TheBrownBottle

Len Shackleton managed to get a benefit game out of them by threatening to grass them up re illegal payments to players

Bird’s a tiresome hack. It is a bit of an insult to KSA that somehow we’ll be able to come in and just take our pick. I don’t think we’ll sign anyone from KSA - loan or not. I don’t picture Eddie being overly keen on signing a mercenary like Neves on loan - particularly given he’s been playing uncompetitive football for half a year. Watching the other clubs getting their knickers in a twist is entertaining, though.

Obviously it’s a horrible crime, but I can’t help but think that those who misspell ‘paedo’ are the ones who are likely to spray ‘nonce’ on the car bonnet and push dog shit through the letterbox of an unassuming paediatrician

There’s too many broken Mackems in the world …

Ah, 1994. When we were really good, and they were in the second division. Hang on, maybe it is 1994 again?

‘Why is it a two thirds majority?’ It always has been, you dozy cunt

Tbf I was just referring to the European field being the weakest it’s been in any of our lifetimes. I know who Croatia has beaten, but the point is more that Italy, Germany etc have never been as poor as they are at present. This is a massive opportunity to actually win something.

That’s surprising for me, but it’s good news of course. Usually means we get a better cut of sales - and for those who actually buy club gear, bespoke kit designs etc. The drop off in quality towards the end of adidas’s time last time out was really clear - loads of generic adidas kits.

It’s a lot if you can’t spend £60m, mind.

The club has done nowt to date about this stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised for that to continue.

An England team which had to get past the collective might of *checks notes* Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden to get there (they lost to Belgium in the group stage). Every single previous England manager could’ve managed to do that - a more favourable run to a SF is unimaginable.

Croatia aren’t a big game nation akin to a Holland or Spain - they aren’t a traditional European heavyweight. I do wonder if a unified Yugoslavia would have won a WC in the last 30 years, mind (there’s a good chance they would have). Either way, no England manager has ever encountered a European football scene as bereft as the current one.

Southgate’s win ratio at the smoggies is almost identical to ours under Bruce - and Bruce didn’t have the advantage of two months in the second division to bolster that.

If he was managing the team in ‘94 he’d have failed to qualify too. Let’s face it, England’s international record is garbage for a number of reasons - one of those being that we don’t produce large numbers of quality players. That isn’t the case at present - and the international field is as weak as it has ever (and likely will ever) be.

Maybe Bruce would have been similar. I’d stake my house on knowing what Southgate’s post-England career will look like, and it’ll be hard to distinguish between him, Bruce and Pardew.

We’re not going to agree on Southgate Yorkie the man is too conservative for me. The Euro 2020 final should have been curtains for him. He’s a cautious, conservative manager wasting an opportunity not afforded to his predecessors - no-one post war has seen such a complete lack of footballing talent in most of the big nations (France excluded). Germany and Italy are the worst they’ve been post-war; Holland and Spain look brittle and mediocre. England in the meantime have more genuine attacking talent than they’ve had at any point in the past - and this bloke plays double-pivots, rotating between a player playing in a (dry) pub league, a player who has barely played in two years, and a player who is actually a full back.

Honestly, thank fuck I’m from Newcastle. Must be a nightmare to be from a smaller provincial town and this is the best football a team you support is likely to play. No wonder half the soppy twats end up supporting ‘United’ or Chelsea etc.

Any Southgate England game tbf. Southgate is a manager capable of making experimental XIs boring. If you’re going to experiment, how about playing a 2-3-5 formation and making it fun

He’s a nice chap and won’t rock the boat. Custom designed for the Old Etonians on the FA ExCo.

Usually lower league supporters with no chance of European football. It’s also why you often see the small town names on the St George’s flags in the away end. I went away with England once many moons ago, and instantly hated it.

International football doesn’t feel like the appropriate time to start trying players in completely new positions. And it isn’t as if England are underserved in that position. Agreed, hopefully we don’t see this again.

It’s funny how irritated I get watching England. I don’t really give much of a shite about the results, and therefore I’d just like a bit of entertainment. I don’t care in the way that I do for my real national side, so watching some canny football would get me engaged. This is just fucking turgid, and there isn’t any excuse given the players at the manager’s disposal.

Probably because he’s a full back being played as a trequartista by the overcautious berk in charge

Good old ‘One Size’

Graham Potter got a job then?