CB Fry

Yes, that's a perfect route to Pride Park but it's a bit of a stroll. If anyone wants to park and go then should be doable for a pre-season. Plus the Toys R Us right near the ground has just shut so get a feeling that will likely be turned into match parking too.

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You're writing that like he turned up outside Staplewood with his boots and a sportsbag and we turned him away. Jesus wept.

You should be able to park closer than that. If they open the car parks in the various parts of the trading estate (they do on normal match days) on Pride Park then you should get a spot near the ground.

Basically this is the same argument I was using when people were talking about easy draws and how we should throw the Belgium game to get us a route to the final before anyone even knew who was going to qualify from that other group. Sweden had just given Germany a hell of a game, had knocked out Holland and Italy. Colombia had recently beaten France. Thanks for making it for me. Cheers.

No it would have been a disaster on an Iceland scale. Hope that helps.

Of course, if we'd have beaten Belgium reserves, then Japan, then a noble but iconic loss to Brazil would have meant getting on the plane home with one defeat at the tournament not three. Hey ho.

They're not obliged to pick Ryan Bertrand and really they can offer any explanation or none. Get over it.

Did you miss Burnley finishing seventh last season then above Everton and Leicester? Or Huddersfield staying up but Stoke, WBA going down? Between 7th - 20th it certainly not as easy as whoever spends the most wins.

Bertrand really not that much better. Let's remember who lazily wafted a clearance to let Everton equalise which could well have been fatal for our season. Let's not pretend he would have made any difference at all. The fact he didn't get on the plane shows what a poor season Ryan Bertrand had.

I think it's more traditional that fully fit 30-year old goalkeepers tend to continue being a goalkeeper for four or five or six more seasons before they even think about coaching. Bizarre.

He doesn't need to be "sold it" it's obvious in itself. Play well for two straight seasons and he could be on £££££££ and in the Champions League. If he delivers that he would have been brilliant for us.

Exactly- it's a song about crazy and usually forlorn hope, not entitlement.

Looks like a perfect Saints signing from back in the day when we made good signings (three years ago). Great stuff.

#choke

I don't disagree with that view- I am about the same age as you, I have those exact same feelings and memories. The last 16 match we had against Argentina in 1998 remains an iconic match in our history, for Owen's goal, Beckham's sending off, and the penalty shoot out, which one piece of commentary from it, Quickly Kevin Will He Score, has become the title of a popular (and absolutely brilliant) nostalgic football podcast. If that's not the stuff of memories I don't know what is. A Brazil quarter final with Southgate and our young lions etc perfectly capable of being as memorable.

We weren't unlucky to not go through, we fu cking blew it. This easy draw was supposed to be a route to the final but it wasn't because we didn't get there so ultimately meaningless. If we'd have beaten Belgium and Japan there would gave been just as much excitement into a match with Brazil, that's all. And if after watching that match you genuinely think we were "unlucky" against Croatia then we could have been equally "unlucky" in a memorable QF against Brazil. We got to a semi and very enjoyable it was too, but if we'd have got to a quarter final against Brazil then it wouldn't have been much different, and still a reflection of our actual level, which is, pretty obviously, quarter final standard. We aren't good enough to win the world cup therefore wan king on about "easy draws" is just horsesh it. How about we win the world cup like every other fu cking team that's done it and beat someone good?

Not much in it to be honest. A quarter final against Brazil is what the WC is all about and we should embrace it. I wrote that ten days ago or whenever it was and stand by it. Enjoyed beating Sweden and great to get to tonight but the other side of the draw would have been interesting in its own way, especially if we had beaten Belgium to get there.

After 1990 we stank the place out at Euro 92 and failed to qualify for USA 94. Don't believe the hype that this is the start of a glorious story where we get better and better and better. Spain, Croatia in that mini league looks like an effing nightmare. Let's see if we can do it on a cold wet Wednesday night in Madrid.

I thought I'd look at when qualifying for Euro 2020 starts. I wish I hadn't. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying Jesus wept.

Boom.

Only 8 years until the next Summer World Cup, then.

Roy Keane cutting through the crap on ITV.

Enjoyable World Cup. England great and did better than expected and after some utterly pathetic tournaments it's nice to get deep into a tournament and just have tgat little bit of hope. But we lost to a better side and a team that have got to the WC final in part by defeating Argentina. We did okay getting past the middling teams we were lucky enough to meet.