Mark Albrighton

I wouldn’t have noticed anything being off. I’m not sure I really do see anything being off. While I’m no great fan of the firm, I hope she’s alright.

Couldn’t tell you a thing about what happens in the sequels, other than I think there’s meant to be a relatively long car chase scene or something akin to that in the second one. Vaguely recall at the time reviews were referencing it as the big set piece of the film. I kinda felt the story was essentially done at the end of the first one. It was only recently that I discovered that Hugo Weaving wasn’t in the new one, which, along with the at best luke warm reception, doesn’t exactly encourage me to watch it.

I briefly tried to be a chinos guy. Felt like I was living a lie. Didn’t mean for that to rhyme but I’m keeping it as is.

Did you go A5 or Holyhead Road to avoid the M54?

I don’t much care for the thought of spending £200 on tracksuit/loungewear stuff. But then I wouldn’t wear them outside. I have a dark olive green pair of, I think Slazengers, for around the house, which were about £20 something.

I’m certainly not going to volunteer to change the VT bed sheets.

I would imagine the game taking place today in Liverpool would occupy the most space in the media’s thoughts. And just generally they probably feel safer in talking about Spurs in the context of a top four finish because they have a better track record in doing so (or being close to). I think ultimately those in the media don’t want to look stupid so maybe they want to see if Villa in the top four is a more likely occurrence going forward. This is probably mostly subconscious. They don’t wanna be all like “Hey Newcastle have upset the top six elite!! Howay! Brace yourselves everyone!”. Then next season watch them hang about in ninth and try and pretend they didn’t go over the top. I don’t think there is a broad anti-Villa bias. Individual pundits clearly don’t like us, that can’t be argued otherwise. And there is stuff like last season with “the relegation battle” and including Villa who are safely in 11th, but when Chelsea are 11th they’re not included for whatever reason. That sort of stuff is there, how conscious it is, I don’t know. Villa supporters, or any supporters are going to notice and think about these things more than the guy they got to draw up the relegation league table I’d imagine. On a broader scope, I think the media finds Villa a little bit boring maybe. I don’t think they quite know how to pigeonhole us. For instance Brighton are like the plucky hipsters. As often stated, we’re kinda like Everton but at least with Everton they have a glamorous local rivalry that can add as a showcase while we have a turd occasionally sharing the bill with us. Ultimately what I’d say is, try not to let any perceived bias bother you. And if it doesn’t, but other people complaining about a perceived bias does, try not to let that bother you.

QPR was a difficult one to take. One, because I was there for it. Two, because it followed on from the Wolves triumph so crashing back to down to reality. Three, because it had been rearranged to a Tuesday night when it was originally due to be played on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks prior - the beast from the east snow put paid to that. I’m still of the opinion we would have won had the game been played on the original planned date. I think you’re correct, they probably thought we’d stodge our way to promotion. But what you say about knowing Bruce was done, really those back to back home games against Wolves and QPR are almost emblematic of Bruce with us, but just an extreme version. “Ah, we’ve turned the corner, he’s got us rolling now and things are looking up…oh no, they’ve literally turned to shit instantly.” In reality it was often less extreme and far more humdrum on a regular basis. But you get the idea. Incredibly patchy runs. One or two really good runs, some absolutely dire bouts of form. I’ve droned on about that first January with Bruce before, but bloody hell. People would go on about Smith sans Grealish in the promotion season. They have forgotten about Bruce at the start of 2017. Christ almighty.

Just because dog shows are not mentioned terribly often.

I very much doubt Arsenal are catchable. However, if you’re hoping to finish 4th, aiming to catch a side likely to finish in 3rd place isn’t the worst way to go about achieving it.

I hadn’t realised how in the mix for the play offs Norwich are, I had assumed they were in a mid table rut and that would be a definite dead rubber opposition for sha.

It wasn’t quite run around the house celebrating wildly, but it was probably the most I’ll ever cheer a Millwall goal

Luton equalise

Have Leicester decided that in lieu of any major trophies, Reading can keep that 106 points record? They’ve done their best to piss it away recently.

It’s difficult for me to look back and not project how we now know the season panned out onto that I thought at the time. I suppose I could look what I posted at the time, but my belief is I was trying to convince myself we were doing alright. I remember being second for a short time but thinking that this novelty probably won’t last. I often wonder why I (infrequently) return to this thread. On the one hand when it comes to Bruce I’m a little petty and having a little dig at his expense I find mildly amusing. Although he’s out of work, my suspicion is he’s still fairly well insulated and protected by the old boys club, if he was given the something like the Palace job, the usual suspects would be on hand to fight his battles. But I think the main reason is that 17/18 was a rather important season in our recent history. Christ knows what would have happened if they actually had their shit together (that’s everyone, Bruce playing his part but not the biggest part in the wider debacle).

When Villa beat wolves 4-1, we were 4 points off second place Cardiff. Between that game and when we played Cardiff (and won 1-0), we played 5 times, winning once, drawing once and losing three. For comparison, Cardiff had played 4, picking up 7 points (they had lost to Wolves). Looking back, that seems like a real missed opportunity. I remember being incensed about losing to QPR in that mini run, but otherwise my memory is a bit hazy of those games. The teams we dropped points to - QPR, Bolton, Hull and Norwich, none of them finished higher than 14th. It’s quite difficult to gain automatic promotion when you’re bringing one out of twelve points against lower table fodder towards the business end of the season.

Haven’t voted. Don’t know. I’m mainly here for the inevitable annoyance that some managers are allowed to be known by a single name (Klopp, Pep, Nuno) and others are afforded affectionate nick names (“Big Ange”, ”Poch”). Looking forward to the various suggested nick names for those without. Oliver Glasner half full, maybe. Chris “Wild Thing” Wilder. Or Eddie Howe many people have the bosses slaughtered this week.

Sorry to hear that @Follyfoot, I saw the news about it. West Park wasn’t it. There was a young girl murdered there a few years ago.

For some unexpected political insight, I saw two minutes of Celebrity Big Brother the other night (yeah, yeah I know…I promise it was two minutes). Fern Britton was talking to Kate Middleton’s uncle (I believe that’s his name) and Fern claimed that she’s put a bet on that the next Prime Minister will be David Cameron. She didn’t say what odds she managed to get.

I don’t think we’ll sell any of them (the players listed).

I assume it’s a case by case basis, but as a general rule of thumb, is it better or worse for a party if a mp stands down? I know if they’re standing down it’s likely not good, but I’m just wondering how much, if any, sting it takes out of a potential defeat for the party in that constituency. Because people might have felt “You know what I’m looking forward to? Giving Raab a (metaphorical) kicking on election night. That’s gonna be sweeeeeet.” And then he says he’s quitting and people might feel less inclined to give fresh faced Tory the same (metaphorical) kicking.

Bednarek on that for a matter of months, yeah? Not great business, no one is saying it is. I’m saying it’s not Coutinho level bad business. What was the loan fee for Barkley? I seem to recall it being quite high. I’m betting his wages weren’t terribly low either.

With respect, the buyout of Emery’s contract is going to be an unavoidable cost. If you want him, you pay the compensation. The only way that could be levelled at being a stick to beat Purslow with is upon Smith’s sacking, Emery wasn’t employed but Gerrard was still chosen anyway. Paying Rangers for Gerrard, paying him off, yes fine, his doing, his fault. Paying off Villareal in order to appoint Emery, not so much. Also, maybe I’ve missed something, but were the likes of Bednarek on wages that warrant their inclusion with the likes of Coutinho? I dare say someone like Barkley was a bigger hit to the finances all things considered but he wasn’t signed under Gerrard so subsequently he’s not so much of a stick to hit Purslow with. I suppose ultimately the difference is I don’t discount all the previous years credit for a bad 12-18 months.

Think they’ll get out of it, but it’s so close down there. Two points between 16th and 23rd. Their games against Millwall and QPR are important. If the penultimate game against Huddersfield is also a six pointer then that really could be a nervy one.

I would be (reasonably) interested to know what previous England managers’ records against top ten sides - AND where England were typically ranked during their tenure playing these games. I’m willing to guess that previous records are similarly successful but that England weren’t ranked as highly as they currently are/have been over the past X years (at least I assume England are high up there at the moment, I don’t know).