Del

Whats wrong with Allardyce ? He's taken West Ham up to 2nd and should get them up. Maybe he doesn't encourage pretty football but this is a results game. Hammers fans will love him if they get promotion and stay in the Premier League.

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)?

Autocar magazine had one on long-term test and were very impressed.

Perhaps the Government should go further with their leglation re- 'no win, no fee' claims handling companies and injury lawyers and ban all television advertising so as to try and reverse the cursed 'compensation culture'. it just might save us all some money on our motor/home etc insurance in the future.

If I suffer an injury or loss from someone else's negligence and lose salary or have medical bills to pay, why shouldn't the person at fault pay? And why should I have to pay the costs for any legal action if I'm not at fault?

I wanted Academy director Tony Carr for the manager's job at West Ham, this was a perfect opportunity to get us back to our roots, playing proper football. If not him, then Hughton was my second choice.

Allardyce is completely wrong for us. He's been brought in to do a job, and that's get back to the Prem ASAP, because the Daves are panicking about a half-empty Olympic Stadium.

Unfortunately, this seems to be by bringing in a 'win-at-all-costs-and-screw-your heritage-and-tradition' mentality. Now, he has said:

"I know there will be West Ham fans asking whether I'm going to abandon the style of play that's been the club's heritage over the years. All I'll say is it will be a tale of home and away.

"At Upton Park we'll attempt to play the kind of passing game the fans want. We will aim to continue in the same way on our travels but we'll also be tough, hard to beat and utterly resilient."

But I'm not holding my breath.

West Ham beat Man United 4-0, whereas Barcelona could only manage 3-1. Therefore, we're better than Barca

"Waterloo Sunset" is in my all-time favourite songs and I did consider playing it, but logistical problems prevailed - it would have been a lot of bother bringing my Ipod dock to the show!

I had my iPod in my bag with it on, all we'd have needed was some speakers. Shame to be wise after the event...

But we did have Lloyd humming it

I can tell you that Colin has very generously passed this extension board with the factory and branch onto me, minus the vehicles and figures. It's now sat on top of two bookcases in my spare room/den, with a class 33 on the Up line and an HBA in the abandoned neck. It looks a lot bigger in there than in a big exhibition hall!

Not sure how I'm going to develop it yet, especially as it looks like we might be moving in a year or so and I'm hoping any possible new den will be a bit bigger!

I'm tempted to have a go at the platform end of one of the London terminii in 4mm...

Specifically, these shots of...

Broad Street

http://www.disused-s...t/index65.shtml

http://www.disused-s...t/index14.shtml

So a station forecourt, with associated bus stops, shops, taxi rank etc, where the only railway item is the station itself, would be OK?

From the club website:

The club can confirm that Avram Grant is no longer the manager of West Ham United. First-team coach Kevin Keen will take charge of the team for the final home match of the season against Sunderland on Sunday 22 May.

Personally, I'd like to see Hughton. He's a local lad, played for us for a while, knows what's needed to get out of that league.

I was willing to give Grant the benefit of the doubt, depending on how he spent in January, and come the end of the window, I was hopeful, especially with performances like the home games against Liverpool and Stoke.

But it looks like he doesn't know how to motivate a team, or make important tactical changes, and it's that, as well as general poor performances from too many players, that have cost us.

I'd be very surprised (but delighted) if Parker and Green stayed. I don't think Parker will go to Spurs, not sure they need him or that he'd want to.Cole *might* stay but to be honest, I don't really care. The players I want to stay are the lads like Collison and Tomkins, who are hungry for it.

He is bang (pardon the pun) out of order. Even if it was accidental (which I doubt), you would at least see if the lino was all right and help them up, even if it was a bloke!

The West Ham case was dealt under the rules of the Premier League, so there is no precedent in the Football League. The case was not that Tevez was owned by a third party but that a third party had influence over team matters (by unilaterally allowing Tevez to be sold if they wished, without West Ham's agreement).

West Ham were told that this was not permitted and this agreement must be removed. However, they did not do so, but told the FA that they had. This is what West Ham were guilty of.

However, the rules have now been changes and as I understand it, there is now no third-party ownership permitted in any of the English leagues.

I personally feel that Terry isn't actually that good a defender, and if we had a stronger set of centre-backs, he wouldn't be a first-choice. If everyone is fit and available, I can't see past Rio and Ledley King, then Woodgate and then Terry.

'But he throws himself in there, puts himself on the line!' everyone says. And why? Because a lot of the time, he's lost the attacker or got caught out of position or been turned and has to recover.

Genuinely good defenders don't get in that position in the first place.

Having seen the Ratio signal control it in the latest Model Rail, I wondered if it could be used to control points. But then I found out they do a different point control kit.

It's very cheap (less than £3 per unit) and seems very simple to build and use. But is it quite robust?

Has anyone got any experiences of it, whether good or bad?

I see on the old RMWeb that smudgeloco was going to investigate it...

Minories - when I first became seriously interested in modelling, all I could see were BLTs. But I had no experience of them, and I wanted to model something urban. And then I saw Minories in a planbook and went 'that's it!'

Hedges Hill Cutting - I've always had an interest in SR 3rd-rail land, and seeing EMUs so well modelled in such a small space, made me think 'I could do that.' Still haven't, mind...

Fisher Street to Victoria Bridge - April 1985 Railway Modeller. A 7'6" x 7'6" L-shaped layout, with Woodhead electrics and diesels, set in industrial Sourh Yorkshire. I still cannot work out how it all fitted in that space but I still want to try.

The Olympic Stadium could be a hideous mistake, or it could be the best thing any club has ever done. I'm hoping it's the latter!

I'm still undecided but am leaning to being more pro than anti. Unfortunately, we can't really make any informed decisions until we see some detailed plans or designs. I've already emailed the club and asked to be listed for any upcoming Olympic Stadium tours, which they are hoping to sort out in the next couple of months.

I must admit at half-time yesterday, I was beginning to get pig-sick of this season. I've bean a glass half-full kind guy all season, but the glass was rapidly emptying! *If* we can continue that kind of performance, we'll be OK. But I've been saying that after a few games e.g. Spurs, Wolves, Man Utd in the CC...

A colleague of mine plays for Hoddesdon...

And for those interested, it appears that West Ham will be in pole position to take over the Olympic Stadium:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12412739

West Ham have won the backing of Olympic bosses in the battle for the 2012 stadium, BBC London has learned.

 

Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) executives have decided the offer from the club is a better solution than the rival bid from Tottenham.

 

The OPLC board will be asked to support the view and announce the Hammers as preferred bidder on Friday.

 

The government and London's mayor, Boris Johnson will then take a final decision in the coming weeks.

 

Whilst wandering around the Dartford show, I found a trader with various turned metal chimneys at £2 a go, so I selected a couple of likely candidates.

Both look like they will suit, just a question now of which one I like the look of most.