Scott7

31 minutes ago, Bill said:

That's an appalling post but so very predictable. 

Not appalling. The likes of Moss, Cruise and Johnson should be nowhere near a cup final. Doesn’t excuse the yobs, though.

It’s been a good tournament. Some decent football and some very good individual performances. 
 

How would England have got on against either Spain or Belgium who looked better teams? Or did those two and to a lesser extent, Portugal, only look so good because they weren’t playing against England? Belgium might have beaten Italy. Spain should have.

De Bruyne and Ronaldo come home with no medals both much better players than any Englishman.

Pickford surprised me in the final. Brilliant goalkeeping. Unlikeable but he’s not there to win friends.

The referees were mostly very good. They looked as if they had turned up to watch the game rather than star in their own dramas.

The Tally goalie makes a cup winning save and strolls away like an accountant leaving the office at five o’clock.

Lastly, for the football lads who follow Bristol to Sunderland or Carlisle to Newport on Wednesdays in November, I’m sorry England didn’t win.  For the celebs and politicians - the PM in a football shirt, God help us - and for the face-painted, fancy-dressed oafs and oafesses who’ve never pushed a turnstyle or queued for tickets in their lives, I relish their despair. Except that the despair will be play-acting despair for a couple of days only then they’ll jumping on to some other bandwagon.

Italy just about deserved that though England were the better side for about forty minutes. They believed their own hype, scored too soon and thought it was all over.

If you don’t want to lose, don’t take smart alec penalties.

Unmanly scenes at the end. Why do so many young people behave like toddlers?

Over all, a disappointment.

2 hours ago, Uilleam said:

Did we serve together on the old HMS Hairsplitter?

Don’t think so but I was aboard Quibbler when she was in collision with Finicky, the Irish Coastguard vessel.

4 hours ago, Uilleam said:

Is it not called the Union Jack when flown as a jack flag at sea?

 

UA

HMS Pedantic

 

Or most often while in port.

HMS Nitpicker

15 minutes ago, RANGERRAB said:

It was a decent enough starting XI which should be doing a lot better than losing 1-0 to Tranmere Rovers.

The starting eleven might have eventually done the job if they had stayed on though they should have done it in the first half hour.

24 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Defoe somehow misses an open goal with a header from the rebound, hitting a defender on the line

Not quite an open goal but I know what you mean.

17 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

It suggests to me that Middleton is surplus to requirements. 

 

There's no way he's going to be a LB option, with Barisic and Bassey around.

Maybe Barasic is the one who’s on his way?

I feel a dose of pre-season doom and gloom coming on.

I prefer the traditional shot because most often that’s how you see it at a match. But last night’s view behind the taker gives a much better idea of the ‘keeper’s save if he makes one.

Good match, second half not as good as the first despite the two goals. Spain the better side until penalties. 

Nonetheless, if I were England, I’d rather play against Spain in the final.

If I were Denmark, I couldn’t care less who turned up.

The pre-final final tonight. 2-1 win for one of them.

42 minutes ago, compo said:

Every day racing post and the telegraph 

Which is more reliable?

14 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

it's light blue

I haven’t seen it except photos. Doesn’t look like City light blue. Sky blue maybe?

39 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

On a serious note, why are our youngsters so small and slight? Compared to English youngsters, of the same age-range, our lads are tiny

Good point. Centuries of repression and exploitation have turned us into a nation of shilpit wee nyaffs. In past times it didn’t matter because skill and speed could overcome the Saxon carthorses. Now these monsters have added athleticism to bulk.

It’s even more obvious on the rugby field where erstwhile lumbering props and locks hare about the park pirouetting and using deft hand-skills that Paul Daniels would have been proud of.

He is a good player. A better team than celtic will prove that.

1 hour ago, alexscottislegend said:

You won't get a rest - you will get their pundits and their commentators.

You’re right. No rest as such. Just a rest from 1966. We’ll have Euro 21 for the next 50 years but at least it’s different.

That Argentina-style outfit is nifty.

Italy allowed the penalty to upset them. Belgium should have equalised early in the second half. If they had done, did Italy have the mettle to prevent a winner? 
 

Two fine teams both better than England but England have the gift of being able to stultify more talented sides and to cope with the others.
 

The Cup is theirs. At least we’ll get a rest from journos and broadcasters and celebs going on about 1966. Real supporters of England rarely mention it.

26 minutes ago, craig said:

Slightly off topic.... 

 

But Fabio Cardoso.... remember him.... just signed for Porto - boy has come a long way it seems !

Footballer, not a bruiser.

12 hours ago, compo said:

Nuno is in at Spurs and Rafa takes over at Everton 

Two interesting appointments. Nuno did a great job at Molineux. Can he do better than Pochettino at the new Lane?

Benitez for Ancelotti is like for like in a different sort of way.

2 hours ago, compo said:

Was looking at the new shirt yesterday the grandchildren had them on and I would say it's not gold more of a mustard colour or maybe my eyesight is going as well now ?

Could you see Jock Shaw or Willie Rae run out the tunnel dressed in that, compo?

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

Patrick Vieira to Crystal Palace, too. 

Howe having failed to get the parkhead job has decided nothing else will do.

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

I thought England were poor. I don't think they had any idea how to break Germany down; it was all off-the-cuff, while being quite solid at the back, and waiting for someone to produce a piece of magic. 

England since time immemorial.

31 minutes ago, alexscottislegend said:

Quite. Every tournament they speculate on how England would do against either team. And it's always, "nothing to fear from either of them."

They never learn, do they? Probably right for once.

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

What about those finishing as Champions in each season?

Brora have been worthy champions for a few seasons but so were Keith and Huntly at one time and who knows anything about them now? There isn’t the population to sustain SPFL clubs. ICT crowds are pitiful. Ross County attract more than ICT but still not enough.

Elgin with a population twice the size of any of the HL towns get about 400 at home games unless in a decent league position when 600 - 800 turn up, 1,200 if in a realistic title winning position. Travelling between Brora and Stranraer for these numbers makes no sense.

Regional leagues might be the answer with the current SPFL 2 augmented and divided north and south.