Happy Face

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b051wkry/storyville-20142015-11-the-internets-own-boy Everyone should watch the shit out of this. Amazing bloke.

Speaking of which, my 2015 Spotify playlist is coming along now. Added Dodos Sleater Kinney Decemberists Panda Bear Viet Cong Natalie Prass Zun Zun Egui Aphex Twin Lupe Fiasco Dan Deacon Joey Bada$$ Pops Stables Mark Ronson So, listening to those.

It was a spot on read until the last paragraph... Not saying the author should have known the future back in 2008, but in terms of what he/she hoped for it's gone the opposite way. The ipod is dead and streaming services rule now. Rather than larger files looking likely the move is towards even smaller ones that can be streamed over 3G networks. All my ipod music is 320 kbps, but the default setting for spotify is mobile is just 96 kbps. Perhaps faster mobile networks will improve that.

Didn't watch the video but from the still it's either an Eastenders episode from 15 years ago or Right Said Fred are staging a comeback.

LOVE The Dodos.

https://medium.com/@MattBors/how-mike-huckabee-supports-gay-marriage-b91977b26784 Made me chuckle

Taylor, Taylor, Anita...Satka.... Mbabu?

Turning a profit on a 24 year old glass knee'd LB who hasn't played 30 games in all competitions more than once in his entire career when we have depth enough in that position doesn't strike me as that daft. The CB situation is a disgrace, but that was the case in the summer when the club claimed to run out of time to get a CB in as it was when Charnley gave his interview and we'd additionally lost Steve Taylor but he still said we'd sign no-one. Get the impression a lot of NUFC fans were preparing to be very cross about Sissoko going today and they're going to get very cross no matter how innocuous the departures if he stays.

I wasn't giving Carver any credit. I was having a dig at Pardew. There's some utter shit in this league, and even with a run of the mill performance like we put in today we should be able to walk over those teams regularly.

Clean sheet, scored 3 and away from home. Pardew pulled that off just once in 4 years!

#nufc have a 3 goal cushion for the first time in... 9 months?

Done the sums, and I think the accounts will report a profit on him... Not exactly clued up on amortisation though, so could be corrected.

Still seems to be the sort of bloke that drinks Carling cos it's the cheapest in the aisle and he just wants to get pissed.

Good read on Rangers... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-mike-ashleys-rangers-5062140

Still haven't had a chance to watch it. Everything in it's right place I suppose. BBC deserve credit for keeping Curtis on the payroll to produce his excellent blog, docs like this and his shorter snippets that sneak into Charlie Brooker, taking people who tuned in to see him make amusing comparisons between celebrity big brother contestants and inanimate objects unawares.

Love this

Ashley loves "members" more than season ticket holders as well though. He can sell hundrerds of thousands of memberships, there's no limit on them and it's money for nothing. Anyone cancelling a ST is going to get one so they can buy Sunderland tickets that don't go on public sale. I wouldn't buy a Season Ticket anywhere but the family enclosure though. If I had no kids to take or couldn't get in, I'd jack in the ST.

£45 for members http://nufc-ashlies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/nufc-ticket-watch.html

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20150128/united-freeze-adult-season-ticket-prices_2281670_4446624

There seems to be a wilful disregard among Ashley's biggest haters for the massive differences at the club compared to 4 years ago. He's been a lying, unscrupulous scumbag, he's held the club back with his choice of personnel, his limitations on filling holes in the squad and his sacrificing of income for the benefit of his other business. However, to be (unusually) fair to him, after almost a decade the club are coming through the other side of that, I'm far more confident about positive change now than I was back then. Without relegation, either the club will start investing more in coaching staff, and players, or it will pay off vast swathes of debt (to the extent we'd be debt free in the next 3 years), or it will build up significant cash reserves. The club have said they want to structure the finances so that they exist with long term debt. Sports Direct do that too iirc. So either Ashley is going to sell soon or some of the money the club has started earning will get re-invested back in.

Celtic fans will tell you Rangers already went out of business a few years back. If the SFA have let Rangers die once I don't see why they couldn't do it again. Either way though I guess Ashley wins cos he'll just pick up from what's left on the cheap.

Aye. Probably. Thought he could do it like a New Labour government at Newcastle, taking fans along for a ride while transferring club wealth to SD on the sly. Soon realised that was a lot of nonsense wasting his time and better do it the Saddam Hussein style with an iron fisted disregard for the joy of the game.

Interesting to note the difference in approach he's taking at Rangers. The situation wasn't as urgent at Newcastle but we were facing significant financial hardship. Many claiming we were very close to going under. He didn't put the squeeze on the club with increasingly punitive loan deals though . He paid a good whack for the shares. Obviously he's been stopped from increasing his share holding at rangers, but I wonder if he'd be willing to buy all the shares anyway, or if he's changed approach based on lessons learned at nufc.