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On the river where they want to stop the boats…

Considering he's managed every bastard club in the Championship, that's not hard.

And they're being done for breaking rules which should never have been in place anyway. The 6 runners-up to Man City in each of their title wins? Arsenal, Liverpool & Man Utd. The exact 3 clubs FFP is there to serve.

alex firmly establishing himself here as the sara cox of toontastic.

He certainly doesn't come across as clever, let's just hope he's good at getting deals done. His comparisons to elite clubs's strategies are misguided at best because such clubs are making transfers from a pre-existing platform of top quality players (with high wages) and facilities and huge commercial backing where as two and a half years ago we started with a squad bound for relegation (second bottom of the table deep into November) championship tier coaching, a barebones staff, run down behind the curve training facilities and hopelessly poor commercials. The first thing that needed to be done was improve the quality of the team to achieve the first target of avoiding relegation. Objective exceeded. The next was to improve the team further to compete for Europe. Objective exceeded. This has given us a legitimate springboard to improve our commercials beyond reasonable expectation in such a short period of time (without any obvious dodgy Man City style sponsorship dealings). Objective exceeded. The next objective was to bolster our squad for an extremely busy calendar with the addition of European games. Despite some great results a combination of an injury crisis (+ a lengthy suspension), European inexperience and inexplicably poor officiating saw us fail to qualify beyond the group stages. Tough break but who will forget us pumping PSG? The injury crisis hurt us in the league massively and through a cruel FA Cup twist we missed out on all European competition. That said we were never realistically in the running for Champions League so in some ways not having to play in a lesser European competition will improve our chances of qualifying for Champions League this season. To call these transfer windows not fit for purpose is wrong. Our turn around from whipping boys to dynamic top 8 competitors was remarkably quick. As I said on the back of this we've been able to legitimately turn around our commercial outcomes which will do more to fuel further purchases than trying to buy young talent from a wider pool and onsell it within a season or two (which is what Mitchell is impying is required). It's in fact exactly what we did with Minteh, buying him from a Danish side, farming him out to a strong European team in a technical competition that suits his ability and then onselling him for a massive profit. That we needed to do that to satisfy PSR is a sign that we've not been able to sell.pther players that we've been stuck with from poor transfer dealing prior to the takeover. The only feasible alternative would have been buying fewer players. Say for example not getting Barnes or Gordon. Recognising that we now must look to evolve our transfer strategies is not an acknowledgement that our previous transfer strategies were not fit for purpose. The positive writing is on the wall for those; we accelerated our transformation beyond any reasonable expectation given the financial constrainsts in which we were operating through recruiting a quality manager and staff and a series of players who vastly improved our playing roster and who not only fit in but also helped to establish a new and improved culture at the club. It's inexplicable that he called them not fit for purpose, there's no evidence of it. Sure we frustratingly had to lose two very promising young players, but Minteh hadn't player a single minute for us and Anderson, despite looking super promising hasn't shown significant end product in his many opportunities and was down the pecking order so not likely to get big minutes. Mitchell's attempts at buying Guehi don't bode well but Parish was clearly playing silly buggers there so we'll let that slide. Sporting Director is not someone we need to hear from, we will judge based on our overall operation, coaching, training and transfer dealings.

Time team man just scored the winner v City in the Champs League Final. Oh wait on, no its League One Barnsley.

Couldn’t be any worse than the family of thick mackem cunts I was sat near on this transfer to the hotel who, as we passed through a police checkpoint, started shouting “El Police-o!” at the top of his voice and laughing out loud. Wouldn’t have grated too much but how fucking thick do you have to be to not know it’s “Policia”? Then it dawned on me that he almost certainly didn’t know they speak Spanish over in Mexico

A cruel mate who saw him drop a ball to see Cummins score a winner at Roker park against us has just said it would probably be fitting if someone dropped his coffin. Memories linger long with some of our lot, mind. RIP.

Think it’s alright if you don’t go down the Italian route of pairing it with 40 tabs a day

In a recent job interview I was asked how i would perform under pressure? I thought for a moment and said that i didn’t know all the words to that one, but I could have a good bash at Bohemian Rhapsody"

sounds like we have a secret Spurs fan on the forum.

A family Trattoria Sunlin’ when Papa Berb M was in charge Sunlin’ when the Pocket Money Kid took over

This is where I think FFP fails massively. Before Ashley, our commercial revenue was around 70-80% of what Spurs made. It was about 40-50% when he left us. Over 14 years that's 100s of £millions. If they insist on having FFP in play, there should be some consideration for a new ownership to be able to go to the PL and say here's what this club's is able to generate in revenue when we're not a cheap/free advertising board for Sports Direct, here's what we're capable of earning now. There should also maybe be a grace period for new ownerships where there's maybe a 3-5 years where they're able.to.invest in the club to bridge the gap. Not just saying this from an NUFC perspective either. Clubs like Leicester & Forest are being shafted for having the audacity to not settle for being a Norwich or Sheff Utd and having a go at it in the Premier League. Everton had a couple.of years where they really went for it, failed, and they've been ruined ever since. Yet clubs like Chelsea & Man Utd can finish upper mid-table.and spend £200m or so without even flinching. Bournemouth have wealthy owners who seem genuinely ambitious with a good model, yet because they're a small club and don't have the pull, they're always going to be a mid-table club at best because they'll always have FFP holding them back. Clubs lower down the leagues like Wrexham and Birmingham who seem to have it all off the pitch will never be able to go all out if they ever did reach the top. Sorry went off on a tangent there, Ashley's a cock.

Oof, me and CT have synchronised our rating systems. Worried about this.

There used to be an antique dealer on Front street called R Strain Antiques, which always raised a chuckle. Doesn’t beat Wallsend’s classic barber shop though. Closed down now, nobody could ever find it.

Standard stuff from the mackem misanthrope. You can possibly tell I’ve just read it but ‘All Played Out’ (later republished as ‘One Night in Turin’) by Pete Davies is a great read. It’s mainly about England plus how they qualified. Davies had almost exclusive access to the players, management etc. He was entrusted on the basis none of anything he learnt would come out until the book was published (December of that year I think). But he also travelled about with the fans a bit and used his connections, friendships and press access to go to as many games as he could. As well watching games in bars and cafes in Italy. It’s a bit of a shuddering reminder of how long ago it was and how much football and the world has changed. But the way it isn’t sugarcoated is also why it’s so good. What’s also apparent is what a shower of cunts most of the English press were. Not just the lads from the red tops either.

I absolutely loved seeing the radge, bulging eyed Sicilian reeling away after he scored wearing one of the most simple but classy looking silky azzurri kits ever. If Gazza still played for us he'd have been my favourite number 19 at Italia 90 but he'd fucked off to Spurs so Schillacci takes the honours. I actually ordered that shirt from toffs a few years ago and the number was never going to be anything other than 19. (I wouldn't normally bother with numbers but the italics of the numbers on those Italian shirts just went together didn't they?)

Can I at least take the ankle bracelet off? It's itchy - I reckon @Nefilim got crabs on it.

He sort of did. In that it was just typical of how insular English football was back then. I.e. you wouldn’t have known about someone like Scifo or Hagi in this country before the tournament. He’d already been at Juve for a year. But he wasn’t expected to be the star. Vialli was the one expected to main man upfront. He got injured (although it was speculated by some Vialli bottled it, as the physios couldn’t find an issue, but it was nearly 35 years ago too so it’s not like the technology they have now). Vialli was fit later in the competition but it was Schillaci and the young Baggio (who’d also recently gone to Juventus) that ended up starting in the latter stages after they both grabbed their opportunities. He later ended up at Inter but never really hit the heights / lived up to that promise. There was an amusing incident a few years back where one of Italy’s most wanted, some mafia boss, was arrested visiting a hospital at the same time as him. In Sicily I think. It wasn’t stated explicitly but the speculation was they both used the same plastic surgeon

TBF, even the Pope would've saved it.

Dunno about you, but I keep dancing til the music stops.

👆ewerk

The wannabe stats man loses his composure when presented with solid facts.

Jordan and Keown? UNSUBSCRIBED

Could not agree more. The depravity of their actions cannot be lessened on the basis of international relations, nor can it be excused in any way because "Hamas and Hezbollah are bad guys too". It's utterly appalling. I watched that John Oliver thing back earlier and the most telling line was where he comments on Israel's position in the aftermath of the holocaust which was "it must never happen again". They're dangerously close, as he pointed to that rhetoric being discretely changed to "it must never happen again, to us".

I am getting that Michell and Webb meme "are we the bad guys" feelin here. Hezbollah maybe terrorists, but the Israeli governement are too, and much more extreme and better at it. If the boot were on the other foot there would be outrage. Netanyahu needs to be tried and imprisoned for life under terrorism charges.

For me the preceding two world cups were better quality than 1990 but 1990 remains my all time favourite. I was about to turn 21, had just left home; freedom, disposable income on a comparatively huge scale, booze, women, music… it was unforgettable… I’d never heard of Schillacci at the beginning of the tournament for the precise reasons others have mentioned. Mancini and Vialli had played at Euro 88 so this lad was for me the NKOTB. He was sensational though, I think it’s a pity Italy didn’t win it tbh, but the semi final placed them in Naples and not Rome and they were up against Argentina with Maradonna. The Neopolitans in the crowd basically backed the Argies (lots of North v South hatred in Italy in those days) making for an odd atmosphere. Despite Toto nicking what looked like a winner the Italian goalie dropped a cross and Caniggia scored an equaliser, it went to pens and Italy were out…

Aye but that's for entirely unrelated reasons.

I actually do regard you, PL, and MF as a trio of newbies. Alex, Gemmill, and Gloomy (aka Dan) are the old guard.

You're still on probation, by the way.

Definitely wasn't me. I came over during the great migration of Ed's blog where the welcome party scared off the rest of my fellow bloggers. Still waiting for that thread to be moved to gold tbh. There was a poll and it wasn't honoured - which is probably the worst thing committed in that thread, despite what the general reaction to the warm welcome suggests.

Awwww, look at you still fighting yesterday's war like a little Japanese soldier marooned on an island.

Because Tottenham have been established as one of the PL's 'elite' clubs for some time now. Because they have a commercial department that is more than a few years old. Their previous deal with Aurasma was worth £10m a season, and the monster deal signed with AIA back in 2019 just after they finished as CL runner up, moved into their brand spanking new stadium, had one of the most highly regarded managers in world football, etc.

Why are you hating on Kane ? Is it because he gave your missus the best tongue bath of her life? Step aside Callum.

https://dubz.co/c/c43aa5 absolute thun-debast-ard for sporting tonight!

There aah was crawling out of the plane wreckage in a feeld in Pennsylvania around September 2001, ahm not sheweh of the day but it might have beyn the 11th. Anyways, there was this Saudi fella on the plane in his mag shirt, coz tha gay bashers have fancied the scum for over 20 years. Eez giving it big licks with a screwdriver tacking shots at the cockpit door and that when aah gets up, walk cleyn over tiv em and hewk em cleyn on the jaw. Aah’ll tell ya what eez alla wasn’t hew Akbar that day. Anyways, to cut a long storey longer, the pilot gets on the tannoy and blasts a belta rendition of he shags wee he wants, oh Adam Johnson ee shags wee he wants. Accidentally knocks the autopilot off and nosedives us into a feeld. Everyone else was too busey patting iz on the back and saying nice things about Quinney and Peeteh Reeyd coz wa massive in middle America. Obviously, aah was the only survivor and aah dinnit like talking about it because as a fan of massive lads am peweh humble.

Anyone with kids under ten must know this song.

"Clearly in a different league to us albeit lower" They do know how the footballing pyramid works, don't they? Also they don't get to pass judgement on horse assaults anymore. That ship sailed very recently.

Somebody born in ‘33 was 45 in ‘78. Is this some sort of record?

only 59, he came out of nowhere that world cup to win the golden boot, if i remember correctly

Posted this before. It's. A Bagel shop, not a brothel unfortunately.

Just the law, isn't it? First choice striker for England's national team gets a free pass.

I have a kid under 10 but I’m emotionally distant enough that they’ve never tried to pull this shit on me.

I’m very proud to have finished my seventh marathon, in seven days! .....or "Snickers" as they are now called.

The good stuff. 1961 me, My kids ok boomer me all the time. The cunts