphy, then this will be fed to the High Court in England who will make the practice illegal. I cannot see that happening as it flies in the face of all the free market principles the EU herald. These are principles that even the Iron Lady agreed with. At the moment, there is no precedent so it cannot be said to be illegal. However, we should get clarification within a few months and it is looking more likely that these pubs are in complete compliance with EU law and they will be free to show the games and free to advertise the matches wherever and whenever they so wish. The reason there is no widespread advertisement of it at the moment is that the law has yet to be clarified, so it could be embarrassing spreading the word only for the European Court to rule against Karen Murphy and make the practice illegal.

I didn''t think men had periods.

"Afraid that won''t do, LeJuge." And who the hell are you to say whether it will "do" or not? As far as I can see, LeJuge was highlighting a relevant article regarding one of our former players (and former fan''s favourite) and was actually complimentary of him. He averred that the reason he has not got a contract for next season is not down to fitness or talent, but the fact that he is facing a possible conviction and consequential prison sentence. Therefore in his eyes, he has been rendered "untouchable" in the eyes of clubs looking at recruiting a striker this off season. Now, I''ve never been a football manager, club Chairman or Chief Executive. However, I do not think I''m too far off the money in assuming, as LeJuge seems to have, that they would be somewhat loathe to offer a deal to someone whilst the possibility of a prison sentence looms. It''s got nothing to do with rendering him guilty or innocent. It is simple common sense that a club would await the resolution of the allegations before committing to paying a player for the duration of a contract, when for some part of that contract it is a possibility that he might not be available to play.

I actually think that Lambert''s signings are actually safe rather than a risk. The way I see it, there are 3 scenarios:- 1) The signings are good enough, we stay up. 2) The signings aren''t good enough, we go down, but with a squad of players that were the creme de la creme of Championship players that will ensure we have a big chance at "bouncing", like West Brom 3) Some of the signings are good enough, but we still go down. We have a squad largely good enough for the Championship and the signings that did pay off are sold for a significant profit. Either way, this time next year we will either be in the Premier League or looking like taking the Championship by storm. And in any scenario our finances will be looking exceptionally rosy.

I think you''ve just killed the "unknown to us" side of things. He''s a bit of a Football Manager legend.

If it wasn''t for these fans some people are ignorantly labeling "temporary", "plastic" or "gloryhunters" we would not be looking forward to Premier League football. In the mid-90s, our attendances were regularly around the 14,000 mark. I used to be able to run up and down my row and jump over seats as a pre-teen fan in my block. That block is now full. It wasn''t until the playoff season that it became a rarity not to get over 20,000 fans a game. So from your rationale, around 10,000 of the fans that pack Carrow Road today were "temporary" and "plastic" back at the turn of the millennium. Fortunately, your rationale is stupid. Certainly some of the new fans who will start supporting Norwich will leave if ever the prospect of Arsenal and Man Utd visiting is over, however a significant proportion of them will stay and as a club we have the opportunity to swell out attendances a bit closer to the 30,000 mark for the next 5-10 years. Call them plastic. Call them gloryhunters. If you want Norwich to progress and become an established Premier League club and have ticket sales that can support this, you can also call them imperative. Alternatively, label them as pointless and pathetic and enjoy being a perennial Championship club. I suppose that must be what the "real" and "loyal" fans are supposed to want is it?

Have you noticed you are a laughing stock inside the Norwich bubble?

You have an interesting interpretation of remorse zak123. He initially denied the charges, calling his victim a liar, boasted to his peers that she was "asking for it" and then even suggested he might appeal after being convicted. Yes, he was very remorseful. I for one would love to give him a smack. Also, I saw him outside the casino at the Ricoh Arena in December. His missus is dog rough.

Potentially significant. Do BBC reckon there will be something riding on the QPR game?

The rest of the games might not matter if we lose tonight. If he feels he can play, play him.

You notice Mark Rivers?! Eadie has a bit of a giggle with him after he comes on. Both wingers, but that''s about all they had in common. In terms of class and ability they are worlds apart.

114, which I was pretty pleased with. Missed two absolute sitters. Not that I want to spoil it for anyone else, but having forgotten about Darel Russell and Jason Shackell, I was somehow able to get a certain left-back who played a handful of games on loan from Everton a few seasons back.

He was not eligible to play for England because he had been capped for Wales. He that never have happened, he would have been eligible to play for England. I believe he was also eligible to play for Sierra Leone as well, had he wished.

We will not take 3,000 fans to Portsmouth on a Monday night when the game is on Sky. We''ll get close, but anyone who wants a ticket, whether you have 10 away stubs, 100 away stubs, no away stubs, a Swansea away stub or an Ipswich Town season ticket, will get a ticket. The club are offering cheap travel to Swansea. Good on em. Stop moaning.

That''s interesting. I still think he looked like an official well, well out of his depth yesterday and I would be interested to know how regularly he officiates professional football games or whether he''s a regular at non-league fixtures. He may have just been having an off-day but the amount that he missed was unforgivable. Maybe referees are adopting a similar approach to most Premiership and Championship managers and players, it''s only the FA Cup, not worth putting any effort in. Shame.

I''m not in anyway blaming the ref for the defeat, we were woeful today and deserved to be beaten, however, the referee was atrocious today. Does anyone know his background? I only ask because all the officials today had different badges on their shirts. Given his shocking inability to officiate the game, I imagine it is some sort of non-league insignia to denote the level I imagine he must normally referee at. He missed a blatant penalty when a Leyton Orient player slid to the ball and controlled it with his hand, and there were about half a dozen more handballs in the game, 3 of which by our own Barnett, that he did not see. He let so much go, his positioning was shocking and he just seemed afraid of his whistle.

I was at the game. I know a very rich Coventry fan and had the good fortune of getting a free ticket in the box he was offered for the game. However, that meant I had the bad fortunte of sitting among the Sky Blue faithful.Before I tear into you, I want to agree with you on the point about Coventry as a city. It has an extremely rich and interesting history and anyone who calls it a dull city clearly hasn''t made much of an effort because there is actually a lot to do and anyone with the most fleeting interest in modern history cannot fail to find it anything other than interesting.However, your view on the game is as incorrect as your defence of Coventry the city was right. I have never read such a hypocritical post and never sat among such a whiney, blinkered set of moaners.The forearm to the face comment, I presume you were referring to I think it was Lansbury''s rash lash out on one of your guys. You conveniently fail to mention that this was preceded by Holt being floored by an arm to the face. Furthermore, I saw one of the most pathetic going to grounds I have seen in 20 years of watching football when your man with 19 on the back threw himself to the floor after a 50/50 shoulder challenge.The funniest part of it all was when at 1-1 and you substitued Clive Platt, two of your players were shouting at him, telling him to walk to the far corner, away from the dugout, to waste time. And then when Korey Smith chose to walk off when he was substitued at 2-1 to us, your fans went nuts and starting spitting out all kinds of bile. It was a good job I had access to a toilet in the box, because I''d imagine the normal bogs were full of people changing their tampons.Sat in the box, I also had the chance to see the stand-up comedian that is Doyle. As Coventry''s man of the match, he had to do an interview. I''ve never seen such a bitter, biased, sore loser. I guess the twisted look on his face was as a result of munching on sour grapes.And as for us not creating anything, were it not for 2 or 3 world class saves from Westwood, the score would have been four or five one, which would have been a much fairer reflection of the game. The kit man must have been delighted because he won''t need to worry about washing Ruddy''s kit or gloves, he had sod all to do all game.

I''d be happy with just referees old enough to be ex-pro footballers.

I''m sure I''m not alone in being disappointed by Robins yesterday. As a 24 year old, he was one of our top players when I was starting to fall for Norwich and football so he has always been one of my favourite players. I was also really p***ed off when we didn''t appoint him every time we''ve changed a manager since Worthington. After Worthy, I wanted Robins. After Grant, I wanted Robins. After Roeder, I wanted Robins. Thank f**k the board don''t think like I do. His team yesterday were a bunch of cynical cheaters. They went down under EVERY challenge and rolled around for a good few minutes. They were timewasting and trying to con the ref at every opportunity. Most teams have the odd player or two that do this, but in the case of Barnsley yesterday, it was patently something that had been drilled into them by the coaching staff, much like the way Porto cheated their way to the UEFA Cup under Mourinho. I would hate to support a team like that and Mark Robins has gone from being one of my top ten favourite players and someone who I was desperate to manage Norwich in the near future to someone who I think, quite frankly, is a bit of a d*ck. And to top it off, his, "we didn''t deserve to lose, it''s the refs fault". What a bellend.

I''m not sure what I''m more pleased about, a quality signing who will be a fantastic addition to our side, or the fact that some of the w@nkers on here have been made to look right tits! One of my mates is a Southampton fan and I didn''t know what he was talking about when I got a text saying, "He''s a legend. Quality signing. You''ve done well there, he''ll be class for you." I check out the Pinkun and bam, we''ve signed Surman. And then I read this thread. They say it happens in three''s. Although I spose the 3rd thing could be that TIL seems to have stopped using a bold font for his posts. Now just to get rid of the italics.

He said, "I''m sure the Germans were overjoyed at Hitler''s early successes, but I wouldn''t want to label your two clowns in the same category as Hitler and the Nazis. That would be unfair on our European neighbours." Want an ignorant, odious piece of filth. And which "European neighbours" would he be referring to? Presumably Germany, however, last time I checked, they were not Nazis and generally don''t get offended when other non-nationals use Hitler as an insult. Or is he suggesting perhaps they are proud of their Nazi history and do not want people to use Hitler as a tool of degredation? Because if that is the case, to coin an overly used phrase on these here forums, "that is racist". Or very offensive at least. I''d love to meet Robbie Cowling down the pub.

Jimmy Bone is the best name! How about Robert Rosario?

We could get 10 Carl Robinsons for that.

The hugging random fans thing does still occasionally happen. I remember at Coventry a few seasons back when McVeigh scored a last minute equaliser, I was sat at the end of a row and was grabbed by loads of total strangers. I ended about 4 rows further down and on the other side of the stairs when everything eventually died down. Good times.