TheBrownBottle

Isn’t context fun? Here’s Sunderland players celebrating their Papa John’s Football League Mickey Mouse Cup win: I even saw the fans celebrating like loons the year before when they scored in the Papa Johns final at Wembley. So they’re the last set of fans on earth in a position to sneer at where we are …

Completely agree. Four in a row was an impassable barrier - most football anoraks could name those clubs who’d managed three (Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd) - but Man City have just broken another one with little fanfare. Their treble last year just seemed a bit flat to me - a procession instead of a triumph. I get that people think it’s funny that the same old clubs can’t get past them, but I do think that there is a joylessness to it all.

Yep. I think he’s worth what we paid. We didn’t get what we paid for. This doesn’t mean I think he’s rubbish or anything - I just don’t see anyone paying much more than that

I still think the East stand should have been named after him. Perhaps if we remain at SJP, the new East Stand could be named in his honour? edit: the statue of Robson is still mystifying to me btw.

A very young Alan Shearer comes into shot on 00:19

Or Wilson & Trippier for that matter

Half both those valuations and you're on the money I reckon

There was a replica PL trophy at SJP in 1996 just in case Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough team did us a favour and got a result against Man Utd. Which seems less likely than Arsenal winning it

I was one of the daft twats who fell for it. My ST was in the lower part of the Leazes. There was a bloke near me with a tranny who turned to a few of us and said '1-0 Leeds! (Brian) Deane has scored!' I jumped up and started shouting that Deane had scored for Leeds. Hopefully I wasn't alone, but half the Leazes started going crackers. Then the stupid cunt told us he'd misheard, and it was 1-0 Man Utd, Keane had scored. So if you remember a spotty teenager with a blonde mop of hair jumping up and shouting that, then apologies - that was me

Lewis Miley seems to be pronounced Lou-ee despite his name not being Louis.

18 hours and the rest - there’s no direct flight from London to Melbourne even for wealthy footballers. It’s closer to a day’s flight.

You’re all harder bastards than me. Travelling against the clock (UK to Australia) is knackering. Melbourne is only nine hours different at the moment (half the year it’s eleven hours) but jet leg impacts everyone. Some can cope with it better than others.

I can disagree with it - he’s using a comma before a verb in a relative clause. The entire article is replete with this sort of thing - there’s an obvious comma splice in it too, as well as the use of a comma before a subordinate conjunction. It’s a piece of piss to point at signs for shops which have an incorrect use of the apostrophe and feel superior. I can’t be arsed with it personally - and the people who do it wouldn’t thank others for pointing out the flaws in their prose.

Do it in a Mackem accent. Definitely homophones in that part of the world

There are exceptions to every rule …

It’s a hard life - I miss Tyneside at this time of year, mind. That feeling has usually disappeared by the start of October, though!

Yeah, it wasn’t a well-thought out simile tbh mate. I agree - was trying to think of another sport which people are aware of players and teams but aren’t turning it on to actually watch it

I am still of the opinion that at the start of the season 7th would have been a solid achievement and a good season, and still of that view. We had a terrible time from late Nov - late Jan, but generally this has been a good season. And Howe should take the credit for that (though I do think there are justifiable criticisms of some of his actions, and questions about whether his style of play and training methods are a cause of the ongoing injury crises). He is ending the season with credit in the bank, even if not quite as much as last season. I’m looking forward to next season, especially to seeing how he has learned from this season (defensive issues; away form; etc). I hope that’s with European football in the bag so he can implement there what he’s learned too - we’d start the season as favourites to win the Conference League, and that hasn’t been the case many times in our past. This time next year we might be talking about getting the man a statue if he can be the one to finally get that fucking trophy albatross off our backs

Optus don’t publish viewing figures - but they’ve got just under a million subscribers to Optus Sports. But Optus also gives away Optus Sports for free many of its mobile phone deals, and it’s the equivalent of about £3.50 per month otherwise. Even if every subscriber watched a game (which they won’t) it would be dwarfed by the AFL and NRL viewing figures. The PL isn’t popular in any meaningful sense - people are aware but that doesn’t mean that they’re sat watching it. People often speak to people who share their own interests. There’s no chance it could be considered popular generally - the high number of immigrants in Sydney helps the interest levels, but most Aussies I’ve met either in work or outside of it are aware of the PL, know who Man Utd and Liverpool are, but couldn’t hold more than a brief conversation about any details on the sport.

I’m not sure most of our livers fully functioned by the age of 16 tbh

Drinking 20/20 in Twenty20 tops is the way forward (though I don’t think 20/20 exists anymore … I’m about three decades away from my last sup of it but can still taste the vomit from it …)

That’s ladge, as we used to say when I was young. Absolutely grasping stuff. But I agree - people are being suckered out of their hard-earned. Bollocks to that. They should use that money and buy tickets to see their local A-League side. If I have to suffer it, they should too …

Apologies folks, didn’t realised that FaceTime was unbanned in KSA. Just the death penalty for being homosexual or renouncing the Islamic faith it is, then. But I guess you have to start somewhere.

4-2 win here to wrap up 7th