brummie

However, the forces of good triumphed over those of evil shortly after: https://x.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1717614151483170827?s=20

Look at this absolute jobsworth cunt. Honestly, a grown fucking adult doing this to a kid. I don't like those "can i have your shirt" things usually, but how can someone be such a cunt and make a kid burst into tears like that? https://x.com/KeslerSZN/status/1717570665606209855?s=20

I just want to say, whenever I think of Unai Emery, or even see him, i feel my chest tighten and my heart start to beat a bit quicker. I love that man so much, I'd let him adopt me* * possible problem in him being younger than me, I'd adopt him instead, but the Mrs wouldn't like it. Although, if I did and he lived with us, inside a few weeks he'd have trained her intensely and got her cooking properly, emptying the bins, changing the cat litter, doing the washing up, basically all the things I do that she seemingly can not. He'd also probably have her playing out from the back** with confidence. ** F'naar f'naar

She worked for us for a short while a couple of years ago and genuinely alienated every single person she worked with, a proper nasty piece of work by all accounts.

AZ second in the Dutch league, yet went 3-0 up at HT at home to the Bosnian team in our group, only to lose 3-4.

Christ, that's shit. And it's purely about commercialism because it's hard to sell single seats. My biggest gripe in football ATM is that the prices are 50 or 60 quid a ticket, yet the actual service (not the on-pitch, i mean the rest) you get is still not reflecting those prices. Them telling you where you'll sit is a great example of it, you're paying big money, but you'll sit where they want you to. We have had our own version of this this season - they've created two 'premium' areas in the Holte end, one which is new and has been carved out of existing food / drink space and costs 40 quid or so a match to go in, and another which is under the Holte and was previously free to ST holders to use, but is now an 'all you can eat and drink' place for 60 quid - and that's on top of your ticket price, but if you want a ticket and the food, they keep 1000 seats not on general sale but reserved for these 60 quid people, which is fucking annoying, but more so because elsewhere in the ground you can be paying over 60 quid for your ticket but with even shitter refreshment options than before.

Couple of (genuine) questions - you buy a seat and they just allocate you one where they fancy it? How on earth does that work? That sounds weird. Also re singing areas, does SJP still have the Gallowgate in the sense it did in the 80s, or pre all-seater? I mean, is that still your 'singing and standing' end? The Holte is still ours, but also the lower north stand, in both of which everyone stands, but I can't see how something like auto allocation would ever work with that sort of set up - I never go in the Holte any more because I'm not up for standing and/or singing for 90 minutes any more, and I wouldn't go in our lower North stand for the same reasons (and also that I am not up for pointing at and shouting at away fans, either). I know standing is not supposed to happen, but it's obviously tacitly accepted everywhere, but only in certain places. I can't imagine getting allocated a ticket behind thousands of people who are all stood up.

One of the weirdest things I've seen was our match at Legia Warsaw this season - their fans sang literally start to finish, but with absolutely zero change in the singing when they scored or when they conceded, it was like they were just singing and there was no match going on.

To be fair, they were very good, at least in the first half which is all I saw. They looked dangerous as fuck on the break.

He was a (pointless) answer on the final round in Pointless today.

Fuck off, Carpethead.

i think if we lost Watkins he’d move things around, specifically Diaby. Not ideal though but like you said, losing players to injury is never good. worth noting we’ve already had horrendous injury problems - Buendia did his acl four days before the season started, Mings did his on the first game, Jacob Ramsey (who is mega important to us) broke his foot in the summer, came back two weeks ago and reinjured himself in his first match, and Alex Moreno, who did brilliantly last season, has been out since May. Mings, Moreno and Ramsey is most of our left side. I think both us and you will find it tough going in terms of depth in the new year when European games start to bite. Still, nice problem to have.

You know, that's the best way to be. I don't look around us and thinking "oh they're doing this, and they're doing that" but just enjoy a prolonged period of being really good rather than the preceeding very, very long period of being shit.

It is getting much, much more competitive at the top end, as the likes of us and you are starting to look like fulfilling potential after spending a decade stinking of death, there's Brighton also looking decent as the wild card too, and even Spurs looking decent. It's way more interesting than watching the 'big four' engaging in a circle-wank year after year.

We are averaging over 2 points a game in the 12 months (as of last week) since Emery came. I know it's not the same exactly, but it is a good indicator.

Jesus, anyone not understanding what a shitty state Italian football is in just needs to look at the line ups in that Milan - Juventus game. Weston McKennie actually starting games for Juventus. Moise Kean. Scezny in nets. Jesus. That's your actual Juventus, right there.

That's a good example of where it gets complex. If you are say, 50 something and grew up north Brum, you'll probably hate Albion as they were our original derby, going back to the formation of the league. Some of our fans that side of town loathe them. I am in that age group, but grew up south Birmingham, where it was all about loathing Blues. The only Albion fan i ever really encountered as a kid was one of my uncles! Another complicating factor - we attract miles more support outside Brum than say Albion or Blues, down the M40 and the M5 corridors. It's a totally different dynamic than being a Leeds or a Newcastle.

It's not a two team city, it's a three team one, and the West Midlands, which is basically these days one contiguous urban sprawl from west of Wolverhampton to Coventry contains god knows how many teams. Villa Park, the Hawthorns and the Sty are all about 2 miles apart.] What's more, it is a significantly bigger city than Newcastle, which is a small place (basically, only half as much population again as Solihull, which is a suburb of Brum) and a one club city and of course the dynamics are different.

It's also a sign of success that we're winning over new fans, like yourself! Half expecting to see you change your username to UTV25 sometime soon!

One year ago today, Steven Gerrard sacked before getting on the team bus home after a meek 3-0 defeat at Fulham. We were 17th, and only not in the relegation places on goals scored. P11 - W2 D3 L6 = 9 points. Abysmal and getting worse. Emery arrives, and delivers - with the same squad minus 1 striker and plus 1 left back: P25 - W15 D4 L6 = 49 points. Last week, I genuinely heard Joe Cole say that Gerrard had created the platform for Emery to build on. They never learn, do they? It's like saying, "the fire brigade did a great job putting out that burning house, but they were really building on the work of the arsonist".

Now then, now then, I have in front of me a letter from a young man called Paddy Power, who says, "Dear Sandro Jim, can you fix it for me to get a decent price on over 2.5 goals on Newcastle this weekend?" etc etc

DANGERWANK.

Italy are just running past Phillips like he's not there.

Regardless of results, Southgate just makes England so, so boring to watch. On top of that, he's such an unlikeable cunt, he does himself no favours. It's like watching Crystal Palace.

Konsa? Dunk? Tomori? Nah, stick 'H' in there.