Plissken

Got to admit, this is a proper old fashioned Cup tie in a good way.

It's a shame Jonathan Pearce is commentating with all the enthusiasm of the pub bore holding forth at the end of the bar.

Given the way Liverpool have kicked the shit out of their opposition for the last few minutes, they bloody deserve that.

I was going to post something along those lines. I mean, if you lose a cup game to a team six tiers below you and from a town no larger than a bus stop, you would expect a response from your players in the next one. I just don't think he was expecting a response of "we really, really hate you".

Apologies to Julia Raeside for the “Fuck the Help” line I attributed to Samira Ahmed. This is where it was from and is a great demolition of that film. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/smersh-pod/id1203036677?i=1000398053802

You forgot that every character in Love, Actually is a fucking liar and trying to con their way into sex, a relationship or simply making someone else care about them rather than, you know, actually having any kind of likable personality. Rickman is trying to have an affair. Neesons's son is learning to play drums rather than talk to a girl. Kris whatsisface is taking advantage of being British. Laura Linney won't deal with her brother. Bill Nighy is faking a Christmas record for the money. Colin Firth can't write. Hugh Grant lies to an entire nation and Andrew Lincoln is an absolute fucking stalker. Samira Ahmed - I think - nailed it completely when she said it shouldn't be called "Love, Actually" it should be called "I Want To Fuck The Help".

That’s a nice little finish from Ake.

Also. This is what he did the one season we had his squad and uninjured. I guess those Everton fans complaining about him weren’t actually there.

The first time Bielsa lasted more than two seasons at a club was at Leeds.

It's a sign of how dysfunctional they are that the choice was between Dyche and Bielsa. Dyche would do the better job IMO, but stylistically there's not much in the way of planning going on. Tarks might be happy to see him again, McNeil less so. (I still firmly believe McNeil is a damned good player, but he's very much a confidence player and that has been hammered flat over the past two and a bit seasons.) It will be funny to see Dyche moving his furniture back into Jurgen Klopps head as well.

Was in the Deep South for Christmas and New Year. Proper Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia trip. Anyway, me and the Mrs are on a full on country tip finding loads of great artists by ignoring all the cliches and known artists. The album for this is excellent, especially "Southern Comfort" and "Lips As Cold As Diamonds", but I bloody love this.

There are rumours of an All or Nothing style documentary but maybe that's just a behind the scenes thing based on seeing a few cameras in the dressing room. By all accounts, Amazon actually got pitched it but there are been no real evidence that I could see. Dyche would have squashed it flat, mind.

It's on the list. Dave's an awesome guy in real life and he's done a hundred times more for the people of Burnley and Pendle than a more well known political operator from the area. He made his money, got his toys and then decided he'd spend the rest of his life trying to help people and make them happier.

It's difficult to say because the way the club did everything pre-ALK and after is very different, and there was not really enough evidence to say either way before Dyche was sacked. It's virtually impossible to tell, though the Weghorst thing was an indicator. I think that it's probable that if he was still here, Dyche would react to questions about it with a "not my thing, kids seem to like it though". But it's clear that Dyche did not like his players being on social media, and the likes of Ben Mee starting a Twitter account around the time of his leaving (I think) was indicative of that level of control. Whereas ALK are more than happy to cross-promote players accounts. Pre-ALK the club was very small-minded and unambitious when it came to a lot of things. Post-ALK the club lost a lot of long-term employees (the main media guy - a lifelong Claret - is now Everton's Press Officer) and there was a lot of wariness about that. In hindsight, it was clear that ALK were adopting a mixture of "our way or the highway" and "you aren't our people, sorry, there is the door, thanks for your efforts". This extended to the playing staff, when Ben Mee was offered a new contract but with a huge pay cut. From memory, there are six players left from the pre-ALK era and all but Josh Brownhill are slowly being eased out. It's impossible to underestimate the sheer level of change that has happened at the club in (checks) the nine months and eleven days since Dyche's sacking. An entirely new squad, manager and backroom staff, transfer strategy, revamped stadium and hospitality, fan experience, media presence. This is going to sound odd, but everyone felt that Dyche was bound into the fabric of the club like Clough or Ferguson, but the owners came in and while the fruits of his work (the training ground etc) are still prominent, there is no trace of him left behind any more as a person. The success on the pitch has made it remarkably easy to just move on. while retaining fond memories of what he achieved. The TL;DR version is "probably, but we were heading that way and now he isn't here the brakes are off".

Since our new owners, but have massively upped their social media game since Dyche left.

They’re definitely over-complicating these things.

The Wild Geese (1978) - 2.5/5 Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Roger Moore lead a group of too old British mercenaries drop into an African country to rescue its president and then get double crossed. There are many fascinating things about this film that aren't the film itself. They couldn't do the WWII thing as the glut of late 60s films had bled that dry. A modernisation where a bunch of ex-British Army types are paid to drop into Africa because the backwards natives just won't do the right thing by signing all their resources over to suits in London might seem terribly, well, racist except that's actually what was happening. As for the production, it was done in apartheid South Africa so was protested at the premieres. Burton was so ill he could hardly stand and when he did collapse they found his spine was coated in crystallised alcohol. He and Harris had half their fee kept in escrow so that they would stay sober. Moore asked for his part to have less dialogue so that he could stand in scenes and just watch Burton and Harris. Kenneth Griffith plays a man so camp he makes John Inman in "Are You Being Served" look like a study in subtlety. As for the protests mentioned earlier, it certainly isn't racist under its own times. It's actually trying to be fairly progressive, with the bad guys being suits in London after money. But despite meaning well, it's massively clunky in that sort of 70s way. Hardy Kruger plays a South African who learns to not be racist from the President himself. Except the director can't really do actors or dialogue or editing, so the scene feels and has dialogue exactly like that bit in Anchorman when the dog goes and saves Ron Burgundy by talking to the bear. I'm genuinely not kidding. The film doesn't really have a message, it just wants to be a fun military action romp and any message there is basically "there are people getting rich by making Are Boys do shitty things". Somehow it just about works. Obviously Burton, Harris and Moore on screen are just going to bring megawatts of star power and charisma. The action sequences are pretty good. It moves along briskly enough. No-one is (a-ha!) black and white, there are moments where they are all real bastards but for a reason. You give a damn about the minor characters. And of course - MASSIVE SPOILER DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT. If you've never seen it, I suspect it really matters how your own mood is at the time. I saw it as a kid in the 80s on late night telly and loved it, hence coming back to rewatch on a whim. Your mileage may vary dramatically.

Agreed. It's no surprise that the big clubs are the ones losing the money, because they feel that they have to buy with big fees and big wages for reasons of, well, ego really. And the sums involved means that when it comes time to move those players on, no-one except another Big Club can afford them. Barca are a billion in debt, losing all their players and pulling tricks to satisfy the regulations. They are top of La Liga and signed Lewandowski. There is no justice. They are all hoping for a Super League to save them. And they are going to get it, the bastards.

I'm also wondering what this means down the road. Players aren't signing these contracts for less money per year, they are just getting the same for a longer amount. So Chelsea sign a player and pay him £10m a year for 8 years rather than £10m for 5 years. Let's say Chelsea wants to sell him in year 4 of the deal. Normally they negotiate a payoff of the remainder, so let's say it was £5m. With a longer contract, that's a problem. Is that player going to accept the transfer and walk away from £30m in wages?

It's not shady, kinda, sort of. Just a (fairly obvious, in hindsight) FFP loophole that they've spotted because no-one hands out very long contracts. It's nowhere near the stuff Juve were up to.

Non-football, but that reminds me of Bobby Bonilla. The New York Mets asked him to defer $5.9m of his remaining contract in 2000, instead picking up $1.19m a year for 25 years with a start date of 2011. At the time, the Mets had invested in a fund that promised a high return, so it seems a good bet all round. The fund was run by Bernie Madoff. Oops. Bonilla still gets paid $1,193,248.20 every July 1 and will continue to do so until 2035.

Was wondering when this would be noticed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64383217 (NHL teams used to do the same thing to get around salary cap rules - handing out 15 year contracts with the understanding that the player would retire well before it ended.)

Mel and Kim, Dead or Alive, and Bananarama say "hello". When people think of SAW, they think of the 1988 onwards identikit production line. If anyone wants to diss "Respectable", "You Spin Me Round" or "Venus" then I'll see you outside in Mr Smiths car park. Michaela Strachan can referee.

You do realise that you are complaining about the Terminator not being able to win Strictly Come Dancing?

Ramsdale has also far exceeded expectations. When he got into the England squad last autumn, it was purely on the shirt he was wearing but he's playing much better than Pickford. (I've not seen enough of Pope this year, but obviously I've always thought he should be England's No 1 and he's quietly racking up the clean sheets again.)