We will see then wont we?

I didn’t get the opportunity to speak to any players last night – I was far too drunk.

Not as drunk as I am currently getting watching Glasto!!

Sorry i spoke.

There's some excellent architecture in Bradford, you just have to open your eyes and look for it instead of being blinded by prejudice.

For all the good "City of Culture" did to Liverpool (did they actually promote the title at all) they should have given it to Bradford, a truly multi-cultural city and a depository for a huge number of important 18th and 19th century buildings

For starters I'd recommend the Bradford Industrial Museum at Eccleshill, not just the mill and its grounds but the whole environment in the streets around it where workers cottages still exist in their hundreds, many complete with outside lavvies - its like Saltaire without the World Heritage tag.

Theres some excellent history attached to Bradford and its environs.

Emma is correct, a couple of weeks Webb is out for.

Sorry McF, whilst agreeing that parts of Bradford (& I include Saltaire in this) esp the area known as Little Germany are outstanding architecturally, Liverpool knocks spots off Bradford in this regard & well deserved its title a City of Culture.
There is the Albert Dock area, the Pier Head, the Town Hall & its surrounds, the St George Hall area, Rodney St, two Cathedrals - I could go on - all fine examples from different eras.
Time to remove your white rose tinted spectacles & no, before you ask, I am not from Liverpool.

Which of Smith or Jones-Bishop goes to full back then?

Given the makeup of the existing squad, I'd like to see Smith kept at right centre for the rest of the season.

Smith to fb, Gibson/Watkins to centre

Good, an immediate difference of opinion.

Which option at centre then? The safe but non threatening or the dangerous but erratic?

ATM I would say Kallum Watkins, because hes prooved to everyone that hes good enough to play in Superleague. Ashley has too proove his worth to earn a new contract at the moment however.

smith to full back and gibson to centre. more reliable than watkins

I'd go with heir apparent jones-bishop and leave smith at centre.

Think I would have to agree.

Smith has looked outstanding in last two games when switched because Webb has gone off. But Smith is also far and away superior to the other two options for centre at this present time.

I think the gulf in class is bigger for the centre position, than it is for the fullback.

Plus smith is off and Jones-Bishop will be covering FB in the future so it'd be better to give him as much experience in SL as possible imo.

If I was going to use that argument (and I'm not) it would probably make more sense to give experience to a right centre given that is where the Smith shaped hole will be most often next season.

We are better off using Jones-Bishop as we don't know yet WHO will play right centre but we do know that BJB will be the no2 FB.

I'm not comparing the two, I'm just saying that there is a huge amount of Bradford that is still well preserved from its era as the worlds centre for the woollen trade - its not just the obvious mills and unfortunately its not the city centre which I suspect was decimated in the 50s and 60s, but its the outer fringes of the centre and then into the suburbs where you will find superb examples of merchant and artisan housing - valuable architecture does not have to mean civic buildings and its not very common to find cities that have such a heritage and that have kept it for 200 years.

I don't disagree with your comments about the value of vernacular architecture. The problem is so much of that has been marred by inappropriate modernisation.Eg the replacement of sash windows with UPVC monstrosities.
On a similar theme I'm sure that you recall the wish of Jon Trickett to make Leeds a modern european city like Barcelona. Having just been there that is an impossible dream, architecturally Barcelona knocks Leeds into a cocked hat.

Barcelona knocks most cities into a cocked hat in many a regard

Leeds has a better rugby team though

I agree wholeheartedly with this...BJB full back; keep Smithy at centre for some long awaited continuity....and have Watkins on bench...if BJB doesn't work out we can always move Smithy there during match.

Or [iif[/i Smithy is considered best option at full back can we not get Broughon involved somehow in threequarters ??? He seems to be well rated by the Hull lot ...and it would really annoy them seeing him back where he belongs.

(his loan spell is over at kfc).

Maybe try Hall at centre.....threequarters: Broughton, Hall, Senior, Donald

(watkins on the bench)

Gibson doesn't add a lot in attack,he may be reliable but there's not much more that that coming from him.I'd be tempted to play Watkins as for me he has more of a future at Leeds than Gibson has.

I'm not so affected by upvc windows on old houses as long as they match what had been there - a mock sash window or even a upvc door shouldn't detract from the overall appearance at all until very close examination, the same can't be said of upvc cladding and drainpipes though.

As for Barcelona, I loved it but it has that European city advantage of depending mainly on the apartment building for housing rather than the terraced housing route that we took in this country, I just think its easier to develop a city theme when you're planning issues are controlled by how many families you can fit into one building and how high it can go when its built from brick, having siad that the decoration on many of the "ordinary" apartment buildings is superb, I took a load of photos of buildings and streets while I was there.

But Barcelona was very well controlled when it developed unlike, for instance, Leeds which grew outwards like a cartwheel depending on the city's wealth, rich to the north, poor to the south, the prevailing wind deciding which side of the river you built your biggest dwellings on.

There is a building near to the Palau de la Musica Catalana ( a splendid modernista building) that was built of red brick which had been "textured" or done in bas relief, fantastic. Compare that to the bland red brick look of 80s Leeds, it just showed what can be done using the same raw materials used with imagination and a flair for design.