Whitey Grandad

Well put and articulated. There are many myths in football and a lot of truths. ‘The table doesn’t lie’ is a constant truth.

Not aimed at you specifically but we often see references to ‘luck’ regarding football. Only gamblers think that luck plays a part in anything. Only gamblers blame bad luck. Football is more a matter of chance and probability and as a team you have to load the odds in your favour. Not taking unnecessary risks, taking more shots, pushing the centre of action into your opponent’s half rather than around your own penalty area, these are all things that will improve your odds. For those interested in football and statistics there’s a chapter in a book by M. J. Moroney called ‘Facts from Figures’. Originally published in 1927 my own copy dates from 1968. The chapter is titled ’Goals, Floods and Horse Kicks’ and he explains how all these types of incidents follow a Poisson Distribution, that is to say a large number of events each with a small probability of ‘success’. It’s the limiting case of a Binomial Distribution.

And the team was without form and void.

Yes but it’s not supposed to be your own crowd.

Now let’s get this straight. We have not been unlucky so far. We have got what we deserved. In the football sphere of life repeatedly banging your head against the wall does not knock it down. At best all it will do is give you a headache.

So. What’s not to like? 🤭

Now here’s a thought. What would happen in a game where both teams played Russball?

I’m sure they are but how can you say that when they’ve hardly played?

In my world if anyone refuses to do the job the way that the management want them to they are open to termination of contract.

But does Trump?

He’s a spectator in a game where we need an extra player with in midfield or further forward.

That song is very poignant for me. It was all the rage when I started university in October 1968. Just the thought of it brings everything back.

Just remember: the longer he stays the less it costs to get rid of him.

I don’t find it embarrassing to be honest but very disappointing.

I think we’ll leak more goals than that. We’re currently on course for over 70 against and to achieve (!) -50 we’d need to score 20 but I don’t think you’ll be far out.

Isn’t that why contracts are rarely paid up in full?

So they’ll spend money on players but won’t spend money on getting rid of the root cause.

“…there’s nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility…”

Or as new manager of Saints 😳

Sorry to piss on your bonfire 😜

Pedant alert! One team has to kick off one of the halves. Other than that I don’t see a problem.

Is that with or without Martin?

And we will be cold.

The quality of the players is irrelevant. No matter how good they were he would turn them into walking zombies with no attacking intentions.

My situation was very similar to yours. Last summer my wife had duodenal cancer and although there was a lot of talk about a possible operation the initial procedures had caused a blood clot that eventually caused her intestines to break down. After ten days in Winchester Royal Hants I brought her home. She knew her days were numbered but despite two more stays in Southampton General eventually she had had enough and decided to come home and spend her last few days in familiar surroundings and with our two children and seven grandchildren able to call in and see her. The day I brought her home was our 53rd wedding anniversary. We had been together from the age of sixteen, four years before we were married. She spent her last three weeks in our bed and kept apologising for what she was putting us through. Her sedation was gradually increased until by the last week she was barely aware of anything but before that she kept saying to me “I want to go”. I have no doubt that given the option of being assisted she would have taken it because she didn’t want to cause us any bother. Things got messy but she was my wonderful wife and I had signed up for the duration and I was privileged to have spent my life with her and I was privileged to have spent our last days looking after her. She suggested that she should go to a hospice like her sister had twenty years before but I didn’t want to ship her off somewhere to die without her family being with her. One hundred days after leaving Winchester she slipped away quietly in her own bed on a Sunday morning. I still miss her terribly. Every day is a torment. Was I selfish to have kept her here? My children say that I did the right thing.