the otter

So you can’t criticise the rugby for taking around 5.5 to 6k to a semi final half a dozen miles up the road against a team they were expected to beat, but found it very easy to criticise Latics for taking around 16k to a semi final a couple of hundred miles down the road against a team they were expected to beat? And at at least double the ticket prices too!

As for your point about the rugby final, how many dual season ticket holders do you think there are? I’d say a couple of dozen tops. Don’t flatter yourslelf or the sport of rugby league to think that it wil affect our attendance that much. In fact, in recent years we’ve actually managed to attract a few of our floating fans who decided they’d rather watch us than see all the once a season hangers on on telly.

mutty, leaving all petty disputes aside, what is your own opinion of the match and attendance for the Rugby Semi Final at Leigh on Saturday?

I’m not sure what we as genuine supporters can do about these knobheads, but we need to knock all this on the head asap. If it happens at Barnsley then we really do need to help the stewards to identify the toerags, although I admit it’s easier said the done. The rugby managed to do it though, so I’m sure we as fans along with the club can weed them out.

Why would they offer a bigger transfer fee if all they need to do is match the get out clause? If the getout clause is £5m then why would they offer, for example, £6m. They could use that extra £1m to offer a higher wage, but we wouldn’t get anything extra.

It doesn’t work like that. Once somebody offers the asking price we are obliged to accept it. We can’t reject it later because somebody has gone above it. And who actually knows 1) what the buy out clause is and 2) if it actually has been met. All figures are just speculation.

If it was recent addition to the football calendar (i.e post Premier League) I would agree with you about it being simply a money making scheme. But it is a long standing fixture with some tradition, although I admit it’s simply a glorified pre season friendly. I’m not naive enough to believe the authorities aren’t lining their pockets to some extent, but the prices are a fraction of Cup Final prices and a percentage (I don’t know what percentage) does go to grass roots and other worthy causes.

I don’t view this event with the same cynicism as a lot of modern day football fixtures and so I’ll definitely be making the third trip to Wembley within a matter of months.

And one of the first things Rodgers did was sign Joe Allen.

Whelan has just cut through the crap. Everybody knows every player at every club has his price. Why pretend differently?

I think it’s too easy to blame too many games. They don’t need to do any strenuous training in between the games. Just go through tactics and probably set play positioning and that’s all that’s needed.