sadoldgit

Absolutely! I wouldn’t change when I was born, well maybe I would like to have been born a year or two earlier so that could have gone to gigs in the late 60’s rather than 1970 when I went to my first rock concert. Keith Richards said the longer he lives, the longer he wants to live. Even Pete Townsend, who hoped to die before he got old, is still making music and touring. I had to laugh at the current bunch in The Apprentice last week who didn’t know what a 45 was when sent to buy a record. They may have amazing technology at their fingertips, but boy have they missed out on a golden age of musical culture. The problem isn’t so much aging, it is the baggage that comes with it. I was lucky enough to have 20/20 vision for many years, but even with glasses my vision isn’t good now. My heart doesn’t work properly and I am on the waiting list to have some kind of procedure soon. Feeling tired all of the time is not great. Still, you never know when the lights are going out for the final time, so all we can do is make the most of whatever time we have left no matter what condition we are in. I shall be 69 on Sunday, only one more trip round the sun until I hit my seventh decade!

Getting up in the middle of the night to pee. Spending so much time with your GP that you are in first name terms with them. Watching your pension be worth less in real terms every year. Your kids counting down the days until you die do they can get their hands on their inheritance. Deep vein thrombosis. Losing your hair. Daily aches in places you never knew existed. Even less chance of shagging Scarlett Johansen than you had when you were younger and more virile. Reminiscing about things like black and white tv and people looking at you as if you are mad. Many of your old friends and heroes are pushing up daisies. Finding it hard to drive at night. Getting tailgated because you are driving exactly on the allowed speed limit. Remembering to order and pick up your meds every 4 weeks. People offering you their chair. No longer being bothered about getting hammered and celebrating the New Year. Looking forward to the next birthday with dread rather than excitement. Memory loss. Height loss. Weight gain. Growing hair out of orifices that didn’t used to have hair in them. Planning your evening viewing around gardening, home renovation, documentaries rather than vacuous trash where fit girls get their kit off. Reading Hilary Mantel instead of 50 Shades of Grey. Buying a dog because that will help you get out for a walk. One pint of Guinness instead of a skinful of lager and Jagerbombs. Joining your wife on her diet. Not deleting the unsolicited ads on your phone for Viagra. Walking through the local graveyard and personally knowing several of the inhabitants. Buying a car on its affordability rating and ease of access rather than its horsepower and pulling power. Giving up buying Levi’s 501’s and buying cheap supermarket jeans. Consider buying beige trousers with elasticated waistbands. Tear ducts that leak at the merest hint of a cold breeze and make it look like you are crying. Having a nervous system so sensitive that the slightest unexpected loud noise gives you palpitations. Suggesting to your wife that she buys thermal tights rather than fishnet stockings… You probably get the picture.

Ironic?

“Have we signed anyone yet?” ”No”. ”Boo. Moan. Whinge.” Have we signed anyone yet?” ”Yes” ”Who is it?” ”Insert name here”. ”Boo. Moan. Whinge”.

I left the Criminal Justice System several years ago and the wheels were already coming off big time thanks to the government’s austerity measures. Each year we had to shed more staff on the higher end of the pay scales preferably, which meant losing experience, and close more buildings as they were the only two areas in which we could cut real costs. We could see the court systems, police and probation going through the same processes. Little wonder that the system is currently barely fit for purpose. Prior to this period the worse I have seen this country was during the 3 day weeks back in 1973. It was grim but at least a pint was affordable back then. This country has become a god awful mess over the last 13 years. You can’t drive down any local roads without running into potholes which are growing in numbers every week due to the crumbling roads. We can’t be far from a general strike as more and more of the essential workers vote to down tools. The world is changing rapidly whilst we seem to be stuck in the past - the recent collapse of the plans to build a battery factory evidence that we are not gearing up for the future. The service industries that took the place of manufacturing in the UK are no longer as strong as they were. Thatcherism has finally caught up with us and the self serving selfishness that it bred has manifested itself in the morally bankrupt cabinets that we have suffered under over the last few years. If you have children there is very little to be positive about. It is going to take years for the UK to recover from the seemingly endless period of Tory misrule and Brexit. Hopefully the country will finally come to its senses and vote this inept bunch of crooks out but even then it will take an age to get things back on an even keel. We can start by having grown up conversations about the possibility of rejoining the single market (a recent poll shows that 58% of the population think we should be part of the EU). We also need to have a grown up view on immigration rather than just pander to the far right and assume that we don’t need their labour. It seems to me that the only people who don’t have a problem with the way this country is heading are the selfish ones who are still able to keep their heads above water and don’t give a stuff about anyone else. Unfortunately for them, it will catch up with them soon enough.

The money was agreed but the player took advice and decided his WC chances would be better if he stayed where he was for the time being. Yet another non stick used to beat the club with.

While people were getting all excited about punk and how not being able to play your instrument was cool, a band appeared in NYC during this new wave called Television and proved that being able to play your instruments well was no hinderance to being “cool”. Marquee Moon and Adventure still stand out as amazing albums all these years later and the twin guitar work from Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd remains peerless. RIP.

Finally, the right decision! But if he had any shred of decency he would have resigned. Yet another legacy of the Johnson era. Sadly we still have to wait a while before we can vote out this corrupt, self serving bunch of miscreants.

These threads used to be places to avoid when we lost. Now it seems best avoided even when we win. A bit part team low on confidence avoid a potential banana skin and are in the hat again in the FA Cup but reading hear you would think we had lost. From now until the end of the season I will take any kind of win we can get, stuff the standard of football. The same happened under Puel. Moan moan moan yet we finished eight and played brilliantly against United in a cup final. Time to drop the self entitlement. Every year it gets harder for teams of our size to compete in the EPL. This year’s relegation battle is affecting teams up to just below that half way mark. Teams as big as Everton and West Ham are in the mix. We ought to be grateful for any wins we can grind out, not moaning because we aren’t playing like world champions.

Classic Delldays/Batman post. You have to admire his staying power and consistency. I guess that means that Duckie will be returning to his job as Nigel Farage’s personal fluffer.

I’m not so sure. There are parachute payments and I’m sure the players contracts have relegation clauses in them. He is a Saints man through and through. Yes, he might leave, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him stay and try and get us back up.

Why will we struggle? We have two proven goalscorers from the Championship and Mara looks like he could do well there too. We also have a very experienced manager from that division. I think we would be very competitive there, but that is our problem, we are currently more of a decent Championship team that an EPL team.

Not seen a game since Lincoln thanks to streaming issues so was delighted to find a stream that worked so I could see the match last night. Very poor first half but we looked a lot better when Armstrong came on. So many passes went astray or out of play. Better second half but Newcastle missed a raft of sitters and always looked dangerous as DCC was having a mare and was left exposed to often. Charley looks quality and Mara looks like he will decent but could probably do with more game time in the B team before he is ready to start. I know many people were fed up with Ralph rotating the ball around the back 4 but it denies the other team possession and we gave Newcastle the ball so often with aimless punts up field that I was praying for a bit of keep ball to give the defence a break. Couldn’t believe the handball decision against us. Once upon a time it had to be deliberate, which this wasn’t, but there we go. On the plus side we did show that we can break through their defence so if we can keep a clean sheet up there (🤪) and someone finds their shooting boots, who knows?

I think he said that if we couldn’t find better players he would be happy to work with what he has got. Fair point. We really don’t want it need another Carrillo do we?

Can you fake a scan? I also recall several people insisting something was “up” with Stuart Armstrong and the club but guess what, there isn’t and he has a genuine long term injury.

Really? Armstrong and Adams can score goals in the Championship. If we do go down I wouldn’t be surprised to see us come back up within one or two seasons.

Used to spend hours in record booths trying to decide on which album to buy next with what little money I had to spend. My mate was into CS&N so I got to hear the first two albums a lot at his house whilst I was spending my paper round money on Deep Purple, ELP, Yes and Genesis so he would come round to ours to listen to them. Strange now to have everything on my phone but sadly I think music has lost a lot of its allure and romance now that it is so widely and instantly available. As crap as vinyl was (god knows how many times I had to take a record back to the shop because it was scratched and getting up to turn the record over every 20 mins was a faff) the album covers were an integral part of the music experience, something now lost through streaming. The 60’s and 70’s was such a wonderful era for music and the creative arts in general and I feel grateful for growing up in those times. David Crosby is yet another legend from that period to pass following Jeff Beck not so long ago. So sad to see heroes from your youth gradually leaving the stage.

Adam Armstrong also looked like Danny Ings in the Championship. Perhaps this loan has helped Tella develop, which is the plan with loans. As to whether he can deliver this form in the EPL, that is not a given and only time will tell.

By all accounts not the most likeable of people, but responsible for a lot of wonderful music with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Young and others. RIP

Typical Duckie, looking for any opportunity to have a pop at someone he has got it in for just because I have called him out for being a Farage/UKIP brown noser. It seemed pointless making any comments a few games in, especially as there was some much vitriol flying around, but it is interesting that you still feel the need to have a dig even when you agree with me. Oh, and for the record, my comments had nothing to do with the three wins which you would know if you had bothered to read my post properly instead of rushing to post another silly response which misses my point entirely.

This is the issue though. The bloke has been here 5 minutes and gets crucified for a poor performance when he is still finding his way. It’s the same for new signings, if they don’t start brilliantly they are instantly labelled as useless and a bad buy (Mane being a perfect example). He wasn’t the worst manager in the world when he first started and he isn’t the greatest manager in the world now, but we won’t know how this is going to play out for a while, so why not just give the guy a chance? It’s the same on here after every defeat or poor performance, it is the end of the world and someone has to be hung out to dry. Two big well established clubs are struggling with us at the moment which just goes to show how difficult it is to compete in the EPL. None of us has the divine right to win football matches and although it is frustrating when things aren’t going well, the amount of vitriol and abuse thrown at people who are just trying to do their jobs and turn things round when they aren’t going well is often off the scale. Climbing the table involves everyone pulling together and getting behind the club. Calling for the new manager to be sacked after a handful of games really wasn’t great. The owners have obviously seen something in him and have trusted him to do the job, the least we can do is to stop abusing him (“chippy little Welsh twat” 🙄) and to give him a chance to show what he can do over the rest of the season.

Maybe the “chippy little Welsh twat” knows what he is doing after all! Perhaps, by the end of the season, Duckie will be pimping him out to his sisters? 😎

Thank you for pointing out my typo (not quite in the same league as kicking off on social media about the NHS employing 8000 diversity managers though is it? 😉)

Which doesn’t in anyway detract from my point. Ever since there have been transfer windows how often do clubs announce signings in the first few days of a new window? If you were an agent why would you suggest to your client that it was a good idea to sign for a club very early on without testing the market unless it was one of the bigger clubs? Even then it is not usual for transfers to be done very early on. Agents know we are desperate for a striker so you can imagine the leverage that gives them when looking for the best package going, not to mention the stronger position that puts the selling club in when it comes to price. Yes it is frustrating, but it is the nature of the business and I am sure the owners would prefer to get players in sooner than rather later, just as we do.

I expect if it was that easy and straightforward for a club of our size to get the player in that we want at the price we want straight away then it would have happened. There seems to be this perception that no one at the club starts to think about transfers until the day the windows open. They have made it clear that they are always working on transfer possibilities, the reason these players don’t magically appear on the opening days of the window is because it is not that easy to attract the quality you want when so many other clubs are competing for similar players and you don’t have the budget of Manchester City. Any agent worth his salt will hold out for the best deal for his client. We have to wait until we become the best deal.