Red-Robbo

A Caipirinha. Very refreshing.

Funnily enough, ours were opposite: loved cricket, not that interested in anything else, with football coming near the bottom of the tree. Athletics, my own personal area of excellence, was pretty much ignored and we just went off to do it ourselves. Luckily myself and one classmate were good enough to get extra-curricular coaching from international standard coaches based in Millfield, just down the road.

I suppose, in a way, he did.

Attendances were rising before the Covid-hit season. They've been on a broadly upward curve in the second tier since the low point of 1986. Championship attendance now are approximately the same as the old Division 2 in the late 50s. We're unlikely to ever match the record post-war attendances though, due to all-seater stadiums and crowd control concerns.

Indeedy. Re; The accommodation, it's my understanding that buying a property in a prosperous city can be almost as expensive as in the UK, rental properties are much cheaper and tenants have much greater protections than those still surviving in the UK.

They must be in a state of shock. Still their higher wages, much better pensions, lower retirement age, cheaper housing, lower food inflation, better public transport, cheaper energy and working health system compared to the UK might make them feel better about it.

My niece works there and TBH the sub-contracting company that employs her are not the best: very demanding and skirting employment law when it comes to breaks etc. A job's a job, but I don't think it thrills her, as a City fan, to have to deal with some of the unpleasant drunks among our supporters that she has to encounter.

Generally, what these figures show is English football continuing its march to be the best attended live professional sport leagues in the world. Figures were higher in the pre-TV owning age, but after the decline of the late 70s and early 80s, caused in part by lack of investment in outdated facilities, off-putting violence and health & safety disasters, it really is remarkable that in times of economic stress purchases of season tickets across all league clubs has risen by an average of 15% and that the Championship remains the 5th most watched division in Uefa.

You and me both, but as you say, the Anglo-Italian fizzled out due to lack of spectator interest. Anyway, we won the Anglo-Scottish Cup which is an (ahem) European trophy and one that West Ham never claimed. Although, to be fair, they never played in it. ? EDIT: Just checked that assertion and they did play in the Texaco Cup, which was an Anglo-Scottish-Irish version of the same thing.

More debt reshuffling and money jiggery pokery in La Liga than in the Prem even.

Grant's junior sides produced a lot of professional players, considering the size of the club. No E in his surname incidentally.

Don't worry, Harry, the chances will come next season, like they did at Luton... ?

It's my feeling as well. Naismith works pretty well as the link man, getting the ball out of our final third and feeding more attack-minded players. As the last line of defence, we have seen a few notable howlers from him, although admittedly they were mainly at the start of his City career.

When his side throw themselves on the turf as though they have been stuck down by anthrax, he gets getting booed- and that's all he deserves He has a decent record, bur he encourages his sides to cheat, so why lionise him? Simulation is one of the things that is wrong with the modern game.

Buenos Aires?

Quite. Footballers rarely live in the town's whose clubs they play for. In the case of Burnley players they probably live in somewhere posh in the Ribble Valley or Fylde peninsula. Some nightlife-lovers might even live in Manchester.

Bit nearer to us than Bristol is to Manchester, plus I don't think you can ever accuse someone choosing to support Bristol City of "glory hunting".

Man U fans I've worked with in the past included a girl who grew up in Guernsey, a bloke from Malta who lived in Daventry and a chap from Falmouth. They all made a reasonable point when they said they had no local league teams to them so they went for what was the most exciting top-flight side at the time they became interested in football. It's Bristolian Man U fans" who get my goat.

Really nice work. Your son is talented.

Dunno how you make that claim. 'Muff have never played in the top flight or an FA Cup and their historic attendance average is below both the clubs you mention.

They have a better record than many of the clubs in the Prem, but let's not forget, Tom Finney retired in 1960 and there may be few people alive, if any, who can remember watching PNE win their second FA Cup.

But even longer ago than our late 70s sojourn in the elite.

Tough to feel sorry for the PL or its multimillionaire participants either, however that isn't the point. I feel in the UK we punish crimes against property too stringently and crimes against the person too lenientlly.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that the sentence broke sentencing guidelines, merely that it is a reflection that our legal system gives higher weighting to property crime against corporations than it does to many crimes against the person.

They'll still be dirty though ?