winnie

I think the questions that need answering are 1. Some-one told Steve Mercer and the other riders to travel back the wrong way. Who? 2. Should Steve Mercer and the other riders have listened, traveled back the wrong way with no Travelling Marshal, past other riders that were not doing the same and i understand going at a fairly fast speed. 4. Should the Course Car have been traveling at very high speed? I find it hard to believe that Gary Thompson or any one at Race Control gave the order to travel back as riders at other parts of the track were not doing the same. I think Steve Mercer and the other riders should have questioned the decision to return the wrong way with no Travelling Marshal. Human's unfortunately make mistake's, which is why we have insurance. I really hope Steve Mercer recovers and gets all the financial help he needs for the rest of his life. He's a lovely guy, and i certainly enjoyed watching him race.

Why compensate the hotels - they haven't had to outlay any funds as the rooms would be empty if there was or wasn't a rally. They should compensate the competitors and visitors that had paid for ferry crossings and flights and non-returnable deposits for accomodation.

A little pissed off at this being cancelled so late. I have friends who have booked holiday at work and are flying over for this!! Shit happens, but to cancel this late in the day is just not on. I can't see the BRC coming back here for a long long time. I thought last years rally was as safe as any other rally i've recently been to. No spectators standing in stupid places, and to be honest it's pretty hard for a competitor to hurt themselves in a modern spec car, plus the disclaimer 'motorsport is dangerous' is pretty easy to understand by all party's involved.

I still think Liverpool's academy have underachieved, but due to the disgusting amount of money swirling around for the top few teams, they have the ability to buy who they want when they want, so no need to invest in local kids and academy's. Hopefully the pyramid will collapse and the teams can get more local identity - but I'm not holding out much hope!! Anyway, good luck to Liverpool in the final. Shame it's in Russia though.

I agree that Liverpool used to bring lots through. Gerard, Caragher, Fowler, McManaman spring to mind, but I wouldn't be proud of the list that's been put up, in fact I think it's a bit embarrassing that Liverpool have only bought through 5 players in nearly 20 years to play more than 10 games for the first team. I bet lot's of those games were league cup and fa cup games as well. Think you'll find Lallana was in Bournmouth's academy, and Oxlade-Chamberlain was in the Portsmouth acadamy. In fact Oxlade-Chamberlin's younger brother is in the Portsmouth academy and on the verge of breaking into the first team, but has just broken his leg. Southampton are (were) masters of producing talent as they do pinch lots of academy kids from other teams due to having great facilities.

Why can't the top Prem teams develop there own youngsters from their own area's, instead of poaching players from lesser teams that have spent time and money developing them. I'm not sure Southampton wanted to sell Van Dijk, Clyne, Lovren, Mane, Lallarna and Lambert to Liverpool, more like the players agents wanted them to move so they could get their 20% arrangement fee's. How many players have Liverpool bought through their academy recently?

Indoor bbq

Think he was born in Sunderland and came through their academy, then poached by Liverpool when he had 'made it'.

Liverpool team last night had 2 players from Liverpool, 4 players from Southampton, and 12 non british players. Well done Liverpool, another English team in a champions league final though!!

Point taken. I know there are 'some' British players at these teams, but most are fringe players that have been 'poached' from lower league teams and have not come through there own academy's. The big teams have satellite academy's in many cities to 'poach' youngsters from smaller clubs, and later just put them out on loan in div 1 and 2. Chelsea have in the region of 40 players out on loan, and i think the last Chelsea academy player to play for the 1st team was John Terry. There is only prem team with a successful academy, and they basically feed Liverpool and make up half the team!!!!! (can't wait for them to be relegated as i'm a Portsmouth fan) Barca may only have 5 spanish players, but you need to include portugese and south american players as they have massive ties with both. Bit like english clubs with welsh, irish and scotish players. Yes, i understand supporters want there team to win games, cups and leagues, but being a football supporter is not just about winning.

Premier League football has lost it's identity. Arsenal FC is a football team full of foreigner players, owned by a foreigner and managed by a foreigner's. They built a new stadium with foreign money and named it after a foreign company. They just happen to play home games in London, but the exact model could easily work in Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool or Manchester. Gone are the local youth players coming up through the system, gone is a proper football ground full of local people including youngsters that could actually afford to get in. In, is a non-atmospheric 'flat pack' stadium (a very good version) full of corporate 'day trippers' and middle aged bankers from Surrey that leave early so they don't have to queue for the tube. Sky has ruined Premier League football, and I believe the bubble is slowly deflating.

Haha. I think we are all guilty!! My poor defence is the bright yellow camera was hidden behind the overgrown hedges!!!! Thanks all for the advice. Almost hope i get a ticket to see what happens!!

So you either saw the signage and chose to not slow down, or you didn't see the signage which means you weren't paying attention.

Mr Britten have you ever driven over the speed once in your life??

Yes, 'or not break the law' is a valid comment. I was doing around 60mph on a large and fast A road at 10pm on a sunny evening with no houses around, but a cross-roads which had proberbly failed a risk assesment of some sort, so had a 50mph limit for 200yds!! I do drive responsibly, and to the conditions. I would say driving at 100mph over the mountain on a wet road is more dangerous, but thats legal. It would be nice to know if any-one has actually been fined, as no-one is really sure what would happen.