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I can only use my mobile for the internet atm, Virgin Media broadband have issues in this area of Leith where we live, can't get any broadband on our laptops. Pissing myself laughing though as the wife can't get her Facebook farm game on her mobile, only on her laptop which won't work. Nice not to hear animal's like sheep bla-ing, pigs snorting or horses neighing, heaven.

@Dr. Gonzo have you become SirBalon overnight?

In Australia

Seems like every day and we get news of yet another horrific war crime. Often each day's war crime is worse than the last. I thought the news of mining evacuation corridors was grim... but bombing a childrens hospital is about as evil as it gets.

@SirBalon and I both agree that I am just a cheap imitation I am Balon-lite, at best

United also sign players without really thinking about what their impact on the pitch in the short and long term will be. I think a prime example of that is signing Ronaldo purely to stop City from signing him - world class player on paper but he doesn't really fit in with what United really needed from a striker. Or signing Harry Maguire for an insane fee to "make a statement." There's other examples too, but those are easy ones to pick out. Pep and Klopp sign players that fit in with their systems. There is a desired way of playing and the players are targeted based off how well they'd fit into their respective systems. That's also why last season with all of our many injuries, we looked extra shite and went on a terrible run of results (the worst in our club's history, strangely enough) - the injuries caused our system to break down and we had no real answer to that until we had enough players that we could get back to the platform of how we generally play. I don't think Solksjaer ever really did that - first off, it seemed all of the positives of Solksjaer were in his man-management skills and being the "nice guy" to come in after Mourinho went fully toxic on them. Secondly, Solksjaer's not really the sort of manager that I'd call a brilliant tactician. And I think his signings reflected players that were brought in for other reasons rather than how they'd impact his tactics (other than Ighalo & Bruno Fernandes imo, maybe a case for Cavani too). And with Klopp (and even Pep tbh, I think he had a disapointing first season considering the squad he inherited and his reputation as being the most influential manager of this generation)... they didn't come in and find their squads immediately easy to work with to get playing at the level we expect of those clubs now. It's not so easy to say "well with United's expensive squad they should be performing a lot better" because if money was all that mattered, United would be a lot better than they are right now. They've not had a manager that's proven they're a good fit in modern club football for a long while now, van Gaal was passed his prime as a top club manager by several years - his last season at Bayern Munich was considered a big failure. Mourinho was maybe a better shout, but his tactics hadn't evolved from when he was still a top manager and football had moved on. Solksjaer I think did a good job in clearing out the toxicity Mourinho left... but he should never have been given the job full time because he just tactically is not the kind of manager you can hope to gain success with at a top club. Ralph Rangnick's got the pedigree in terms of building up a football club, as a manager and behind the scenes, but let's be realistic... he's never managed a club with the weight of expectation like United. So tactically he's probably got the right sort of ideas for United... but he's also managing far bigger egos and far more expectant fans than I think he's ever had to deal with in his life. And at the end of the day, I think the players deserve the brunt of criticism from people after so many years of failing with so many different managers. If we believe the reports that United players are unsettled by not knowing if Rangnick's staying or not... it looks a bit like this. Mourinho: "he's too mean" Solksjaer: "he's too nice" Rangnick: "we aren't sure if we like him or not because we don't know if he's staying" and the reports of comparing his assistant to Ted Lasso... it just strikes me as a bunch of players who think they're better than they are because they are at Manchester United, that know that if they play poorly they're probably safe and the manager will get the axe. Couple that with players like Pogba, who's inconsistent as fuck and doesn't really have the mentality you'd expect of a talented top level player with his reputation, or Ronaldo, who sulk and/or kick out when things aren't going their way, or players like Maguire who can play consistently poorly but act like they're the hottest shit around, Lingard who's upset he didn't get to move when he wanted being reportedly the source of numerous leaks from the dressing room to undermine management, etc... I'm just not sure they've got the right mix of people to be at a club that's expected to win things at the top level. tl;dr - I think there's a mix of reasons why United haven't done well despite having an expensive squad with lots of good players on paper. For too long there's been no semblance of a tactical plan for United in the short term or building a club's identity up - until this season (and even then, who knows if Rangnick's the man for the job), too many players that think they're at United because they're good enough when they aren't, and too many shit attitudes within the squad. United need both a short term plan & a short term plan, as well as a clearout of players that either aren't good enough or have shit attitudes (or both).

Kinda expected, but it will nevertheless be a huge boost to medical research on transplantation. He also got two months that he wouldn't have had otherwise, so still a win, imo...

And the only place you stop in is Morecambe...

Shackleton's Endurance has finally been found after 106 years and it's in an incredibly pristine state.

Yeah it's not just a nuclear exchange that would kill people everywhere. Prolonging the war means causing shortages in global supply of food and resources, catastrophic for world. And this particular region Ukraine-Russia is a breadbasket. Millions died in Bengal because of food shortages due to WW2.

I was supposed to fly out yesterday, but got some good news that she was now “awake” - my dad said she’d be having a procedure. Apparently that’s gone well and she’s doing much better. Got to FaceTime with her and she assured me I don’t have to rush out. So that’s some good news in a time of mostly shit news!

Good thread seeing my old man was a sailor in the subs during the war and in the merchant navy after WWll _______________________________________________________________________ I have mentioned this before one of the greatest experiences and a nostalgic one for me was when we emigrated to Australia in 1960 and we went by ship, the SS Himalaya, 6 weeks at sea and we stopped at Gibraltar, Port Said and Aden and through the Suez canal. And the funniest site we saw was an Arab dressed all in white and sitting in the sand with his cloak pulled up having a crap, we all yelled at him having a good laugh and waving to him and he stood up and waved back then continued where he had left doing his bit in the sand, I was only 11 years old then. But it was a brilliant time, when we crossed the equator the captain of the ship dressed up as King Neptune and sat on a pole stretched across the swimming pool with a pillow and we all took turns and slid across the pole and tried to knock him off with a pillow. We all were classed as emigrants so we were all allocated at the stern of the ship and paying passengers were at the front of the bow, many a time as kids we sneaked into the front end of the ship for a runaround and got chased back by sailors on duty. SS Himalaya When we were at primary school in the 50's our class spent a day travelling to London and a tour of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich.