Wasn't posting as an excuse I think it's interesting, but coming from a fan of the club that had taxpayers fund a new stadium and then got to move in for basically nothing, pleading poverty doesn't win you sympathy.

Also (sorry if I missed it) but what's your thoughts on Big Sam and his 'West Ham way' comments? Don't you see this expectation that your fans have built up to the point they were booing their team even during victories as a huge millstone around your neck? You should be happy to be Stoke/Swansea which is exactly where Allardyce would have got you now instead your back in the same old relegation/promotion yo-yo team fight.

Per Mertesacker is set to miss Arsenal's game vs. Newcastle (illness). Laurent Koscielny is a doubt (back).

Ducksauce in genuinely interesting post shocker, more at ten...

Really good stuff sir, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and hope you will keep producing similar throughout the season.

good stuff indeed, thanks ds

How can anybody say any set of fans are more deluded than Newcastle's?

I know a few of them and even when they were favourites to get relegated they believed wholeheartedly that they were a top 4 team that was 2 world class players away from being champions.

I'm not pleading poverty (although Gold/Sullivan/Brady are), I'm stating an opinion. If you want to blame someone for building a stadium, outright rejecting a football club as someone that might use it beforehand and then seeing that an annual diamond league meeting wouldn't be enough to pay the bills afterwards is hardly West Ham United's fault. Nobody forced the LLDC to do that deal, indeed I wish they hadn't, however it was the best (i.e. least worst) on offer. Is the RFU going to get any of the blame for the stadium disaster, since they're using it too?

His West Ham way comments were spot on. It's interesting that now he's gone the board are basically naked (and coming in for all sorts of stick) because him and Nolan (who is supposedly having his contract torn up today) acted as a useful lightning rod and detracted from all their failings. The truth is we've played no more or less good or bad football than anyone else in my time as a supporter. He went a little far at times (I didn't see much "winning football" from us in the second half of last season. He also suffered from the board building up expectations far above our level of spending.

A part of me would love to see us go down this season. We're basically trying to spend as little as possible whilst going up. I'd love to see businesswoman of the year lighting the fireworks for the opening game against Preston.

**************************

Also, I like Sunderland fans. There, I've said it.

Liverpool FC ‏@LFC 2m2 minutes ago

#LFC can confirm that Mario Balotelli has agreed a season-long loan switch to @acmilan

Very good post DuckSauce

However, if you want to create interactive visualizations that don't look like they were made on windows XP, I'd suggest looking into JSON, d3.js, leaflet.js, open refine, Yeoman and a host of very easy to use programming tools on github. The above are mandatory if you want create good visualizations and if your data is going to get messy and grow in volume.

lolotelli

Thought it was worth re-posting the 'Open Letter to Mario' that a RAWK Plop fan wrote upon his arrival last summer:

...

What the ****?

lol

I'll be fair to the plop fan that retweeted that so that I saw it, it almost made up for the Lucas bollocks I read yesterday.

Lol. Was it Ravel who wanted that projector from a club? Bet some funny stuff goes on that we never hear.

Haven't you been saying that Pool are title contenders? I'd keep quiet on the delusional front if I were you dude.

I think that was only if we signed Barata.

Balotelli always admitted at a team bonding session in like dec/jan that he didn't know who Joe Allen was.

It was. There is a set of fans at our place that think that Rav was ace and it was all Allardyce's fault and that we should have signed Balotelli (Mario was only **** because Brent didn't put an arm around his shoulder).

We could fill the team with ****s like that and dispense with the need for training altogether.

There was a quality story from back in the day at West Ham that Alvin Martin told. I'll stick it up here later when I've got more time.

bolt gatlin in the 200 in about an hour

Bolt gonna smoke everyone again

Let's hope the evil loses again. Oh I am sorry Mister Doping, I didn't even want an interview with you douche.

That Balo story is pure quality.

Now that we have an excellent DuckSauce MODEL post I can't be the only one wishing the return of the Bobbo POWER RANKINGS

i pm'd bobbo pre-season asking for a return of the bpr but didnt get a response

So here it is. In 1984 West Ham embarked on a pre-season tour of Japan. On the last night the team were out drinking, when one of the players said that he hadn't bought his missus anything and was likely to be in the doghouse as a result. The other players then realised that they were in a similar situation. Someone then said that the hotel's dressing gowns were expensive-looking kimonos, and that they'd make an ideal gift - so the next morning, everyone packed, and everyone took one of the kimonos - problem solved.

With the bus parked outside, complete with luggage and all the players/staff, it was ready to depart. At this point the hotel manager comes running out of the door, waving his hands and shouting. John Lyall, the club manager, got off the bus to speak to him. The manager said that all of the kimonos had been taken from the player's rooms.

Lyall called the club captain and vice-captain off the bus and explained the situation. He said that he wanted them to deal with it, and wasn't impressed that whoever had done this had put a black mark against the name of the club. The problem for Martin and Gale was that they had the kimonos as well.

Martin and Gale headed back onto the coach and Martin handed out a bollocking, telling all the players to get their cases out and return the kimonos. They then sat on the bus, attempting to stifle their laughter, whilst the rest of the squad were outside depositing a huge pile of robes on the pavement, whilst John Lyall looked on with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

It was funny when he told it, anyway.

And speaking of drug cheats, Ohuruogu up at 1:40 for "Team GB".