Smiley Culture

I'd imagine that most games are pay-on-the-day unless it's like a big game (I imagine Salford v FC United, for example). I think there might be a slightly bigger crowd at Salford than normal because it's "Non-League Day" next weekend but that shouldn't effect you getting a ticket.

Storm have been sensational. They're a superhuman team with three of the best players of all time in their ranks in Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith. Cowboys have been phenomenal to get to the Final but this is one game too far. They looked shot out there today.

Have the police taken/taking action against Stokes or even the people who threatened whoever it was with a bottle?

Fabian Delph in the England side? Two things, 1) I'd forgotten he existed and 2) has he even been playing games recently?

These "hunters" could potentially jeopardise wider investigations into these people and I can see why the police might get the hump.

I can sympathise with him a bit here because I've seen the devastation a glass bottle can cause. It's not something I've posted about before because I try and keep things private on here but also because I'm not really looking for attention or sympathy and because it sounds a bit bullshitty, though I can assure you it's not. In June, a 71 year-old relative was smashed over the head with a bottle in a bar for allegedly bumping into someone at the bar (he didn't and CCTV has proven it). The bouncer of the bar threw the 48 year-old out and upon trying to apprehend him, the 48 year-old still had the neck of the bottle in his hand and he stabbed a 39 year-old relative with it, what I thought at the time was his neck. I've genuinely never seen as much blood as that and I honestly thought we were going to lose him and it turns out that we weren't far from it, the police were panicking and urging the ambulance to hurry up at one point. Attacking people with a weapon, or even threatening to, is awful and I can totally understand the anger it would cause and I'm quite glad the lad(s) got a bit of a pasting whilst also being disarmed. In this Stokes' case, I don't know how much he can get away with as 'defending himself' because once the attacker has become unarmed and the weapon is at a "safe" (that's a subjective term) distance away from everyone, I'm not sure how much he'll be able to use as a defence.

Seems to be a lot of those 'Paedophile Hunters' catching people near where I live and exposing them on social media. They caught a bloke who owns a clothes shop yesterday and surprise, surprise the shop was covered in graffiti and eggs and flour this morning. I don't get them Paedophile Hunters. Alright, they do a good job catching people who would have otherwise gone undetected but I find them a bit "look at me, give us praise" when they expose people on social media, is there actually any need? They could quite easily collate all the evidence and just hand it to police rather than going looking for likes on social media.

APOEL v TOTTENHAM Spartak Moscow v LIVERPOOL £6 @ 11/10 returns £12.60 Borussia Dortmund v REAL MADRID MANCHESTER CITY v Shakhtar Donetsk £3 returns £8.46

Yeah, I'd be hugely surprised to see anyone but England finish 2nd. That either means they beat Australia in their own back yard or flop against the French or Lebanese, which would almost certainly see Wayne Bennett sacked. Group C is a funny one. Wales did excellently in 2013 but I don't know if they'll replicate that, a shed load of Australians are going to declare themselves Irish anytime now and PNG should be strong, especially on their own patch.

Quality, any idea what games you're seeing?

He's possibly the only human being in the world to be done for fly-tipping on his own land. Still, it's working, Billericay are top of the Bostik Premier (Ryman Premier in old money).

Apparently not.

Google Billericay mural and Billericay dressing room if you want a laugh.

People already wanting Steve Davis sacked at Orient, pathetic.

Doesn't really sound like a bomb, based on the fact that the bucket and the bag haven't exploded into pieces and the arrival of the Hazardous Area Teams, which doesn't seem normal for a bomb incident. Whatever it is, it's a massive shame and really hits home that it can happen at any time, especially as someone who commutes via the Tube on a daily basis. Fingers crossed the people who have suffered from this are getting the best medical help and recover from their injuries.

Stevenage v Crawley Town - OVER 8 CORNERS @ 2/5 - £10 returns £14.00 Manchester United v FC Basel, Barcelona v Juventus & Accrington Stanley v Grimsby Town - OVER 1.5 GOALS - £5 returns £9.00

I think expectations need to be brought in line with the present. If this was the England side that Sven or even Fabio Capello had, I'd understand the heightened expectation but this is Southgate's side, captained by Jordan Henderson, with Joe Hart in goal and you're best players being Dele Alli and Harry Kane (which isn't meant as a negative). It's hardly like this squad is that good in terms of quality in comparison to squads that had Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney or that the record England have in major tournaments is that good that expectation should be through the roof. Look at this side, Gareth Southgate has almost had his hands tied in terms of selection of strikers, Jermain Defoe has been picked despite not starting the season on the pitch at Bournemouth, that's how poor the player pool is for the England national side at the minute. I get the performance may have been boring but it sounds like England were in control for the whole game and didn't look in danger of conceding or being put under much pressure at all. As I said, I didn't watch but I imagine the facilities in Malta weren't great, I imagine the pitch was probably quite hard and wasn't what you'd expect in England. I also don't get Southgate's comment about wanting England to "excite" Wembley against Slovakia tonight either. I get why he wants to do that, I'm sure every England fan out there would like to be entertained whether they're sat at Wembley or sat at home tonight but again, does Southgate have the players at his disposal to play an entertaining, exciting brand of Football that also provides results? That's subjective and I'd argue that no, he doesn't and he should play similarly to the way he's set out so far in his tenure and concentrate on qualification over a brand of Football that isn't conducive to the current setup of the England national team.

Given the players England have at their disposal and had available for the matches against Malta and Slovakia, what do they expect?

Right, I didn't see this Malta game and can't comment on the performance in any real depth but all I've seen is "underperforming", "underwhelming" and the like used to describe the match by journalists. I'm not really sure what more they expect. England went to Malta, won convincingly, remain unbeaten, remain on course for an appearance at the World Cup next year, kept a clean sheet and come through the game without any injuries, what else did the media want?

Really? I expect more dull football, walking qualifiers against inferior nations and ultimately complete rubbish at tournaments and in this UEFA Nations League thing.

Is this the line we're going with over the 'fresh, new, young squad' line that was peddled out for Euro 2016?

My initial thought was shock but then I spent time trying to think of someone else worthy of an England call-up that hasn't been picked and I come up with very few names. Danny Drinkwater and Ross Barkley are injured, Jack Wilshere's returning from injury and slapping teenagers and that leaves the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Mark Noble and the like.

Is that the worst England squad selected of all time? I genuinely can't remember seeing an England squad selection with so few stand out players. That said, there are very few other options than those selected and even fewer players of a certain quality available to England any more.

Fulham can also get fucked because there was only 10 corners in their game, not 11 as I needed.

Trying something different tonight with £4 left in my Bet365 account; Accrington Stanley v West Bromwich Albion - Over 10 Corners Fulham v Bristol Rovers - Over 10 Corners £4 returns £11.84