SirBalon

Bastard.

When Casemiro was asked yesterday after the match against Roma by a journalist; "Do you feel Modrić is in a good position to win the next Ballon d'Or?" Casemiro answers; "Modrić? No, I wouldn't give it to Modrić, I'd give it to Cristiano! (Ronaldo)" It looks like the guy that plays closest to Modrić (could say he's his partner on the field) during the whole year doesn't value him as highly as others have been. I bet that's gone down like a dream in the Real Madrid dressing room and even more so than the man that thinks marketing all the time with Florentino Pérez.

I’ve managed to be Steve McQueen for cheaper than both of you!

I love that car and I’ve thought plenty of going in for it. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

Steve McQueen and his Persol sunglasses.

This song by a famous Neapolitan singer called Pino Daniele is something special in my opinion. Full of the passion and art one could ever muster for where he was born. The song is called Napule (Naples in Neapolitan slang). It doesn't matter whether you understand it or not, give it a listen because the lament will be understood by all anyhow.

Here’s more or leas what all the Madrid papers are headlining as a quote mate. Have you read the whole article in the Daily Mail because I haven’t as of yet and I’m curious as to find out where they’ve got that from.

Gareth Bale in an interview with the Daily Mail has left this headline reverberating in the Madrid based sports pages this morning; "Without Cristiano Ronaldo we are more of a team and the football is more enjoyable"

Wonderful pictures @JOSHBRFC mate. Brings back incredible memories and the most emotional moment of my life. Nothing beats that and the happiness you just can't measure.

Get as much food into you coz there ain’t nothing like that here in the UK mate.

Just to add... I could easily live there.

Yeah they’re amazing! Each bar has a speciality in their version of pintxo. I love doing the bar crawl and having one in each bar with a glass of Txakoli. What did you think if the Playa de la Concha? It’s beautiful!

What are you wearing today?

Ok... One of the world's best restaurants called Arzak (the name of the chef) is there amongst a few others but it'd be practically impossible to get a table there at such short notice. But if you go to the side streets behind the main church after you've walked past the beach, those back streets are full of tapas bars, some of the best tapas ever and any one you go into is amazing with each one having its own speciality. If I were you I'd do a crawl of those bars and not stay in just one of them. Oh... And have Txakoli (the local white wine) with your tapas where they pour it from a distant hight with a mini valve on the bottle head. It's amazing mate and you won't go wrong!

How long are you there for mate and what are you looking for? Tapas are the incredible there and then there are a few of the world's best restaurants but they aren't cheap. San Sebastián is regarded as the gastronomy capital of Europe.

What I'm really happy about and something that's always been a drag for me eternally with the England national team is that I'm not hearing any dissent (credible dissent) on Gareth Southgate. When we think of where England were and what was compared to now, there's a massive difference and it's a positive one too. Im hoping it stays that way and that everyone (mainly the press) let him work and slowly bring through those young players. He has what he has to work with and he can't turn footballers into magicians.

All bananas have seeds in them Nudge... The wilder the better!

Anything other than 20° minimum and I'm moaning. 5° is freezing for me mate!

I don't like extreme heat and I hate the cold mate. Looks like the only stable place for me with 25° almost all year round (+ in the summer obviously) is the Canary Islands. Doesn't get tropical storms either which is a vital point.

See if you can blow some of that hot air in this direction as we enter Autumn in these lands. I'm honestly contemplating taking early retirement to somewhere where the weather is stable and warm (not hot) all year round.

You haven't lived if that's the only fish you eat mate. Turbot, Monkfish, John Dory and Halibut are all amazing fish. I also love Sardines only when in season.

The crest on your profile is practically that club mate. as for this debate, it's an ongoing one we've all had plenty of times. We all know commercialism fuelled by marketing is what changed the face of football because no club with a relatively decent status that isn't one of the elite (elite because it also comes into the what's a "big club" depiction) can hold onto any young talent that's starting to make recognised progress. Media coverage and a more professional and detailed football dedicated journalism (professional in their field) doesn't let any club hide anything so as to build what was once known as a golden era. Clubs used to be measured by history. Not only on what they won but because football association clubs anywhere in Europe had a massive local identity, well history was also marked by great deeds believe it or not. You mentioned not too long ago a simple recognition Internazionale in Italy made back in the day that marked them as different and progressive which is something historically recordable while for example Arsenal Football Club's deeds in WWII. Many clubs have stories to tell and although I'm not up on Chelsea's history, I'm sure they have too! None of many clubs are a Paris Saint-Germain who for me are a genuine Mickey Mouse football club. They have absolutely no association other than their crest and positioning to the this torn of their local demographic. Obviously going onto win trophies and marking footballing eras adds to all of this which can be then looked upon to be nostalgia mixed in with glory and historical pride. Clubs all over Europe have a kind of mythical status like in Spain where for example Recreativo de Huelva is known as "El Decano" because they're the oldest official Spanish football club started by English steel workers (as were most clubs in Spain especially in the north of the country). Athletic Bilbao are recognised as a big club in Spain and yet they haven't won a major trophy (let's ignore the Supercopa de España they won a few years back against Barça) in decades... But you won't find anyone anywhere in Spain trying to refute in an argument that they aren't a massive club... Add all their history attached to their identity and local pride (as I mentioned in the previous paragraph) to that status, but it isn't just that. Here in England people are very proud of the history attached to the game with the clubs. It's as if everything has a meaning, everything has an important story to tell with characters that in many cases made a mark not only for the associative local club but to the local demographic. It's for this reason, the knowledge behind all of this that you have such a defensive stance when getting into these types of debates. It's as if when someone from outside the walls of the league shows a passion for one of their clubs that those that are within the walls also want some respect for the past and also the global significance behind the national game and how it came to be and grow. It's as if someone is telling you "you can't just support my club without knowing its history and learning to love and understand that history" but that they then set you some more homework once you've done that and ask you "please learn more about our game and how things came to be which is why all of these small details from rivalries to the characters that moved somewhere else to then feed their melancholy". It's all very detailed and extremely complicated. When you are brought up in a country with a rich football culture and you in turn are interested and want to join the fold... You automatically lap up every small detail that in most cases ends up taking you on a travel around the nation's football and it's history. I have to say that you being someone from overseas, you always make an effort to learn and understand what all of this is about. All of what I've just said... You join the dots! I've noticed this and that creates a big modem of respect amongst football fans. It's an unsaid thing that this is a requirement if you get my meaning. Football is old and it has a hell of a lot of meaning behind it. It's the reason it's so important to football fans and so different to any other sport. It's like a never ending novel but unfortunately that novel has now been turned into a blockbuster popcorn movie without anyone having ever asked those that cherish it's meaning if they wanted this. Let me just finish with this... We all get possessive about many things in life. Humans are like that even in matrimony with their spouse unfortunately. We think we own things but most of the time this isn't actually true. It's worse for men too!

During October it looks like there's going to be a more than interesting sequence of games all after another... Sevilla then Inter Milan and then Real Madrid. Not bad!

Talk about UEFA feeding the conspiracy with the belief on match fixing!