One of my faves from that era. Scrappy little shit but on his day as skilful as any in the league.

Sounds good to me! More of a golden yellow than the mustard affair we had under the Keant.

Morocco giving it a go in all fairness.

I thought people in the UK liked Russ Abbott?

How the hell was that not another penalty?

So far a fantastic World Cup, loads of upsets!

Personally think this group of players will stand a better chance of getting to the semis than our golden generation did. Mostly because: 1- Many been managed by Gareth Southgate lower down the England setup. They know what he expects and what to expect from him. 2- Many of them are (or have been) teammates at club level, and not necessarily in teams full of egos and prima donnas. I think a dose of humility will do us good in this competition, especially as it has already lowered the pressure from our fans and media.

I read it as a halfway house between the traditional scouting model and moneyball.

I don't see where this so called pressure comes from. The context of the 'I would like signings in ready for pre-season' is just common sense. The tone in which it was delivered was along the lines of 'if not, then as soon as possible'. Only people inviting pressure are on this mb.

Hmmm, that does make sense. But it feels much more like cheating than taking advantage of the rules. I thought the moving ball rule applied to a ball in play, not a ball being dropped. As you say though, the rules (as far as I'm aware) have been fully applied so it's hard for me to objectively argue.

That documentary was a bit of an eye-opener for me. I didn't realise just how AWFULLY successive managers had been treated by the Press in the 90s. Nor did I realise what a @#/? Hoddle was.

Very disappointed in Mickelson and i hope he has the courage to admit wrongdoing and apologise.

He should be crucified for that!

Macheda at Utd. Now it's Macheda who?

By the end of June last year (in a year of rebuilding a squad) we signed a total of 4 players: Whitt, Smallwood, Dack, Gladwin. Whitt and Smallwood were easy as unwanted/out-of-contract. Gladwin was (I suspect) intended as Dack's back-up. So as we are now spending money (allegedly) I'd rather we took our time. I'd personally like to see at least 2 guys in by pre-season. Let's also not forget that the lack noise before transfers tends to correlate with better transfers for us.

My Dad. Played in the same team as Mike Summerbee growing up and was selected alongside him for trials at a few clubs. Old school reports say he was brilliant but lacked the determination to really improve. Dad says that's what Summerbee had over him despite (so he believed) being a better player at school level.

It's way too fucking loud! I'm getting tinnitus here!

Anyone know what the earliest ever day is in which we have made a signing? I think it was Chris Taylor in 2013. Club revealed he was signing on May 16th, although ofc it still didn't go through until July 1st.

Inter wouldn't have occurred to me til after checking Real, Barca, Juventus, and Milan ?

We both got it eventually ?

But those 86 and 90 aren't Inter players, they're Bayern. I tried juventus and got stuck at either the 90 final. Amazing how many top teams are so well represented!

On top of that, their education courses related through the club (be it football, press, hospitality etc) have made them a genuine top class brand even outside football. God, I'm off to wallow for a bit

Colin Murray a multimillionaire? Really?

A lot of 'Germany' finals, so probably Bayern Munich is one. Real Madrid the other? 1982 had Rummenigge, Breitner, Dremmler for Bayern, probably others. Real had Stielike (West Germany). 1986, Bayern had Rummenigge (West Germany). Real had Valdano (Argie). 1990, Bayern had Augenthaler (West Germany), Real had Ruggeri (Argie) 1994, Bayern had Jorginho (Brazil), Real had OH BOLLOCKS I SPENT AGES LOOKING, AT LEAST I GOT BAYERN RIGHT! 1998, Real had Ronaldo and Carlos (Brazil), Bayern had Lizarazu (France). 2002, Real had Ronaldo (Brazil), Bayern had Kahn (Germany) 2006, Bayern had Ribery (France). Real had Zidane (France). 2010, Real had Ramos etc (Spain), Bayern had Robben (Holland). 2014, Real had DiMaria (Argie), Bayern had Neuer and others (Germany). Must surely be Juventus then?

It'll be Mowbray saying: 'Fuck off, pie boy. Johnno does all the work round here and we could do with your wage freeing up.' or something...