Rayvin

We don't need to get back to midtable though we just need to not be adrift by January. If we're within 2 or 3 points of 17th when the money starts to make itself felt, we'll be fine.

Aye it would be a serious concern for me if I was a Sunderland fan. But then judging by what I'm reading on RTG, a solid number of them occupied themselves with racially abusing people and throwing coins at kids rather than watching the match, so maybe they're not even there for the football. At least none of them punched a police horse though.

It was nice of Sunderland themselves to honour it though. Fitting tribute tbh, classy club.

Chelsea are league leaders, we were never going to win this one anyway. At least it's out of the way and the new owners are hopefully now quite close to providing some better options for management. It is what it is.

There are some very odd ones out there mind - people have gone way off track from just he and she. "fae", "faer" and "faeself" are some that I've seen around - but I also saw some pushback because it technically counts as the appropriation of pagan culture

Aye that's it - it's just about normalising it as others have said. I have to say, I'd never really given it much thought until this conversation, but I suppose I'd be ok adding it to my email signature if it helps people to feel more comfortable. Makes precious little difference to me personally.

This was more or less the line Jordan Peterson took to become the poster child of the Alt Right (wrongly, IMO). He wouldn't be forced into particular forms of speech, but would call any student by whichever pronouns they wished to be called by if asked directly. My view on this is otherwise entirely aligned with PL's tbh.

I imagine we've all seen the headlines about this lad but it's nice to see that even under our morally dubious ownership, the club has supported him. It is worth noting that a reasonable number of (apparently) Saudi fans of the club are being less inclusive in the comments and being called out by other fans. Could be an interesting dynamic longer term.

Do hope they both recover well though

Yeah I've heard of a few people in the same households as those who have it somehow avoiding catching it too. Just be as careful as you can be I guess. Force them to live in the shed for a while, as long as you agree to pay for therapy afterwards?

The fact that they're proud of themselves for this really does demonstrate just how low their expectations now are. They're a League One club in every possible sense.

Oh FFS the title. Well I'm not gonna complain tbh

It's almost like you were there...

Has he not done well with Belgium, or is it more the case that it would have been impossible not to do well with Belgium?

I am fortunate enough to be part of a community online that includes many trans people, mostly trans women, and I have seen this discussion take place between them. Not a single one of them has ever said that anyone should be compelled to have sex with them. Moreover they've made clear that they wouldn't want to be with anyone who wasn't attracted to them anyway. Just like everyone else really. I'm not saying I don't believe this Jenny woman from the article hasn't had a bad experience but ffs haven't we all. I've had women go off at me for not reciprocating their advances before - some people struggle particularly with rejection. I suppose especially in the case of people who feel as insecure about themselves as transwomen. That doesn't make what she experienced ok, far from it, but is it worthy of a national fucking news story? The trans people I know are all very shy, very insecure about themselves (likely because they're mid-20s, and lack some of the wisdom and ability to not give a fuck that comes with age) and really don't understand why so many people are going out of their way to make them some sort of enemy. My mum is a devout Christian in her early 60s and even she has managed to get to the stage where she thinks trans people should just be left the fuck alone to exist however they please. If she is capable of this then why the fuck isn't the media?

Yes but damage has been done really. Going to be hard to trust the BBC from here so not convinced they're going to get the clean slate they seem to want.

What a triumph. We've banned Evian. It's all been worth it now.

I mean I went straight to elite as a euphemism for rich and powerful but this it's quite possible he's just talking about footballing elite. Given that he's included Bruce, I actually think the former is more likely. Bruce is definitely rich, if not anyone's definition of powerful. He's certainly not elite in the footballing sense though. I still can't get over Arteta calling him one of the most significant managers in the English game tbh, what does that say about standards in this country...

Actually am I being unfair there - does he just mean elite in the footballing sense? If so then yes, it's mental that he's grouped Steve Bruce in with that but I retract everything else

The fact that he thinks there is even a category of people who could justifiably be called elite is offensive, the servile fuck. What's even worse is that he seems to be saying that he personally believes these people are elite, and that the discontent people have with them is somehow more problematic than, say, the existence of "elite" people themselves.

Ah so this is just abuse on twitter we're talking about? No one's actually been chanting for his demise from the stands or running up to him in the street and calling him a cunt? If so then, while I find twitter abuse deplorable, as you say - it's about as fucking consistent a phenomenon as can exist in the modern day. It's certainly not limited to just Steve Bruce unless some of our fans have really gone above and beyond. I've not noticed any mention of death threats in the media and if there'd been even a sniff of one, it'd be all over the place.

What is anyone actually meant to have said to Bruce that is so awful? Is it that he looks like a cabbage?

Yeah I'm also not sure that we should be spending that kind of money on players who would be prepared to come and dig us out of a relegation battle. I think we have to be really careful in this window tbh. Do just enough to survive and then go full power in the summer.

"We kept playing it long to Stewart, we need to keep it simple instead". Does it get much simpler than long balls? "Where did it all go wrong?" "The team". What an insight.

Cynically, this is totally how the club should hit back on this stuff. Accusations of racism. I suspect its not that far from the truth anyway. As an aside, would that be the banner that the guardian displayed front and centre without challenging?