Red-Robbo

To be honest, it's usually lots of worried people saying to their companions "I will be surprised if we get much from this!" or "Be lucky to get a point here!" It's something of a vicious circle: the lack of home wins has depressed the mood of the crowd; this translates into a flat atmosphere which does little to lift the players. Let's hope that might change tonight. ?

Lots of Arthurs among the primary school set. The other names you mention, less so. Names given to kids in the 50s and early 60s are the ultimate unfashionable: Clive; Graham; Alan; Derek; Tim; Roger; Melvyn; Stuart; Terry. Also the "fad" names of the late 60s to 90s: Wayne; Lee; Scott; Shaun; Darren etc

They'd be too old to have sex, let alone procreate, surely?

Yes, yes, yes ... but can you get a hot dog without leaving the terracing at AG.

I think if you could magic back the younger Korey Smith, he'd be your man. KS had a good availability record for us until his last two seasons. Thing is, he's pushing 31 now.

And Bentley taking goal kicks.

Although I agreed with the OP, I sort of agree with what you're hinting at that there were stages in that game when we - for the first time this season really - seemed demoralised, shell-shocked, dispirited and did not put in a shift. The first 15 minutes of the second half were particularly dire. We couldn't pass, tackle or even hold the ball at our feet. God knows what was said at H/T to try to pick us up after their second goal, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect than was desired. We seemed to steady a bit with Martin's header attempt, but with King off the only question was could we stop more going in. Bournemouth knew they'd won the game, so it looked like a training exercise against non-league oppo for them by that stage. It goes to show that for all Pearson's talk about building a team with the right attitude, if something goes against this side - Williams' injury for example - morale can crumble like a sandcastle in the tide.

I think you're right. I believe handbags were drawn.

6 microns* isn't going to help much while global sea levels are rising by 3.6mm a year. *0.01mm

I think not, but it seems a shame to just blame them. Fat people bathing in the sea probably add a micron or two....

A marine engineer with rather a lot of time on his hands did a calculation based on Scott Pio's suggestion and calculated that if every ship was removed from the sea, the oceans would drop by 6 microns - about half the width of a strand of spider's silk.

Really interesting feature that made you know the personality of Laurie a bit more. I'd forgotten about all that stuff around the horrible murder of his brother's partner and step-daughters. I well remember watching his last ever game in the UK - the '88 FA Cup final. He still had bags of flair.

To put it more allegorically than @IAmNick Imagine you were on a demo to save the whale, because whales are still hunted by some nations and with global plastic pollution etc, are still critically endangered. You then see a counter demo with banners saying "All Marine Creatures Matter Not Just Whales". That demo would be diluting and undermining the focused point you were making. Yes, all marine creatures do have a right to life, but the situation is particularly relevant to whales as they are under more threat than many other species. Trying to minimise the specific point Save The Whales was making with obvious generalities is a way of negating it.

Indeed. Very surprised by the video. Far from the jovial Lee Lashenko you hear on Radio Bris when GT phones him up.

Either Churchill or some other bloke in a suit yonks ago said: "All political lives end in failure." The same could largely be said for all football management careers. Rare is the Fergie type who retires in triumph. At best, most have a series of glory years to look back on, alongside numerous could-have-done-better-years.

Hen is what Glaswegians call women they fancy. Chicken isn't.

Great band! Didn't know they were still going.

I could cope with it, though it would be a bit ghoulish as he died last year.

They - and other insecure closet cases like them, fighting their toytown wars - also played a major part in ensuring that football fans have to live under restrictions that no other sports supporters face - as well as giving genuine fans an undeserved reputation for imbecilic and unpleasant behaviour. Like them or loathe them? Well, I loathe them - and all so-called "football firms". The sooner they all **** off and stop using our sport as an excuse to grapple with other men, the better.

I'm not sure anyone would argue that it isn't a minority interest, however the podcast and other discussions on social media show it's a growing part of the sport, and one we all agreed would share a little bit of space on Otib. Nowadays, girls routinely play football at school - in my youth, not at all. I can only see women's football continuing to grow (and improve) in the future.

Out of the door. One cross. Join the line on the left:

Add them all together and the implication is clear. A libel lawyer would have a field day with the implied meaning of those questions. Remember, Lord McAlpine wasn't named in a BBC programme about a prominent Conservative Party paedophile, but still won hundreds of thousands in damages from the corporation because of what the report implied. Particularly, as only Mangan has had a charge proven against him.

If the moderator there doesn't think that OP libellous - accusing named club officials of complicity in match-fixing - then I don't know what he thinks the term means. Mind you, he doesn't know the difference between libel and slander, so...

To raise our minds from the gutter, this excellently named Congolese player played in the Bundesliga.

Ideally team him with this man: