TheBrownBottle

In all fairness, the poster does prove Sky’s point a bit there

Yep, that’s been lost somehow. Qatar is a city-state not a country. If San Marino was awarded WC hosting rights we’d all think that was completely and utterly fucking mental. Because it would be. Of course, San Marino is unlikely to stuff shitloads of notes and jewellery into the pockets of the FIFA exec, so we can rule out San Marino 2030 I reckon.

It’s the League Cup. It has nowt to do with the FA

Christ, I find it depressing seeing supporters advocating 'resting' most of the team for a cup match. Most of them have a month and a half off after this weekend FFS. Field as strong a side as fitness allows and let's try and actually fucking win something. We can disrespect the League Cup once we've won a few. HTL

Yeah, it has to be. I mean, just say the club really does go off like a rocket, and in ten years time there is a Man City-esque transformation. Now, I'm not saying this will happen, but just say it did. The group of players who win that first pot will undoubtedly to me be the ones who get venerated the most - or at least, are viewed with the mistiest of eyes when thinking back. They'd be guaranteed places as legends at the club - even if the team is filled with superstars in a decade's time. That has to motivate any player, if it doesn't they shouldn't be in football.

Watching them blame us for 9/11 is a sad new low for them, mind. It is like trawling through an Alex Jones reddit, only with less antisemitism yet somehow more depressing.

That's the way to win waverers round to the cause. Ever the diplomat is wor exile.

I'm a fan of his level-headed takes; what is his latest? Has he blamed Chris Wood for the Ridda Wars?

Yep, I actually thought it was Botman's worst game, and Bruno didn't have the best of games either until stoppage time. Thought Willock had a better game than either of them tbh.

Top half and a cup run for me is still the target - wonder if we can secure both by the end of January and enjoy the accumulation of bonus points for those final four months of the season? Edit: just realised how long it has been since I deliberately looked at the bottom of the table first. Fucking magic

It is also anachronistic - until the advent of European Cup football, the FA Cup was the 'glamour' competition - the one teams wanted to win. Newcastle's great Edwardian team which won three league titles in five years were better known for their 'Palace Hoodoo' after reaching five FA Cup Finals at the Crystal Palace stadium in seven years and failing to win any of them (the cup win in 1910 was at Goodison after a draw at Crystal Palace). After winning their semi-final in 1951, NUFC - who could have went top if they won their games in hand - won one of the next eleven league games; it was widely known that they 'took their foot off the pedal' after the winning SF side were promised starts in the Final (which they won). There were two league matches after the FA Cup Final that year - NUFC won them both ...

The three that stand out in my memory: 1) Back page of the Journal in the 1998 FA Cup final; big picture of me alone at Wembley with a blond mop of hair, NUFC top and the reddest face in the history of the world. It was fucking red hot that afternoon. 2) On ITV's Champions League highlights show in 1997, standing on a railing swirling my shirt around my head during the 3-2 vs Barcelona 3) Mop of blond hair (see (1)) and face contorted in ecstasy when Barton scored the equaliser 3-3 at Anfield in the 96/97 season. Happily, my response for Fowler's winner a minute later is not captured for posterity I've spotted myself a few times on coverage, but they're the only times I've been 'zoomed in' on

Yep, I mean I'll happily take the piss out of them, but those pissed off are clearly in the majority, handful of knackers condoning or agreeing with the booing. Being broken sad mackems is unique to them; having racist wankers in the support is not.

I hope he got booked for celebrating like that

Nothing will ever be as crackers as the 1950 World Cup, which didn’t actually have a final - instead it had a group of four with the team on top winning the WC. It just happened that the final game played between Brazil and Uruguay was between the only teams with a chance of still winning it …

Isn’t the issue with Neville that he’s not just commentating, but he’s taken a paid gig with Qatari mouthpiece BeIN?

Just got back, the lad played really well when he came on - he's even more energetic in the flesh than the TV coverage might show, as he's constantly harrying and moving off the ball. The lad has a football brain as well as the energy levels - he actually reminded me a bit of Pedro tonight; as happy to do the graft as show off the skills on the ball. You can see he's still a raw talent, he'll need proper develop on loan to a decent European league for a year or so first. But looks the part for his age - and at 300k, it is hardly a gamble. Edit: I suspect that some bulking up will need to occur first, too. No doubt he'll 'fill out', but he still looked like a kid. Mainly because he is tbf.

Love KK and Terry Mac of course, but I have to say I really like Peter Reid as well, always seemed like a top gadgie. Eats bananas with his feet, mind.

Yep, agreed - though Kuol's scouting will have nothing to do with the quality of the league, and only the potential quality of the player. Gems can be found in any league in the world, irrespective of the wider quality. Hopefully, the lad develops and becomes a star at NUFC. Happily, he seems like a good kid - he comes across as intelligent and with a decent family around him, which should help him settle in Europe and in his career. And I'm hoping 'we' beat your boys tonight, Coastie ho'way the Wanderers

Apart from the excellent spelling mistake for PNG, wouldn't football supporters in China be more likely to support Charlton or Portsmouth off the back of the Netflix show? I thought glory seekers only wanted to see teams win things ...

The usual thing over here is to get overexcited by pre-season friendly results. Every touring major European club attracts a massive crowd - but it is a training match for them. The idea that CCM are even close to Celtic's standard is laughable tbh. Prime Robbie Fowler doesn't struggle in the A-League. Overweight semi-retired Robbie Fowler picking up a final pay check in the sun does - and Fowler hadn't been close to being a top centre forward for years when he rocked up to North Queensland. It was superannuation league for him - he waddled about, picked up a pay cheque, and spent his afternoons getting pissed in the sun. I personally hate it when the A League brings those sort of players across - it is a joke. Fowler was taking up the place of an Aussie player, and likely commanding as much money as could've paid for all the local junior teams to be funded for the year. I've no interest in watching pisstakers like Fowler stroll about. You're spot on re the reason for the speed of the game - it is a similar tempo to watching Greek or Turkish league football. It is very slow due to the climate and time of year the matches are played. Football is football, so I happily watch it - but Plymouth, Sheff Wed or Ipswich would stroll to the title over here. The average third tier English club has a higher turnover than the richest A League club - Barnsley are effectively bigger than Melbourne City. So they can pay more, and if the player is any good they're likely to be scouted by better sides. Glasgow Celtic's turnover will be greater than all the A League clubs combined - the players they can keep on their books are comfortably out of reach of the wildest dreams of any A League club. Money talks in football, as does geography. I say we just enjoy the ability to watch football in incredible weather and safe, friendly stadia. The quality is shite, but that should never be a good enough reason not to go

No, it’s a million miles below the quality of the SPL or English Second tier. It’s slow and cumbersome, with very little real talent on display. I was at St James’ in the late 80s-early 90s, I’ve seen what shite second tier English football looks like, and it was still light years ahead of the A League Not that it matters, of course - it would be good to see the wee man start tonight Edit: having went to see Gateshead a handful of times in the past, the A League is just about better quality than the fifth tier conference. Third tier English clubs would walk it, though.

The Mackems are as reliable about their away numbers as ancient historians were about the sizes of armies. ‘Darius entered Greece at the head of a million men’; ‘Vercingetorix’s Gauls numbered 330,000’; ‘the Red and White Army took 80,000 down to Rotherham on a weeknight’ Maybe Herodotus was a MLF?

Looks a canny little player, and it'll be interesting to see how he develops - but we shouldn't necessarily be expecting him to pull up trees, he'll need time to develop. It's worth bearing in mind that he doesn't currently start for a shite side in a shite league (and they are, and it is, shite - trust me). Youtube has meant every young player with the ability to dribble looks like a world-beater. I hope the lad doesn't feel overly pressured. Anyhow, I will be N-O's official scout in Parramatta tomorrow as Central Coast are playing my local side, Western Sydney Wanderers. He'll likely get some minutes off the bench so it'll canny to see him in the flesh.

I’m ok with people not giving a shite and I’m ok with people protesting against the ownership. I’ve no time for the rank hypocrisy of swathes of the press, and I do get irritated by a certain type of comment by NUFC supporters re all this. One which goes something like ‘I knew nowt about KSA human rights abuses and don’t care about them now - and anyone who pretends they did is talking shite’. It’s the assumption that everyone has the same interests in what goes on outside of the NE / UK. The first part of that sentence is an honest one - no issues really if someone doesn’t give a shite. Just don’t assume that what might apply to you and your mates applies to everyone else.