I was trying and failing to make two points: generally it is the London clubs that tend to have the coloured players perhaps because of demographics and secondly, as Mark said as he tried to rescue me, there’s been a steady succession of coloured forwards at Wigan including, of course, Emile Heskey, which is slightly unusual if you compare them say, to local PL rivals like Man Utd.

Might have been an interesting topic, if I hadn’t made a complete hash of it.

that is hilarious about karen brady giving out handbags/gift bags to fifa members’ wives. but if she is going to be the ‘driving’ force behind england’s wc2018 bid, i hope she wont be too reckless. (there’s a subtle sexist joke for you).

pompey’s situation is getting ridiculous, it’s hard to keep track of what exactly is going on. did you see the close-up picture of paul hart’s face on soccernet the other day? best illustration of a long face ever. theyre definitely feeling blue. but the players are playing for the manager, and i am pulling for pompey for that reason. hull city is the opposite, the players have left phil brown i think. and certainly paul duffen has left phil brown, and hull entirely. is this the first time that the ‘kiss of death’ from the chairman has actually felled the chairman himself? (this brings up disturbing images of paul duffen kissing himself…)

i think the carling cup is going to be taken seriously this year, or at least more than normally. city wants a trophy, and will likely only have the carling cup as a realistic chance. same with tottenham.

spitting on the pitch isnt going to relieve swine flu-spreading. The players spit straight onto the pitch, and if they don’t, a sending off is more likely than a saliva-transmitted virus. spitting is natural for footballers, i hardly notice it anymore (unless it is one of those stream-like projections that seem unhuman).

like you chris, my tipping was shocking this week, i think i only got 2 tips correct lol. i knew there would be something to worry about for united at anfield this past weekend. rio might need to be sat for a game or two, for fitness as well as to get him in the right mindframe. vds might have made a mistake on the torres goal, and i think that comes down to him coming back from several weeks off.

city and spurs dropping points to lower teams is evidence that this year is not the year they will be breaking the top 4. city being 2-0 up and then drawing will likely be repeated more this season.

mark, hull came up very quickly, wasnt it like 3 division jumps in 4-5 seasons? they don’t have the established championship money, so i think being out of the prem after this year would financially cripple the club.

hmm, chris, you might be taking the non-pc theme of agoth too far: “what is it with wigan and black forwards?” lol. just kidding, it clearly wasnt meant to be offensive.