TheBrownBottle

It is a very talented England generation - it’s worth remembering that its only a few years ago England won the u17 and u20 WCs and u19 Euros in quick succession - lots of the current England squad were in those set-ups. So when people talk of Southgate squandering that opportunity, they do have a point - this is the most talented group in my lifetime; they’re all solid technically, more than the ‘superstars’ of the ‘golden generation’ etc. Southgate is a conservative coach who’s only club management experience ended in complete failure. He was far too defensive vs Italy after going 1-0 up. But he seems like a decent bloke, and sacking him months before a WC is crackers (as were the FA for extending his contract past the WC mind). Remember, if he wasn’t such a corrupt fucker the last two tournaments should’ve been Allardyce’s - and that con-man wouldn’t have got them near a semi or a final. One thing this does prove is that England have little strength in depth. I also don’t like Southgate’s little Englander tendencies in terms of treating the Nations League with contempt - that line-up was a pisstake.

The success and grandeur element is the sportswashing bit - it’s reputation laundering. The same for the boxing, F1, golf etc. I completely get where you’re coming from re it won’t make people forget the terrible abuses - but the idea is to have people think of success first, and then ‘oh that’s right, they give people lashes in public squares’ afterwards. Joe Public isn’t a member of Amnesty, and plenty don’t give a shite about human rights abuses; if everyone did care, Amnesty wouldn’t need to exist. It would’ve saved me a couple of decades worth of AI membership fees if they did. Doesn’t mean anyone should feel guilty about supporting the club, nor should they be made to feel guilty - we don’t govern the owner’s intent for the club.

Anyone who thinks that KSA is buying sports clubs because it makes economic sense would do well to look at the profit margins of top football clubs, and then compare it with other businesses in PIF’s portfolio. Even if NUFC became the world’s richest and most successful club it would represent the tiniest slither of money going back to the investors. It is all about perception - sportswashing isn’t about making people forget about human rights abuses, it is about that noise being drowned out. And no-one should kid themselves that owning an English football club is going to suddenly make one of the most vicious regimes on Earth suddenly start treating women or LGBTQI people better. It is still ‘our’ club and our city’s name on that badge, and we have no say in a billionaire selling to an effective trillionaire. But we don’t need to pretend it is anything other than what it is. Life is too short to give up one of its pleasures lightly - watching your football team of a weekend.

They do like a cinema ban. At least with Dr Strange it was because it contained magic - and sorcery and black magic still carries the death penalty over there, so, fair dos? At some point the 18th Century will come knocking, and that’ll be eye-opening for them

That’s that disarming modesty they love so much about themselves. Unlike those delusional jawdees

‘D’yer caal theyse chips cheesy, marra?’

Yeah, it’s a cracking film. I can just imagine some of the dippy RTG clowns are on the verge of walking into their local chippy with an air rifle and complaining that the cheesy chips they’ve ordered looks nothing like the portion on the picture on the wall

The ‘maginpeace’ bloke was a regular poster on the true faith fb site - he went over to post on RTG when that dopey bastard Curry was doing the flyover banner to do a weird Geordie Pontius Pilate act - full-on ‘nowt to do with us’. Fuck knows why he’s continued posting on there for years, making weird statements while being attacked irrespective of what he says. Every single one of those mags on there are fucking peculiar - they’re not even competent wind-up merchants; half the knackers on RTG are like coiled springs, I get the distinct impression that some of them are on the verge of going Michael Douglas in Falling Down, yet the mags on there still can’t really get them to bite. Embarrassing stuff.

Hasn't got the killer pass nor finishing touch in him - I prefer him as a traditional defensive midfielder, winning the ball and simple release passes to more technically gifted players. Love watching him get stuck in - the lad clearly enjoys nowt more than a hard, clean challenge.

Yeah, I'm in complete agreement with this. I'm glad too - I found it worrying when it felt like Staveley and Ghoudoussi could not stop briefing their usual hacks of choice - it cost us Emery (that worked out well of course, but that's not what was thought at the time) and was completely unprofessional. Happily, lessons appear to have been learned - as supporters, we don't actually need to know who the club are 'in' for, I'd much rather that stuff was kept as confidential as possible. My life is not improved in any way by football hacks undermining bids and approaches for players by desperately trying to be 'first'. Luke Edwards is the latest to change his tune, with the budget moving from 60m to 80-100m today. As if they'd actually tell the man who had spent the previous year and a bit briefing against them; Edwards's twitter feed is only a curio for anyone who wants to see a true Peter Finch in 'Network'-style breakdown in real time.

It’s only mid-June. We don’t know what’s happening - we don’t even know if we’ve actually bid. The press are clearly fumbling around and making guesses because otherwise no-one will click on their horseshit. It is why football ‘journalism’ isn’t journalism - this shite wouldn’t be tolerated by proper newspapers at the front. Lille aren’t wankers for moving the goalposts - he’s their player, they can be as difficult as they want. Doesn’t mean it isn’t bloody frustrating like :)

One of the notable things about all of this is the tendency to forget that in most instances, successful clubs on the continent have had a financial helping hand. It hasn't all been tickets and corporate - R Madrid are repeatedly bailed out by the Spanish govt, AC Milan bought success via Berlusconi's TV millions, Juventus literally have Fiat money, Bayern Munich greedily gobble up a massive portion of the Bundesliga's TV money. Even Parma's success in the '90s was down to 'milk money'. I'd much rather it was simply down to what a club earns, of course. But it isn't - and the ones yelping loudest are the ones who've hoarded the biggest share of the pie.

I don't know about that as fun as those times were, English club football was well and truly in the doldrums. For example, when we blew the title in 96, English teams were having probably the worst season they've ever had in European football. Manchester United were knocked out by Rotor Volgograd, Liverpool were knocked out by Brondby, and Blackburn managed to finish bottom of a European Cup (ok, 'Champions League') group containing the might of Spartak Moscow, Legia Warsaw and Rosenberg. And they weren't backs-to-the-wall upsets - they were all deserved. We took 78 points in an utterly shite English top flight. And the 94-95 side would be relegation candidates today IMO - they were pretty woeful after November. Few of those players were getting offers from top European clubs - didn't Shearer say he had offers from Genoa and Samp at a couple of points?

A handful of utter cunts did break the cultural embargo on SA, that’s true. And they were (correctly) criticised for it. Football actually took some of the biggest strides of all, expelling SA from FIFA. Cricket and rugby also took solid stances. Most golf club during this period had their very own version of apartheid, with non-white players not allowed to play. Because golf has long been a game played by complete and utter cunts

Rice is a good water carrier, but he’s not top rank. Fees quotes are absurd. Given had far too many flaws to be a genuinely first-rate keeper, but at his best peak was always one of the five or six best keepers in the PL. His distribution, command of his area and claiming of crosses were all sub-par.

Yeah, it is for me easy to forget that these blokes likely don’t directly remember it - and there’s a good chance they aren’t history buffs It is a tricky one, and like most I find sports hacks on a selective high horse tiresome. It does look like their PR people prepped them beforehand re KSA questions, but they probably didn’t anticipate comparative questions. Mind, I do also think that individual sports - where you’re effectively self-employed and directly taking the coin - actually have more of a case to answer than a footballer taking money off a club. Even clubs like Man City make most of their income from TV and corporate rather than ‘iffy’ sponsorship deals

I paid a quid a month and I still feel shortchanged

NUFC not being his first preference doesn’t mean he wouldn’t play his best and be professional if he was here. Given the choice, of course most would sign for Milan - if not all. Hardly a black mark against him if he’s hoping for the bigger move. Yes, we’ll need to move on if he won’t sign - but the fact we’re still in it (apparently) suggests that isn’t the case.

I’m guessing because sportspeople took a moral stance and refused to play apartheid SA? The straightforward answer would have been ‘I don’t think KSA is the same as apartheid SA’.

For clarity, I'm comfortable with journalists asking people who take money for this stuff difficult questions. I don't think supporters of football clubs should need to answer them

'Would you have played in Apartheid SA?' is a straightforward tbh. Sportspeople didn't play there.

Golfers are shit at answering the old 'moral quandary' questions shocker https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/golf/61738171

He was also vastly underpaid for the position relative to others. Or at least he was vastly overpaid based upon his skills and experience - but NUFC's salary package for that position was tiny in comparison to the rest of the PL.

I'm so glad I've held off from saying that Botman is the new VvD / is shite and slow. In part because I've never watched him play 90 mins (note: this does not stop NUFC twitter from making proclamations), but also because it is best to keep that powder dry. So I'm looking forward to him signing / us moving on to better targets soon, and he can become a club legend / a lucky escape

Oops that what being knackered and no checking does. Three and a half grand in the kitty, then. Either way, the assumption that there's loads of money flogging kits in KSA is flawed