Alph

Didn't they give Georgia a kicking a few years ago whilst we all tutted and watched on?

Everyone should sit on both hands with a finger on their lips.

100% it would be better, its without question.
Good riddance to them I'd say.

It is disgusting, there's so many alternatives to how they could fix this. Ultimately the only clubs this really hurts are the ones who need it in lower leagues and non-league. The worst thing about it, only the Premier League were consulted. Boycott it and the League Cup.
Remove u21 sides from FLT, play them in the FA Cup if you're so scared of fatigue?
Why are the replays removed in rounds way before the bigger teams enter the competition?
Keep replays in rounds 3/4 and then stop them. Also, remove semis from Wembley.
Stop going on pre-season and post-season tours abroad.
 
 
I'm slowly starting to think football actually could be better if that Super League happened.

It is an utter disgrace, but not unexpected given the cosy relationship between the FA and the Premier League.
If they can do this, then there is nothing to stop them severing the relationship between the FA and the EFL - and the next logical step being the establishment of a 'closed shop' Premier League with no promotion and relegation.

The obvious solution to the FA Cup is simple. 
Prior to kick-off, ask teams whether they want a one-off game or the possibility of a replay.
A one-off game can only ensue if the decision is unanimous in favor of a one-off game.
Most PL and Championship teams will favor one-off games so you will get plenty of all PL one-off ties but it gives the smaller clubs a bigger chance of a payday.

If we get promoted automatically we’ll have played 54 games this season. 
 
Arsenal can only play 52. 

Excellent statement by Tranmere. 
https://www.tranmererovers.co.uk/news/2024/april/club-statement-fa-cup-replays/

If the PL don't want replays, perhaps they can agree to forfeit the right to progress in the competition if they don't win the tie. Win and you're through, lose or draw and the non-PL team progresses - if two PL teams play each other they can toss a coin for all I care.....(which is an appropriate method given that this decision has shown them to be a bunch of tossers)....

But we have too deal with the massive fixture backlog for all those teams in Europe playing home and away against some team who won the Cypriot cup, or 20 games to win the Champions league they qualified for by finishing 4th.  Don't forget the 4 preseason games going to Saudi to play against Al Hilal and some other randoms as well.  Rochdale can feck right off with their 200k extra gate money.

Iran have played it down so far, presumably for PR purposes to emphasise to their population and the outside world that Israel can't damage them, so it'll be interesting to see if that's an end to the direct tit-for-tat or not.
I expect exchanges of attacks between Israel and Iranian proxies will continue unabated.

Thanks to the wisdom of the F1 powers, this weekend is a sprint race weekend.
So, 4am saturday morning for the pretendy race, the quaifying atr 8am and race at 8am on sunday.
I'd love to be bigging up this one as I always thought the track was OK, but the usual "30 seconds behind Max" will probably apply.
 
Friday, 19 April
First practice
04:30-05:30
Sprint qualifying
08:30-09:14
Saturday, 20 April
Sprint race
04:00-05:00
Qualifying
08:00-09:00
Sunday, 21 April
Race
08:00
 

I saw Liz Truss at Heathrow Airport a few weeks ago. She was going mad because none of the airlines would sell her a ticket.
They didn't want her anywhere near Business or Economy. 

It's a shame he wasn't given more time. He inherited a mess and in my opinion should have been given more time. 
I've seen the movie about Brian Clough. I'm downloading the Paul Jewell one. 

I’ve lost a lot of interest in boxing since the decline of the welterweight division. The heavyweight scene peaked interest for a while but since Saudi came about the prized fighters are just holding everything up. 
Boxing was better when Eddie was just UK based and we had decent UK shows.
His expansion into the US and move away from Sky affected UK boxing in a bad way and then the Saudi money has made it worse, despite the Matchroom/Queensbury love-in. 

Yeah cringy af! I know hes a red dog but i seen froch ripping him to pieces, funny af! Asking frank why hes holding his hand, asking if hes his daddy? Lol!!

She's right. In our house we have so many TV shows that we give up on even when we are enjoying them. Narcos, Peeky Blinders, Ozark, Witcher, Boardwalk, Lost, Walking Dead, The Tourist, House of Cards, Vikings... Honestly, so many more that we just trail off them when busy and end up losing interest 
Breaking Bad was one that we would make time for. After a brief dip in Series 1 (that is part of the story) once it gets going again it doesn't stop. So good.
I don't know if anything can live up to the hype Breaking Bad has. But I'm with your Mrs. Best thing ever. 
I'm starting Fallout this weekend. Was a fan of Fallout 3. The Mrs has no idea what to expect and when she saw the trailer I don't think yet another apocalyptic survival adventure excites her. She says there's too many. I say not enough. Could end up going solo on it

The worst one was the self made job by the West Ham player beating a cat with his brother.  Whatever happened to him.  Seems he's had a contract extension and been made Captain.  I lose a bit more love for football every year. 

animal adverts. Charity ones where its hurt/suffering dogs or donkeys n such. breaks my heart.

I really really hate some ads enough that I would refuse the product if it was free. 
Huel. I get that ad whenever I use my phone. 
You know adverts that show middle aged professional men doing a rap? Car adverts tend to do it. What year was it that somebody first laughed about an out of touch white man getting down with the kidz. 
What??! Liverpool players are using Nivea? That's why their skin looks so great on Match of The Day!! It all makes so much sense. Oh, look how much fun they're having rubbing it in! While in full kit too. Add to basket

I've watched it... 
If you're a gamer you'll probably enjoy the show, it captures the feel of the games and has loads of easter eggs.  If you've never heard of Fallout, its still been getting good reviews and Season 1 sets up the world and story nicely for the future.
I found it to be kinda 'meh' however - although I guess despite being a huge gamer I've never really enjoyed the Fallout/Bethesda games, so maybe its just me.  Reading other reviews it does seem that I am in a minority. 
You can easily watch it in a couple of evenings though, which is a positive for me!  So at least there isn't too much of a time investment - my missus wants me to watch Breaking Bad cos apparently its the 'best thing ever' but I see how many episodes there are and 'nah...' 

Open conversations are not the done thing these days Alf ,,, extremists on both sides of every argument can’t have they’re views challenged because in the main they know they can’t defend theyre position so name calling and shouting matches are the modus operandi 

I really really hate some ads enough that I would refuse the product if it was free. 
Huel. I get that ad whenever I use my phone. 
You know adverts that show middle aged professional men doing a rap? Car adverts tend to do it. What year was it that somebody first laughed about an out of touch white man getting down with the kidz. 
What??! Liverpool players are using Nivea? That's why their skin looks so great on Match of The Day!! It all makes so much sense. Oh, look how much fun they're having rubbing it in! While in full kit too. Add to basket

Fair point, but at the risk of quibbling that wasn't exactly stated. Implied, sure.
I feel like we shut people and ideas down far too readily these days, and this is another example. See Dawn French's comments yesterday around JK Rowling.
 

Having open conversations is fine. So long as we are willing to have open conversations about everything. 
The problem with some people is they can't tolerate criticism of Israel without making accusations of deep Antisemitism. But then they want the freedom to have these open conversations. 
What's wrong with talking about Muslim men coming into Europe from the Middle East into Europe (can't remember the Douglas Murray quote) that "they're unworthy of" and the dangers of Islamists? 
Well, nothing. Provided you are comfortable to sit down and talk about Israel without screaming antisemite. 
Rachel Riley accused social media of being a cesspit of Antisemitism.She photoshopped the picture of Corbyn arrested in SA protesting against Apartheid. She is isn't shy accusing people of being racist/antisemtic. Yet gets to pick what's racist and what isn't (see the British Jews refusing to play British Arabs comment). There's a whole history of double standards with her. So she doesn't want an open conversation. Neither does Douglas Murray. 
There was an interview on Sky between Owen Jones and some Israeli influencer. At one point he said to Owen Jones "why do you care so much". This has been the smear of Pro Palestinians for a long time. Implying or saying outright that it's motivated by Antisemitism. Even aimed at "self hating Jews". 
Imagine, if this was a story about  something to do with a banker. And a celebrity jumped to the conclusion that the greedy banker was probably a Jew. She wouldn't call that a conversation starter. She'd be right too. 
And she didn't even apologise. She basically said she was wrong this time but usually....
Open conversations? Fine. But open across the board. Talk about the links between certain crimes and race/religion if that's somehow helpful. 
The hypocrisy of accusing the West of having deep rooted Antisemitism while wanting the freedom to open fire on Muslims. That's what separates Murray and Riley from, I assume, your view.