Makom

Obviously Charnley upped the offer then......

I've read a lot about this subject, so I would have expected to have seen his name being mentioned, even if it was just in passing because, like, he can't talk about his missions because of the Official Secrets Act, so it can't be mentioned in this book or news story about this other SOE agent, whose telling us all about their missions.....come on man.

As this thread shows, nobody would have anything to gain by claiming he's a liar - he's a national treasure, that's a big no no. SOE agents rarely even knew who else was working on their own missions, so the idea that anyone would be able to discredit that through simple personal knowledge of who was in it, is laughable. He could have been in the LRDG/SAS, or he could have been attached to it as RAF int, or he could have just been on the same planes that ferried them around when not on operations. Since he's deliberately vague about what he was actually doing with them, then understandably nobody who would know every single person who was it at any one time (if we're really to assume that's possible, which I don't) would feel like even commenting on it. It's not like he's taking credit for being any part of any specific operation, is it? Which is of course what every other person in the LRDG or early SAS has done - precisely because it's not a secret.

First I'd heard of it was in here. Unsurprisingly, his name has never come up whenever I've read stuff about the LRDG, or the SAS, or even in any of the recent stories about the SOE. Still, if forces.tv say it happened, then it clearly happened, because, like, well, it's forces.tv, and they would know!

Self-reflection?

Tedious. The correct answer was of course the way I say it has no bearing on anything - that was to be your cue to highlight how suggestions have been unworkable or my criticism has been unwarranted or baseless. But as ever, in another tedious attempt to make this all about me, you've taken us down another conversational dead end.

It's almost as if The Mirror just makes shit up they know people want to read, so they get lots of clicks to prove they still matter to advertisers.......

I did, what of it?

I sincerely hope the reason I'm not being listened to is simply because people (unwisely) think my ideas are wrong, because if the reason why my perfectly reasonable criticism of how the campaign is going and suggestions for how it could get back on track are being ignored simply because of my tone, then that's canny pathetic.

Um, where'd you think I found the narrative for the second post? forces.tv knows as much about this issue as anyone else. And what does it matter that he just died? Some of you know him personally? Or worried his friends and family might be reading? Like he said, read into it what you will, so I did. I can't think of any reason why he'd not talk about it, since it's not secret, not even remotely.

Definitely BS. One recounting has it that he was with the LRDG first in Africa, then after the invasion of Europe joined the SOE on sabotage missions of the retreating Nazi forces, which is really hard to believe if these were just attachments from his main job in RAF intelligence. Not only is there not really any need for these to be just temporary attachments - if he genuinely had something to add to these missions he would have been taken on by these units permanently, as it was certainly more vital than any work he might have bee doing for the RAF, and they weren't exactly doing the sort of work you could just temp at. The biggest red flag is this claim that he can't talk about any of his missions even now, because of the Official Secrets Act - there's been entire books written on the activities of the LRDG, including plenty of first hand accounts, precisely because they were the forerunner to the SAS, and none of their work was all that secret (nothing the SAS in that era would have been once the war was over), as it was mainly just running around the desert blowing shit up. The SOE less so, as their work was actually officially secret given they were classified as spies, but even their activities have been related extensively in recent years, even with first hand accounts. He's clearly trying it on - it's always the best kind of secrecy, the one that lets you tell everyone you meet you were in the special forces and did spy missions, but can't give them any details.

Very French.

He's trying it on. The SAS weren't a secret organisation during the war, it was just an Army unit given carte blanche to organise itself and is missions how it saw fit. It's a shame he supposedly wasn't allowed to talk about the true nature of whatever these attachments were, because it would be interesting indeed to know what the SOE (an actual secret outfit which had nothing to do with the military and was certainly nothing to do with the SAS or its ancestors, and I'm pretty sure never even did anything in the desert) or even the LRDG (an army unit which was an ancestor to the SAS but which raided behind enemy lines in the desert without any air support) would have even needed an RAF intelligence person. The only way that quote makes sense, is if you completely disregard the bits about the SOE or LRDG - he may have had some contact with the SAS during the invasion of Italy, but that's hardly amazing, by then they they'd been expanded and brought back into the main structure of the regular forces, being used as Commandos as the lead element of the invasion, more like the Marines would be today - in which case they might have had use for an RAF liason.

Yoda crapped his pants regularly, but he was canny old. I'm closer to Samuel J, bitches can't touch me. Clearly.

Christ. The Mirror. How is it even possible to write a "news" story that's only four paragraphs long, and yet have every single paragraph contradicting every other paragraph? Although that would seem to be good evidence that this shit is coming directly from the club.

Proper N-O style craic this. I will repeat, for those of you who appear to have eyesight issues - I've clearly done more than any fucker here - unless someone wants to prove me wrong by saying what they've done.....

God knows what the hell is going on at this basket case of a club. I have no fucking clue what giving McLaren a seat on the board is supposed to achieve, or Moncur for that matter. I don't have any confidence they know either - it seems to just be more of the same, from the same source of deep strategic thinking that promoted the fucking secretary to chief executive and now chairman, brought us Kinnear and Wise as directors of football, and sacked Hughton for merely being a coach, and gave Pardew an 8 year contract. It's a joke, it really is. Why people are even thinking about going back to SJP before seeing concrete evidence that this time they know what they're doing, is beyond me.

I'm not giving Ashley any money, and sending good ideas to this campaign, and telling them when they're fucking it up. I'd say that puts me ahead of anyone on this forum as regards trying to get Ashley out, unless anyone wants to say otherwise here....

Seriously, there's not a another club on the planet that would have kept Carver on after that farcical performance. Rather than being optimistic CT, you should be asking yourself why it took so long for Charnley to announce it? Was he seriously considering asking new managers whether they wanted to keep them on? Because if he was, that's a pretty good sign nothing's changed, we're still being run by a rank amateur.

If it is McClaren, and it turns out we end up starting the season with no new faces except another few young French lads, then are you genuinely going to be entering SJP for the first game of the season with a smile on you face and a spring in your step? Not saying you'd be wrong for doing so, I just cannot get my head around someone who would do that, while still wanting Ashley out. The only way I can rationalise it is in terms of how far down Ashley has dragged the club up to now, to the point where not appointing a complete buffoon somehow inspires optimism, even though nothing else is really changing. Even if you think McClaren might be better than Pardew, which I don't think is remotely certain, I don't know why you wouldn't look back at the last few years and at least wait until you know for sure the product's improved, even if only slightly, before resuming Ashley's funding stream.

I'd say the average householder living in Britain has as much chance of finding a Roman coin by digging their back garden thoroughly than by bothering cows all fucking day with ear muffs on. And at least then if they're worth something you don't have to share half the profits with some farmer giles cunt. And it's not like all the known settlements from history won't have been swept a hundred times over by now, is it? Thanks to Time Team, ironically.

I have done. I'm the ideas man, remember? I leave the execution to the foot-soldiers.

"First team coach Steve Stone will also leave as managing director Lee Charnley clears the decks for Steve McClaren’s arrival and punishes those responsible for hurling the club into an unexpected fight for survival." What, no rebuttal, Mr chief sports writer at the Chronic? Can probably still taste Charnley's cum in his mouth as the price for this little 'exclusive'.

The whole point of a small campaign group is they actually orchestrate an actual campaign, or series of campaigns. If the only point of AO.com is to simply remind people now and again that Ashley's a cunt, but, y'know, do what you think is best, then sorry, but what's the point? The only reason for Ashley's momentous speech was to deflate the momentum of AO and get the media to stop relaying their message, and I fear he's achieved that. The response to his speech was way too long and unfocused for the media, and this boycott is way too unfocused to have any real traction with fans. And the media sure as shit don't care if some internet randoms request fans not to buy anything from ever single sponsor of the club, because it's a manifestly daft idea. There's no way in hell I'm carrying that bloody list around, let alone drinking Fosters, and that's certainly not because I'm not 100% committed to the cause, it's because Fosters is pish and me drinking it instead of Carling will have about as much effect on Ashley as if I tried to apply a Darth Vader strangle hold on him.

Which is exactly what the Fat Bastard was hoping for after his momentous speech. Don't fall for it. It's another bog standard post-strop Ashley-era appointment.