feltmonkey

Ooh, I'd love to have it if that's okay, please. Edit - Thanks, @SuperFamiTom!

I follow Neil Hollis on Instagram (@neilpaints) and the close-ups of his Space Marine are pretty amazing. There are details like the completely convincing way his damaged eye is painted that you can't get from a single photo of the entire model. It's an incredible bit of work. Obviously Space Marines aren't everyone's cup of tea, and it's fine to find them boring, but the execution of the painting is stunning. I love Juan Sanz's style - his work reminds me of Kev Walker's early fully-painted art for 2000AD - but this is a magnitude higher in execution. Every line is so precise and controlled. I've had the privilege of holding in my hand the work of a guy who has won two slayer swords, and I didn't appreciate how amazingly sharp the lines and details are from painters at that level until that moment. It made me feel like a complete fraud. If you scroll through the Golden Demon entries, all the winners are incredible. Selecting a Slayer Sword winner out of that lost must be a nightmare. How can you pick one to rule them all out of such wonders? Obviously the big dioramas are always eyecatching, but you can't just pick the biggest thing for the sword every time. Equal weight has to be given to the single models that are the bread and butter of the competition.

Gerrard the pundit is closer in quality to Gerrard the manager than Gerrard the player.

I think that's a myth. The famous club in Nottingham is Rock City, which has been going since 1980 and is an absolutely legendary music venue and rock club. I think the name comes from that, and then someone put about the rumour that it was/is a gay club because they wanted to insult the Dark Angels chapter, and they thought that being named after a gay club was an insult. They also didn't realise that the actual inspiration for their primarch was right there. I double-checked, and found an article about all the LGBT friendly bars in Nottingham's history, and there's no mention of anything called The Rock. It was quite an interesting read about an aspect of this city where I spent a lot of time growing up that I was completely unaware of. There was a gay pub called The Flying Horse on Market Square that was apparently world-renowned. Unfortunately it was sometimes known locally as "the pansy's parlour." Different times, I guess. At least we know that the founders of Games Workshop weren't sniggering at homosexuality when they named that part of the lore.

If ever anyone has earned the right to wear his Nan's handbag and dressing gown in public it's this man.

I hope you guys are right, I'm just being pessimistic. Although, and further pessimism here, I can't imagine anyone other than the Qataris actually winning the bid.

Well no, there most likely will be no takeover. The parasites have set the price far too high. £6b is ridiculous even leaving aside the fact that the buyers would have to pay another £2b to clear the debt and fix or rebuild the stadium. Apparently the bids from both Qatar and Ratcliffe are well short of the asking price and the Glazers are determine to hold out for their absurd valuation. All this is based on the various journalists who are close to the club, and they all have their own sources with various agendas so it's difficult to figure out what is true and what is a bargaining tactic. For example Mike Keegan is writing off the takeover, but he's considered to be a bit of a Glazers propaganda tool, so is it posturing by them? I personally don't think there will be a takeover for the reasons I said earlier - no sensible businessman is going to pay double an asset's value and take on huge debts and obligations of further expenses, particularly when the income and earning potential of that asset is in decline.

It's a publicity stunt, unfortunately. There's no practical thought gone into the whole thing. It's all nonsense. For a start, you can't "submit a bid" when half the required funds relies on getting £5 each from several hundred million people. Also, he seems to be basing the figures for his "bid" on the current market value of just over £3b, not the Glazer's asking price, which is double that. The whole thing is set up so that he's going to be remembered by some credulous fans as the guy who tried to give us fans exactly what we wanted, to make the club fan-owned. He's trying to position himself as a hero, thwarted by the other greedier bidders, despite the fact that there is absolutely zero merit to his "bid".

Straight lines are really hard. Circles are completely impossible.

I know it was against lowly Grimsby, but Evan Ferguson's first goal for Brighton today was a wonderful bit of control and finishing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/65008153 His second is pretty good too. He looks a really good player.

I bet Chris Kavanagh was buzzing. How often in your career as a referee do you get to send three people off in as many minutes? It's like when Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes. It's a disgrace that Lee Dixon overlooked him for MOTM.

Sabitzer not taking any of the interviewer's bullshit.

Superb finish from Bruno. You could see we were in for a goal as soon as Shaw played it to Fred.

Bloody hell, absolute self-destruction from Fulham. Amazing back-heel finish from Sabitzer though if he meant it.

Sabitzer!!!

Bruno with ice in his veins. I would have whacked that over the stand.

We're clearly going to miss this pen.

Why did that take so long? It was immediately obvious what had happened. Wow, now Mitro has got himself sent off!

It's pretty frustrating stuff. We're not being dominated, as the commentators would have you believe, but our midfield is kind of non-existent so far.

What do I win? Happy to have helped.

@BradShort was I right? Don't leave me and @jonamok hanging.

You know what? Fuck off, Man City. Just fuck off.

I think we get awarded the Copa Del Rey on a technicality.

We always play Spanish teams. The last time we were in any phase of a European competition and weren't up against a Spanish team as either our knock-out opponents or one of the group opponents was the Europa League semi final against Roma in 2021.

Sevilla in the quarter-finals, then either Juve or Sporting, and all the weaker teams are in the other side of the draw. That's about as tough as it could have been. I'm still cautiously optimistic as Sevilla and Juve are not the Sevilla and Juve of previous seasons, but it depends on the fatigue and attritional injuries that are building up in the squad. Eriksen might be back before any potential final, and possibly Garnacho too. Plus, if Case keeps getting sent off he'll be well-rested for the European matches.