Dr. Gonzo

It’s hard not to slate the fuck out of VAR with each wrong decision. It’s technology that was supposed to make less controversy with refereeing decisions and bring some consistency to refereeing - it’s failed pretty miserably just a few months in. To be honest though, I’m not surprised at all. Aside from the officials being total dogshit in this country, Mike Riley is in charge of all of the officials in this country. To me that’s absolutely astounding that one of the most controversial referees of all time gets to oversee all referees and was in charge of VAR’s implementation in England. Step one to improving VAR is sacking Mike Riley.

Duncan Ferguson can’t be a football manager because he’s scared of the media. Which I always found hilarious because he’s just a yob

Also at what point are they going to say “hey Ed, pack your things and get the fuck out of this club?”

I don't give a fuck about what happens to Sterling tbh as long as the shitbag never plays for us again lol

How much longer are United going to stick with Ole? Almost getting 3 points after being shit for 70 minutes against Sheffield United, only to then not get those 3 points... I mean there's obviously something encouraging about the fightback there. And how the young players looked to be more arsed than the seasoned professionals... But at what point do United say "well we've spent a lot of fucking money, we sacked one of the world's most highly rated managers to bring this guy in, and this guy's got us looking worse than we were at this stage last season - it's time for him to go." I know he's a club legend... but I don't think he's shown any sort of tactical genius or long term plan. I think he's just a guy who'll have a positive face and always tell the players "do your best lads!" before kickoff and always say "well done lads!" after each match. It's all well and good to always be talking about the future and saying "oh this isn't great now, but we're building a solid foundation for the future" - but you've also spent a shitload of money in the present day not seeing any immediate improvement. And that doesn't bode well for spending money again in the future. So is this Sheffield United result a good result for Ole? Or a bad one? Good - because we saw a spirited fightback after they were shite for most of the match? Or bad because United once again looked fucking shite for most of 90 minutes, despite almost getting 3 points?

Tbf, I'd say at least 2 of those are fairly large rebuilds themselves.

They have no chance of getting Poch do they? Because if they could throw a lot of money at him, maybe they could convince him... even though he's probably looking at clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid (before the CL final, he was staying stuff like "maybe I'll stay in Madrid after the final" - so I do think the wants a big job in Spain), but ya know... money talks. Give Poch a long contract and back him, and he'll build Everton up - I have no doubt in my mind. But the question is... would Poch go them? Yeah he's just been sacked, but I'd say overall his stock and reputation are still pretty fucking high. Tbf, those benefits of being young, English and having the "fairytale" story are all pretty good traits when you're dealing with the media - and keeping the media singing your praises I think is a good way to buy some longevity at a club where there's a lot of work to be done and there may be setbacks on the way. I know Everton have been poor this season and have just come off the back of an inexcusable loss - but it does seem like Silva was pretty rapidly under pressure this season, after I think most Evertonians would say he'd done a pretty decent job in his first season. And I think both the manager and the squad have felt that pressure just grow and grow as the season get on. And I think the media's been happy to not give Silva any excuses because to them... it really doesn't make a difference. A managerial sacking and new appointment is just more stories for them. For a long-term project where you might not have things always go your way, and you may have periods of bad form, it might actually be good to have someone the media considers a darling at the club as a manager. It goes both ways though, because when Hodgson was at Liverpool and clearly not a good fit, we had the media constantly backing him and journos tweeting out how Liverpool fans were delusional and that we should just take looking like relegation battlers on the chin - sometimes the media keeps a man that shouldn't be keeping his job in. I can't really defend Silva though - their form this season has been so poor considering how they ended the last season. It's probably around the right time to sack him. I think Howe plays good football and has the media goodwill that has the makings of being able to come in and make changes with stability for a period of years. And he's an Everton fan.

Yeah but the San Siro being pretty empty all the time now, compared to what it used to be is a pretty good way of showing how TV's played a part in keeping people at home while ticket prices are expensive.

Nah now he's carried by Vardy

Yeah probably, but that's Rodgers fault for ever opening his mouth about anything after he's asked a question tbh

Nah I fucking wish. There are few people in football I hate as much as Brendan Rodgers. Genuinely despise the fucker.

That he "never considered leaving" - no shite mate, you weren't fucking asked to leave.

He's talking about how great he and Leicester are, instead of just saying "there's nothing to talk about it". I get it, you both like Rodgers and I fucking hate the cunt, so you're going to see it differently to me.

Yeah, now look at their players' wages - he's very cheap considering the ambition of the club.

I think he's just bullshitting that he was in contention for the job, because he's Rodgers and he likes to big himself up every chance he gets

I honestly doubt the fuck out of that. Levy is notoriously cheap - he's just spent a lot of money sacking Poch. He's also going to have to pay a new manager. Mourinho's got the better pedigree and was unattached to any side since being sacked last year - and literally hours after the Poch sacking we heard rumours hat Levy and Mourinho's agents were in talks and a deal was "close." I can't imagine him spending all that money to sack Poch, then being willing to pay Leicester for their manager, then giving Rodgers what would likely be a big pay rise for him. I also imagine if any club came in for Rodgers right now, he'd tell them to wait until the end of the season. Top 4 with Leicester will look good on his CV.

Wtf is he talking about lol. I don't think Spurs were ever in for him for a second - they sacked Poch and promptly went for Mourinho. Granted, this is the man who said that Milner joined his Liverpool side "because he wanted to win the Champions League" - and it's all well and good saying that after we've just won the Champions League with Milner and we're about to play Leicester... other than the fact that when Milner joined us, Rodgers had fucking ruined the side and we were total dogshit and nowhere near being a Champions League winning side. He's a man of baffling media quotes.

Don't understand how she's taking a picture of him protesting against Apartheid and then using it to say that Corbyn's a racist. Apartheid was racist as fuck, protesting against it is... protesting against racism.

The last time I saw Sabbath, which was on their third and final farewell tour (I caught them 2/3 times as they were saying farewell lol, which is great because never in my life did I think I'd see Sabbath twice), I thought it was very funny when Ozzy said: "We love you! God bless you all! …. This next one is GOD IS DEAD!"

Sadly, I do think you're underestimating how much TV has taken over and killed football. Compare Inter Milan or AC Milan's Serie A attendances from the 1990s to now... or not even now, just 10 years ago and it's pretty similar to now. You see an almost packed San Siro to a noticeably not packed San Siro. Having said that, I do think your plan of cheap tickets for people that live around the ground is a great idea. I'd maybe boost it to more than a mile, maybe include certain postcodes? But the local fans are the backbone of every club and it's shit to see how many local fans are priced out.

I wasn't sure if I was going to watch it before yesterday. Now I 100% am - you know the Poch to Mourinho switch is going to make for some good TV for sure.

https://www.givemesport.com/1523136-jose-mourinho-claimed-in-2015-that-he-would-never-take-the-tottenham-job I guess that's why you never say never

Robertson and Salah out of the Palace match.

If that doesn't explicitly break any election laws... it fucking should. A new low for Tories, astounding how far they'll go to prove they're the most morally reprehensible party around.

@Fairy In Boots - I'm not don't really want to touch the socialism shite, I don't think we'll ever really agree - especially as you want to be rid of the NHS in favour of a system more aligned to what they've got in the US, which is an absolute disaster if you're a perfectly healthy person (and allows for US drug prices to be absolutely ridiculous, compared to countries where the state's healthcare system negotiates with drug manufacturers for prices that aren't fucking unreasonable). I think there needs to be a healthy mix of social programs that actually benefit ordinary people, while still promoting capitalism. I think where we might both agree regarding social safety-nets (although maybe not, given you want us to follow in America's footsteps for healthcare) is the government shouldn't be giving handouts to industries & let the market decide if unhealthy businesses live or die. But let's put that aside for a second and talk about that internet plan. But regarding the internet... I'm not so sure Iran's example is the best example of the dangers of a nationalised broadband structure. Primarily because Iranian internet... isn't nationalised. People have had their internet shut off despite the fact they pay a monthly fee (granted, much lower than what we pay) to their ISP. That's more a danger of living under authoritarian rule. And if we want to talk about which party is more authoritarian regarding the internet... I do believe it was the Tories that wanted to ban porn? If we want to avoid a slide into authoritarian rule... we've got to make sure that our politicians can be held properly accountable when they do bad things. Right now, I'm not really convinced that's the case tbh. Broadband's only really viable as a private industry thanks to government subsidies. And all the providers are selling is access to Openreach - which, yeah, it's owned by BT... but the framework for Openreach was paid for by the taxpayer & continues to be paid for by the taxpayer in the form of government subsidies. And I'm pretty sure Openreach started out of a settlement because BT was throttling other providers access and giving them a shit connection so customers would feel compelled to switch to BT. So in my eyes, that's the best argument for government provided broadband. But I can think of many reasons to be wary of the internet being provided by the government: 1.) shitloads of people would likely lose jobs, 2.) chances are government tech support would be absolutely dogshit and private entities are better positioned to provide technical support to people who'll need it - which happens hundreds (if not thousands) of times per day across the country, 3.) given recent government positions on the internet... I'm not sure I trust them with internet regulation. Personally, I think the cons outweigh the pros here - especially with the Brexit uncertainty, this is no time to be floating policy ideas that might lead to massive layoffs in a particular sector in the UK. But I would not mind if the fact it's being floated as a political idea would put some pressure on ISPs to drop prices- because broadband providers really aren't doing much in the way of innovation or providing great services & need government assistance to be profitable.