Off Topic Other Stuff (anything you want to share)

Interesting that Matt Macey won an FA Cup winners medal today.......

 

He's still a **** keeper.

 

Watched the match today. What a cheating bunch of bar stewards players are these days. It's embarrassing. The Referee was useless and VAR is just pointless. These players should be made to sit in front of a camera and explain why they fell over or rolled around on the floor as if shot. It just ruins the game for me and I lose interest. There were at least a dozen incidents that were just wrong.

 

Surprised that Eddie Howe has stepped down at Bournemouth after 25 years as man and boy....always seemed as if his achievements should have been in the same comic book as "Roy of the Rovers" fame.....didn't sound realistic and more fictional really.

2008.....near liquidation.
2009.....with points deduction they survived going out of the league in the last game of the season.
2010/15.....promoted through the leagues from Div 2 to winning promotion to the Premiership in 6 seasons....and he kept faith with the main core of the team through those years.

I was down Charlton for the last game of that season (2015) against Bournemouth....the game as a contest lasted only 12 minutes....by then they were 2-0 up and coasting....the final score 3-0....Watford only drew at home meaning Bournemouth pipped them for the title by 1 point.....4000 traveling fans went bananas when they heard the Watford result....and the team received the trophy on the field and did a lap of honour ...being well clapped by the home crowd.....Charlton finished 12th that season and weren't a bad side.....but Bournemouth were on another level.

Bournemouth until this period had never been out of the bottom two divisions in their history......I wonder if now they will sink back to their roots....at least they haven't got a big expensive stadium to support.....maybe in a few years time... Howe will return to save them and bring Roy of the Rovers times back again.....who knows.

 

A link on pasoti to a podcast with Simon Hallett talking about investing and football with Barry Ritholtz a Bloomberg columnist.

Simon Hallett is co-chief investment officer at Harding Loevner with $72 billion in assetts. talking about his business life and Argyle ownership....interesting to hear about Hallett beyond just football

 

Brentford v Fulham tomorrow night.....winner takes home £160 million so they say......if Brentford win this one.....why can't Argyle do the same one day ?.

 

I am honestly not sure I want to see Argyle in the Premier League. Football on a Monday, Thursday, Sunday kick off 5. 40pm, 12 midday, 8pm. It's ok if you are in exile and can't physically attend but not so clever if you actually go. Not only that but money and only money becomes your mantra for evermore. You also have to cheat more. The current Premier set up is for me the ruination of the game not an enhancement and something to strive for.

 

I believe Aston Villa spent £140m in the season they got promoted to the EPL and then survived in it by the skin of their teeth in 2019/20. What would have happened if they'd gone straight back down?

If you get there, the smaller clubs like Bournemouth, Burnley, Crystal Palace and Watford show that you can have a go at it for a few seasons with home attendances of 20-25 thousand but it's a risky business.

 

Joe Bryan wins it for Fulham with a brace. We taught him all he knows................

 

That was some explosion in Beirut today. Saw the pictures on the News and thought it looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off. I thought that some nutter had finally totally flipped and done the dirty deed. Turns out to have been a warehouse full of neglected chemicals.

 

They'd stored 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in the city for 6 yrs.....just as you do of course......I can't believe only 70 odd people died....windows were being shattered miles away.....it's a wonder that Beirut and the whole of Lebanon didn't end up the other side of the Mediterranean sea.

 

Plus Bobby Reid as well.

 

Feels like I've just had another nail driven into my coffin.....my son-in-law retired on Friday after 45 years service in the London Ambulance Service.....I'm holding on to the one bit of light at the end of the tunnel.....he will be doing the odd consultancy job at time for them....so maybe I'm not completely finished.

 

Just take up drinking then it won't even enter your head. My brother-in-law has literally just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It pays not to think too hard about anything.

 

You've got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, don't mess with Mister In-Between.

You have family Plym, I think and I hope you don't have financial troubles so enjoy every day.

On the downside, you have us.

 

FFS.

Watching Barca v Napoli as I cook the Sunday dinner.

Napoli defender has the football running across the penalty box, swings his foot to clear, Messi, 2 yards behind him, sticks a foot in at the last second and instead of contacting the ball, blocks the defender's swinging leg.

Obviously a foul by Messi. But we have 4 minutes of VAR. Penalty. Nobody except Saint Messi would get that. Utterly laughable.

Just to even it up, he's now given a pen to Napoli for what was an obvious dive. Not reviewed.

I despair. God forbid Argyle ever play under VAR.

 

I'm in good health notDistant....so no complaints on that score....son-in-law retired at 63....but as I said will be doing bits and pieces for the L A S....training courses, advanced driving skills etc....without all the management stress that has developed in recent years.....especially now with Covid-19.....he reckoned 45 years was long enough....they managed to give him a good send off Friday.....even found a 1975 ambulance for him to have a drive in....drove one of those for 10 years.....equipment level non-existent compared with the modern jobs

 

Heaven forbid we ever have to play against Messi.

 

Just returned from dropping off the car for a service and MOT (8am)......I had overlooked that the freedom pass cannot be used at present between...0430 hrs and 0900 hrs weekdays.....the reason being is to help support social distancing during peak hours.

Now the garage I've used for years is in a semi-rural area and it must be about 4 miles from home.....not only could I not use my freedom pass....I couldn't get on a bus and pay.....because London Transport don't take money and you have to pre-pay by buying from a shop etc.

The temperature here has already reached 80f (27C in new money) and that was a very hot and sticky walk home.....in the meanwhile I probably saw half a dozen buses going either way....and not one bus had more than three people on board....so all this social distancing in peak traveling time is unnecessary.....in fact station car parks are literally empty.....and of course being August they wouldn't be be full anyway....people being under lockdown for 4 or 5 months makes no difference to them going on holiday at this time of year.

 

Macclesfield have been deducted another 4 pts and have now been relegated instead of Stevenage.

An EFL statement said : ' An independent arbitration panel has upheld the EFL's appeal in respect of the outcome of an independent disciplinary commission who in June 2020 had considered misconduct charges brought against Macclesfield'....over the season Macclesfield have been deducted a total of 17 pts and now have dropped below Stevenage and are relegated instead of them.