Gloucester Saint

It’d be a problem only if anyone actually watched the grubby little non-dom funded freak show. OFCOM should force them to put the Tory tree logo in the top corner of the screen. Who the fuck would want to watch politicians of any persuasion marking their own homework live on air? Lee Anderson show apparently tomorrow. Must be like a rollercoaster for the producers terrified that he’ll tell someone to fuck off at any given moment live on air.

https://inews.co.uk/news/fujitsu-lobbyist-post-office-scandal-tory-pressure-group-mps-2846557

Merging with McDonnell Douglas was the worst thing that happened to Boeing, taking on their McKinsey-clone managers who had killed MD in the first place, and losing the engineering-led geeky approach that had served them so well and given them a strong safety record. Compare it to MD’s disastrous DC10 which fell out of the sky killing hundreds because they were too stingy to design a decent cargo door or put the hydraulic lines somewhere less likely to be easily severed so the plane was uncontrollable. When Boeing fucked up a tail repair for the JAL disaster in 1985 they just put up their hands up, no excuses. No blaming the operatives at the airport as MD seemingly tried to do. Mirrors the decline of America’s greatness in a lot of ways, shareholders over quality and customers every time.

I don’t think Ukraine would see it that way and neither do others - see front page of Independent https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-67878546 Hopefully we never find out but much of the world would much rather take the risk.

Very dangerous year coming up if he can’t be stopped - biggest threat to western democracy since the 1930s and the Nazis. America would be a rogue state aka Russia, China, Iran, N Korea https://www.theguardian.com/us

Another win, mixed bag of a display. Great first 20, did everything but score, hit the post, Che scuffs one that should go in, AA nearly a worldie. Could’ve been 3-0 early on. Bit one dimensional after that and got caught on the counter 3 on 3 a couple of times, but they didn’t always have the final ball to hurt us. Lino is the worst I’ve ever seen, really was, Saying Sunday League is offensive to that level. How you can reach that level and not know offside rules/see them with lines on the pitch is staggering. And dinosaurs still moan about VAR at PL level…it ain’t the technology…mind boggling. Edozie and Che both given off in the first half when a yard on and a portent to a shocking disallowed goal. Charly’s stunner 40 seconds later must have rubbed one of those big tubs of Saxa salt in the wound. In total control after that, get the second and close several times to the third. Finishing not quite at the levels of Blackburn or Swansea games but comfortable. Horrible and needless blooper from Baz, who had little else to do all night. Shea then equally stupidly nearly gifted them an equaliser farting around with no idea what was around him. Plymouth had more offensive threat than the last two teams with forwards who press with pace and can score. Something to eliminate in training. Positives - Charly excellent, changes of pace and the most threatening offensive player. Close behind Edozie, also brilliant defensive intervention at the end of the first half. Mara - good, energetic cameo. KWP - classy although should have been booked. THB and JB good. Challenges - Smallbone mixed, Charles not one of his better nights, Manning absolutely terrible again and at fault for the goal that should’ve been. Stupid booking too caught out of position wrong side of the ball. Bree/new signing needed there. Argyle will be fine, hard run of away games they’ve had and with a new manager bounce they’ll be 12-16th no issues. Keeper was hit and miss, couple of great saves but kicking terrible and glue foot for Che’s goal. Overall deserved the win, finishing more wayward than last two home games, and some things to work on in training. Hopefully QPR can nick something off Ipswich.

Juniper Berry re-opened and then shut again https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c252l0gylx4o and https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23979920.juniper-berry-pub-closes-just-weeks-reopening/ That pub has traded under a few names and had a lively reputation in the 1970s/80s (before my drinking time). Asbestos is a pain in the arse commercially and/or residentially. Depends on the extent and type of the asbestos but Admiral Taverns should be able to afford to have it removed by a specialist firm per se unless the other repairs needed make it uneconomic, probably the roof which can be very pricey. Surprised it was offered for lease in that condition tbh. Usual calibre of comments on the Echo page! Long list here of S Hants/Soton area pubs shut/closed that I’ve used over the years including the Platform (didn’t know about the fire), Waterloo Arms (was a lovely Hopback pub with a summer beer festival), Yacht Tavern (was in there after Sheff Utd great escape game 2008), and Roll Call in Butlocks Heath which is a large site. Variable pub. https://www.shantscamra.org.uk/beer/pubdata/survey/closedpubs.php Albion closed opposite Winchester station, that used to be a good pub. Anchor in Test Lane shut this year too, did decent food early 00s.

Good to see proper use of VAR at Brighton v Spurs - clear shirt tug and denial of getting a shot on goal away, which corrected the obvious error from the ref and Lino in originally not giving the penalty.

£15m is the record signing at this level I think? So that should get a very good player. £10m is a lot too, which is why this would be a £50m fuck up in the current PL. If Adams goes, he’ll need to be replaced as well but would expect that to be a loan signing (not Ings level, but someone too experienced for u23 stuff at the top 10 level in the PL who needs a chance to play senior football). The two lads at Aberdeen could be an option, although they’ve not shot the lights out in a poor league this year unlike last season. Hardie would be good but he’s a bit like AA, we need someone who can hold it up at times as well. I doubt if their new manager tbc will want to sell him. Whittaker would be better I agree. Needs swift action though and the club might have to pay a bit over to get them quickly.

Needs to be two strikers, at least one of frontline starting calibre eg Piroe standard in January now. No excuses SR, sort yourselves out. This is worse than Carrillo and Tall Paul, they were unsuited to a change of manager but on paper were at least fit to play. Adams is off, so this is going hit Dragan in the wallet. He needs to get a grip of the some of the buffoons he’s employing. I can’t think of another high profile business that’s pissed £50m up the wall in that manner on three high profile misconduct-level debacles. Some of the SFC actors in this might be having Outlook invites from SFC HR in their inbox shortly to get to the bottom of what actually went on. There should be an investigation as if hundreds of us as fans on here could see it looked absurdly risky with seemingly most of the money up front, then so-called football professionals should have known better. If it was £250k up front as a punt that Stewart might play again, that’s different. Sounds like he’s basically finished as a player at anything above the lower leagues/SPL strugglers so no use to SFC and wasn’t any use to Sunderland. Who sold a player who had the equivalent of a car with an overdue timing belt about to snap, an automatic gearbox having missed its fluid change and some idiot mug punter without any clue paid miles over the windscreen price without checking the logbook. The expensive vehicle breaks down before the buyer even got it on the drive. Just sack off the recruitment department, do what Wolves did and basically team up with a high profile agent and if the signings work out and they get sold on as the club loves to do, they get a healthy cut. Recruitment department is untenable now, give them their notice, work with an agent in January and review in the summer. Wilcox and the CEO can sign transfers off.

Klippety very critical of the Anfield atmosphere for the last two games. I saw bits of their game v Man U at the weekend and every crowd shot seemed to be packed with tourists. When ticket prices are at the level they are, and player wages so obscene even outside of the PL and CL clubs, the fans he describes as should be ‘on their toes 1000%’ are priced out.

One of the best displays of the season. The two late goals were deserved and will do Mara and Alcatraz’s confidence good. Edozie dominated his full back today, great to have Downes back. Stu really on song today. Crucial save from Baz in the first half. KWP and Bree worked well tactically, and as others have commented the latter’s defensive solidity meant Edozie had licence to torment their full back.

Do they have ponies in the Forest of Bowland?

AA is timed as quick as any player in the league but it requires a bit of independent thinking from one of the midfielders to find him by playing an earlier ball. Fraser will on by 60 minutes but he’s got to be given licence to go at their full backs and CBs. Cardiff, Leeds and Bham games were all better tempo. Far from the worst display against another in-form team but the ball has got to move quicker and the passing range/scope mixed up a bit more.

Not that bad a performance so far against another form side. Same issue as often since October - better at the back, midfield decent but totally reliant on AA for movement and threat. I know he scored Saturday but Che needs to move on for everyone’s sake next month, just not at the races. We need two first choice strikers coming in to sort out August’s balls up with Stewart, one of them on loan with Holgate returning to Everton and Stephens recovered. One of them better at hold up and the other off the shoulder and quick, we need to mix it up more. Stewart is a bust for most of this season at least, use him as an impact sub at best if he doesn’t break again after Feb.

Re-opened at 2.30 after fatal motorbike crash sadly at 5.30am, caused mayhem through Winchester by all accounts. There was an issue on the A34 nearer Oxford but that’s now re-opened northbound too.

Would make sense as even with the fixtures, we’ve not used him that much to start, although he’s improved quite a bit after the Sunderland debut tbf. If Jack is fit then it frees up a striker on loan, although at least another starting striker will need to come in if Adams does go as expected and Mara loaned out to a league suiting him better. Unless he plays Alcaraz up top? The lack of goal threat from midfield bar Fraser off the bench and Stu is another issue, but that’s partly a tactical issue and slowness in build up.

What is a concern is the extent of self-diagnosis and social media activity. ADHD is genuine and medically/legally-recognised condition and it’s imperative to speed the diagnosis up and get the waiting times down so those who genuinely have those particular conditions - ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia etc - can be diagnosed and can start making positive changes so they maximise their potential which helps the economy, the people around them and allied health services - and the more general mental health epidemic that has built up before the pandemic and especially during and since, which can be triaged in a number of different ways. Cost of living certainly hasn’t helped with that either. But then I’m in danger of getting into pills v pathology territory, where issues of economic precariousness become medicalised. I’ve had staff with diagnoses on ADHD and the awareness, and small adjustments which can be made at little or no cost post-diagnosis, make a huge transformative impact. I’m sure it’s the same in educational settings too. It’s not something that ever should be self-diagnosed though, and it’s the self-proclaiming online which is coming into focus in an unpleasant culture war driven by the tabloids where it’s ’deemed ‘trendy’. It’s the genuinely diagnosed who will lose out and that is wrong.

Whoops - this lawsuit is going to cause more embarrassment and accusations of Tory corruption https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67674683 Rishi still to appear in front of the Covid enquiry too.

Priority is a minimum of two frontline starting level strikers and possibly a winger/forward as well. Adams probably going, Mara needs regular starting football overseas, not suited to English football and Stewart if ever fit will be an impact option if chasing the game in the last 15 minutes, giving an option to go longer and win first balls. Sulemana and Fraser have had an impact in fits and starts but the top three have more consistent options and I can see why there was interest in Patrick Roberts of Sunderland. Two front line forwards not made of glass who can help AA would be ideal but that will require some greater mixing up of the play to enable through balls and play off the defenders’ shoulders. Too predictable in attack.

How deluded is the ERG - Rwanda details being looked over by a ‘Star Chamber’. At least the One Nation group has a bit more heft in legal matters including an Attorney General. Cash is a qualified solicitor from the 60s but come on, this a whole different ball game. It’s like saying that Barrow’s centre forward and Haaland are both professional footballers. Braverman does have some expertise and knows the detail but isn’t trusted becuase she can’t override the extremely partisan part of her brain, eg 90% of it. She also has a huge axe to grind with Sunak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67656496 Grim for Rishi - the outcomes are either highly damaging beyond recovery as he hangs on or an instant GE and big Labour majority. The party is in a worse state than the 1990s and the economy was doing far better under Clarke and Major as well. They are probably better off just calling it quits and starting rebuilding long-term in opposition with the aim of leading say a minority government by 2034/5 given the damage to their brand and ideas. In Saints terms, this is Nathan Jones and the Wolves home game. Starmer and Reeves need to be ready to take over and be on top of this issue straight away.

That is absolutely shocking business again in such a critical season - every bit as appalling an unforced error as Carrillo and Onachu. £50m in fees pissed away not counting the wages, signing on fees, agents etc. At least those two were just shit/unsuited to new managers, they were actually fit to play. To set out to sign an injured player and piss 6 months to 12 months wages of the parachute payment up the wall, we’d all be sacked if we fucked up like that at work. So given he’s already been out for a year he is useless for this season. And he’s only played half a season at this level before, if that. Brilliant. Well done Saints, we March on. Darren Mowbray must be getting the piss ripped out of him by Tony. What a mug,

Stopping crosses coming in from good positions without sufficient pressure has been a problem for years, since Ronald really. Been better at it lately with Bree coming into the first XI and some crosses will always come in but the quality is always more dangerous to defend against when the opponent is given a couple of yards to generate pace and whip.

Another variable is the age of your property. Whilst post-war properties are more sturdily constructed from experience, sometimes there are some nasty surprises where some of the prior or original work is not so easily visible. Quotes are estimates based on what is more readily visible but sometimes a more detailed investigation or exploration when work is due to start to start can and does throw a few curve balls.

In other news: - Large bear spotted shitting in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest - Mr Kipling factory produces another batch of almond slices - Pope thought to be Catholic