http://www.hartlepoolutd-mad.co.uk/news ... &id=373610

Whilever I have a cock this will not happen.

Do you keep it in the garden?

With the chickens?

And the dogs?

No I keep it in my trousers.

With the chickens and the dogs......

Ferrets suck.

If they did I'd get one.

It's the thought of them biting that stops me.

Easy squeezy.

You batter their teeth out with a hammer.

I've got hammers.

Good 'cos when you shatter their incisors and then file them down with a 12" bastard, they think they're biting but it's quality!!

A classic example of putting two and two together and getting a melon.....

If Uncle Ken really does know him it might not be impossible, but I think he'd want a Championship club at least - and a decent one with a bit of money to boot.....

He'll fall flat on his arse like Donkey Adams did at Wycombe

He will be a number two, in more then one sense of the world

A boring, lothesome, balding, won nowt, love me cause I'm a Geordie and we all love them don't we, man

I'm actually of the school that thinks that great players make less than great managers on the whole. I read Leo McKinstrey's "Jack and Bobby" about the Charlton brothers a while ago, and their managerial careers provide a real insight. Bobby was a natural footballer that never particularly had to think about what he was doing, and as a result struggled as a manager; Jack had had to work hard and think about strategy and tactics, and became a pretty good guy at getting the most out of a set of players. An example - early in his time at Leeds, Jack went to the manager (not Revie then I think) with the suggestion that they do a corner routine where the ball was swung into the near post, with Jack there to either flick the ball on or head it at goal. It worked.

Some top players do look like they have that ability but it's far from common. I don't think Keane having done all right at Sunderland is a particular surprise, but again Keane is someone that can think and calculate.

Shearer arguably did show he could think, the way he adapted his game a bit after injuries slowed him down showed some of that, but he is completely untried and I'm not sure it would work if he dropped too far down anyway.

So, which players of the recent past would we say thought about the game, and made the most of a bit more limited abilities? Not many really, though I'm not too surprised that Ince has done OK. To be honest I do wonder if in a few years Steve Howard will prove to be a decent manager - after all, he's gone from being booed at Pools to playing in the Prem and scoring at Old Trafford, and even though he's dropped back down is continuing to look the part at Championship level....