Red-Robbo

Looks like the Gas have been outbid, by a more serious outfit: https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-11-24/afc-crewe-make-official-approach-to-cristiano-ronaldo-offering-35-per-week?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2DaH3KGICedo2ovh5CuFaV8ZvOPX7TAXjb2reCNVT8ZY-5DA-dcizlh3g#Echobox=1669314663

Still might live here, according to all those posters who say they see him out shopping etc.

Never understood that, as Sam Hammam (who now has no link to the club) was not Iranian, and more to the point, recent Ayatollahs have been horrible bastards. Might as well 'do the Hitler'.

Indeed not. Bob Dylan is 81.

Elite have been involved in a lot of litigation, and were being sued for withholding monies owed (by Rangers) as long ago as 2020. It seems to be a company that has grown out of a sports shop in Hatfield. TBH Hummel should've had a clause allowing it to ditch what looks like a highly dodgy partnership proposition. The company does have its own direct merchandising department.

Hummel chose to partner with Elite, so they should take part of the blame.

Hengrove Gas has got his own song: (Un)Cool Jerk.

Is Campbell-Slowey related to Chris Martin?

Might as well play a friendly against Frome Town.

I'd like to apologise to the owner for the near-side dent, caused when I overtook a milk tanker at too great a speed on the A350 near Compton Abbas and ended up in a hedge.

So, to recap in one sentence: Lansdown hasn't made any money out of football, and he could've bought and developed Ashton Vale without needing to own Bristol City.

My first motor. An Allegro Van Den Plas. Hey, don't mock the walnut veneer drink trays!!!!

I'm not entirely up these days with the closet-case "casual" scene, but from those I know who are, I understand that CP or Canada Goose are the brands to be seen in. If you want to be the bellend of the ball.

Your best contribution yet, Peter. ??? You should be carried shoulder-high through the streets of Bristol and given the freedom of the city!

Not supporting any of that, but you're not talking about a nation hosting the World Cup. IF Ghana ever put a bid in, I'm sure these negative factors would get the attention they deserve. However, Qatar is the HOST, which, I'm sure you'll agree, is why they are coming particularly in for criticism at this present time. (And that's before we get into Qatar's role as a state supporter of terrorist movements in the Near East) Qatar wanted to put itself under the international spotlight by buying this contest. Well, it did, but its attempt at sports-washing also brought into focus the more repellent side of its governance. Ghana's certainly not a perfect society, but it's better than many of its neighbours. As this map shows, the incidence of FGM is among the lowest in West Africa.

Just a thought, I know Clarkson had Scottish caps (surprisingly!) but were any during his time with us? (I'm out walking the dog and can't be arsed to check Google)

I think they're quite average for Africa. In terms of stability, Ghana is a fairly stable state (and has been since the early 70s) with a functioning democracy. Endemic corruption in built, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a country in Africa that hasn't got that, and recent years have shown that the UK cannot point the finger when it comes to ministers lining their pockets and rewarding cronies. Over 'gay rights' you have to accept that in much of the developing world societal norms are not what they are in the West. It's a long march when it comes to African countries accepting homosexuality, although sub-Saharan Africa has one beacon in South Africa where LGBTQ rights are now comprehensively protected. But South Africa's much richer and more developed than most of her northern neighbours, and education and the media runs along Western lines. It has a different culture.

Lots of countries have poor human rights for gay citizens, corruption and the death penalty. What put Qatar so much into the spotlight was that they bought the tournament by open bribery and corruption and - having none of the stadia or hotels necessary to stage it - imported tens of thousands of poor Asians to build that infrastructure in conditions that led to thousands of deaths. If the World Cup is going to be limited to countries that have European standards of human rights, then it will only ever be played in Europe. And Australia hopefully.

Qatar is wealthy. Ghana is poor. Chance of Ghana being able to afford to stage a World Cup is zero.

I don't know, but Sir Joseph Jordan has to be the most capped Scottish player who's played for the club, albeit a fair while after his international career ended.

Played in a friendly. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/scotland/3760581.stm

The BBC produced Pidgin output well before 2017. What happened in 2017, was the Foreign Office stopped paying for World Service so the BBC was forced to take on an extra £300m of costs. The output didn't expand, in fact several language services were actually cut as a result. If you wonder why the Foreign Office paid for British radio to make broadcasts to a worldwide audience, it's for the same reason the US government still do fund Voice of America: soft influence, access to real news. Incidentally, BBC.Com pages carry adverts outside the UK, so they are cost neutral.

That's jail-bird not Pidgin.

I think each matchday thread on here should commence with "Game don start!"

Looked like the Swiss defence had been practising at the HPC.