OpenC

I wouldn't be giving him any grief as a fan, just remembering that he's a bit of a mercenary and holding back on the all out adulation that more limited but more passionate players deserve

I hadn't noticed it anywhere else

There's been Guinness stuff all over the city for the past year, I wondered if something was going on

I mean, I hope the lad is right and that the "nature of the rebuttal" becomes a matter of public record so we can take a bit of pride in our standing firm but I can't imagine a single lowball offer being knocked back is going to put them off too much. They knew they were tens of millions out

The board saying "no, he's not for sale and you can all jog on" would at this stage be their very own version of the team winning the league cup; a nice little break with our past behaviours and performance, and a statement of intent for greater things to come

Yeah Eric is a legend. I used to work for his brother Alec who was also a legend in his own very different field, also a lovely guy When does their season start? Think I'll prioritise a trip up there when alnwick aren't playing or are away somewhere shit edit Already started I see

Did Berwick get relegated in the end or still in the league they were in last year? I'll definitely go back, I had a great day there.

Yeah it's definitely a more visceral experience at non and lower leagues, I prefer it as well now. Don't agree with the shit the officials get but the fan Vs fan stuff can be absolutely spectacular

They can't help falling in love with a loan signing like Will be pronounced like the chorus of Buddy Holly by weezer I reckon

Would you rather that, or £150m that we can't spend anyway and Isak scoring seven against us over the course of the season and helping Liverpool to a second league triumph, his smiley face front and centre on the celebration pictures?

Social Media doesn't even say who she is we're so fucking shit at it Oh hang on, white text fucking awful

Another new signing about to be announced? There's a mystery dark picture on Instagram which I think has preceded all the recent signings

Worst I ever heard was at Berwick, absolutely hideous abuse. Most of what I hear round here is just questioning or trying to influence decisions but at Berwick they were solid, comprehensive curses on the officials and their families going back and forward several generations.

Alnwick comfortably turned over Durham United 4-0 last night, hat trick for Potts who's getting starts since Usman Ogidan went to Northallerton and will hopefully kick on. A professional job against a team who look out of their depth in NL - quiet, and slow to every ball. Somebody said up the page that they're a university team and teams like that often struggle for players early season, which might explain it. Teams and crowds getting at the ref and linesmen is the thing I hate most about football at this level @Kilcline, it's painful to listen to the endless completely false offside / handbaaalll / wor baaaal shouts from Northern League teams and more painful to see how often the officials go with a home bench/crowd (which is why they do it obviously). Happens at all levels obviously, it's just you can hear every word at this level

I don't think I've ever worked for a new director/chief executive/whatever who hasn't trotted out that "it's like changing an aeroplane engine mid flight" bollocks. It's always bullshit and it's especially bullshit here. We didn't even have an aeroplane before

Been said hundreds of billions of times already but if we let him go it's demonstrating that we're happy to continue just making up the numbers. It's not about Isak at this point per se, it's about what sort of club we want to be and how we want to portray ourselves. Clubs with ambitions to be number one don't sell their best players to their rivals because there's a bit of pressure from the media and the player. Doesn't look like we could spend any money we get for him on anybody we couldn't have gone for anyway. What happens here is a great marker of our actual long term ambition and strategy. Interesting times. I would be fucking delighted if they just said no he's not going and benched or dropped him if he goes in the huff about it.

Christ Do they want Isak you reckon? I could live with him going there It's great news and good to see investment but honestly feels a bit crappy that one club is benefitting to that extent while most others are getting fuck all and plenty of it

It's just how she plays, whether intentionally to just look lazy or because she genuinely is lazy. Seems to work for her a lot of the time though

4-3 Jarrow in the end, Alnwick with about seven starters missing due to the early start to the season had a pretty honking first half but gave it a good go second half. A saved penalty could have made it a different story, and a frankly hopeless display of officiating from a ref and linesmen who largely bought all of the home side's unwarranted twisting was aggravating (he played less stoppage time than the time it took a red carded Jarrow player to slowly wander away from the penalty area). Nice to have it back though, and a spirited effort from a cobbled together team.

At Jarrow tomorrow for Alnwick's season opener, second year in a row. What was the score with that big pub just down the road again? Worth a look or one to avoid?

Please note, there is still financial skulduggery involved though

Just a reminder to all of you who are in the process of becoming Done With Football: your local non league club is probably worth a look and could probably do with your support. At first it'll just about scratch the itch, but in a year or two you might be going there on a Saturday and just checking Newcastle and Sunderland scores with everyone else. Give it a go worked for me

At some level blaming the agent and blaming the player become the same thing like. I never draw any distinction myself, if people are making terrible calls because they're allowing themselves to be terribly advised then it's on them

Never been so happy that my interest has been waning for years tbh. Like I posted a couple of months ago I would honestly be happier playing the mackems and Blackpool and Port Vale every week in an actual sporting competition than making up the numbers with a bit of added political intrigue in the rigged shitshow that this level of football has become. Just a global phenomenon with people picking between Liverpool and City the same sort of way as deciding whether they prefer Marvel or DC