S-Clarke

Interesting that they chose both Lumley and Bazunu to model the GK kit, but McCarthy is nowhere to be seen. Maybe Bazunu isn't as far away as they first thought?

The one I was bothered about was KWP, but he was there. So no swap deals with West Ham for that one!

Yeah it was an absolutley horrendous 'activation', or whatever they want to call it. They'd have been better off just putting it up on the OS as pictures and just forget about any stupid event, you still couldn't get any idea from the stream as to how it looked as the lighting was shit. Pretty big waste of time really, that's an hour I'll never get back.

We did really well to get that over the line this soon, right in time for pretty much all of pre-season. I thought this would drag on, but I think Flynn equally pushed hard for this.

Welcome to the world of corporate buzz words.

I think it would be passable without the sponsor, that's really killing it for me. Makes it look cheap as chips. It almost certainly won't be when you want to buy it though. See, this looks much better -

They have made a right mess of this tbh.

Probably. But it was either this or emptying the dishwasher for me, at the time this seemed like a good idea. But I'm starting to regret my decision.

They'll be gutted once they know that it was leaked on twitter an hour ago, and Flynn Downes was confirmed by Fabrizo 2 days ago.

I think the memory of this event will be the unveiling of Flynn Downes rather than the kit.

It's riveting isn't it. They aren't half dragging this out.

Steve Grant taking a beer, that's where our fivers are going people. (said in jest before anyone wonders)

You have to be outraged with the kit, it's tradition.

Not sure you can see it clearly enough yet - need to see it on person to see how it all lines up. On the pic the red looks a little too light, so I imagine it'll look much darker and punchier when we see it shortly. I do think it's the sponsor that kills it though more than anything.

I imagine his announcement will come with him in the kit, good timing and all that. Hopefully he'll make it look a little less bland.

Starts at 7:30 according to the website.

It's pretty bland, but the pictures don't show it off to it's best. Be interesting to see it in the flesh. But it's red and white stripes, there's very little you can do with a red and white kit other than make it red and white stripes. The sponsor looks to be what ruins it though (the yellow bit for the O, that's what makes it look a bit cheap imo)

I wouldn't pay much attention to that page, once they all have their pictures with the new kit it will be updated. It's certainly not where I look for gospel info, the media team update that as and when. Almost certainly just an oversight I'd have thought.

It's not a surprise and I'm glad he fell on his own sword after a final rather than being absolutley vilified had we come home after that Slovakia game. It feels the most dignified end, although the routes to the finals have been somewhat paved in gold, he has provided generations of England fans experiences they could have only dreamed of in years gone by. I can't see the FA going for a manager employed at a club, it's not how they work. They will focus on options that are currently out of work or already within the FA Setup. For me that creates an immediate shortlist of Potter, Carsley, Poch. My hunch is that Carsley will be put in 'temp' charge for the nations league games in Sept and will probably get the job if we do well in that.

I'm kinda expecting Lee Carsley, might be wrong.

We've had some stinking sponsors since the Virgin Media deal expired, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things. In the new world of PSR, what you can get from sponsorship is what helps clubs like us compete. As bad as that is to say, if these guys offer us the most money and can help make us a better team then who gives a shit.

The Lazio home game will be epic, can't wait for that one. It does feel like a proper pre-season line-up of teams, we'll get a good work out from varying styles there. Some actual thought has gone into this for a change rathe than just noddy Austrian or Germany 6th tier teams.

There is an element of that for sure, but it's still incredibly luck based. Sometimes you can finish top and still face a pretty shocking route, the way it pans out doesn't always correlate to how the groups finish. For example in 2022 we finished Top, but still had to face France in the quarters (who inevitably beat us). I think I'd certainly label Southgate as a very lucky manager, things have fallen for him that haven't fallen for other English managers. And he's still not grasped that opportunity - the home final against Italy in 2021 will forever be the one that got away for me, terribly game-managed after that early goal. We were the home team, we should have stomped our way over a pretty average and aging Italian team at that point, but we did what we always do - retreat and try to soak it up.

I'm in the same boat. You hear that from a lot of people who don't generally follow football, but have tagged along at the end as it seemed to get exciting. To them they have no idea of the context of which we reached the final, but we fluked it - on the lucky side of the draw too. If we'd have come through the lucky side of the draw and beat Slovaka 4-0 and Switzerland in normal time quite comfortably I'd be more content I think - but we staggered to the final against some pretty weak sides. We only won 2 games in 90mins - Serbia and Holland. Spain won 6 in normal time. Turkey or Austria were more deserving of a final place than us in my opinion.

Great news on Downes, a vital cog in our team - hopefully that £18m includes some nutritionists and physios to ensure he's available more! (no more dodgy liver for Flynn)