METALMAN

£15m seems mega cheap for Kessie

Assuming he retires at the end of this season, next year will be the first season since 1930/31 where Roy Hodgson doesn’t manage a first team game.

I went and asked about this for you and she said she was unaware a women’s World Cup was on and isn’t really interested in it. Such a misogynist. Bolsonaro would be proud.

Given that the main reason for the Premier League’s existence - aside from legitimising Gulf monarchies - is to provide advertising space for offshore betting firms I think they’d only be too happy for the extra opportunity to do so.

I’ve been to basketball and ice hockey games in the US and Canada where stopping the clock after a foul or when the ball goes out of play creates a lack of impetus to get the game started in a timely fashion and leads to tedious bullshit like kiss-cam and karaoke competitions and - inevitably - endless advertising. Last one I went to was in Toronto and it was much more like a SUV expo with an ice hockey game attached. Seeing this sort of thing is up there with the dullest experiences of my life and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same ushered into football alongside a 30 minute clock with the way the Premier League is going (or has already gone).

Imagine how many more goals Man City will be able to score against your favourite team now.

Starting to think Perez won’t be world champion

Did you know that Man City meant to sign Hojlund all along but got Haaland because of a typo?

Absolutely shocking click-baiting here!

I’m not going to take a position on who or who isn’t strong here because I don’t really consider strength to be a virtue. But a radio station doing a focus on “strong wonen” or “strong” anything is really weird when you think about it and I think it says a lot of our modern cult of hyper self-individualism and self-help. Where external social and economics factors aren’t relevant and your ability to succeed or overcome adversity is based on how “strong” you are. As noted influencer and content creator Jesus Christ once posted, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. I don’t follow him on any socials and I wouldn’t say I’m part of his fandom but I’ll take that over post-modernist narcissism any day. (not least because good music is so often about showing a more vulnerable side of urself and giving the listener something to identify with. “You think that I’m strong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong” - R. Williams, 1999”.)

They weren’t French enough.

If Greece is your stable country backup you’ve got problems.

Quite underwhelmed by the reviews for F1 Manager 23. It still looks good on race day (except STILL no mechanical failures??????) but they don’t seem to have done much to address everything beyond that feeling so bare and lifeless.

To my knowledge I’ve only ever heard one of her songs. I’m sure you can guess which one. I never thought too much of it and probably wouldn’t think of it all if it weren’t for the fact that I listen to Prince a lot so his (yes, inferior) version pops up from time to time. Despite that, I had a much greater awareness of her as a person and the positions she took. Some i sympathised with, some I didn’t, but they were usually very brave. I can understand that comparisons of Sinead O’Connor are being made to the likes of Billie Holiday and Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse but I feel they are a bit distinct. For those three it was more down to private lifestyle and substance issues, they didn’t really go out seeking confrontation. Sinead O’Connor absolutely did. For the record I fully endorse the decisions to ban the US national anthem from a concert and rip up a picture of the Pope on TV. These are good things to do and I think it is a shame that there isn’t really anyone in pop music these days that is willing to take brave and principled positions like that. But you would have to be very naive not to expect that to bring down a certain amount of vilification upon you. If you challenge the status quo, the status quo is going to hit back. Not that that excuses the treatment she received on the back of these, but I don’t think the story is totally analogous to that classic trope of the fallen idol or whatever you want to call it, because Sinead O’Connor fought back.

I like that one about driving around in a pickup truck.

Wow. You know they really mean it when they start discouraging clubs from doing things.

I don't think I had heard of Tony Bennett before he did that duets album with Amy Winehouse etc. Hometown, My Town is one of the best of those 50s crooner type albums, so good for him.

Would disagree with this being prime SMS time. Most people I know use WhatsApp.

I wonder if Mbappe will be able to manage the step up in quality from the Uber Eats league.

I resent Perez in the Red Bull more than Verstappen. He doesn’t deserve the seat and continually wins driver of the day from all his Latin American fanboys for qualifying in a shit position, overtaking a load of shit boxes and finishing 30 seconds behind his team mate.

Chelsea will get relegated. You read it here first.

They still have Dimitri Payet lol.

I know a cheese hipster who was very upset when he found out all his favourite little Roquefort makers were all just fronts for the same soulless multinational corporation. I wonder if gambling hipsters going to Stake and Fun88 for something a bit different would feel the same way if they found out.

This makes me want to go a show with Miranda Lambert and take a load of selfies

As far as I’m aware, Onana is the only footballer Rihanna has ever sung a song about.