Generic small time football blather thread FOREVER

[PaddockLad 18881]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

Also is it Wallonia where the Ardennes Forest is and where they have F1 GP where some people speak German? Not been to that but like. I would love to go back. I’ve only been the one time (Brussels and Bruges or Bruxelles and Brugge  ). The flight times were a bit shit so we saw Bruges properly and not very much of Brussels. We did see the Grand Place (and Manneken Pis ) though

When we played Lokeren we stayed in Antwerp 

 

Zulte Waregem we stayed in Ghent

 

Bruges was Bruges, fairly obviously 😆

 

When we played Bordeaux we got a cheap flight to Brussels and flew to Bordeaux from there 

 

It’s always brilliant. Lots of folk come up and chat about football, what always surprises me the range of clubs lots of them  support. Lots of Ajax, Feyenoord, Lille, Lens, Dortmund, Cologne etc depending on where you are… 

[Alex 36585]

1 minute ago, PaddockLad said:

When we played Lokeren we stayed in Antwerp 

 

Zulte Waregem we stayed in Ghent

 

Bruges was Bruges, fairly obviously 😆

 

When we played Bordeaux we got a cheap flight to Brussels and flew to Bordeaux from there 

 

It’s always brilliant. Lots of folk come up and chat about football, what always surprises me the range of clubs lots of them  support. Lots of Ajax, Feyenoord, Lille, Lens, Dortmund, Cologne etc depending on where you are… 

I went to the home leg in the UEFA Cup when we beat Antwerp 5-2, after the 5-0 away and the Rob Lee hat trick of headers. Happy days  

Also, while I’ve never been Ghent has long had a reputation for a cracking techno scene including the home of R&S Records

[PaddockLad 18881]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

I went to the home leg in the UEFA Cup when we beat Antwerp 5-2, after the 5-0 away and the Rob Lee hat trick of headers. Happy days  

Also, while I’ve never been Ghent has long had a reputation for a cracking techno scene including the home of R&S Records

I’d have given a kidney to have been there (and Bilbao) but I was in the US in autumn 94… I think by the time I got back we were out 😑

[Alex 36585]

1 minute ago, PaddockLad said:

I’d have given a kidney to have been there (and Bilbao) but I was in the US in autumn 94… I think by the time I got back we were out 😑

Bilbao put us out on away goals. Won 3-2 at home, after being 3-0 up and lost 1-0 away in the return leg. Everyone who went to Bilbao says it was incredible. At that time I was frequenting Chris Needham country, studying English at Loughborough 

[PaddockLad 18881]

20 minutes ago, Alex said:

Bilbao put us out on away goals. Won 3-2 at home, after being 3-0 up and lost 1-0 away in the return leg. Everyone who went to Bilbao says it was incredible. At that time I was frequenting Chris Needham country, studying English at Loughborough 

Aye Keegan was fuming after the first leg, hugely experienced in European football he knew what was likely to happen, his players not so much  

[Howmanheyman 36250]

2 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Aye Keegan was fuming after the first leg, hugely experienced in European football he knew what was likely to happen, his players not so much  

 

Players AND the crowd. 

[Howmanheyman 36250]

2 hours ago, PaddockLad said:

I’d have given a kidney to have been there (and Bilbao) but I was in the US in autumn 94… I think by the time I got back we were out 😑

 

I was trying to get to one of those games but it fell through, was gutted about it, especially Bilbao when you heard the crack. Still a bit jealous all these years later when you hear people that went reminiscing about it. (I'm more gutted about missing those games than I was the CL games).

[Gemmill 49414]

 

 

Expect them to rocket up the table now. If you work for Man United, you can be under no illusion the contempt this bloke has for you. 

[Gemmill 49414]

 

Soup and bread.

 

Nice workhouse vibe to the place. Success will surely follow. 

[Howmanheyman 36250]

"Please sir, can we start winning now?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ewerk 32896]

Brailsford really finding the most marginal of gains there.

[Gemmill 49414]

I'm pretty sure that the key to success as a business is NOT "become a terrible employer". 

 

This is a decent sized effective pay cut for anyone that previously got their lunch from these canteen. 

[PaddockLad 18881]

Johnny Nicholson is the best football writer in Britain, I won’t be accepting contradictory comments or even discussion ✊🏻😆

 

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-manchester-united-players-strike-ratcliffe-divorce

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 4228]

1 minute ago, PaddockLad said:

Johnny Nicholson is the best football writer in Britain, I won’t be accepting contradictory comments or even discussion ✊🏻😆

 

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-manchester-united-players-strike-ratcliffe-divorce

Football365 is one of the shittest sites in existence.

[PaddockLad 18881]

48 minutes ago, Kevin Carr's Gloves said:

Football365 is one of the shittest sites in existence.

Your opinion is noted but disregarded due to irrelevance. Have a pleasant evening 

Edited 10 hours ago by PaddockLad

[Alex 36585]

3 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Johnny Nicholson is the best football writer in Britain, I won’t be accepting contradictory comments or even discussion ✊🏻😆

 

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-manchester-united-players-strike-ratcliffe-divorce

Is he the lad from Boro originally? Think I’ve read a few good pieces by him down the years if it’s him. Didn’t he used to have a profile pic with the Gateshead / Get Carter carpark in the background? 

[PaddockLad 18881]

4 minutes ago, Alex said:

Is he the lad from Boro originally? Think I’ve read a few good pieces by him down the years if it’s him. Didn’t he used to have a profile pic with the Gateshead / Get Carter carpark in the background? 

Yeah I think he’s from Boro and he’s based in Scotland, which sort of confusingly is the same background as this lad who is also a very good writer who’s done stuff for F365 too I think…

 

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/author-books-by-daniel-gray

 

 

[Alex 36585]

4 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

Yeah I think he’s from Boro and he’s based in Scotland, which sort of confusingly is the same background as this lad who is also a very good writer who’s done stuff for F365 too I think…

 

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/collections/author-books-by-daniel-gray

 

 

Pretty sure it’s the one I was thinking of

https://www.johnnicholsonwriter.co.uk/pages/about-johnny

apart from Teesside but I remember the ‘A very northern mind’ column mentioned there which I’m sure is the one that had the carpark in the background. 
And that’s a great piece on the odious cunt Radcliffe. It’s horrible what he’s doing. There’s been another 200 redundancies announced this afternoon too. To make the club ‘profitable’. Meanwhile they’ve just paid off Ashworth to the tune of several million. It would be funny but for thee people losing their jobs and getting what you know will be the smallest statutory payments allowed. 

[Toonpack 11198]

1 hour ago, PaddockLad said:

Johnny Nicholson is the best football writer in Britain, I won’t be accepting contradictory comments or even discussion ✊🏻😆

 

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-manchester-united-players-strike-ratcliffe-divorce

He writes well but his premise is fundamentally incorrect, let’s be honest, Sir Jim is doing an absolutely fantastic job.

[Kitman 2293]

Ratcliffe and ManYoo are perfectly suited to each other. I feel sorry for the impacted employees but not the fans. I hope the club gets relegated and go bust, there's nothing remotely likeable about any aspect of them.

Coincidentally I have a colleague who has rubbed shoulders with this tool at corporate events and work "retreats". They confirmed he is a titanic arsehole and even worse in person than he comes across in the press. Most people who have worked with him absolutely hate him. He lives in Monaco to avoid UK tax, which says it all really.

[aimaad22 4596]

The fact he thinks the solution to their woes are these sorts of measures tells you he's stuck in the legacy business man mode which will lay ruin to the club as we full well know.

 

How much would the savings be in context of the Manu player wage bill?  He's probably not even looked at stuff like that and just said in his haughty business man voice to cut everything down because that's all he knows. 

[Kitman 2293]

Exactly. Apparently they've spent 70 million on sacking managers alone since 2013. 9 million to recruit and then sack Ashworth. And thats before you get into the huge amounts of money wasted on recruiting and binning players.
 

And this guy thinks that sacking the tea lady and scrapping staff lunches is going to turn the ship around

[aimaad22 4596]

I say he deserves his shot. 5 or 10 years ought to be enough say?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chaser 1349]

56 minutes ago, Kitman said:

Exactly. Apparently they've spent 70 million on sacking managers alone since 2013. 9 million to recruit and then sack Ashworth. And thats before you get into the huge amounts of money wasted on recruiting and binning players.
 

And this guy thinks that sacking the tea lady and scrapping staff lunches is going to turn the ship around

Meanwhile his pick for manager refuses to change his system to work with the tools that he's been given, devaluing any future sale value, and destroying their morale. As far as a club goes, it couldn't happen to a better one, but I feel for the poor fuckers who are getting sacked as a result of penny pinching. 

[RobinRobin 12356]

1 hour ago, Chaser said:

Meanwhile his pick for manager refuses to change his system to work with the tools that he's been given, devaluing any future sale value, and destroying their morale.