Herbie von Smalls

(mike) melia got in touch with me to share this very sad news about Vic. i enjoyed all manner of conversations with him in various states of sobriety and intoxication - online in this forum and in hotmail messenger chats; and in the flesh: dublin, london, amsterdam and liverpool - always in major cities, somehow. shocked and saddened by Vic's premature passing. i tip my hat to his intelligence, wit, generosity, warmth, compassion and capacity to consume copious amounts of 'mood enhancers'. travel well Vic. You'll never walk alone

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i'll be following north queensland fury and the progress of club captain robert bernard fowler. so far, played 2, lost 2 - but god did score a pen. widely tipped as this season's a-league whipping boys. does s***ness come any greater than bottom of the heap of australian football's (only) national league? ... and they are based in the magnificently-named townsville.

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if you 'need' the player and you pay the money, then - by definition - they are 'worth' the outlay.

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his derby debut, when he came on for Gerrard was pretty remarkable, i thought. dictated the game for the 20 minutes or show he was on and was unlucky not to get the goal. he looked a real find. it may take a tweak of the tactics to accommodate him in a natural role, but i reckon Xabi's departure will herald a bit of a shift in the way we play, anyway.

i'd like to think the silver lining of Alonso's departure might be the emergence of Lucas from Xabi's shadow and him asserting his own authority in the centre of midfield

not often i agree (almost) entirely with you, but this time i do. except for kevin davies.

christ. roll on the new season and 1st september.

what, like a gag? ... oh, i see what you mean now.

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i'm in as Dirk Nyelu - BarelyLegalAliens XI