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Personally it makes me a little disgusted seeing some Newcastle fans cheer on this takeover. My wife has family that have lived in and fled Saudi Arabia (she's of Eritrean decent). I spoke to one of her cousins who lived there who had witnessed many public executions as a child/teen and he's scarred from the experiences. Had this been Aston Villa I would feel awful and be very conflicted about supporting the club under such a regime. Football is so capitalistic and gross in general these days that it's becoming harder and harder to enjoy it as the years go by. This is just another event in football that has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Nicely done as always with David Squires

Your wife wants her penis reduced?

I remember when I was in the coaching set up Bideford Town FC... We had an older lad called Ben Button who was the best prospect I've ever seen at that level, all of us were convinced he was going to the top. Problem was, the lad just never had the desire to put the time into getting older, and we watched a massive talent regress. Kept coming back younger and younger. Some just don't have the willpower to make it despite all the talent in the world. Shame really.

The thing is, you look at players like Harry Kane, or David Beckham, and at his age, they were his age, and they went on to become much older players.

I’d love to see Mounts stats for England - complete passenger every time I watch and is never spoken about but you’d put your last penny on him starting the next game

I'd keep , I dunno £30m for myself and give the rest away to family , mates , charity etc .. Setup an animal foundation protecting Sharks and Red Pandas ( well 2 foundations as I guess pandas and sharks won't really get on) And i'd pay the bagpipe player who lives near @Bicks , to play an hour long Beatles melody on the bagpipes every day . it's a nice problem to have but i reckon with the backgrounds / upbringings of me , my my mates and family it would ruin us .. its an obscene amount and hard to be comfortable having imo .. I wouldn't be against winning a million or 2 , it would change your life but not to Bruce Wayne proportions .

The one that sticks in my mind was the return after Christmas. Covid was rampant and schools and teachers unions were pleading to delay the return of students. Boris refused all requests, insisted they all return from their mixy, mixy Christmas break for 1 day before then closing schools. There must be hundreds and hundreds of deaths linked to this alone. He needs to be arrested, not fired/resign.

Is anyone analysing the performance levels of the people analysing the performance levels of the coaching staff who are responsible for the performance levels of the players? And if so who is analysing their performance?

I’d buy a pub. I wouldn’t run it, just own it. I’d be in there regularly, sat by myself, reading the paper, maybe by the reclaimed fireplace. Once in a while, a customer might say to their mate “What’s the deal with that bloke? He’s always here.” gesturing to me. And their mate would discreetly say “Oh that fella? He owns this place.” and there’d be a sort of hushed awe of reverence which I assume all landlords command, while I’m still sat there, acting all nonchalant.

My worry is that this loan has really put him back, and he’s going to come back younger than when he first went out on loan.

Motorhead haven't been mentioned. Very overrated.

Oh I **** did it. Southgate even credits himself with improving Jack's play while on England duty: Laughable.

Some weren't ladies, some were proper filthy. Can't complain though, I was posting most of 'em.

(The) Smith(s) OUT!

Records. And a high-end hi-fi set up. And a penis reduction, the wife is always complaining.

Cars super bright led headlights that blind you its making driving at night a real pain in the ass.

In the interest of balance, I had @sidcow lamenting people lamenting popular music on my bingo card for this thread.

I would take all these "links" with a pinch of salt. They will be linked to everybody now, just to generate interest and clicks.

Holiday home by the sea you say...

Genuinely the biggest prize I've ever won in anything 8 bottles of free cider, better than a kick in the teeth

How about Kanye West, Drake et al Just don’t get the hype or clamour!

And they're absofu**inglutely right.

11th Commandment: Thou Shalt not use the image of the set piece coach in vain.

Some local politician threw away his season ticket because of Wonga yet wrote to Boris to ask why the Saudi deal was previously called off. Clowns

Carling and Coors Light. Dark fruits for the ladies.

Serious answer this time. I'd look after my immediate family and make sure they were all comfortable. I would travel the globe in style and try as many new experiences doing so would provide. Then after things had died down a bit and the new house(s) were sorted, I'd probably focus on investing in creative projects - art galleries, bands and of course movie production. All things that would easily fill my days and give me immense satisfaction.

I'd go to McDonald's and finally be able to order the Large Big Mac Meal.

I've heard that Newcastle are now aiming for a 250,000 stadium to fit in EVERY resident of the city. On that basis we should be looking at 500,000 MINIMUM. Anything less will be a disgrace.

Credit Dean Smith really

We almost stopped when he took off Grealish and went into reverse when he took off Sterling. We ended up looking like prime Wimbledon circa 1989 but couldn't hoof it with any accuracy. A Southgate masterclass. So ironic after the excitement of his team selection. He's like a musician picking up a Stradivarius and plucking it like a banjo.

Paint dry. Such talent and yet again it's 90 minutes of centre backs passing in parallel lines and the pivot passing backwards. Absolutely inept coaching. Second half was Walker dropping as a third centre back to play some kind of quarter back roll. It's a farce and ITV comms wanking off Southgate was as pathetic as it gets. Utter farce.

Can someone please explain how Henderson for Sterling improves our chance of getting a goal?

Just what I always wanted... ...said @blandy

But But, Southgate is the best thing to happen to the England squad in decades. Look how he has made all those players better and much more confident to play for England. No way, any other manager could have got 11 50-100 million pound players to a final beating an old Germany team and drawing Scotland, not a chance!!!

As they popped up in the gig thread, The Strokes. The fervour of that first album of theirs was completely unwarranted.

If anything it is disrespectful to Smith and our coaching staff. Smith would wipe the floor with Southgate in a tactical discussion

This This and I'd probably give some money to political orgs like the Electoral Reform Society as for charity it would probably be Amnesty International and maybe fund some actions by the Good Law Project Then I'd probably set up my own music related charity to help unsigned musicians to further their potential careers, maybe even set up a record Label, buy a venue and a studio as a part of that And buy some more records

As requested

Summary from the weekend - Mungo makes a (short) appearance! Finn Azaz (Newport County) 13th/24 Home to Bradford (0-0) - Came on at the start of the 2nd half. 22 touches, 84.6% pass accuracy, 1 shot, 1 key pass. WhoScored.com rating of 6.13. Louie Barry (Ipswich Town) 14th/24Home to Shrewsbury (2-1) - Not in the squad Mungo Bridge (Annecy) 1st/18Away at Bastia-Borgo (1-2) - Came on in the 92nd minute. Kaine Kesler-Hayden (Swindon Town) 3rd/24 Away at Forest Green (0-2) - Not in the squad (International duty) Ákos Onódi (Bromsgrove Sporting) 10/21 Away at Lowestoft Town (2-1) - Played 90 minutes. Arjan Raikhy (Stockport County) 10th/23 Home to Aldershot (1-0) - Not in the squad. Dominic Revan (Northampton) 14th/24 Away at Hartlepool (2-1) - Not in the squad. Seb Revan (Grimsby Town) 1st/23 Away at Woking (0-1) - Unused substitute. Indiana Vassilev (Inter Miami) 21st/27 Away at New York Red Bulls (1-0) - Came on in the 65th minute. 13 touches, 77.8% pass accuracy, 1 shot, 1 shot on target. WhoScored.com rating of 6.23. Tyreik Wright (Salford City) 17th/24 Away at Walsall (2-1) - Not in the squad (International duty) Brad Young (Carlisle) 22nd/24 Away at Bristol Rovers (3-0) - Substituted in the 62nd minute. 16 touches, 83.3% pass accuracy. WhoScored.com rating of 5.79.

This is the off topic version of every match day thread.

May I introduce you to Sunn0)))

He'll be none the wiser as to his future after the meeting, her facial expression will have given nothing away.

Getting out of my armchair and going to this one. Me and the lad got the some of the last tickets going, left it far too late for the Holte so upper Trinity it is £55 each. I remember in my Crombie days it was 40p, that was when the North stand was still a bank and the managers office was behind it and the A V floodlights could be seen like a beacon

It’s certainly an interesting one, Jack Grealish was young once and he went out on loan, did well and came back a bit older. Look at where he is now. If Barry hasn’t got that fight in him to age a bit and get into the Ipswich team, he’s never going to get older at Villa. UTV

Apologies in advance for the downer: A friend of mine died today. I wrote this actually thinking that I wouldn't post it here. There won't be a funeral and I don't do social media. So you lot have the pleasure of scrolling on past my ramblings. I just miss my friend and wanted to put it somewhere. Robert Hicks, Madman, lunatic and conflicted: yet capable of extreme generosity and warmth. He will always be the person that introduced me to the American West. The place where I am now proud to call home. But really he did it for my father who was dying of cancer. He arranged a trip and (ultimately paid the majority of it) solely to show my ailing father as much as was comfortable for him. My struggling father had a life long ambition (installed whilst growing up in a the shadow of the 2nd WW) to experience the majesty and drama of America’s great frontier. Robert gave him that gift and I will forever be grateful for what he gave me an and my family. I had struck up a friendship with Robert for a number of years as a member of an orchestra that Robert donated money too. I would stay in his house along with other musicians in the “club room” which looked out over the Gulf of Mexico. We talked and argued politics, but enjoyed the nature of the Florida West coast and classical music (which was my career.) We talked of family and in 2009 he visited England! I took him to an English Premier League Game vs Arsenal (Zak Knight scored in the last moment to tie the game.) His generosity to my father and friendship with my father blossomed on his 2009 UK visit. For our trip, Robert rented the largest SUV possible, and rented the nicest cabins. He planned a trip that was unforgettable and drove myself and my parents though Arizona, Utah & New Mexico and making every moment as comfortable as possible. My love and admiration for the what Robert did is that he had nothing to gain form this. He did it purely out of generosity. He just wanted to be a good guy for that period of time. The irony is that the same illness would ravage Robert 10 years later. But anyone who knows cancer knows that the time of death doesn’t tell the whole story. There are months, years and sometimes decades of doctors visits, diagnoses, fear, hope and eventually a sad slide into the inevitable end. The last few years of our friendship existed in a strained silence as he consumed the current Republican Party dogma (I refuse to mention the name of its instigator.) Robert was intelligent, very intelligent and had lived a lot of his life around the academia of the North East. He eventually renounced all of that, with a distain for “intelligent people who didn’t have the good will to salt their driveways for guests that they had over to their homes.” The place he chose was the West coast of Florida. Cape Coral, or Cape Coma as he and his wife called it - when they moved there it was anemic but the last 25-30 years of baby boomers generally grabbing all they can has meant that the service industry and population density of Cape Coral is unrecognizable from when he moved there. Florida allowed him his indulgences. Guns, and a rugged idea of self reliance form the government. It also brought him the realization that alcohol was killing him. As extreme as Robert was, this also meant that he indulged in AA to the point of obsession. But if he was able to save some others from death - and lets not beat around the bush and deny that alcohol causes death - then good for him. AA probably gave him 20 years extra life. Although the penchant he had for helping out other AA folks by bringing over the house to ‘fix’ things probably cost him a lot financially in the long run even if it did feed his soul. He liked to travel. He loved to talk about it even more. I spent hours taking to Robert about places to visit. He advised me on Arches National Park, Africa and more. His South Africa trip to Kreuger was one of his highlights and he loved nothing more than finding a solitary place in California or Utah where he could look at the view, go hiking - but the place always needed a piano so Carol could enjoy herself playing for no-one but Robert. His love of guns was weird to me. It baffled me that someone so intellectual could still be a racist. Why could he not understand systemic racism was the cause end issue of poverty within communities of color. This was his laziness which annoyed me and made me think less of him. Sadly, the last few years of his life gave him a President who allowed his ignorance and laziness to flourish. This was a sad ending to many things, but mostly, the fact that we didn’t talk as often as we once did. What a loss. The madman, the patron, the Robert Hicks. He lived his life his way - running around Manhattan in the 80’s with pop-starts and his dog, Fred. A Saint Bernard. Yes a Saint-Bernard at parties in Manhattan who would swing his head and leave stalactites hangin form the ceiling. Robert knew Fred was going to die when he went out to poop in a Nor-Easter but got stuck. “Man rescues St. Bernard from snow storm.” Generous, ridiculous, curious, infuriating, heavy metal fan and supporter of chamber music and the Symphony. Another cancer victim. Another dead person. Happens to us all in the end. I know this doesn't flow - it's not a eulogy or an obituary - but I just wanted to write something.

Completely agree. Watkins is definitely older now than he was when he was 19.