SydneyCity

You’re right! A Pork Bar-B-Que Sandwhich does look like a little cheeseburger from further away.

I‘m increasingly watching the pennies and am currently only assessing City as another form of entertainment. I love that the results have improved recently, but unfortunately the level of entertainment isn’t worth paying for. I’ll take full advantage of my RobinsTV subscription for the remainder of the season, then rely on the YouTube “highlights” next year.

No excuses for this kit as the club and O’Neils will have had a full production cycle. I’m going to guess a relatively safe home kit, but a controversial “Bears blue” away kit.

Playing now: Semenyo More obvious past: Jacki and Andy Cole Less obvious past: Wilbs I get the sense that we need a Wilbs type character in the dressing room.

If any league is going to remove VAR, my money's on the SPL. It's been an absolute disaster up there and is universally hated by clubs, players and fans. Celtic / Rangers would be mid-low Prem in their current state, and would have the financial power to improve and compete. To suggest recent Europa League finalists would be mid-low Champ is pretty disingenuous.

Or “One more Twine” by Daft Punk.

To Celebration by Kool and the Gang… Celebrate Scott Twine C’mon Its a celebration

My brother told me of something he read the other day… The Championship is made up of 24 teams. 11 are fighting for promotion. 11 are fighting relegation. And there’s also Bristol City and Preston.

Open on a rowdy Ashton Gate. Bristol City are playing Leicester City and it’s the 93rd minute. Leicester are winning 1-0. Taylor Gardner Hickman places the ball down for one last gasp corner. We hear the crowd roar and feel the tension bursting through the screen. The commentator, half defeated, half hopeful, lets out his final rallying cry to the fans at home. “This is it. There can’t be many more chances for Bristol City to equalise.” The corner’s taken. It’s not great. It’s too close to the keeper but just far enough away that his punch doesn’t clear the area. From the edge of the box Ross McCrorie scuffs a shot… but the messy hit confuses the Leicester defenders who anticipated an easy, low drive into the bottom left corner. In the confusion, the ball bounces of multiple Leicester players - their legs, torsos, arses. It falls into the six yard box. The keeper, flailing on the ground can’t reach. Suddenly, Zak Vyner - with his back to goal - stumbles and falls over. He’s tripping over his own boots, staggering once, then twice before hitting the ground. He somehow manages to stick out his leg. Through the crowd of lunging, exhausted players his toe touches the ball. It trickles towards the line… will it? won’t it? The keeper scrambles once more… but it’s not enough. The ball slowly crosses the line. The crowd erupts - limbs everywhere. This is the beauty of football without VAR. Pure emotion. Zak leaps to his feet, a huge smile across his face. He runs to the City faithful, arms wide open. They adore him. He stops momentarily in front of the crowd, soaking in the atmosphere and what he’s just achieved. He thumps the badge then, in one swift movement, grabs the hem of his shirt - triumphantly yanking it over his head. We see it. The t-shirt under his shirt. We see it… ONYEGO We fade to black. Logo and lock-up. We fade again. A FEVER PITCH PRODUCTION

Everyone knows that France is the home of fashion, so I think it was a big miss by the club to not include our resident Frenchman, Bajic. A Vyner and Bajic collaboration would be very popular… Vajynr

I’m going to make an educated guess as to how this came about… in all “fun” social media posts, players are asked:”Who has the best fit?” and the answer is always Zak. Some social media junior (probably Jon) put two and two together and came up with this mess of an idea.

Probably only £13.50pm. They would have used the code “Buxton” for a 10% discount.

That’s one step away from “Live, Laugh, Love”.

The players voted him club captain, then the club told them he wasn’t needed anymore. That says a lot about what the club thinks of the player’s opinion.

One of the more interesting examples I’ve seen of AI in sports is using live player tracking to create positional data, that then generates a 3D mirror image of the game. This enables viewers to watch from any camera angle / position - live, or post game (technically even pre-game as a simulation). Extrapolate this out a couple of seasons to get enough training data and you’d be able to accurately mix and match any players into any team and any team into any league. You’d be able to answer questions like “How would we have performed if we’d started Bell instead of Conway?” (This could also be done proactively to guide actual team selection), “What impact would prime Messi have had on our 2024 season?”, “Would Messi still be relevant in the modern game (assuming we’re in the future at this point), “Is a particular player, League One at best?”… the possibilities are endless. Having typed all of that, anyone want to found a startup for this?

Shankland has only just got into the squad so it could have been between him and TC, had TC been a bit more prolific this season. Given the 5-10 more goals example you gave, I’d say 12-17 goals in the Championship, certainly at the upper end of that, is up there with 27 in the SPL. Dykes is having a pretty poor season overall, so he’s in on loyalty at the moment, so TC could have been in with a shout for his spot too. Adam’s would not lose his spot.

His chances of scoring have been reduced because he’s playing in a system where he rarely gets the ball in a goal scoring area and, with a few more goals this season he may have been deemed ready and given a shot. His chances of playing for Scotland have not increased under Manning. I think we’re going to have to put this one down as agree to disagree

Scotland assistant coach, John Carver yesterday: “I think it is important you never stop looking and searching. That’s how it should be. If people think they are comfortable getting a place in the squad then they become relaxed. So we want to just make sure that there’s a competitive edge at that top end of the field… We will never stop looking. The young boy [Tommy] Conway at Bristol is another one, but he is doing really well with the Under-21s and they have got a big game coming up. He is one we have been looking at as well. It is good for the future. He is in there and I am guessing he has got around about a dozen goals at least. He scored a great goal against West Ham in the FA Cup. He is another youngster coming through.” TC is not far off it, and a few more goal scoring opportunities, resulting in a few more goals could (not definitely) have clinched a call up - and Manningball has definitely reduced his chances. It’s basic probability. More chances = more goals.

He definitely is, and is being talked about in the Scottish press a fair bit. That kind of underlines my key point, if TC was around the 12 goal mark so far there’d be a legitimate conversation about him going to the Euros… but he isn’t and I mostly (not entirely) put that down to how he’s currently being used by Manning.

That was the start of my last response. Tearing it up = kicking on from last year. Then I used a benchmark of having scored 12 goals so far as an indication of what this could look like, and a number I feel would seriously put him in the conversation based on those ahead/around him. Even then he may not get in, as Clarke has a settled, performing squad - and there’s more to it than just goals - but I don’t think TC is too far off in general, though very far away right now, given how he’s currently being played at City . If he’s scoring 20 to 25 goals a season in the Championship, he should be in the squad without any questions - and I say all this as a Scotland supporter (from Glasgow, moved to Bristol when I was 10).

If TC had kicked on from last year. You mentioned 12 goals so far as a possible benchmark. That sort of form puts him in good stead against those around him: - Che Adam’s - 12 goals so far - Lyndon Dykes - 5 goals so far - Lawrence Shankland - 27 goals so far - Kevin Nisbet - 5 goals so far - Jacob Brown - 4 goals so far Adam’s, Dykes, Nisbet play in the champ, Brown will likely be in the champ next season. Shankland, despite his amazing form, is only just getting his chance, which suggests where Clarke sees the SPL. Shankland was in last time as Dykes was injured but is in for these next friendlies on his own merit. So I still think that if TC was tearing it up / improved on last season, there’d be a legitimate conversation to be had about him being in. It would still be hard for him given all the reasons we’ve mentioned in previous comments, but not impossible. I still think Manningball has made it impossible for him and removed any conversation. TC has also missed a few this season, but you could argue that a happy, well utilised, TC would have scored them and kicked on.

I don’t think we can blame him for TC not being in the squad, but I’ll blame him for removing any chance of him being in the squad. If TC was tearing it up this season, it would still be hard for him to break-in, given the settled squad and those you’ve mentioned… but it wouldn’t be impossible. Currently I believe it is.

There is, but Tommy hit the nail on the head when he acknowledged that Steve Clarke has a very settled squad (that is consistently performing). You have players like Lewis Ferguson - Captain of a very exciting Bologna, currently sitting fourth in Serie A, having a phenomenal season - only just now getting called up into the squad. It’s not impossible for TC, but Manningball has ruined his chances. He is more than good enough, but those currently in the squad deliver, and ultimately TC is not right now. I hope I’m wrong as I’d love to see him playing internationally.

“Really?!?! You three play up front for City. How come I haven’t seen you during games?”

I was quite excited by the Mebude signing. I knew absolutely nothing about him and had never seen him play, so imagined his signing to be “so crazy it just might work”. Turns out it was just crazy.