Bedred31

And that, Gareth Southgate, is how to manage an England side in a crunch game.

Italy red card review- changed to yellow! Jesus suffering Christ. Almost cut the French player in half. One of the worst challenges I’ve seen in years. Not sure this is proper footy.

The Aldershot fans, on the other hand, were weird. Recall they spent half the game chanting anti- Welsh songs, as if Bristol was somehow part of the Principality!

Remember that one. Being a pro, he didn’t want to acknowledge the City applause, but he finally managed a bit of a wave. But his face- more emotion than I’ve ever seen from a footballer. Like astonishment, bereavement and joy rolled into one. And that Aldershot ground was an experience- a total of 4 about turnstiles at one end. Everyone went in together and we walked around to the away end.

Foster, the Head, was City season ticket holder, but a somewhat remote figure. His Deputies were generally v good. One, Galley, was a truly outstanding teacher/ leader, but I don’t recall him having much interest in sport. To be fair, it was a terrific school- everything a comp should be. We were ordinary kids, mostly farming stock, plus RAF from Locking, ( although my dad worked at the docks in Avonmouth), where everyone was given a decent chance. Worked too- my best mate became a successful broadcast journalist for the BBC in London.

At Churchill Comprehensive in the 70’s the trick was actually getting onto a football pitch. Our PE teachers were obsessed with rugby, believing that represented, in every respect, a higher form of social/moral activity. I was big and fast enough to play rugby well. But as City were in the top flight then, all I wanted to do was kick a round ball, so this provoked real resentment- and a lasting dislike of ‘rugger.’

Ashley’s verdict- “Too many players is off it”. I know what he means but …

Completely ridiculous not to be at Wembley as well. Yes, I know, shouldn’t be a London monopoly etc, but 80k intimidates opponents- Hungary folded completely.

Utterly awful since the Channel 4 deal- yup, I’m going to obsess on this.

England look as clapped out as me- this could get ugly.

Channel 4- good for cricket- football coverage beyond dire.

Qatar- no real pluses for me, save the 4 live games in a day challenge.

SJ de Luz was twinned with Weston S Mare! We had annual exchanges when at was at school in Churchill in the 70’s. Absolute carnage. They were brown skinned, well dressed and smoked French cigarettes in a way that was hopelessly cool. We were pasty, shabby farmers. Practically ever girl in our part of N Somerset lost her virginity to a Basque. We hated them, frankly, and when I learnt a little about regional politics I pledged lifetime loyalty to the Spanish monarchy and Real Madrid.

So do I. Then for England v Albania the tickets were stolen in the post and getting them reissued was a major hassle.

Can’t you only print once? I cocked up printing an England ticket once- forgot to shrink to page- and that was that. It wouldn’t re-print. Had the massive hassle of having to go to the Wembley ticket office several hours before kick off, where they re issued the tickets with a new barcode. The problem with e-tickets delivered via an app- as at the Euros- is that if the Wi-Fi can’t cope ( which it can’t at Wembley), the stewards know that genuine ticket holders can’t activate properly, leading to them having to assume that anyone with an image on their phone has a legit ticket.

If it’s like the Euro final last summer, there will be thousands- if not tens of thousands- of ticketless fans trying to get in. Presumably the French authorities aren’t coping and the French police, who could start a punch up at a children’s party, will be making things worse. But the primary problem will be scousers trying to get in without tickets. I’m pretty defensive when it comes to English fans- I’ve been England home and away since 1981- but this is now becoming a very English thing and a very English problem.

Pictures of fans in tears at Anfield! Bloody snowflakes- these ‘super fans’ have celebrated more silverware in the last 7 days than I’ve had in 52 years of supporting City.

Why would you want to take on the Germans in a shoot out?

NP is big on attitude and personality. Very big. I don’t think he’d sign a player if he wasn’t sure about his motivation.

After Somerset lost their first three games of the season, I decided to spend the summer offline in the garden.

Pep can’t seem to get a team set up properly for big, one off games. No way should City have lost to Chelsea last year. No way should they have lost to a RM who were behind between minute 4 of the first leg and minute 90 of the second leg. And how does a top top side concede 6 goals to this RM.

Working in London with numerous Gooners I get invited to the Emirates a lot. After the game the bars and food out outlets remain open. A lot of people stay for a couple of pints, watch footy on the concourse screens and dodge the queues at the tube. Whenever I leave Wembley, with everything locked up, I think why, when 45 mins in the bar would be preferable to 30 mins waiting to get into Wembley Park. Staggering departure is best for everyone. Keeping stuff open at the Gate would always generate more income than costs, so why does the club not do it? Is it the police requiring fans to leave promptly.

Great result and a great end of season run. Well done NP. Will boost my (admittedly fragile) morale through the summer. Crazy season- 17th place, scored the same or more than the teams in 4th, 5th and 6th, conceded 6 more than the club at the bottom. Not going to require Statto to tell us where the money/ improvement is needed.

Ran into the 80’s - remember one to York in about 84? Rarely stopped in the actual station. Can recall climbing out onto remote freight sidings and clambering over tracks, flanked by police, to get out. Getting back onto train without the height of a platform could be iffy too. Generally good fun, though- they used to go for hours without stopping.

Currently on a family visit to Brading Roman villa (Isle of Wight). Last time I was here I returned to the car to discover that Steve Coppell had unexpectedly resigned. Going in now and will check back in about 2 hours…