velo army

Oh aye, I did see him alluding to that but didn't actually pick up on it. Makes a change that it's a Hibs fan who is the most unhinged on a Celtic thread.

Gutted at that, I was quite enjoying it. I didn't see a heads gone so much as @Hoose Rice getting wired in to the Celtic support and refusing to listen to some pretty patient Celtic fans inviting him to consider a bit more nuance in his take. All pretty tame tbh.

Aye I remember absolutely loving it when he got sent off, but the reaction of the English fans and media swiftly changed my mind on that. I found it bemusing at the time, but it was only when I watched the documentary that I put two and two together with Hoddle's post match remarks. The England fans don't deserve him tbh. He played 115 times for them but he should have told them to shove it after the 1998 WC. The documentary shows a fundamentally decent man. He's nobody's idea of a genius, and he doesn't come across as particularly worldly, but he seems to have a fairly good idea of how to treat people. Landon Donovan's account of their fallout and reconciliation is beautiful. Regarding the comments above around his involvement with Qatar, it is unfortunate that he got involved with that and perhaps he did speak to LGBT folk over there who gave him a different picture. As I said, he doesn't seem particularly worldly. A lot of his money has been made through endorsements and using his image (while employing advisers who are much smarter than he is) so I can believe him not being much of a big picture guy when it comes to social issues. Anyway, the last episode was beautiful and the way it was all shot was gorgeous. The lad what made it did a fantastic job.

I always liked Beckham in spite of myself, and I I remember being aghast at the abuse he was getting after the 98 World Cup. It was clear that Simeone had made a meal of it and I was bemused that he or Nilsen (the ref) hadn't been the subject of the opprobrium instead of Beckham. Watching it now and I'm beyond disgusted at the reaction of Hoddle after the game. An absolute coward of a man and he set the tone of blaming the player for it. Honestly if Beckham had just decided after that to sack off playing for England they would have utterly deserved it. It's a really well done documentary that I think is well rounded. His dad is a good guy but they don't shy away from the possibility that he pushed Beckham a bit too hard when he was younger. Beckham himself comes across as grounded, humble and a genuinely lovely fella. His wife, as always, exudes warmth too. Funny that her public image was always one of detached coolness but any time she is interviewed (especially with her husband) she radiates warmth. The strength of character he showed to come back from a setback that would have destroyed lesser men was a moving aspect to the second episode. I'm looking forward to the next few tbh. I actually thought Paul Ince came across well. Of course he's going to be pissed off that Simeone over egged the pudding and cost his team massively. We've all got moments that we still think about rancorously (Jan Rezek could cure cancer but I'd still want to snap his legs for that fucking dive against us, for instance) so I'm not going to judge him for that. Anyway, Beckham is a good guy and his story is a compelling one. The film-maker does a fine job.

Damnit, I meant to reply to the ETA post with that rather than just posting it sans context.

He's clearly a key player for them and played very well in this game. Assist stats are a PTTGOMN though as he played the ball through to the boy who then did a lot of work to make the space and fire the shot in. Claiming an assist should only be valid if you play a ball through for the lad to have a reasonably straightforward shot on goal or if you go on a mazy run to the byeline. Being the last one to pass the ball to the goalscorer should not be recorded in the annals of history.

I hope he doesn't stick with the 3-5-2 without Tierney. Every time we've played that (v Czech in the Euros and v Ukraine in that shitey playoff) we've been largely hopeless. I reckon there was a good reason he tried a 4-5-1 in the Nation's League as he needed to find an extra way to play without Tierney. We'll play Christie on the left and perhaps Handsome Stu on the right. Absolutely buzzing for this.

Having read what he said I think this is more outrage baiting. He says that women's football and men's football are different sports and it may be. Equality isn't negated or threatened by this argument being true.

I think the "young team" phenomenon has affected the supporters bus experience. I've been on loads of them over the years but had been on none for over a decade until last June when I got on a TA bus for the first and last time . I imagine the club buses are now replete with coked up wee wanks.

I admire Luton. They're well run and we're one of, iirc, only two solvent clubs on the Championship. Their transfer window activity indicates that they're not interested in staying up, or at least not willing to throw money at it like Forest. They're there to take the riches and secure their future as a stable second tier team. Not very Barclays of them at all, I might add, which must enrage the fanboys. Team of the year.

It's absolute pie in the sky stuff but I've long dreamt of a Keynesian solution, basically a green new deal where the government would borrow loads of money, raise taxes on the rich and spend it on building and renewing infrastructure, putting millions to work etc. As I said, pie in the sky stuff.

Thick Strawberry Blondies at very best.

Then it wasn't incense JG...

To be clear, "are travellers a race, ethnicity or class?" was the title of the essay we had to hand in. It was a political anthropology class at uni. The "race" question concerned genetics and we looked also at kinship within these communities. The ethnicity part centred around identity almost in terms of them being a separate people. The answer was that they are all three, with greater emphasis on one of the categories depending on the particular traveller culture. It was a fucking fascinating course.

This isn't strictly true. We studied them a bit in anthropology (are they a race or a class?). Travellers would go from town to town (not Romani either, "gypsies" or travellers came from all over) and created the "Egyptian" story as it made them sound more exotic. They're survivors of feudalism, hence the very different morality they have around child rearing, property and means of exchange. Hence also the centuries long persecution.

f**k sake. I thought I'd clicked on the "unpopular opinions" thread. My head has obviously long since gone

As a collection of players (perhaps Gordon aside) this Newcastle team is immensely likeable. They've managed to maintain a northern flavour with lads like Burn and Longstaff as well as Tripper. Miguel Almiron always plays like he's having a ball. Obviously the ownership is awful, but I like this team.

This for me. It did used to definitely mean gypsies, or travellers, but now it's just used to mean someone unclean and lower class. My flatmate used to use it to describe certain neighbours as they would leave old appliances outside or somesuch. There was never any suggestion he thought they were travellers. I never enjoyed the term as it's obviously punching down however you look at it.

The Stooges were never in the same league as the Marx Bros. Not even close. I never met anyone who liked Laurel and Hardy but didn't like Groucho et al. I'm wondering what MB films you actually saw. Some of their later stuff ("Love Happy", "Cocoanuts") was a bit weaker, and even Big Store wasn't that strong really, but Duck Soup, A Night At The Opera and Day At The Races are fantastic. NATH is one of my favourite films of any sort. Magnificent. @kingjoey if you haven't done so I recommend reading Groucho's Letters. The ones he wrote back and forth to Warner Brothers' lawyer are genius. Also his autobiography is a tremendous read.

You made that one up.

"This is the first time in over a decade that the two Manchester teams have lost games which kicked off at 3pm" Get tae.

Same. The weirdest of kinks. (and yes, I know the Kinks were from London, before anyone says it)

Obviously great viewing, but the young lad filming with his phone and providing commentary has me fuming. Imagine sitting next to that.

Dreadful.