Gloucester Saint

We should never bash the Bishop.

Do you think RVN would walk if he is wealthy enough?

Great post EKS, quite possible to take pride in our forces, coming from a forces family myself, but also recognise that Brexit had made it a damn sight harder to fund our forces and that the ‘black holes’ Hammond, Hunt and Reeves have had to contend are caused by losing 6% of the economy to a very hard Brexit. By contrast, Trump’s tariffs are damaging but at 0.8% of GDP. Glad Francis enjoyed his day, and our sailors are going to get a really good grounding over the next few months for long careers where powers like China and Russia are a real threat. I could do without the domestic politics dragged in on the first paragraph. If you voted for Brexit then be honest and own up to the damage it has caused.

My sense is that it’s a joint US-UK mission to send a message to Xi over Taiwan, to Trump over the longevity of Anglo-American naval and military collaboration long before MAGA madness which will crash and burn, and to Putin over Ukraine and the Baltic states he is eyeing up.

Bodes well, extend his contract if Shea is willing to https://www.owlstalk.co.uk/forums/topic/338560-player-of-the-year-vote/#comments

There is some truth to this, I recall sitting next to a London theatre director on a flight to JFK in 2005 who was also due there to direct a Broadway show in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Got in but said that everyone non-US was stripped searched right down to their underpants regardless.

Yes, let’s just ignore the different contexts, and pretend that people weren’t posting misinformation to stir up others in the midst of violent riots and compare it to an overseas scientist critiquing mildly policies of another government in an everyday situation.

Good lad, hate flytipping

Pure North Korea. Land of the Free my arse, they won’t ever be again in my lifetime https://news.sky.com/story/scientist-denied-entry-to-us-after-messages-critical-of-trump-found-on-his-phone-13332518

BBD looked very chunky to me, can’t see Sheff Utd buying him even if they do win the play offs. Needs intensive training pre-season to get much trimmer, Martinball really didn’t work out for him.

I remember Lancs didn’t pick Steve Elworthy of SA for a Lords final so does happen.

Could only really play RWB in a 5 too, suspect as a RB in a 4.

There’s loads of these sort of stories circulating, a British woman got chained up in detention for a visa mix-up. Literally chained up. MAGA has totally lost it. Any European going there at the moment for work let alone leisure over the next 3 years is taking a big risk. Personally, I think global institutions like UN should move temporarily to Paris and Sydney for the next few years until their electorate sort themselves out and the Republican Party is de-registered and replaced by a new centre-right free market democratic party along the lines of the Lincoln Project. If the economic chaos continues, many of their billionaires might throw their weight behind it. Democrats need to sort themselves out too - AWOL through all of this crazy shit.

Fair, and we will have a big advantage in resources and infrastructure. Hopefully we don’t nearly blow it like we did in 23/24 trying to be clever bollocks and trying to re-invent football and just focus on the title this time.

No, they are not better with the leveraged debt, they’ve just made better decisions in the Championship and not tried to be clever bollocks. When they needed a name to pick things up they got one (Kompany) and went for the obvious option this season for autos again (Parker) in the same way Saints should be doing with Steve Cooper. Kompany did a similar thing last season to Martin this by relegating them by a mile sticking by ‘principles’, which probably inspired Russell to shaft Saints, and whilst they’ll be better defensively next season than we’ve been (impossible not to be) I cannot see where the goals to keep them up would come from https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/how-exactly-did-burnley-fc-owner-alan-pace-make-his-cash/

Some elite company Liam is in there. Congratulations to him. PS - my first set of golf clubs were originally Peter Sainsbury’s. I bet that he used them more effectively than me!

One lesson for next season - close down Cameron Brannigan of Oxford when aiming to shoot from long range

Scored some good goals and made good through balls, but I agree that he isn’t going to go past anyone with a burst of pace or a trick to take defenders away.

Wasn’t at the club until 2023? That was Joe Shields who scarpered to Chelsea very rapidly?

Wood and Fraser are examples of the lack of oversight and management Martin had last summer. It reminds me of when Bally was manager, wanted to sign all manner of players from the lower leagues that he knew. Lawrie stopped most of them but the one that allegedly slipped through whilst he was on holiday was Peter Whiston from Exeter. A good, experienced top flight DoF simply says ‘no, they’re not up to it Russell’. Taylor is an odd one all-round I agree. Clearly not an RM type player, not an SR sell-on algorithm special either. I can only assume Rasmus wanted to upgrade Manning but Martin didn’t want to be away from his Swansea buddy. Then again, he sanctioned the signing of Wellington for January! I guess Taylor was the short-term option, Wellington easing past him this summer onwards with Manning loaned out in Rasmus’s mind? He must have assumed Larios was finished but he’s started playing for the u23s.

They shouldn’t be if Spors and the new manager get their act together in the transfer window. ‘If’ is doing heavy lifting there I admit. Not as if we don’t know how Martin or Jones set-up is it? Get a good spine in place which we’ve not had since Project Restart and we can sort out the skates both times.

Was a better fit for the small business role she held in his first term. Has least done quite a bit to promote childhood literacy at WWF so well down my MAGA shit list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McMahon

Feel sorry for them, didn’t vote for the carnage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Washington_(state)

He has strengths and weaknesses like most players but because either the club hasn’t really invested in his physique or Will hasn’t followed advice to do so those are a bit more in focus than usual. What we can all see this season and last is that he can’t function in a central two which ties the new manager into using a formation which works with Will’s strengths or move him on for a low fee with 12 months left on his contract. Oakley and JWP were like this for their first few years but it needed WGS and Ralph respectively to give them a kick up the arse to get stronger, in Matt’s case eat breakfast and properly overall, and JWP to toughen up and compete properly, by leaving him out of the 18 initially. But there may be physical/mental reasons why that might not work with Will. Personally, if Martin pitches up at Norwich, that’s probably the solution. He can play at the top of a diamond, score 8-10 goals, create, and let the two bigger stronger lads behind him do the dirty work. If Saints want to finish top two, then that creative player needs to be more the 12-15 goal and dozen assists output. But that player will break the Wolves £15m Championship fee. Also, if Spors does want a pressing focussed manager, as hinted on here, then that’s not Will’s forte. Summary: good player if you use Will to his strengths but he needs to deliver a double figure goal return and more of what released AA at Wembley if others are doing the heavy lifting centrally.

He’s a good to very good Championship player as the most advanced as a central midfield three. But he can’t play in a two for toffee in any division as Stoke found, and then Saints found last season and this when Downes was out and Martin didn’t fancy Shea Charles.