TheBrownBottle

Boelhy's ideas were shite because they were shite; they came about because he's think about money, not because he's 'Americanising' the sport. Holt just comes across as a little Englander. Fucking hell the man is dislikeable

No country internationally plays at close to the level that the Americans do. A basketball WC would be utterly pointless - at club level, there would be no point in a European Cup / Copa Libertadores equivalent; NBA teams would be lightyears ahead of every other nation's teams. That's not to suggest that loads of kids worldwide don't play and enjoy it - I enjoyed playing it when I was a kid. But I have read that 'soccer' is the most played games of early schoolers in the US - that doesn't lead to mass popularity later on, of course.

I wonder if the lack of international competition makes those 'All Star Games' more enticing? Here in Oz, 'State of Origin' in rugby league is massive. Mainly because only England, PNG and NZ actually play RL at any kind of decent level. No-one seriously plays gridiron outside the US, Japan plays baseball, and basketball is reasonably played in small Eastern European countries

There's no chance it would raise anything like 200m. No-one would give a solitary shite - a bunch of players you don't like playing a friendly for two sides who don't exist outside of that friendly. Also, football is a pyramid - unlike US sports and their franchise system, the 'North' and the 'South' may have a very skewed look depending on who is in the PL that season. This year, it would just about work if the midlands teams are considered 'Northern'. For the best part of a century, a 'Football League XI' played friendlies each year against other Football League XIs. No-one cared or watched, which is why it was canned. We all hate everyone else's clubs and players - for many of us, that dislike doesn't even end when those players play for England etc.

I live in Sydney these days tbf - I'm all for televised games But the priority should be the match-going fan - they shouldn't be expected to travel at stupid times to hard-to-reach locations; also, the fixture list (i.e. days and times) when produced should be fixed at least four months in advance. It is truly shocking how short a notice the TV companies can give to people who've taken time off work and stumped-up their hard-earned cash.

'Bob Lord was right'

Yep, I'm a football conservative but that's the only sphere of life that I am

Probably those of us who are aware of and have seen the destructive consequences of the ignoring of perfectly good traditions. The PL breakaway with its rampant money-chasing and subsequent damage to the rest of the FL; the wholly wanton and unnecessary destruction of the pre-eminence of the FA Cup; the stop-start (and often wrong) shite that VAR has brought about; and so on and so forth. The new back pass law and three points for a win were good ideas though.

Yeah, we once had a rumble on the Shields Ferry, me and magcatcher. Teacher broke it up, but not before I gave him a nasty Chinese burn and made sure he knew my dad was harder than his dad. We were 25 years old, etc etc

Yep. Batty didn’t feel sorry for himself and sob when missing a penalty, either. The daft cunts think making cowardly two-footed tackles makes a player ‘hard’, rather than being a sign of utter cowardice.

Fucking hell, ASM must be hopping the fence round the back to avoid the weird cunt at the gates with the camera

Feels like a ‘must win’ even at this point. And I think we’ll win. 3-0 for me.

Sadly true, but he is a Tory whose billionaire family live in tax havens. Maybe if Reuben and his Tory chums paid their taxes and didn’t, you know, support the Tories, food banks would be unnecessary.

And this is why charity, ultimately, isn’t a societal good. The selection of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’. The Newcastle United Foundation one is lost on me mind. Christ, I think the owners have enough spare change rattling around to support that one.

The Thatcher govt’s ‘manager decline’ and the actions of subsequent administrations are reason enough for the good people of Liverpool to hate the Tories at least, and certainly distrust the institutions of state. That’s true, but how many it those who were loving the prospect of it were actually scousers? https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-leaving-of-liverpool/

I’d go further and say that Newcastle winning a corner excites me more than England winning a game. And I’m lost at the thought of anyone who’d select England winning a trophy rather than Newcastle. Utterly lost.

Tbf most of the ones under that tweet are those weird cunts from places with zero connection to Liverpool but support them because they’re good, they’ve all got their own fucking weird code words like ‘finished’ and other shite which just sets off the wanker alert. I’d call them glory seekers, but fucking sad cases seems more apt.

And the British Bulldog used Rule Britainnia. WWF should be the source of all national anthems. Personally, I think we should come out to Ted DiBiase’s old theme at SJP just to really piss off the press.

I had a skinful last night, I was out with Lowesy … Mick Lowes … I was on a pub crawl. El vino did flow. Don’t ever come out with me and Lowesy

That's what I did for her mother and sister.

I'll say this as a committed republican and dyed-in-the-wool democratic socialist that I'd still find it pretty bad craic to actively boo during the national anthem, and really bad craic to disrupt a minute's silence / applause for Liz Windsor. I wouldn't be clapping if it is an applause, though. Booing is for pantomimes and really bad musicals. The anthem is a right old load of shite, mind. A tiresome dirge and completely inappropriate as an anthem. Jerusalem all the way for me; it is the only national song which can be sung at Labour Party Conference and the Last Night of the Proms (AKA the Tory Party Karaoke). Land of Hope and Glory can fuck right off mind; right old load of imperialist shite. I have loads of opinions, though it would be good if next week's football is actually on so that you all didn't have to read them here.

Toffs were always good - they used to (don't know if it is still there) have their outlet shop next to The Adelphi (opposite the Theatre Royal). Bought my dad a couple of retro NUFC tops for his 60th from there a year or two ago, quality was still very good. They used to have a couple of dozen NUFC shirt options - not sure what's going on with them, but they don't have a lot of options on there atm.

Anyone who’s been to a lot of away games has had good and bad experiences. Obviously, some clubs are more likely than others to result in bad experiences - but anyone with a mental age greater than a teenager knows that most people aren’t looking to kick your head in before a match, and that a bit of pre-match craic is perfectly normal at most away grounds. They really are a collection of oddballs.

Pardew sticking him the wing to accommodate Demba Ba's whining would be one reason. Lad's confidence went.

Yeah, I’d love that. I’m sure my other half is starting to worry about how dreamy-eyed I get when I’m talking about Trippier. She just thinks he’s a bloody good full back. She just doesn’t understand