[Margaret Pilkington]

If DC thinks he can renegotiate Britains position he is deluded.
As for kicking Ukip into touch by promising an IN/OUT referendum.....a promise by a politician is very tenuous...not to be trusted........I am pretty sure that I am not the only person who would want to see it first ( give us the referendum.....then you'll get my vote).
We all know that we are promised the bread of heaven to get us to vote.......and once the X has been placed we get the mouldy old supermarket stuff.
As for your football player analogy....that is exactly what the politicians want us to believe.
I would liken being in the EU to being in an abusive marriage.......while you are in it, your partner tells you that you are worthless and will amount to nothing without them.......you break away, and YES, it is hard for a while, but you get your confidence back and wonder why you stayed all that time, investing the partnership at the cost of your 'self' and sanity.

They need us much more than we need them.
The fact that Angela Merkel says she is willing to consider DC's proposals goes someway to underline this.(but again, she is a politician and it could just be bluff).