Mark Albrighton

This page has reminded me of “Desmond’s”.

Well as has been fairly pointed out, Ferguson clearly put up with a lot from some of his greatest players, a fair few “shenanigans” to put it kindly (I suppose he’s as guilty as anyone for turning a blind eye as long as games are being won - probably more guilty than most). So maybe Lingard being a dick wouldn’t be that much of an issue for him. However, Lingard being not particularly good at football along with him being a dick would probably have seen him leave a long time ago if Fergie had been in charge. I guess to an extent he’s just emblematic of United’s decline.

Did the club announce Kalinic before his work permit went pear shaped three years ago? Unless they were worried about the story breaking before it was confirmed, I’d be surprised if they announced the deal unless they had a large degree of certainty the deal would go through.

We were sort of tenuously linked with him for a bit. Not in a particularly serious way, but I think i’m right I’m thinking Dr T followed him on Twitter which tells you all you need to know. But his name has definitely popped up a few times in amongst all the other names in new manager threads.

“love and behold”

Yeah there is that mindset, obviously not everywhere but it does exist. There are probably a fair few who think like that without realising. I like to think I’d consider Lingard as a bit of a prick with or without the video or whether or not he won the PFA player of the year.

Yeah I don’t disagree with what you’re saying @BOF. I think my post is more of a clumsy general critique of Man Utd than it really is of Lingard. I don’t care at all what him, Pogba or anyone does on Instagram or Twitter, he can say “beans beans beans” all he likes. As long as it’s not offensive it shouldn’t really be a talking point. You’d still have the grumpy old men complaining about it, but this sort of thing wouldn’t be used as a stick to hit him with if he was playing well/they were winning things. The examples you allude to - Cantona kicking a supporter, Keane’s hard man challenges, Giggs’ affair etc...are obviously all demonstrably worse.

I have a Wolves mate who is generally alright, he can be a bit passive aggressive about Villa, in a fairly gentle way admittedly. He’s quicker to discuss Villa when things aren’t going so well. I try and reciprocate when I can. He was happy to message me asking about our kit manufacturer when we were 1-0 down at VP against Baggies in the play offs first leg. Sort of fishing for a meltdown. That kinda thing. From my own experience I know growing up there will have been a lot of Villa supporters living not far from Wolverhampton (like myself) who for whatever reason chose Villa over Wolves. And those supporters like my mate who went with Wolves probably received a bit of stick from their Villa mates over the years, some of it deliberately, some of it perhaps being accidentally patronising. I suspect this sort of dynamic really only happened one way, I imagine there were more Villa supporters from the Wolverhampton area than there were Wolves supporters growing up in Birmingham. The stuff on Twitter, I don’t know, it’s not my world. A lot of dick swinging from both sides I imagine.

* envy

The video in itself is nothing to get outraged about. But you imagine that this “bantz” attitude is present a lot more at the club now than it ever was under Fergie. Players more bothered about appearing like top lads on their Instagram accounts, I can easily imagine it spilling over into the time they’re meant to be acting professional. Imagine Lingard acting in anyway like that in the dressing room with Roy Keane there. I don’t mean to sound all old school “kids these days” there, but as much as I disliked Man Utd back then, they had a proper professional winner’s mentality, they don’t have that now, certainly not to the same extent.

I don’t necessarily want them to go bust, but then I wouldn’t feel too downbeat if they did. I hate playing them. Of course, beating them is great and all that. But it’s pretty much the only fixture I dread leading up to it. I prefer the rivalry with Baggies to be honest. It means a lot to them, not quite as much to us, but there’s still enough of a rivalry and close proximity for it to feel like a proper derby. Generally it’s better natured too, bit of an edge which you want in these games, but not nasty like the small heath games. Basically if the last ever goal scored in a second city derby is a Villa winner by a Villa supporter away at the sty, while the last goal at Villa Park is a 50/60 yard bombing run by our full back in front of an ecstatic Holte End, I’d be quite content with that.

It’s all those old episodes of Jonathan Creek you’ve been watching mate.

If they ever make a film version of the true Geordie with Seth Rogen in the lead role, it would look like that bloke.

I imagine we’ll see a situation where Coventry play at home on the Tuesday night, Small Heath will be away, we’ll play our home fixture on the Wednesday night. Throw in the occasional live tv fixture taking place on a Sunday or a Monday, that should minimise the frequency of it.

If he is, it should hopefully mean we’re doing alright.

Distinct lack of Sherwood suggestions being made in here.

Publisher FTW.

Bloody hell, I’ve read Noel Whelan’s name more times in the last six weeks than I ever did when he was a player.

I remember seeing criticism of Jose, things like “he’s just not a Man Utd manager”. I can only assume they mean he’s not Alex Ferguson. Or Matt Busby. Otherwise I’m not quite sure what the criteria of a “Man Utd manager” is. Whatever it is, I think they thought they were getting that with OGS because he played for them, but doesn’t look like it’s going to work out again. A while back (maybe LVG era) I was involved in a WhatsApp chat and when asked what they actually expected from the club, one Man Utd fan basically said he wanted an exciting side that could be compared to the ‘99 and ‘08 teams. So essentially he just wants a side good enough to win the champions league. Not too much to ask. There are plenty of genuinely decent Man Utd fans out there, but there’s a whole generation (maybe two) who in large parts are only just realising how good they had it.

“In an unexpected twist of the summer transfer news, confirmed sources suggest a proposed threesome between Lily James, Margot Robbie and Shropshire Lad has been tabled.” Maybe that’ll get some media traction, then who knows.... **** it, worth a try, right?

Solid sugar daddy territory there mate, you’ll be fine.

I wouldn’t worry about the general lack of noise for this transfer or any others. The Hause deal has looked like a nailed on certainty since the before the play offs and has only just been confirmed.