TheBrownBottle

I'll happily die on this hill

Forgot Elliot was an Ireland international!

Who is the worst international keeper we've had in nets? I'm going for Matz Sels

Still mildly irritates me that Ronaldo gets referred to by other names because of Cristiano Ronaldo (I seem to be in a vanishingly small minority of people who always call Cristiano Ronaldo his full name - mainly to differentiate). Ronaldo remains the best no.9 I've seen in my lifetime - even injury-ravaged and overweight the man was just the perfect centre forward.

The Reubens still Tory donors? Yes, I'll happily hold them accountable for food banks

Release it to the court of public opinion, I reckon

Looks like I can look forward to getting some flak, then

I’ll happily post it https://www.givemesport.com/midfielders-premier-league-ranked/ Don’t see that much of an issue with the list tbf - Szoboszlai is the arguable one, but it’s hardly a massive issue. I wouldn’t place Bruno above any of the top seven.

There’s a world of difference between the govt and the PL. Govts not criticising judicial decisions is about the separation of the executive and the judiciary. De Marco is talking shite here tbh.

A good mate of mine is working as a senior consultant on a very big new house (just a couple of billion) for a certain person in Riyadh who’d be familiar to most. What you’ve written is pretty much his experience of working directly for the govt over there.

I’ve got a long enough memory to remember the promises of investment in the North East in general - one of the promises used to apply pressure on the PL to grant the takeover. What’s the running total on NE investment so far?

Then I’d criticise the fact that Mitchell was daft enough to hold a 90 min interview with no cameras and allowed the local hacks to print whatever parts of his comments they liked …

Classic

If internationals have to be played I’d much rather that there was an international month or so at either the beginning or the end of the season and knock the regular breaks on the head. The September one pisses me off the most - it feels like the season hasn’t really started until it’s done.

‘When the moon shines on the cow shed, and we’re rolling in the hay’ is one of the truly great opening lines to a song

I once spent a couple of months working in Bristol, and spent every morning walking from the hotel to the office whistling it loudly

I like to think that they sculpted, improved and mastered it

Is it possible to hear this and not sing ‘I am a cider drinker’?

NUFC used to have one back in the ‘90s - there were crazy numbers floated around at the time (100k), though I suspect that the real number would be well below that. A successful NUFC fills an 80k ground, definitely. We can comfortably drop to half that with sustained failure - though I still think that a properly run NUFC would not have the turbulence we often have had in the past

He’s not a bullshit merchant in terms of being a bluffer, but I wouldn’t rely on an Eddie Howe press conference to hear a load of truths. His skills at deflecting and not answering what he doesn’t want to answer are commensurate with the average politician. I watched the High Performance podcast with him on (only ever seen that one and the Trippier - sounds like a right load of wanky self-help shite fronted by that tiresome arse off of BT), and that didn’t change my opinion. Howe will speak about things that either will improve or at least not potentially weaken his position, but he’ll give nothing ‘real’ away. This isn’t a criticism of Howe, mind. I really like those qualities in him - had enough of football blusterers and chancers. Howe’s pressers are worth watching - but he gives nowt away.

I just hope we don’t see Steve Bruce back in the dugout when it turns out his sacking was a dream …

It’s also the mentality which protects from extremism. The ingrained ‘oh come off it’ which sits in the British psyche is often a strength, not a weakness. Gordon being a bit self-aggrandising is hardly intellectualism, and creates a pressure to perform. Great if you’re genuinely a player who can just turn it on week after week - as in truly world class - but Gordon isn’t that, and he isn’t pulling up many trees at the moment. Not saying he isn’t a good player - he is - but actions speak much louder than words in football.

The Euros showed his legs have gone. He was a hindrance more than a help. Southgate should’ve had the balls to drop him

Jeff Powell and the Mail are being entirely consistent. And that includes being bellends

About half the population of England is irreligious or atheist, and anywhere between a quarter and a third wants the monarchy abolished - and I’d be willing to bet that there’s a lot of crossover in those stats I wonder how many can add ‘English patriot’ or similar to that Gantt chart? Must be a right pisser to be a nationalist while also thinking the anthem is absolute shite I do want England to win - I’m not nationalistic, but I am also English - I’m fucked if I’d sing that weird dirge that they play before kick off