The Fish

I was right, so SUCK IT!

Yeah, been a few times, nice food, good beer and decent coffee. I'd have preferred Chorlton, but time was against us. Altrincham is the final stop on the tram, yeah.

CT, have you ever watched anything like the West Wing, House of Cards, Veep, The Thick of It, Yes Prime Minister?

I get more insight from podcasts, than I do from pundits and commentators most fo the time. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of shit out there, but Football Weekly, The Game*, the Football Ramble are examples of football podcasts that have the right mix of insight and "banter". Much better than talkSport, 606 and that shite. I suppose it depends how you like to hear about football. My Dad, for example, watches Match of the Day and tries to avoid the results until then. He wouldn't think to read a blog that discusses the tactical innovations, or listen to a podcast. Home from the pub, Chilli re-heated, glass of wine, happy days. *Although Marcotti can be a bit tedious.

I tend to turn the sound down and stick an album or 6Music on to be honest. It's rare that commentators actually add something to watching a match. More often than not it's some ex-pro who hasn't the wherewithal to give proper insight that could only really come from someone who's played, or coached the game at a decent level, nor have they the wit or charisma to add humour to it. There's only a few pundits that don't have me frustrated; Jenas is good, Neville & Carragher are decent on MNF, but I get nothing from "Sav", Bright, Wright, Lawrenson, Keown, et al that I couldn't get from the bloke down the pub who's got a season ticket in Bar 1892 so he can get a half time pint of Carling easily. re: the podcast, Cheers for that mate, I won't let it go to my head.

Bit of a longer read, but interesting none the less. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-radio-director-helen-boaden-to-announce-resignation-at-prix-italia-preview-in-lampedusa-a7337181.html

The company that sorts out the engineer, the recording space and the promotion etc. are London based and I wouldn't trust the engineers to sort out a skype/phone in. Also, the dynamic isn't the same over skype or the phone. Always sounds a little stilted. Best they get someone else in and I start a new one up here. Altrincham. It's nice, Hale is nicer still, but about 100 times the price. In the grand scheme of things it went fine, but there were, as there always are, a few issues. Sofa beds not being delivered, wasp nests in the kitchen, a radiator hanging off the wall because the previous tenant wanted to wash the curtains so stood on the fucking thing... A mate loaned us the van he uses for his Hog Roast business, but he's based in Skipton so we drove up from South London, picked up the van and drove back the same day. Driving through Wandsworth Common at about 22:30, I noticed a single white female wandering down an unlit avenue, probably coming back from one pub or other. Worried for this girl's safety I asked the Mrs if we should offer her a lift. "What, you want to pull over and ask a lone woman if she wants to get into a windowless murder van? With ratchet straps and actual blood stains? No dickhead, I don't think we should."

Nah, I didn't close the spoiler tag properly.

Finished Luke Cage last night. It's all right, but I was trying to work out why I enjoyed it less than it's Netflix Marvel brethren. The action scenes were fine, the music was excellent, the protagonist was as good/bad as Daredevil and Jessica Jones, I even started to wonder if it was because there were very few white people and I was a massive racist... but I honestly think it was the antagonists. It's worth a watch for people who enjoyed the other Netflix Marvel shows, Rosario Dawson is quality in it again, and there's some stand out moments. But it's not as good as DD1 or JJ1, probably on a par with DD2, but suffered the same problems.

Well, you won't be hearing my sultry tones on the podcast any time soon. Moved to Manchester and until I've settled in the new job I won't be starting a new one either. Sad times. For me. The lads that are doing it need to find another obsessive though. They're both fans, but they don't read every scrap of info on Newcastle floating about, they don't research the next opposition's playing style/form/manager. Especially this season where London based fans aren't going to get to watch many matches. Not being a dick, but I leant an air of credibility to the pod. If there's someone on here that's based in London and fancies it, let me know.

You cannot seriously be saying I'm as annoying as CT?!

Christ, imagine the scoreline had Handsome PArds still be in charge?

If I were Wenger I wouldn't touch England with a barge pole unless I was given the kind of control over English football that Rafa's been given over Newcastle. I'd be happy if Wenger made changes to the coaching network, and made root and branches changes throughout the English footballing landscape. That won't happen though, so if I were him, I'd take a role at Arsenal that meant I could watch loads of football and still influence the clubs future.

Yep, They're working so hard in every game so a couple of injuries and/or the Christmas period may see them drop off the pace a little, just as teams like Brighton, Norwich and ourselves really get into our respective strides. I'm washing my hair.

You can't have been that keen...

I'd not be surprised to see Sels return, less pressure from the Newcastle home fans, up against a side that likely won't test him too much? re: Jerome's goal; Not especially, but then I've never been a 'keeper and maybe his positioning was off in the 1st place? Dunno.

After the initial disappointments against Fulham and Huddersfield, any time we've not done well, I've blamed the players, rather than Rafa. I mean, when Pardew makes a Leftback for Leftback change on 60m minutes regardless of the way the game is playing out, I feel vindicated in questioning him. When I was baffled by the QPR selection we twatted them 6-0. In Rafa we trust.

Nissan won't leave, they're committed to the area. It's just scare tactics. http://www.politico.eu/article/nissan-investment-in-doubt-over-brexit-sunderland/

This was before 5:30 in the morning. I think you can sneak it in under the "Drunk as fuck" clause on TT. We all know that you were just up early changing the AAA battery keeping you alive, and will look the other way.

I'd be floored if a sense of fairness trumped money.

He 100% doesn't know the "politically correct" term for gay, or black.

Counter-intuitively, I think this squad would benefit from an air of superiority in some fixtures. Setting up with 2 up front away from home (and maybe giving a debut to our inexperienced flouncy left back) might give the lads the self-belief to really go at Rotherham?

is there anyway you could feed a hotdog through it?

If you add pancetta instead of capers we can still be still friends. (I've nothing against capers, but them and pancetta would be too salty)