SamuraiJock

Watkins for free feels a better fit than Boyle for cash. All depends on whether Watkins is getting better offers down South but would love to see him back.

Sounds like the end of an era for NXT - as someone who never watches Raw or Smackdown, the only reason i used to pickup the network would be to catch-up on NXT. All i really want is a couple of hours of wrestling a week with decent matches and NXT used to fill that gap perfectly without any of the cringy pish you have to sit through on the main shows. Apart from the Rumble for nostalgia and Wrestlemania for the hype i can't see the network interesting me at all any more. AEW is filling the gap nicely for a decent weekly show, but i'm a bit worried about all the other shows they seem to be planning in the future. Don't water things down and spread them out into 8 hours of TV a week please.

Just googled if others recommend reading it, and it clearly splits opinion. Some describing it as like the Old Testament for Middle Earth (which seems to match your description quite well), others saying it reads like a phonebook. Will give it a go i think.

Should i finally read the Silmarillion this year then before the show comes out? Have always feared it was just a dull history book.

Agreed. Was a spectacular few years - didn't think it had peaked back in 2016 - thought they'd be unstoppable for a few years but nobody really turned into the superstars i thought they'd be (maybe apart from Bryant?).

This makes me sad Cubs run to the title started with Rizzo. Might be a sad day ahead as well - can see Bryant and Baez going today as well

Any political party that tells you they'd fix the drug deaths problem quickly is talking out their hole

The 2019 reports showed that after Scotland the rate of drug deaths was highest in the North East of England and in Northern Ireland. We were roughly 3 times worse than either of them though.

Not sure how many of the deaths only have benzos implicated, but would guess relatively few with the majority of deaths happening when people take their heroin/methadone. Injecting rooms would catch people at the riskiest time but obviously that doesn't mean deaths won't still happen at any random time as well so still lots of risk for folk taking stuff regularly

Honestly not sure what would make a difference to stop these deaths rising year on year. The figures are so closely tied to deprivation i struggle to see any easy way to fix things short of legalising lots of drugs and getting injecting rooms setup which isn't going to happen for political reasons. Their used to be a lack of genuine rehab beds and i'd guess that is still the case as they are expensive to run, but just having more beds seems unlikely to make a real impact when the numbers get so high. I thought the Naloxone programme would make a difference when they rolled it out a few years ago, but it doesn't seem to have changed much at all.

Its not just heroin but that remains a big part of it - a lot of the deaths are from people taking lots of things together. From the report today 89% of the deaths have heroin/methadone involved, 73% involved benzos (diazepam/etizolam), more than a third also had cocaine involved. Street benzos seems to be a huge part of the problem now - was identified in 58 deaths in 2015 and now up to 879 for last year!

I think we’ll get a lot more out of Kennedy this year than last (where he played most of the season as a wingback). I know a lot of folk have seen enough to think he’s shite, but he is a creative player that fits the wide roles in a Glass team. Would be a mistake to get rid of him without a better winger arriving in his place.

I wonder whether a Ferguson departure is awaited before making any more moves? If we expect to sell him for a few million in a months time, then we could likely get better players in after that. If so would be better to hold off on signings rather than getting cheaper squad players in now? Of course we might well be out of europe by then...

Who do we imagine we are targeting for a 3rd choice striker if not Hendry? Seemed better than any of the youngsters currently at the club, still in his early 20's, scored a couple of goals when nobody else would last year. Seems like a fine addition to me.

Gotta have Miller's Crossing in my 5. Would swap it in for Raizing Arizona which is in the next tier. Also really liked True Grit

Brown is old, Ferguson might be leaving, McGeough gets injured, Campbell isn’t the finished article and Glass might see McCrorie as a CB. Not sure Ojo will hang around but that middle depth gets pretty thin if Ferguson leaves as well.

If all we would be signing are squad players i'd rather we didn't bother and just rolled the dice with some youngsters to fill gaps next year.

I get being angry about restrictions but this is a really shitty way to speak about people actually dying or struggling to breathe in a hospital

McInnes brought stability for a long time. Eventually it got less exciting and we got more predictable as a team, but he managed the squad well and maintained above average performance for a long time. He's gone as we wanted change but with that comes risk - the chance of us sliding backwards next season is much higher than previous years with a complete change in playing style and a squad overhaul at the same time. I'm encouraged by what i've seen and the changes being made at the club that we'll be in a good place going forward, but I think its reasonable to expect the league form to be mixed next year. If Glass can achieve 3rd it will be a hell of an effort in his first full season.

WTF is going on up here with gigs like this. That's equivalent to a UK figure of about 6000+ and we are seeing nothing near that outwith Scotland ??? Are we about the right amount on from the Rangers fans flashmob of fun?

Evil Dead. Made for about £1.50 but still better than most modern horror pish. Acting pretty dodgy apart from the legendary Bruce Campbell. 8/10

Am I the only one who doesn’t mind Kennedy? Robbed of form and confidence and had to play the year as a wingback which hardly helped him. I still think he was a decent creative outlet and one of the few who could beat a defender occasionally

Would be sensible to plan for Ferguson being away so we aren’t left short-handed - the right offer might arrive a week from the window closing and suddenly we are scrambling for signings when most have already gone

Quite happy with this. Seems like someone who might actually hold the ball up for a change which nobody could after Watkins left last year. Get a 20-goal striker in as well though please.

Taylor had a decent year mostly playing in the middle of the back 3. Protected wider by consi and Hoban. Allowed him to be a purely no nonsense defender and rarely had to play the ball forwards. If glass fancies a back 4 then Taylor isn’t mobile enough and can’t pass forwards.