Drochit Blue

we restricted to Scots? Paul Dickov Paul Ritchie...both ex-Man City players Gavin Hamilton...Cricket captain, used to play football with him Fish..ex-Marillion front man.....a great bloke, spent hours in the pub in Bradford after a show just chatting Sandy Gall...ex-newsreader from years ago and is also my uncle ! Eddie Gray & Peter Lorimar...at Lorimar's pub in Leeds Jim Kerr

there was a bit of history between Roy Keane and Alfie Haaland. In a game between Utd and Leeds (when Alfie played for Leeds) Keane tried to foul Alfie but tore his cruciate ligament. As he lay on the ground in agony Alfie shouted in his face that he was faking injury to avoid a red card. Later after Alfie signed for City, they were the respective captains lined up in the tunnel before a Manchester derby at Maine Road, and Alfie turned to Roy and said 'Alright Roy, how's the knee....?'. This obvious wind-up led to the tackle in the derby at Old Trafford. I was introduced to Paul Dickov by a mutual mate after that game in the players lounge. He told me that after Keane kicked Alfie he made a point of standing over him and shouting 'that's for calling me a cheat you c##t'.

I was at that game ! Sat amongst the Utd fans...nearly got myself beaten up for suggesting it was a foul. Unbelievably some there thought it was a fair tackle. Amazing what tinted specs can do

bad..but as bad as this one? Schumacher on Battiston Battiston was clear through the German defence racing towards goal. The German goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, raced towards Battiston as the Frenchman took the shot, missing the goal. Schumacher leapt into the air, twisting his body and colliding with Battiston. In the process Schumacher's hip hit the Frenchman's face. Battiston, clattered, fell to the ground unconscious, with damaged vertebrae and teeth knocked out, later slipping into a coma. Emergency medics had to administer oxygen on the pitch. Michel Platini later said that he thought that Battiston was dead, because "he had no pulse and looked pale". The referee did not give a foul, let alone send Schumacher off. Schumacher then proceeded to take the goal-kick and play resumed. After winning the game, the goalkeeper caused more controversy when he was told that Battiston had lost three teeth, and replied: "If that's all that's wrong with him, I'll pay him the crowns."

and in other news toady...'Russian luxury yachts offer pirate hunting cruises' Ananova reports that luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast. Wealthy punters pay ?3,500 (US$5,800) per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders. When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt. Passengers, who can pay an extra ?5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and ?7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops. The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya. The ships deliberately cruise close to the coast at a speed of just five nautical miles in an attempt to attract the interest of pirates.

......20 years as IT Manager running a helpdesk, try these...all true 1) Director: the coffee holder in my PC is stuck Me: what coffee holder? Director: the one that slides out the front Me: that's the cd drive for fucks sake! 2) Secretary: my office is on fire Me: well that's nothing to do with IT, evacuate then Secretary: well ot's really only the phone socket that's on fire, I put my shopping bag down next to it and some wshing up liquid spilt onto the socket 3) Director, 4pm on a Friday: can you set up a global email system to cover the new office in Philadelphia? Me: sure, when do you need it by? Director: Monday morning... 4) Secretary: my monitor has gone a funny colour Me: have you stuck fridge magnets to the monitor case...again? Secretary: ...yes! 5) Director: I want to copy then print a letter I've received in the post today Me (annoyed): hold it up to the monitor and press 'print' Director: done that , nothing is happening ....and for now the last....2 staff who both finished on a Friday for holidays forwarded their mails to each other while they were away. By Monday morning 15,000 emails had bounced between the 2 mail accounts and crashed the network Bring self-employed now is SO much better

1..0 so far against the evil empire <rubs hands>

cheers...all worth trying I know someone who lives on the outskirts of Dingwall who is getting only 0.25Mbps ! [yes, apparently they do now have electricity out there]

I run an I.T Support business and have an increasing number of calls from customers who live in slightly remote parts of the region and are suffering from the terrible broadband service. Typically they are 6 or more miles from the nearest exchange, and lose broadband connections during busy (business) hours, say 9am to 6pm. I'm 'talking to/having a go at' BT about this, and wondered if anyone else who has similar problems would contact me so that I can have some serious numbers to throw at BT. I'm not doing this to make money in this instance.....just trying to get a critical mass so BT will listen. Most of us don't get anywhere near the broadband speeds we expect and I don't want suppliers to get away with it. Due to the distance from most markets businesses around here need broadband more than ever. All I need are locations where the problem exists. I can be contacted by private msg on here Thanks Gavin

If he was the right man for the job in May (and he was cos they kept him on), one result (ok a bad one) has changed that view?? Norwich City directors have just wasted the entire summer, pre-season and transfer window by getting it wrong I like the club but they deserve all they get

why is there an ad for Just Eat, when their website only has one takeaway registered in Inverness? just wondered

cheers it was an obvious bet (and I don't bet on anything usually). He was a class apart, even at 15. Mind you if I'd bet on every youngster who made me look an idiot on a pitch I'd have a slip backing roscoe 23 to score for Scotland too......... :P

yes, he's on...get in there! ?200 nice one Capell0 **does a samba round the dog** [i used to play footie with Milner when he was a kid in Leeds, bookie offered me 20-1 against him representing the England national team...not knowing how good he was!]

6-0 please...... :021: Note to Capell 0 : get Milner on and I win ?200 off William Hills.....go on, Johnson and Beckham both need a rest!!!

lose this one and we've no chance.......about time Miller put some goals on the end of all that running. McFadden on when we need to change things round a bit maybe? I'm still not convinced Burley is the man for the job, all I can do is hope...

time will tell....we weren't that bad last year, at least at home. The owners have publically stated that 6th is the target whilst putting together a team that should challenge the top 4. For the first time in 40 years I'm not worried about relegation!

sorry....didn't mean that to sound like a rant.....it's just that I've had it for 12 months from the Sky Big 4 dominated media as well !

ok, what have City (who, I must confess, I have followed as a season ticket holder for nearly 40 years before I came home to Scotland) done...........that other football clubs haven't been doing for years? Regarding Lescott, City put in 2 bids that were rejected, and now the player has asked for a transfer. Nothing illegal there. As for money ruining football.......did you kick up a fuss at Man Utd, Blackburn, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Celtic and Rangers buying success? And that's just the recent UK clubs. If so well done. I agree, it would be great if every club could only play with sqauds they develop, but it has never happened. for the past 100 years clubs have bought players from other clubs. The money today is indeed ridiculous, but if 50,000 people paid to watch you work 'live' + millions on telly you could reasonably ask for extortionate wages. A level playing field would be great but I've never come across one yet in any walk of life. And I should add in defence of the club I spent a small fortune on over the years, in the past 10 years City have had 27 players from their Youth academy play for their first team in the top 2 English divisions. I'd be interested to see anyone show that Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Rangers or Celtic have done the same to develop talent? What City are doing is not affecting Caley, if it makes a foreign league more competitive just sit back and enjoy it

Hang on a minute, though... no, surely not!? They wouldn't be trying to impose their own values and prejudices on other people would they? I mean while they're all safely sheltering in church, they wouldn't be seeking to restrict the freedoms of the rest (and vast majority) of the population who choose not to be? Maybe they should remember that they no longer have the power to compel the public to come and have their ears bashed by dire threats of hell and damnation and to sit at the front on a special stool if they've been bad. The Sunday ferry ban has gone. Next up, grab yourself a bottle of beer on a Sunday morning? well said, I had sunday school forced upon me until the age of 5 when I locked myself in the bog first thing Sunday and refused to come out. I've been a happy heathen ever since, but managed not to break the law or fall about in a drunken state.

the Scotland cricket captain Gavin Hamilton facts: 1) is a Hibs fan 2) was a trialist at Arsenal 3) can't tackle me, I'm way too tricky for him 4) gets his round in no problem that much I know

has just started a Bonsai tree business He's doing so well, he's had to move into smaller premises.... :D how about a thread of terrible jokes?

normally I'd agree, the sight of an over-hyped England team getting gubbed is always the highlight of any football tournament. But James did get me loads of free tickets and into the players lounge at Eastlands

I used to play football with James Milner...honest I've lived all over the UK and until a few years back I'd lived in Leeds for 20 odd years (and before that Dundee, Edinburgh, Manchester and Cambs!) and he used to join in our weekly 5-a-side. Even at 15 you could tell he was a class apart. Mind you I was nearly 40 so had no chance of catching the little ****! We used to put him in goals to even the sides up but once he caught a cross, threw it out to himself and beat 4 men before slamming a goal home...all in about 10 seconds. Those of us who like to think we know what we;re doing on a pitch.....think again, different level altogether. He played one week just using his left peg cos he wanted to improve his weaker foot! He's a nice lad unlike many pro-footballers, so for just this once I hope they win tonight

in the division we're in he should be ok at c-b I don't think he's got the pace for r-b anymore.

home or away? There's a great chippy in Golspie...