Michael*

Well, there we have it. You won't find many Sunderland fans who'll begrudge Allardyce taking a job he's always coveted, but you'll find plenty who (rightly) believe that the FA have shown no qualms about seriously damaging our preparations for a season that held such promise of ending our pattern of underachievement. Is it possible for Sam to do well, but for the FA and England to endure several more years of tedious, abject failure and misery? Because that's what I hope happens.

I'd wager that Brucey has taken inspiration from Peter Odemwingie at Loftus Road and is in the FA's car park as we speak, waiting for someone to give him the England job. Let's hope he stays there too, I'd run a mile if he ever came back to Sunderland.

This one is a bit further away than Luke Cage with an official release date still to be confirmed, but the teaser offers a few hints of what's to come. The plot synopsis makes it sound very 'Batman Begins'.

Marvel's Iron Fist Release Date: March 17, 2017 Synopsis Fifteen years after being presumed dead in a plane crash, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) mysteriously returns to New York City determined to reclaim his birthright and family company. However, when a long-destined enemy rises in New York, this living weapon is forced to choose between his family’s legacy and his duties as the Iron Fist. Cast Finn Jones - Danny Rand / Iron Fist Jessica Henwick - Colleen Wing Jessica Stroup - Joy Meachum David Wenham - Harold Meachum Tom Pelphrey - Ward Meachum Rosario Dawson - Claire Temple Carrie-Anne Moss - Jeri Hogarth Lewis Tan - Zhou Cheng Wai Ching Ho - Gao

So, Netflix just kicked off this year's San Diego Comic-Con with announcements and teasers for a number of upcoming Marvel superhero shows, including this one.

Marvel's Luke Cage Release Date: September 30, 2016 Marvel's Luke Cage is an upcoming American web television series developed for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise and is the third in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. Mike Colter stars as Luke Cage, a former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin who now fights crime. Mahershala Ali, Alfre Woodard, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Frank Whaley, and Sônia Braga also star. Development of the series began in late 2013. In December 2014, Colter was cast as Cage, to appear first in a recurring role in Marvel's Jessica Jones, with Coker hired as the showrunner in March 2015. Filming began in New York City in September 2015 and concluded in March 2016. Synopsis After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive who attempts to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But soon he is pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city, forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury. Cast Mike Colter - Luke Cage Mahershala Ali - Cornell Stokes Frankie Faison - Pop Erik LaRay Harvey - Diamondback Darius Kaleb - Lonnie Simone Missick - Misty Knight Theo Rossi - Alvarez Frank Whaley - Detective Scarfe Kellen C Wingate - Detective Alfre Woodard - Mariah Dillard Jaiden Kaine - Zip Rosario Dawson - Claire Temple

Just a few weeks ago, Southampton lost Ronaldo Koeman to Everton at a cost of £5m. Sunderland lose Sam Allardyce to the supposed biggest job in football and the national media, bold as brass, portray us as the bad guys for wanting about half that amount in compensation, despite the two managers' identical contract situations.

Yeah, it's alright for some. The intriguing thing with Pelle is that he's the first player in a relatively strong negotiating position to leave the Premier League for China. He was fresh from another good season at Southampton (admittedly the club were dragging their feet on giving him a new contract) and, apart from his penalty against Germany, enjoyed an excellent Euro 2016. I'm sure if he'd wanted, he could have used that leverage to bag himself a more traditional big move. Overall though, footballers are no different from the rest of us. If they're offered a job with a massive hike in wages, they'll obviously find it hard to turn down. Saying that, the money in China seems a bit unstable. When Drogba and Anelka went to Shanghai, they promptly left after finding out that they weren't making as much as they thought.

Score one more for the 'golden generation' curse, although I suppose the only real surprise is how it took this long. A squad of Belgium's calibre should be competing strongly for major honours.

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The FA can FO. They appoint managers who either can't be bothered to come and watch our games or actively tell our players to leave to improve their chances of getting picked for the squad. Now, whether Allardyce gets the job or not, they've shown no scruples about publicly disrupting our pre-season and any business we might have done in the transfer market.

Still going back and forth on whether I think Brendan Rodgers or Joey Barton will be hounded out of Glasgow first. I'm sticking with my original prediction of Barton for now, he's been far too quiet as of late.

So according to UEFA, this is the official team of the tournament. My own must-have selections would have been Bonucci, Chiellini, Pepe, Kroos, Ozil, Griezmann and Ronaldo. The rest are difficult to choose as not everyone was consistently good in every game.

It won't make you happy though, Graziano. Well, it might. I suppose really, you'd probably have to say that Pelle has had a fairly average career so far, and his manager and mentor has left his club and isn't taking him with him. At 31, he'll likely see the stupid amounts of cash on offer as a fair trade-off for the absence of any further international involvement or any real competitive football.

I would agree. Although Portugal may have underwhelmed at times, none of their opponents could reasonably claim to have played them off the park at any point. Tournament football is as much about extra time and penalties as flashing three or four past Russia in the group stages. Plus, the 3-3 against Hungary was probably my favourite game of the competition. Football can be great when strategy is executed to perfection, but there's nothing quite like a crazy game to get the pulse racing.

Surely the best quote of the tournament from Russian coach Leonid Slutsky.

They weren't consistently eye-catching so I suppose it's debatable whether they deserved to win the tournament, but Portugal certainly deserved to win the final. Weirdly, the injury to Ronaldo seemed to interrupt France's flow. Rather than press home the advantage while Portugal were presumably panicking, they took their foot off the gas and didn't put it back again until Eder's goal went in. Overall, a static and lifeless display, compounded too by some really odd stuff from Deschamps.

Slightly leaning towards France for tonight, I would say they've been the most potent attacking force at the tournament so far and have had the tougher route to the final. Portugal on the other hand have become one of the most resolute defensive units, and if they can contain France and be resilient against Griezmann and friends, then they'll deserve to win the game. If France can successfully break them down, then they'll deserve it.

That's another good thing. The ego Ronaldo has on the park doesn’t extend to every area of his life. Obviously, he's got plenty of money to give, but has regularly donated generous sums of money to charities around the world.

Griezmann must be the heavy favourite now, although it could be argued that he didn't really hit form until the second half of the Ireland game, when Deschamps belatedly decided to use him as part of a front two alongside Giroud. For what it's worth, I'd be tempted to go for Mesut Ozil. If he doesn't at least make it into the team of the tournament, it'll be scandalous.

Ibra is entertainment in its purest form. Everyone should do themselves a favour and pick up a copy of his autobiography, basically 300 pages documenting his innate greatness and listing all the people he wants to kick into the middle of next week. That's what adds to his charm, though. It gets ever so tedious when players just spew out the same tired old cliches. We could do with a few more who disrupt the status quo, ignore the PR teams and show a bit more personality.

Angourie Rice (who appeared in 'The Nice Guys' as Ryan Gosling's daughter) has just been officially added to an already stacked cast. Based purely on her appearance and age, a lot of folks are speculating that she could be playing Gwen Stacy. Time will tell on that though, of course.

The movie didn't exactly hit the spot for me either, but I would take issue with the rest. If a story is inhabited by racist and misogynistic characters, which this one certainly was, that doesn't automatically mean that it glorifies those things. And as jarring as the repeated use of certain language in his dialogue can be, I've never gotten the impression that Tarantino was himself a racist. At a time when many prominent black actors are understandably pointing to a lack of diversity in mainstream cinema, here's a mainstream filmmaker who consistently promotes diversity in his films and regularly writes strong black characters in leading roles.

This is supposed to be the move, although Griezmann seems to do it with a little less gusto.

Also very true. It’s not even so much that he thinks he's great, rather the thought that he might not be just never seems to occur to him. Still, in an era where so many players are so dull and characterless, here's a guy who always brings entertainment. Be it through the raw dynamism and exhilaration of his game or his other, shall we say, eccentricities.