benjii

At the end of the day, if we hadn't got relegated and he hadn't got a long term injury he could be looking at his second big season in PL and we'd be selling him next summer for 50mill or something. But we did and he did so we aren't. Doesn't mean the initial deal was bad.

It's a one hour flight to Riyadh. Not really a practical option unless you play for a team in Khobar/Damman, which is not where the major teams are. It would also go down badly with the PR associated with attracting high-profile players, if they lived in a different country. Furthermore, that wouldnt work well from a visa perspective. Riyadh is landlocked and I was talking about Riyadh, which is where some of the main teams are. Neom would claim to be anything but an "urban area" - its the size of Belgium. But it's at least 10 years until any sizable population lives there (if ever). No doubt the country is modernising and in ten or fifteen years parts of it might be the new Dubai/Hong Kong/Singapore etc but, as you say, its not there yet and I agree with the cabin fever point.

Just got back from Riyadh. Didn't see a single Newcastle shirt, for what it's worth! It's OK but really the only reason to live there is the money. There isn't much to do and it's landlocked and surrounded by desert so you can't even buy somewhere sweet with sea view or beach access or anything like that (as opposed to UAE, Bahrain, Qatar). This is one of the reasons why the Saudis are spending a huge amount of money developing tourism in the west of the country, along the Red Sea coast. You can obviously live in a plush hotel suite or in a bug house in a western compound, where you would have golf, a gym and a swimming pool. But other than that and the cinema, that's pretty much your leisure options, right there. There are plenty of nice restaurants but obviously you won't be pairing your fillet with a nice red wine. This is precisely why people go there for mega money for a year or two. Zero income tax, inflated wages and a boring but comfortable life. It's also very safe as long as you behave. Saudis are, generally, very friendly and hospitable people when you meet them. It wouldn't be particularly unusual for a Saudi to invite someone that they've met once or twice for business to their house for dinner, for example. So, it's not a hardship to live there, but if you're already extremely wealthy and not a Muslim then you'd almost certainly enjoy living in Europe more! I can understand middling Premier League players going there for a year or two. I can't for the life of me understand why Ronaldo bothered though.

Donuts.

Watch out, Hypo has been on the Peterson again.

El Nino did flow.

JWP a way better performer than Pulisic though? He's been generally shite.

Perraud, Manning, Tino, KWP, Bree.... No doubt we've got the best full backs in the league (at least for now....).

Magnificent. No idea what you're talking about.

I find his Welsh accent very soothing. I think there would definitely be such a thing as "too Welsh" for a newsreader but I've always found his voice to be very pleasant. I have nothing further to add.

But he was here for the summer transfer window where we fucked up the two crucial GK and striker positions, right?

You want to draw a line on ladyboys' dixons?

Seems like a massive upgrade on Semmens, at least on paper. A guy with experience running a large geo for a high profile business, as opposed to someone who used to work for a marketing agency.

He now occupies a larger bedroom at his mum's house.

I guess Matt didn't do his research. A lesson he has clearly learned and taken to heart.

I guess Putin has offered him billions of dollars and a "guarantee" of safety. Worth remembering that none of these people are principled actors for functioning institutions. Wagner is a bunch of mercenaries, Prigozin has always been a violent thief and Putin runs a mafia, not a country. Desperate Vlad has just tried to buy his way out. Of course, the big question is what do Wagner do next, particularly if Prigozin has thrown them under the bus for a sackful of cash. Likewise, the Russian army - apparently Wagner shot down various aircraft, killing Russian soldiers and Putin's response to that is to flee to St Petersburg and pay off Prigozin. Hardly inspiring and deserving of loyalty.

It's over a thousand km from Rostov to Moscow. No way Wagner can just drive a big enough force to stage a coup along the highway and into town, without getting pummelled, unless the regular Russian army effectively downs tools. And unless they get into Moscow they don't really threaten the power base, although this is obviously embarrassing. In any case, this is all quite mental. I saw someone liken this to the Kornilov Putsch of 1917. The Wikipedia entry for this, contains the brilliant line, "The exact details and motivations of the Kornilov affair are unconfirmed due to the general confusion of all parties involved." Sounds familiar.

Worth 15 minutes of your time to remind yourself what serious politicians sound like.

Quietly confident that the first match will be on the Friday night, for Sky.

Stop mincing around with the sideways rubbish at the back. Get it forwards FFS. In the mixer. Bunch of pansies.

The store mannequins are fucking massive though. They are not regular human size.

I think Gazza counts?

Tella and Sulemana, with Edozie as back up, either side of a decent forward and we'll smash it. So I look forward to us playing 352 whilst they sit on the bench.

Hopefully this is the last the country hears of this venal twat.

Sprinkles some into his malibu