PaddockLad

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/3916487/newcastle-united-rafa-benitez-transfer-news/

Greetings from Gran Canaria.....if you want to check in with a minimum of fuss and bother on your other half's birthday, then I'd completely avoid booking anything with alpha rooms...the utter shithouses of the first order hadn't sent our booking to the apartment complex so when we turned up there was no trace of our booking, despite me having the confirmation printed off for them and alpha rooms phoning me to remind me to forward flight details for the airport transfer one night a couple if weeks ago at about 10pm The Servatur staff have been brilliant though, got free tv, air con and wifi as consolation for something that wasn't their fault anyway, this after spending the weekend at a completely different complacent miles out of town.

That to me was clearly iffy now we know Carr almost exclusively dealt with players on the books of one French agency. Any semblance of a legacy he may have had at the club after his departure has been completely spoiled by that. You can be sure Ashley was in full knowledge of it and actively encouraged it. Pity he couldn't see it was going tits before Carr was appointed to the "football board" that saw McLaren appointed.

Luke Edwards NUFC sales brochure http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/21/newcastle-cusp-something-big-premier-league-team-worth-buying/

http://www.themag.co.uk/2017/06/new-newcastle-united-home-shirt-available-without-sponsor-logo/

https://www.zalando.co.uk/puma-newcastle-home-sports-shirt-puma-blackpuma-white-pu142d0eh-q11.html

A fellah I've known through work for over 25 years is a 5th or 6th dan at some semi obscure martial art (name escapes me ATM) When l first met him I was early to mid twenties and me and some other cocky young gobshites used to "play spar" with him at lunchtimes. He used to beat the crap out of us, I think we just did it for the thrill of seeing him wipe the floor with us when two or three of us attacked him at the same time, proper Bruce Lee stuff. He's now in his 60s, and is like a wise old Buddhist monk, which he is sort of qualified to be due to the extent of his studies of all aspects of the religion for his MA. He still teaches womens' self defence, the dirty auld fucker Anyway, he told me something once that has stayed with me. He holds practioners of "the nobel art" in utter contempt, boxers in general are huge figures of fun to him. I asked him about it one day and he said "as soon as any boxer throws a punch he's immediately off balance, and anyone properly trained and with a degree of timing should be able to take them out straight away" just saying

I certainly don't feel sorry for her in any way but the way her colleagues are basically hanging her out to dry and letting her be the lightning conductor for all the nation's woes is very instructive. Her loyalty to those she serves is in a way very impressive, that is if it wasn't verging on Stockholm Syndrome. I think she's going to try to tough it out until early 2019 when she'll deliver a Brexit of sorts. They'll let her do it because no one else is willing to carry the can for the upcoming clusterfuck. She's quite plainly fuckin mad iyam.

In the 70s,80s & 90s the ira gave London a hard time too. I got "nicked" just after they bombed the CoL in 94 retreiving a half drunk crate of cans from beneath a skip at the Shell building near Waterloo station. We'd been at a beastie boys gig in Brixton and hadn't drank them all on the way up. Plod wanted to know what the fuck some gobshite with an inderterminate accent was doing retrieving metal cylinders from underneath skips at 1130 at night. Had to prove I was who I said I was. To be sure They bombed pubs, Harrods, the CoL as I've mentioned. They also, in my anecdotal experience, enjoyed complicit and vocal support from the huge Irish community in London. The difference is there were maybe only a dozen media outlets back then.None of them operated 24-7 and none of them could display shocking images across the globe in milliseconds. Also no social media to give another completely skewed and partial angle to the suffering of our fellow citizens. I think that's why it seems like the end of days this summer. It's not. My old man ran building sites in the south of England during the 70s and he lost all his (very large) Irish labour force for a week or so now and then, around the time of the Guildford pub bombings and the Harrods attack etc. The local police just rounded up every Irishman they could find and put them in the police cells for a few days until they could confirm who they were, basically interred then. Wouldn't happen now. Point is we've been "under attack" before and cone out the other side. Same will happen this time but the timescale is unknowable at the moment.

if they're scouting round for alternatives to the dup I'm taking it that another election this year is odds on now?

May well have had a bearing like. I was just getting to my seat at the Etihad when I saw one of ours crumpled on the deck..."who the fucks that?"...."Ben arfa" said the lad next to me " de Jong just assaulted him. If he'd done it outside blu bamboo he'd have got 6 months"

He didn't fancy coming up against the premier league centre backs. The wee French prick is soft as shite man

A mate of mine has met Simon Stainrod twice, I've met him once. Stainrod acted as hba's representative/fixer/mentor/go to man for the time hatem was with us. I met him in Den Haag after we'd played a pre season match there in 2012. A lad who was with us asked Stainrod about hatem playing more in the middle for us and Stainrod told us unequivocally that he didn't see himself doing it, whilst in England at any rate. I didn't mention this at the time because my mate suggested it was a private conversation and wasn't for general forum consumption. But it's 5 years on from there now so fuck him

Unreal...

This aluminium cladding that apparently rapidly spread the fire....the local council, the trust who are the landlords and the local fire brigade will have all known about it. Just to say that the RN tried building ships decks out of a lightweight aluminium alloy but stopped immediately after the Falklands War when it was found to burn intensely and very quickly after taking enemy Exocets. HMS Coventry suffered hugely after it came under attack.

I've never bought it but I've got a lot of time for Ian Hislop. He said the other day that there should be an enquiry into Michael Gove's relationship with Rupert Murdoch, not for the first time showing that he's one of the few media wankers who isn't bought and paid for.

Wembley 17th March

4 games in 9 days over Christmas/NY

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/what-connects-brexit-the-dup-dark-money-and-a-saudi-prince-1.3083586?mode=amp I don't know what to say about this

Oh it's the sunseeker dude. Tbf he's not closed the uk operation down. Yet.

The first thing that crosses my mind is if it is the man in Madrid does he have his eyes on our manager?.. Rafa and his family seem settled in England tbf..

Wonder if this is what finally made Rafa stay?.....tbh a full takeover wouldn't sit well with me. Can't believe I've just typed that mind...

He's got ability but is maddeningly inconsistent + suspect temprement="not a Rafa player". I think Rafa thinks there's better out there for the money we can get for him, more able to play up front on their own and with a less volatile nature. It's good business to get rid at the moment.

Doesnt want to be associated with the tories in any way. Tbf they'd make him look competent