Mark Albrighton

Well I would say I prefer 2019 Glenn Whelan to 2009 Glenn Whelan.

It does seem like Hayden wants out pretty quickly, you would think Rafa leaving would hurry that along. Not sure if we’re southern enough for him from what I’ve seen suggested. Anyway, a quick looks suggests he didn’t feature much during the first third of the season just gone. But Newcastle certainly won more when he got on the pitch in some capacity - Games Hayden played in - 25 Won 11, Drew 5, Lost 9 Games Hayden didn’t feature - 13 Won 1, Drew 4, Lost 8 Not particularly scientific, probably loads of other factors, but he did seem to feature heavily when they fairly comfortably eased any relegation worries.

A Representative for Wellingborough, maybe. But a brilliant one, certainly.

Well Moyes’ Man Utd contract is due to expire in a week or so, the timing is just a little too coincidental for my liking.

I wasn’t really meaning fame, more knowing it was you who was responsible (in this hypothetical situation). I would guess that Bernie Taupin can walk down the street without being bothered relatively easily. But loads of people know his name and his musical contribution.

I think it’s because they don’t improve the squad, because they were in the squad last season. They’re both good deals, but they don’t strengthen what we already had. If we sign Mings, everyone will be happy, but we’ll just have maintained the status quo from last season, albeit on a permanent basis. As it stands, we have possibly improved on Elmo with Guilbert, Adomah with Jota and Tammy with Wes, but each of those are very debatable at this point.

Let’s say you don’t have to sing them, you’re Gerry Goffin or Hal David or someone like that. People love the song “With a little help from my friends” and they all know it was Bickster who wrote it and countless other hits.

Bicks, if you were in the lead character’s position, would you happily claim credit and wealth for the songs, knowing that you’d also live in the knowledge that it was you that inflicted on the world the songs from a band you hate? Or would you pass up the chance to make millions if it meant you’d never hear a single note of a Beatles song again? Part of me really thinks you’d turn the opportunity down

I don’t watch cricket, but I don’t particularly mind it. I’ll be at a T20 game at Edgbaston later in the year for a stag do. It’s better than rugby, which in turn is better than the few snippets of American Football I’ve seen. However golf is worse than both cricket and rugby. But Formula One is probably top of the dreary pile.

I think I mentioned it in either the VP redevelopment thread or the history thread, while I do like the mosaic on the Holte, it would be better if it was the more aggressive lion that currently adorns the badge. Not sure how easy it would be to rectify. One thing I always look at and think could be so much better - in the one Holte concourse (and I assume elsewhere in the ground), by the food stands etc, they have old squad pictures of teams gone by - from memory mainly teams from the late 19th/early 20th century. It’s a nice touch, but they have several of them stuck on the beams about 5ft above mine or anyone else’s head, as such you can’t really see them properly, it’s not immediately clear what season they’re from etc. I think there’s one of George Ramsey and his dog which has been positioned at eye level. There’s a bit of text accompanying the picture too I think. It all looks like an afterthought to be honest. I don’t want to be standing in the middle of the concourse, in the way of everyone else trying to see if I can spot Archie Hunter or John Devey. Position them so they can be properly seen, ideally with the names of the players featured, what season it was etc. Include a bit of text about that team, what it may have won that year, which player went on to do what etc. And it doesn’t have to be just squad photos, have individual ones about the likes of Charlie Aitken or Frederick Rinder etc.

This is much more like it. Now was that so hard?

I like “Regret”, that’s because I liked the use of it in Match of the 90’s. “Age of Consent”, a version of that pops up in Wayne’s World 2. Of course “Temptation” is used in Trainspotting. It appears I like New Order songs when used sporadically in soundtracks.

I don’t believe they did. A similar incident with a Leeds supporter and Chris Kirkland resulted in no action against the club (I think). So yeah, consistency I guess. But I think it’s incorrect. A reduced away allocation or something would be fitting. But you can bet the football league if they were asked would shrug their shoulders and say that blues have been punished this season with nine point deduction and let’s move on. I don’t know what the fall out of that steward that gave Grealish a sly dig. It could be argued that reflects worse on the club, one of their own staff acting that way - something you could say they should have more control over.

Yep, certainly whom I thought was being referenced.

Although I grew up loving Oasis I’ve never really got Kasabian. Think I could name “shoot the runner”, “club foot” (is that the “ahhhhhh ahhhhh” song?) and maybe another if I really thought about it. That one about “we’re all wasting away”? Muse, meh. Foo fighters, I think Grohl’s “hey look how much of a fun guy I am” persona puts me off if anything. Elbow are ok, but Doves are better.

I like the bass on “Evil” by Interpol. Oh and when I about 16 I was pretty obsessed with “Comedown” by Bush which has a rather groovy bass intro.

Perhaps a bit too popular/obvious to have been posted before, but I heard this earlier today for the first time in ages. Loved it when it first came out, still rather fond of it now.

For me one of the biggest disappointments with phoney Tony was that all that talk of trying to make Aston a second city centre seemingly was just nonsense. How much NSWE are looking into the area around Villa Park remains to be seen. There are some fantastic old buildings like the Britannia that with a bit of attention could have new life breathed into them. One step at a time though.

I used to have a great photo of the 1994/95 squad stood on the old Holte before it’s demolition. It was in one of my copies of “Claret & Blue” which in a typical moment of idiocy I’ve got rid of during the intervening years. I do like the mosaic but it does bug me that the lion is the rubbish one we had when we ultimately were relegated under Lerner.

What we do in the shadows. I wasn’t as in love with the film as most on here, I didn’t mind it, but it’s not a patch on Flight of the Conchords. As such I didn’t give the series much attention but the episodes I saw were pretty good. The episode with the trial was very funny, and in one of the latter episodes I found myself properly laughing out loud to the exchange between Matt Berry’s character and his wife’s slave (for want of a better term) - Matt Berry’s simple reply of had me creasing.

Off topic, but this is one of my favourite sequences from The Thick of It.