Johnnyp

Happy with that. Not sterile possession. We are moving it quickly in their half. 

McGinn been immense. 

Wonder why Hearn is dragging his feet a bit on Taylor - Cameron for May 20th now that Serrano is out. It’s the obvious fight. A world class fight. I think the plan was to maybe manoeuvre Cameron into more bigger fights over the next year. By proxy, this has come up. Taylor even took to social media to call her out, which she never does. Cracking fight, hope it gets made. 

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

What you have to watch out for is the rise of Sinn Fein/IRA in the Republic. Fianna Fáil are on the verge of collapse (centre) and the Irish Labour Party is basically dead. This leave a huge gap for an opposition party to create a standard right/left political system.  That left gap will be filled by Sinn Fein/IRA and the result of that could be them in government (plus few of a lunatic lefties to prop them up) down south. Once that happens everything done in the republic will be geared towards a border poll. Right up to bizarre policies which could bankrupt the country. I don't think people in the Republic realise the machine Sinn Fien/IRA have supporting them, the rest of the parties can't compete with it as they don't have access to the same funding, most of which can be hidden in NI.

Agreed. A small example. During the election campaign last year, Sinn Fein took out whole page adverts in the Washington Post and New York Times. A column in the corner of one page of either of those publications would cost a lot. A whole page ! Talking some serious coin. Funded no doubt by very wealthy Irish - Americans. And that wealth vehicle they have has no handbrake really. 

8 minutes ago, Enda said:

Imagine if there were a war and Coventry suddenly left the UK. The Coventry First Party drew a border around their estate and held a 55% majority inside their border.  
 

Would we, one hundred years hence, be talking in hushed tones about the will of the majority in Coventry?

Exactly yes. NI makes up, population wise about 4% of the UK. Hampshire nearly the same !! Then you half that 4% probably because it’s representative of all NI which nationalists are the majority - so the unionist NI Ireland makes up about under 2% of the UK. Let that sink in. Like i said previously, they are fast running out of road. 

1 minute ago, The Fun Factory said:

The DUP are fast becoming irrelevant, and the longer they say no to everything the more likely that they will get left behind. Middle-class progressive unionists are leaving them in droves and voting for the Alliance. The majority of people in Northern Ireland just want to get on with it.

Very true. You can’t eat a flag. 

3 minutes ago, Enda said:

Because they’re our cousins up there, they’re Irish citizens, it’s traditionally our territory, and 100 years of unionist (mi—)rule up there doesn’t mean the status quo is somehow acceptable.

The concept of NI only originated a hundred years ago. Its borders were has drawn in such a hasty way and an ad hoc fashion that both parties to Anglo-Irish Treaty agreed they would be changed within five years (but that never happened). It’s literally there in the Treaty. Thus NI is an absurd, artificial, gerrymandered statelet. If there were an all-island vote tomorrow, NI would cease to exist. It’s madness.

I certainly would want a reunification vote eventually, but not tomorrow. Say if a vote for a United Ireland won. The good friday agreement says the number would have to be 50 plus 1. Not 51 % !! 50 plus literally one vote. If Nationalism won a vote at margins so tight and it was 50 plus 1 - how on earth could you drag unionism into a united ireland with a razor tight victory like that. It would never work. Back to violence. I’d hope the secretary of state calls the border poll when the demographics have changed considerably and there is a sense after lots of planning and conversing with unionist communities, they’d be open to it. 

2 hours ago, villa89 said:

The point about re-unification that people always miss is who exactly is going to pay for it. NI is a basket case economy propped up by billions of her majesty's pounds every year. The Republic can't afford to subsidise 6 counties like that. 

I don’t think it would be a case, and im paraphrasing “ we hand it over to you on a Tuesday and from Wednesday morning on it’s yours “ The withdrawal would be deliberate and incremental. I read before that if such a scenario came to pass, Westminster would stay be financing Northern Ireland in part for a good while. Inevitably though, with NI remaining part of the EU essentially in this deal, Dublin and Brussels will become a bigger trading partner than ever before. The politics will follow. Eventually a United Ireland, economically. 

10 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

The problem is, when people make it their life’s mission to achieve something or prevent something, it can be very hard to persuade them with logic or reason that their life’s mission has been a massive waste of time.

Huge dent to the ego - understandably.

9 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

I think like a lot of people it's one of those debates, like Israel-Palestine, where you prefer not to get involved, because it seems like a mess of competing claims and counterclaims and historic grievances.

But I did spend a lot of time listening to the Troubles podcast on Spotify, presented by Oisin Feeney. I thought he did a good job of letting all sides give their accounts, and letting you empathise (if not sympathise) with everyone involved. Would really recommend it.

I personally feel as Ireland and the UK become much more similar, less religious, less sectarian, more liberal societies, the people who still want to fight to the death for Republicanism or Unionism seem a bit unhinged to me. I'm sympathetic to the non-violent, pro-compromise people on either side, and it's a shame the more fundamentalist, no surrender types are coming to the fore again.

 

Unionism are petrified to come to the table and at least have a discussion of how a United Ireland would look. Dublin has even conceded there would likely be a new flag, anthem, constitution. It would look nothing like a republican united Ireland either. The UK that the NI unionists want to stay married to does simply not exist anymore . 

1 minute ago, KentVillan said:

I think like a lot of people it's one of those debates, like Israel-Palestine, where you prefer not to get involved, because it seems like a mess of competing claims and counterclaims and historic grievances.

But I did spend a lot of time listening to the Troubles podcast on Spotify, presented by Oisin Feeney. I thought he did a good job of letting all sides give their accounts, and letting you empathise (if not sympathise) with everyone involved. Would really recommend it.

I personally feel as Ireland and the UK become much more similar, less religious, less sectarian, more liberal societies, the people who still want to fight to the death for Republicanism or Unionism seem a bit unhinged to me. I'm sympathetic to the non-violent, pro-compromise people on either side, and it's a shame the more fundamentalist, no surrender types are coming to the fore again.

 

I do agree. I think eventually ( and I’ll be honest im unmoved by it as a southern Irelander ) we’ll eventually end up by proxy of some sort of United economic Ireland. I’ll never get the mindset of unionism. Loyal to a place that doesn’t even want you. Really. They don’t. 

36 minutes ago, choffer said:

There’ll be morons on both sides, unfortunately. History has shown over the last century that neither side are beyond reproach. 
It does appear though, that the majority of people in NI want to peacefully coexist and the younger generation who’ve no first-hand experience of The Troubles aren’t divided in the way their parents generation was. 
In years gone by, I visited Belfast occasionally. I don’t have the level of insight that many here might (I know there’s obviously a good number of northern Irish or second-generation on VT) but even 20 years ago when I was there, I couldn’t help but think those of the Protestant tradition were less persuasive in their arguments. At the time I should have been a natural ally to them given my Protestant upbringing but their position never rang true. 
It does seem to me that the likes of the DUP are fighting a losing battle and not engaging in particularly good faiths behaviour. This may have always been the case and maybe it’s just particularly visible now they’re in the minority. 

The hate will get more and more diluted over time. It can’t be sustained because how can a unionist kid/teen in 2023 have the same feel and authenticity of hatred that a unionist in the troubles would of had to nationalists and vice versa. You can’t keep passing your hate down. You’ll eventually bump into someone who stops and says “ nah, this is bullshit “ 

31 minutes ago, choffer said:

There’ll be morons on both sides, unfortunately. History has shown over the last century that neither side are beyond reproach. 
It does appear though, that the majority of people in NI want to peacefully coexist and the younger generation who’ve no first-hand experience of The Troubles aren’t divided in the way their parents generation was. 
In years gone by, I visited Belfast occasionally. I don’t have the level of insight that many here might (I know there’s obviously a good number of northern Irish or second-generation on VT) but even 20 years ago when I was there, I couldn’t help but think those of the Protestant tradition were less persuasive in their arguments. At the time I should have been a natural ally to them given my Protestant upbringing but their position never rang true. 
It does seem to me that the likes of the DUP are fighting a losing battle and not engaging in particularly good faiths behaviour. This may have always been the case and maybe it’s just particularly visible now they’re in the minority. 

If they won the election last may they would of went back to stormont, guaranteed. The ironing out of the protocol would of went on. They’ll never publicly say it but they do not want to be in government with a nationalist first minister. They’d sooner burn the place down than govern under sinn fein rule. 

It was extremely clever from Westminster and the EU to have Charles seen publicly meeting Von der Leyen. I sometime find NI unionists thick as pig shite. The poorest area in the UK, well known that catholics there are better educated, finish school, get good jobs. Their whole culture is wrapped around being loyal to a monarch - who’s just met the EU leader to copperfasten a deal that still means EU law will be governed in Northern Ireland. That must be pulling at the heart strings and some mental gymnastics going on They are running out of road. 

20 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I don't know near enough about the politics and don't fully understand enough about the situation to really comment, but whichever was the path of least resistance would be fine by me. 

The question is, if it was handed to Ireland would the unionists become as militant as the Republicans have been.  If they would it's not really going to solve anything. 

I just wish people could rub along better without resorting to violence and murder. 

But I really don't spend much time thinking or worrying about it. Maybe because of my ignorance. 

But yes, it's absolutely essential for the UK to have a better relationship with the EU. I hope this does it. 

For me if the throbbers don't kick up too much of a fuss it proves they've realised Brexit is the disaster it is and their utopia is unachievable. 

If its true that this is going to improve the lot of most people. If this doesn't give the Unionists all that they want I hope they realise they realise that and just go with it. 

 

I’m of the same mentality really. Ordinary people in NI have no appetite anymore for this nonsense with flags, rebel songs, orange marches etc. That’s stuff of yesteryear. There is ( an irrational one i think ) amongst unionists that if they were put into a United ireland against their will that Irish nationalists would do on to them what was done to nationalists in NI over the last 100 years. 

Hopefully some end in sight. Would love, as an Irishman,  to see how English people feel about NI unionists holding them to ransom for the last few years. Do you have an affinity with NI unionists ? Lots of English I’ve spoke to have said they’d hand the place back to the republic in the morning if they’d a choice.  The UK needs a solid relationship with the EU - that’s basic common sense. 

12 minutes ago, AVFCDAN said:

Jake Paul comes out of this with more credit than Fury in my eyes. He wasn’t exactly troubled at any point and he’s not even a proper boxer.

Fury won’t be winning anything in boxing, take the rematch and call it a day for me.

Does he really ? He’s gonna get the “ the first time you fought an actual boxer you lost “ jibe now from many people. And fighting the KSI’S and Nate Diaz’s of this world is gonna be hard to go back to now because people will think he isn’t taking it serious when he says he is. 

Fury in a tricky place now if anything. Paul can go back to “ his world “ and even match MMA fighters again and make his money off what brought him into the public eye in the first place. Tommy has said he’ll be kicking on with his boxing career. Looking at him, id say he’s not ready to fight even for an English title. He’s probably Northern area title level. Get a few grand fighting at that level.

Both look exactly as they should. Novice fighters.

Any little streams for this ?

Mad thing, these 2 fighting now are fighting for a world title and nobody there probably knows who they are

2 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

So glad Davis and Garcia has been confirmed. I just have a sneaky feeling for Garcia. That left - hook is a thing of beauty. 

Can’t see it, kid is as stiff as a poker, can’t move his head or feet. Campbell put him over. Tank will flatten him i think. Still don’t believe it happens until they in the ring, confirmed or otherwise. 

Fans can definitely play their part. I’ll give you an example alluding to a comment a guy above rightly said. If we are at home and say Cash turns around and passes to Kamara or Konsa, it’s met with groans and complaining. Similar pass made at Goodison yesterday and nothing. The mindset of our fans away from home is different. Hey, i get people want to be entertained but im not having “ we spend good money “ You got up at probably 7-8 am, got ready for a trip to Merseyside, spend money on petrol, train, food than you would had it been at Villa Park so the “ we pay good money to be entertained at Villa Park “ line is bollocks. Give them the same sort of support away as at home. Be consistent. 

4 hours ago, M_Afro said:

I have noticed this too. I wonder if he is doing it because he is wary of the fans and their ability to turn quickly.

I know that some people don’t like to hear it but after 10 years or so of appalling senior director management prior to NSWE, our fans are at the end of their tether. There is an impatience, that although understandable, is deeply damaging to our performance. This is why we struggle at home as our away support has always been top level.

I don’t think Dean is a top coach (another unpopular opinion) but he managed to galvanise our support like no other. That created a powerful force that carried us from eleventh in the Championship to eleventh in the Premier League in two and a half seasons. At times during that run our whole club was totally united under Dean’s leadership. It was so powerful. I think a similar thing is happening at Newcastle at the moment. Sadly, although understandable, as things started to go wrong with Dean and then disastrous under SG the impatience of the fans returned.

I think that Unai can see this. Whenever we play out from the back you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and there’s always a good few people shouting to get the ball forward. It just doesn’t help and the anxiety spreads through the team. It will take time for Unai to really make a sustainable difference. Most fans can see this and will remain patient but unfortunately the impatient minority often make the most noise. We just need to trust the manager and get behind the team. If we do that, then our ceiling is seriously high.

Totally agree. I’ve been to a few Union Berlin games ( in Bundesliga 2 ) Fans never get angsty, if the tempo slows or increases, their noise from minute 1-90 is pretty much the same. They support in the true definition of the word. Let the players play. 

16 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

For mine, there is a big difference between, say, our recent set of poor results and those spells under our former manager:

Even when we failed against Leicester and Arsenal - you can see a plan, a style, a way of playing that he is trying to implement.

While there might always be a minor segment of fans that will take issue quickly (fickle? Surely not!) I can see what he is trying to do - which means it should be obvious to everyone (as I'm no strategist/pundit/coach).

Trust and patience. We are at the beginning of something special.

If Smith went on a 3 game losing streak after “ trying to play football “ he’d buckle and compromise on his principles. Emery is made of elite stuff.