Firstly with something you said about pre-match entertainment and the local haunts competing or not as the case maybe you’re completely correct and American chairmen/boards can’t understand why we are not in the stadia all day like in American sports.

With regards to replica kit I think that football kit wearing is more about identity rather than fashion, and think that you missed one of the best things about wearing replica shirts out, which is holidaying in the Sun wearing your kit and seeing how many times you are recognised or having an ex-pat start talking football to you.(I would also point out the fun of buying a fake replica shirt on holiday is also a lure that I cannot leave alone, my favourite was a Juventus shirt with Baggio on the back 6 seasons after he had left :)) Even when wearing it in the U.K. it becomes a symbol of where you’re from and can start off numerous conversations or mickey taking.

And then this comes to the details about wearing old kits, this makes me smile in 96 when I was waiting for the lovely coaches to take me to Wembley it was like a trip down memory lane with the number of older kits that I saw, tell me you didn’t look at the kits and try to remember which season it was from, I know I did.

Also I have 26 replica shirts of my own including the powder puff blue away kit long and short sleeve (what possessed me) and that excluding the ones I’ve grown out of, and my favourite shirt is not among them In 96 we played in an away Denim blue coulored shirt sponsored by Diamond seal and I leant it to a friend to wear to Wembley enough said.

So why have I not bought any of the last few seasons replicas, Quality? Similarity?(I have 26) Price? Fashion? Customer service or something else? I dont know… I just know I quite like the pin stripes

There are currently a number of issues surrounding Jake Speight and Gavin Grant, but all I wish to add is that any player who stands accused of a crime should be treated as innocent until their guilt is proven (as I believe Taylor treated Grant) and in the case of Speight who has now served his punishment, he should be treated normally again – he doesn’t deserve a second punishment from the club, fans etc. It is up to the British justice system, not us to determine how a player (or person) should be treated. I know some commentators are disappointed that Speight did not inform City of the impending trial, but I believe in this day and age that it is up to City as the employer to satisfy itself with any background checks rather than relying on the absolute honesty of an employee. I know it shouldn’t be that way round, but it is not an ideal world we live in. As an example, when was the last time anyone rang the police confessing to having broken the speed limit?

“With no Omar Daley and Gavin Grant obviously wiped from the equation, Taylor’s resources up front are looking a bit thin on the ground.”

Now, I ask, at what point this (coming) season has Gavin Grant EVER been part of the equation? He was a non-contract player and there was no suggestion he was ever coming back even before his conviction (trust me on that) – he has not been part of the build-up, the pre season games or the squad at any point after the final day of last season, yet still they put this spin on it as though he was a key part of the plans and has been snatched away by his conviction.

I’m in London now, and I used to read the T&A when home. Sadly the articles on their website that I still read no longer float my boat. A shame that such a good local paper has to resort to kicking its own locality. Surely one of the aims of a local paper is to promote its area, not add to its decline. Although that will of course sell more papers….