Thumper

Walcott going to Liverpool He may play for a team who will never win another trophy, but at least they're not going to be desperately chasing mid-table safety for the foreseeable future. If Huntelaar ends up there that'll serve him right for thinking that he was able to pick and choose when to finally move to the Premier League. Darren Bent (for another hilariously OTT fee) seems the likely one there. Liverpool might actually be able to win the odd game with him.

There will be plenty, plenty of people buying it deadly seriously. Remember who you're dealing with here. This is the fucking best thing I've ever seen.

Hibs aren't permanently 18 months from regaining the Premier League and the European Cup, though. That Duncan Jenkins stuff is absolutely insane. Fitting that Jen Chang looks to be keeping his job. Also sadly telling that "Jenkins" is still a die-hard Liverpool fan even after being threatened with having his own orcish hordes let loose on him.

Like Spurs last season, Liverpool will be wishing they had European action at all this time next year. Much like Wenger's use of the Carling Cup as an opportunity to give the third team some match time, you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.

Rodgers will be fine when he's had a couple of windows to impose his own look on the squad. Adam knew what he was in for in signing for Liverpool, so hell mend him: I'm sure he'll be okay when he's at Wigan or whoever. Anyone stupid enough even to entertain the notion that his nationality has anything to do with his popularity at fucking Liverpool of all places probably belongs on my ignore list along with the original instigator of that notion (who you should all have on ignore already). Liverpool's transition to a second-tier EPL side is now complete. In the course of a long season they'll still end up proving better than the relegation fodder and will likely get the odd scalp from the best teams, but they're as likely to finish in the top four as Carroll is to end up with the Golden Boot. Take a bow King Kenny.

I can sort of understand the Norn Iron types. Who wouldn't want to play for their national team. Black is just a terrible, terrible person.

Did Traynor really issue a statement for the fans to come and get him?

You know we're in dark times when the man speaking the most sense - the man with all the experience needed to give a true perspective on the matter - is Derek Ferguson.

You'd need an elephant gun.

What the f**k is James Traynor doing on the fucking radio, and why is he being permitted to make bold predictions, unchallenged by the rest of these supposed journalists, when he has been wrong about every single event thus far? [edit] Oh God. So it wasn't bad enough that his wishes didn't come through in the first place: now we get subject to an entire season of him stating that this is what should have happened? Kill me. Get him off the fucking air.

Marvin Andrews. (edit: has everyone's favourite homophobic faith healer made any statements to the press regarding a "dream return" yet, by the way?)

Most of their careers have already ended! Although it occasionally happens, it is usually not the case that the lowly webmaster is given exclusive updates before anyone else is.

He's a total glove puppet. Never a neuron fires between his ears and his typing fingers.

^^^^ still howling

Two points. Rangers sold a little under 40,000 season tickets in each of their last few seasons. That was the highest ST sales had been this decade. It is beyond optimistic that Sevco will sell more than that this season, especially going from what is basically a cold start three days before their first fixture. "Only £4.4m" is the difference between what Green would have paid to take the oldco out of administration and what he would pay simply to nab the clothes off of the corpse. It is also near enough to his total outlay. And this is a best-case look at the figures for at least the next three years. Sevco does not have overdraft facilities and thus is not really in a position to absorb £12m debt just to get back to the SPL.

So far as anyone can tell, a thousand or so. They still don't have credit card or direct debit facilities available, and a sizeable portion of the most rabid bit of the fan base has been led to believe that any cash handed over to Charles Green will be donated to the IRA or the Mafia or something by Bomber and Leggatt.

Wasn't that what they were losing in the SPL, with a TV deal, having won the league the previous season? What's more, their plan is to sell seasons for £250 a pop in the Third. Even if they sold 40,000 of them (which they won't: they will be very lucky indeed to get a quarter of that, which would still be ten times what they've sold three days before their first match) that's only ten mil pre-tax.

Kevin Thomson was only on £8k a week back when the oldco actually had money. Maybe they're going to pay him pro rata and take half off for his lack of stereo vision?

Am I right in thinking that at this point it basically boils down to Sevco being told that they're only getting in if they allow the EBTs investigation to result in all of the 2000s-era oldco trophies being annulled? Who exactly do Sevco think they're fucking kidding here? Either there is a club playing football at home at Ibrox next season or there never will be again, as there's no way anyone is going to write off a year's maintenance of the Sevco assets with no income. Green will recoup his investment by sticking the turf and the bricks on eBay.

It's because Chris McLaughlin has proven himself to be an utterly reliable stenographer for anything that gets told to him by a man in a tie. Almost makes you pine for the succulents, who may be bent as a nine bob note but are at least occasionally capable of critical or original thought.

Hiya Derek Acorah, hiya pal.

There are actually a small number of old Wimbledon fans who support MK Dons. It's less clear-cut. What is clearer, though, is that in the case of Rangers "all the accountants and corporate lawyers" would be forced to conclude that Rangers are about to be wound up and that people can wear blue and sing The Sash on the subway as much as they want but it won't be for Rangers any more.

Yes, the Borough of Merton is the custodian for the history of Wimbledon F.C. AFC Wimbledon don't even play in the borough of Merton yet, don't use the Wimbledon trademarks (although they were granted them by the Borough), have a new crest and a new name. Everyone agrees that they are the spiritual successors of Wimbledon F.C. Everyone also agrees that Perfect Dark is the spiritual successor of GoldenEye 64, but that doesn't make mean Joanna Dark is James Bond.

Shiiiiiite. They emphatically don't claim their old history (their memorabilia was eventually donated to the borough of Merton after being prised from Winkleman's hands) and they're not even back in Wimbledon yet. There is a continuation of sorts, but literally everyone knows there's also a big disconnect. Leeds are a special case on accounts of nobody really being able to explain how exactly Papa Smurf pulled it off. They successfully exited administration but in the process abandoned their debts. If playing in similar colours and in a roughly similar geographic location as some old team is all it takes to be the same team, then FC United of Manchester are, in fact, Manchester United. Franchise football is roundly rejected by most British football fans.