christ

This probably isn’t news to anyone who is around the training ground.

If you can’t understand why a pressure group may attempt to hand the letter to the manager of the Premier League team owned by the state of Saudi Arabia rather than airmail it to Riyadh then I can’t help you. It should be obvious. Trying to police the terms on which people raise awareness about what’s going on in Saudi Arabia is all part of sportswashing. You can’t allow them to access to the Premier League, allow them to purchase a plaything to launder their reputation, and complain when others use their presence in this particular sphere to point out they’re villains. It doesn’t matter that we have an emotional attachment to the club and might feel like we’re being attacked personally. It’s all part of the deal.

Why should I? It’s my club. I’ll keep supporting the team but I do so fully aware of who our owners are and with an always hypercritical eye on them. I’ll also not take it as a personal attack if someone tries to do something to raise awareness of the situation in Saudi. I hoped our supporters would keep their head’s screwed on, and we’d not allow ourselves to be ‘sportswashed’. The fact someone doing something as inoffensive as handing a letter to the club’s most prominent employee is met with such outrage suggests I was a bit fucking optimistic.

That’s all moot. He’s the de facto spokesperson for the Saudi state’s most visible asset. This is a thing that he’s going to have to confront on occasion. He’ll be aware of that. We don’t get the luxury of being able to spend that filthy Arabian lucre and not have to think about where it’s come from. Just because it might make us, or the players and staff feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean its in anyway unfair when others dare to do something to draw attention to it.

I’m sure he’ll cope.

He can’t do anything, but that’s not the point is it? It’s about generating awareness of what’s going on in Saudi.

Probably not be popular but I don’t think people who are either genuinely or performatively anti-Saudi are being unduly harsh on the club, those employed by the club or in a lot of cases the fans. Someone trying to hand Howe a letter bothers me much less than some of the shit our owners are into.

Said it in the Bournemouth match thread, but I think the unbeaten run was a millstone. We need to take more risks, not settle for draws. This might well be the catalyst for it.

Murphy

Other than that 10 minute brainfart we’ve genuinely been the better team. Absolutely infuriating.

Shot ourselves in the cock here, like. Dreadful ten mins.

Never heard a bad word said against him. Seemed like a really kind soul off the pitch. RIP.

Business ain’t what it used to be.

I might be around if there’s room for another two?

You’ve got my vote.

This is the problem that comes with demand outstripping supply. Some people don’t get what they want. I binned my ST off under Ashley and lost my loyalty points. If I thought there was something the club could do to fix this situation I’d be booting off but ultimately there’s no easy solution. I didn’t get a final ticket, but I think approach was as fair as could be in the circumstances. An effort was made to give ‘loyal’ fans (by all conventional markers such as points, ST holding etc) first dibs and then some tickets we left to spread around the rest of the fanbase. Appreciate people who were in P4 and didn’t get one are pissed off that people in P6 did, but it’s not like you weren’t warned it was a ballot.

Must be miserable to be a Saints fan right now. A club that has given up.

Jet fewl can’t melt steel beams marra

Got to be honest, I always thought TF was try-hard as fuck when it came to the non-football stuff. Dreadful dinner party liberalism put to paper by a bloke who went to see 808 State once and thought he was Madchester incarnate. Even as a nascent lefty in the early to mid 00s who threw himself at the feet of anyone vaguely radical I knew it was properly shit. Shame like, because there was evidently a market for a left leaning fanzine that wasn’t a tribute to Red Issue. I’ve no idea of the politics of Hurst et al but it wouldn’t surprise me if MM has got into bed with the type of people he spent most of the last thirty years performatively attacking. Keep on keepin’ on.

Thought he was better today. End product wasn’t great but he was at least carrying the ball a bit more effectively than West Ham.

Does feel like it’s becoming a bit of a millstone. Might give the lads a kick up the arse.

Absolutely dog shit today like. Probably the worst we’ve played this season. Not sure whether it’s fatigue or players just losing a bit of confidence in each other. We’re increasingly ponderous around the box and teams know they can just dig in and crowd us out because everyone’s looking for a six yard sideways pass that is going to unlock something. It’s not working so we’re making mistakes and teams aren’t as frightened of us as they were before Christmas. We’re a team in transition so it’s not surprising that performances have dipped. We are overly reliant on a few genuinely class players to pull everyone up a level or two, and that’s worn off a bit.

Thanks for bumping it and making us all think there was tragic news.

Applied. If I get tickets I think I’ll pass out.

Rare Mike Ashley W.