Red-Robbo

Very accurate summation. None of the 10 biggest races by prize-money are in the UK or Ireland. Dubai (and increasingly Saudi) are the coming venues and attract the best-rated thoroughbreds from across the globe.

Sadly the last FA Cup final I watched at Wembley. Memorable for being treated to a pint of Watneys Red Barrel after the game - something that meant I'd never try bitter again for 5 years!

Quite simply, he was consistently played too deep. It took a pre-season injury crisis for Johnson to finally work out where he was best used.

Your thrown pork pie memory brought back a recollection of City 0 Cardiff 6 when throwing paper planes made out of Lansdown's grand promises of a great future ahead, was entertaining the crowd more than the match itself. Plus, we all joined the Taffs in singing "we want seven!"

It can't be denied he had next to no impact when he came on Monday. The mascots probably influenced the game more.

Obviously, a cup run is lots of fun, but I agree that the Cup Final Day - as a national spectacle - isn't what it was. I don't think I've watched an FA Cup final for 15-20 years. In the 70s, I went to every one! Even in my early 80s "Goth lord" phase, when my interest in football waned, I still watched the Cup finals. That doesn't mean if by some miracle we manage to beat the cockney wankahs, I'll not be buying tickets for the next round.

Great player and, as been noted, a top bloke as well.

I think Wallace could probably blow Bell over.

Ah. The one I actually fell asleep at. And I was sat in the old EE as well.

Spot on. Jake Cooper is about 9ft. Last time I saw someone like him was when I watched the old Addams Family show. Wallace is big as well and built like a boxer. There whole defence was - as it ever is with 'Wall - Land of the Giants stuff, big but slow. Our chances would come through speedy breaks and interplay around these immutable granite blocks of defenders. Once we took Mehmeti off and Sykes got injured, we played with no width and relied on hopeful punts up from our half to reach Conway then later wells or Bell. Child's work for that back line to collect those up.

Don't think he'd smash tea cups - finances, Liam, finances. Cups cost money - but I would guess he made clear his displeasure. His face in those final few minutes told the story.

He'll be pulling his hair out! Which, to be fair, won't be difficult.

Their players are more scary than their fans these days!

This is it. He wouldn't get an offer atm commensurate to his value to us now or in seasons to come. I agree with those that point out TC is not a lone striker and needs a strike partner to get more chances on goal. We need to remember he's not in the 25-28 age range that is normally a forwards' golden years. He has lots of development to do. If he's happy here, he may be a much more valuable asset in the future.

There have been hundreds of worse games. But walking back in the soaking rain on the first day of a year I'm not particularly relishing did make it seem more miserable than most. Late goals always sicken you more than if we'd conceded in the first half - but you drop the same points either way. To add to the gloom most of the boozers I frequent were closed. Had to stop in the Temple Inn to get some consolation pints.

I hope so Fevs. I guess the point I was trying to make to the poster I replied to, was NYD we didn’t play like a mid-table side but like a team deserving no better than the bottom third. If we can leven that with some "top 6" performances like at Vicarage Rd and a few hard ground-out or lucky wins then we will be fine this season and in a position to push on from that. I can't help but feel the loss of Sykes - and the fact he didn’t look right even before that - cost us creativity, plus TGH playing in the James' deep defence role lost us his attacking threat. He isn't that great as a defence-shielding midfielder. Overall the side looked as flat as I felt after a non-thrilling NYE and those seeking to defend them on the grounds of tiredness, need to acknowledge that Millwall had played exactly the same schedule as us. More fitness work required, perhaps. I imagine LM wasn't as measured and dispassionate when he debriefs the team about that loss, as he was on the radio!

I don't think we are Top 6 contenders, but a mid-table side at home should have done better against a not particularly spectacular Millwall. It wasn't as if we were playing some team of Galacticos. To lose is one thing. Can be lots of reasons for it. But to lose after playing so poorly suggests we may not even be a mid-table side.

There were some very basic but baffling things I noticed today. We seemed to lose possession after more throw ins than we kept it. A number of times we took free kicks 10 yards back from where we could have. In our own half. Passes often went to the marked man rather than the free man. Basic stuff. We just weren't at the races.

I tend to hold the phone to my ear and thereby the mouthpiece is actually near my mouth, obliviating the need to do a "Dom Joly". I'm talking about those people who either talk into a phone held in front of them on speaker or have a headset and look like they are babbling to themselves.

In a similar theme, people wearing headphones and talking out loud on their phones in public. They don’t realise they are shouting their mundane conversations to the whole world. It seems compulsory that people do this in London railway stations.

Aye, the timeline is all to cock. The census that made Joseph and Mary travel from Bethlehem to Nazareth took place in 6AD.

I believe there's an Otiber of that name as well...@hinshelwood

Blimey. Even I know that one!!

I'm a fan, so hopefully the measures taken will keep the sport attracting new viewers.

UK TV audience - the 2023 women's World Cup final 14.46 million; UK TV audience the 2023 Grand National - 8.8 million. Yes, people go en masse to individual high-profile events, but as a sport overall, attendances are declining. Women's football attendances are rising throughout Europe. It is no surprise at all to me that Mary Earps beat Frankie.