Holmes_and_Watson

Sadly, when I asked my workplace if I could emulate the grown ups in Labour, they said I'd be fired for violating the gift and hospitality procedure. And that was Day 1 Minute 1 of their time in office.

Relegation

That he's clung on this far, sacking as many as he has, would indicate he's not going anywhere. Behind the scenes, the playground is being split up into little gangs, briefing and sniping at both Starmer and their rivals. If the elections are dismal, there will be more of the same. All building up to a vote against the leader and a pitched battle within the party. Not just on personality but on ideology, based on the various purges between center and left.

Eye

Having trouble Man-Ageing his squad. Pillock.

Decades from now you'll look at that, and wonder just what was going on. 🙂

Don't do it.

I was wondering just how much rotation we needed. But then we don't know the condition of a lot of them, and knocks they are carrying. The rotation has kept a deep squad, fresh this long, which has been a plus. We've dug out wins when not everyone has been firing in the last two. Tonight, we just didn't quite have enough. Looking at the starting line up, Leo for Archer is the only obvious change. And Archer has done well in the last couple. It would be hard to drop Azaz, even if he's fading a bit. I prefer Downes and Jander as a midfield 2. But there's no question that Charles brings some attacking quality. So, a decent line up really, in the end I think, although I did share the thought, when we looked a bit meh at times.

The unbeaten run continues! We had a few, not chances that troubled their keeper, but nearly moments in the last couple of minutes. But we didn't really get behind them often enough in those closing stages. Roy sent out a well disciplined side with a game plan. We were a bit too disjointed, and unfortunately gave away an OG. A fair number of slips, missed passes and incorrect offsides broke up the play even more. Tonda's subs got us a point. If it's the play offs, then he has done an excellent job to get us there, from where we were.

Hopefully, that defensive sub means we get a lot more space.

I thought Stewart had got a second. Flag up anyway...

Stewart! Lovely ball in. Good to see Tonda switch it up with both Stewart and Larin on.

That looked like a poor one to concede. Easily got it in past Charles. City have made most of the running this half. Happy to sit back, looking for the press, but patient when we don't push. We had a moment when Leo came on. But will be have to a lot better, even to get the draw.

As others have said, it's a bit disjointed tonight. City were controlling the pace of it after we got back into it. They pressed our defence a lot more too. A good 1 on 1 stop from Peretz undone by a lovely diving header from Manning. We've shown we've plenty more in the tank than this, and have plenty of reinforcements to bring on to impose ourselves a bit more.

Yay! Nice delivery and a player's finish. Just got anything on it.

You're left with the impression of him being a careerist, but not a careerist politician. Able to get to the top, but with no method, he's not willing to change his mind on along the way. Points for flexibility. But his political career has left him looking like he's been led by the nose through it all by McSweeney (and behind him, mentor Mandelson). McSweeney got him as far as he did, so giving rewards for loyalists must have seemed like a non issue. Any revelations brushed easily away. The Doyle revelations (more today) show he's happy to promote the careers of pals of paedos. Even after that, he was still happy to promote the career of a national security risk -tnrough Epstein, Russia and China. He did that knowingly. The vetting result is a bit of a red herring in that respect. One day a politician will decide not to listen to his damage limitation shouting team. It invariably ends up in drip fed disaster, with any integrity burned along the way. I saw clips on Sky of a number of times he stood up for the moral compass and accountability he'd bring to leadership. What a disappointment.

Detective

I'm worried he'll retaliate when Pep tries to manhandle him at half time, after Downes has bossed the midfield.

It's always great to find things you have in common with people. Like that post! I was looking forward to a thread just about...other people, just like us, who don't.

It's a bit messy for everyday, so I keep those with my self flagellation whips, so it doesn't get everywhe...wait, when did this get too personal...

Never underestimate the timeless look of sack cloth. The only labels you need, are the ones showing your name and address. That way, you can be directed home, when you get lost.

I think Rayner is making a speech today. Just getting in some early practice before the post locals election challenge (tax case resolution also making a difference in the timing) From what I've picked up, Starmer is hiding behind no one explicitly telling him that part of the vetting had failed. Never mind that Mandelson was the mentor of McSweeney, who pushed for his appointment and persuaded Starmer. Without much effort, they announced him prior to the conclusion of vetting. Starmer put having a political operator and chum over any concerns he had over publically known links to Epstein. Another reason he didn't get told about the vetting failure, was that he was already fully aware of the reasons why it failed, which were the Russia and China links. There was nothing new in there, that would have changed his mind, no matter what ministers say now. Because he already knew. Robbins will shed more light on it. - The level of detail, if any, that was passed on. - The timing of vetting pre/post appointment. - The meetings held by him and predecessor to make sure the appointment happened. It turns out a few other people did know, and we're going through a process of finding out how much they could tell Starmer. That area dropped from the list of places Starmer said had never been informed.

Looking forward to seeing their L1 clash with Leicester, if it turns out like Dixon and Speedie. 🙂

Torino 12th (11th last season, and 9th before that). Che with 5 league goals in 28, 7 in 31 in all competitions. His contract ends at the end of next season, unless there's an extension clause in there. (All taken from wiki) He'll have a World Cup to go to. All options open really. I could see why Torino might want to cash in now. Also why he might want to run his contract down again.

From a Beeb article regarding Wolves, and their plans for next season, there's a familiar partner for AA... "Internal talks over transfers are ongoing, while Edwards is expected to resurrect a move for Torino forward Che Adams having failed to land him in the winter window."