number37

I think it's just finished actually, Real Madrid won again, was a bit odd though for the African and Asian qualifying as they weren't sure if/when/where the competition was happening because of the real world cup and the African/Asian champions leagues hadn't finished.

Aye, it's why it's a 7 team thing. One for the champions of each confederation plus the domestic champions from the hosts who play off against the Oceania champions (usually Auckland) in the first game.

He was wearing clothes underneath, wasn't he?

That's not a bad idea actually. Wall off the city and turn it into a massive game of that medieval football they have in Alnwick every year when it lasts all day and no one has scored a goal since the 1720s, which, considering our clean sheet record, wouldn't be much of a departure from the norm.

I know I don't really get out much but there's very little I wouldn't do to be able to see the Tynemouth Infirmary Cup and the original Northumberland Senior Cup. Throw in some original West End and East End shirts, badges or other paraphernalia and the club might as well have all my time and money.

Would the club have grounds to take the creator of that to court over copyright infringement and bringing the club into disrepute? Could NewcastleGateshead sue for reputational damage to the region? How about Sage for similar reasons? I'm sure the estate of Sir Bobby Robson would have enough for libel proceedings, so would Eddie Howe - assuming he's not already eyeing up another job. Would the cost of a DBS check be incorporated into the cost of that flag or is it separate?

Of course we know why they'll be treated differently but Bury and Macclesfield were kicked out the league for, in simple terms, greed and/or financial incompetence on a far, far less of a scale than Manchester City and without the need for fabrication and (alleged) tax shenanigans on a sovereign wealth level. As far as I know, Bury "just" had shit owners, they didn't buy their way to league titles through financial doping. The Premier League would require balls the size of a Ukrainian helicopter fighter pilot to implement what they should implement but they won't though.

In New Zealand they use base isolators where they separate the building from its foundations and put what are essentially large rubber springs in between to absorb the impact. On one of my many wanderings around the Beehive in Wellington they took me on a tour to show me as Parliament, Wellington and New Zealand in general is a matter of yards away from a fault line. Obviously no consolation at all for the people of Turkey right now, I can't imagine what it must be like to be at the mercy of nature in such a devastating way.

Would it not have to pass some kind of fire regulations first before it can be taken into a stadium? So if someone were to set fire to it and it's destroyed then that means it's not safe but if it does survive then set fire to it again to make sure?

Fabian Schär like Philippe Albert. Absolutely glorious.

I appreciate the sentiment but I reckon the music's ruined everything.

I thought it was just me! Surely Southampton have to score three more to win? We've got this.

I think they're working on something where you can get all the original lettering in a box all jumbled up and you have to put them together yourself in the correct order.

It would be mint if there was a video of Schar walking up to him, putting his hand on Ashby's shoulder and saying "I will protect you". All while Schar is looking directly at Anthony Gordon.

He's going on about our "strength in depth". The same strength in depth that's just lost to a Third Division side.

Probably have trouble getting it up.

I always get confused by terms like 'Arsenal Twitter' because I was expecting what I was about to read to have been posted by the Arsenal Twitter account and not just some random idiot. There's not even a subdomain is there? Like arsenal.twitter.com? So it's just Twitter and a post (albeit crazy stupid) involving Arsenal. Anyway, I'd better get back to reading 'South East Asian Travel: This Sort of Thing Is My Bag, Baby" by Paul Gadd.

Modern trophy presentations are shit. Need to get back to getting it in the middle of a crowd in the stands like in the good old days, then you can piss about on some stupid stage in your Cobra Kai outfit.

I like how the Emir of Qatar still has to wear his FIFA lanyard yet Gianni Infantino reckons it's beneath him. Today he feels like the King of Kings.

I'm so glad it's not just me who thinks it's funny/odd why American media often writes it like that. Bless them.

I totally agree with you, it's one of my many pet peeves, not quite xG or some other made-up irrelevant stat levels of hate but it's close because it's just such a pointless thing to mention - pretty much for the reasons you say. It's perfectly normal for countries to specialise in a sport that goes against their population count. New Zealand are historically the greatest side in rugby and Hungary having water polo are admittedly the only two examples that come to mind right now but as you say, why haven't China, India or even America cleaned up at Every World Cup? Surely a billion people are automatically better than a few million in a single sport? That's how it works, right? Unless they're all managed by Gareth Southgate and every defeat is because they've bottled it. The Olympics is different, a multi sport event where it makes sense that a larger population will certainly have an advantage as you have more people to enter more sports and be successful, it's no coincidence that the countries who top the medal table tend to be larger and richer.

Ian Wright saying Ronaldo doesn't like hearing the word 'No', probably hasn't heard it all that often. I think he's heard it, just hasn't been listening. (Safety allegedly?)

I, for one, can't wait for the statshaggers to ruin Morocco's win by saying if matches were determined by some imaginary metric then Spain would have won instead.