ianofcleveleys

A few of mine, Anelka v Arsenal in 2006, absolute thunderbastard Campo's long range daisy cutter v Spurs Frankie W v Ipswich Jay Jay's free kick v Villa Ricardo's clincher at Cardiff SJM scoring the last goal at Burnden, only a pen but the right finale, emotional for him, for me, and no doubt many of us

To be honest I had a bit of that dread beforehand, not helped by making the mistake of reading some of the FB chat groups about it, mindless stuff from folk who can't get out of bed without asking Doris from Cleethorpes how to do it Iona is one of the biggest ships but it was fine, one or two places / times where it could feel a bit crowded and chaotic, but not to such an extent that it'd put me off returning

O'Reilly's a bit of a miles higher level version of the debate we've kicked around over Conway. Pep already had him play left midfield quite a bit and saw him as a real threat in that area. Tuchel's taking a bit of chance with him at LB in a 4 but he grew into it and was steadier in the defensive work 2nd half. Generally the whole 4 looked a bit wobbly first half, bit better 2nd, though Pickford wasn't helping, had one of his wired nights where he couldn't keep himself calm or calm those in front if him. Our strengths are undoubtedly loaded in forward areas and it'll be a more exciting ride than recent tournaments for sure, wherever we end up

God knows, the Dark Ages? She is the most successful women's club manager in history and was sought after and secured by the USA, the biggest job in international women's football. She knows the game, explains it clearly and well, and could be in a Onesie for all I care

The issue, as far as I can see with Hull, is they've four players to offload and £6m to get in, so unless one of the others goes for £2-3m they'll be looking for more for Burstow than we'd see as value

Should be brilliant, our next one will be further north, up into Arctic Circle. Quite keen on one with Hurtigruten that goes the length of Norway and includes a train trip from Bergen to Oslo

Sadly with Vic, its likely his trajectory will only be downwards and he'll be likely to end up in L2, Scotland or low level European scene. At the time we bought him he'd already scored 13 (11 league) for relegation candidates. Despite IE trying to make him be something he wasn't, in the season he started, before the injury that effectively ended his season, he'd scored 10. Not earth shattering but not the complete duffer he's ended up being viewed at. Having said that, if signed at the same time, and able to have been got for what we were out to pay then, and stay fit, fair to say a reasonable chance Nombe would have been a more likely addition of 15+ across either of those couple of seasons.

ACD was our sprinkling of game changing stardust, the time he spent out clearly didn't help us, though may have helped him, to be able to burst back on the scene with freshness and vitality at a key stage of the season. He'd arguably just started to look a little jaded when the injury struck. In terms of consistent performance over the course of the season, accounting for SS questionably leaving him out on some occasions, Forino was my standout. Hadn't been convinced about him last season but grew immeasurably through this one.

Neither or both of those two would have fired us out of L1 any more than those that have tried since, including Vic, Charles, Collins, McAtee etc. Stockton had one purple patch season in L1 back in 2021-22 and regressed since, Nombe's been solid enough at the level, might well have got more for us than the clubs he's been at, but shown it to be his ceiling. We overpaid for Vic though at the time he didn't look such a bad signing, no argument at all about Dan, a mind boggling disaster

Nombe is another who's developed mythical status window by window, another Cole Stockton. The answer to everybody's striking problems without actually being that good.

I like Mason, appears a good lad, good team member and has some good attributes, but I do feel top end of L1 might be his ceiling. When he came he was keen to indicate he saw himself as a no9, yet when he's had to play the role when Dalby's been out he hasnt been as effective as him. If we were able to get Kenny back for anything like similar money or on loan again it'd be him over Mason all day for me, offers us pace in behind defenders and pressing ability we didn't have before he came.

Well worth it, scenery is stunning, the towns and cities superb to visit

The Kevin Bridges doc, In Search of the Beautiful Game, was quite good the other night, as was the Gareth Southgate one last night Couple of eps into Legends on Netflix, Steve Coogan and others, decent so far

Congratulations! Hope everyone's doing well 👍

We did a Norwegian Fjords cruise the other week, with P&O, on the Iona, was superb, really enjoyed it Looking at going back to Ireland for a further go at the Wild Atlantic Way later this Summer, around Sligo / Donegal. Did the stretch from Westport to Galway a few years ago, was fabulous

My best mate's a Blackburn fan. That view might not be representative. Him back and the purse strings loosened a bit will have them well clear of the relegation mire

We did slip a long way behind the top two and from a position where we probably ought to have nailed 3rd down a couple of games before the end, though an element of that was the quirk of the fixtures that gave us that very tough last 6-7 games. We actually navigated those a bit better than anticipated before we went into them, that horrible little run that preceded them against relegation fodder meant our cushion was less than it ought to have been. All water under the bridge though and clean slate going into Championship. It often means little, Burnley were a mile clear last season, made another lame effort at Prem, Sunderland scraped through play-offs, now in Europe

I'll do that one, can walk round to it 😁

Definitely a bit of agent getting busy in it, though Blackburn might not be quite as hamstrung this year, I've heard from my mate who's an ST there that Venkys may be able to be a bit freer with the cash due to settling a long running issue with the Indian Government regarding funds being transferred out of the country.

Yes, agent doing classic agent stuff, getting an auction going. Up to the lad in the end. No doubt Fergal has 2 or 3 targets for each position he's looking to fill

I've seen some fair bits of Watson on the Scottish TV, robust enough lad for his age (still a bit of scope for development), aggressive enough, got that bit of an eye for a late arrival into the box. While its absolutely right not to over expect of him, I think he'll be in and around the match day 18 from the off, if not necessarily starting.

He played the vast majority of the 44 games in L2 where he was young players of the season as a LWB or LM. When he started the season SS acknowledged the work still to be done with / by him on his positional awareness. Still some issues with that, even in the last few weeks of the season, hence sides continuing to target it right to the end. He can cover ground pretty quickly, in a marauding, often quite exciting way, but hasnt the sharp 20 - 30 yards pace on the turn needed to be a quality LB, even more so if he's trying to compensate for a positioning issue. Kyle Walker got away with that a lot but due to GB sprint levels of speed. By comparison, Trent Alexander Arnold wasnt that quick and didnt. I do agree with those who've said he could play as a LM, but it'd be in a particular formation (such as with GTs role at Wrexham maybe) that SS is pretty unlikely to adopt. Could be a challenging season for him and some hard work ahead in pre season.

John Simm's first notable role if I remember right, done well for himself since

Independent have a huge challenge, even if they're in control of their premises and aren't renting or leasing. My local seafront pub / restaurant @gonzo knows it, The Venue, is, according to one of the co-owners I know, 'doing very well' in terms of punters through the doors but isnt making much money because of the cocktail of product / staff / utility costs that are crippling most of their ilk. Even the big chains are struggling with it, Tim Martin bemoaning a drop in turnover and has put his prices uo 3 times in a year, Stonegate, who own umpteen places on the Fylde, are millions in debt. It's a grim picture but, as has been said, if you can find the right premises and a niche you've a chance. Cleveleys has bucked the trend and seven new places opened since 2021, all ticking over nicely

If I'm honest it's a bit boring but I get the heyday throwback aspect. I'll wait for the away one, if its as leaked it might be a good 'un