Sheaf Saint

Does that include prominent newspaper columnists referring to gay men as "tank-topped bumboys"?

A case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" perhaps? They both have a mutual hatred of Starmer, it seems.

Yep, same. I hope we don't miss out on Rudi Skacel. I'm pinning all my hopes for the season on him. Has he signed yet?

I'm sure someone (cough cough MLG cough) will correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression Delap only has a year left on his contract. Therefore a loan with an option to buy is a no-goer because he would be out if contract at the end of the loan period anyway. The only way City get a fee for him is if they sell him this summer.

Can't say I'm sorry to see him go because he isn't the future of this club. But he's a true professional who might not be the most gifted technically but never gave anything less than his best, and deserves respect. Good luck wherever you go next Shane, and thanks for that Anfield memory.

He pretty much did.

I have it on very good authority that he's actually a really sound bloke with a wry sense of humour. Apparently his on-pitch persona is very much an act and he's not like that at all in training. Still can't stand him as a player though.

Exactly. This is how we were able to sign Thierry Small last year. We didn't have to offer Everton anything. We tried to negotiate a development fee with them but, inevitably, they wanted more than we were willing to pay so it went to tribunal. There was nothing they could have done to keep the player once he had made his mind up to leave.

Got a further message back from my nephew after I mentioned about the other Man City youngsters we have signed / are trying to sign. He's played against Liam lots of times and alongside him at England youth level, and he reckons he is a very similar type of player to Broja but, in his opinion, better. If we can sign him on a perm, as this Tweeter suggests, that would be a great bit of business IMO.

Not according to my Putin-worshipping, Russian sister-in-law. She insists they only strike military targets and that the 'alleged' missile attack on the shopping centre is fake news. Never mind that the Russian MOD has admitted it, and that the KH-22 is only used by Russia. Those are just inconvenient facts.

The discussion on this thread is the same every season. There will always be those who like the new kit and those who don't. There's been quite a few in recent years that I have initially not been too keen on but they have grown on me as the season progresses. I quite like this one and I think it will grow on me even more. I think the only kit in recent years that I have truly disliked and never warmed to is the Under Armour bra-top kit from the Puel season:

Why would a site called sporting-heroes.net have a picture of Stuart Ripley?

And as others have alluded to already, youthful energy is more desirable than experience in the system that Ralph wants to play anyway. Older, wiser players don't necessarily fit the model so well.

Got a reply already...

It's the only option with a design like this really. If the badge wasn't central it would be crossing over the line between the red and the white and would look a lot worse IMO.

He was in the City U18 side that played against Everton in the FA youth cup last year so my nephew will know him. I'll drop him a message to ask about him. He was absolutely right about Tino after all.

I thought players couldn't sign pro contracts until they are 17?

And a 20 yo keeper.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/20238342.saints-star-laura-rafferty-called-euro-2022/ Nice one Laura 👌

My concern with this is that he seemingly wants guarantees of game time, and I would be very wary of making a 19yo a first choice CB, regardless of how good he might be.

Paramount+ has now launched in the UK, so I signed up and watched the first 3 episodes of Strange New Worlds. Quite encouraged by what I've seen so far. The good thing is that we've already had the groundwork of the character introductions laid for Pike, Spock and No1 in S2 of Discovery. The return of the episodic format to the Star Trek franchise is most welcome, and I already feel like I am more familiar with the other bridge officers than I am with any of the 'supporting cast' of Discovery. As there are only 3 episodes of SNW currently available, I'm gonna give the Halo series a go. From what I'm told, if you're not a hardcore fan of the game series and can overlook the rewriting of the canon, it's actually very good. I only ever played the first two games anyway and that was a long time ago, so I expect it won't matter to me.

Ewan McGregor is 51 now, and Alec Guiness was 63 when A New Hope was released. It's really not a huge discrepancy. Only 3 years.

Daily Mail: "Waaaaaaa it's not fair. They're ganging up on the Tories!" Also the Daily Mail: