Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Big Spenders West Ham Lead the Way in January Window


In the land of midgets, Ronnie Corbett is a giant, and that's how things should be viewed as we look at our activity in the transfer window so far. People will point to the £18 million Villa have spent on Bent, but forget that the Villains are sitting on a £25million war chest from the sale of Millner. That gives them a £7million profit so far. We can ignore Man City of course, they live in a fantasy world so, outside of the Arab playthings, who has spent any money this window?

Tottenham have landed Pinnear, but they enjoyed a £4million windfall from the sell on clause attached to Bent so are quids in. Sunderland shelled out £3million on Fuller but the rest of the Bent funds are earning interest in the bank. Fuller has been replaced at Stoke by a loan signed from Villa. There's been a lot of talk about who Birmingham are buying, but what has materialised? West Brom are fighting for their Premiership lives but who have they bought? The same applies to Wolves and Wigan. Fulham have bought Sidwell but only after Brady decided we didn't need him.

People moan about Sullivan and Gold, but in a window where clubs have been looking after the pounds, we have brought in three players so far. True two are loanees, but Bridge's wages alone amount to a transfer fee. There may still be one or two more players to come and it looks as if only Behrami is going to be sold. Given the debt and the size of our squad, I think the Davids deserve some credit personally.

28 comments:

  1. The brother of a Harry Potter film actress who assaulted her because her boyfriend was not Muslim has been jailed for six months.

    Manchester Crown Court heard Ashraf Azad launched a "prolonged and nasty" attack on Afshan Azad, who played Padma Patil in the hit films.

    She was punched repeatedly and dragged by her hair after being overheard talking to her Hindu boyfriend.

    Mr Azad, 28, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

    The court previously heard how Miss Azad, 22, was branded a "prostitute" and "slag" and was told: "Marry a Muslim or you die."

    The actress fled the family home in Longsight, south Manchester, through a bedroom window after the attack on 21 May 2010.

    The actress, who now lives in London, had pleaded with the court not to jail her older brother.

    Ashraf Azad pulled his sister's hair and attempted to throttle her in front of their father who said "just kill her" while Ashraf left to find a knife.

    But Judge Roger Thomas QC said there were no good or proper reasons to suspend his sentence of six months.

    "This persistent attack was accompanied by serious and very hurtful abuse and threats," he told the defendant.

    "It must have been a miserable and frightening experience for your sister which, she suggested, lasted for about three hours or so.

    "The background to this offence lies in the concern that you, and perhaps other family members, had about Afshan's relationship with a young man who was not of the Islamic faith."

    He added: "This is a sentence that is designed to punish you for what you did and also to send out a clear message to others that domestic violence involving circumstances such as have arisen here cannot be tolerated."

    The court heard that Miss Azad was in her bedroom, talking on her mobile phone and was overheard by her brother in the bathroom, who assumed she was speaking to her Hindu boyfriend.

    Richard Vardon QC, prosecuting, said Azad confronted his sister who ended the call, hid the phone and sim card and then sat on her bed before the defendant barged in and began shouting at her.

    "He then grabbed her hair and threw her across the room," the prosecutor said.

    "She began crying and asked him to stop. The defendant began punching her with clenched fists to her back and head area."


    "She struggled to breathe and was scared for her life”

    The court was told that her brother's wife, Sonia, who also lived at the house, came into the room and tried to push him away.

    Mr Vardon said the actress was pushed on to her father's bed, with her brother shouting: "Sort your daughter out! She's a slag!"

    Azad then grabbed his sister by the neck and began to throttle her, the court heard.

    Whilst Ashraf attempted to throttle her, their father said "just kill her" while Ashraf left to find a knife.

    "She struggled to breathe and was scared for her life," Mr Vardon added.

    The victim's mother and sister-in-law then entered the bedroom as the family discussed what to do with her, the court was told.

    Mr Vardon said her father, Abul, 53, suggested sending her back to Bangladesh for an arranged marriage, while her mother called her a "prostitute".

    Miss Azad's father sent her to bed, but she fled the house the next day.

    Miss Azad's character, a witch in the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts, first appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire.

    She also features in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final film of the saga, which is being released in two parts.

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  2. Birmingham were going out of business and they turned them into a successful football club. There were no other viable takers for West Ham but they took us on and saved us from bankruptcy. How ever they made their money from soft porn and property so they can't be any good in a lot of peoples minds. Perhaps if we had got a chairman who made his money out of dodgy pension funds, drugs or betting addicts that would have been ok.

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  3. As it so happens, you are right.
    "On this occasion"
    COYI
    Mick in Afghanistan.

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  4. Russian media have expressed outrage over the bomb blast that killed 35 people on Monday at Moscow's busiest airport, Domodedovo. But there is also widespread irritation with the authorities, because the bomber got through.

    It is suggested Islamists from the southern Russian republics - the scene of regular security sweeps by government forces - are to blame. Others accuse the security services of failing to do their job.

    Several dailies point out the significance of social media as a source of information on the blast. There has been intense soul-searching among bloggers, who question Russia's tactics in the fight against the bombers.

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  5. Cheers Mick. Keep your head down mate and come home safe. Best wishes to you and all the other heroes out there with you.

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  6. 1028, not sure how that is relevant to anything on this thread!

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  7. A SKINT factory worker has been dubbed Australia's most honest man — after he returned £30,000 he found on a train.

    Ghazl Adra said that although the money would have changed his life, his Muslim faith would not have allowed him to keep the cash.

    The 68-year-old instead handed the bundles of 100 US dollar notes in to local police in Mount Druitt, west Sydney.

    The police traced the rightful owner, who was on her way to change the money into local currency and was legitimately in possession of the cash.

    Kind-hearted Ghazl — who dreams of winning the lottery so he can take his wife on holiday — said: "I am happy the lady got her money back."

    The worker — who earns less in a year than the money he found — added: "A thank you is all I needed as a reward."

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  8. Shame on you HF for posting these messages - we already know which way you lean politically at this just shows you for the bigot that we already know you are.

    Just because one Muslim tries to kill his sister, while being egged on my his father and mother it doesn't mean to say that all Muslims treat their women fold this way.

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  9. The positives for ussigning Diouf.

    1) He is available on a free transfer.

    2) He is fit and has not missed many games in his last few seasons at Blackburn Sunderland or Bolton because of injury.

    3) He has over 8 seasons of Premier League experience under his belt.

    4) He is versatile.

    5) He is a life long hammers fan.

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  10. I think you will find that the post made at 19.18 presents Muslims in a positive light.

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  11. Where on earth does it say in the article that all Muslim men do the same? Not sure though why they are being posted, presumably to be provocative, and I guess you've bitten. The last Muslim chappy balances things a bit with his honesty, but not sure it makes up for the suicide bomber, which again does not say all Muslim ladies do the same.

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  12. To be fair, neither of the negative posts carry personal opinions, they are cut and paste news items aren't they? They are a carry over from a debate on another thread. I do make the point that they are not relevant to this thread at 1028. I do agree that at no point is there a suggestion that all Muslims behave in this way. If there was, I certainly would not carry the posts. I assume all right minded Muslims would condemn both the terrorist act and the attack on Ashraf.

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  13. You can give the davids credit if you want, I don't. If they'd dug in deep in the summer we mightn't have been in this mess we are now. However, the prospect of not getting the Olympic stadium, and the very real threat of relegation, plus the fact that their buddy Avram is still in charge probably has them sh1tting hot bricks.

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  14. 21:22 not sure you're going to get it

    22:05 yeah you can just imagine!

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  15. Thank you 20:44. Finally, a decent human being. I was beginning to lose my faith in humanity there.

    See HF, I'm not the only one that notices.

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  16. It's your friend again Stani, playing you like a violin. He has taken in Sav too on another thread and Sav has joined in the jig, not understanding it's the same guy who borrows his handle. Beware vanity and flattery my friends. Standard tactic, divide and rule.

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  17. HF, if you mean his "friend" from the Qatar thread, no its not. I spent far too long on the last encounter and really can't be bothered anymore.

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  18. Oh and neither is it me taking in Sav, never have, never will. Stani, there seems to be more "Machiavellis" than just me on the site!

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  19. Yeh! And you're not falling for it on the other thread are you HF?

    By the way, you didn't publish my comment the other day because it had nothing to do with the post, so why publish some of these? Oh yeh, because they're islamophobic, and that's alright.

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  20. 1058, different "friend" entirely! That's the problem of posting as anonymous. Why not use a handle. It's easy enough to do.

    Stani, your's was personally abusive. I must admit that when I posted the first comment, I thought it was going on to the thread where the existing debate was running. It was only afterwards that I saw it wasn't, which is why I posted my comment at 1753.

    It is hard to keep track of where these debates are featuring. I get a bank of comments to moderate. I moderate out the SPAM that the filter misses (quite often four or five adverts for American lawyers and porn), then the stuff carrying the F and C words, then anything that is abusive pure and simple, then the stuff that is of no interest or relevance at all - stuff like Wet Spammers are ****wits, and then I try to post the rest. I err on the side of free speech.

    This thread does carry a pro Muslim post too so I can't see that your snipe at me is justified. If I was up to any games, I wouldn't have carried that would I?

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  21. I also refer you to my comment at 2122. You, I am sure, condemn both the terrorists and the attack on Afshan.

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  22. Well you had to publish the pro-Muslim one didnt you HF? Not that it compares. But by then the damage was done. The fact that you actually published the first one says everything I'm afraid. That was the crime.

    11:04,
    This site seems to be a Machiavelli magnet for some reason.

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  23. As for your 18:33 comment: The way I live my life should show you what I do. Words are nothing.

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  24. Why did I have to post it? Who would have known if I hadn't?

    My comment at 1833 didn't ask a question Stani. It expressed total confidence in the fact that you condemned the dispicable actions. It didn't enter my head that you wouldn't! Your comment seemed unnecessarily evasive however. I absolutely condemn the actions, although I accept that Russia has provoked terrorism. Do you?

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  25. Absolutely. It's a bit like Pakistan. Before 9/11, suicide bombs in Pakistan were unheard of.

    One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

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  26. "Why did I have to post it? Who would have known if I hadn't?"

    ...who would have known that you're hate Islam you mean? You're right.

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  27. What an absurd thing to say Stani. That was a pathetically childish response. If I hated Islam I wouldn't have carried the positive response. And nobody would have known except the anonymous poster who posted it. You perhaps?

    I don't hate Islam. I hold it in the same contempt as I hold all religions and all stupid superstitions like touching wood. I tell you what Stani, you set yourself up as a model Muslim but I have reached the conclusion that you are a complete arse I'm afraid. You do a massive disservice to your religion every time you try to defend your Faith. I'm sorry, I've been trying to avoid saying that but this latest reply of yours says it all.

    I have explained how the original comment was posted, and it has been balanced by a post showing Islam in a positive light. But still you shit your nappy and scream foul.

    You keep saying you are going to deprive us of your wonderful presence. Perhaps now is the time eh? You are becoming a self parody!

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  28. And as for your freedom fighter comment tied into 9/11, you may not have noticed but they were Muslims who flew the planes into the twin towers. And the religion of the suicide bombers? Muslim. And the probable religion of the bastard in the Russian airport. Muslim. And the London bombers? Muslim. Freedom fighters? Freedom to live under Sharia Law? Freedom fighters? Tell that to the poor bastards who suffered in these attrocities. I accept that Russia and the West have blood on their hands but this religion of yours needs to put its holy house in order. And until it does, you are in no position to preach. I am proud to be an atheist because no bloody idiot goes out and murders people in the name of atheism. And Communism is a form of religion too so don't come back at me with what Russia did in Afghanistan. Blair and Bush are both Christians. Think about it. Your God and their God has a hell of a lot to answer for! My godless universe has no need of martyrs or fanatics!

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