Gloucester Saint

I agree. I don’t think it’s a totalitarian thing per se, but given the very hardline and extreme Project 2025 by Heritage Foundation which he and the GOP campaign are frantically trying to distance themselves from, it wasn’t a particularly smart speech because lots of the GOP grassroots love Project 2025. The evangelical fruit loops were going to vote for him anyway but after the Daniels convictions he’s trying to cement them just in case. Badger makes a good point above - a lot of the GOP positions on women’s and reproductive rights for example are very unpopular without him fronting them, and they will probably still cost them anyway in November with swing voters and mobilise the Democrat core. But the evangelicals love Roe Vs Wade repealed, restricting access to IVF. To most western countries, it’s as backwards as the Taliban but what he’s clumsily saying is ‘only I can turn the clock back for you socially, the chance won’t come around again in a future election but if I do it, it’s going to take decades to repeal’.

If Trump’s selection was based around making him seem less crazy by comparison to Vance’s loony offerings, then I can see why he did. However Trump is a psychopath, so being to the right of him doesn’t help with the undecideds. The latest Vance idiocy unearthed helps the Democrat core vote get motivated to vote - good, good. And if couples can’t conceive naturally, the GOP and the extremists they’ve appointed to the Supreme Court and state circuits have made IVF almost impossible to access. The GOP have made their bed with Trump and Vance, and they have to lie in it, soiled by stupidity as it is.

If that’s the case then I’ve little sympathy for the club around FFP restrictions or lack of cash. What £10m + whatever we paid Sunderland in a bonus (£2m?) for promotion for an essentially League One player in the last year his contract who hadn’t played for several months. To actually be an even worse striker purchase than Carrillo or Onachu - that takes serious quantities of alcohol consumption to think it was a good bit of business. He’s 28 as well or coming up to. Fair play in a way to him and his agent for earning all that money for doing nothing and lying on the physio couch/on the sofa whilst his team-mates flogged themselves through 50 games to get him a big pay rise. Happy to eat my words if he actually ever starts a game next season or plays more than 45 minutes in the Saints first team. Seems very unlikely he will.

12 months rolling I thought. Edit - 2 years, and not signing another. No way they will get over £15m. Saints got their shorts pulled down over Stewart, this would be equally daft. Anything over £15m and move on to better, quicker targets. Good player but we just paid £18m for Downes in a more critical position, longer contract with West Ham and PL experience recently.

I’d still regard him as more component than that large, equally senile orange child psychopath. Look at his words about Harris being ‘dumb as a rock’ being turned humiliatingly against him by his own sub-key stage 7 idiocy https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trumps-4-word-attack-on-kamala-harris-gets-turned-back-at-him_uk_669f4c3ee4b03375f56f0c62 Are you seriously suggesting Trump would be fit to take on the job again? Even his own VP candidate has called him America’s Hitler. Add in the above bloopers, and his leading of a violent attempted overthrow of a correctly won election on 6 January, and anyone who thinks Trump is the full shilling needs help themselves. Harris is the go-to option now, the world needs to get behind her and especially the Democrat Party and its core vote. If it gets that out plus enough of the waverers, stability can continue and Putin can be tackled. He’d love another Trump win.

Strongly rumoured to be defecting to Reform in the autumn. Probably just before the conference to maximise self-publicity. Tice and Farage encouraging it, although can’t see some of the people who stood for them this summer being too happy going by their social media histories.

She is a reason in our family to change channel. I used to defend her, but over the last few months her neutrality has faded and it’s widely noted. Time to switch to the outer limits of the Murdoch empire - Talk TV perhaps - where she can be a Tory party employee without worrying.

I agree, overdue, but had to happen. If it is Harris, that will be a trap for Trump’s base - they’ve been abusing Vance’s wife and kids already for being multiracial, so Harris will be catnip for the Klan, Proud Boys, domestic Neo Nazis and state militia groups which hang around Trump. Obama to be more visible I reckon which will dredge all of the ludicrous birther conspiracy theories up again, which was also always driven by race. It’ll also remind swing voters of Trump’s record on women’s rights, and the issue of his Supreme Court appointees dreadful rollback of Roe Vs Wade. It won’t affect the core base and evangelist fruit loops, but allied to his recent convictions and January 6 hangover, will be an issue with undecideds and importantly help the Democrats get their own base out, especially women and minorities.

100% agree. Reasonable second striker but sub-par as a primary striker which is what we need him to be, and it’s not what he is. Good squad option for Forest or Wolves, Torino are in for disappointment if they sign him on a free with hefty signing on fee and wages for three-four years. Thanks for some good goals and getting us back up last season first attempt, and seems a decent lad, but I’m not sure he fits our needs for this season. I’d enquire about Morgan Whittaker - 19 goals in a side that just stayed up last season is impressive and he’s one of those players who has the raw attributes to play higher. I know he’s more of a winger/AMC than a striker per se but that areas needs urgent bolstering with pace and creativity. We won’t have as much of the ball and must play through the lines when required. Plymouth apparently want £15m but that might come down if they were offered a couple of our better younger fringe players on loan whom Rooney liked the look of with us subsidising as part of the deal. Miovsky is an option Mowbray would know, looked decent in Europe but outside the Old Firm’s very best you wouldn’t expect a PL side to shop direct (Andy Robertson was at Hull first for example) in the SPL. Maybe Iheanacho on a free who is a year younger than Che and marginally better scoring record? Mixed for Leicester but if the club are shopping in the bargain basement zone then we could do a lot worse. Talk of Dallinger and other overseas options etc but don’t know enough about them. Hard to know with Stewart being a total question mark. He could be a surprise package and work in rotation with another more reliable (fitness wise) main striker or he could get injured again and vanish like Stig Johansen. If we could get 10-15 starts out of Stewart and he could hold it up, it would help with AA/Whittaker/Alcaraz buzzing around him. If he’s a non-option, then it’s two frontline strikers we need which impacts the budget as forwards are pricey. Agree with Hopper that a few faces likely need to move on as well. I’d keep Charly but hoping Sulemana’s agent finally backs up all his bullshit and gets him off the books and recoups some of the money. Mara needs to move on for everyone’s sake.

I think they would get some credit belatedly if they finally act with total ruthlessness, pull their finger out and announce their preferred candidates ahead of the convention with Biden not on them. It’s rare to not select a one-term sitting President but they aren’t obliged to either. They’ve tried to be respectful and polite and it hasn’t worked so the party leaders and major donors just need to tell him he won’t be selected at the convention. If he doesn’t like it, tough shit. When you confuse your own black, female VP with Donald Trump and then Ukraine President with Putin, I don’t give a fuck if the rest of the speech was coherent, there’s no way back from that. Biden is being a selfish prick and the Democrats need to switch into hard-headed mode and make a rational political decision. Give him 48 hours to step back from the race or ensure if when wont do so that Harris takes over as President next week due to Biden’s ‘illness’ (unspecified) until the election and ahead of selecting the candidate at the convention. Tough but fair. He won’t want to not finish his term so that is the right threat to use.

She’s clearly a moron but Simon Case shouldn’t have given way on that. Telegraph’s editor needs to sack Allisder Heath as he’s continually enabling her to spout crazy conspiracy theories especially since the people of SW Norfolk gave her the boot a few days ago from a record majority. She’s becoming the Katie Hopkins of the party and massive reason for the record loss was Sunak not sacking her. Couple of years of time you could see her on a platform somewhere in the middle of nowhere with Hopkins, MLT, Icke, Piers Corbyn and co. Even the whack jobs in the Republican convention just about tolerate her but don’t really want someone with her track-record of huge defeats around their camp. Nor do Trump and Vance, repugnant as they are in many respects, particularly worship at the loony Laffer Curve strand of free market economics she, Sinclair and Littlewood, her IEA brownosers, do. I think she’ll move to America full time and clog up the Cato and Heritage with more rehashed shit. Clearly budget deficits are a blind spot for her.

Sponsor logo looks far better on the yellow away kit than the home. Intrigued by the third kit, will wait for that I think

If the Democrats have any balls, it’ll appear on every advert. Trump’s base (such a great word for those who support him) won’t be troubled by it as they wear their violent bigotry with pride, but plus the convictions, it might make waverers have a think, especially those with an IQ in double digits. There’s more to come as well https://globalnews.ca/news/10626278/jd-vance-donald-trump-comments/ Vance has form for antisemitism https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/liberal-jewish-groups-blast-trumps-vp-pick-vance-voted-against-israel-aid-promoted-antisemitic-conspiracies/, and his wife and multi-racial kids are even in the firing line from the KKK core of Trump’s MAGA fanbase https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-wife-attacks-maga-trump-running-mate-1926194 Astonishingly, he’s also indulged in white replacement theories as well in 2022 to boost his fake hillbilly credentials, a staple of the alt/far right in the 2020s https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republican-senate-candidates-promote-replacement-theory and https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/when-democrats-accused-jd-vance-of-endorsing-racist-great-replacement-theory/ar-BB1q2h5z Get Harris to stand and throw the gauntlet down to these fuckers. They’ll be like wasps in August to an open jar of high sugar jam with their white supremacist theories. Sleepy Joe ain’t going to take the fight to these cunts. Emphasise the sacrifice of the US WW2 veterans, then contrast with Jan 6 2021, and not letting fascism in via the back door, letting that generation down.

Soggy will be furious that the club invited Nick Griffin to the kit launch

££££. Hopefully it’s many times the nearest offer and funds the new first team GK/or Flynn’s CM partner/or striker sorely needed.

It appears Hampshire county lines on behalf of a bigger syndicate has either gotten a mistaken identity over a drugs debt or the address is wrong. Seems unlikely that disgruntled Sussex or Surrey supporters are doing it. Stupid of their foot soldiers to have worn branded clothing, but still stinks of organised crime. In a way, the old sponsored players cars of the 90s/00s might have given them a big clue that they had the wrong place/people. Still, very sorry that James and his family have had to contend with all that aggro, it should stop now that the crims can see they’ve crossed wires.

Very clear what would happen when a hyped up white supremacist mob (plenty of photos with Nazi insignia from that crowd) were directed to march on the Capitol. Wasn’t going to be a few chants and pass around the hummus was it?

At least there are a few GK links, McCarthy is OK but the club clearly only see Lumley as an emergency and he must be bad to be behind Bazanu. Gavin gets into the Saints worst ever XI with ease, and that was before a season-long injury. Even a middle aged Chris Woods was better under Souness briefly. Maik Taylor that season was 100 times the keeper Bazanu will ever be.

Musk is indeed closely aligned with the far right, surprised that you admitted that’s true https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-08/musk-is-engaging-with-europe-s-far-right-but-voters-aren-t-so-sure?embedded-checkout=true

This would be tragic if so. I’m more geographically detached than you are, but still think that Harris is the clear option to replace him on the ticket if the Democrats finally grow a backbone in the week ahead. Trump is still in a different spot with the convictions and Jan 6 attempted armed coup still fresh, the roll back on Roe Vs Wade was astonishingly regressive and backward, which has alienated a lot of female voters bar the Republican hardcore and evangelical nuts, and Harris would be like a open jar of high sugar jam to the significant white supremacist loon element in Trump’s cult base.

Remember to give the Foden cat’s paws a lucky rub before Sunday https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/rub-paws-angry-phil-foden-33224298#

Recent research with their members suggests she has an advantage of 2:1 over Braverman and Tugendhat but that may not play out in practice of course https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2024/hss/survey-reveals-kemi-badenoch-as-the-top-choice-among-conservative-party-members-but-the-party-is-evenly-split-on-merging-with-nigel-farages-reform-uk.html and https://news.sky.com/story/kemi-badenoch-has-double-the-support-of-suella-braverman-among-members-to-be-next-tory-leader-poll-suggests-13175817 Half the members surveyed also seem keen on merging with Reform. Which is a problem for Badenoch as although she’s more likely to hoover up Tugendhat’s share if he stood back, she’s ruled it out where Braverman is openly advocating for it. No chance of putting any kind of elector and geographical coalition for an overall majority in the future if they did, as Reform are well to the right on economic policy.

Tugendhat would be decent, can see him winning the MPs but not the loonies in the membership. His best chance is if Kemi and Braverman split the populist/American culture war/let’s be Trump’s 51st state ticket, which is why they are taking pops at each other in public. I think Badenoch will prevail though as Suella is too toxic even for the bulk of Tory members post Brexit. Homeless as a lifestyle choice - Bad Enough’s camp will throw that back at her and understandably so. That was Suella’s Eggwina moment.

Tricky one to assess. The reports seem to indicate a player with potentially a high ceiling but it goes against his record in practice which is poor at a lower level. You could get Sinclair Armstrong from QPR for a fraction of the cost, who is also quick and direct. He could also turn out like Shearer was for us, explosive debut then fairly steady/quiet until his final season which took him from one to watch to a British record. I understand the scepticism as Gunn, Bazanu were terrible for £12m+, at least Gunn looks decent at Champ level, Bazanu would struggle at League 1 and below and Saints really got their pants pulled down there. I’d pay him off on a compromise deal once he’s fit, a loan spell in the lower leagues won’t convince me there’s a professional goalkeeper there above League 1. That’s his ceiling. ROI are so dreadful he’ll still get in their squad. Shea Charles hasn’t really done anything yet for what is a big fee in the Champ, where he ought to have been up there with Winks and Downes for a best-performing CM performance, and Edozie has looked decent in fits and starts but not very robust yet.

Only a fairly small amount though. Over £20m in total - FD + KWP (below £15m and it’s more effective to keep him for his final year) the club ought to be fishing in the next level of DMCs. £15-17m tops for FD. Sugawara seems very decent for a mid-level Championship price, hopefully more of a KWP than a Mikkel Nilsson, who on paper in Sweden caps and appearances in a smaller league looked too good to be true for Champ prices and was. He was terrible, I’m sure this guy will be better. Clarke seems unlikely for anywhere near £18m, maybe half that. O’Hare seems more likely given the club’s FFP and financial cautiousness, as free and wages not too hefty for PL level but I’m not sure the agent isn’t driving that more than Saints. Leeds seem the most confident even though we and Villa are heavily linked (their squad needs a European boost but their FFP issues are even worse than Saints). If a PL club were genuinely interested, it would have happened by now. I would say the club are looking at other options, or give a Alcaraz/Sulemana a try there in pre-season? We won’t get any money back on the latter unless we get a few decent PL showings out of him. Alcaraz did to some extent show he could belong there.