Theregulars

I confirm. Did I agree with you or throw your pint on your lap?

I always thought he got slightly shafted bu Rafa - for me he’d earned a crack at being the main man for the first season back up, at least until Christmas. I trust Rafa but just thought it became too public knowledge too quickly that he didn’t think Gayle was up to it, needless knock to his confidence. For the present moment though it’s just a situation that’s gone on way too long with no manager or fan believing in him while he sucks up his wages.

Not for me. Woeful start, worrying. Not at all convinced.

I think the reality is that it will be a bit dampened but still buoyant, and if we play well / score early then it will still be decent.

Just touched down at @LFEE’s palace ahead of the match. Bringing my girlfriend who is from Canada and has never been to a live football match - convcined her to come as it would be a proper unique experience if the atmosphere lands right. I hope it does, certainly I think about town beforehand, Wor Flags display and immediately before kick off she won’t have seen anything like it. Given her a print out of blaydon races to learn.

I guess this is basic but if he doesn’t want to manage us then he can go fuck himself. This is some incredible project for someone to take on and if he’d rather sit with his mid table Spanish club, so be it. I back whoever takes this on and they have all my love and support.

Wash your mouth out with soap, silly child.

I don’t think it’s as complex as people, and some opinion columns in particular, are making out. Everything in life is multi-faceted but we seem to have this need to declare something either good or bad as a binary matter. In most walks of life, things are both good and bad at the same time. A basic example is how I feel about work: it’s great to have a salary and some spending money, occasionally work is quite fun and interesting to the mind and you make friends. On the other hand, it can be boring and repetitive, it’s too constant and intrudes on your private life more than you want. In this instance, there are many good things - a club which has been neglected and ruined gets reinvigorated and a region which needs investment gets it when it wouldn’t have otherwise, benefitting millions of people. There are also bad things about it, because the people ultimately behind the money get up to some pretty nasty shit and are arguably doing this to distract from that. It also is the latest step in our national sport being a persistent commodity for sale. In our world it doesn’t seem normal or fashionable to view things analytically and consider both sides and say that neither “wins out”: you are pressured to have a resolution because maybe we can’t deal with any degree of complexity anymore. Everything that’s been said about the takeover is pretty valid. It doesn’t make one a hypocrite to enjoy supporting Newcastle again while KSA stones women or murders dissidents, in my opinion. You can be both delighted at the investment and deeply perturbed by the terrible acts at the same time - most things exist in conflict and we’ve always got to take the good and the bad.

You can, but it’s more desirable to lump sum it for income tax purposes for both parties. One law firm I left I got 6 months pay, 3 months normal salary on gardening leave and 3 months lump sum.

I think Ashley quite deliberately overpaid them and gave them a huge payout at the end because he deliberately employed managers as yes men meat shields. Of all the dross, only McLaren got the sack and that’s a mix of looming relegation and Rafa falling into his lap. I think with Bruce it is a case of taking the money to deflect the blame, accept the complete non-ambition and telling him he was trying to sell, and if he took his orders he’d get a nice big payout from new owners because the contract would be passed along with purchase. If he did have to sack him with relegation looming next year, pay out of revenue the club generates.

Congratulations, everybody. What an absolutely sordid and soul-crushing 14 years that was. Thank you all for helping me bear what has been one of the most dispiriting situations in my life with some degree of humour and solidarity. I am genuinely in tears.

Your second post is a non-sequitur. Your point was that Bruce’s lack of aptitude / not caring is somehow beneficial to young players, which in my view is clutching at straws. Bruce is the worst manager in the division, and probably one of the worst in the top 2 divisions, so I don’t really back the view that this may be beneficial to a young player. If I was a young player, if I had other coaching options I’d not be opting for Steve Bruce on the basis that I could do whatever I wanted. That discussion point has nothing to do with other clubs’ interest in Willock or otherwise - it may be that Willock likes playing for Bruce, but I’d wager he just enjoyed playing games, which didn’t appear to be much of an option for him at Arsenal. Either way, Bruce is shit.

Did any of the the straws stick within your grasp?

I’ll never not care and I resent myself a lot for it, which in turn makes me resent Ashley/Bruce/PL/aggressive free market capitalism in sports even more. It’s a really grim cycle and not one a 7 year old version of me could have ever anticipated, but at this stage I genuinely wish I had never taken an active interest in football. The bad outweighs the good so massively. Was at an (outdoors!) meet up for a friend’s birthday yesterday and Man U and Liverpool fans were there excitedly talking about the new season, asked who I support and I said “cricket”. It’s just easier at this point.

A lot of bibble here but that was a fair result. Difficult game, attritional; Danes are a well drilled unit and well worth their tournament. I hate that it’s the Italians.

Yorkie is the Gareth of the forum. Arise sir yorkie

Soft pen, bad pen, England probably deserve the lead and the Danes’ free kick for the goal was soft as Philly cream cheese on a summer’s day (last year summer tho)

Thought it was a poor decision for their free kick, it’s obvious they were trying to win territory for the strike and Christiansen took a really lame flop, ref bought it. Pickford has let the emotion get to him, otherwise nobody has been too bad but nobody too good.

Out of interest, how do you feel about Saint Maximin taking the knee? Do you also think he’s an entitled millionaire, or is he ok because he scores goals for your team?

No, I consider that you are racist because of your brazenly incorrect and over generalised negative stereotyping of black people and Asian people. I’m interested in hearing your answer to my questions to you, please.

Or maybe don’t stay silent when someone is being racist?

On what basis do you say that? Have you lived in, or even spent more than a 7-14 day holiday in, any European country that isn’t the U.K.?

Stepping aside from the offensiveness of this statement, if we accept your premise that the majority of gun and knife crime is committed by black people, out of interest why do you think that might be? I’ll offer you two options: 1. More individuals from African and Caribbean backgrounds are more likely to be born into endemic poverty and not have access to good education and therefore a wider range of professional opportunity, meaning it’s more likely that they resort to crime (in some instances to make ends meet); or 2. Those people have an innate tendency towards criminal behaviour. Genuinely, @CalmintheChaos, I’d be interested in your answer.

Sorry - my above post was in response to this. Also creasing at “China or Asia”.

I’m white and lived in Asia for 3 years (Singapore and Hong Kong). Not once did I encounter any form of racist abuse directed towards me. Moreover, my elder brother has lived in Hong Kong for 25 years and also hasn’t once encountered any form of racist abuse directed at him. Of the many, many white people I know and spent time with during my time there, not one has “been jumped” on grounds of being white. You are entitled to disagree that racism is as serious a problem as some make out (although I think you’re in denial, which is an opinion I’m entitled to). What you’re not entitled to do is assert that an entire continent (to which I’m going to guess you’ve not been) has a problem with racism with (again, I assume) no form of research, experience or data to back it up. Do you genuinely believe that, on overview, black people have the same opportunities (educational, professional, financial, social) as white people in the U.K.?