ponsaelius

Pardew. He was clearly Ashley's man more than any and that had the biggest negative impact. His moderate early success coupled with trotting out the regime propaganda succeeding in brainwashing loads of our fans and stripping the club of its former ambition. Some of the others were arguably worse (although I still think many forget just how shit we were for about 3 years under Pardew), but their shiteness didn't fundamentally damage the fanbase in the same way and produce a load of fucking apologists.

https://www.sporcle.com/games/seanmul10/football-clubs-with-zoomed-in-badges?t=soccer 48/50

Absolutely, with the exception of Man U who have the best squad in the league he could play for anyone. Troll.

Writing was on the wall for me when he kept getting described to Michael Carrick. He plays the same way - ponderous, slow - but at an infinitely lower level. I'd probably rather he played further forward. He's proven himself a bit of a goal threat. Hope he can turn it around but seems unlikely under a melon like Bruce.

16 goals in 25 games this season

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/qatar-world-cup-2022-qualifying-b1768149.html

It would take a fool to think that no random supporters would react negatively to the player's political statement before the matches. This is normal. Genuinely stunned that we have CL-level referees with no understanding of how to be culturally sensitive regarding these things with the players. Obviously yes. By Western multicultural standards it isn't great at all. But living in Korea I experienced 'the white guy' and 'the foreigner'. 'The black guy' would certainly be used commonly too I have no doubt. In a post-communist country with probably less than 0.1% of the population being black there are different standards in terms of use of language and what counts as acceptable. It's churlish to ignore cultural relativism when incidents like this happen. UEFA however should surely be vetting their officials on stuff like this to make sure every one of them are singing from the same hymn sheet if they're going to ref on the biggest stage. I've spent a lot of time in Russia, which has similar profile, and you are correct, much of this is cultural difference, but it is hard to be sympathetic with a referee in this situation. He is not a random Romanian. It is his job to interact with footballers, many of whom are Black or of African descent and will speak little Romanian. You cannot rise to the top of the profession and have so little understanding. It's been a forefront issue in football for fifteen years now. Mistake, language issue, or whatever it is, this is part of your job and he has failed miserably. Yeah, all fair tbh. It'd be interesting to know how many games he's actually properly reffed outside of Romania.

Obviously yes. By Western multicultural standards it isn't great at all. But living in Korea I experienced 'the white guy' and 'the foreigner'. 'The black guy' would certainly be used commonly too I have no doubt. In a post-communist country with probably less than 0.1% of the population being black there are different standards in terms of use of language and what counts as acceptable. It's churlish to ignore cultural relativism when incidents like this happen. UEFA however should surely be vetting their officials on stuff like this to make sure every one of them are singing from the same hymn sheet if they're going to ref on the biggest stage.

Apparently 'negru' means black in Romanian. So presumably he pointed him out along the lines of 'the black guy'. Not great at all but definitely some translation/cultural relativism issues here...

Lazio making an absolute pigs ear of this.

Always a good watch since Inzaghi came in. Weak in the middle of defense though - Acerbi aside.

Yeah always keen.

Was Yeading before they merged and I think they were Isthmian Premier - so would have been 7th tier.

In terms of league positions on the pyramid I think this is the biggest gap ever in the FA Cup. Most other countries have a regionalised system earlier in their league pyramid so it's harder to compare really. The Coupe de France has a history for match ups like this (and upsets too) so there might be something equivalent. There's a lot of historic European Cup first round ties that would probably come close - thrashings were regular when it was open draw. If you're including international football then there is qualifying examples from Oceania and Asia which would be a bigger gap (Australia's 31-0 vs American Samoa)

Just seen that Danny Graham has yet to score for them if you discount a goal in an 8-1 win against Villa U23. 1 goal in 55 appearances across both spells which deflected in off his arse. Has any club ever made such an abysmal signing twice? It's like us re-signing Riviere.

Incredible.

What I've also noticed they never do is also freezeframe the moment the ball leaves the players foot to gain the same degree of accuracy at that point. The margin for error in accurately measuring this exact moment (it is surely not possible with the frames available) renders the entire nonsense of then trying to draw a ruler across the pitch even more ridiculous. In fact it's not even ever something that can really be measured precisely, because it's a fluid motion in the same way the player making the run at the other end is. Offsides are a subjective assessment of whether or not a player is gaining an advantage by being beyond the defender at the moment a pass is played. It honestly amazes me that this kind of rubbish has been brought in across the board without nobody at the top of the world game realizing that it simply won't ever work in a sport as fluid as football - not without changing the game for the worse anyway.

The problem is this absolutely ludicrous idea that offsides were ever a black/white thing in the same way goal line technology is. They're not. Trying to measure armpits and toenails across multiple players on a TV camera from an obtuse angle is not only flawed and inaccurate, it's completely against the entire spirit of why the offside rule was introduced and has existed for over 150 years - to stop goalhanging. If a player is broadly level - he's on. Leave it at that and leave it to the human officials on the pitch. It retains the spirit of the rule and protects the pace of the game which is what has made it so globally successful. The can of worms that has been opened up with VAR in trying to scientifically measure an intrinsically subjective game is absolutely ruining everything that is great about football.

Was a great quiz Yorkie, cheers for putting it together Going back to Tyrone Mears and his Jamaican cap: Born and raised in England, Mears believed he had Jamaican ancestry and it was reported on 4 February 2009, that he had accepted an offer to play for the Jamaica national football team. Mears made his debut on 11 February 2009 in a friendly match against Nigeria, playing 71 minutes of the 0–0 draw at the New Den. Mears said, "It was a fantastic feeling to be selected. When John Barnes first phoned me I was really excited. It's a fantastic opportunity to play for Jamaica." Despite making an appearance for Jamaica, it was later reported that Mears' father, whom he thought he qualified through, may actually be from Sierra Leone. An official from the Jamaica Football Federation stated that Jamaica fielded Mears without undergoing thorough checks because verification of a player's passport is not required for friendly internationals and such matches do not affect a player's international eligibility. After discovering his ineligibility to play for Jamaica, Mears petitioned FIFA to have the cap rescinded and have his ongoing eligibility to play for England reaffirmed.

Second this. It's fantastic. What a legend. What he did in Naples is unmatched by any other player.

Yeah I'll play.

Watched half of it before. It's really mundane unless you're a calcio nut or big fan of him as a player. Like I'm thoroughly enjoying it but he's just not that interesting a character really.

This about sums us up in terms of how in-tune we are with the modern game and how far away we are from the best sides tactically.

Yeah I'm in