The Holiday Song

Video for this one is "good"... the crowd going oooh and Souness trying to make ups some shit excuse for it.

It was stupid and nasty, but there's some embellishment here... was a first and ten play with about twenty seconds to go.

McCullum came out and said the umpires called over. Did they? If so I can definitely see why England are annoyed. If not, I'd like to see McCullum correcting that on record if he's really into the whole spirit of things. I kindof think it's just a bit of an unfortunate incident. Don't feel Carey has done anything wrong (he wasn't sleeklit about it) but Bairstow has obviously considered it as dead at that point. It's a bit daft from Bairstow and he doesn't strike me as being the most detail orientated guy in the world so could say it's his own fault, but think a bit unlucky too. Anyway, delighted the Aussies won!

Maybe been a theme and just not noticed it before, but seems to be a lot of new kits based on old strips recently. This is ADO Den Haag's new kit kit, based on the 80s strip on the left. Could have done with the sponsor being in red too IMO. As a big Father Ted fan would like one with Funland on the front, unfortunately that's only for the kid's sizes.

Cheers. More lazy than terrible I guess, and probably not that big a deal (didn't really narrow where Scotland could end up playing anyway!)

This is partly a question first before lumping it in as bad journalism, but is the bit at the bottom here about pots and venues correct? Because I think the author has just made the assumption that pot 1 teams will be in Position 1 in the group draw and pot 2 teams will be in Position 2, but I'm not sure that's right (at least wasn't for 2020 and it would always mean the teams from the top two pots would play each other in the first round of games)? Scotland's Euro 2024 chances after Georgia win, Pot 1 hope, the German cities the team could play in | The Scotsman

Had thought about this today and decided to go for it too after reading these, cheers. Three nights in hotel next to Essen station was about GBP 250 total (sleeping two) so not too bad. Paid upfront after the comments about cancellations! 10 mins to Gelsenkirchen 25 mins to Dortmund 30 mins to Dusseldorf 60 mins to Koln Four possible games those three days around there so hopefully get tickets for at least one (not too fussed if Scotland or not)

Was that the chairman Fulston's company? I know the spelling is different but I always thought it was and was reading something there that said he owned a fork lift company, so some coincidence if not.

If I remember right (and that's a big if), it's not particularly useful to compare historical mortgage rates as house price % increases have been a lot higher than wage % increases. Therefore proportion of disposable income is affected differently. Someone else might be better placed to confirm/explain though.

I really enjoy the whole Bazball philosophy, and I’m a big fan of Stokes (despite wanting England to lose!) but think it's also fair to criticise the declaration. You don't need to declare there to do the other parts that gave them a chance of winning the game. Lets say England put another 50 on in 7 overs and then Australians start their first innings from first ball of day 2, a winning result is obviously still a possibility from that point. I’m intrigued whether the decision to declare was a gut feeling, an example of the type of strategy they’ll always go for, or data driven (i.e. the expected runs Australia would lose out on from a wicket that evening would outweigh the expected runs England would have got carrying on a little longer). If it had been overcast or a seamers pitch, and/or Root hadn’t been in I think would have been a decent idea.

Off to a festival tomorrow where they are playing, and enjoy their new album so one of the bands I really want to see there (alongside Lankum and Interpol). Good to hear they were decent!

Incredibly similar to last years' Dutch promotion playoff. ADO up 4-1 on aggregate after 77 minutes of the second leg (at home!). They lost on sudden death penalties in the end. One thing to console you Partick fans, they then had an incredible season this year...... actually they didn't, the stench stuck and they finished twelth and had one of their three worst seasons ever. Good luck folks.

Any idea what the deal with promotion from Tweede divisie is? Best I can make out is the champions can go up if they want to but up until this year they have the choice to do so or not?

You’ve missed out the crux of what he said: “You are the guy that posts about supporting the Pars got him through some tough personal times but comes on regularly to laugh at other fans when they are disappointed” A bit close to the bone maybe but I see his point. Anyway, hope all is good at the moment. I know myself when times are tough football can be a great release (although been been more just of a distraction recently with Falkirk than any actual positivity!).

Went to a Köln men’s game a few years back. They had a song that started playing just before kickoff and the crowd joins in. Nothing unusual there… but after a few seconds I realised the music was Loch Lomond! Whole day was a brilliant experience and agree on recommendation. YouTube video of aforementioned song:

Look into Delft too. A lot smaller but quite a charming wee place. In between Den Haag and Rotterdam.

This is maybe not the easiest question to answer, but is there a certain type of person that follows Excelsior rather than Feyenoord or Sparta? I guess location wise, south of the river is Feyenoord, west is Sparta and east is Excelsior, but would that have much bearing on who people decide to support?

I live in Den Haag and work in Leiden. Go to Leiden. It's more compact with some nice canals and places to eat and drink next to them.

Will go against the grain a bit here and say things like the Mumsnet saga was when the general nonsense side of P&B became less relevant/interesting... things like that had already been done by bigger and more broader based forums (literally in the case of the Mumsnet thing). But the Scottish football side of P&B really has been fantastic. Great reading wide ranging views from all parts of the setup.

As a Falkirk fan, I’d have to begrudgingly say Captain Sensible was the best WUM on here. His heyday being around the time of the vote for Falkirk to be promoted after 02/03 season.

People remembering BBC interrupting Neighbours and seeing the second plane hitting live on 9/11 is a false memory. It cut to news after it finished and the second plane had already hit.

Was at PSV’s second leg against Monaco in the last round… was a great atmosphere but they were incredibly lucky to get through, fear Rangers have a decent chance.

I'm the other side, near Haags Bos. Not far from HVV Den Haag's ground if you know that. Been here four years, last year was first with ADO season ticket. Where is your Excelsior connection from? Yesterday's game went worse than expected, 2-0 home loss to Den Bosch who had lost 3-1 the week before to FC Eindhoven (who were starting two of our castoffs from last season). Not a great start! Although Kuijt has seemed to identify what we thought was lacking yesterday too so hoping it's just a team gelling issue these first two weeks.

Tremendous f'ck up by one of the Jong Ajax team.

Got my season ticket for ADO again this season (playing in the second tier because on the opposite side of Excelsior's miracle in the playoff final!). 4-0 opening game loss to Hercales but think (hope) they might be pretty decent. First home home on Sunday against Den Bosch, but having to watch in pub as no fans allowed in as punishment for fans somewhat OTT reaction to aforementioned playoff defeat.