TheBrownBottle

Don’t care about the multi-coloured flag of St George, couldn’t give a shite about a redesigned badge (which isn’t as ancient as the usual twats may realise). Price is a disgrace, and I don’t like England’s away colours being changed at any point. Red tops, white shorts, red socks. Them’s the rules.

Funny thing is that I’m one of those that absolutely hates these elements of modern football, and does get sentimental for ‘piss in the pockets’ football ground experiences. I miss terracing and the feel of a crumbling old ground. I miss the days when any working class person to go with their mates and afford to get into the ground, and stand together, and make a racket - and that you could do that from when you were old enough that your mam said you could get the bus to the toon. But I never found that the current SJP replicated that in any way - it’s just a halfway house between the two. You don’t get what you used to get - it’s already a completely different (sanitised) experience to what it once was. The idea that the current SJP is rooted in its community is a mystery to me - it always felt corporate and a bit grim. I don’t at all like the commercialisation of football nor of its stadiums; I don’t like organised fun wank like ‘fan zones’, nor hotdogs to your seat, comfy chairs and directors boxes. I hate that the sport has been wrenched from its working class roots, and commodified for the middle aged and middle class. I couldn’t give two shites if SJP hosts Ed Sheeran to play MOR elevator music to tasteless hordes. But I know that to compete at the highest level, we have to get on that shitty gravy train. There’s nothing misty-eyed old fuckers like me can do about that now.

Anyone know if the FATV player works overseas? Or will I need to VPN it? edit: ignore me, it does work overseas

Gullit’s squad wasn’t particularly good at all - it was a bottom half squad; which is what Robson managed in successive seasons when he took over from Gullit

As a spiteful person, I approve of this message from adidas Fuck Ashley

I actually thought it was disarmingly honest. It has been a disappointing season. Something can still be salvaged, but we’ve been poor for some time. As Bruno said, there are reasons for it, but I can’t imagine that there’s many who if asked if they were happy with the season would say ‘yes’

I didn’t get from any of that that he’s leaving. I haven’t a clue whether he will or not, but he didn’t hint at anything there

I don’t give a shite re NFTs - they separate tech dafties from their money. No issue with them adding to the commercial revenues.

Howe will have taken on the medical team’s advice. He doesn’t hold an MD - I find it incredible that if there was any chance he was aware of this that he’d play the lad. Yes, Botman hasn’t been right since his return - but players coming back from serious injury often don’t look right for a while. I’ve been critical of Howe rushing players back, but there’s no way he plays the lad if he was aware of this. I still think some serious questions need to be asked in the summer about our medical team / sports scientists / physios.

Solano joined us as a RB, so he could play there Speed played LW and CM. He wouldn’t be a LB

Full backs still play full back today - we don’t play CMs and wingers there

Yep. The PL can have its own rules re owner investment, but UEFA can still punish clubs within the federation for stepping over UEFA regs

The problem is that folks think that the argument for a new stadium is getting a few more thousand in. This isn’t it at all. The problem with SJP isn’t just capacity - it’s the fact that it’s a stadium not designed to maximise commercial revenue in the way that modern football stadiums are. If SJP could be expanded to 60k, and all that mattered was regular match day tickets, it wouldn’t be worth a move. But to think that is to miss the point.

Yep. Vs the Smoggies, when he also didn’t track a runner for their equaliser. So easy to forget just how unpopular much of that team was - albeit talented

Likewise mate. To my (correctly felt) shame. Only started appreciating it in the ‘00s, watching the Women’s WC, with Gavin Peacock as a pundit.

He was a superbly gifted player - but anyone my age (41) who drank most nights on the Quayside in the late ‘90s - mid-‘00s have a good idea as to how professional he was, and why he might not have made the most of his undeniable talent

I remember Marco van Basten going on about having no offsides a few years back - but he would say that, he was a centre forward (alongside the Brazilian Ronaldo the best centre forward I’ve seen in my lifetime - the man had everything - but it was a forward’s take nonetheless)

Yeah, I think that's fair. I'm probably going around in circles anyway - I'd just like some clarity. By end of August, I agree I think we'll be far more clear

100% - KSA has practically zero debt, so there are all kinds of avenues available. But the PIF is also not the same as the Abu Dhabi / Qatari investments a la Man City / PSG. I think what many are hoping for is for FFP to be wiped away, and we go on a Man City-style splurge. I don't think either of these things is likely to occur under any circumstances; football will have some form of financial governance, and the appetite to 'do a Man City' (in terms of CAPEX) is also unlikely in any case.

It could also be that the club hasn’t challenged the rules because they have no interest in challenging them. Because they don’t have the money to just hoy at a football club (no sniggering back there) The PIF is down to $15bn in cash reserves. Which to you and me is a pretty penny, but it’s also not really enough to be chucking a significant chunk of that at a foreign football club https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-14/saudi-arabia-s-pif-to-ramp-up-bond-sales-ipos-to-pay-for-mbs-s-projects?embedded-checkout=true

Yes, which the PL has just adopted for next season It is more stringent than the existing rules, given that it is based around %s of turnover rather than acceptable losses edit: there are over 1,000 professional clubs who are UEFA members. Not one to date has had their noses put out of joint enough to come out and talk about taking UEFA to court. I’m still not seeing where this groundswell of opinion is coming from in terms of clubs

I can forgive stupid, pissed-up teenage boys doing this stuff (I understand why others might not) He’s an old man. Horrible bastard

Barring something crackers like ten straight losses, he has to be given this season, the summer window and a significant proportion of next season for me too. It is far, far too early to be talking about him getting sacked (the only ‘rogue’ element was not knowing what the owners might do). He’s shown that he’s a top rate coach, and a really good manager. He’s having to be reactive now due to a number of things going against him / us - most of which are outside of his control, but I also think some were in his control and he’s made some mistakes. I want to see what he’s learned next season - there’s credit in the bank yet; but not as much as there was a few months ago.

She says lots of things, which she often has to recant later. Her interview with talkSHITE after the league cup final (‘we will win the premier league, we will win the champions league’ etc) was a case in point. Al-Rumayyan was still talking about being ‘no. 1’ on that Amazon doc. I’m daft enough to believe words have a meaning. Yep, almost immediately afterwards. That talkSHITE interview was in Feb 2022. It is, though she’s given others since.

I honestly haven’t seen a poll on it The last one of any note was when we got over 100k signatures to move the club in 1997 I’ve honestly no idea of where the support would be on it today (I don’t claim to speak for a majority re moving, but I genuinely haven’t seen a poll showing either / or. I’m not referring to a Twitter account etc)