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Listed below are comments made by Esteffect between Saturday, 11th July 2009 and Saturday, 7th November 2009.

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Ancelotti ready for Man Utd challenge 4:24pm on 07 Nov 2009 #6 - Gavin Strachan isn't playing in the Football League anymore, and as his blog was the Football League blog he no longer does it. Michael Gray's blog is the replacement.
Cardiff & Forest - genuine promotion candidates? 2:33pm on 02 Nov 2009 I honestly believe that Billy Davies would prefer to finish solidly, but not get promoted, on the basis of how things went the last time a "surprise package" team went up under his stewardship.

Derby County were awful when they went up with what was a woefully poor squad, and Billy Davies found himself going from one of the hottest properties in the managerial game (an equivalent to an Owen Coyle at the moment) to a manager that was out of a job and unable to get a new one. The same has happened, to a lesser extent, with managers like Aidy Boothroyd - going up too soon can be a double-edged sword.

I'm not sure that Davies would want that to happen again, but it'd be a possibility if Forest went up as their squad would need a lot of strengthening in the top flight.

Although not trying to get promoted is far from sensible, the best thing for Forest would be to finish strongly this season (around 8th place) and then go all out for promotion next season. That would do them better in the long-run.
Hansen and a welcome dose of nostalgia 2:10pm on 30 Oct 2009 The reason that there aren't any ex-Manchester United pundits is probably because their "golden generation" is either still playing (Giggs, Scholes, Neville, etc) or have went into management (Hughes, Bruce, Keane).

I somehow doubt that people would be too chuffed if the BBC dragged out David May or Jesper Blomqvist for the job.
Alonso to Ferrari could herald golden age 6:41pm on 30 Sep 2009 If Rosberg did end up at Brawn GP, I would say that is Jenson Button's biggest proving point because - if Rosberg out-performs him - he's going to look like a very lucky champion (assuming that he wins the title, of course). Rosberg is a good driver, but he's probably not world champion material, so Button would have to beat him in the same car.
Briatore bows out in unsavoury style 4:04pm on 16 Sep 2009 My above post was meant to say "would not want".

The most logical punishment would be to throw the team out of both the 2008 and 2009 championships, also handing them a suspension for a number of races. A large fine (and repayment of any prize money) would also be given.

The problem now is that other teams could quite logically look to sue Renault for all kinds of random fees, for example teams that lost constructors money as a result of Renault's extra ten points. Williams could sue them also for depriving Rosberg of a first victory, and thus the exposure that would have brought the team.

Ultimately, with all of this, I fail to see a way for Renault to continue in F1. It seems likely that BMW Sauber will be taking their place in 2010.
Briatore bows out in unsavoury style 4:01pm on 16 Sep 2009 If Alonso is stripped off the Singapore victory, it would promote Nico Rosberg to 1st place and therefore his first Formula 1 victory. I'm pretty sure Nico would want to win a race like that, and therefore I think stripping Renault of the victory wouldn't be an effective punishment.

It's sort of like when Fisichella was retrospectively awarded the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2003 or so - It takes away the magic, as he didn't get to be on the top step of the podium.
Are you a Match for the BBC? 1:24pm on 15 Aug 2009 Premier League table:
1 Manchester United
2 Chelsea
3 Liverpool
4 Arsenal
5 Manchester City
6 Everton
7 Tottenham Hotspur
8 Aston Villa
9 Fulham
10 West Ham
11 Sunderland
12 Blackburn
13 Wigan
14 Bolton
15 Portsmouth
16 Burnley
17 Stoke
18 Hull
19 Wolves
20 Birmingham

FA Cup: Liverpool
League Cup: Chelsea
Champions League: Chelsea
First Premier League manager to leave his job: Paul Hart (Portsmouth)
Premier League top scorer: Fernando Torres
Championship: Cardiff City
Axe hangs over Bourdais 4:54pm on 11 Jul 2009 One final possibility is - and I know they have indicated an all American line-up, but there's not a massive talent pool of good US drivers who'd jump to F1 I suspect - that Bourdais could end up at USF1 next season. He'd probably be a good proposition for an American team, given that he's higher profile there than a lot of other drivers.
Axe hangs over Bourdais 4:51pm on 11 Jul 2009 I'm not convinced that Toyota will be around much longer if they continue to fade as they are right now, because they did state that race wins were needed in order to still be in the sport for 2010. I think that would be end of Trulli, but I'd like to see Glock stick around.

I think the two midfield drivers (drivers who've never one of the quickest cars, basically) that would be interesting to see in a truly competitive car are Nico Rosberg - who I honestly believe could be a WDC and would be outperforming Barrichello at Brawn GP - and Timo Glock, whose car wasn't competitive for long enough to judge. Those two together would be pretty interesting, actually.

The drivers that I can see being gone in 2010, ignoring any prospect of teams pulling out, are Fisichella (to retirement), Piquet (dropped), and Bourdais (dropped). I'm expecting Nakajima to stick around as long as Toyota are in the sport, which might mean he's gone, and I think other drivers that could be outsiders for being dropped (Kovalainen, Raikkonen) would find drives elsewhere.
F1 row nears endgame 4:44pm on 11 Jul 2009 I have a question, because it's almost a forgotten topic and would probably change F1 more than any budget caps ever would, but what is happening with the "Only wins count in the championship" rule?

It was dropped due to it being brought in too late after sign-ups for 2009, but Mr. Ecclestone noted it would be introduced for 2010. It's since been forgotten, but it's a hideous idea with many flaws, and I hope it's been dropped. It's been practically ignored by the BBC and other outlets, though, so what's the situation?

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