Premier League — Matchweek 23

Richarlison scores again with another committed far post finish... I still like him. A Spurs win puts them a bit further away from us but leaves Leicester rooted, and the goal difference is growing.

These results still matter; with losing 2 players to injuries yesterday, our squad will be stretched further. Look how the mighty Spurs have fallen down the table.

Looks like I’m going out of the FFL Everton Cup to blues who have RS players in their team.

Have you no shame? 😡😡

Not just last week but also last season, Richarlison showed us where he really wanted to be. If it hadn't been due to the total incompetence of our Board, he would still have been here in a Blue shirt.

The shite running our club needed money and Kenwright and Levy did the dirty deed and off he went. A bit like Rooney. If we knew then what we know now about the Rooney backstab, he wouldn't have got the shit we gave him.

Fucking Spurs at it again!

Fuck off, Spurs!

Spurs to slip down?

Part of me is thinking that's not a bad score line.

Spurs look broken, nice to drag them into it.

Depends how you look at it. Yes, Leicester edge closer to us, id say on current form we should be looking to leapfrog Spurs.

Why did Mbeumo not get booked for inciting the Palace crowd just then? Ndiaye got booked for pretending to be a bloody seagull.

Double standards.

We will still be 6 points above Leicester, Kunal, with a better goal difference.

I think Spurs bottle could really go if they are dragged into it.

Ndiaye booked.

That has to be one of the most bizarre decisions I have ever seen in football, James.

For the first time since I can remember, I started looking at the teams above us and less at the teams below us this morning.

Leicester are still far enough back and we're edging closer to Spurs and Man Utd. A draw would be okay but a Leicester win is a bonus. I'm also hoping Fulham twat Man Utd.

Ange hs got 20 minutes to save his Spurs job.

Nigel, I looked it up and it was a correct booking. The official rule states that anything derisory towards opposition fans is a yellow card.

Mbuemo just did the hand behind the ear thing and mocked the crowd telling them to make more noise. That's the same as Ndiaye yet no booking.

Brentford giving Palace a kicking, they have Spurs next.

Hopefully back to 9 points after we've beaten them Nigel.

Exactly, Kunal mate.

Mentioned yesterday that a Leicester win would do us.

Beat them next week and be amongst Spurs, Palace, Man Utd, and West Ham, instead of those below.

Apparently it's Levy getting it more than Ange.

Spurs fans are weird.

An equaliser here would be ideal. Anything but a Leicester win.

I unfortunately live among Spurs fans, and sometimes have the misfortune to be in a train full of them as the train from near me goes to Tottenham.

I can confirm they're mostly thick as mince.

One point out of the last 18 for Spurs.

Can't wait to see Ange being interviewed looking at his shoes again.

Spurs fans are sour on Levy .

They reckon he wants Championship football to get another 4 games in.

Not great for us that. Spurs will change manager and pull away easily. In the meantime, they've gifted Leicester 3 points and a massive confidence boost ahead of our game next week.

A bad result, but pretty much every other result went our way this weekend so can't complain too much.

Forget about the teams above. With our squad and injuries, we need defeats for the teams below.

Spurs are an awful side. Little skill and no fight. Ange has definitely lost the changing room.

Leicester are crap as well but they'll be up for a fight at Goodison. We'd better take them seriously.

I think that applies to the fans of most clubs, James. Except us of course!

That Leicester beat Spurs perhaps puts our win last Sunday in its proper perspective. It owed as much to the incompetence of the opponents as it did to our team's attacking performance.

Think we can stop worrying about what other teams do.

Now Moyes is back, we will stay up easily.

Ndiaye gets a yellow card for “Flying like a seagull”.

Why doesn't Phil Foden get a straight red card for “Firing a Gun”, or James Maddison for “Throwing Darts”?

Thanks for that, John.

Rob, because the seagull thing was Ndiaye mocking their supporters. It's in the rules you can't use derisory behaviour towards fans so a fair yellow card, albeit a daft rule.

The hand behind the ear one is equally as daft but also technically a yellow card offence.

The rules are stupid.

Looks as though this Leicester win as a blessing in disguise…

It would have been eight defeats on the bounce had they lost, and sooner or later, runs like that have to end. Their next game is against us!!

I don't begrudge the Leicester win as we'll beat them next weekend. I hope Spurs cling to their manager a little longer as I can see us leapfrogging both them and West Ham after Matchweek 24.

Crystal ball time: my Bottom 3 next week for what it's worth? Leicester, Wolves, Southampton.

Agreed, Rob, would be typical of us to end their losing streak! Massive game next week, will give everything a better feel if we can win 3 on the bounce.

I didn't think Spurs could be dragged down into the relegation fight, but god they are awful at the moment. Bournemouth showing how to manage an injury-ridden squad.

Just throwing it out there as Moyes knows him but Danny Ings on an 18-month contract anyone?

We do need a forward.

Ings is shite and, with Antonio injured in that car crash, I doubt they'd sell Ings anyway.

Rob #28, the Foden act was despicable. He dropped to one knee and "aimed" at a fan in the front row. Incredible that it was ignored by the ref.

So who's gonna be the next Spurs gaffer?

Jeff #34, no way. Ings hasn't been effective for a couple of years now.

Nah, the gun celebration doesn't bother me. Players have done it for years. Batistuta special.

There's nothing wrong with any of them, it's the rules that are wrong, not the celebrations.

Players get dog's abuse all game so I have no issue with them giving a little bit back.

You need to remember Spurs are a big club.

I mean, I am 62 this year and they still haven't won the league.

Mike, you brought that up last week too. I don't know whether your disgust is due to your stance on guns, being American, but we don't have the same level of problem over here.
It wasn't a despicable act at all and he didn't aim at a fan. Think you're being far too sensitive on this one mate. I've seen bows and arrows, shadow boxing, probably others too.
That's his signature celebration and I explained why last week.
Fart in a storm, don't try'n make it any more.

I think Spurs going through a very lean spell has got a lot to do with their large injury list. I think they will pick up as the injured get back although these defeats might have drained a lot of confidence out of them.

At the same time we are still hoping that there are three worse teams than us, that hasn’t changed!

Good interview with Mirallas in fourfourtwo, loved his time at Everton, cried when he left and wants to come back in some capacity in the future, as for “that “ penalty incident, said it was all pre arranged with Bainsey beforehand.

Rob@28

Rob, the whole goal ‘celebration’ thing is pretty stupid in my opinion, grown men sucking their thumb, sliding on their knees to where they know Sky have a camera, childish choreographed dance routines? A manly hand shake and a pat on the back will suffice, stiff upper lip etc., thank you very much! I blame Johnny Foreigner for it.
(Mind you, I’d turn a blind eye to our boys sucking their thumb five or six times next week)

Ray, you call them grown men but remember they're all very young so still have that childish nature.

Most are just kids in their 20's having a laugh. I cringe at a lot of them too but I'm 51. I guarantee you the stupid shit I found funny in my 20's would not entertain the 51yr old version!

Ray, it's toe curling. I think the fuckers standing rocking an imaginary baby is the worst, but the thumb sucking is up there. My God, most of them are hard to like!

Paul @27, why oh why did you say that? I'm sure it is sincere and well meaning but you have struck fear into the hearts of Blues across the world. You were just kidding, weren't you? Weren't you!

Ray Roche, 100% agree. All this OTT celebrating, group hugging, praying, play acting, time wasting, badge kissing, diving etc… it’s all BULLSHIT!!! Managers should return to the dug-out and only come out when necessary. And group hugs by managers and back room staff should be banned.

Foreign managers/players have brought a lot to our game but some if it is negative and boring.

Oh, and btw James, footballers, in the main, have always been young men.

Tyrone Mings should have received a yellow card just now, for deliberately catching the ball so play could be stopped for him to go off with a bad injury. Bit harsh I know, but dems de rules!

Colin, we're old bastards. It's a cultural thing we don't understand. We don't live in their world.

The world has changed and so have young people.

Some of these players are that young that they’ve barely finished sucking on their mums thruppenny bits, so nowt wrong in a bit of thumb sucking!

True James, I remember me old dad talking about the players of his generation eg Matthews, Lawton, Drake, Liddell, Finney etc… being real hard men. After 1970 footballers became a bunch of pansies in his mind😄😄

#39 - Just different views I guess, Brian mate. Nothing to do with my nationality or politics -- I'm a gun owner myself. I just think it's classless and crude and he needs to find another "signature."

James@43

James, you’re sounding like Pardew! He boiled my piss recently referring to twenty somethings as “kids”, in a week when there was an article celebrating the life of a Battle of Britain pilot who’d passed away. A Squadron Leader at (I think) 21 with the responsibility for young men’s lives. A man. Not a kid. No one blew smoke up arse, telling him how wonderful he was and paying him a fortune every week. At 21 my apprenticeship was over and I had to make my own way in life, I wasn’t regarded as a kid. Maybe they should grow up? Just an old arses opinion.
And no offence to you mate.

Useless Spuds, fucked up me ACCA... again!

We just focus on our own results, whoever we are playing.

Beat Leicester next week and who knows in the Derby? Especially with it being the last one at Goodison.

Two more wins after Leicester takes us to 32 points. Not safe, but on the home straight.

As for Tottenham, we could go above them next week. It will be interesting to see what develops there. Like on the train last week, today, their supporters wrath was aimed at Levy rather than the manager.

Only one winner there in my opinion.

Mike Gaynes the Foden act was despicable. He dropped to one knee and "aimed" at a fan in the front row. Incredible that it was ignored by the ref.

HAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

So, Foden's been shooting at particular fans for years now.

I don't think I've read something so gormless on here for ages.

Mad eup to see Richy starting and scoring. It's been a very good day for us
so far as the results that matter most to us now are the teams immediately above us no longer below us.

Talk of goal celebrations and Alan Pardew.

That dance celebration at Wembley.

‘Dad, just stop it, you’re embarrassing me’.

Just watched Digne scream out and roll around a few times, got the trainer on then got up and ran down the line, always been a bit of a drama queen even when he was with us, mind you there’s plenty of them which is another reason to turn away from football and the mess it is now.

Top level football is embarrassing in the way players go down and play for fouls. A foul is a foul but the gamesmanship is a massive turn off.

Saw that Dave. Embarrassing. He was one of a few on both sides. God if only we had Rogers. Dave, did you ever get that link I posted for you to a 1967 match?

Villa are the complete opposite to us when it comes to strikers.

that goal has been coming for 60 minutes. Poor from Cash.

Didn’t Moyes fine Neville for feigning injury during his first tenure? I’m sure he did.
Maybe he could fine Doucoure for impersonating a footballer?

Bit mean that. Sorry.

"Years now"??

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

He started doing it last February. Yep, carved in stone it is. A classic tradition.

(eye roll)

Ray (61), if it was the time he anticipated a tackle, v Liverpool, then threw himself on the floor before the tackle came in, which it didn’t, he got booked for it and give him his due he looked suitably embarrassed by it even laughing at himself when he got booked, not sure if Moyes fined him.

Is it just me or is there a bromance developing between Messrs. Gaynes & Ferry, but they just can't bring themselves to admit it yet?

Oh sorry one year not years and actually Gaynes you are wrong. Still doesn't remove the he aimed at a fan 😂😂😂😂😂 and we've got 31 million to spend in the summer from wages saved 😂😂😂😂😂) DCL has never scored a great goal for us 😂😂😂 and all the FTG crap oh wise corrector and predictor 😂😂😂😂 he aimed at a fan 😂😂😂😂

Trust you instincts Stan. They are always good. And now I hear he's a gunowner to boot.

Stan, he's been more or less obsessed for years. I usually don't even read it, just scroll past, but once in a while I'll see one that's simply too juicy to pass up. And he lives to get me to respond, so it makes him happy.

He reads everything. Trust me. Jesus Christ "obsessed". He's been called arrogant and know-all before but that's the fecking height. You would have thought he would have learned some humility after his calamitous January but no,gun-trotting NRA Yanks don't do that sort of thing.

What I like most about you gents (Mike and Paul, if I may) is your capacity for both lucid academic insight and infantile playground banter.
I say that in all seriousness as a compliment.

Would you like a post about issues created by hackney coaches in the urban middlesex sessions registers 1652-1674 Stan?

Hammers should have won that. Wasteful.

Paul, that could be a game changer for me. People have always said I write in a very hackneyed style.

Dave@64
Yes Dave, that’s it ! Once again I’m indebted to your superior recall!🙏

OK, nice one, Stan, not true though. Seriously, imagine a cramped walled city, one square mile, whose population has grown fourfold in little more than a century, and 200 hackney coaches appear on congested streets to ferry the well-to-do.

Sounds like modern day Huddersfield Paul

HAHAHAHA just head off to that Last of the Summer Wine place Liam: Holmfirth is it?

Mike@51

Why do you own a gun Mike? You don’t shoot defenceless animals do you?

Post match reaction on Sky

My missus says 'he looks like a lesbian that fella in the white top' - Lee Hendrie 🤣

I've told her off for her prejudice

I was there yesterday Paul on way back from sons football. Called into 'the world's smallest smokehouse' for early tea. Massive rib things.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C53EZrfNMln/?igsh=aDM3MW94NWpjbGN1

Bloody hell Liam that’s massive, looks like something that Mike’s shot.

It was nice though Nigel. Had a lie down after

Nigel, gun-owners over here are among the most obnoxious, abrasive, and conceited people you can imagine.They think of guns as a right and a piece of politics and not one of them will accept that gun laws lead directly to mass shootings. Their guns are second dicks or in many cases a replacement dick. I would be ashamed to tell people in England that I owned a gun. They don't get it. It's a matter of pride for them.

Looks delicious mate just had my tea but hungry again now after seeing that.

Woooh Columbia refused to let two planes land loaded with "illegals"

Wow that's a beast Liam.I bet it was good. You would love Kansas City BBQ.

Right to bear arms Paul, wasn’t that written into the constitution with Indian attacks on settlers in mind in the middle of the wilderness. Seems a bit Chuck Norris to me mate.

Sad thing is Nigel, like many other things in their constitution, they took it from our Glorious Revolution settlement.The difference being that the British (and Europeans and the rest of the 'western world') realised the error of their ways as we moved, as you hint at, into very different 19th/20th/21st century worlds. The Yanks still think they are fighting redcoats.

I prefer the original wording 'the right to kill Native Americans in their self defence against violent imperialists, white supremacists and capitalist swine'

Paul @71, I would very much, seriously by the way, enjoy a thread like that. One of the most remarkable things I read recently was about the issues caused by horse shit in nineteenth century London.
It would need to have an, at least tenuous link to Everton. Hang on, there could be an angle in the horse shit!

Can you imagine a country anywhere in the world that today enacts gun laws from 1787? Even the fecking Dems are originalists when it comes to their manly guns.

Now I guess Paul that guns have now become so ingrained into US society that it would be impossible to remove them would it? I remember Trump saying that if we were to outlaw guns then the only people who would have them would be the outlaws. I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear that Trump is anti hunting, good in everyone it would seem if you look hard enough.

Iwobi is playing really well again for Fulham

I do a lot of work on sanitation in seventeenth-century London Andy. Important to remember not to follow our standards/attitudes when it comes to back then mate and as it were step into their shoes when they trawl through 'soil','odure', 'dunghills', 'laystalls', and 'kennels' blocked up with 'filth'. And dogs and hogs on the loose.

I'm very sorry that you/us lost Michael Longley.

I think O’Brien has been a revelation at right back, never saw that one coming, just shows that there was more that another Manager could get out of this squad.

Well put Nigel. They believe that guns are a birthright and an element of their identity. Hunters! Don't get me started on Mid-West hunters - who look the same, dress the same, drive the same 'vehicles' and drink Bud Light - big brave men who spend a week up in Wisconsin shooting defenceless (often beautiful animals) for their manly male bonding.

NS, an outright gun ban would never happen and most gun-owners would not ban automatic full-auto guns. Meanwhile, how many children have been murdered in the last ten years by the camouflage mass shooters (gun owners/hunters love camouflage)?

I’d love to see Utd in the bottom 3! 😜

Spurs Scott?

Totally agree NS, but you know what, how could we do with Iwobi right now? He's also a Moyes-type player.

If Moyes fined Neville, it would have been because he had made a fool out of his manager, because in that same game, Suarez, ran right to our manager after scoring and dived right in front of him, because our manager had been calling him a diver in the morning press before that game.

Not often I’ve seen Everton fight back from two goals down against Liverpool (it might actually be the only time I’ve witnessed it) and if Mirales was a bit braver, he might have stayed on the pitch and won us the game because we were definitely a better side than Liverpool around this time.

What happened to the time when Sticks and stones could break your bones, but names could never hurt you?

Life was definitely a lot funnier and also less snide in those days, is my opinion.

Colin Glassar hounded him out of our club.

As Gandhi once said Paul the greatness of a country can be judged by how it treats its animals ( or words similar to that).

Both of them, Paul!

There’s been so much focus on ‘big club’ Everton teetering on the brink. How refreshing it’d be to see United (and Spurs) get that kind of heat.

The good thing is Scott if they do find themselves a couple of points above the relegation zone, unlikely I know, they would totally cack themselves.

Paul,
gun owners include the Democrat candidates for president and vice president in the past two elections

Scott, I think Spurs are the worse of the two. They have no history of note or right to feel self-entitled and arrogant. I can understand the BIG Man-U thing.That's deserved. Still don't like them though. But of the two, I'd love to see Spurs go down. But the Aussie will most likely be sacked over the next couple of weeks (maybe they will rescue Potch from his third-rate national team nightmare!).

That's what I said Ed. Dems are as likely to be 'originalists' when it comes to guns. Mind you, Ed, Joe might not be the best shot.

Joe Biden with a gun, the mind boggles hahaha

Nigel/Paul - I know it’s a longshot but so much column space is taken up by stories about Man Utd. I get that they’ve got a huge fanbase but they’ve basically been various shades of shite for a long time.

Twice a year, so many of the transfer headlines focus on them too. It’s all about Rashford at the moment.

As you say (Paul), big Ange will get the elbow in due course and a more circumspect manager will secure them enough points in the space of about four games to ensure safety. TBF, I think Ossie Ardiles was more cautious when he was their manager!

It could also be argued that the availability of guns also translates into higher levels of suicide. I believe the US has the highest suicide rates of all Western nations?

Nice to see Leanne from The Traitors secure the presenting job on TNT Sports this evening…

Scott # 97………the RS, skunk maggots and Spurs “Big club my arse” are my favoured three teams to be in the bottom three. Unfortunately it will never happen.

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.

(Although it’s a damn sight fucking easier to kill people en masse if you’ve got a gun)

I feel sorry for Biden. A decent and dignified man with a long history of being on the right side of things more often than not. His legacy is severely tarnished by his presidency despite some major principled initiatives. I lost respect for him when he chose to run for a second term when just about everyone else was horrified (a selfish choice that bordered on unseeing and unfeeling narcissism) AFTER saying he was a bridge. And, then, disgustingly, the pardon for his son - because he could - after saying multiple times he would not do this.

Jeez the absolute lack of knowledge when it comes to guns in the USA in this thread is not what I expected when I came on to TW today but here we are.

Is she fit Scott 111?

I felt for you yesterday Big Rob. That long journey home after we lost 3-1. Must have been awful.

Scott/Paul

From my experience in Jersey, Man Utd fans hate Liverpool and as Paul says their success has been deserved. Tottenham fans are arrogant beyond belief and so entitled you would think that they have a similar history to United. I speak to a lot of other Londoners and they all hate Spurs for that reason. I would love for them to go down, I also think they are more likely, they are completely broken.

Want to correct things Bill (115)? It's important that we hear your correctives.

Rob - I’ve stopped willing the RS to lose (or worse). It makes life far too negative, especially when the opposite happens. Needless to say, I’d happily run down the street naked, covered in Marmite and chased by rabid dogs, if they did drop.

I’m ambivalent when it comes to the skunks though TBH. Their fans have been through many ups and downs over the years.

Spurs would be sweet though, especially after they tried to piggy back onto that European super league thing a few years ago, LOL!

The land of the free (if you have the moolah) and the home of the brave (if you have a fuck-off big gun)

Paul #114. Joe Biden has NEVER been a decent or dignified man and he's rarely been on the right side of history. His history of racist remarks is there for all to see, going back as far as 1977. He did his very best to drag this country down as far as he could with his policies. Fortunately, the country had had enough and not only put Trump back in power but took the Democrats out of any power anywhere. The GOP will screw it up as they always do but at least there is some chance for recovery.

Paul - Paul Newman, when asked why he never cheated on his wife, famously said: “why have a hamburger when you’ve got steak at home?”

As we all know, sometimes you just really fancy a dirty burger, especially when you’ve had a few! I’d suggest she falls into 1am hamburger territory…

Paul, I came here to hear about, talk about Everton. Not about political crap but again as I said before, here we are. Politics ruins EVERYTHING it touches. Everything.

'Spurs would be sweet though, especially after they tried to piggy back onto that European super league thing a few years ago, LOL!'

That was (1) maddening and (2) hilarious Scott. If you could draw smarmy arrogance it would be Levy's face.

Paul Newman could have had any woman on the planet. With those eyes I'd have dropped my kecks for him myself.

I do take that point Bill. It's very fair.

Liam - Not much room in the back of a Prius though (so I’m told!)

Very true, Bill.

One of my best mates is a fantastic guy. Love spending time with him but when he starts to talk politics it destroys everything.

Much better to stick to footy, beer, and the fairer sex in my (probably outdated) opinion.

That Martinez of Utd is a proper prick of a player. Always looking to hurt somone

There has to be a time and place to talk politics Scott. It's important to do so. That said, you did get the priorities right: dolly birds, hot pants, watney party cans with page-3 girls on them, footy, Risk, and chopper bikes!

Paul - Haha! We’re showing our age.

I’ve got a Watney’s Red Barrel tankard in my cupboard which my old man always said he’d nicked from a boozer in Liverpool on the day we won the FA cup in 1966.

I clung to that story for many years and then, like the analysis of the Turin Shroud, ruined it when I had a closer look at the glass and found a 1967 year of manufacture mark on it!

No doubt there’s another glass knocking around somewhere that he did pinch in ‘66.

There he goes again Liam, Martinez, knobhead, it wasn't a head injury.

Jammy twat

Fuck me and then he does that.

It's entirely possible Scott that the 7 was a mistake by some not that bright Bury factory worker who should have put a 6 there.

You might be right, Paul.

He is adamant that his story is true!

Who would you trust, a not that bright Bury factory-worker or your bluenose arl fella?

That was Man-U's first 'shot' on target.

Paul - That’s the million dollar question!

Let’s just say I think he believes his own story.

hahahahahaaha

Scott, NEVER stop willing the RS to lose, NEVER.

It's our DNA Edward.

Paul # 117…….to be fair mate, we were lucky to get away with only it being 3-1. 🤣🤣

Paul Ferry. Have you any sort of life outside ToffeeWeb?
You seem to be on here ad infinitum giving us the benefit of your vast knowledge and bullying anyone who 'god forbid' has a an alternative view to yours.
I may be in a small minority but I'm tired pf the 'Ferry Show'.
Give us a break pal and get a hobby.

You're a good blue Rob, trying to see some good in adversity. You're right, Jordan kept it down to 3-1. I went to the old Goldstone Ground, but I didn't realise that the new ground is literally in the middle of some fields!

Paul, BMD makes the AMEX stadium look like one of those silly subbuteo stadiums people used to have. Don’t know if you can still get them?

Pre-packed, assembly required. There was a rush of them 20 years or so ago Rob: Bolton, Leicester, 'boro, Derby, Sunderland, Brighton, MK Donss, St. Mary's etc.

Not for us. We're a different class. My only grumble is that the capacity should have been higher.

Edward - My secret is a bit like the Hulk’s. He’s always angry and I always hate the RS. I just pretend to the universe that I don’t.

Is that why you wear rags Scott?

I had the full lot Rob stands, floodlights, even the coppers on the sidelines, so much that you could barely lean over and play the game.

I used to get my spectators to attack the cops Nigel, bit like they way you battered your neighbour mate

And I bet an ambulance in the corner, Nigel, waiting to whisk a player away when he was snapped off his base! 😂😂

Ha Paul

I separated my fans into the reds and the blues and if the blues were losing then the match would get abandoned as the blues attacked the reds in the stands. Football violence for 6 year olds, a sign of a broken society.

I had loads of teams Rob, really way out ones like Shrewsbury Town or Bristol Rovers just because I liked the kit, it was a real passion of mine, all the kids wanted to come round my house. I was famous for my subbuteo set up.

Stan @ 70; you've nailed it mate,

"your capacity for both lucid academic insight and infantile playground banter"

Newman and Baddiel - History Today.

That's them that is.

You're still at it at 66 Nigel. True story Rob, he made the front page in his local Jersey rag for his viscous attack on his kopite neighbour.

Can't argue with that Derek!

Chelsea have posted VIP tickets at 12,500 quid for their last two home matches - TWO!

I had a couple of different football games. Anyone remember “Striker”, when you pushed the players head down to kick the ball? Or Wembley, a cup competition when you made the draw using cards, and then the result of the game was determined by rolling dice. If I played alone, then Everton always won the cup!

Striker was made up of plazzy figures right Rob, about 6 inches high?

Don’t think they were that high, Paul. Two or three at the most.

Do indeed Rob remember striker, always used to lose the balls as you could absolutely welly them if you pressed the players head down hard enough. Usually ended up in broken players though.

Subbuteo and the Panini sticker albums were my childhood love though. I refused to stick the Liverpool players though, especially Keegan, they all got swapped for other stickers at school.

Remember when you excitedly opened your packet of chewey with footy cards and one of the shite appeared. Used to love the smell of those cards when you first pulled them out. Used to get them at the green kiosk at Blundellsands and Crosby station walking home from primary school.

56 if you don’t mind Paul 😂

He threatened my Yorkshire terrier and didn’t like scousers so I hit him for that 🤣

Sounds fair enough to me Nigel. Did you keep a copy of the paper? Yorkshire terrier? Is that your missus or a fog?

'Or Wembley, a cup competition when you made the draw using cards, and then the result of the game was determined by rolling dice. If I played alone, then Everton always won the cup!'
Did Everton win a lot when you were a child, Rob?

I’ve got the CCTV picture of me throwing the deciding punch on my wall Paul.

The paper is just an online rag unfortunately.

It’s my dog though the whole event helped me to meet my new missus as she is also a dog lover and thinks this bloke was a bit of a perv.

I had a silly made up game where I spread two teams of footy card players on my bed - it was usually us v someone, and we won the league with a record 82 points in 1973 and a record goal difference of plus 131.

Love the idea of that picture Nigel. I did see it online. I think that you gave us the link.

My late wife got it framed and put on the wall. She hated him and so does my new missus. 2 women can’t be wrong, a real creep and a bully.

sounds like he should be the US Defence secretary

I used to cut up pieces of paper with teams names on them for cup draws. Then I’d roll the dice to predict the scores. Needless to say, Everton usually scored six goals and tended to win the treble. In those days, no one was arsed about the league cup.

Spent hours wasting my time doing that.

Ha Paul

I had to google who that was, actually not dissimilar at all 🤣

Played FIFA on easy mode Colin when it first came out on the mega drive, Everton European Cup Winners many times over

Col, I used to do stuff with dice too, can't remember exactly what, but I used to keep tables and charts and my shoot league ladders and what a day it was when chewey/footy cards was combined with a new Shoot!

Shoot magazine was the business. Rather bizarrely I remember an article about Paul Sturrock playing for Dundee United. I also vividly remember the Tartan Army singing we want our money back after they got eliminated in Argentina ‘78. Weird what you remember as kids.

Do you remember when Scotland played Wales at the red shite in a - I think it was world cup - one-off play-off game? Feck knows how, but even Crosby was crawling with pissed Jocks the next day.

I remember it well Paul. Dalglish got the winner for the jocks at the Annie Road End, Wales had the kop believe it or not though I imagine it was probably three quarters Scottish. I remember 1978, 1982 and 1990 everything else not really, similar with the Fa Cup after 1995.

Paul Wales were cheated by the Jocks. They had a throw in that was thrown into the Welsh box, Joe Jordan jumped and punched the ball. Somehow the referee decided it was a Welsh defender and gave Scotland the penalty that Dalgleish put past Dai the Drop.

Stan, every day!!

Cheers John. You've whetted my appetite and I'm going to watch that on Youtube tonight. Our Dai was in goal! I had forgotten that.Trying to think if any one else from us would have played. Surely not Jim Pearson!

Shoot league ladders were ace. We won the league 10 times in a row with my magic dice.

Dai ‘the chin’ Davies. What a man!

I remember reading after the game at Anfield there were 400 arrests. 399 were Scots.

My formative experience of crazy Jocks was Tommy Wright's Testimonial vs Rangers. Still shudder at the memory.

One of my first games Brian. Didn't some Rangers fans 'invade' the Street End? Crap, I even heard that one of them had a gun, but that has to be an urban myth/legend right? We won 2-1 or 3-1.Big Bob scored and I think one of my early heroes Mick Buckley. And Rangers had that clown in goal who attacked the post at Wembley.

Dunno about the gun, Paul. I do remember the rumour spreading that Rangers fans were coming into the Street End, but I was half-way down County Road before they arrived!

What did strike me at the time was that whereas our hooligans were generally teenage scallies, they had grown men in their 20s and 30s who were out for a fight.

There was a tale that Newcastle fans were once being 'run' through Stanley Park when one of them pulled out a sawn-off shotgun. Probably another urban myth, maybe inspired by Get Carter!

Does anyone remember the Alan Ball footy board game Soccerama? It was, well, as comprehensible as 3-2-1.

What a film Brian. I suspect that I was just behind you Brian on County Road. Whose bright idea was it to bring down Rangers? They were about half I think of what was a piss-poor crowd for Tommy's testimonial at a time when a testimonial could make a real difference for life after playing.

I had the boots Andy but I can't remember the game.

I remember the Rangers game. Even the kids in prams had broken bottles which they were throwing at the police.

Paul, I don't know about half the crowd, but they certainly filled the Park End. I remember they arrived in town at about midday because of some rule about the length of time train drivers had to have as a break before travelling back to Glasgow. Consequently they were all pissed by kick-off time. The Clock in London Road, which iirc was a Youngers pub, was drunk dry.

Rangers and Celtic were a good bet for testimonials because they always loved coming to England for a fight. Don't forget, in those days Celtic and Rangers were as big as the top English clubs. I remember both Man U and Villa had trouble with testimonials involving Rangers. Clubs like Man U (and Everton) whom Rangers considered to be 'Catholic' clubs were especially stupid to invite them in!

You Hibs or Hearts CG? I imagine you living in a plush flat in the gentrified Leith docks, so that's Hibs and Pat Nevin, I think.

That is the most stupid part Brian: 'Clubs like Man U (and Everton) whom Rangers considered to be 'Catholic' clubs were especially stupid to invite them in!'

I just checked and the attendance was 10,730. And May-day was not really the best day for it either.

10P for a programme.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rangers-matchprogrammes/6843212454

Hope nobody minds me dropping a line into this Paul Ferry+1 thread but I think we Brits have to realise that folk in the States have a completely different mind-set when it comes to planning how to kill a.n.other unknown citizen, and then purchasing a means to actually do it. Sad, and then some. I have a cousin who succumbed to the same paranoia. His place got burgled anyway, the gun was nicked and then used by the thieving asshole to murder someone else, resulting in my cousin spending more than a good few hours in police custody! Since then he's decided to rely on common sense and his house hasn't since been burgled.

Moving on, the gross play-acting antics of ANY player in ANY game makes we want to close my eyes. It is an abomination and has NOTHING to do with football.

Contrast such antics with professional rugby.

In that game the legit "hits" are enormous and sometimes bone-breaking. Nobody feigns injury though - they receive treatment, get up, and go again - as professional sportspeople should, or they get carried off to recover as quickly as possible.

Of course professional rugby players are only paid a scintilla compared to PL players, and that to me is significant, because they all want to play and as a result make no big deal about anything else.

And yes, the best of them earn well-earned pay packets. "Hunger" prevails upon their (hugely entertaining) sport/s, to the benefit of all their many fans.

Don, so loud was the appalling Digne's scream today, I thought he had been stabbed. He has no shame, integrity or self awareness.

Agree Andy. A 31-year-old joke. He ought to be ashamed of himself. These clowns know the cameras are there. As you say, no dignity. Paqueta was just as bad. Good to see Moyes giving our lads shite for going down in the last few minutes. They make Charlie George look like an innocent altar boy.

Paul #94, is it safe to day you know you're sh!t then?

Nigel #87, I thought the 'right to bear arms' thing was so they could fight the Brits.

Edit not working still.

More a case of 'take up arms' to repel foreign invaders.

Ah Eric - 193 - you got me there.

And Eric, 194, the literal 'originalists' today shamefully cling to a 1787 amendment, as if the circumstances were the same today as back then.

Nigel @ 175.

I was on the Kop that game. It was all Scottish. There were big metal baskets after the turnstiles full of confiscated ale but the Scot’s still got some through. I was given copious amounts of whisky by a group who befriended me when they found out I was an Evertonian. They hated LFC and called the ground a shithole. They also groaned when Jordan handled that ball and couldn’t believe they got a penalty from it!

Just watched MOTD 2.
You wouldn’t have thought Leicester had just beaten Spurs when the interviewed Van Nistelroy at the end.
Why the long face Ruud??

And today that Arsenal youngster has had his red-card rescinded!

I'm on a different planet than the powers-that-be when it comes to football governance, and also the "expertise" of so-called expert pundits.

The Gunner lad deliberately hacked down an opponent as he embarked on a speedy attack to try to score a goal for his team. That's what spectators pay mega money to see - an attack that is, not a deliberate foul.

And where in the name of f++k does "professional foul" feature in the rules of football? Presumably in the same rulebook as an anaesthetist shagging a patient he's just made unconscious would claim it was merely "a professional shag".

Yeah right!

Paul F,hope I can sneak this in quickly. Just watching a tribute to Michael Longley. If you can catch it in Chicago, do.
Great Irishman, wonderful human being. His wife, Edna, taught me.
Keeping it Everton related, he might have been a Blue!

Don:

"Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct) specifies that a player must be cautioned (shown a yellow card) for "unsporting behavior" if they commit a foul that stops or interferes with a promising attack."

Alex, you quote a rulebook written by unknowns. I played football to a reasonable amateur standard 40/50 years ago and committed fouls in doing so. Never once did I knowingly commit a foul though. That mindset is surely repellent to any fan of any sport of integrity isn't it?

Don #201, getting a yellow by deliberately fouling an attacking player is also known as "taking one for the team" and seems to be condoned, if not expected, by managers these days.

They are the rules though. I consider myself to have been 'hard but fair' but I absolutely committed deliberate fouls.

In this case I can kind of see the argument for a red. It's not just a late challenge, it's not just a deliberate foul... it's pretty much kicking someone randomly such was his distance from the ball.

I saw the commentators looking for studs or being "out of control", well sometimes you have to judge these things without written guidance. The challenge was dangerous because of the speed the guy was going at.

Remember Gomes? A petulant, frustrated Son deliberately fouled him and caused a serious injury. In my view it was an obvious red and should never have been rescinded. 'Professional' instead of petulant isn't any better.

I'm totally with you Ernie. That deserved more than a yellow-rulebook or not.Totally cynical challenge that was ridiculously late. With the high press that teams play a foul like that is the same as someone through on goal at half way.They had broken the press and were a real chance of scoring...that's why he committed the foul. I can see why the ref made a decision and that should be enough for everyone. I for one hope the refs continue it and remove the scourge of this level of cheating from the game

Steve, it's not the ref's job to "remove the scourge" or whatever. It's his job to enforce the rulebook as written, and as directed by FIFA and the league they work in.

Under the PL's longstanding guidelines, the red card was 100% wrong and guaranteed to be overturned. And I would guess that the VAR official (Darren England I think) who failed to alert Oliver to take a look at the monitor could even be stood down this weekend.

Take the cynical tactical foul out of the game? Fine. That's up to the high honchos. Any ref who does it unilaterally is gonna find himself short of game assignments.

On the subject of professional fouls, I have noticed that a lot of cynical fouls are committed in the opponents half to prevent a break. To me these are bookable offences but most times they only result in a free kick.

The other thing that really annoys me is a player deliberately pulling a player back if beaten. Mitoma of Brighton is a serial offender. I think this should be an automatic yellow but once again, on most occasions it only attracts a free kick. Shameful behaviour in my opinion.

Mike #205, but don't refs have words like "unsportsmanly behaviour" to fall back on?

IMO it's definitely unsporting, and I'd bet most fans feel the same and would welcome stamping it out.

On the subject of shirt pulling, wasn't there an experiment a few seasons ago with rugby type shirts to prevent that? Including our own Club?

Andy - 199 - amazing that ML's wife taught you. You, therefore, belong to a great Irish tradition/culture. What a poet and what a model of humanity. I will make sure to watch the tribute, keeping a daily eye on Youtube etc. Such a small corner of the world gave/gifted us Heaney and Longley - they didn't always get on, right?

Sidelines: Selected Prose 1962 - 2015, is a beautiful piece of prose, even better when he's snarling, He is brilliant on Homer and the interviews are indispensable.

And ML and Paul Muldoon were close. Muldoon wrote a foreword to ML's selected poems,

I've met Muldoon a couple of times - and Eaven Boland - and my God that lad can drink.

You Irish and literature, drinking, and the gift of the gab.

I will cherish the idea that ML might have been a blue, in fact was a blue.

Laurie #206, I'd dispute you on that one. Most shirt pullbacks I see draw yellow.

Eric #207, under the laws of the game "unsporting behaviour" is punishable by a yellow. Only in egregious cases -- spitting, racist language, threats of violence etc. -- would it be red. And those exceptions are clearly described in every referee's handbook.

Tripping or pulling a jersey to prevent an attack doesn't fit the description, unless it denies a goalscoring opportunity.

Referees must enforce the laws as they are. And changing the laws to fit public opinion can backfire. Think of the parade of exits from the pitch if tactical fouls suddenly became sending-off offenses.

I once worked a high school league that had just banned curse words. All of 'em. Even damn and hell. Automatic red, even if just muttered after a bad pass. The first four weeks I never had a single team finish with 11 on the pitch. I was getting carpal tunnel from whipping out the red cards. Week 5 the new rule was quietly changed to a yellow card.

That tackle Don @ 198 refers to was commonplace at Anfield throughout the period when the shite seemingly had a stranglehold on European trophies.
Bob Paisley (St Bob) went about assembling a supremely talented team. You have to give him that. It was probably better than any team assembled by his more illustrious predecessor...But that wasnt enough. Paisley and his back room team insisted opposition opportunities were always strangled at birth - "Cut him in two in his own half and you will get away with it".

I'm not suggesting Liverpool invented the dark arts but, for me, they took it to a whole new level and fuck me did they have the players to do it. Carefully selected ?.

I agree with Don's sentiments. I would have liked to see the Gooners red card upheld. The game would be better for it, but as long as there are rules. There will be ruthless winners prepared to bend them to snapping point. These types of fouls are now part and parcel of the modern game.

Mike # 209 - maybe I have a beef with Mitoma because I am pretty sure he pulled Diallo back twice when they played United at Old Trafford and wasn’t booked. Not if this site is anything to go by.

https://betting.betfair.com/football/stats/player-cards/english-premier-league/

I suspect Gordon is another one.

Nevertheless I will take your opinion on board and keep an eye on this.

Villa quick out of the blocks. 2-0 already.

Eric - I think that was the Italians at the World Cup.
It didn’t last long as I recall.

I’m in a bar in Pollensa, Mallorca, watching the Barca game. Our mate Michael Oliver isn’t very popular here either…

wooooh city 1 down

Come on City. You can come back.

Our ladies just knocked out the spuds birds in the cup

Would love to see City not qualify PH. Have a hunch they will get out of this. Any prediction yet for the weekend?

Get in.

3-0 win for us PF.

GOLAZO!! Atalanta.

3-0 got it

that puts the shite back in first Mark

GOLLLLLLLL!! A Barcelona!

Atalanta tutti dorma!

😬

2-1 Barca

Barcelona have 10 men.

They got a corner on the 75th minute at 1-1.

And their centre back was totally unmarked at the far post!

Absolutely gob smackingly shite defending by Atalanta!

Joder!

2-2

2-2 final
Me cago en dios!
UTFT

Looks like Brighton need a defensive coach, maybe there is a vacancy for S.Dyche to fill. forest just got a penalty makes it. 5.0