Happy Face

Zero Days Alex Gibney's 2016 doc on the US/Israeli Stuxnet attack on Iranian nuclear facilities was the Storyville on bbc4 tonight. Up there with all Gibney's work. Very chilling look at the cyberwar landscape in the aftermath of Bush and Obama unleashing a major new weapon but only managing to slow the nuclear program in Iran for a year. It'll be on iPlayer for a while and I recommend it if, like me, you know little about it.

On the other hand, Jeremy Hunt just made an absolute fortune, so, you know, we can be pleased for him. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38638577

It puts the Premier league into stark contrast like. 8 of your 25 have to be homegrown, and those "homegrown" players can still be foreign if they've played for 3 years before 21. Soft as shite us.

There's been a lot of frustration reported about the prices we're being quoted and as a club I can see that we would want to do something about that. It's all well and good saying they just wouldn't pay it, but we've got 16 players available in the midweek squad, have to start bringing some bodies in soon.

There's 3 possibilities and no-one knows what the reality is except Ashley, Rafa, Moxley and a couple of others... 1. Made up bollocks. The best we can hope for, but indicates what we can expect going forward anyway. The reporter is playing up to well founded fears and although some have refused to accept the story, that view is based solely on the timing, no-one thinks Ashley is incapable of doing something as stupid later on. 2. Club leak - Ashley, Rafa, Charnley and that all had a meeting and all agreed that this sort of message could be put out. Rafa might be fully on board with the principle on condition it can be broken if he deems necessary on occasion. It is a sensible approach most of the time after all, although Rafa added loads of experience last summer. It could also be aimed only at telling selling clubs we won't pay over the odds for players without the potential to accrue value. The only reason this would be an issue is it suggests Rafa being managed by those above and increases the chances of a clash like he had at Valencia before resigning, but we already feared it long term anyway (see 1). 3. Rafa or Ashley had it leaked without the other knowing to try and exert some pressure following the early window discussions. This becomes a power play, like when Keegan challenged Ashley to show ambition before the season started. It's a downward spiral quite quickly once this happens and we know Ashley will never back down the way Hall did. With the £33m credit being extended, I'm inclined to think there will be something in it, but it's more number 2 than number 3.

This isn't a spoiler, just about my feelings, but I don't want to put you in any state of mind for watching it, please only read after...

You'd think Leicester winning the title would have given him a clue.

It's noticeable how differently the DWP treat the self employed (self assessment, we trust you to be honest, one in a thousand chased) to the unemployed (get your arse in every week, jump through hoops, even your doctors can't be trusted). Vile really. You'd think they'd only be onto the permanently out of work like that, it seems to be the same whether you have a proud work history with plenty of contributions behind you or not.

Total Poster 21 ewerk 20 Anorthernsoul 19 acrossthepond 19 Happy Face 19 Kevin Carr's Gloves 18 OTF 18 wykikitoon 17 Ant 17 scoobos 17 The Fish 16 Tom 15 Howay 15 Rayvin 15 StoneColdStephenIreland 15 strawb 14 Dougle 13 @yourservice 13 barnabox 13 David Kelly 13 Dr Gloom 13 MiddleAgeCool 12 ohhh_yeah 11 Andrew 11 Monkeys Fist 10 ChezGiven 10 Kitman 10 rogerbarton 10 TheGingerQuiff 9 Holden McGroin 9 Jintsay 9 tooner 9 ToonMarshy 9 zico martin 7 aimaad22 7 Renton 6 McFaul 6 sammynb 5 Christmas Tree 5 gpirlo68 5 jonasjuice 5 SpartaFC 5 trophyshy 3 247 3 Ausman 2 vimalraja 1 AJack 1 angrysteve 1 arc89 1 Bryn5 1 Geordie1973 1 holycrosser 1 JonGoodwyn 1 Monroe Transfer 1 PaddockLad 1 The Mighty Hog

NUFC To Score 0 - 1 - The Fish, Dougle, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, MiddleAgeCool, tooner, Holden McGroin, OTF 2 - Rayvin, rogerbarton, ewerk, strawb, Happy Face, StoneColdStephenIreland, Howay, Anorthernsoul, wykikitoon, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, barnabox, LooneyToony, @yourservice, Kitman, Dr Gloom 3 - Ant, Andrew, Jintsay, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist 4+ - NUFC To Concede 0 - Ant, rogerbarton, ewerk, Dougle, strawb, Happy Face, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, Howay, wykikitoon, Jintsay, OTF, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist, barnabox 1 - The Fish, Rayvin, Andrew, StoneColdStephenIreland, Anorthernsoul, tooner, Holden McGroin, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, LooneyToony, Kitman, Dr Gloom 2 - @yourservice 3 - MiddleAgeCool 4+ -

NUFC To Score 0 - 1 - The Fish, Dougle, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, MiddleAgeCool, tooner, Holden McGroin, OTF, Dr Gloom 2 - Rayvin, rogerbarton, ewerk, strawb, Happy Face, StoneColdStephenIreland, Howay, Anorthernsoul, wykikitoon, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, barnabox, LooneyToony, @yourservice, Kitman 3 - Ant, Andrew, Jintsay, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist 4+ - NUFC To Concede 0 - Ant, rogerbarton, ewerk, Dougle, strawb, Happy Face, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, Howay, wykikitoon, Jintsay, OTF, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist, barnabox 1 - The Fish, Rayvin, Andrew, StoneColdStephenIreland, Anorthernsoul, tooner, Holden McGroin, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, LooneyToony, Kitman 2 - @yourservice, Dr Gloom 3 - MiddleAgeCool 4+ -

Aye, the cutoff is usually once I've hoyed them up. I don't keep checking after that.

hmmmmmmm, this is highly irregular, but I'll allow it.

He took out £11m of the £29m he put in following the last relegation. The other £18m was always noted as repayable within 1 year in successive accounts ((unlike the other £111m he accrued prior to relegation which was long term), so he seemed to be waiting until the club could pay him back without leaving the squad vulnerable.... it never happened.

NUFC To Score 0 - 1 - The Fish, Dougle, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, MiddleAgeCool, tooner, Holden McGroin, OTF 2 - Rayvin, rogerbarton, ewerk, strawb, Happy Face, StoneColdStephenIreland, Howay, Anorthernsoul, wykikitoon, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, barnabox, LooneyToony, @yourservice, Kitman 3 - Ant, Andrew, Jintsay, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist 4+ - NUFC To Concede 0 - Ant, rogerbarton, ewerk, Dougle, strawb, Happy Face, Kevin Carr's Gloves, David Kelly, Howay, wykikitoon, Jintsay, OTF, ohhh_yeah, Tom, Monkeys Fist, barnabox 1 - The Fish, Rayvin, Andrew, StoneColdStephenIreland, Anorthernsoul, tooner, Holden McGroin, scoobos, acrossthepond, aimaad22, LooneyToony, Kitman 2 - @yourservice 3 - MiddleAgeCool 4+ -

Will all the daft money in China improve the English game? Will English players get more chances? Will tickets get cheaper, will the gap between the top flights be leas precarious? Will there be fewer TV moves? Historically, just a few of the best British players would go abroad, will we be able to keep the best going forward? Could it improve standards of all the home nations? Interesting times.

Aye, the mistakes never stop.

Most chairmen are seen as cunts, no matter what the club. I'm happy to live with a cunt of an owner as long as he's doing the right things on the football side. Matchday and commercial income are still less than they were 10 years ago. Strong leadership would grow these. Standing still will grow TV money. It almost doubles every 3 years regardless. It's a Mackem trait to be satisfied only with out performing them.

It's still about 100% of revenue... If we're in the top flight. What ambition has been shown? We won't even build a training facility fit for the top ten... unless we get into the top ten first apparently. Club spent what it earned throughout ashleys time and still does. Charnley is still woefully out of his depth and we only got Rafa because Rafa came to us. I'm not pushing "ashley out" I've put @mikeashleylies on hiatus, because you're right, if we have any hope, it lies with Rafa, he deserves 100% support. Doesn't mean I have any more time for Ashley. I still fear we're a powder keg ready to combust soon after top flight income is secured because Ashley himself has done nothing to dissuade me.

Ashley's done well to buy a club with the dedicated support we provide. Other than that all he's done is slash cost in every area and not taken out the resulting profit. No speculation at all. Repeated awful mistakes in appointing managers and chief exec too. Right up to last season. He's ultimately to blame for both relegations. Which is why our debt has grown 25% this season and doubled from what it was when he took over. Nice of him to not charge interest on the debts he has accrued on the clubs behalf with all his screw ups. I'd be really worried getting relegated in the Mackems state.

Fight racism. Get paid for dating minorities. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38606507/student-raises-more-than-10000-after-parents-cut-her-off-over-black-boyfriend

Paul Simon makes an appearance later

It gets pretty dark.