Funnily enough, without checking any of the odds of the required or doing any actual maths, I'm in the match thread after Sunday saying I think we have about a 20% chance of going down if we don't get any more points (told my mum the other day I reckoned it was 20-30%). My instinct and your method seem roughly aligned.

He didn't notice. Before the game he said it wasn't 'must win'.

I think that when Eustace said he was a 'no excuses' coach, what he meant is that you don't need excuses when you just pretend that everything is always absolutely fine and live in la la land instead.

Thought he was at fault for the first goal too. He needed to come out for it, but he should have tried to send it out of play, and should have immediately sprinted back to goal when that didn't happen. Before anyone says I have it in for Pears, I just call it as I see it game by game. For one thing I didn't blame him for a single one of Bristol's 5 goals, and thought he was very reliable against Leeds and a deserved MotM. Today was back to being Captain Ballsup.

I can see that. Musk is an absolute throbbing bellend, and the idea of putting money in his hands is a major turnoff from the idea of buying a new Tesla (I guess a used one wouldn't do that though). I believe they recently announced they'll be cutting 10% of their global workforce to cut costs, whilst they're also attempting to give Musk about 40 billion I think it is (after a court already said they couldn't). Prick. Can see why you'd compare them to Apple too (a brand that like you I'll never invest in, partly because of the irritating and misguided 'culture of cool' around them, and partly because they're incompatible with everything). Both brands have their fare share of fanboys and like you say, their prices get artifically inflated because of their brand name. In Tesla's case though, this extra cost is more or less offset by them having achieved economies of scale nobody outside of BYD has managed, meaning you genuinely get a better product, often at similar or better prices than similar models from rivals. But, mostly cos of Musk, I hope by the time I can afford an EV everyone else has caught up and I can seriously consider a different brand.

We already know his justification. 'I wanted more money'. The man is a master of false economy.

Nah not for me. Caught out by a slight bobble it seemed (nowhere near as pronounced as the one that took out Flowers though). I've seen similar happen to numerous keepers in the game over the years. But you hardly ever see something as ridiculous as what he did against Wigan. It says a lot that he is probably 2 of the top 3 Rovers keeper fuckups and we've only had him four seasons so far. And this at a club that had Fettis and Walton.

No. It's not even Pears' worst fuckup. Have you forgotten him chucking it in his goal against Wigan?

I'd take the opposite from that. He wants to play too badly, so he's insisting he feels fine when he really should be taking a rest, and keeps getting injured. Probably on the painkillers.

In fairness, I thought Ayari looked interested. Don't remember the other two doing anything.

I'm fairly confident it is. Too many teams between us and the drop still. To go down would likely require: Brum beating Hudds away or Norwich at home. Sheff W beating WBA at home or Sunderland away. Plymouth beating Millwall away or Hull at home (or getting two draws). (Or you could swap Birmingham's for Huddersfield beating them and also beating Ipswich away, but I don't see it) and us losing both games. Even then there's the potential for GD to save us if Brum got beaten convincingly in their other game. I rate our chances of going down at about 20%, if we don't get any more points.

Crazy how he can go from man of the match against Leeds to this shower he turned up today. Not the first time he has done that either, did the same what was it, a couple of months ago? Most keepers gain confidence and consistency from an excellent performance, Pears seems to switch off instead.

He's 17. Now. Last month.

Because we wouldn't have replaced him and would be lining up with 0 goals per game Telalovic instead.

He's 17 btw.

The same batteries are in your phone and your laptop if you have one and it isn't ancient, so are you happy about it?

I like a Ford too. When I learnt to drive about 7 years ago, I really wanted to get a Ford Fiesta for my first car. It would have had to be on finance so I very sensibly bought my mum's old Peugeot instead. I think you've got it wrong about practicality and reliability for EVs though, at least with Teslas. I can't speak to other brands as much, as many use different battery chemistry but moreover I haven't seen as many reviews from former owners as I have with Teslas. The only issue with practicality really is if you wouldn't be able to set up a home charger, in which case yeh I wouldn't consider an EV personally. But if your car is starting every day with in the region of 300 miles after a cheap night time recharge, it's not often you'd need a public charger unless you forgot to plug it in. I think in the 7 years I've been driving, I'd have only needed to use a public charger twice if I had one of those. As for reliability, less moving parts means less things to go wrong and less maintenance. I see you allude to cold weather, which was certainly an issue in older battery chemistries and designs, but the current batteries are far more resistant, and thermal management systems have improved it further. Not really an issue in newer Teslas from the last few years. If I was to consider a different brand I'd have to do my research on them first, some of them are playing catch up.

Depends what you look for in your car really. I agree, I'm not a fan of how Teslas look for the most part, although the Roadster is quite nice, and the Highland is a decent aesthetic improvement for the Model 3. When I drive behind Teslas, I hate how they look with that wide bottom and slimmer top section. That said, I'm probably the opposite to you in that they're potentially the only EV I'd consider. I'm more interested in a car that lasts well, drives well, gets me from A to B best, etc. The looks are less important for me, though nice to have. They also get cheaper access to the super chargers, although that's less of a concern when you're minted. Tesla batteries seem to have the best track record for low degradation though, and for safety, and I get the impression most legacy car makers haven't mastered this yet, or at least not been on the road long enough to be sure. If looks are more your thing, there are plenty of quite nice looking EVs. I thought the Xiaomi (yes the phone company) SU7 recently released in China is very slick, if a slightly derivative design, and with good specs. But apparently they keep crashing! I think the Lucid Air is a lovely, more mature car than the Teslas, with similar or even better specs, but again not out in the UK yet. I like how some of the BYD cars look. Reckon the new Renault 5 will be popular with those who like small hatchbacks. Like you say, money is a huge concern unless you're rich enough that it isn't, but there are some great deals to be had on the used market. In time, it will all improve - looks, affordability, the used market etc. Reckon I'm a good 3-5 years from being able to replace my banger with one!

'Of course, we wanted to keep Sammie, and we offered him a 1% pay rise to stay, but at the end of the day, Luton are a massive club. Sammie wanted to play in the Premiership, and that's just not on the agenda here, so we sold him for £2 million to keep the lights on.' (I'm exaggerating, I think he'll go for about 8 million same as you, and probably could go for around 10 mill if we held out a bit, which we won't)

Little update on this, since the post is over 4 years old. China is now the largest domestic producer of solar energy in the world. Hell, just in 2023 China added more solar capacity (216 GW) than the US had in total (175 GW). It brought them to 609 GW of solar generation. The US was in second place globally with their 175 GW, and after that it drops to 94 GW (India) and beyond. They're streets ahead for this. They also accounted for about 60% of global wind installations, and the belief is their emissions have peaked (ahead of government targets) and will decrease from now on. Furthermore, they build the majority of the world's renewables and are at the forefront of many technological improvements in renewables and battery technology. It shouldn't be forgotten either that a lot of their pollution historically and now is in service of producing goods for the rest of the world, ie us. Russia on the other hand would seem to be a problem, using oil and gas money to fund wars of aggression and conquest.

Labour aren't left wing anymore, if what you were implying is that 'even socialists are promoting growth'.

Well predicted! Starts April 2025. Ridiculously, it seems even EVs that are only two years old will have to pay the standard rate (£190). Not the best way to encourage further EV adoption. Think they should have put it off a bit longer, or at least made it far cheaper. Weirdly though, 'Zero and low emission cars first registered between 1 March 2001 and 30 March 2017 currently in Band A will move to the Band B rate, currently £20 a year'. Bizarre for it to be considerably cheaper tax than a nearly new EV, I guess the thinking is that drivers of EVs that age will be poorer, but somehow the same courtesy isn't given to me for driving my old Peugeot from 2008!

Those are awful numbers, I wouldn't get the electric one either. Honestly, the minivans etc haven't developed to the numbers 'normal' EVs can do yet, due to the weights they carry. That said, the Tesla semi trucks look to have impressive numbers pulling far greater weights. The ridiculous-looking cybertruck can shift too. Toyota haven't really committed to EVs properly yet tbh, despite some good hybrids. There are definitely minivan EVs with much better range than that though, if you're not so partial to the brand you won't shift. In fact I just did a lil google for you and got this list: https://www.fleetalliance.co.uk/business-ev/the-10-electric-vans-with-the-best-range/ Which happens to mention a Toyota Proace Electric that has a 205 mile range (looking at their website, sounds like that drops to 177 miles if you're driving like a maniac in bad weather). Think you were looking at the 50kw battery rather than the 75kw battery. Looks like it has the same crappy top speed though. Personally, I'd probably keep your existing vehicle for another 3 years or so and then re-evaluate what's on the market as I bet EV minivans will have improved markedly by then.

Wow those are long journeys! Am I right in remembering you live in Australia? Full EVs definitely won't meet the case needs of everyone just yet. Although you won't need three hours to recharge a good, modern EV. A Model S for example can charge up to 200 miles in 15 minutes at a supercharger, which you could easily fill with a piss and grabbing a bite to eat. And you could have up to 394 miles to begin with on a full starting charge. It still does mean more recharging time than you'd spend with a petrol or diesel car, but nowhere near the times you're thinking. Of course, the issues then come in two forms: affordability for normal people, who mostly can't come close to affording a brand new Tesla (some very good options on the used market though, with more battery life left than you'd think, but still generally far in excess of many can afford for now - that said, I saw a video where a guy got about 260 miles out of a Tesla he bought for less than £9k, haggled down from £13k, and it had done 450k miles in its life!). And the supercharger network. I've no idea what that's like in somewhere like Australia, with colossal distances between cities, but I bet it's not always great. A normal charger might take you hours, and I agree that's just not practical. The supercharger networks are only going to improve though, and hopefully within a few years you'll be in a position to change your mind. Personally, with everything I've seen about the technological advancements, I'm predicting there'll be commercially available EVs with 1,000 miles of range by the end of 2030. It'll be interesting to come back to this comment in 6 years to see if I was right! Honestly I think it could be as early as 2028.

I would guess it's because they're less efficient. They certainly have their advantages, but like you say they're a bit of a compromise. So it's kind of like, best of both worlds, worst of both worlds. Thing is, if you're filling up your petrol tank, the EV then has to lug that extra weight around, so they're often less efficient than an EV with a similar size battery. If you almost always do short trips before you recharge, it's a bit of a waste. If you do a lot of long range driving, your fossil fuels are lugging that extra battery weight around, as it weighs almost the same when fully discharged. Also, fully discharging your battery isn't great for longevity in most battery chemistries (though not as lethal for them as some make out). I think that compromise made more sense when the EV industry and infrastructure was developing, and range anxiety was more of a thing. Now, chargers and superchargers are far more common, satnavs have them well mapped, and the best EVs can almost get you from Edinburgh to London on a full starting charge (actually the best ranged, one of the Lucid Air models, could get you that distance with about 100 miles to spare, but it's not available in the UK yet). In the UK, unless you drive freakishly long journeys regularly, range anxiety is very unlikely to amount to anything real with much regularity. I think hybrids are still a good introduction for people trying to dip their toe in the EV market though. They're cheaper and let you experiment with electric without being completely reliant on it if you're still worried about them. But honestly, I don't think you'll really see new ones made anymore within 10 years, probably less. At least for over here.