Del

Going back to West Ham v Stoke, it's not new. When we played at the Britannia two seasons ago, there were blatant fouls for both Stoke goals. For the first, Jon Walters blocked off Matt Upson, much as Charlie Adam did on Monday, to give Huth a free header. For the second, West Ham had a defensive wall lined up, and from behind the wall Huth grabbed Hitzlsperger around the waist, pulled him out of the wall and left a massive gap for Higginbotham to shoot through. It's like all the holding and blocking that goes on at corners now, it's almost never blown for.

Glad I'm not the only one that thought that!

First visit of the season to The Old Spotted Dog, to see Clapton v Stansted in the Essex Senior League. Clapton were battered for the first ten minutes, but dominated after that, scoring after fifteen minutes and having two more good chances before the break. Stansted scored two minutes after half-time, when a free-kick eluded everyone and found the bottom corner, but Clapton recovered, having one goal disallowed, a header off the bar and a scrambled chance cleared off the line. They couldn't covert the chances though, and it ended as a 1-1 draw. However, the most interesting aspect of the day was the presence of Mr. David Gold, the co-chairman of The Tons' more illustrious neighbours from E13. He was happy to talk to supporters, sign autographs and seems to be a very nice chap. Shorter than I thought, mind

Steve Kean has resigned from Blackburn Rovers, saying that his position was 'untenable'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19766783

As someone whose club has had the 'privilege' of Redknapp's management, I'd take issue with the notion that he is a good man-manager. Even at Spurs, look at how he handled Darren Bent, with his 'My missus could have scored that one' comment. Or Benjani at Portsmouth: 'After shooting practise yesterday, I had to drive up the M27 and collect four balls'. AVB won't have to put up with the same inflated egos as he had at Chelsea. I just wish I'd had the courage of my convictions and put a bet on him getting the job, he was my suggestion from the beginning!

If I were Levy, I'd be looking at Villas-Boas.

I always thought my next door neighbours were Bulgarian, but judging by the noise last night, I guess I was mistaken

You may be pleasantly surprised. Beat Watford 4-0, Forest 4-1, Blackpool 4-0 and 4-1, Cardiff 2-0, 2-0 and 3-0, Barnsley 4-0, Brighton 6-0, Yes, some of the performances haven't been the best (but neither have some of those of Man City, Chelsea, Man United, or Newcastle) but some have been fantastic, Brighton, Barnsley and Blackpool were absolutely destroyed. I wasn't happy when he was appointed but he's proved me wrong. Still, I wouldn't shed any tears if he were to leave

The Champions League came into being in 1993, and at that time, the Double had only been done five times (two of those in the 19th Century). So FA Cup runners-up only got into the ECWC three times. Of course, that may well have been very different in other countries.

From the FIFA website: I certainly don't think the Villa player was careless, reckless or used excessive force. Young put his right foot into the Villa player, then made sure his left leg clipped the Villa player's outstretched leg.

Football, eh? Bloody hell... West Ham go back to the top of The Championship, in the most unbelievable way. Dominating the first half, they go 2-0 up, before Blackpool pull one back on the stroke of half-time. Early in the second half, Robert Green is sent off, and with no 'keeper on the bench, Henri Lansbury, a midfielder, goes in goal. Yet, with ten men and an outfield player between the sticks, not only do West Ham hold on, they score two more, and run out 4-1 winners. Stunned is not the word!

I think I've only ever heard two, both of which have been mentioned, The Who Live At Leeds and Depeche Mode 101. There's a live album from The Jam, 'Dig The New Breed', which I keep meaning to track down...

It looks like he's going to Doncaster...

If I wanted success, I wouldn't support West Ham Now I will admit, we hadn't played brilliantly the last few seasons but there were flashes of it (beating Liverpool 3-1, Stoke 3-1, Manchester United 4-0). But I fear that it'll be a long time until we see it again, unless we are lucky to come across a team who just don't perform on the day (Ian Holloway admitted Blackpool didn't turn up a fortnight ago).

I can sort of understand the owners motivation, but they are supposedly lifelong West Ham supporters who should recognise the traditions of the club. Zola kept the team up and he had the start of a good squad. But they chucked him out and replaced him with the (mostly) ineffective Grant. Should never have got rid of Pardew

And that's the problem. He's completely the wrong fit for West Ham unless you buy into the 'promotion at all costs' mantra, which the board have admitted is not necessary, as their business model for the Olympic Stadium still works if West Ham are in the Championship. I know a lot of older fans who are very unhappy with the style of football they are seeing and don't reckon it'll improve, even if we get back to the Prem. Now he's taken El-Hadji Diouf on trial. A poll on the leading fan's website says 80% fans are against him being signed.

You can have Sam Allardyce as far as I'm concerned.

I haven't read through the whole thread (just the last few pages) but it seems that there is no way a VEP will run around first-radius curves, even at low speed? Feedback seems to indicate Bachmann's CEPs and EPBs have no problem.

A single tuner should do that. As you say, a twin tuner will record two things at once. I have Virgin+ with a triple tuner, and can record two things while watching a third (either live or already recorded). Just about the only thing I can't do is watch something while I'm copying it to a DVD.

I happened to see 'Heir Hunters' the other morning on BBC1. A chap gets into a Honda Civic, and he's then sat behind a steering wheel with a Ford logo, and lo and behold, he gets out of a Focus...

If you want go totally left-field how about a literary detective, who works *inside* books? I'm talking about the series featuring Thursday Next, written by Jasper Fforde.

Brookmyre is *brilliant*. What about Peter Robinson and Mark Billingham (Sleepyhead is especially good)?