Football
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What a pity Rubin Kazan can’t see the hand gestures I’m making at them right now. 
Sunderland seem to do transfer windows like we do Premier League seasons. Sack them off until it looks beyond us and then, when everyone has just about given up hope, we finally decide to show some urgency. There's no doubting that the squad has been left paper thin in some key areas, but I've no immediate plans to join the angry mob. In fact, I actually think we'll have the makings of a really strong side when everyone is fully fit, particularly with Kone (you can bog off as well, Everton) somehow still on board. The next four months will of course decide whether or not it's all been worthwhile, I'm just praying that we can scrape a few wins in the meantime, and that we've invested in enough cotton wool to keep Jermain Defoe wrapped up in until January.
Managed about three hours of the Gormless Blokes Standing in Barely Lit Car Parks Telling Us Things We Already Know fandango before self-respect made a late bid for my services.
On 9/1/2016 at 6:53 PM, Frederick said:Managed about three hours of the Gormless Blokes Standing in Barely Lit Car Parks Telling Us Things We Already Know fandango before self-respect made a late bid for my services.
Honestly, the whole thing was tedious enough when Harry used to lean out of his Range Rover declaring that no deals would be done before making the inevitable signings of Niko Kranjcar and Peter Crouch, but some of the stuff on Wednesday really made me cringe. I've come to suspect that even Jim White realises what a load of old nonsense it is. These days, although he's aware that whipping himself into a frenzy over Halifax loaning somebody out to Forest Green is the only niche still available to him at Sky, you can almost see his eyes saying 'help me'.
15 hours ago, Syria said:
Quite an intriguing set-up in Group B there, any one of Benfica, Napoli, Besiktas or Dynamo could conceivably end up topping it. Spurs, Arsenal and Leicester got off pretty lightly, but are all capable of screwing up at any given time.
I see Chelsea managed to avoid all the big teams as well. 
7 hours ago, Michael* said:I see Chelsea managed to avoid all the big teams as well.
I think groups B and E are the most open ones. I'm really excited to see Leicester, Dortmund, Gladbach, Tottenham and Napoli. It's hard to predict how Leicester will look but IMO Porto should win that group.
16 hours ago, Syria said:
I think groups B and E are the most open ones. I'm really excited to see Leicester, Dortmund, Gladbach, Tottenham and Napoli. It's hard to predict how Leicester will look but IMO Porto should win that group.
Hard not to feel for Gladbach though. Last year they were placed in a group with Juventus, Sevilla and Man City. This year it's City again and Barca. Guardiola's record against them for Bayern was strangely poor, but still, what a tough break.
WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM
20 hours ago, Frederick said:WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM
A slot on the next series of 'I'm A Celebrity' surely now beckons for Big Sam. 
I suppose it's no real surprise to find him conforming to the dodgepot standards of the game, but I thought he would have had enough sense to realise that keeping one's nose clean and one's gob shut is a prerequisite for the England job. Presumably, the FA now do what they should have done after the Euros and go for a manager with actual experience of tournament football, because I doubt even Gareth Southgate wants Gareth Southgate.
Thorgan Hazard, Carrasco and Mertens all shine in the CL.
Of course one of them will still have to give way to Eden Hazard in our upcoming qualifiers. 
On 9/27/2016 at 8:02 PM, Frederick said:WHAM BAM GOODBYE SAM
Saw BIG SAM'S BIG SHAM / BIG SHAM earlier. Brilliant. The English fuck it up again.
I didn't get to Glasgow for the Man City game (I'm still bitter with Pep) but what a fucking game, no?
Clinging to the hope that Celtic will advance so hard my nails are splitting.
On 9/29/2016 at 0:16 PM, HitchcockBlonde said:Saw BIG SAM'S BIG SHAM / BIG SHAM earlier. Brilliant. The English fuck it up again.
Bring back Sven, I say. He's already been implicated in every kind of scandal and embarassing controversy I can think of, so there’s nothing that any tabloid could reveal about him that would make people bat an eyelid. It'd all be old news.
On 9/29/2016 at 0:16 PM, HitchcockBlonde said:I didn't get to Glasgow for the Man City game (I'm still bitter with Pep) but what a fucking game, no?
Storming game. End-to-end, no bookings, raw passion on the pitch and in the stands. All in all, a pretty good advert for why the Champions League would be better off staying as is. The proposed new format for 2018 will push the so-called 'outsiders' further away and make qualification that much more difficult.
Off the bottom for a day, what a time to be alive!
New owner, almost entirely new players, new manager, new division....same old distinct Villa putridness.
Goodbye Roberto. Thanks for the uh, the, hey, your cab's here.
4 hours ago, Frederick said:Goodbye Roberto. Thanks for the uh, the, hey, your cab's here.
On 19/05/2016 at 11:32 PM, Frederick said:Pearson is clearly potty and I'd legitimately forgotten 'RDM' existed but when you've been humiliated, disgraced, debauched and THEN managed by Eric Black, your standards loosen up a bit. Not enough for Steve Bruce, in this lifetime or the next, mind.
Walked into that one, didn't I? Fair to say the era (approximately a week in the summer) of flexing We'll Be Back Having Won the Champ by 234 Points delusions are all washed out thanks to the Bobby Di Matt gruel shower. In reality, Bruce is a flavourless choice for a flavourless time, used to managing (predominantly) flavourless clubs. That's the state of things, it is what it is, wish him well.
On 10/13/2016 at 9:07 AM, Frederick said:Walked into that one, didn't I? Fair to say the era (approximately a week in the summer) of flexing We'll Be Back Having Won the Champ by 234 Points delusions are all washed out thanks to the Bobby Di Matt gruel shower. In reality, Bruce is a flavourless choice for a flavourless time, used to managing (predominantly) flavourless clubs. That's the state of things, it is what it is, wish him well.
Even now, I haven't fully worked out what my feelings are on old Brucey's time as Sunderland manager. For every genuinely outstanding spell we enjoyed under his charge (the likes of which, outside of April and May, we've never seen since), there was an alarming tailspin in which we looked utterly abject, unmotivated and tactically clueless for weeks on end. Still, with the right amount of money to spend, I could see him doing a good job in the Championship. He'll never be an innovator or a serial winner, but when what a club wants is to get promoted, he seems to end up delivering more often than not.
It's a strange one, because chopping and changing is never a good thing and we're all getting tired of the knee-jerk sackings, but at the same time, I've not seen much to suggest that Di Matteo was capable of turning Villa's fortunes around. I suppose normally, an owner would be looking to have a new manager in place by the end of the international break, but no-one will want to hire someone who could end up on the Telegraph's hitlist in a few weeks.