Merrick's Marvels

Are you saying Kane Wilson was only the second best RWB in that league last season?? He was voted L2 player of the season, not just RWB!

Yes, from what I've read Wilson is better attacking than defending. Think that goes for all our full backs actually, although Tanner showed us last season that the crunching tackle is still alive and kicking.

Andy King fast becoming the new Rene Gilmartin

Nicely put.

Personally, my guess is Wilson's strong suit - his technically excellent delivery from wide areas into the box - will win the day. Tanner certainly likes a tackle though and it's great to have genuine competition for that position, for quite a lot of positions when you think of it - of the outfield players, I'd say all bar Williams, Weimann and Semenyo have genuine competition for their places. If fit, those 3 are straight in the team whereas there's a discussion to be had over most other positions.

The bench the best he can hope for, having missed this much pre-season, you'd think. I'd expect our starting XI at Hull to be today's team bar Wilson and Klose replacing Tanner and Vyner.

I'm perfectly aware of all that. "Mental retardation" is a medical phrase, still in circulation. It's used without any intent at offensive and understood as such. Why take offence at something when clearly none was clearly intended and the word was clearly used as a rhetorical device, to make an argument? You can't just cancel the use of a word completely just because some may take offence - even though the context in which it was used clearly indicates otherwise. Wokedom, snowflakery (in this weather!), cancel culture. So now I've managed to do a complete 180 volte face and find myself in bed with Trump, Clarkson and, possibly, BS4 on tour, railing against wokedom! Strange days indeed Anyway, enough, this thread will get de-railed.

With respect, all credible evidence suggests your view is naive at best, if not bordering on wilfully stupid. Unless you're a ******, in which case I apologise for saying "wilfully". From the evidence available to me (your postings on OTIB), I don't think you're a ******. So I'm not sure why you don't want to believe the evidence presented by characters as intelligent and independent as Thunberg, Attenborough and Gore that the planet is getting hotter and the endgame for our planet will be as they describe. They ain't doing it just for shits and giggles. And one look at the characters arguing otherwise should at least give pause for thought - Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Jeremy Clarkson, liars, bullshitters, gobshites. If you want to get into bed with Trump, fair enough. Everyone's entitled to their view. This doesn't make every view correct. Some are wrong - hello, you flat-earthers! Consequently, some people have views not worth listening. On this topic, I'd respectfully include your view as one of those. But enough, let's not de-rail this thread. We could always "take it outside" to the General Chat forum but what's the point?

Wednesday were proper shite.

And we only had 10 men. And didn't lose. No wonder they were relegated, must have been proper shite that season! We've all been there, mind.

"I used to love football. I loved drinking even more. Shame you couldn't do them at the same time. I scored a goal once that caused an earthquake. The end." There you go, that's saved a few quid. Buy yourself a pint instead - how appropriate!

Has he gone yet? I know it says talks are ongoing but surely all it takes is: Them: Can we have Bakinson? Us: Yes, goodbye. Done deal surely. Or is his agent having to explain that "Wednesday" isn't the only day he'll have to give a toss?

Yes I enjoyed that one. And to think he popped in to Ashton Gate after the war asking for a game but was told - no you're alright!

You're right! I hadn't made the connection before. Thanks.

It's difficult to know what to recommend without knowing what you're interested in - are you after a ghost written biography about boozin' bettin' and shaggin' by a footballer who can barely speak, never mind write or something a bit more in depth? Any book by Jonathan Wilson, some recommended here, will give you as much social history as it will football - the game is placed in a wider context, so you learn about all sorts. No idea if that's your thing, though. If it is.... 'A Brilliant Orange - The neurotic genius of Dutch football' by David Winner is the book that inspired this style of serious football writing. It's a history of Dutch football, mostly their Total Football of the 60s/70s, Cruyff et al. As a disciple of JC - Johan Cruyff not Jesus Christ - I recommend it highly. But it's also a whole lot more, it's about how their football reflects their culture and history. The first line of the Introduction is: "If this is a book about Dutch football, at some stage you'll probably wonder why it contains pages and pages about art and architects, cows and canals, anarchists, church painters, rabbis and airports but barely a word, for example, about PSV and Feyenoord" And so a whole industry was born. But as I say, it might not be what you're looking for. Football writing has certainly come a long way, though, that's for sure. As a fan of all things Dutch, I'll also mention 'Stillness and Speed' which is Dennis Bergkamp's autobiography (co-written with Winner). This concentrates a whole lot more on football rather than social history and recent football at that (Cruyff and the 1970s may be ancient history to you, depending on your age). There's a lot of stuff about Arsenal, obviously. Can't say I'm fussed about them but Bergkamp - "the sober Dziekanowski" as he's known - was a particular favourite of mine.

Think you're right - he was certainly a local journalist in Bristol and editor of Venue magazine for many years.

I'm led to believe this is his style in general. I've had his 'Red or Dead' on my wish list for ages. Might give 'The Damned United' a go but am struggling to give a toss about Leeds Utd and therefore devote time to it ; the film was ok, a good impersonation by the welsh fella. Peace has also written acclaimed novels but, like you say, his style is "interesting". Would rather just read a good biography of Cloughie, of which there's more than one.

Fuckwitery. Then again, football crowds would be decimated.

Yes, always good to re-iterate the fact 2014 wasn't the first time the Blue Few have lost their place in the Football League.

Christ, if only.

My mistake, I do apologise

Yeah, must be the heat BOS plus trying to type and look at tiles in B&Q at the same time. Not good.

My bad!

Is Kalas-Klose-Naismith that much of an upgrade on Kalas-Klose-Atkinson??

I'd be disappointed if we were a bottom 8 team again but the reality is we've signed 1 player - a Right Back - that strengthens last year's team, so I'm not sure how much improvement we can realistically expect. You'd hope a full season of Klose would help too I suppose.