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I have exactly fulfilled the requirement profile. I am German and was the first to name a team. In this respect, you are now either a fan of Jeddeloh II or you can look for a new forum. It's as simple as that. Everything has already been discussed with Benson, @Stan, @nudgeand @CaaC (John). Stan has also agreed to help you find a forum without commission. Due to the difficult current Covid situation, however, it will probably not be a football forum.

I may have put the ice pack directly on to my quad earlier . I can't feel a gap in the muscle. I'm hoping it's just badly pulled. No pics yet. We're not at that stage yet.

Kind of easy to forget during this rapid collapse of the Western backed Afghan government & the Taliban's swift return to power in Afghanistan... but Lebanon is also going through what is possibly it's worst ecnomic crisis ever. Massive inflation (which has gutted it's middle class - that was one of the fastest growing middle classes in Lebanon), banks cutting off people's access to their money, food shortages, water shortages, medicine shortages, homelessness on the rise, a government claiming it has no money left, extremely long power outages, fuel shortages, etc... For many people, their lives in Lebanon have completely crumbled. It's very grim.

From Baptiste Santamaria to Maxi Eggestein. A phonetical catastrophe. In all seriousness though. Freiburg keep impressing me with how they conduct their business and run their club.

Around the daughters yesterday and got to see Kaidens wee kitten pudden, it made me and the wife's day.

I have blind relatives so this is very heart-warming.

It's so small and not even some sort of capital territory ! If it can be a state why can't Pluto be a planet !?

Why should I care about a communist 'agitator' (don't really know what that last part means)? Though the circumstances of his death are tragic and unfair indeed, nobody deserves a fate like that. That article doesn't really do it justice.

Should have started with Himmel un Ähd mit Blotwohsch...

so much disrespect. can't even get the club name right @Faithcore

It's the part I was born to play baby.

SSV Jeddeloh II

I didn't really know how similar Dari was to Persian until I met the friend I mentioned earlier from Afghanistan, who's Tajik and one time he was on the phone with his mum (or his dad... or someone in his family) and I found I could pretty much understand everything he was saying - but I'd been pretty ignorant of that fact until I met him at uni tbh. They're not exactly the same languages... but they're very close.

Anyone you can put in the microwave and heat up.

Agree. Two good points there, firstly since this conflict Russia has been selling more of its missile defence systems like the S-400, so the war is benefiting them for sure. Secondly, although aware of the Russia and Turkish concerns, I hadn't linked Armenia and the Kurds. My take is Erdogan is crazy and trying to create a greater Turkey and hence supporting Azerbaijan. Russia made a point saying they would get involved if Azerbaijan went beyond a certain point. There have been clashes in Northern Syria as the Syrian Army (S.A) was retaking lost territory. The Russians are not impressed with Turkish backed militias continuing to try and hold on to Syrian territory The Russians allegedly told Assad it was pointless to try to take back Kurdish Syria, Assad did not accept that and has the S.A periodically shelling Turkish forces to protect Syrian Kurds. Personally think Assad has too much on his hands to really retake the Kurdish areas, think the Turkish backed militias in the north together with Erdogan's desire to get more territory and Israel will take too much effort to keep at bay. I'm sure you know we also have Iran's proxy in southern Lebanon with their large missile supplies, you can bet if a shooting war starts they will be heavily involved at some point.

Ouch. Compress and ice it for the next couple days. After that, run it through some quad stretching exercises after you warm it with a heating pad. Do this 3-4 times a day.

I reached out to my friend from uni yesterday, who was an Afghan refugee to Europe in the 90s right after the Taliban first took over... Today he's told me his dad is currently there - and there's no real clear timetable on when he'll be able to leave the country. He'd hoped to be able to get out yesterday, but it wasn't possible (I'm not sure why - but seeing some of that chaos at the Kabul airport yesterday is a good indication of why it wasn't possible). He's understandably distraught at the chaotic situation... and I don't know how the fuck I'd be feeling in his shoes. I hope he's able to say that his dad got out safely ASAP. Kinda scary times for many Afghans, but I think especially if you're not Pashtun you've got serious fears about the Taliban being back in power considering how the last time things played out. His dad is a brave man for going back to Afghanistan when it was always likely the Taliban would be back in charge - although I don't think he expected the situation to unfold the way it did.

Yes Syria became very messy. I think the West wanted to put boots on the ground but the UK electorate after seeing the mess of Iraq and Afghanistan said, 'No.' That shook the US into taking a different path and then we saw the rise of Islamic militias that attacked both the FSA and Assad's forces. Other forces attacked Syria too like Al-Nusrah supported by Israel and forces probably linked with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. So Syria used its military treaty with Iran and so the Iranians are near Israel mainly in the Southern area which has angered Israel. Now Pandoras box has been opened as the Kurdish area in the North is largely independent which has upset Turkey who was up to that point trying to take a slice of Northern Syria yet having the largest Kurdish population does not want the Kurds to expand further. Russia is involved probably as Syria was one of their arms clients and the US is camped in the Syrian desert pumping oil that goes through the Kurdish area. Israeli air strikes have prompted Russia to give Syria a better missile defence system which has triggered Israel to say they will now use Cruise missiles. Very messy indeed and Libya is not very settled either with it's own civil war situation. It could turn very hot very quickly if someone makes a bad move.

I'm sure in one conflict Al-Jazeera took a US missile as did the Chinese embassy in the bombing of the former Yugoslavia in the 90's.

That is about the length of the Syrian civil war which started in 2011. Interesting about the Banking sector loans.

Honestly, I think it may come from that massive explosion at Beirut's port last year - I don't think they've ever really recovered from that, and as Lebanon's biggest port (and they only had 2) - I think that's probably made a substantial impact on Lebanon's trade worldwide. Then of course, COVID had it's own serious impacts on global trade... and I think a country like Lebanon that felt other external pressures on trade would feel those issues more than most other countries. And I'm sure the Syrian conflict plays a part in that as well. But before that explosion in the port, Lebanon had some serious economic issues generally - so I think it might be a bit simplistic to just pin all of this on the port explosion. Public sector debt in the country was at an all time high in 2019 before the explosion/pandemic. The banking sector had loaned out 3/4ths of all deposits made to the government and were facing liquidity issues. They hadn't seen GDP growth in over a decade (which is crazy, actually, considering how Lebanon's middle class was among the largest in the Middle East) & Lebanon's got issues with governmental competence and corruption (sort of a theme in the region, sadly) - neither of which really bode well for having a stable economy. As you say, there's a lot of political tension/crisis's & religious and ethnic tensions also play a part in that as well.

You can find all financial data on all clubs in the DFL end of financial year report here: https://www.dfl.de/de/hintergrund/lizenzierungsverfahren/finanzkennzahlen-der-proficlubs/ After having a quick look, in the 1. Bundesliga, only Augsburg, Freiburg, Hoffenheim, Leipzig, and Bayern made profit last year, while Leverkusen and Wolfsburg had a balance of 0 (no profit, no loss).

Nice! I'll send the kid and wife away and glue myself to the TV.

I meant to post this sooner, but I wanted to do some research first. During the ESPN viewing of the Augsburg match, one of the commentators said that Augsburg were one of the German (or maybe just Bundesliga) teams to finish the year in the green financially. I couldn't find any information to confirm this, but whatever your thoughts on the 'investor' at Augsburg, we appear to do a great job of running a responsible club.

It's Le Mans week, @Eco...

Bloody hell, you would have thought at first they were people dressed up as robots!!

Whoa. This looks like a massive improvement, it's crazy how far they've come already.

And they just signed Maxi Eggestein as Santamaria's replacement.

As expected.

Sorry, that was a bit @God is Haalandwasn't it?

Wow.

Wow. Good job. But I feel like this is more up to my level:

I have earmarked £10 for this Thursday coming to start the ball rolling and some more later on.

From the trailer it looked like a movie that was made for Ryan Reynolds. Can't wait to watch it!

Free Guy - 9/10 Fantastic film. Doesn’t take itself too seriously and has some fantastic cameos.

So guys, I made a list of books and podcasts (I love to make lists of books I want to read ) that help understand american intervention in Middle East. Some books: Overal History of Middle East 1) "Islam: A Short History", Karen Armstrong 2) "A Line in the Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle East, 1914–1948", James Barr 3) "Lords of the Desert: The Battle Between the United States and Great Britain for Supremacy in the Modern Middle East", James Barr 4) "A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East", David Fromkin 5) "All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror", Stephen Kinzer 6) "Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East", Gerges Fawaz Iraq 1) "Imperial Life in The Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone"; 2) "The Man Who Pushed America to War: The Extraordinary Life, Adventures and Obsessions of Ahmad Chalabi", Aram Roston 3) "Saddam: King of Terror", Con Coughlin 4) "Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied", Toby Dodge 5) "Red Zone: Five Bloody Years in Baghdad", Oliver Poole 6) "The Fall of Baghdad", Jon Lee Anderson 7) "The Iran-Iraq War", P. Razoux Afghanistan 1) "Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History", Thomas J. Barfield 2) "Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the War against the Taliban", Stephen Tanner 3) "The American War in Afghanistan: A History", Carter Malkasian 4) "The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan", Gregory Feifer 5) "Long Goodbye: The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan", Artemy Kalinovsky Podcasts "Blowback" - Season 1 "Conflicted" - Series of Episodes: Prophet´s Dilemma: The Sunni Shia Split "The Fault Line: Bush, Blair and Iraq" (Podcast) "Conflicted" - Episode: Ghosts in the Mountain - The Soviet-Afghan War

Lmao. The socialist government lasted about ten times as long as his regime did without foreign support - and against much more expensively equipped Mujahideen, as opposed to the rag-tag remnants of the Taliban that his state has capitulated to. Which one was the real puppet state?

Wonderful to get back inside Stamford Bridge after far too long away. I imagine the players found the atmosphere far better judging by the tempo compared to most of the behind closed doors fixtures of last season. There was more of an urgency for longer periods of the game that made it feel like we were far better than we actually were. Baring in mind how poor Palace were, it didn't take much to score 3. The truth of the matter is a team far more well oiled would have found the net more often than we did. As ever, a win is a win, best to accept the points and hope for better. Better should come with the introduction of Lukaku. As I have said, I like the signing as I feel he will benefit all around him as well as get his fair share of goals. We continue to handicap ourselves by starting with the passenger and I hope the medical department find the answer to keeping Kante available far more often than the last two seasons appearances. Werner and Pulicic could well be battling out for just the one position from now on and while Werner does not score anywhere enough I believe there is far more to his game which should give him the nod. In saying that I have a sneaky suspicion Havertz will play much closer to Lukaku than most would expect. Whatever Thomas chooses, there are enough bodies to make competition tough for all. Where the fuck has young Trevoh come from. The problem when young players are sent out on loan soon after turning 18 is I don't get to see there development on ChelseaTV. Known pretty much as Nathaniel's (Top player in academy at his age group) brother he was shipped off to Ipswich who tried to sign him full time (bit like Forest with John) Loan stints at Huddersfield n Orient followed. Now inserted into the starting 11 maybe he will save us a small fortune. Good luck to the feller. I think it should be pointed out that With Tammy leaving for 34 million some are now claiming we will have raised the Lukaku fee from sales in this current window. If true our Marina has again proved herself as the first lady of Football.

They can't hold out for long if this news is true.

There's a thread on Twitter somewhere of a British Ambassador staying put in the airport, helping approve and stamp interpreters' passports and other staff to enable them to return back legitimately. Fair play to him - could have easily just helped himself back and left people stranded but it's a heroic thing to do when everyone is fleeing in an instant and you choose to stay and help.

Apparently we played Weymouth in a friendly match today at Cobham and some of the other players not getting game time played.. We were 8-0 at half time and won it 13-0 in the end..

I weighed about there before I moved to the USA. I'd love to ride my bike more but there roads here aren't kind to cyclists, it's almost taboo

Well I am certainly gutted for you. I would love to keep up more with the inner working of a club, but with limited German and not sure where to find it, it is a bit difficult. Regardless, I didn't know it was THIS bad. What a horrendous start to the week for this club.

So an US Cargo plane wanted to take off to Qatar when many Afghans entered the plane. In the end there were 640 civilians, and the Americans didn't want to kick anyone out. So they just took off like this.