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A different looking bird now with the ring around its neck and rose colour with it.

Interesting post...and I have a few points I'd like to add for context purposes. Schalke got destroyed by the best team in the world, who appear to be better than they were last year. Gladbach lost to the second best team in Germany, and played well, but just didn't have enough. Werder lost to a club that suffers from massive identity issues. Something Hertha are the club that appears to try and bring up youth and play the long game, then the next week they will get the itch, and spend money that would leave you to believe they should be a top 3-4 team in Germany. The point is, I did peg either Schalke, Gladbach, or Werder to go down, and I still don't think they will. If Werder can not lose any players before the close of the transfer window, and especially keep hold of Rashica, I do think they will remain in the Bundesliga. I didn't watch the Bremen match, but I will watch the replay either today or tomorrow, but if what @Devil-Dick Willie and @nudge are saying is correct about the formation and tactics, then I can only hope that this is an issue that Bremen can recover from. I do the think future of Bremen, sadly, rests on the hopes of other teams performing worse over the course of the year. I'm still not sold on Freiburg this year after all they have lost (although they do appear to have done a good job in replacing their losses), Stuttgart, Koln, Mainz, Arminia, and sadly even Augsburg are no way out of this conversation. I still think Bremen have too much talent to go down, and I hope that they do get a result against Schalke this weekend to bring the hopes of some of their fans just a little bit. Schalke were beaten by a scoreline that was misleading to me, as they didn't seem to give a shit after the 4th or 5th goal, which is sad to see, but it's likely that this won't even be Bayern's biggest win of the year with the team they have assembled. Bremen will stay up, not comfortably, but I do think they stay up this year. Would be an absolutely tragedy if they were to get relegated this year.

Downloaded it again last night. Remembering where all of the secret tapes are and everything is knowledge I didn't think I'd retain! Just got a new PC too after being a Mac guy for years - looking forward to playing some games on there too.

Yes, recognised Chalky in the trailer immediately Will give it a go then...

Don't really know how best to describe it... It has horror related stuff in it but not the kind of horror that would put you off, although maybe episode 3 you might find a bit creepy but then again maybe not... Such a mix of strange things that seem to blend really well together... Basically it's about a black man called Atticus Freeman who returns home from the army and embarks on a search for his missing father in 1950's America.. and along with trying to overcome the racist attitudes of the time they also end up fighting monsters and magic along the way.. Might all sound a bit odd but it has one long running story and little stories in each episode that help fill in the blanks while they piece together the mystery... Has treasure hunting elements to it and I have also heard a couple of Marylin Manson tracks already... It also stars Michael K Williams who you may remember played Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire... Would suggest watching the first 2 and see what you think... personally I am enjoying it

R.I.P... Also note that his involvement in the Alien films was that he was credited with coming up with the Alien having acid for blood... such a shame

Xbox just bought Bethesda!?!? Holy shit https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/09/21/welcoming-bethesda-to-the-xbox-family/

I agree; I said it last year and still believe that in terms of individual quality, our squad is definitely good enough for a mid-table finish. The problem seems to be getting the best out of the players and finding the optimal system to make it work, I think a proper defensive-minded midfielder with strong passing skill is the missing link.

I think Union have a very spirited squad, but not very talented. There are a couple of players I like, but mostly I think it's a team that will be fighting to remain in the top division. Their story, fans, and staff are very special, and I think they rode the wave of being in the Bundesliga very well last year and it put them mid-table, but I think year 2 is almost always more difficult to teams and I think, somewhat fear, that Union are going to be struggling greatly this year.

If Augsburg gets relegated the first year I become a member, then I will be forced to write them a note of apologies for my bad mojo that I brought to Bavaria.

Haha, I see, excuse my typo...*signing If Werder could sign Chong permanently, he would be a great acquisition. Unfortunately there was no option to buy clause inserted into his loan deal with Werder.

With all due respect to Osako, there is no way in hell that United are going to be interested in singing him from Werder Bremen. Chong has already demonstrated that there is something special about him and he should be a great asset to Werder this season.

What are your early thoughts? Do you like him? You should somehow talk to United about Osaka in hopes of them doing an even trade for Chong for Osaka.... There are a few players I've never understood why they get the jobs they do...he will always be on. His good moments at Koln were rarely anything that special to me

@nudge Fun game. If we were to replace Kohfeldt tomorrow, BUT it had to be Dutt, Skrypnyk or Nouri, who would you pick? Or would you keep Kohfeldt?

Maybe everyone should use the stairs? Nobody without a disability should use a lift imo. One of the big reasons that Covid is hitting us badly, which nobody seems willing to talk about, is because we are such an unhealthy nation.

@Berserker getting absolutely rattled any time someone dares to speak out against Higuain

I think you meant "dire" Anyway, it's a long story with quite a few nuances. Short version: we always had limited resources and depended on good scouting and smart dealings in the transfer market. Due to domestic achievements and regular participation in CL/UEFA Cup in the early to late 2000s, we generated a healthy stream of income and our financial state was healthy, so we were able to attract decent players and offer them decent salaries. On top of that, during this phase when everything was still was going well, the club decided to expand the stadium. The estimated costs were around 50-60 million, but due to various factors (increased steel prices, etc.) it wasn't feasible and in the end a simple modernisation of the stadium (even without the planned capacity increase) cost us 80 million instead. It was still all fine as long as we were finishing in the top 6; in fact the whole club expenditure was based on a somewhat naive belief that it's going to be the case for years to come. Unfortunately, we were regularly losing our key players to bigger clubs (usually for much too low fees too), the replacements weren't good enough, our performances started to drop, we started missing out on European spots and financial rewards that come with it, all while the squad was still largely made of players with salaries fitting for a club with CL ambitions. So essentially, we brought in players on high salaries who mostly failed to deliver (so we struggled to sell them for profit as well), we hired and then sacked managers each of whom turned out to be worse than the previous one, we failed to reach our sporting goals as a result, so the expenditure kept on growing while the income was decreasing massively. We went from making profit to making huge losses each year, so it was not sustainable and the club went on an extreme saving course. The financial situation got better after a while and we stopped making losses in recent few years, but then corona hit in 2020 and it meant that we lost around 40-50 million last season, which for a club of our stature is a loooooot of money. So now we're back to where we were a few years ago - poor financial state, no sporting achievements, danger of relegation.

As far as I can see the Government want people to eat out, drink out, go to work, go to school but not see anyone whilst doing it.

I don’t really know where to put this but do we have any other Alan Partridge fans on here? He’s just released a new podcast (from the oast house) and I think it’s the best thing he’s ever done. In hysterics for most of it. You have to sign up to audible to listen but can get a 30 day free trial.

Won't be long til it has to be done anyway Why Union?