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Well fellows, after a bumpy crossing on the Funboat, with light entertainment provided by Filipino Dutch Elvis(h), we arrived in Dutch Boro’ A half hour drive got us to Leiden, which is very pretty and as Dutch as it gets Now at our home for the week, which is apparently catering for @Howmanheyman after curry night…

He should have left in a helicopter tbh He was the little spark in the dark times. I will miss him, but the transfer does unfortunately make a lot sense.

Roker park is now new houses with a little park in it. As a homage to their great history what do you think it's called? 'Champions Close'? 'Team of all the talents' drive? No, other than FTM avenue I can't think of a better name. Kudos to the planners......

Thanks for making that clear, Dave.

WTF was the bet? - "Ho, marra I bet you won't wank me off in this car park" "You're on"

It’s ok Holden, I’ll put the highlights up….you sit down and have a coffee…got to do fuckin everything round here 😏

Just Stop Oil don't help themselves mind. I get trying to get maximum exposure but if you're gonna set about trying to knack normal people's days out, they're not gonna like it. They should wait outside Environment Minister Therese Coffey's house and every time the front door opens, turn her into an Oompah Loompah with orange powder. That's how you get the public onside. Play the Oompah Loompah song as you're doing it.

This'd be a start

It looked to me like the villa player (Benduia?) simply had the momentum and angle of approach to be able to brush him aside. Maybe in a "proper" match Tonali would have hauled him down for a yellow which would have been acceptable.

I want to be clear, I like ASM, I've loved watching him play in Black and White, I've loved him taking the piss on the pitch and twitter and all that. But he's just the most saleable, least integral player in the squad. My issue has been the fetishisation of him. He's mint, but he's not the fucking Messiah. He'll give me as much joy with his goals and step-overs on some BEin highlight show, and those will be as integral to our season as they were when he was here under Howe. Give it 3 or 4 seasons and we might buy another player with his talent, who'll dance around opponents, and twist defenders' blood, but then also do the rest of the work too.

And even then he’s not in the top 3.

Mackems being normal still I see. They missed their weird toon top thread so much when it was removed they promptly started another obsessive one. I honestly cant think of a more likable manager than Howe. Calm, collected, civil, rational and humble. Many of the qualities Keegan had but perhaps without the fire and emotion. Seeing how despite this he winds the mackems up is a sight to behold. Imagine getting worked up like this over a few tactical misdirections. Fucking mentalists.

We know you will, yes

Bloody love a North Sea ferry. We took the Gothenburg one (RIP) every other summer when I was a kid so the nostalgia runs deep. Harwich to Hook of Holland isn't quite the same - it's not a long enough trip for them to have crap on-board entertainment, for a start - but it's not bad. Still, nothing beats the overnight Shields-Hamburg ferry (also RIP) and the near-inevitability of falling in with a bunch of bikers who gently suggest to the DJ at the on-board deescoteque that he needs to spend the next five hours rooting through his CD collection to find anything and everything vaguely approximating rock music instead of this Eurodance scheisse.

Tbf, we spotted shedloads of proper windmills on the way here… … and canals, houseboats, coffee shops, Blart, pastries, bier… all ticked off in the first two hours. I’ll be honest, the only thing stopping me calling house on Dutch Bingo is that we’ve not walked past a transsexual Filipino hooker’s window yet, but we’re going to Amsterdam so… Drove past a lad on the A4 who had a fucked Audi A3 too, which raised a chuckle

At least the bronze statue of a football that marks the old centre circle of Ayresome Park is a little more high-profi... oh.

Aye. 💯 this. In fact I’ve been privy to some conversations from the head of HR for my previous company and she was the devil incarnated. Couldn’t give one fuck about the staff but a two faced cunt when in front of them. They are there to protect the company more than care about the staff. Edit: just a bit of context on what she is like. My mate who was there for 10 years and worked his arse off for endless hours and was a key part in keeping the company functional was having mental issues during covid (living by himself in a top floor flat and really struggling). He had to take time off which was signed by his doctor. Anyway her response: “I don’t think he is telling the truth, shall we sack him?” Turns out he had a mental breakdown. I left shortly after that.

You basically have to just about kill someone to get a custodial sentence atm. There was a case in the local rag recently where a bloke kicked his partner in the head and strangled her until she passed out. He got a community order and suspended sentence. Meanwhile the Just Stop Oil protestors are getting 3 years in prison.

If he doesn't go out on loan and stays with the team, I think we can be very surprised at what Anderson can bring to the table.

It was a Mag. Obviously trying to give them a bad name.

I was saying previously this new thing about Newcastle fans being the only ones (adults anyway) that go around wearing football tops almost certainly stems from it being so difficult to get hold of a Sunderland top. I do love how they try and make everything into some mad moral and/or classy crusade

How many people “seen it”?!

Noted that he bust a gut to recover. 🙂

Didn't I see something about Spurs being interested in signing him?

From what I've seen, way too much is being made of that challenge. It will take him a while to get used tot he league, but frankly every time he's bundled off the ball, or Barnes doesn't beat a man, or our next signing fails to do something it'll be jumped on. We did so well in our first few windows, any perceived misstep will be held up as some kind of proof that those windows were flukey or something.

Think the biggest issue is lack of appearances and the time it takes him to get back up to speed. That and FFP and the timing being right with a bid coming in. Last season he might’ve just been unlucky I suppose but you get the impression that hamstring injuries could be an ongoing issue. I do think he tried to adapt under Howe but it probably stifles his game. I’m not that arsed though because he really isn’t and never was all that

Yeah, seems like it was just heat stroke.

massive lads fans.

I wouldn't have a fucking clue about sunderland's potential injury list, or what their manager (is it still mowbray?) has to say in press conferences. and why does he give a flying fuck whether barnes makes the flight to america or not? stupid cunt.

Strong “Souness in Benfica” vibes

Aye, his face is screaming out, 'Not this little cunt again?'

Mehrdad absolutely fucking sick of bumping into that freak

It depends on your needs tbh. If you’re going to Amsterdam on a wild one, it’s a good starter for 10. Get the bus/tram in to town from the port. If you’re wanting to drive once you get there, same. It’s not hugely obvious, but if you’re driving to southern Europe, France or Italy or Spain, it’s the most sensible option from up here- 7-8 hrs of shitty driving on British motorways to get to Dover, vs a night with Dutch Elvis and three hours drive to get you to Calais. As a trip to Holland just for shits and giggles, definitely get the boat- it’s like if Lidl was a travel agent- a 15 hr shite cruise but run by Viz.

Do I detect a pang of jealousy from this Cheshire resident?

I live a less than 10 minutes walk from a metro, use it to go into the office 2 or 3 times a week. Often only stay in for two stops to get sone extra steps in, although even if I didn’t it would only be 3. And it gets on my tits due to how poor the service is. You then have the added bonus if it being charva central due to it being so easy to ride it without paying. I appreciate loads of people don’t bother paying (can’t say I blame them) but you’d stop most of the anti-social behaviour if you more or less needed a ticket / pass to use it. If that’s my experience it’s no wonder people use a car if they can

Apparently a number of Championship clubs are interested in taking Kuol on loan. If we can get him some regular game time in the Championship that would obviously be a massive step up, from whatever was going on at Hearts.

Either a mag agent provocateur or, alternatively, one of the huge legion of USMLFs since the Netflix series

It's a good job we are minted mind, flying that many fuckers out! More hangers on than we have players!

We could eat the rich?

Aye but the point is, me as an individual not getting on a plane or not eating a steak isn't going to solve the climate crisis. This needs addressing from the top down, not by me not going on holiday. As long as politicians sit on their hands, the rest of us are wasting our time making micro lifestyle changes.

It's a guarantee.

I agree. I reckon I've got a 20 year window in Costa del Tynemouth where I can grow olives and have a vinyard in my back garden, should see me through to end time, but might have to invest in a shot gun.

What Villa have done is very impressive. They did something similar under Martin O'Neill and that petered out after 3 good seasons. I'd be very excited about this full season under Emery if I was a Villa supporter. More excited about us though obviously!

I'm fucking crying here, mind.