Gareth Bale to finally fulfill his dream of pulling on the jersey of his beloved Jiangsu Suning. Looking forward to hearing about his efforts to learn Mandarin, anyway.

It was assumed the Premier League would be a two-way race.

 

With the four who theoretically should have been the ones to challenge that assumption being awful, it's certain to be a two-way race now.

On 7/10/2019 at 3:28 PM, Frederick said:

The great thing about Ashley being such a world class roaster is that Bruce would/will get a fair bit of time, which means one can really feast on all the bitter press conferences and post-match delusional jibber jabber. 

Fair to say this is living up to its billing so far. Right on cue I see ex-Villa court jester Micah Richards is - while on the license fee shilling - making a half hearted defence (Micah Richards? Half hearted defence? Say it ain't so!) of his not-really-ex-boss. How tediously predictable the world can be sometimes.

 

Michael, what were your thoughts on the War of the Dullards between Shearer and Owen? 

On 9/30/2019 at 1:05 PM, Frederick said:

Michael, what were your thoughts on the War of the Dullards between Shearer and Owen? 

 

I'd considered it the most random online spat of the year until recently, when I remembered about Paul Gascoigne vs Snoop Dogg over the summer.

 

Tough to pick a winner of course, suffice to say I hope this is just the beginning of the pundit wars. Now for Hoddle and Merson to take each other out in some kind of simultaneous kamikaze effort.

13 hours ago, Michael* said:

 

I'd considered it the most random online spat of the year until recently, when I remembered about Paul Gascoigne vs Snoop Dogg over the summer.

 

Tough to pick a winner of course, suffice to say I hope this is just the beginning of the pundit wars. Now for Hoddle and Merson to take each other out in some kind of simultaneous kamikaze effort.

Given Owen has no natural football fan constituency AND is hampered by a chronic condition of Being Boring, I somewhat understand his craven attempts at flogging a book by leaning into his much mocked lack of basic humanity (five films, was it?) and trying for a bit of petty score settling. That he remains such a resoundingly uninteresting person in spite of all this is possibly his only non-horse racing related achievement for nearly twenty years. Shearer, who presumably shaves his head with an axe, would eat him with a tea spoon.

See you somewhere down the road, Jack Ross. The continuing defensive fragilities and apparent inability to create more than one or two chances per game made it very evident that lessons hadn't been learned from last season, with the Lincoln debacle certainly feeling like something of a tipping point.

 

Rather than a legacy of failure though, I'd like to think Ross's will be one of an undoubtedly decent guy who weathered a storm of instability and, to some extent, restored order.

30 minutes ago, Michael* said:

See you somewhere down the road, Jack Ross. The continuing defensive fragilities and apparent inability to create more than one or two chances per game made it very evident that lessons hadn't been learned from last season, with the Lincoln debacle certainly feeling like something of a tipping point.

 

Rather than a legacy of failure though, I'd like to think Ross's will be one of an undoubtedly decent guy who weathered a storm of instability and, to some extent, restored order.

Seemed from the outside JR just couldn't quite build enough momentum to pull the club from the play-off borderline into the leading pack. A few eye catching tonkings obviously doesn't help but my impression is there were just too many dour looking 1-1 draws that would follow a sequence of good results.

On 10/9/2019 at 1:35 PM, Frederick said:

Seemed from the outside JR just couldn't quite build enough momentum to pull the club from the play-off borderline into the leading pack. A few eye catching tonkings obviously doesn't help but my impression is there were just too many dour looking 1-1 draws that would follow a sequence of good results.

 

That and we seemed incapable of making fast starts, often having to fight back from deficits to secure said draws. I suppose the hope will be that Parkinson can stop that, this division is a hard slog and he's nothing if not an experienced slogger. It's going to be tough to define exactly how monumental the challenge will be though amid a buzz of panic, ambition and ongoing changes in the boardroom, but having been given the brief of delivering automatic promotion, the two wins out of five he's managed so far don't exactly scream next level stuff.

Mourinho the irresistible force meets Levy the immovable object, presumably ending with the irresistible force being sacked by the Spring.

Unasked for thought of the day:

 

I want to see Nottingham Forest promoted, not sure why.

19 hours ago, jkjk said:

Unasked for thought of the day:

 

I want to see Nottingham Forest promoted, not sure why.

 

The Championship is looking extra tight this season. No runaway leaders yet, no team looks outstanding.

 

Lewis Grabban is in fine form at the moment, though. If Forest can keep him fit they should be in with a decent chance of promotion. Oh for a striker of his quality now.

5 hours ago, Michael* said:

The Championship is looking extra tight this season. No runaway leaders yet, no team looks outstanding.

 

True, and it's a long season where outstanding teams can come and go multiple times.

 

For some reason, when it's possible, I look for promotion to the Premier League for teams that haven't been at that level for a number of years. Maybe it's nostalgia which makes me hope for a return to the top for Nottingham Forest and others, like Leeds United (although to a lesser extent).

On 7/10/2019 at 3:28 PM, Frederick said:

The great thing about Ashley being such a world class roaster is that Bruce would/will get a fair bit of time, which means one can really feast on all the bitter press conferences and post-match delusional jibber jabber. 

You're talking about a possible manager of the year candidate, you clown!

On 12/17/2019 at 11:25 AM, Frederick said:

You're talking about a possible manager of the year candidate, you clown!

 

Newcastle's recent exploits in the cup reminding those fans who would otherwise be having winter break withdrawal symptoms to be careful what they wish for.

 

Couldn't help noting the twice-yearly takeover rumours surfacing again, though. The potential buyers this time almost make you yearn for the days when the most morally questionable owners were people like David Sullivan.

Exciting times for Dortmund and particularly the lad Haaland at the moment. Needless to say as a Sunderland fan I wish Giovanni Reyna's dad had been overwhelmed by loyalty to his old club and sent his son over, then again we could probably bring in Messi and Parky would still persist with Charlie Wyke as a lone striker.

Unfortunately euro2020 has been moved to 2021

Looking for something to watch? The Belarusian Premier League has started its season.   

Slowly sinking my teeth into Sunderland 'Til I Die 2.0, @Michael*. Charlie Methven is shaping up to be quite the character, sort of like David Brent, Richard Madeley and any Conservative Party cabinet minister rolled into one.

Brescia said they will not participate if Serie A resumes the season.

 

Belgium has decided to end their league's season as it stands.

 

UEFA said any league which doesn't attempt to finish its season will not be allowed to participate in European competition.

On 4/2/2020 at 1:47 PM, Frederick said:

Slowly sinking my teeth into Sunderland 'Til I Die 2.0, @Michael*. Charlie Methven is shaping up to be quite the character, sort of like David Brent, Richard Madeley and any Conservative Party cabinet minister rolled into one.

 

I reached the halfway point last night, planning on finishing up over the next couple of days. The emphasis seems to have shifted somewhat from the city and the fans to a "fly on the wall" style documentary primarily centred in the boardroom, with the series' trump card of course being our pursuit of Will Grigg last January. Not that the Donald and Methven show isn't grotesquely entertaining, it obviously is, I just can't help thinking that it's a little at odds with what we keep hearing about the club being "given back" to the fans. Perhaps needless to say though, it's still compulsive viewing.