LondonBlue

i reckon it will be United, City and Forest Forest are wobbling but Chelsea's run in is tough and Villa have it all to do.

shhh... many a slip twixt cup and lip

there are still chats between fan groups and club. some success but still some way to go. it's slow and the fan groups might not get fully what they want but so long as there is dialog. more protests to come i'm sure. i don't have a personal issue with ticketing as i get my 6 (+2 for kids) without much difficulty. works for me. unpopular but i don't have a big problem with £71. it's steep but i reckon PL games are probably worth £100+ when you look at american sports. when i booked my 6+2 tickets at the start of the season the most i paid was £58 so not sure why they're £71.

He wasn't great tonight but he has 42 G/A in 42 games this season. (27 goals, 15 assists). He has 6 goals in 12 games for us. Reckon he'll be fine once ( if ) he settles into the side.

i'm unsure. at half time they showed that Dias clearly touches the ball before that coming together. where's he supposed to go? in any case, it's hardly clear and obvious. thank fuck for Doku. he's starting to have some important moments.

i meant to quote this in my reply above. doh (well it is nearly 2am)

there's something of a ticket war going on at city between club and fans. the cheapest ticket for Villa was £71 and fans are refusing to pay that for a midweek match. expected to fork out for wembley travel etc at the weekend too.

Beggars belief that City's APT2 case won't be heard until October 2025. The PL kicking the can down the road again?

yeah, we get loads of these too probably some dodgy reporter trying to get you to say bad things.

My youngest daughter is 14. I'd say that she's a decent Man United fan. But her age makes her a different kind of red. She's too young to have been shaped by their constant winning. So my point is there is probably a new breed of red on the way through. More humble (assuming any fan of any club is actually humble). Also, weirdly, she shows as much interest in the womens team as the mens. Times they are a changing.

I don't believe that we were ever interested. We may have been used by various people to make things happen. But he just doesn't remotely fit the player profile.

from afar, i'd have to say i agree. i can't see bruno going anywhere either. he's clearly settled, loves life there and now you get to offer CL football. reckon if he was going it would have been 2 years ago.

I didn't really know much about UAE or Saudi prior to the take overs. Just the standard stuff. Didn't really care. I know a fair bit more now. But still don't really care. I'll worry about me and mine and that's plenty enough thanks. What is interesting though, is what effect it is having on the ordinary Mo in the streets of UAE/Saudi. The press seem to focus on what the West thinks of the middle east. How much "better" we are, etc. But how is it effecting the youth in UAE/Saudi? Is it opening their eyes to western culture. In that respect it could be a really important step. Of course it might be the opposite. Mo public might be disgusted by the way that Joe public has vilified their culture. ho hum.

We didn't like them before the takeover. But various high profile decisions in their favour (pre and post VAR) along with the infamous coach attack and the general scouseness of their fans have exacerbated it

Lifted from Gary James on bluemoon... figured you might be interested on here too. This is well worth remembering when someone throws ‘sportswashing’ at you…. Some academic research has been undertaken showing how nations accentuate their ‘attractiveness’ through sport. In essence you could argue this means sportswashing. For those wondering…. The UAE is 21st behind Portugal and just ahead of Norway! The USA is top, UK 2nd… ( Saudi Arabia is 16th ) You can see it all here: https://publika.skema.edu/sport-soft-power-ranking/ This is genuine academic research which should be considered, so those who liberally throw the word sportswashing about need to at least recognise that the UAE is 21st, not number 1 or even number 2, 3, 4 etc.