Alex

Pure Ronaldo-type behaviour

Aye, some goal that.

Not just that but they think we’d be somehow distraught if they could prove Benitez was shite. The club’s moved on light years anyway.

The highlighting of their hypocrisy has clearly been taken to heart (good and proper).

pissed off with his own hatred-fuelled fantasy

Typical Tories to create the need for this sort of thing then champion it like it’s a good thing.

Aye,I think the Camorra, who financed the team essentially, got the players to chuck the title (maybe the year after the first one, can’t quite remember the sequence of events). All part of a betting fix. But Maradona was never in on it because they knew he wouldn’t go for it. I think them and one if the Sicilian teams are still only southern teams to have won the league

Incidentally I think the heavy coke use came later in his time in Naples / after

They finished third the season before he arrived iirc. Stick prime Messi in and you arguably get the same result. You can’t compare the eras for reasons already stated. I just think people spout shite about Maradona without context because it’s popular to use it as a stick to beat Messi with.

It absolutely was. But they were a very good side. If you think about Italian football back then no fucker was winning Serie A on their own. Careca was absolutely class. Ferrara won about 7 league titles in his career too. Like I was saying, nothing against Maradona. More the stupid hyperbole used to make Messi out to be nowhere near as good on Twitter and the like

I don’t remember that if I’m honest. It wasn’t meant as a dig at him anyway but either way it gives the lie to his winning it on his own.

Oh, aye. He can’t take any criticism. That’s how we ended up with most of the managers we did

Maradona was an absolute genius but there’s a load of revisionism spouted by the sort of social media types who won’t even be old enough to remember him. All aimed at having a go at Messi. Argentina weren’t shite in 86. Anything but. Maradona winning it single-handed ignores his having a very quiet game against Italy in the group stages. But mainly the final. He got an assist but he was well shackles by a West Germany side a good 4 years short of their peak. The same goes for Napoli. They had some very good players but most of the people who say they were shite too couldn’t name one bar Maradona. It’s also totally different now. Maradona would be playing for one of the massive CL teams

The best bit was the sports direct signs coming down after, having agreed to the sponsorship continuing, the owners discovered it was free advertising.

Gemmill straight in, sticking up for his hero

I was going to say don’t forget to murder a few prostitutes but that’s probably redundant

A lot of his popularity is with young kids it seems. I.e. the types for whom hanging around the training ground in the summer hols hoping for autographs etc. is age-appropriate, unlike him and some of the other touchers for whom it’s a full-time occupation. When you consider how much the Saudis are willing to pay Messi to promote tourism there (for example) it’s not a lot to pay for his travel and accommodation really. Who knows? Also, I love Messi and have enjoyed watching him since he broke into Barca team as a kid but how the fuck does he get a free pass? All you hear on ITV and BBC is how every neutral would love him to win a World Cup for his legacy. He plays for a team owned by the Qataris whilst having an ambassadorial role with the Saudis.

They’d need to know something about it first

Fucking hell

Got the invisible accordion out again

I guess they like the balance with Woods’ ‘X factor’ pace replacing Livingstone’s part time spin (but of course losing the latter’s batting). Foakes must be one of the unluckiest cricketers going though. By rights he should’ve had dozens more test caps

I think Craig wondered if the club was paying him a while back and many, me included, laughed at the notion. But I can’t see how he’d be getting this access otherwise. Let alone the costs involved. Even if he’s doing well enough now to make a living out of it, the outlay for what is essentially some warm weather training and PR would be huge you’d think

And / or Man City

He’s just pretending he didn’t give up a political career (that was probably finished anyway) for £400k.