Plissken

Oh for God's sake! "Given his Marsching orders" was right there, man!

The thing about the European Super League was that they would still be part of their own country's league. But even then the PL gave them a slap on the wrist.

They are not. And there is no chance in hell that it will happen. Not least because the PL have ignored plenty of stuff in the past (not least Everton last season with FFP and not banning Richarlison until after the season, allowing him to score vital goals).

I see a "it is not fair to penalise the current structure / fans for errors made in previous years" in the near future.

Odegaard's defending of Tarkowski for the goal was... something. I'm not sure what, but it was definitely something.

McNeil to Tarkowski. One of those moments where it is obvious in hindsight what was going to happen.

You're me, and I claim my five pounds. (I love seeing behind the scenes of stadia.) I don't have any nostalgia for those grounds though, although I don't mind watching footage and thinking about it. Far too many of them - in hindsight - were crumbling deathtraps. I've been in crushes at Old Trafford, Anfield, the Hawthorns and any number of lower division grounds. I do want to get to Kenilworth Road before they knock it down though.

Bank of Dave (2.5/5) Well, this is a complicated one to write about. Let's try it as a standard film. It's based on the true story of a Burnley businessman who wants to set up a localbank to help his deprived community. He engages a firm of London lawyers, who send one of them North to basically tell him why there has been no new bank started in 150 years. Said lawyer slowly realises the reason for this, while being charmed by the titular Dave and charming his niece, Alexandra. It's a mishmash of three standard tropes, the underdog story, the fish out of water and the opposites attract romcom. These are pretty well-travelled paths and the film absolutely does not misstep on any of them. You know what is going to happen, the interest is getting there. The cast know their brief and do their jobs well. Rory Kinnear nails Dave, understanding that beneath the outgoing bonhomie is a sharp operator. Hugh Bonneville knows how to play an evil banker. Joel Fry and Phoebe Denyvor make a decent couple. Cathy Tyson and Paul Kaye do the "local colour" characters and nail the accents perfectly. (Someone earlier mentioned a patronising scene of not being able to understand the local accent... my wife has trouble with it when we go over and I've been with her for 26 years!) The story plays out, Tab A goes into Slot B. The political commentary seems absolutely crowbarred in, but needed to be said. The baddies are pantomime but none the worse for that. It doesn't quite stick the landing but as far as I am concerned, it is a very passable hour and forty minutes that won't exercise the brain cells but is perfect for a nice evening in. However, because I'm from the area, there is some vague thoughts that contains spoilers that I'll hide. Mainly about the truth of the film and the story.

Never seen a single second of Ally McBeal, and don't intend to start now.

I stared at that thumbnail for ages until I cracked had to look up where I've seen her before. She's in a Season One episode of Due South called "An Invitation to Romance" which is an absolute belter.

Which reminds me, I'm going to the Turf next week to watch the game against Preston and Ched Evans plays for them.

On a related note, I suppose I'll put it here rather than the Championship thread, but the reason for Sheffield United being under a transfer embargo is that they have been missing payments to Liverpool for Rhian Brewster. As a Sheff Wed fan put it.

Tebas doesn't have a Barca blind-spot, in that he's been trying to get them to act sensibly for a few seasons now and they have reacted by finding loopholes. He's also not wrong when he is having a go at the excesses of the Premier League. (The Fernandez transfer has made the move he made from River Plate to Benfica the richest transfer in Argentinian football history and the add-ons have single handledly made River the richest club in the country.) However, he is getting way above his station and seeing himself as some kind of arbiter of FFP in football. I suspect the Bundesliga and Serie A are happy for him to fire their bullets for them, especially with Juve and Inter currently in deep trouble for accounting trickery.

It’s usually around 35.

Trying to buy Fernandez for £110m+, selling Jorginho to Arsenal for £12m. Hear me out here, but I'm not entirely sure that Chelsea know what they are doing.

I really love their new album and couldn't resist. Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester and London on the tour list in October. Surely you can get a pass signed?

Couple of tickets booked for Larkin Poe at Manchester Albert Hall.

Some proper laughs in this weeks Squires cartoon. The stadium joke, the club motto, the Dr Suess type banners... https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2023/jan/31/david-squires-on-bielsa-dyche-and-the-everton-manager-interview-process

FA Cup fifth round draw Southampton v Luton or Grimsby Leicester City v Blackburn or Birmingham Stoke City v Brighton Wrexham or Sheffield United v Tottenham Fulham or Sunderland v Leeds United Bristol City v Manchester City Manchester United v Derby or West Ham Ipswich or Burnley v Sheffield Wednesday or Fleetwood

OK, spoiler. (You should watch it because Woods and Dennehy are brilliant together.)

When directors put cool things into films for no other reason that it looks pretty cool and nerds loudly go on the internet and equally loudly demand the back story for said cool thing so the writers sigh and come up with something to explain the thing that only existed because it looked cool and then the nerds go back onto the internet to complain about the explanation because it's rubbish and didn't fit their imagination exactly, even though the whole point was to leave it to the viewer to have fun imagining. So ultimately you end up with entire films of stuff for nerds to endlessly argue and nit-pick and gatekeep about.

Anyway, I've mentioned it before but the end of the otherwise excellent James Woods/Brian Dennehy thriller Best Seller features a character doing something so monumentally dumb as to ruin the entire film. Even the writer, Larry Cohen, said "we need to fix that bit", but was ignored.

One of my favourite jokes in LA Story is when Steve Martin gets in his car and drives to his destination, two houses down.

Blimey charlie!

He was filmed driving into the training ground today, I think. No official announcement yet, but I imagine there is contractual stuff being sorted out.