wacko

We have a shocking reputation in Germany, thanks to all the fucking squaddies that were stationed here. Anywhere there were British barracks, the local bouncers all looked like the Mountain. When I was much younger, I got turned away from places simply for being English. They always let me in when I argued with them because, of course, none of the squaddies ever speak the local lingo, so they know I'm not one of them. Most of them are gone now, but it was carnage when the squaddies were in town. They used to beat up the local police regularly. The cops couldn't shoot them, and they didn't have much chance against professional soldiers otherwise. It used to be the locals would call the police and the police would call the military police.

I used to work in an English pub in Hamburg. We had a big Murphy's sign in the window, so some people came in thinking it was an Irish pub. Some of them got a proper look of fear in their eyes when I told them it was an English pub

It's not like they're massively over exaggerating though, England fans have gone over there and shamed us yet again, provoked or not I'm embarrassed to be English at the moment. Aye, they're scum. But the stuff outside of the real shite is just sensationalism. Reporters talking of stuff like they're gansta savy. But why are you embarrassed to be English because of them? They're not representative of you, or anyone you know. Like fuck do they represent me. All of them (all nations) are just dregs of society. They couldn't embarrass me if they tried. It's not that they represent me, it's that their actions affect me and every other English person who wants to have a nice time abroad. I'm embarrassed to share a planet with those people, it's even more embarrassing if I share a country or a city. I get you now It's the whole perception when abroad that we're all this knuckle-dragging type of tosser. It's always the case that the few fuck it up for the rest. It's bad enough that the world knows the English are hopeless at football. You don't want them thinking we can't go anywhere without destroying the place. You can spot the English a mile away. Lobster red, tattooed and drunk. A "dirty, hoggish people". No wonder the prices are higher on the English menus. The only people who have a worse reputation than the English are the Russians

The club is not involved in those two cases. What was being judged here was how Neymar's transfer had been conducted on the tax front. Mostly we paid him a huge signup fee, and we reported it as a transfer fee, which is taxed less than a salary. The taxman said "no, it's a wage", and we had to pony up back dated tax (€13 million) and a €5 million fine. Thanks. So, what's going on with all the tax shenanigans at Barça? Messi and Mascherano and that.

What's going on with all the tax shenanigans at Barça? Messi and Mascherano and that.

He won the Champions League with a side in which Djimi Traore was the first-choice left-back. He may have "generally had good players", but he got great results out of them.

It's "bear with it/me", not "bare". Unless you wanna get nekkid.

The owners are raking it in (relative to other club owners).

Here are Bayern's ticket prices for comparison: http://i.imgur.com/wEl62nW.png And Schalke's (folks aren't as wealthy round here): http://i.imgur.com/PbAtQ1w.png €200 for a season ticket

He rolled up to Anfield and won us the European Cup. What counts as OTT under those circumstances? Obviously, but it was the whole in Rafa we trust thing and the way RAWK went on at times. You don't trust Rafa? RAWK is always going off the deep end. None of the Rafa stuff even comes close to the mod-led insanity that went down when Kenny was back in charge. is that when they were banning people and shit just for questioning it? Yup. Any thread/post that didn't toe the mods' "Kenny is the one true infallible God" line was deleted. Repeat non-groupthinkers were banned. It was like North fucking Korea. RAWK had always had a fair number of nutjobs, but that was the asylum management outing themselves as lunatics. Haven't been back since, tbh.

He rolled up to Anfield and won us the European Cup. What counts as OTT under those circumstances? Obviously, but it was the whole in Rafa we trust thing and the way RAWK went on at times. You don't trust Rafa? RAWK is always going off the deep end. None of the Rafa stuff even comes close to the mod-led insanity that went down when Kenny was back in charge.

He rolled up to Anfield and won us the European Cup. What counts as OTT under those circumstances?

Aye, that was awesome

I think that is an overstatement. I think a good number of match-going fans from the 70s and 80s know what happened and will have been 100% behind the families all the way. Match going fans will know it could have been them. Isn't that what I said in the next paragraph? At any rate, that's true.

I know it did, that's why I agreed with you. What's laying local roots supposed to imply? Besides the obvious. Hot Geordie love nest.

Most of the information—apart from the long-overdue admission of culpability by Duckenfield—has been available for many years. It was there for anyone to find, and I mean things like interviews with policemen who were on duty that day and expert opinions of coroners—not just the opinions of Liverpool fans who were or were not there. It's all on the web, a googling away. But the smear campaign and cover-up were so successful that hardly anybody that isn't from Merseyside or a Liverpool fan ever bothered to go looking. I've had the Hillsborough conversation very many times over the years, and there has always been one of two reactions. Most people who went to games in the '80s said "there but for the grace of God go we" and everyone else took a "treat the conspiracy theorist with kid gloves" attitude.

What kind of a mad freak would trade in a Commodore 64 for a ZX Speccy? Insanity!

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,97196.msg5967553.html#msg5967553

The spelling of "perverting" not a problem, eh? Perverting's OK. You gone full German or is it me? I was trying to imply that he's well up to speed on perversion.

The spelling of "perverting" not a problem, eh?

It's not over. The verdict of "unlawful killing" is just the start. It's a prerequisite for any criminal investigation and prosecution, which will hopefully follow now.

Agreed. Being inept at your job can definitely be a crime if you're grossly negligence, but yeah, the systematic cover up and smear campaign by the authorities (which literally began while the disaster was still unfolding) is somehow the most despicable aspect. Does anyone know if the cover up represents a crime in any way? It seems so wrong for fuckers like MacKenzie and Bernard Ingham to get away scot-free for the unrepentant torment they inflicted upon the families of the victims.

That body screams professional athlete I thought it was a still from the latest shit Adam Sandler movie.

Who knows for sure? AFAIK, the decision to open the gate wasn't criticised, just the failure to usher the incoming fans into the side pens after doing so.

Yes. The problem was, due to the stadium design (you couldn't see into the stand from the tunnel), everyone surging in (so as not to miss kick-off) went straight down the tunnel into the 2 central pens, which were already full, instead of into the pens to either side, where there was room. You can see here how there's plenty of room in the pen closest to the camera: http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/FAF9/production/_86094246_lepp.jpg Before opening the gate, the police should have closed off the tunnel to the central pens and directed the incoming fans to the pens to either side. This was the normal procedure under the previous game commander, but Duckenfield had never commanded a game at Hillsborough before and didn't know what he was doing. There was certainly some inherent danger in the stadium due to bad design and crumbling crush barriers, but mostly the disaster was caused by a whole series of bad decisions by the police. And when people started dying, many of the police actively hindered attempt to help. They pushed people trying to escape back into the pens. They wouldn't let ambulances into the ground. They arrested people tearing down hoardings to use as stretchers. Many of the victims weren't taken to hospital. They were dumped in a gym without medical attention and left to die, while coppers stood around stuffing their faces with fried chicken. Literally while people were still being crushed to death, the police started their cover-up and smear campaign.