rallyboy

Respect to all of the victims, that was a tough watch. I knew one or two of those guys and it's sad to see that those kids who just loved football and wanted to become professionals had their whole lives broken by a monster. They are blameless and he's where he should have been put decades ago. As for that jury that didn't convict, what the fuck were they thinking when that avalanche of evidence was put before them? They looked at Higgins and decided all his victims were liars - beyond belief. All the best to the guys who were brave enough to speak out, I hope they have found some solace in the fact that they halted his abuse and stopped other kids suffering.

I can still see him now, ambling about with his socks around his ankles, flicking passes left and right for others to chase and then whacking in a shot from some crazy angle or distance. By the time he came to us he looked like he was about 60 so no one asked him to track back, but boy did he create chances for others. He was there for the 8-2 against Coventry - a proper entertainer from another era.

The catering would be top notch if it were open and the radio station will be great once we find a CD player.

Man Utd really missed their box-to-box guy today who creates most chances for them - the twat with a fucking whistle and no grasp of card use. Sad to see them get knocked out, but I'd got over it by the end of injury time. 👍

While some of their defending was very 'mid-table Championship', Redmond was much better today, hopefully a confidence boost that will lead to a few more performances like that. Two great finishes.

I'm no doom monger but I keep hearing pundits saying we are okay - can they not see the really obvious path opening up to a very nervous season finale? We just need a fucking win or we're going to be right in the shit, very soon. If I was Fulham right now I would be thinking that one of the teams above will fail and we will catch them. Let's just hope it's Newcastle.

That was fucking dreadful. Summed up by Bertrand just passing the ball backwards a hundred fucking times. Flat, negative, toothless.

In all fairness they are now losing to teams that I've heard of, which is clearly a positive thing.

We now have a week of padded interviews with people who have no clue what is going on and are making up stuff to sound informed. The qualifications to be a royal correspondent are the ability to curtsy and access to Google. The rest is smoke and mirrors. It's like people banging on about players wages and why they won't sign this or that or what went on in the boardroom - it's all made up. No one knows the truth - and in this case, no one actually cares.

Whatever your position on it, why should any sport or occupation attempt to sidestep what has been democratically decided? The UK asked for and agreed these restrictions. While the 48% just have to accept it, the 52% need to accept their part in imposing it.

We've been on a horrendous run and they still manage to outdo us. 😕 They're now losing to teams that I didn't even realise were still in the football league, while Jackett seems to have packed his holiday bag, and the word is that the players haven't reacted well to the suggestion of a massive paycut. Off the field I think they're still waiting on the billion pound compulsory purchase of the waterfront, rail and bus stations plus section of dockyard and HMS Warrior, so the Harbourdome might be delayed even further. I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever see a World Cup final in that ground. At least the Eisners' more realistic plan of competing alongside the biggest clubs in Europe by 2030 is still on track.

People who have voted for a decade to keep nurses' pay low, banged saucepans instead - the greedy bastards can't have a living wage and a percussion show, which is it to be? But I'm staggered that Boris has shafted them on the quiet once the crisis is over, it's come as a massive surprise, unprecedented - big shiny words to impress the simple folk, followed by no action? Translate that into Latin and you have the Johnson family motto.

I'm off my face on Pfizer! Two days in, no effects.

Graham Scott made glaring errors as VAR official in the 9-0. He and Mike Dean were made to look stupid as Saints won appeals against them. Today he has given two quite unusual decisions that favour our opponents in both cases. Just facts. And yes we were shit, but if Man City were playing against 13/14 people every week they wouldn't win a fucking thing, so it is relevant. I've seen some awful refereeing before but not this consistently bad and one-sided, it's now the standard in every game we play and is clearly knocking the stuffing out of morale in the team.

Don't worry, people keep telling me that these things even themselves out. So we'll be getting the next eight dodgy decisions.

How much did you lose this time Mack? At least you have the south coast derby to look forward to - sadly it's not the big one between the two Premier League clubs but it's a derby of sorts. 😊

While death threats over a football match are the work of nutters, if the Villa and United games prove to be a catalyst for the end of his career, and I hope they do, I would feel some good has come from the suffering. I've always been curious about the patterns of yellow cards that Mike Dean gives out....he let's one team get away with stuff, but throws yellows at the other team like a gambler's dream. No consistency, making it very difficult to predict...I suspect you'd get long odds on things like six bookings for one side and none for the other. Strange things happen around this man. Let's get him out of the game and try to rebuild trust in officials.

I also see Austin Hayes, Terry Curran, Malcolm Waldron, Forbes Phillipson-Masters, Peter Wells, George Shipley, Nick Holmes, Phil Boyer, Ivan Golac, Trevor Hebbard, Charlie George, Terry Gennoe, Dave Puckett, Tony Sealey? A couple I don't recognise....

If it's really about inclusion everyone should get the job, like non-competitive sport where there are no losers....a great preparation for life. 😨

Apologies if someone has said this already but I'm not up for 24 depressing pages.... Prowsie's free-kick yesterday was fucking incredible and has sadly been lost in the tide of shit that the week brought. Absolute world class.

I've been there when we've conceded 7 at Luton and Spurs, 6 at Everton, and 5 at Man United. Then again I've seen us score 8 on two occasions. All of those beat any Claude Puel 0-0 masterclass.

It's Leicester City who are the real victims. They had 11 v 10, United had at least 15 v 9, and their result has now been exposed as a fucking scam orchestrated by Mike Dean. Apologies are due to Leicester who will now not get the credit or those occasional mentions that we were all enjoying so much. And it can't be said too much - fuck Mike Dean, everyone now agrees that you're a cunt, even your fucking boss.

Anyone who has played the game at any level knows that the Villa one was a blatant handball and that Martial dived before contact. Some refs have read the laws alright, but clearly do not understand how the game is physically played. Footballers know when studs are left in deliberately, or if an elbow is accidental, referees need to have played the game or at least get a better feel for it. As for offsides, they are beyond help - neither Ings nor Adams were offside, it was as clear as day in front of their eyes and they still got them wrong.

Yes it was awful and the start was suicidal, but... Every time commentators reference last night, which they will, their co-commentator should be contractually obliged to add, 'Ah yes, The Mike Dean Show.' Because that's what it was for eighty minutes. When their guy came flying out and shoulder-barged Djenepo in a heap and didn't get booked we all knew what was coming - soft yellows chucked around like confetti, tried to give a penalty that wasn't, onside goal ruled out, hilarious dive rewarded, ludicrous red card - it was just the next date on The Mike Dean one-man show clusterfuck tour. Putting aside our issues, the football has become secondary, no ref should be trending on Twitter, and Paddy Power shouldn't have to give refunds. As for VAR, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just technology, and it works....if used correctly. It was brought in to help people who can't operate a whistle, so why have we put the same twats in control of it? Imagine a situation where every day at work before you go home, a colleague will analyse your performance, knowing you will be doing theirs tomorrow? It's a mental idea that has led to all refs just meekly agreeing with each other to protect themselves. And at the top of that ugly sycophantic heap we have Mike Dean, undisputed King of the Twats.

I was fortunate enough to see the Man City game and I spent quite a bit of it shouting at Mike Dean that he was having a fucking shocker. It was time well spent.