Leveller

I must admit that over the last fifty years I don’t recall feeling that Bristol City was generally a bigger club than Cardiff or Swansea. Similar, and all with fluctuating fortunes, I would have said, though I don’t have stats to prove it!

I didn’t see it as a stick to beat the equality cause - quite the opposite. Seems more like a complaint about hypocrisy, ie the attitudes that straight men have been rightly condemned for, now seem fair game from women and gay men. We should all be judged by the same criteria, surely, in the name of equality?

Australia smashed by a bloke born in Taunton. Perfect.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10140003/Chelsea-loanee-Ethan-Ampadu-sent-inch-perfect-tackle-loan-spell-Venezia.html This has been much debated on Twitter and in the press but I haven't seen it mentioned here, so perhaps people haven't seen it? A few people have defended the ref, but not many. I'm old school and see it as a perfect tackle, even if Ribery was tripped (not hurt) by the follow through. What do others think? is a tackle illegal now if there is any contact with the tackled player?

I'd have to disagree there. The point is that the word holocaust has only very recently been appropriated solely to the Nazi concentration camps, and those of us from an older generation (I'm 65) are used to using it in a wider context. The etymology is actually from Greek (via Latin) meaning "wholly burnt" and if you'd asked me ten years ago for an example of a holocaust I would have mentioned "nuclear holocaust" (as some have) in reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the firebombing of Dresden - all Allied actions. The Nazi death camps have been discussed for 75 years or more, but I'm sure "The Holocaust" in reference to them is relatively recent. Language changes, but holocaust remains a valid word to use to describe a firestorm. Now I'm not suggesting that Joey Barton had all this in his mind (or anything much at all) when speaking, but I doubt he was consciously referencing Nazi atrocities. It is possible he was familiar with the wider and more correct usage.

There’s admittedly no point in sacking Pearson - he may as well be given time to see what he can do. However, it’s difficult to see why he’s still getting the hero treatment when he has made almost no progress in improving performances after the best part of a year. Oddly, Dean Holden still gets virtually zero understanding, despite having been dealt almost the same hand and doing no worse.

No point in criticising strikers until the lot behind them can create chances.

Bruce has said he'll probably retire. But also "never say never". Boro when Warnock goes?

I was a bit surprised to see “Brooks 7” warming up on the pitch. Then I realised there are about twenty of them!

OK, it’s only a minor curiosity. However, I’ve just watched the recent ITV documentary on one of my heroes Jimmy Greaves. Showing his league debut for Chelsea in 1957, footage of the players running out revealed one Alan Dicks a couple of places in front of him - they were in the same starting lineup. Its a funny old game.

Nowhere near as bad as Kane though.

Are there footnotes anywhere to explain this sentence?

Oh yes it has! I agree though - the first game after promotion to the First Division after decades away, and the fixture seemed to be a cruel one, with the danger of a thumping. Then to win it, and to be there!

I totally agree - I was just fending off the anti Lansdown jibes in advance. SL’s strategy benefits the club; we just need better recruitment and management to use the FFP budget more effectively.

It would be interesting to see how BCFC compared with that list, considering the stadium and training ground costs. That’s one area where the Lansdown regime has really performed. And yes, I understand the argument that SL is just increasing the value of his investment at the expense of overspending on the squad.

Logically though it could work, if each team was obliged to have a set number of men and women.

Looks like the pitch has been singed! I wonder if that can be fixed in time.

I find it fascinating that there is in depth analysis of the accounts on OTIB, while there seems to be very little actual analysis in the Derby forum.

I’m sure there was a TV documentary about that.

Am I the only person who didn’t know the CSF still existed? Are they all pensioners now are are there young ones?

Well for a start, I imagine that numerically the Uighur abuses outweigh any abuses of people in Saudi Arabia. Then we have the joys of the Cultural Revolution, the annexation of Tibet, the crushing of Hong Kong. It all depends how far back you go and how much you value the switch from real communism to the weird state controlled capitalism they have moved to. It’s a vastly bigger place of course, so you can argue numerically or otherwise.

Lots of comments along these lines, but there seem to be few objections to Abramovich or Chinese owners. I doubt the Saudis are anywhere near as bad as the Chinese on human rights issues.

Well eventually, the level of funds that have available could and should project them on the same sort of improvement that Man City went through - if they are fully committed.

Some little lads have innate talent that gets nurtured. Some little lads are naturally clumsy with no ball skill. You can’t nurture ANY lad into a skilled footballer. So yes, there is an an element of varied levels of natural ability.

Went to Newcastle for the first time recently - I was hugely disappointed. Quite nice around the riverside, otherwise, meh.