woody

I see Maguire's been taking arm waving lessons from Stevie Taylor

Ah, now it all makes sense.

Loved this piece but wouldn't want Hodgson anywhere near us. He led a few coaching sessions over here in Canada and was super sexist about women's football.

That's really interesting. My youngest sister was on the Canadian junior national team at points as it was being overhauled and it's surprising (although it shouldn't be) how often politics - like who is close to the coach or in one case who was a booster for the team - still influences decisions. Credit to her, she turned 17 and decided she'd rather go in to medicine than try to eke out a living as a footballer.

When Laurent Robert destroyed Ollie Bernard's brain with a thunderbastard of a clearance.

It's wild. "You know what when you see those fans outside Saint James' Park celebrating their club been bought out by murderers and owners who support beheadings, stoning of women and gay people it makes you physically sick." Followed by: "Another club to dislike that I have never really been fussed about previously. I thought the point of sports washers was to put a positive spin on their countries and improve people's opinions of them but to me I instantly get the opposite vibes it seems. Like an allergy it's taken some time to pin down but after chelsea, psg, city and now these the pattern is clearer." Whew.

It's honestly tough to sum up. Long time lurker (since the Toontastic board war days) and Ashley took over when I was 16. Since then, I've gone away to university, started a job, gotten married, moved across the world and given up on the club. My partner bought me tickets to see the 2020 New Year's game against Leicester and while it was amazing to explore the city, it felt oddly empty going to a game with Bruce in charge. I grew up on Canada's west coast so spent years as a kid either waking up at 5am or hoping the VCR worked to record the game in time. It feels surreal to see Ashley's reign end and think about just how long it's been. The level of passion isn't there anymore, but I hope I can find at least a spark to get me back in to it.

I picked an awful time to give up booze.