Uilleam

What is most concerning is that we can't pass the fucking ball!! Tonight's match was the worst performance of the three games to date, and, thus, there is little or no sign of progress. It's worrying.

It's a reaction to a performance, one tour, and three games in to pre season. When the players can't even pass the ball to each other, then surely we have to be concerned. Let me ask you: Were there any positives? Did any of the new faces look the part? Where does MB go from here? Maybe there will be some magical transformation, before the serious stuff starts, next week, but there seems nothing on which to base such suggestion, and Kilmarnock on a plastic pitch begins to look like a nailer for points dropped.

I watched that for 90mins, and it was a shambles from back to front, and from front to back. Not only did they play like they had never seen each other before, they played like they had never seen a ball before. Were there any +ves from the performance? No. Did any of the new players look the part? No; they looked like duds. Where does MB go from here? Don't know, but it's not likely to be the Champions' League.

Oh, dear! That's the Greeks upset, now.

Would it be too bold to assume that this is not MB's preferred starting XI?

Two Butlands, to follow two Andy Gorams. If only they are half as good. You do the math.

OBITUARY Trevor Francis: First million-pound British footballer dies aged 69 Former England striker scored winning goal in 1979 European Cup final for Nottingham Forest new Monday July 24 2023, 2.20pm, The Times DAVID CANNON/ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trevor-francis-dies-football-player-manager-jdvfbqjqd Trevor Francis, the former England international, European Cup winning hero and Britain’s first £1 million footballer, has died at the age of 69. The forward, who famously scored the winning goal in the 1979 European Cup final as Nottingham Forest beat Malmo, died in Marbella, Spain. Francis became the first British footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee when Brian Clough’s Forest landed the striker from Birmingham City in 1979. In a statement on social media, Forest said: “Nottingham Forest is deeply saddened to learn the passing of two-time European Cup winner, Trevor Francis. A true Forest legend who will never be forgotten.” Francis lifts the trophy after the 1979 European Cup Final between Nottingham Forest and Malmo in Munich ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES/HULTON ARCHIVE Trevor Francis scored the winning goal in a European Cup final, represented England 52 times and enjoyed a long and varied career as a player and manager after making his debut for Birmingham City aged 16. Yet he will always be remembered primarily as Britain’s first million-pound footballer. It was in February 1979 that Brian Clough paid a seven-figure sum to take Francis from Birmingham to Nottingham Forest — having told him to “Take your hands out of your pocket, young man,” at an awards ceremony the previous year — and was rewarded in May with the header that decided the European Cup final against Malmo of Sweden. Francis went on to play for Manchester City, Sampdoria, Atalanta and Rangers. Fabio Capello, the former England manager, described him as the best English player to play in Italy’s Serie A. He became player-manager at Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday, returning to Birmingham for five years as manager. But as he admitted in 2009, “I’m always introduced as ‘the million-pound man’. I played first-team football at 16. I was 39 when I finished at Sheffield Wednesday. I had nine years with England winning 52 caps. I played in the World Cup. I also played in Italy and Scotland for very big, prestigious clubs. But sometimes you’d think the only thing I did was to be transferred for £1 million. And, do you know, I’m quite proud of it.” Trevor John Francis was born in 1954 in Plymouth to Roy Francis, a shift foreman at the South West Gas Board, and Phyllis, a seamstress. He was educated at the city’s Public Secondary School for Boys, and spotted by Birmingham, then in the second division of the Football League, who persuaded his family to allow him to move to St Andrew’s, helped by Don Dorman, the scout, buying them a new washing machine. He became Birmingham’s youngest-ever first-team player when he made his debut as a substitute in a match against Cardiff City at the age of 16 years and 139 days on September 5, 1970. His record was recently broken by the now England midfielder Jude Bellingham. He leapt to national attention later in the season when he scored all four goals in a 4-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers on February 20 — which did not excuse him from his duties as an apprentice professional, including cleaning his team-mates’ boots. He ended his first season with 15 goals from just 22 games and the nickname “Superboy”, and the following campaign ended in promotion to the top flight, Francis forming a potent spearhead with Bob Latchford. Birmingham also reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1972 and 1975, losing first to Leeds United and then Fulham. In 1977 he won his first England cap, under Don Revie, in a 2-0 defeat by Holland, and the following year he was allowed to sign a contract to spend the next three summers playing for Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League [NASL], scoring 22 goals in 19 appearances in his first season and being named in the NASL all-star team alongside Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia. But Birmingham were struggling and when they sank to the foot of the first division table in late 1978, Francis was made available for transfer after 133 goals in 328 appearances, and Clough almost doubled the British record of £516,000 to take him to the reigning champions. It has been reported that Clough arranged to pay £999,999 before tax, so that the milestone figure did not go to his head, but Francis, who learnt from the Birmingham manager Jim Smith that the actual fee, with league levies and taxes, was £1.15 million, found it more of a burden. Peter Taylor, Clough’s assistant, claimed to have agreed the fee for fear that Clough’s haggling would jeopardise the deal, which was done despite misgivings on the part of Clough and Taylor about the arrangement with Detroit. It seemed that neither party need have worried when Francis, ineligible for European Cup matches until Forest reached the semi-finals, made his mark in the final itself, stooping at the far post to head home the only goal of the game against Malmo from John Robertson’s left-wing cross just before half time. However, Francis’s career with Forest failed to live up to that auspicious beginning. In his second summer in Detroit, he suffered a groin injury that kept him out of the first two months of the league season, and Taylor said that he and Clough had found it hard to motivate an easygoing character whose natural abilities had never required him to fight his way up from the bottom, as some of his team-mates had. They played him out of position on the right wing, and later he suffered an achilles tendon injury that kept him out of the 1980 European Cup final and England’s squad for the European Championship. In 1981 he was sold on at a profit of £200,000 to Manchester City, with John Bond, the City manager, threatening to resign if the money could not be found. But once again he proved injury-prone, although he was able to make England 1982 World Cup squad that promised much in winning its qualifying group, Francis scoring twice, including the only goal in the 1-0 victory over Kuwait, but could only manage two goalless draws in the second group stage. Back at his club, financial problems were again an issue. City could not afford to pay £100,000 plus bonuses per season to a player who regularly sustained injuries. As a result, Francis was sold for £700,000 to Sampdoria in 1982, where he played alongside Graeme Souness, the former Liverpool captain, and Roberto Mancini, a future manager of Manchester City, in a team that won the Genoa club’s first Italian Cup. After scoring 17 goals in 68 games, he moved on to Atalanta of Bergamo three years later for £800,000 but scored only once in 21 appearances, and he failed to add to his 12 goals for England in his 52nd game for his country, against Scotland. It proved to be his last cap, and he was not selected for the 1986 World Cup squad. Francis returned to Britain in 1987, but to Scotland rather than England, joining the Rangers team being assembled at Ibrox by Souness, his former team-mate, for only £75,000. His next stop was Queens Park Rangers, where he scored some memorable goals before becoming player-manager in November 1988. However, the team failed to perform well and he earned negative headlines when fining Martin Allen two weeks’ wages for attending the birth of his son rather than playing against Newcastle United. He did better at Sheffield Wednesday, whom he joined as a player in 1990, despite their relegation in his first season. They won promotion back to the top flight and won the League Cup — although he did not play in the final and he was popular with supporters who appreciated his skills even if his pace was now limited. When Ron Atkinson left, Francis took over as manager and guided the club to a third-placed finish in 1992, the last season of the old Football League first division, and the finals of the League Cup and FA Cup in 1993, both lost to Arsenal. The team was an attractive, attacking outfit, and Francis could afford to retire as a player in 1994 without weakening the club. So it was a surprise when he was sacked in 1995 after his first disappointing season, when the club finished 13th. One of his few poor decisions had been the failure in 1992 to sign Eric Cantona without a second trial, the Frenchman choosing to join Leeds United instead, helping Wednesday’s Yorkshire rivals to win the league title. Francis worked as a media pundit before returning to St Andrew’s in 1996 as manager of Birmingham. Supporters dreamed of his homecoming sparking a revival in the club’s fortunes, but although he improved the team, reaching the play-offs on three occasions and the League Cup final in 2001 (lost to Liverpool on penalties), he was unable to deliver promotion and was replaced by Steve Bruce in October 2001. Bizarrely, he took over from Bruce as manager of Crystal Palace, but with even less success than he had enjoyed at Birmingham. Thanks in part to a namecheck in the Only Fools and Horses theme tune — about buying “Trevor Francis tracksuits from a mush in Shepherds Bush” — his name had by then been immortalised in popular culture. He turned once again to media work, which was interrupted in 2012, when he suffered a heart attack. To look after his health after that he powerwalked every day and rarely drank alcohol. In 1974 he married Helen and had two sons: Matthew, who runs Francis Homes, a housebuilding business, and James who became a professional footballer, playing centre forward for Tamworth, before also working for Francis Homes. Helen died of cancer in 2017. “It’s hard because of the deep love I felt for Helen — and because I’m useless in the house. She did everything for me,” Francis admitted in an interview. “All of a sudden I am living by myself and I suppose I never contemplated this would happen. It’s a tougher challenge than anything I ever faced in football.” Trevor Francis, footballer and manager, was born on April 19 1954. He died of a suspected heart attack on July 24, 2023, aged 69

And the crushing of the grapes provides the origins of 'The Bouncy'....

Do they know that the Loyal Orange Institution commissioned and paid for the design of the new third strip?

He must be doing something right.

All other things being equal, I should have Souttar in. It's not my First XI, but Beale's: so if Goldson was fit, I suspect he would start. Butland and Tav will start, as will Raskin, and Cantwell. I suspect, strongly, that Dowell will, too. Thereafter, your guess is as good (if not better) than mine. And of course we don't know about Danilo, or Cienfuegos (whatever). Ultimately, I think he is going to have a pool which allows flexibility, and cover, so we might be wrong to get hung up on 'The 1st XI'.

Nah.

I don't know. All I am saying is that there are three in defence who, fitness and suspensions allowing, will likely be 1st picks. To them, I would add Raskin, and Cantwell.

But is he 1st pick when fit? I suspect he is/will be.

Goldson done for, then?

Add Tavenier, Goldson, and Butland, that's you with six.

He's got something, certainly, but I fear he will never be in Vogue

That's what you get wi' weemin on the bench.

Alas, Frankie, I am too posh....

"A wife has been convicted of harassment after plaguing her husband with requests to come home from watching football and hounding her friends about his whereabouts." If ever there was an article on Gersnet to 'bookmark', it is this (although ah say so masel'). Wife convicted of harassment after calls to husband during football Joanne Healey rang the landline at his friends’ house 59 times in two hours new Peter Chappell Friday July 21 2023, 9.25am, The Times Law https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wife-phone-call-husband-watching-football-harassment-2jpb2stl9 A wife has been convicted of harassment after plaguing her husband with requests to come home from watching football and hounding her friends about his whereabouts. Joanne Healey, 59, repeatedly called her spouse of 37 years, Steve, on his mobile as he was watching Chelsea play Manchester United on television, a court was told. When the former aerospace worker, 60, eventually refused to take her calls, Healey rang his friends John and Debbie Ashworth, leading to an argument during which she called them “paedophiles”. He went home when the match finished but his wife was later interviewed by police over the calls to the Ashworths’ home in Merseyside. It emerged that she had been drinking heavily at the time of the incident. In the days leading up to the football match, she was said to have been abusive to Mrs Ashworth over text messages, social media and calls. Mrs Ashworth blocked her but she began to receive numerous unwanted phone calls to her landline. On one occasion Mrs Healey was said to have phoned the house phone 59 times in the space of two hours. At Wirral magistrates’ court Healey pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to a 12-month community order and fined £80. She must attend 20 days of rehabilitative activity with the probation service and pay £234 in costs and victim surcharge. A request for a restraining order made on behalf of Mrs Ashworth was rejected. Healey, from Rock Ferry, had no previous convictions. Her lawyer Rebecca Boswell said: “Although she likes a drink she is not dependent on alcohol. But she accepts that maybe when she has had a drink, maybe what she has bottled up comes out. “She has gone her whole life without coming before the court. I do not think this is where she envisaged herself being. She is currently undergoing further assessment in relation to arthritis, she is having X-rays on her hips and back and also blood tests. ”This is one occasion of telephone calls. This is someone who has come to court for the first time and is never to come back.” Sentencing, JP Mary Garvey told Healey: “It is unfortunate that you are in court today. The calls were persistent and prolonged but we are not going to place a restraining order on you because of the passage of time. It is over eight months and there have been no further incidents. “But it is a warning to you and a lesson to you and we hope that we do not see you before these courts again.”

I was ordered to stand, at a Brother's command To receive the....

A curate's egg of a game, I suppose: Newcastle good in parts, Rangers bad in parts. Newcastle had more good parts, and less bad parts, Rangers the opposite. At one point in the first half, it looked as though we were on a hiding. I would say that the trip to Germany does not seem to have sharpened up many of the players, and we looked a little lacking in pace, even Ridvan, Fashion, and Matondo coming second best in foot races, and as for Jack and Lundstram....... The defence looked as bad as last season. Raskin and Hagi did look the part, but, of course, we know they are quality. The lad Yfeko certainly stood out, with that hair, and that size, and that build, and, as a bonus, looked as though he has something about him, football-wise. The other yoof looked interested, lively, and a little quicker in thought and movement than the usual old suspects. I know it's early, that there were innumerable changes (thank God!), and that Newcastle are a high calibre team, with very expensive, and expensively remunerated, players, but it's always disappointing to see how far we can fall short. We could have squeezed a draw, which might have been on the home side of a fair result. Perhaps we should have arranged to play Newcastle last of the pre-season fixtures. (And £40M for Anthony Gordon looks a steal. For Everton.)

It's a bit early, in the match, and in prep, and it might be uncharitable, but this is looking uncomfortably like a Fitba' lesson.

Seems fair, reasonable, and accurate. Pacific Quay could, then, become known as The Glory Hole: again fair, reasonable, and accurate.

Kazakhstan is in UEFA. Therefore, if you are drawn against a team from, say, Almaty, the largest city, and former capital, you will be playing the away leg east of China's western border. Admittedly, Khazakhstan is large, and a fairly substantial part lies to the West of the Urals, which were always regarded as the approximate boundary between Europe and Asia, but really.....