GideonShandy

This site allows you to see how the final table would look after predicting the 8th round results. www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/simulator/ Assuming we lose to PSG, I got Galatasaray, Qarabag and Napoli as likely knockout opponents.

https://www.amazon.com/Cricket-Its-Funny-Old-Game/dp/1843170906

Are there any old games that aren't funny?

"Former Newcastle United owner Sir John Hall said he had switched from backing the Conservatives to become a Reform UK donor because he felt his English way of life was “under threat”. Nigel Farage announced at a rally near Sunderland how the businessman who was behind the success of the MetroCentre had switched his allegiance to Reform UK. Sir John raised his fists from the balcony as the audience cheered, shouting “come on”. . . . “English is my way of life, which I feel is under threat,” the 91-year-old told reporters. “The Reform party are the only ones I feel who are going to speak about saving my English culture.” Sir John, who grew up in a Northumberland mining family and made his fortune developing Europe’s largest shopping centre on Tyneside, said he was not against immigration. “But I am against people who are coming, not really to be part of our society, but to bring over their own ways and try and install them, the way they want to live.” He added: “We have sleepwalked into this battle for hearts and minds and souls of everybody here. Nigel Farage is the only one who speaks for what I feel should be my English way of life.” In a statement released by Reform, Sir John added: “I supported both personally and financially the Conservative Party in the North East for decades but now I see the only party, and the only politician, to have the interests of Great Britain at its heart is Reform UK and Nigel Farage.” 27 June 2024

And learn to run faster.

Howe did a fantastic job back then and still is IMHO. Still shouldn't forget that it was Staveley who had the good judgment to appoint him when pundits and journalists were urging her to go for the likes of Steven Gerrard and scoffing at Eddie for getting Bournemouth relegated.

Called the referee a cocksucking motherfucker.

All over the place . . .

Wissa was worser.

Showing my age . . . Keegan Howe Robson Harvey Benitez Hughton Cox Smith McFaul Roeder Pardew Gullitt Dalglish Ardiles Allardyce Lee Charlton Dinnis McLaren Kinnear Souness McGarry Bruce

Wait until he grows strong enough to give 110% effort every game.

Could be encouraging news for Amanda and her family. Really interesting although not directly football-related. [Edit -- I now see this was previously posted on the "Backroom staff" thread.]

https://www.upcounsel.com/buy-back-agreement-definition

But if Trafford had chosen us, and Burnley then went ahead and sold him to us, despite having an equivalent offer from City, wouldn't Burnley have been in breach of its contract with City? Still can't see what value the option is if the player and his current club can just decide to ignore it.

Didn't City have a contractual option to buy him back? And wouldn't such an option be meaningless if the player could simply decide to move somewhere else when the club holding the option tried to exercise it? Never been sure how this works.

Bob Mortimer has a cat called Goodmonson.

Wolves quoting West Ham £40 million for Strand Larson after rejecting £55 million from us four months ago. West Ham say "£40 million? You must be joking!" www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cn8271v3jz3o

The whole article is nice. Here's the Bruno bit. One small moment at the RVI is almost impossible to bear: as Guimaraes, a man who has everything, hands out a teddy, he receives a box of his favourite Kinder chocolates in return. The entire notion of giving back is upended. He looks poleaxed. “Amazing,” Newcastle’s captain says later, his voice thick. “It’s like we’re coming here to make the kids happy; they are in a difficult moment and they still try to make us happy as well. It’s very special. It means a lot to me, something I will never forget.” Guimaraes chokes as he speaks. “I’m so happy to represent this club, this city. No words needed.” Guimaraes arrived on Tyneside in January 2022, the first, extraordinary transfer window that followed the club’s Saudi-led takeover the previous October. His signing from Lyon for £40million ($53m) was a statement of intent and a nod towards the kind of team Newcastle yearned to be. From his perspective, it was a leap of faith; his new club were in the bottom three of the Premier League. A Brazil midfielder who brought quality, tempo and emotion to Howe’s side, Guimaraes was adored from the start. “How it came to be like that is a difficult question for me, because I would never, ever have believed it when I signed, but now I feel that here is my home,” he says. “I never thought this would happen.” He cannot quite say the same about Wembley, that 2-1 victory over Liverpool and becoming one of the hallowed men who swept away Newcastle’s past. “I always said I want to put my name on the club’s history,” Guimaraes recalls. “Now I feel it. It was unbelievable. We won a trophy, we made history and my life changed a lot.” Sadness has passed. Guimaraes chuckles. The 28-year-old has an expressive face and his eyes become big. “Sometimes when I go out, people won’t let me pay the bill for dinner or for washing my car,” he says. “So if life has changed for me, then I cannot put into words what changed in their lives.” To become an immediate, automatic legend: how must that feel? “I don’t know if I’m a legend or not! This is another tough question to answer,” Guimaraes says. “Whenever I go to sleep the night before a game, I think to myself, ‘I have to give my best because this place is so special’. It’s not about a club; it’s about the whole city. I just want to keep writing history here, keep winning, help the club get bigger and bigger. I hope when I leave, other players will come here and say, ‘I want to have a legacy as Bruno did’. I don’t consider myself a legend. One day, I hope I can be.”

Why would a selling club have to pay a transfer fee? Sounds like a frivolous lawsuit to me.

You don't think Liverpool tapped him up, told him (probably via third parties) how much they'd pay him in wages if he got the move, how much they were willing to pay as a transfer fee, and that they'd cover his "loyalty bonus," and urged him to act up and go on strike so as to pressure us into selling as cheaply as possible? I do. And I may be naive but I doubt that we did that with Wissa.

He's not just any player. He's the one player who actively sabotaged our club for his own selfish reasons. If Vladimir Putin or Jimmy Savile or Bernie Madoff or Trump broke a leg I wouldn't feel bad about gloating or at least enjoying the situation a bit. The Rat is in the same category for me. And it's only a broken leg. It'll get better. It's not like gloating over someone being killed or brain-damaged or blinded. And to say that Liverpool were behind it all, while true, lets the Rat off much too easily. Liverpool didn't make him go on strike, refuse to play or train, pretend to be injured, tell a pack of lies about "broken promises" etc. He chose to do all that.

How can "Heeheehee" be leading "Hahaha"? This deserves a proper laugh, not a surreptitious giggle.

Plus his medical bills.

Maybe Wolves will agree to let Strand Larsen go for £85 million or so.