TheBrownBottle

That’s Longstaff’s best one yet

Yes; but we won’t be signing Maddison

I’m amazed Bruno made it to half time. I did exactly that roll on the ankle years ago and even at my shite level (worst Sunday footballer you’ll ever see) you can’t just shake that off. It’s not just the pain; the strength completely goes in that foot. The worry is ligament damage or even a small bone fracture or break - astonishing to me that further damage was risked by the coaching staff.

I’m becoming convinced that Bruno has more than one set of eyes

Glad to see WF saluting the gaffer

Tough game this, but still confident. HTL

NB I’m not suggesting that this is likely to end up in court

Yep, I remember that one. I just wonder how enforceable restriction of trade / movement would be in a court of law.

Yep - I’m actually kind of happy seeing a keeper punished for jumping forward before the penalty. Who doesn’t know that there’s no subs during a shootout? The game has ended. Unreal

From memory, it’s a FIFA rule rather than a National one - it’s two clubs per season. How enforceable that would be if challenged would be interesting, mind

Yep, likewise. Best of luck to the lad (not today obviously) but his failings were pretty apparent at the time, and Fulham is the perfect club for him. Would I swap him for Wood? Yes, but that’s saying nowt. The one similarity to Wood is that you really have to play a style that suits him - and our style would not suit him (granted, he works harder than some may suspect).

An old mate of mine (grew up together, home and away games on the hoy for a few years) was also arrested in that fight. Didn’t do time for it, but he was in the Ronnie Gill as he’d been in the press for previous at Euro 2004

Haha yep, I think you might be right

Just on Mudryk, the few times I’ve seen him he looks quality it has to be said. But you’re still taking a risk signing a player from the Ukrainian top division regardless - Rebrov is the one who sticks out in my mind. Even paying half his reputed fee would have been a risk - that figure is fucking insane. And yes, the lad could end up being the world’s best player and what have you - but that still wouldn’t mean I’m wrong here. Chelsea’s new owners are fucking insane, I can’t work out what they’re doing and what they think they will achieve. Are they looking to simply lose shedloads of cash? At least I can understand why Abramovich was doing it - what’s their motivation?

Mudryk would take them to nearly half a billion in c.6 months

Given I’m on Eastern Australian Time, I’ve just hopped back on here and I’m confused. I think we’ve now agreed that Joelinton is a fascist, Kaka both is and is not Brazilian, and drink driving is more fun when you’re speeding. Or have I got my wires crossed?

That’s came out of left field. I think he’d be a cracking signing if true

That’s why Hurst votes them in

Again, why wouldn’t one of the nominees or board members just second the 4th candidate, or even get a fellow trust member to second them - it would at least be a piecemeal attempt to make it not look like ‘jobs for your mates’.

Yeah, agreed. I think Martin likes to call himself a social Democrat - like you said, left-leaning. As was the fanzine - I used to like the political, music and subculture stuff as much as the football stuff. But then they started accepting adverts - against the traditional fanzine ethos. From Hurst’s dad’s taxi company. And instead of a polyglot collective of writers, Hurst used it as a vehicle to promote himself and his tiresome cadre of middle class mates, with their vanilla politics and cultural views. The whole TF thing is just an irritant to me now

I can’t see us breaking the bank for unproven players at present tbh

I’ll bore on about this a little longer - feel free to scroll past! The crux of the issue to me is a representative vs delegate one - an old internal Labour party debate. To me, a supporters trust’s board should view itself as a group of delegates, not representatives. They should simply be there as tribunes to deliver the majority views of the membership, not to give their personal views without the express support of the majority - i.e. act as a representative. I cannot picture Martin, Hurst or Robson keeping their personal views to themselves, nor in viewing themselves as simply delegates to take the trust’s views to the NUFC board - they want to be heard, want to feel special, want to schmooze. The fact that they’d clearly never thought that their position on the board might raise eyebrows is testament to their egos - I mean, we really shouldn’t give too much of a shite who is on the board, as I’d expect it to be filled with otherwise anonymous supporters. That’s my two penneth worth

Asprilla didn’t work in 95-96 because he seemed to be bought with no plan as to how it fit into the team. Beardsley and Ferdinand weren’t going to be dropped and KK resolutely stuck to 4-4-2 meaning Asprilla or Beardsley would find themselves on the wing. If the point is though that the signing of Asprilla derailed the title push, that’s always been a ludicrous press narrative. The failing in the second half of the season were multiple - Ferdinand stopped scoring; Ginola stopped playing after the Arsenal LC QF; Gillespie’s extended injury lay-off unbalancing the side; KK’s ongoing inability to actually get a decent GK; an ageing Beardsley’s moments of magic becoming more sporadic; Rob Lee’s standard second half of a season. Etc etc etc

This is the problem generally, and why Tory boy bought the fanzine in the first place. He’s not from the punk-infused fanzine culture, he’s a middle class Tory from a self-promotion culture. What has always been enjoyable is reading the views of other supporters (even if I don’t agree with them); that’s all the football parts of a fanzine are about. Whoppers like Tory boy think that this means their views are more important or somehow more accurate than others - they act like experts (which they’re not) and not vox populi gobshites(which they are). The fanzine no longer exists, and I’d be astonished if the shite podcasts have anything like the audience the NUST emails do - even if no bugger reads them. Good on you and LFEE for asking the questions and posting the responses, but they all just seem to have zero self-awareness.

Yeah, agreed. I’ll happily back whatever Howe’s actions are. Dropping him for the Fulham game due to a clear failure to meet expected standards might be an outcome I would think (though I’m not saying it will - or should - be). Shame as I can’t imagine anyone wants that given his form - and any ‘punishment dropping’ would likely be temporary (like ten Hag dropping Rashford the other week, albeit under different circumstances). And if he plays vs Fulham that’s ok with me too - the gaffer and the club will likely get the decision right.