BaaLocks

Fair point, I'd agree that Wildsmith did little wrong till the Oxford game. But the first against them and (debatably) the third against Posh were down to him. Keepers get it tough, nowhere to hide when they make a pigs ear of it - Elder made an equally big error for Burton's second last night but might well keep a start even though.

Put another way, what has he done to deserve being dropped?

Bit quick - you don't think he's juicing do you?

I'm not sure Bobby ot Seth were a shadow of their prior selves when they came back. Seth played a good cameo role but his knees were paggered by that time, Bobby played only ten games (OK, he scored 8 but still) before going back out on loan. Steve Bloomer scored at the same ratio for the 100 games when he came back, besides that I'm not sure I can think of many. Which is why I never fail to be amazed at this romantic notion that players age like wine, sorry but they don't - to quote Vicent Vega they sadly turn to vinegar.

Also, just because he was a fraudster doesn't mean he wasn't a potentially good footballer. The suggestion is somehow that Derby were duped but his contract was likely based on footballing ability. I know that Graeme Sounness got scammed into playing Ali Dia (on reflection, off thread, just how amazing is it that a manager would put a player into a top flight fixture without having seen them kick a ball) but it seems here he was simply a good footballer who happened to be a crook as well. A bit like the Tinder Swindler, I continue to be astounded at the ability of some people to allow themselves to be parted with their (or in the case of Claire Henry, her husband's) money. It's mad how daft some people can be.

Can you imagine the Dubois / Usyk fight getting referred to the monitors and someone in Stockley Park taking 15 minutes to decide whether or not it was a low blow. Agree on the Fury bit, he's instinctively a brawler out of the bare knuckle world. He got taken that fight, and probably had realised it by that point so, as I said, the instincts kicked in. Still awful.

Smith had a good couple of rounds but it always felt that it was merely Beterbiev setting him up and checking him out. No shame on Smith to have lost only two to Hall of Famers but not much left for him now other than some domestic fights against the likes of Yarde.

TIme for VAR in boxing?

S-Eggs Pistol?

Stripping someone of their CBE isn't going to pay the bills of those who have suffered for years with nobody willing to even listen, let alone do anything. Potentially this becomes a really strong test case of 'society' against 'the people' and events such as Windrush, Grenfell, Hillsborough, Met Police, Shrewsbury Hospital maternity, PPE, Jimmy Saville, families of serial killers (e.g. Yorkshire Ripper where it is now commonly accepted that he could have been apprehended quicker had policing been more focused) and then even families of individuals such as Steven Lawrence, Sarah Everard. We have a fork in the road here, either we use this as the wake up call to challenge those in power and to make them accountable for their actions. What I fear will happen is Vennells will lose her CBE, some big number will be quoted (which, when divided by those affected means each person gets a few thousand) and we will go back to our normal lives, when we didn't have two weeks on the sofa to stop and understand just how these bar stewards turn us over time and time again for no other reason than because they can.

Fool Me Once (Netflix*): another of those Harlan Corben dramatizations. I like them for a few reasons - they are limited so you know you're not getting dragged into 146 episodes, the plots are all a bit obvious but it's easy on the eye, they are normally a bit "well that's just ridiculous" in the final episode (I'm not quite there yet) which gives a nice frisson of irritation but at least, unlike Line of Duty etc, you haven't given five years of your life to it. Also, they are normally set in and around Manchester so have a bit of a gritty UK feel to them, even if they are ultimately a bit contrived and "Death In Paradise" silly in the end. Finally, anything with Michelle Keegan in is - at least for me - worth a little bit of investment (and that is not a double entendre in any way). * - just thought it might be an idea to at least let people know where they can get access to what is being discussed

Women's football has not been successful, imho, because some do gooders suddenly decided to level the field. It has been because our terrestial broadcasters got completely squeezed out of being able to afford the men's game and so it was in their interest to promote women's football as the next best thing. Clubs were drawn to it also as it provided another revenue stream, pulled more fans in (from socio-economic groups that can neither afford, nor want to, watch the men's game) and - without a doubt - there was a fair dollop of virtue signalling in there. Inherently, for the reasons you mention about the grass roots element - it's only been a good thing as you say and one would have to be pretty curmudgeonly to suggest otherwise. As for those suggesting that women shouldn't be pundits or commentate, especially under the pretence of their not being good enough, need to give their head a wobble. The same sort (or at the least, borne out of those) who think that black footballers can't do it on a cold Wednesday in February or women shouldn't drive buses or be Prime Minister (sadly, on the last of those points the evidence they can at least from the UK is less than robust - that's a joke btw).

Even when repatriations equivalent to the value of each freed slave was paid to the plantation owners. In what is not much of a surprise, the slaves themselves were not compensated from being torn from their homeland and made to work in penury - meaning the status quo for them didn't really change and most simply ended up being 'free' but working for the same 'employer' at rates that left them bonded. Humans are garbage, and too prone to accept the laws and ways of the land even when it is clear to see they are horrifically biased. Sadly, this is still inherently true today.

Bless poor Jeff Bezos' cottons - seem £274m a day isn't enough. I don't know how he keeps it all together.

I seriously doubt there is a Geordie alive who could keep it secret for more than three minutes 😉😉😊

Given it was intended for away fan hospitality I kind of get the general point, something like "we welcome our rivals" or something a bit more generic would have been OK (if still a complete waste of time). But to put up statements that are actually supporting Newcastle is just barmpot crazy - as others have said this must have been signed off by someone. One thing you can be certain of is that more than one person will lose their job over this. As for my theory, I think someone's Grandma was kidnapped by the Saudis and told they will only be released when the changes are made. Either that or Ant and Dec have bought a graphic design company.

I've been a couple of times, it's a good laugh and suprisingly well mannered considering it is just a reason to get hammered. I wouldn't advise it if you actually want to watch darts but then I often feel that way about live football with some of the twonks I end up sitting near.

That's nothing, last time Leicester played Forest they printed all over the programme that it was a derby game. How embarrassing was that?

Agree, much better than I expected - very easy to over egg that plot but the leads play well within themselves and keep it the right side of farce. Dave Swindlehurst / 10

No, you're not tbf. But they also do 'stand up if you love the darts' and 'boring, boring tables' as well so you always know you've got another two chants to go before it comes around again. This is my favourite darts moment of all time.

Like all the Derby fans singing about Forest when they're two divisions away?

Yeah, Humphries was immense - better averages and the number of legs he started with a maximum was insane. Never looked like any leg was going to end up with them needing to split the 11 to win :-).

The London NY fireworks once more were a cacophony of disorganized chaos. Just a wall of "more is more" with almost zero coordination or overall purpose. The drones were better, till they started blowing Corona virus all over the place.

They didn't mention Hooky once and give a very light reference to her romantic life full stop. They also don't mention that she had a big fall out with Craig Cash and that's why he went off and did Early Doors. To be fair, it's a celebration of her comedy as opposed to being a critique of her life - there's enough in there to have you realize she was quite manic but it isn't really the place to go exposing her darker side (of which there was one, no doubt).