S.A.C Martin

In a modern setting, you could model the proposed 5AT...?

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Alan Curbishley has been their best manager in the last few years, and look at what West Ham did to him - sacking Zola does not surprise me at all. WHU have absolutely no idea how to run a football club. What's needed is stability - this is a manager the players like and get on with - and surely would have done better this coming year. WHU have been quite unlucky in some quarters this year, lots of injuries and dubious match results. To sack Zola now is ridiculous. He's done very well given the club has had such problems on and off the pitch. Overall just another sacking that is unwarranted and harsh in the extreme. I am sure the players will be absolutely gutted.

Hear hear. Feel for me - Charlton fan, at Oldham, 2-0 up, who for fifteen minutes saw a glimmer of hope for going up to the championship... But no matter. Well done to Leeds - they got their bit of luck today, commiserations to the other League One promotion hopefuls, and good luck to them all, as we head for the play-offs... Up the Addicks!

Defoe simply has not proved his worth this year - in comparison to hard working Crouch, Bent and Rooney, he's been very lax throughout the season. If he's on that plane, with fellow underacheiver Walcott, and Darren Bent isn't, I will personally shoot Fabio Capello for making a complete mockery of how the squad is picked, again. Worries for Gareth Barry? Really? He's hardly been amazing this last year. We have midfielders in the form of Scott Parker and Danny Murphy who've performed better overall this season, but for "smaller" clubs. Is it going to be that big a deal if we don't take Gerrard, would be my question...? He's been the most underperforming of all the England regulara in the last five months.

Another delay? Ah well, more time to save up for one then B)

What about 60070? 60070 Definite and full withdrawal as source of spare parts on the cards, surely...

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Charlton 1 - 0 Leeds United ALL to play for on the final day! COME ON YOU REDS :D :D

Three seasons is correct - but down my way in Kent, I know of four referees who've lost booked matches (can't say which leagues, don't ask me) under suspensions, because they've been called out on "booked for diving" There's very little support for referees decisions in the areas where we need it most, I feel. The problem is, with all the video evidence we have now, and the amount of criticism even one poor decision - perhaps giving a goal kick instead of a corner - gets, referees refrain I feel from booking for diving simply on this basis - what if they're wrong? They can't take the chance and risk being suspended for their next match, or shoved further down the league tables.

Justice is sweet I think. He will never, NEVER be able to live that down for as long as he lives. Absolute disgrace to the game. This is why English football is nowhere near as bad as that on the continent for poor refereeing decisions and pure and utter "simulation" (read cheating).

I have to ask how Bobby Zamora is the form man at present? 27 games to score 8 goals doesn't sound like being in form to me... bobby zamora stats 09/10

That is a question I still ask to this day... I wish he hadn't gone to spurs and that Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool had picked him up. He had so much untapped potential at the end of his charlton stint, if he had gone on to any of the above three teams he would have had a manager and a coaching team that could have tapped into that. It's such a shame - I don't doubt that his self belief and Sunderland as a club have helped him to his 24 goals this season, but think what he could have done with a club like United.

Top Scorers in Premier League so far this season That would be why I wouldn't pick him, in my opinion. He's certainly talented but not consistent enough with his scoring. Rooney being out for the rest of the season means Drogba or Bent could overtake for top goalscorer. That's not all competitions mind!

I pretty much agree with everything you've said. Jermain Defoe simply hasn't been up to scratch this year, and moreover he's been injured for the most part to boot. Are they similar players? I'm not sure. There's a subtle difference - work ethics. Darren Bent is always running, absolutely everywhere. I've even seen him put in a few tackles this year More than he did at Charlton, but trust me he more than made up for it with goals!

Every club throughout the football league come to that...only problem is we all want to sell for top money because we haven't got any! Vicious cycle and all that. Chaps, am I the only person on god's green earth that wants Darren Bent to go to the world cup? He's scored some bloody awesome goals this year, and tons of them, and yet unlike every other striker in the league (and some have made worse howlers than him!) the pundits only ever remember his misses... Last world cup when he was the top English Scorer and Walcott got picked over him was a disgrace, and I fear the same may happen again. Why is such a class act player who has a great work ethic, and a fantastic ability for scoring goals come to that, simply overlooked in this way?

Sandhills, that last shot of the cromptons is absolutely incredible! Thank you for posting that - absolutely stunning! I'm trying to work out how you've done it now...

Play offs for the Addicks this year then They played well today but just couldn't get the goals they needed. One of those things sadly. Well done Norwich - champions and deservedly so

Never a waste of time if it looks as true to life as that does in that photograph of yours. Stunning work!

Well done Norwich - I can't say the result reflects the performance, but over the course of the season they've deserved their promotion, every inch of it. Very well done, here's hoping we're still playing you next year!!! B)

:lol: Perhaps if I win the lottery the GCR wouldn't mind hosting my own class 60...? I'd love to get the money to pay off the steam and diesel depots they've planned for the railway, would give them such a boost in terms of visitors.

I think there's a link on the first page of this thread to a class 60 preservation group, Nidge.

Not to chuck rose tinted specs on at every given opportunity, but could a few preservationists have a quick mosey around to save a few worthy examples before we condemn 90 out of 100 relatively work out, but useful locomotives? Personally I'd like dibs on 60066... What's struck me about this thread on the class 60s is that no one has had a single bad thing to say about this class other than that they've been badly abused for the last decade and probably more. Where other classes had TLC, this class didn't and for the most part they still keep going. Why if they are so useful (despite, granted, engine failures) have they not been looked after for long term use? I don't ask, to imply there's a conspiracy or similar, just genuinely interested why this class which no one really says a bad thing about haven't been much loved supposedly by their operating companies.

I'm watching this topic with great interest - some fab work you are doing there. With regards the pieces for the bogie as presented above, did you design them to come off a sprue in this way? If so that's a great idea, allowing more pieces to be made in the process.

I am absolutely shredding my fingernails right now - Charlton play Norwich tomorrow, I have a ticket, and I am hoping for a win, obviously...but the whole league could be blown open if both Charlton and Millwall win, putting them right up with Leeds and Norwich going into the last few matches...anyone could win league 1 from first to fifth if results go their way. Like I said, nail biting!

With regards the points deduction - the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/23/portsmouth-administration-points-deduction claims 20 points next season, but having read the rules I find it would in all likelihood be just a 10 point deduction for Pompey next season, if it is applied. Pompey's current story has echoes of a lot of clubs in recent financial crisis - the big difference is the choice of trophy to win!

Portsmouth FC. A club in heavy debt, has changed hands four times this season, came close to folding, is in administration, fails to pay its staff four times, and then is forced to make fifty of them redundant, they’ve just been relegated from the top flight, will start the next season on minus ten points... …and they beat Spurs 2-0 in added time to make it to the FA Cup Final. It's a funny old game and then some! Well done to Pompey - not only did they beat a club who stripped them of their best players and their manager, but they proved beyond reasonable doubt that money doesn't buy wins in football - heart does.