spyinthesky

Me too. Not many lads wear suits or even jackets and trousers these days. When they do, the clothing is often ill fitting and undermined even further by the poor quality, mainly plasticky, shoes which are more or less impossible to repair. As a lad, I was introduced to the 'Mod' look and saved up all my paper round money to buy my first hand made three piece suit for 14 guineas. From Christmas or Birthday money, I would buy a pair of decent shoes from French's in Bedford Place or go up to Shaftesbury Avenue in London to visit the first Ravel Shoe Shop in the country for a pair of Italian made shoes. I also bought a leather coat in Camden Market. Gran Moda in Hanover Buildings, or its sister shop in Bournemouth, were the best places to buy modern, well made (but pricey) clobber down this neck of the woods. As advancing age kicks in it is important not to slavishly follow fashion trends. No one over 40 should wear jeans, in my opinion, and those sporting tattoes are definitely going to be pigeon holed by their displays, especially when skin becomes wrinkly. Much similar to those of the male persuasion who are fortunate not to be hirsutely challenged and still cling onto their mullets.

I was fortunate to buy a few pairs of Church shoes in sales for around £50 quite a few years back.. To buy them now would cost 4 or 5 times more. I also like to buy proper leather belts and also have about 8 hand made suits, which I very rarely wear nowadays, which is a shame as they are very decent quality although the trousers need a little relaxation around the waist. In winter I have a Pierre Cardin overcoat and I very much favour cashmere jumpers. All of these have survived the test of time and all my favoured clobber would cost an arm and a leg to replace nowadays so I try to look after them. As a whole though, we are a nation of scruffs!!

To balance things a bit about three/four years back my next door neighbour, who I sat alongside me at SMS, was a few months to live. His daughter contacted the club and both of us were offered a meal in the Mick Channon suite and seats near the Directors Box. It was a nice treat for him and was, in fact, the last game he was able to watch. Sad to say we lost to a last minute goal.

I get regular emails from TKMaxx which include supposedly top range gear from well known brands. Included amongst these are things like Tee Shirts with designer names on them 'reduced' from £600 to £200 and other clobber, which may look good in a Gay Club in London, with price tags over £1,000 'reduced' to £400. I suppose this sort of gear attracts the punters who go into Flannels store in West Quay or frequent the likes of Selfridges boutique in Oxford Street.

Didnt City wallop Burnley last year in the Semi's when Burnley had a very good defensive record in the Championship?

Ironically it wasnt too long ago that Irish commentators were lauding Baz as their 'keeper for the future before his injury.

I tend to disagree. The Rotherham 'keeper had a world class performance and the player who scored their goal would never score another like it in his career.

Baz will do the business for us at Stoke bearing in mind he will see his pay double if we go up and he comes back as first choice 'keeper!!

But it 'only' cost £32m ie the equivalent of four Damien Downs or two Guido Carillo's!!

Johnny, How strange, that was a question I was pondering about on another thread. Will be interested to have feedback on Sesay from anyone ITK

To be fair Dom didnt set the world alight at Blackpool but that may have been that he hadnt recovered fully from a bad injury.

We have been quite fortunate in recent weeks that our opponents have been struggling with injuries. I guess that were we are fortunate in so far as we do possess a squad with cover for more or less every position, apart from GK.

Josh Smith. No, not me neither!!

I hope Trump's days as President are numbered but there is the distinct likelihood that 'Trumpism' will continue to infect the extreme political right of American politics. Perhaps this will be diluted, to some extent, if the mid terms turn out to be particularly bad news for the Republicans.

T Morton was indeed Melchester's original Goalkeeper. The character may have been modeled on William (Fatty)Foulke who played for Sheffield Utd, Chelsea and Bradford City between 1894 and 1908. Apparently he was around 24 stone at the end of his career. He died from cirrhosis of the liver at 42 years of age.