Leaderboard

Yeah, he did really well under Anfang in Kiel, looks to fit into his system really well, so I hope he'll deliver but we still need more players, especially wingers. Still, I'm happy we are finally signing someone decent

Didn't work out for us, but we had Friedhelm Funkel back then, who is a decent but not a modern coach. I hope he'll be an assset for you! When I look at the stats, I think maybe we were the problem after all.

As someone British & half Middle Eastern (I'm not Muslim, but my grandparents on one side of my family are... so while that side of family became irreligious/non-religious) - I think your experiences are accurate regarding British Muslims/Brits of Middle Eastern descent being against those wars. And honestly, maybe my reading of the general sentiment was skewed as someone whos been part of the UK Middle Eastern community and someone on Merseyside... but I felt in Britain generally, at least at the time of the Iraq war (tbh, I think many people thought the US's intervention in Afghanistan to retaliate to that terror attack was justifiable... initially) were pretty strongly against us joining the US in Iraq. It felt like a very unpopular move by the government. I think the biggest issue in Afghanistan is the US & allied mission changed once boots were on the ground. The mission no longer became a matter of i.) catching and killing Bin Laden; ii.) rooting Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan; iii.) weakening the Taliban to ensure they wouldn't back global terrorists again - it became a matter of "nation building." And I don't think you can really "nation build" in Afghanistan without an excruciating long occupation that'd make the recent 20 year stay in the country seem insignificant. And if that was and is unpalatable to the US/UK/whoever else allied with the US that was there... then we really should have gotten out earlier. The two best times to withdraw would have been: 1.) when the Taliban offered surrender and Rumsfeld & Bush said no; 2.) after Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. But I don't think you're 100% right... if you're not in the Taliban or a warlord that stands to gain from the resumption of civil war that was paused for 20 years... you're probably a million miles from being content if you're an Afghan right now. Especially if you're not Pashtun or worked with the US/allies, because then you've likely got a target on your back - those are who the Taliban will go after next. And any woman in Afghanistan is facing a severe rollback of their rights. This is a bad time to be an "ordinary" Afghan if you're in Afghanistan. And that's why I think that interview with the Taliban spokeperson and Iran's Press TV is strange/amusing because the Taliban spokesperson seems way more grounded in reality than the Iranian propagandist (although maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that ) - the Taliban spokesperson seems to recognise that when given the opportunity to get the fuck out of Afghanistan right now, Afghans are taking the opportunity to leave the Taliban and their oppression. The Iranian guy saying "This wouldn't happen in Iran" is ignoring that shitloads of Iranians that live under maybe less repression that Afghans face under the Taliban... but similar repression itself... want to get the fuck away from their government's rule and into the West. That's literally how my mum and uncles ended up in the UK and how I've got Iranian family scattered all throughout Europe now... and why the members of my family who are still there are desperate to get the fuck out by any means they can. But what's happening in Afghanistan is sort of us dealing with the US's foreign policy coming round to bite them in the arse again. They bare a lot of responsibility for the existence of the Taliban (and Al Qaeda) in the first place... and honestly, so many of the issues with stability and peace in the region can be traced back to some really really really shit decisions the US and/or the UK made during the Cold War. As citizens of Western countries and as participants in free western elections... we should be asking more of our elected officials who are representing us and who's policy mistakes lead to chaos that we then have to deal with in the future. We're privileged to live in democratic countries where we have a huge amount of freedom and political choice compared to other people. Sadly, I don't think it'll ever happen though because to most people in the West... the policy decisions made for the Middle East are so far removed from so many of them and we have a whole host of our own issues at home to worry about. And that's without even taking into account how partisan politics has become and how many people treat politics like supporting a football team. But imo, anyone living in the West that's concerned with stability or peace in the Middle East (and a part of that is stopping the spread of Islamic extremism, which does impact us outside the Middle East as well) should be asking for more accountability from our political leaders & should care about what the fuck sorts of foreign policy decisions we make.

What a turn of events - we are signing Marvin Ducksch, after all!

Salah, Mane and Henderson all up in 2023. Hopefully get all three sorted

The wife gave me the evil eye when I told her, looks like porridge for breakfast and 1 bolled egg for tea until I lose some weight, sad days ahead, just ordered my beef curry & egg fried rice as my last supper, sad days ahead, again.

I've been dead inside to this sort of thing since the year the Bahrain GP went ahead behind closed doors during the civil war, and when they showed no footage of the Force India cars in qualifying (and vitally, their sponsors) because they "boycotted" one of the practice sessions for safety reasons after a team member got involved in some sort of incident outside the circuit, daring to allow the sport to be seen in a negative light. You can't really blame the drivers. What are they to do about it? It isn't their job either. Starting any sort of movement to raise awareness is already more than they "have" to do and it's more than what was being done 5 years ago. Be grateful for the progress at least, no matter how small and belated it might be.

Also, I don't think the reports of Massoud surrendering the Panjshir Valley are true. Mostly because of this: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/23/the-two-men-challenging-the-taliban-in-afghanistan

That sounds like a brutal signing. It's not even like it's an opportunity to develop under a new manager - it's still Nuno. Being generous, I think he could be a useful wingback for games against minnows. Unsure if that is worth £40m.

CM Punks a better heel than a face. They'll have go through the heels in the first year and then the faces in the second year.

What do you mean "Even me"? I don't hate AEW by nature, I just don't see them as the savior of wrestling. The company to save us from WWE that lives off the back of WWEs cast aways. Remember how AEW was gonna make Spears and Rusev the stars they deserved to be? Didn't happen because Spears is a competent jobber and Ru Ru was only as good as Aiden English made him. AEW is better run than WWE, but that's like saying your honda civic is faster than a go kart And yes I thought it was a well handled return

Hope they bought you some new jeans x

Finished The North Water earlier today, really enjoyed it. A perfectly executed mini series with a good story, interesting characters, and amazing cast - Collin Farrell, Jack O'Connell, Stephen Graham, and Peter Mullan. Just started Reservation Dogs now, a new dark comedy series from Taika Waititi! About a bunch of indigenous teens looking for ways to leave the reservation and go to California. Loved the pilot, a unique setting with a unique set of characters. Also Zahn McClarnon is in it!

it's out now, the reviews aren't great though... Still will probably give it a chance.

Having seen what you eat for lunch and dinner, I really cannot think why they've come to that conclusion

Poor kid.

That's Killer Kross .