Plissken

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.)

Maybe, maybe not. They certainly have the opportunity to get better as a group, which is something that Leicester were never going to be allowed to have.

At the risk of antagonising Arsenal fans (Who? Moi?), I think that this is not a great team in terms of "historically great" but a very good team at perhaps the peak of their abilities who is taking full advantage of down/off years by rivals. City are slightly off it, Chelsea are a mess, Liverpool are exhausted and Man Utd are rebuilding. You want more evidence? Who expected Newcastle to be in third at this stage of the season? Basically doing a Leicester. That's not a bad thing in any way shape or form, nor is it a criticism. Part of the appeal of football is being able to take advantage of others mistakes. Arsenal seem to be the one team that isn't shooting itself in the foot at crucial moments. That's the sort of thing that champions do, maximise your opportunities, minimise your mistakes. They keep on doing that and they'll be deserved champions - it's not their fault that their rivals keep putting on clownshoes at key times.

Lampard has been sacked.

I've seen photos. Apparently the managers were happy to play on...

If Lampard was half as smart as he thinks he is, he wouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. But then Everton might not have got preferential treatment from the Premier League to help them stay up.

He played with half of them, and hangs out with the rest.

I was sat right behind this. It’s one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen at Turf Moor.

We made £40m profit on transfers in the summer window alone. 9 first team players and their wages departed. The sale of Dwight McNeil alone paid for Benson, Zaroury, Cullen, Twine and Bastien, all of whom played last night.

Just got in. What a team. Just unbelievable. They don’t care how many they concede, they’re going to score more. 25 consecutive games since the opposition kept a clean sheet.

Went in one of the arcades on the pier at Blackpool a couple of months ago. What a thoroughly depressing place. As a teenager I would catch the train to play on the latest games at Coral Island et al. They had a full R-360 cab playing G-Loc, plus all the then new, now classic stuff. Could watch the attract modes for hours. Obvious consoles killed them off but for them to end up full of 2p coin pushers... maybe the olden days really were better.

Ings clearly only wants to play in claret and blue. I assume Scunthorpe are next.

That would be wild, boys.

What makes you think Harry’s Garage has got stale? I mean, I’ve skipped a couple of the recent road trips but the rest seems fine enough.

This bloody got me.