The Left Back

Fuck me how much bollocks can you squeeze into one post. It's not a competition, no-one is denying male players inspire boys. You have nothing to fear, we all agree with that, Comparing Nathan Redmond with Beth Mead is just utter nonsense. I can't even bother to explain the stupidity of that one. Women's football (and cricket and Rugby) have arrived in the mainstream. To say it's been normalised for years is simply deluded. It's really not a sub-standard sport. I get you don't like it and of course the quality is nothing like the men's. But why the comparison? The quality of women's football has never been higher. The fact that it now inspires a generation of girls (not including your daughter I guess) should be applauded. Can't you see that? I thought you were a WUM but I'm tending toward dinosaur now. Thankfully these views will be extinct within one or two more generations.

Can't decide if you are a WUM or a dinosaur. Can we have a poll?

Finally had the chance for a couple of cans of Guinness 0 last night. Very pleasantly surprised. Slightly more like the original than the draught/widget.

You're wasting your breath. There are none so blind as those that will not see.

Just got back. Very rusty and very nervy. Obviously not a great performance but I’m going to stay curious for now. Great to see Adams score twice but the late misses were the stuff of nightmares. Thought Che, Moi, Perraud, Lyanco, Stu, Edozie all played relatively well. M-Niles had a mare, nothing seemed to go for him but he stuck at it. a win is a win and we’ll be better for the run out. Two games from Wembley sounds good too.

18

Such a great stage presence and his songs were poetry. I didn't know the kidnap story, just shows you can't tell a book by it's cover; I thought he was just angry about Thatcher. Glad I got to see him one more time at Roundhouse in Camden a few years ago; still relevant after 40 years.

1. Comments like this make you look bitter and full of passive-aggressive bile. 2. Clarkson isn't going to say those things about the people you mentioned is he? I don't like Patel, Farage or Johnson but if I said "At night, I'm unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when Boris is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at him", I'd be quite rightly destroyed on here and elsewhere. 3. If the above quote is a true statement of his night time mindset then I'd be seriously worried about his own issues. To carry that much poison around about someone else, regardless of who, is going to be playing havoc with his heart health, immune system and neural network. 4. If it's not how he feels but he sees his role as to shock and provoke massive response then he's been pretty successful. If that's the case it speaks volumes about him and his employers, and very little about the ex-duchess of Sussex.

Out of curiosity what made you watch on ITV? I like McCoist and Keane is ok but that’s about it. Pougatch, Matterface, adverts all made BBC an easy choice. I like Jenas, Zabaletta, Rio and the commentators are all pretty good.

Penalty shootouts when your own team is not involved

You must have missed the news. Sunak said it yesterday.

There’s no table to come to.

No sorry, read it a couple of times but not sure of the point you are making in relation to mine. if I had to guess I'd say that you believe people who evade tax are doing it because they don't believe the government would spend it wisely - I don't believe that to be true and am surprised you do. I think you go on to say that your sure that if people who evade taxes support the nurses they'd be happy to contribute their ill-gotten gains to pay for the rise - I don't believe that either.

I'll have a run at this one. Like aintforever I'd be happy to pay more tax personally as part of a shift in political ideology and a national effort to resolve some of the problems we face. Taxes aren't popular but there can be fairness writ through national tax policy. The reason I'm not drawn to voluntary additional tax payments is because it's just propping up the existing ideology. As an individual my discretionary spend goes much further if I hand it directly to those in need rather than donate it to a corrupt government hell bent on protecting the wealth of the few and increasing the gap between the haves and have nots.

I am. Don’t think they’ll need that to settle but may as well hold out for that until the government come to the table. Fuck me. That’s like £100 billion. You should be embarrassed to be even repeating such a ridiculous piece of Tory propaganda

Yes and perhaps no. I'm often accused of being woke, but don't actually mind it. The definition seems pretty close and I've been called much worse. I'm imagining no-one likes being called racist unless they call themselves it?

TBF mine was £12 (and I think it is £15 now, £20 on the day) so don't think they can go much further south of that. More likely the problem is it's 4 days before Christmas, we've often had lower attendances at the last home game before Xmas.

I've been meaning to try a Guinness 0 but can't get my head round the concept.

Funnily enough I was talking to my 22 year old son about this last night. More and more of his friends have either given up totally or cut back radically. Not sure why exactly. They've had a couple of mates suffer a bit with the consequences of binge drinking so perhaps it's a reaction to that. As for me, I've always been happy with my drinking. Brought up in a pub with a big drinking culture among mates, that is still there 40 years later, I've had long spells recently of going without. My Dad, nan and step Dad were all alcoholics, and so I've always been vigilant about my own habit. Agree with you that I definitely feel better physically and mentally during spells of abstinence. I don't think I'll ever give up fully, but the curve is definitely heading that way.

Pretty much agree with all this and was not happy with the way he game managed the Croatia and Italy matches. I feel a bit kinder about the France situation. We were really on top at 1-1 and they scored against the run of play, so don't blame him for not making changes earlier. I agree though that the changes seemed odd given the situation. Bottom line for Saturday was a 50/50 game between two very good sides. One took their chances the other didn't.

I'm relying on the price of Deutsche Banks 5 year credit default swaps and the fact no one knew about Lehmans because bankers all whistle in the dark. A lot of the EU problems were swept hidden from us voters until the referendum was over. It'll all come out over the next few months. Italy, Spain and Portugal are in the ****, with Greece a basket case. I assume you know something that I don't that leads you to a different view? I doubt it... Accidentally clicked on the first page of this thread. Care to give as an updated forecast @Guided Missile?

It's nice to find something that unites the forum - a dislike of Portugal. Can't stand them. As for us v France, very nervous now - not sure how players manage to stay calm and perform. And as for the Sun stunt - why why why ? I'm blaming them if we lose

Virgil V-D

He’s jinxed them. 135 minutes on from declaring ‘they’re on another level’ to everyone else, it turns out he’s right, that level being League One

Anyone else going to the cup game v spurs? The club offered me a free ticket so was enticed to make my debut supporting them at St. Marys on 18th. Looking forward to it.