forameus

I don't really think the calendar issue is too bad, particularly if you stick to it early enough without all the humming and hawing there was around what they were going to do in Qatar. As Craig says, plenty of other calendars have to deal with the "traditional" timing, so if they're determined to hold it somewhere where player welfare would be aided by holding it in December (preferably not with the other issues) then there shouldn't really be a block on that. Maybe this time they can realise that there are just too many games, and by the time we get to 2034 the calendar is such that we don't get three seasons of complete chaos surrounding it. And it is amusing in a sad way how there was all this clamour (rightly, to be fair) around Blatter and co taking the absolute pish. Infantino comes in after the "clean-up", and has so far been, at best, just as bad, and if not significantly worse than that. At least when Chuck Blazer was motoring from buffet to buffet on his mobility scooters it seemed to just be plain self-interest on staying on the gravy train. It's all gotten quite insidious now.

Paul Wight seems like a really poor choice just to pick up someone who is "bigger" than Hobbs. I know it's a street fight, but there's only so far you can go with hiding someone not being able to move. It's not like you've brought back some huge name who can get carried just by the excitement of seeing him. It's fucking Big Show. Great guy, but is anyone clamouring to see him wrestle? Also an odd choice to put it on Dynamite prior to Full Gear, although it's presumably as there'll be some shenanigans, and some combination of those involved will end up in a match anyway. Still though...I know WWE are really, really guilty of picking a PPV match and then spending four or five weeks doing absolutely f**k all, but there has to be some middle ground between that and AEW's habit of absolutely steaming through stories. MJF stuff was brilliant, as always. Felt like they missed a wee bit of a trick in the reveal of the partners given the build-up, but that's pretty minor. MJF continues to sell absolutely everything you give him brilliantly, and when they finally pull the trigger and (probably) have Adam Cole come back and betray him, the heat that is going to rain down is going to be immense. Good to hear the announcement on Wembley though. Will pick up tickets as early as possible, really looking forward to it again. I'd say hopefully they learn from some of the mistakes they made with juggling All Out and All In, but after worrying about the card so much prior to the show, I don't think I'll care.

We could be looking forward to a tournament taking place with essentially bottomless pockets, where every mad-shit idea could get realised when it comes to the tournament. The infrastructure can be absolutely shit hot, and it very well could be the most well-organised and seamless tournament there has ever been. But no. Instead, Saudi will likely build their stadiums with cut-price labour at best, and slave labour at worst. They will end up putting on a technically great tournament, as Qatar did, but you can't separate all that from all the other horrible stuff very easily. Even if you leave aside all the humanitarian or human rights stuff, even the basic award is tainted, with FIFA clearly pissing all over the usual rules to make absolutely sure that Saudi Arabia got the bid. What a waste of an opportunity. EDIT: And should also add, a sad amount of credit goes to Australia in all this. They could have fought it, sunk billions of dollars into a bid, but they've realised what a lot of other countries probably wouldn't have. This is all fucked, and they stood absolutely no chance. May as well just wave the white flag and save your money.

I can't say I've experienced all of Germany by any means (Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, latter two multiple times) but I'd agree on Berlin especially. It's a lovely city, course it is, but it doesn't feel particularly special in the way I'd like it to as somewhere to visit. Shite way to put it probably, but just seems like a modern city, without any of the extra bits that make certain modern cities much more worth visiting. Munich on the other hand I really loved, as it seemed like a more traditional German city with all the bierhalles, the Englischergarten and all that. If I was choosing between them, I definitely wouldn't choose Berlin, unless you were absolutely set on just visiting and needing other stuff to do.

MJF is just so fucking good. I don't think there's anything he's done in AEW that he hasn't absolutely knocked out the park. From low-hanging heel fruit, to some very close-to-the-edge stuff, to hot face, to getting over a stupid move. He just can't do wrong. My only worry with the current stuff is that they seem to be chucking absolutely everything at him, and that it might derail the story a bit. I know the whole story *is* that he's under attack from all sides, but there's now just so many stories milling around that it risks obscuring when they're actually telling a good one. I'm sure they'll get out of it fine, there'll presumably still be a pay-off, but still playing with fire. And what a fucking choice AEW have made with Sting's "present". To be fair, probably not the first time Ric Flair's been involved with a promoter offering a wrestler a human being as a present. The way the segment was pitched suggests he's going to be sticking around for the Sting storyline, which is...a risk. When the best case of the harm that could come out of that is that the guy just dies, that's not a great place to be. Not so long ago he was subject of pretty serious sexual assault allegations, and they never really go away. Sting looked genuinely touched that he was there, but can you imagine we get to February time, heading into the home straight of his career and another story comes out about Ric Flair being a creep? Not exactly a million to one shot. It was highly amusing having Christian come out though. Should've gone further. Not sure what happened at the end. Certainly seems like a shoot injury with how flustered pretty much everyone seemed to be, but you never really know with Danielson. Guy decided it'd be a right laugh to fake a seizure when selling. But the doctor immediately going over, everyone sort of standing around looking awkward, seems like Okada is now 2 for 2 in fucking up Danielson. And if it is serious, oddly hilarious to watch the English-less Okada not read the room and start to heckle him. Top work.

I've picked up Mario Wonder for playing with my 6 year old. If it brings anything like the pure joy that Odyssey did, it'll be doing well.

I'm actually enjoying it for a change, most I've enjoyed a fresh release of the game in years. Probably because I'm yet to get found out, but still. Started with Thistle and a muckaround save for now and sitting top of the Championship with the lead getting narrower and narrower as we gradually shit ourselves. Quite realistic in that sense. Signed a handsome Iranian chap called Masoud Shojaei to be the main playmaker, and he was...alright I guess. Although in January he believed he wouldn't get his work permit renewed, so he's decided not to be arsed really trying anymore. Which is new, I think. Also picked up a 35 year old Cheick Diabate in January, who has been a much better head on a stick than Brian Graham managed, particularly for someone who started his career a year before Zander MacKenzie was even born. EDIT: Ended up not pissing it up the wall, although after a putrid run of form, and facing a title decider on final day against a resurgent Dundee United, they lost 3-0 to Arbroath on game 35, while Dunfermline and ICT both drew. We were handed the title after another truly putrid 0-0 against Ayr. Yass.

It gets worse. AEW's fearless leader has now turned his attentions to trying to gain sympathy for his recent outburst by...blaming WWE for personally taking advantage of his mother being in hospital. This is something that usually ends with the line "...before turning the gun on himself". Somebody take his phone and force him to concentrate on the great company he's built. Imagine making the fucking WWE look sane and reasonable...

Would the SRU want Murrayfield to be used? Or is it just a matter of greasing the palms enough?

Away from whether it was offside or a foul or whatever, if we can agree that it was pretty much disallowed because Hendry was "interfering", can we also agree that was an incredibly fortunate decision for Simon in particular? I think if he sees the ball coming in and makes a clear attempt to come for it, and Hendry impedes him, it's still slightly soft (keepers do get too much protection in my opinion) but it's at least understandable. In this case, Simon takes a step, but as Hendry comes towards him he pretty much gives up after a very light shove. I can only assume with his booking afterwards that he just thought "contact, must be a foul", but it's such an incredibly weak attempt that surely you have to ask whether that's really an impediment, particularly when it sounds like Simon went straight through Robertson earlier in the game (I didn't see that incident, so could be wrong on that) with no issue.

SAying we were robbed is mental. A more ruthless team takes more than that one Morata chance and we end up largely pumped. We stood up to what Spain were offering right up until Morata scored, but ultimately there was only ever going to be one winner. Goals change games, of course, and McTominay's is controversial, but by the letter of the law, seems that decision is correct, even if the process around it was fucked, and it's incredibly fucking soft. It was a much, much improved performance, but the result went the way it deserved to go.

If it was relating to offside, wouldn't you be seeing the lines in the pictures he was looking at? Unless I missed them. And how else are you supposed to look at an incident where the free-kick was where it was?

I don't think there's necessarily a truly terrible result that can happen on Sunday. As probably said a million times now, a Spain win is good as it ensures qualification without us needing to kick a ball again. However, it makes actually winning the group pretty much impossible barring a crazy set of results in the last window. A draw is probably best-case, as it means we qualify, and stand a decent chance of winning the group if we can win our final two games. A Norway win probably is the worst case, as we won't have secured qualification, but if we can't go to Georgia - regardless of history - and get a win, then we've got bigger problems. That scenario also opens up the top spot in the group should we get 4 points from the final two games. As for the game itself, I think we can be pretty proud of the performance, albeit scunnered by the result. We're undone by their first goal, but that's just one minor lapse in concentration ruthlessly exploited. Their second is just one of those things, and on most other days, Hickey doesn't slip. On some of them he does, but Porteous gets a better bounce of the ball. But goals change games, and it's hard to look at the farce around McTominay's goal and not think things would've been a lot different. Ultimately it doesn't matter, and not worth getting worked up over, but if the decision isn't dreadful, the process around it certainly was.

...and after all that, WOR now saying that WWE have passed on Punk. And not just passed him, but actively rejecting him after he expressed an interest. And in, admittedly, what is probably some dirtsheet dressing, they also said they might be more interested if they end up in a downturn. So cheers Phil, but we just don't need you. We'll give you a call if we're desperate. Ooft.

Can you watch all the stuff on TNT Sports on catch-up or do you need to watch live if you want to catch NXT tonight?

It's all just Coked Up Khan having a laugh, but it would be quite amusing if there was a Zuckerberg/Musk style situation between Khan and either one of Michaels or HHH. I think even in the era of his heart being completely fucked, he'd still kick the absolute f**k out of that VL. But seriously, all this has come out of nowhere, NXT moves to a Tuesday for one week and everyone loses their shit. Looking forward to it.

If he's still around as the window for World Cup 2026 comes to a close, I don't think there's any chance he steps away ahead of a "home" tournament. Memories of 2021 probably still linger, and even without that probably burning need to right those wrongs, you'd still not be able to turn down taking your side out in front of a full Hampden at a tournament. Ideally he'll come into that having led us to the Euros in 20201 and 2024, narrowly failed to get us to the 2022 World Cup, but got us to 2026. If that's the case, a final tilt at a home tournament - unless it goes badly, badly wrong - would be a nice end to what would end up being our most successful period. Maybe we look to getting someone else in alongside Clarke post 2024 like Iceland did with a view to them taking over all being well.

If any of the host nations goes through a full Nations League campaign, then a qualification one, then a potential playoff, and still doesn't qualify, it's really hard to argue them getting a spot at all to be honest. What's the mood like as that nation going into hosting a paltry number of games.

It would be better to just look at not giving roles to people who are fucking useless, rather than constantly pitching it as a problem with women. There are plenty of women brought in as pundits who have shown they have the knowledge and charisma to do a decent job. There are also some that absolutely haven't. But I'd argue there's fucking hunners of guys that have been brought in and shown they have absolutely zero aptitude for it, yet they'll continually be booked, and get little pushback from your average football fan. Problem is always the "box-ticking" argument, but without that, do any women even get a chance anyway? I was always against that kind of stuff, thinking it should just be the best person for the job, regardless of who they are, but an old boss of my wife's put it quite well. It's a shite thing, but if it takes that for things to change so that you can eventually do away with it and be sensible, then it's worth doing. They'll undoubtedly find plenty of women who can be great assets to football coverage, and hopefully at that point they can start punting the absolute charisma vacuums they use now. As for what Keegan's actually said, the article makes things a bit better than the headline, but not by much. It's just a really odd mindset I find, treating football like it's some kind of sacred art that no-one could possibly understand if they haven't been a pler. You could pick a guy (or girl) off the street who has an interest in the sport and they'll probably give a similar level of insight to some people they roll out, yet someone who has represented their country in the sport should be discounted just because it wasn't in the men's game? Jeezo.

I wonder how they'd attempt to book him if he does come back. I think AEW really missed a trick in not leaning into how much of a c**t he was becoming and book him as a full-blown heel. Having him continually come out with his aw shucks routine while the reception slowly turned was a waste. What's he going to say as a face in WWE? Aye, sorry about that lads, I didn't really mean you were all shite when I went to AEW. I'd have him return in the run-up to Survivor Series to set up a match, then have him do something properly fucking heelish in Chicago, basically tell him that if he doesn't go out and get boo'd by the end of it, he'll be punted again. That opens them up to allow him to lean into the stuff he was saying all along, and basically be Phil Brooks without the looming egomania that Tony Khan enabled. He clearly had issues with WWE that he's only accepting now because he's burned every other bridge. Lean into it, then later on you can pivot him back towards a face when the crowds inevitably start to enjoy him being the bad guy. Shame HHH would likely never be cleared for any kind of segment. Having Punk physically attack the man who almost died a couple of years back would be a good start.

I actually think it's probably a no-lose situation for WWE. They can presumably go in hard with an offer, and if he rejects it, well f**k him, we might end up having the Rock at WM too, and we'll still make a small fortune without Punk. They probably also assume that even with Punk's well publicised problems at AEW, they'll be able to martial that kind of behaviour without it boiling over. They did it for years after all. There won't be the sort of weak leadership that Tony Khan exhibited that let the whole situation fester, and I suspect Punk knows that too and will probably toe the line for the duration of what will probably be a short contract. Owens seems like he'd be the first in line to put a big smug face on, and Rollins has called the guy "a cancer" in the past (although probably as much an angle than anything else), but can you ever see the likes of those two letting things get to the point where they're brawling in a dressing room? But every other party stands to lose. AEW will be watching all the money they could have made disappear into the pockets of their "rivals" (although that is minor, as they were absolutely right to punt him). Punk though, he stands to lose a hell of a lot. You say he's not arsed about perception, but I think that's exactly what he's arsed about. I don't think he's capable of just letting anything slide with his ego, and he's going to have to eat A LOT of shit if he goes back. Unless he manages to negotiate a live mic, or persuades them that the best persona to come back with is unfiltered Punk, he's got a lot of making up to do with WWE. Publicly. At least he seems to have maybe begun that path with his weird visit to RAW. Although it would be fucking hilarious if he turns up at Survivor Series, then comes out on the next RAW and has HHH randomly appear to verbally eviscerate him.

Looks like CM Punk may not be done after all, as WWE are now dropping in reference after reference to him on television. Several from Seth Rollins and some from Michael Cole. Could well be Rollins vs Punk at WM, which would be...a choice. Absolute scenes too though.

If that's true, then it at least eliminates the possibility of Morocco missing out (you'd imagine Spain and Portugal would be fine regardless). But it doesn't solve the farce of SA qualifying, or the mental idea that 6 spots are taken up automatically cos 1930.

One bit that isn't getting commented on, so maybe I've misunderstood it. Under this "plan", do Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay all get the automatic qualification spots, despite only getting three games? so Spain, Portugal and Morocco all have to qualify? If so, even as a bone thrown to South America, that's a pretty poor one. CONMEBOL qualification seems to take about a million years each cycle, but ultimately if you're Argentina or Uruguay, you're going to struggle not to qualify, particularly as things get expanded. For 2026, 6 of 10 go through automatically, with the 7th going to the Galactic Playoff with some jobber. Paraguay might still miss out that way, but if they did, they wouldn't deserve to be there. Handing them a spot surely means that South America is basically "'mon in" with all but one guaranteed a spot. And do we then run the (admittedly small) risk that Spain, Portugal or Morocco could miss out of their own tournament to placate the South American sides? Have I got this wrong? And I've focused on that, but of course the rest of it is absolutely bollocks. I don't mind the Spain/Portugal/Morocco stuff (although remains to be seen how much of an influence the latter actually have), but the shoehorning in of South America, and the clear attempt to move the deckchairs around so that they have to give Saudi Arabia the bid is particularly offputting. All very FIFA.

Edge coming in is definitely a big statement of intent from AEW. In the same week that everyone makes a big deal out of the first AEW home-grown talent to move to WWE in Jade Cargill, getting Edge in is probably about as close as you could get to an equivalent short of them having some like Undertaker come in. He can definitely still go, and if they manage him well - like they do with Sting - then there's no reason why he can't go on to have a few more years tying up his career nicely. Seems like we'll get an initial feud with Christian, which makes sense, but it's going to take a big storyline leap from there to get Edge and Christian back together on the same page, given the latter's current hows-your-father gimmick. I think if it starts to come towards the end of both guy's careers though, having them reunite as faces for one last run would be a lovely way to go out. Will say though, that shot at the end of the show with Edge, Sting and Darby Allin all in one shot was quite something. Coming up to 4 years since the first Dynamite, if you'd gone back there and showed a fan that shot, he'd have assumed WWE 2K had brought in photorealistic graphics to universe mode. Add to that a heel Christian opposite them with a title (had he even come out of retirement back then? Possibly with TNA), just mental. On the main event though, Christian looked more than a bit off the pace for a singles match. That spot with the steps was fucking horrible, even more so when he had to try it for a second time after not being able to lift Darby. Sickening landing.