Despite much speculation that he would retire at the end of the 2006 season, Hird played out the 2007 season, playing 17 of a possible 22 games.

Despite all the progress, there was speculation that Jim O ' Brien was not the coach to lead this team back to the playoffs.

Despite the speculation, in June with the intra-league draft, the Canadiens kept him on their protected list.

Despite QPR's perilous financial condition in 2007 / 2008, the combined personal wealth of the club's new owners ( which included the world's then 8th richest man Lakshmi Mittal ) sparked speculation that QPR would receive significant further investment from their new benefactors drawing parallels to their wealthy West London neighbours Chelsea and Fulham.

Despite speculation that SPECTRE would return for the Daniel Craig era of Bond films, 007 has instead tackled an underground terrorist organisation similar to SPECTRE, known as Quantum.

Despite the dangers of speculation, many believed that the stock market would continue to rise indefinitely.

Despite speculation by the media, both arriving and departing flights are typically full.

Despite media speculation that the winner of the series was to become a new, permanent member of TLC, Watkins and Thomas have vowed to never replace Lopes with a new member.

Despite speculation of cancellation early in 2011, it was announced on 14 November 2011 that the remaining books would indeed be filmed in 2012.

Despite speculation that the group was splitting up, Krayzie and Wish are currently working with upcoming artists on their label The Life Ent.

Despite initial speculation that former Atlanta City Council president Cathy Woolard would be appointed, no replacement was announced until 2 March 2012, when American Foundation for Equal Rights co-founder Chad Griffin was announced as Solmonese's successor.

Despite constant speculation, she remains guarded about her personal life and is sometimes labelled a recluse by members of the media.

Despite speculation that the game would be based on Super Metroid, Ken Lobb, Nintendo of America's Director of Game Development, quelled rumors by stating, " One of the things I wanted to get across in today's meeting is that Metroid is not Super Metroid.

Despite the speculation of aquarium enthusiasts that the eggs are pressure treated to make them infertile, it has been found some GloFish are indeed fertile and will reproduce in a captive environment.

Despite Samoobrona's leadership's denial of such practices, the evidence supplied by the numerous victims leaves little room for speculation.

Despite this measure, factors such as a growing population, the division of plots among descendants, peasant debts and enduring reliance on revenues from working on estates, together with the widespread speculation of estate leaseholders and instances where political corruption was detrimental to the allocation of land, made the reform almost completely ineffectual on the long term, and contributed to the countryside unrest which culminated in the Peasants ' Revolt of 1907.

Despite speculation following the 2005 general election that he would return as a member of the Government, he did not do so, although in the post-election reshuffle there were reports that he was offered – and accepted – the cabinet post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before being told that the post had been assigned instead to Des Browne.

Speaking in the House of Commons he said “ Despite media speculation to the contrary, there has been no recent change to force levels ”, adding “ There is no evidence of any current credible military threat to the security of the Falkland Islands and therefore no current plan for significant changes to force deployments.

Despite growing reports of excessive speculation in energy markets, the CFTC has refused to take actions they have taken in the past.

Despite mounting speculation of a move to either Manchester United or Arsenal, he signed a two-year contract with QPR that summer.

Despite widespread speculation that he would run for mayor again in 2010, he announced in January that he would not be a candidate.

Despite speculation that she would be challenged for preselection in her seat of Mackellar for the next election, this did not eventuate and she later reaffirmed her intention to contest the next election.

Despite speculation to the contrary, switching from a mainline to a conservative denomination is not important in accounting for the trend, because it is fairly constant over the decades.

Despite translation into 30 different languages, the Russian original has never been published, prompting speculation from the critics that Volkov is afraid to publish it in Russian because " Anybody who has heard Dmitri Dmitrievich's living voice even once would realize right away that it is a forgery.

Despite speculation of a breakup, Screeching Weasel returned with a new line-up on October 29 at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago with The Queers.

Despite the lessons learned by Atari in the loss of its programmers to Activision, Mattel continued to try to avoid crediting game designers.

Despite decisively defeating the Marathas, what might have been Ahmad Shah's peaceful control of his domains was disrupted by many challenges.

Despite some initial expressions of enthusiasm, Hoxha and Shehu mistrusted Nikita Khrushchev's programs of " peaceful coexistence " and " different roads to socialism " because they appeared to pose the threat that Yugoslavia might again try to take control of Albania.

Despite the passport union with Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland Finland could not join the Nordic Council until 1955 because of Soviet fears that Finland might become too close to the West.

Despite the issuing of new currency and administrative reforms, Stephen might potentially have lived for many more years, whilst Henry's position on the continent was far from secure.

Despite his complaints that the house was too big (" big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain "), Jefferson considered how the White House might be added to.

Despite this, in some countries ( or states of the United States ), the courts will seldom apply principles of fault, but might willingly hold a party liable for a breach of a fiduciary duty to his or her spouse ( for example, see Family Code Sections 720 and 1100 of the California Family Code ).

Despite subsequent events, there is no evidence that the young Arthur might have had ulterior motives at this time, despite the fact that Butler had helped to educate half the government of the United Kingdom.

Despite being located close to the equator, Bujumbura is not nearly as warm as one might expect due to its altitude.

Despite Garbo's popularity as a silent movie star, the studio feared that her Swedish accent might impair her work in sound and delayed the shift for as long as possible.

Despite accepting the above arrangements, Stalin dominated the conference, using the Soviet victory at the Battle of Kursk and military might, as well as key positions on the German front, to get his way.

Despite its occasional use of patronizing stereotypes, Bondanella concludes that Beppo " is represented with great dignity and even comic twists, making Beppo a far more lovable figure than one might expect.

Despite any disagreement he might have towards the plans his aunts have, Bertie feels obliged to follow their whims, often getting in trouble for doing so.

Despite his fury of war, Diomedes held back his sword so that the old man might speak.

Despite enjoying what some might consider a reasonable amount of time on Greenland in conjunction with varying times of successes and failures, the Norse settlement in Greenland did not last more than 500 years.

Despite the technical difficulties up to that point, Komarov might still have landed safely.

Despite the issuing of new currency and administrative reforms, Stephen might potentially have lived for many more years, whilst Henry's position on the continent was far from secure.

Despite apparent benevolence existing in the notion of the " White Man's Burden ", the unintended consequences of imperialism might greatly outweigh the potential benefits.

Despite this newest theory of reading, Barthes remained concerned with the difficulty of achieving truly neutral writing, which required an avoidance of any labels that might carry an implied meaning or identity towards a given object.

Despite Lincoln's concerns that immediate emancipation in the South might drive some slave holding Unionists to support the Confederacy, the national mood was quickly moving against slavery, especially within the Army.

Despite rumors that Carter might pull out an " October Surprise " and get the hostages home before the election, negotiations dragged on for months, even after Republican Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in November.

Despite whatever value judgments one might have about it, pride in one's community, one's ethnic group membership, one's nation and the like, are forms of prejudice.

Despite a brilliant circumnavigation of U. S. naval forces, Cervera simply did not have the firepower to engage the might of the United States fleet.

Despite their rhetoric, Arab armies committed few atrocities and no large-scale massacre of prisoners took place when circumstances might have allowed them to happen, as when they took the Old City of Jerusalem or the villages of Atarot, Neve Yaakov, Nitzanim, Gezer and Mishmar Hayarden.

: Despite the attacks on herself and Shipon, Yayoi lies to protect Ayaka when it looked like she might face expulsion from Stellvia.

Despite Rusty's statements to the media that he was never told by psychiatrists that she was psychotic nor that she could harm her children, and that he would have never had more children had he known otherwise, she revealed to her jail psychiatrist, Dr. Melissa Ferguson, that prior to their last child, " she had told Rusty that she did not want to have sex because Dr. Starbranch had said she might hurt her children.