The Fish

Sure I'd love him to be a lifelong Newcastle fan turning down megabucks to play for us. But this is who we are now, we're the one who knocks.

There are a couple of reasons a footballer would choose Newcastle over Milan. 1. They can't agree a fee and we're the only other horse in town 2. That sweet sweet bloodied oil money.

This is a learned behaviour though. at one point it would have been fine to ask one of your colleagues if she has a man in her life. Over time, this behaviour has changed to a more inclusive, more plural approach. Men or women identifying as a different gender has been going on for ages, Timeline of transgender history - Wikipedia I don't know why this is at the forefront of social conscious now, but I'd suggest that it's partly those impacted having the courage and tools to have their voice heard, and partly those who are resistant to all minority groups finding a new target for their ire?

This is my take on the opening 6 fixtures; Here's the first 6 So, comparing the strength of those teams off the back of last season's finish, weighting for home/away gives this (lower the number= harder the fixture); Ordered hardest to easiest; Now, at first glance we look like we're in a decent place to start well. A home game against the worst of the promoted sides (on paper) is good and to follow that with an away trip to Brighton is no bad thing. We have the top two sides, who're so far ahead of everyone else it's ridiculous. We have games against CRY and WOL. They finished 12th and 10th respectively. So, in the first 6 games we face three midtable sides, all fairly well regarded. Thinking positively- Nottingham Forest. Came up through the playoffs so have less time to prepare for the Prem than Fulham and Bournemouth who've had it all but sewn up for months. They don't have a huge amount of money to spend. They haven't much in terms of modern PL experience. Transfermarkt has their market value at c£47.5m. (as a comparison the 3 relegated sides were valued on the same site at between £114m-£131m). Brighton. A good side, but last season they out performed their xG, meaning they scored more goals than you'd expect them to given the quality of the chances they created. This makes you think there'd be some regression to the mean, so they're expected to score fewer unless they strengthen up front. They also conceded more goals than you'd expect given the chances they gave up to the opposition, especially when you consider post-shot xG. This speaks to a lack of quality between the sticks, again unless they strengthen there. Man City and Liverpool are going to be brutal whenever we play them, and I'd rather get them out of the way early doors so that, whatever we're going for at the end of the season, doesn't mean we need points off them. The reverse fixtures are both in January, so hopefully we'll be nice and settled and strengthen again in that window. Wolves. Only Brighton and Chelsea got a smaller percentage of their points at home. Only Brighton, Leeds and the relegated sides scored fewer goals at home and only Norwich had a worse xG at home. Only 3 teams had a worse xGA at home too. Definitely get-at-able. Crystal Palace. Bit of an unknown under Vieira. Eddie had Patrick's number in April but both men will have longer to work on their tactics, formations, personnel etc. Be interesting to see who each team buys, and how they fare to begin with. To be honest, though, I'd fancy us against all but the top two teams at home. Especially if our big hitters are fit.

By adopting such a harmless thing might make the club more inclusive and attractive to people who'd otherwise be wary? We change how we use language all the time, that old story of the King of England calling St Paul's amusing, awful and artificial. I get that you don't see the potential for offence, but perhaps people who have different experiences do. Say someone identifies as a man, but because of their current outward appearance is called she, her and splitarse, they might indeed find those terms offensive. fwiw I think Offensive is an overused and unwieldy term for the spectrum of discomfort. It conjures images of pearl clutchers, or the self-righteously indignant, or militant minorities. When in reality it might just be the same level of disquiet I feel when someone calls me David instead of Dave.

And we don't and you've got through life without being upset at the non-gendered table, or chair. So why do you care? What difference does it make to your life if someone prefers one pronoun to another? Or no pronoun at all?

Aye it's not difficult. Instead of he/she there are gender neutral terms that we already use. They got a puncture, I paid them, it's in their own best interests.

When it's the Title run in?

Why in the fuck are people using Excel for that? That sounds like a PP rather than an EP though.

Mm Yoda voice, I read that in. You fucking nerd

Why?

Put it in an excel, you coward

I'd like Ward-Prowse, he's unbelievable at setpieces, and a better player than we've got (Bruno aside). I wouldn't spend £75m on him though.

It's mint not giving a shiny shit about England.

Where'd you find this?

The Baggies?

Also, one of his picks was Fernandez, fair enough. But the reasons? "He goes to the gym, does his stretches and that." That's a low bar Sean, one low, fucking, bar.

Wonder if they'd be so supportive if his lass looked like CT

I'd like to see some movement this week, but honestly, I trust Howe, Ashworth and the owners to make the right transfer decisions. They're definitely going to get some wrong, because of course they are, but if Lille are acting the cunt over Botman, we can still buy centre backs that are significant upgrades on Clark, Lascelles and Fernandez. We can still buy forwards who are upgrades on Wood and Gayle, even if Reims act the cunt over Ekitike. So my eagerness to see some new player holding the scarf is just impatience. What's not been talked about much is outgoings. We have over 30 senior players at the club where maybe 7 are shoe-ins for first 11 next season. 8 really should be moved on (inc Clark). That leaves about 15-20 players who'll either be in the squad or need to be shipped out. Could we see an exodus of >10 players?

So much to unpack from that photograph. Dungeon Master with the bowl cut in the middle looks like he's already got a decent idea how to get his "Dispose of the body" badge. Flag Shagger at the back is has that manic look in his eyes that tells me this could all turn violent, very quickly...

Are you sure? Have you even tried? a little voodoo here, a little necromancy there. You'll kick yourself if you don't give it a go.

It's good. Not as good as Topgun Maverick at an IMAX screen good, but good nonetheless. Topgun is a bit stodgy in the middle, the supporting cast are 2d, but for a genuine blockbuster action film, it's better than the overwhelming majority of films I've seen recently. Yes, better than most of the Marvel films.

Back to San Francisco where we can live out our days together? Sounds dreamy

Scotty gets another one right. You and me Gemmill, you and me against the world. Boys is bonkers and brilliant. Have to be honest, I'm not remotely bothered about the Lord of the Rings thing, I'll give it a couple of episodes but not one of the shows that have tried to recreate Game of Thrones' pull has come close.