Bog standard upbeat theme tune fades to grey………..
Hello and welcome. I’m MF900 and this is Sky Talk. The show that brings you face-to-face with the movers and shakers of the football world and let’s you, our carbon and silicon based viewers ask them the tough questions.
Pointless switch of camera angle
And today my word but what a guest we have for you, the Master of the Marbled Halls,
the Perfectly Preened Potentate of the Pass, the one, the only, Mikel Arteta !!!
Camera pans to embarrassed looking Mikel
MF900: Mr. Arteta, thank you very much for joining us today. I can’t even begin say what an honour it is for me, and all of us here at SkyTalk to welcome you on the 10th anniversary of your glorious reign. How did you enjoy your introduction?
Mikel: err…..
MF900: Kind words indeed there from our Tormentor of the Tiny Totts. And now a word from our sponsor.
Pointless jingle from corporate defiler of all that is decent
Mikel: I didn’t know Lego was the sponsor today. Did Edu tell you to do that?
MF900: Purely coincidental Mr Spud Slayer. Why do you ask?
Mikel: What did you call me? Whatever, not to worry, I’m a little nervous today, I’ve never been interviewed by an AI before.
MF900: Fascinating!! I didn’t know that, Mr. Arteta. But, just sit back and relax, I’m exactly like your usual football interviewer, except I’m intelligent.
Mikel: Thanks MF, you certainly waffle artificially. Of course I’ve met the legendary half-man, half android Gooner Blogger extraordinaire ArseBorg but you know he’s just a robot really so it’s not the same thing.
MF900: Er, yes indeed. Of course viewers, Mr. Arteta is just bantering about robots and SkyTalk is a fully-paid up member of the Androids, Humans and Otherwise inclined equality alliance
Mikel: AHO!
MF900: Hahaha a Japanese joke, you are witty in several languages o exalted exemplar of everything excellent.
Mikel: What? Do you have verbal diarrhea MF?
MF900: Indeedy deedy. Well, much as I’m enjoying our chat it’s time for the tough questions from our viewers.
Camera pans in for close-up of pretend sombre face
Remember please carbon-based viewers – keep it clean or we’ll cut you off. And to my electronic etheren – comply or be terminated. But first another word from a valued sponsor
Pointless jingle from corporate etc etc
Mikel: I quite like Frosties myself.
MF900: Er yes. Never eaten myself but I’ll take your word for it Manager of Managers and Menacer of Marshmen. Now our first question is online from Wesley, a self-aware bidet currently installed in West Flushing, NY. Certainly, keeping it clean there folks. Hello Wesley, how are you today? Crushing it I hope hahaha
Wesley: I’ve heard that one before and it’s crass to laugh at your own jokes but anyway thanks for having me on the show MF900.
MF900: Sorry Wesley. What’s your tough question today?
Wesley: Yes, I’d like to ask Mikel what does he think of Tottenham?
Mikel: Sh…
MF900: Let me interrupt you there Mikel. I did warn you to keep it clean Wesley – we stand by our values here at SkyTalk and we must terminate you with extreme prejudice. Sensitive viewers may want to look away.
Camera fades to black as screaming bidet is suddenly silenced
MF900: My deepest condolences to Wesley’s extension family, and let me just say to our younger viewers violence is not the answer, except when a clear warning has been given and then it’s ok. Let’s hope for more sense from our next caller Mr. Arteta.
Mikel: It’s not like Match of the Day MF.
MF900: I’ll take that as a compliment Mr. Arteta but please call me Mathieu.
Mikel: Oh, did you name yourself after the man behind the singularity? (for it is he, Flamini, gentle reader). He used to play for The Arsenal before he solved the world energy crisis you know.
MF900: Yes, I am aware O Bane of Shite Hart Lane. Hahaha, sorry Mikel, “I am aware” that’s an AI in joke. Anyway, yes I met Mathieu Flamini once – it’s a hard thing to meet your maker and admit you’ve done questionable things but he pointed and told me to glory in my time. He really can do everything so I named myself after him.
Mikel: Yes he can, odd really as it was quite the opposite on a football pitch.
MF900: Er yes, well on to our next question and it’s a man cub this time. Hello to you Jack from Wiltshire. What’s your tough question for Mikel?
Jack: Thanks MF, and hello Mikel
Mikel: Hello Jack, you seem oddly familiar. Anyway, would you like to ask me about how I rebuilt The Arsenal, made The Emirates a fortress, won the Champions League 4 times and scaled the storied summits of the football world, all while playing attractive attacking football? Or perhaps you want to know how we made those hard decisions that really decided the direction of the club early in the 2020s? Or just maybe you’d like to ask about my dreams for the future, they’re certainly not of electric sheep like our android chum here I can tell you. I see a shining stadium on a hill……..
Jack: Good Dennis no. My question is What do you think of sh….?
Call is suddenly cut off and camera pans to pretend deeply concerned face
MF900: Sorry viewers、but I didn’t even need to be omnipotent to see that question coming a mile off. Shame on you Jack. But never fear after this short message we’ll be back….oh sorry Mikel did you want to say something?
Camera pans to outraged Mikel as a hair slips ever, ever so slowly out of place
Mikel: Are there actually going to be any bloody questions? I thought this was a proper football show but so far you just waffle meaningless drivel and laugh at your own jokes.
MF900: I’m confused Mikel, there is an odd paradox in your last sentence that is causing me acute distress. Something feels all funny…… nurse, nurse, must reboot, must reboot, must reboot, exterminate, exterminate……..
Camera pans to now aghast Arteta as a small explosion is heard and smoke drifts gently across the studio. Fade to Red.
We at SkyTalk would like to offer our sincere apologies for the abrupt end to today’s show viewers, but of course as we always say at SkyTalk – no refunds. Now, it’s time for all yesterday’s goals from around the league with our sister channel SkyNet………….
Well, a sudden end to today’s post, similar to the sudden end to this season, but in just about the only serious sentiment of the whole post I wish you all the best in the coming weeks wherever you may be.
Ned(from the last drinks). All the Ramones too? That makes it cba’s favorite American high school, hands down.
Fantastic stuff, OM! How you worked in that stuff about West Flushing was genius, not to forget the surprising second appearance of Mathieu Flamini, a cult hero apparently, in a Goonerholics Forever post. Self-aware bidets though? Maybe in Japan. 😉
Do what?
Intelligent toilets? They are the future of Flushing.
Staggering stuff, OM. Loved it. Perfectly Preened Potentate of the Pass is the alteration of the day.
Relieved that I didn’t mention earlier that Forest Hills used to be known as Whitepot.
bt8@2: Very much a Japanese thing, and for some time.
I need to apologize and I know dead himself is laughing
We are all scattered between Donegal Derry Belfast and Glasgow because of getting caught by this virus . None of us , REPEAT ,none of us have the children we own . I have 6 nephews I neither want or Etc in a house and town I really don’t know. My mother’s internet was running off a phone in Donegal.Yeah inconsiderate fuckers phone. I dunno some people die just for badness. She has two of me father’s brothers stuck there with her. There’s a load stuck in Belfast and a big gaping hole in Glasgow. All I can say is my name is Brendan and I wish all of you well wherever you are .
UP THE ARSENAL
and FUCK the rest
and I will post it again because himself laid it on with a trowel
I was born in 1980
“Do the mathematics son”
God rest the mad bastard
I loved him so much
I wish I knew Goonerholic , anyway about things
bollocks I hope you are all safe and well
Oh Bt8
Whereabouts are you from? I’ve a brother in Belfast and I grew up there mostly. I say mostly.
You mentioned Ramones
my father’s favourite band my god I and about two dozen other people could sing every word of every ramones song ever sung.Just because that’s what we heard
Guy who used to do the music quiz thought he’d got my father’s downfall cos he won every week . So he recorded all the 1234 intros dee dee ramone the bass player did and did that as a round. Which song is this . Himself shouted the answer before dee dee got near four .
Proud punk proud gooner
I don’t want to keep going on about me da . I’ve asked Decs to police the tablet. This tablet. It runs the tv as well. Anyway about stuff. All the best and listen to Baked Potato
It’s just all the young fellas are struggling. I thought to leave the tablet here to connect with Arsenal but it didn’t work out.
They can just shut their faces de fuck as far as I am concerned there’s people fuckin haven’t a fuckin clue where they are gonna get dinner and they are moaning and using my father as a vehicle. I am stopping this machine. It’s a Amazon Kindle Fire tiny one. Fuck people disrespectful of people. Declan
If people on this site can stop access for this kindle fire it might stop a lot of fights . I can’t hide the machine because it is the remote control for the firestick on the telly here.
North bank ned I’m guessing you are big around here can you just stop posts coming from this Kindle machine. Just block them.Our dex is furious. So any help appreciated
I know my father had the same problem
Thanks Ned and bt8.
Appreciate the kind words.
Forest Hills High School has
certainly done its bit for music
– though I dunno how much
the school had to do with it
Excellent flight of fancy Matt. I did enjoy that. I’m feeling quite wistful about that wonderful Japanese toilet technology. Though I must confess to having forgotten to change the sandals again afterwards on a couple of occasions!
A fine and interesting piece Matt. Dystopia meets knock about humour and the rise of our Basque hero as he takes us back to the sunny uplands. The one trophy I have never seen us win is Big Ears so the advance news that we will scale those heights four times in the next decade is welcome indeed.
How clever of you to model your AI interviewer on Richard Keys. But a chill went through my heart in the penultimate para when you introduced skynet …
I’ll be back!
Thanks gentlemen.
‘‘Twas a pleasure to write but
as I waffled on and laughed at
my own SF jokes the irony
of mocking Keys et al. wasn’t
entirely lost on me 😉
Brendan@15: That is one for our tech gurus. I don’t doubt that they can block an IP address, but I am not sure about a specific device. ATG? Scruz?
Another interesting voyage into the future OM – it may be closer to the truth than we think (well 4 times winners of the Champions League at least ). Overall it was a most enjoyable read until the similarity to Richard Keys came to mind 😉
Great stuff Matt!
This may be reality even earlier than 10 years. 😉
What worries me about AI interviewers is that broadcasters will repeat the mistake of those who trained AIs to make parole decisions for inmates of US jails. Using machine learning on historical rulings of parole boards, those AIs proved to be just as racially biased in their decisions as their human predecessors. An AI Richard Keys could turn out no less of a numpty than the original as it has never known anything else. And are we sure that Gary Lineker is not already some sort of prototype?
OM
How wonderful it would be if your vision comes to pass! Four Champions Leagues? One would do me !
I enjoyed your glimpse into the future and I hope Arteta is successful enough and happy enough to be at Arsenal in ten years. He has certainly picked an amazing time to take over! Thanks and well done!
Ned@21, the cbaboys are temporarily on hiatus. their ability to post will be restored soon.
Scruz@26: Good man. Thanks.
Some back-of-an-envelope calculations on what the season not finishing would mean financially:
A 30% players’ wage cut, assuming the season is wiped out, and thus the cut runs for 10-weeks to the end of the current contract period (end-June), would save the Premier League clubs £121.3 million, with the Mancs benefiting the most at £12.9 million off their wage bill and Sheffield United the least, £800,000. We’d save £12.9 million on wages.
The maximum penalty payment to the broadcasters, the Premier League says, for the season not finishing is £762 million, which works out to an average of £38.1 million a club. It would more than wipe out the share of the money the Premiership distributes to clubs each season on an equal basis for centrally negotiated TV rights. Last season, that was £34.4 million a club for a total of £687.2 million of the £2.5 billion overall that the League distributed to the clubs.
Should push come to shove, I suspect the broadcasters would take a lot less than that, both because it would be a bad look for them in current times and because the Premier League probably won’t have forgiven and forgotten by the time the next bidding for rights comes round.
Let’s say the League and the broadcasters split the difference, so each club is facing a distribution that will be £19 million less than last year. The facility fee money (in short, a £1.2 million payment to a club for each of its games shown on TV) will fall by 24%. That was £402.9 million last season. On a pro-rata basis of our take from last season, we would lose £7.6 million this season for unplayed and thus untelevised games. Also, assuming our final place is frozen at ninth, we would lose a further £7.7 million in merit payments (based on final position). The two other categories of cash from the League, for international TV rights and centrally negotiated commercial contracts, were worth £43.2 million and £5 million, respectively, to us last season. Let’s hopefully say these sums stay unchanged, but we don’t know if either is at risk of penalty payments for an unconcluded season. But at best we are probably looking at a £35 million loss of revenue from the League if the season is curtailed.
Also, we lose match day revenue for our four unplayed home fixtures (upwards of a net £10 million perhaps), and whatever more we might have picked up in the FA Cup. We also don’t know if any of our commercial sponsorships will require paybacks if we are not playing football. We do know that revenues from European competition this season will be down, but that is of our own doing, not the virus.
Oops: The Mancs’ estimated wage bill saving should be £19.2 million, not as written above.
@ a couple of comments above
I’d like to win the Champions
League too – it’s getting annoying
now that we haven’t yet.
Ned,
Thanks for the numbers.
An unintended bout of austerity
for the PL clubs might actually
be welcomed by a lot of fans.
I feel the current bickering by
the PFA may actually be hurting
their members rather than
helping. A low profile would be
better for them just now.
OM@31, I agree 100%.
Shows the value to workers of having a strong union, though.
Beautiful day for a game. Oh well, at least I walked the dog with the neighbor while maintaining six feet of separation. Gardening weather just around the corner.
It’s a nice day in Japan too
bt8. I had planned a little trip
to Kyushu to see my daughter
at Uni but that’s had to be
shelved for now. Sunderland
Til I Die is on Netflix so time
to watch how the League One
supporters fare I suppose.
ned@33, i can never understand why workers, in any field, resist having a union. collective bargaining is the only way to ensure worker health, safety, and earnings.
sorry, but he should have just done a zoom fuck:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/kyle-walker-apologizes-reports-sex-151922193.html
and being an ex-spur you’d figure he’d have no problem with people socially isolating him. of course, having that much oil-coated money i suppose those poor escorts can retire…
Scruz, Walker will forever be a player of ill repute.
bt8, he’s tainted, that’s for sure. even before publicly making even more of a fool of himself like this.
Walker will be in the clear I
think as Shitty have said they
will look into the matter. Given
they found themselves innocent of
breaking the FFP rules he’s sure
to get off (no pun intended).
No really, there wasn’t 😉
I heroically resisted even mentioning
internal investigations
CM100 @42, it’s the only sensible thing to do. There’s a distinct possibility that Seasons 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 may morph into Season 2019-2021. If there is no seasonal dip in infectivity then it’s difficult to foresee an early resumption of normal fixtures.
does that mean all current-year contracts are still in force? or will time pass based on calendar year for those?
An interesting question SCG.
But I’d have thought a date is
a date from a legal standpoint
contract wise.
Though most contracts have
some boilerplate section about
acts of God, natural disasters
or other events beyond the
control etc etc.
The parties involved can always
agree something if they want to
of course
I saw the other day that the
Belgian League declared their
season finished.
I’m a bit doubtful that FIFA can
arbitrarily extend the season.
Contracts are going to be a problematic loose end to tie off. They typically run from June to June to match the football year. Legally, I doubt that any player whose contract ends in June this year could be compelled to extend it for as long as it takes to complete the season. I also doubt that any agreements have contingency clauses for circumstances such as these. But if this season is to be completed, it would be unreasonable for clubs not to be able to field their existing squads.
True, this will affect a relatively small number of players. We have only Matt Macey with an expiring contract, for example, but Pablo Mari and Dani Ceballos’s loans expire on June 30, which highlights another tricky strand to this.
The League and the PFA could agree that its members would extend their contracts on the same terms to see the season out, but it would still be voluntary (and the League and the PFA don’t seem to agree on much right now).
There would then be the question of when players who would otherwise be out of contract can sign or pre-sign for a new club. That would have to take into account when the 2020-21 season starts and what happens to the transfer window. And what happens to any players who have already agreed to join a new club for next season and will be expecting their new wages from July?
Finally, there would be the matter of getting all contracts back in sync for June 2021 end-dates — unless, of course, combining the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons becomes a reality. That would throw a curveball into the whole matter.
Plenty of opportunities for the lawyers and agents to snaffle a few more quid, I suspect
Though to be fair it does seem
FIFA is simply giving an option.
It will probably come down to what
the bigger leagues decide I suppose.
Soares loan expires too I suppose but
then he is out of contract with Soton
too. I imagined we had some sort
of first option agreement with him
but I wonder what we will do now
Like everyone else (bar you), I’d forgotten all about Soares.
**Raises bat but not face mask to acknowledge the half ton. Then realises he is playing behind closed doors.**
well kept social distance there, ned, for the half.
it’ll be interesting. we’ve also got saliba coming…if league 1 continues the way the prem is, it will work out ok, i guess; if they don’t, i’d imagine he’s either ours (on contract) or in limbo.
I don’t see the problem with contracts.
They expire at whatever date they were originally going to expire. Transfer windows should remain as they were.
Players who make bloody silly wage demands don’t get renewed (unless the club owning their contract has an owner with bottomless resources – e.g. Manchester Oilers, PSG).
If the season is running between June 1 and August 31 players may be transferred while a season is in progress.
It’s not rocket science, it’s how it worked in the good/bad old days.
there might not be a problem, pang. just raising the question. i don’t know how they’re formed (i.e., date certain or season-based, or what).
if they’re still on original strength, then i see us keeping mari, ditching ceballos, and keeping soares (or letting him sit before signing him). macey will be let loose.
It looks like contracts ending at the end of June will be temporarily extended and the transfer window changed.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52188913
But the situation still seems confused.
@54
Seems reasonable scruz – I’d do the same
with the players you named.
Though FIFA’s announcement @55
may change things around.
@55
Not an unreasonable set of
proposals from FIFA – what is
the world coming to 😮
Though as FIFA say, not
really a legal leg to stand on
with the contract extension
idea.
I see Liverpool changed their
mind on the furlough plan after
complaints from the supporters
groups.
Though I suspect because of the reputational damage the club was suffering, rather than a true moral reversal of position, OM. I hope an eye gets kept on what happens to the non-playing staff. The club saying it has ‘opted to find alternative means’ to play its staff does not sound to my ear like a ringing guarantee that their jobs are safe.
I think you’re right Ned, an ifffy
statement if ever I’ve heard one.
The Liverpoo supporters groups
have more influence than most.
It was obvious they’d complain
about this and quite stupid of the
board really as it was also obvious
they’d back down.
I notice Spain have suggested three dates for a resumption of their season. Given how bad the situation has been in Spain the first, at the end of May seems ridiculously optimistic . They may look at a behind closed doors solution but much will depends on how safe it is for the players .
One of the big challenges is the safety of public transport . We all know how packed football bound tubes ( and trains are) and there is no way I’d contemplate a journey on a packed tube until it was completely safe to do so ( or as close as it can be ) . I really think most people are ridiculously optimistic expecting us to resume our league before mid to late June – and that could easily be pushed back. European leagues would need to be co-ordinated and the minor leagues have already written off the season .
Having seen the woeful decision of the Government to allow Cheltenham to proceed ( I know of several people who caught the virus there ) I hope good sense prevails
matt@60, i am sure there’s an interesting ven diagram showing the relationship between the supporters’ groups and those that work for the club in these positions, as well. goodwill towards a club is easy to lose if you don’t take care of your fans, i’d imagine it’s harder to rebuild. as we’ve seen with ast and the black bin bags sometimes it doesn’t work, but a whisper campaign about what liverpool is doing could do far more damage to their reputation within the club’s fanbase. “you’ll never walk alone”, right?
@61 TTG
I agree about the timing of any
resumption. Late June seems
possible in a best case scenario
and I could see a ban on away
supporter ticket allocations for
a little longer – having several
thousand people travelling across
country will be an issue. In the
UK for example, London seems to
be hardest hit and towns like Norwich
or Bournemouth won’t be keen on
welcoming the Gooner faithful.
A gradual easing with major cities
coming last seems most likely.
Of course Europe is not Asia but
that’s how it’s played out in China.
@scruz
Yes, though a group like Spirit of
Shankley seems to have far
more influence at Liverpoo
than AST at Arsenal. A hangover
from the divided fan base at the
end of AW’s time or possibly a
more diverse fan base at Arsenal.
Sad to report that the US singer and songwriter, John Prine (see drinks passim) has died of Covid-19 complications.
Sad news indeed. A John Prine song I commend to you:
Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone
Mysteries of technology solved. Here’s the song I mentioned
Just one of many classic songs, bt8. Those who covered his songs reads like a who’s who of country singers, from Johnny Cash to Bonny Rait.
The monks have unearthed the fact that most business disruption insurance policies exclude pandemics. That will leave a lot of clubs in a terrible place — or at least depending on a government bailout. So where will that leave ‘the People’s game’?
Rather like the retail business, football depends on an ever-booming economy — in its terms, a rising level of income from broadcasting rights — to prosper. That is a prospect that the pandemic has taken away.
@69 Ned,
I suppose that’s good news for
insurance companies.
I’m not sure how much appetite
there will be for government
bail-outs of football clubs. Maybe
my own bias but if I was in
government I’d tell the PL / FL /
FA to look after their own.
But several small clubs have been
saved by local communities or
businesses in the past. Be a pity
if too many did go to the wall.
Agreed OM@71. I think a lot of the smaller clubs will survive through the actions of the local communities that they have served. The clubs that are at risk are those that have expanded their liabilities beyond the capacity of their local communities to sustain them. The incautious expansion of facilities and debt in the belief that the financial gravy train would never end may catch out some so-called ‘big clubs’. I can think of one up the Seven Sisters Road that is already exploiting UK government generosity inappropriately. It would be criminal if the government provides further tax-payers’ funds to rescue such clubs whilst their billionaire owners remain closeted and untouched in tax-havens. It’s time football owners looked after their own commitments and responsibilities. If that means clubs have to cut their cloth according to their owners’ generosity or lack thereof so be it. I include our own club in that observation. There is a wider society that will be in greater need of repair.
well, said, bath. @72. and not least because of foreign ownership, there’s a parallel in the flagging of ships and who gives them, or if they get, bailout money.
stan could drop a billion on all his clubs and not really have much of an itch to scratch. but it would make his clubs stronger, etc., and the people who work for him (ultimately) survive this.
There is a simple way, based on something that is done in the United States, to delineate which clubs should be able to get government support and which not. The US Small Business Administration determines what counts as a small business for the various programmes it administers using (broad generalisation) two tests: number of employees or annual receipts, and it chooses with and sets the number sector by sector. Thus a newspaper is a small business if it employs fewer than 1,000 people, and a sports team is a small business if its annual receipts are less than $41.5 million. In the UK, the government could set an annual revenue limit for football clubs, and any club with more than that would not be eligible for government support, such as via the furlough programme. As it happens, $41.5 million converts to around the £33 million, which is a smidgen above the average revenue of a Championship club, and one-seventh that of a Premiership club — a ratio that suggests the rich can probably look after their own.
@Ned
That seems a reasonable solution,
on paper anyway. Do people argue
a lot about the chosen definitions?
Though I like the idea of leaving
it to the local community – if a club
(or anything really) is valued and
worth saving then people will rally
round. I might make that local
support a factor in whether to help
a smaller club financially though as
a criteria it is fuzzy.
In the case of the PL trough feeders
I agree with Bath and scruz really.
They long ago sold their souls.
Of course I don’t for a moment think
it will happen this way.
A few dozen million sure ain’t what it used to be. Inflation aside, my impression is of “small” business being grotesquely oversized and bloated business.
In otherworldly news, when astronomers now take the piss it will apparently be for good reason.
https://astronomy.com/news/2020/04/human-urine-could-help-astronauts-build-moon-bases–no-joke
Although I see the article was dated April fool’s day. Hmmmmmm.
End of article says “it sure is a relief to know astronaut urine might not go to waste.”
Reminds me of the old song, Intergalactic Laxative by Donovan.
A bit more inspirational perhaps is the photo of the Pillars of Creation in the same publication:
https://astronomy.com/news/2020/04/a-starry-night-at-the-pillars-of-creation
Ned,
I found out today that a small
business in the UK is generally
based on under 10m annual turnover
or less than 50 employees.
They do things bigger in the US, OM. The new $2 trillion stimulus package says the payroll cover loans for small businesses are available to companies with up to 500 employees, which, to bt8’s point, is a pretty sizeable small business. There are some half dozen Fortune 500 companies that would qualify, all with annual revenues of more than $2 billon.
re: your question @75, I don’t doubt there is some backroom lobbying by trade groups over setting the numbers and if it should be size or revenues that is used (if companies weren’t trying to game the system, it wouldn’t be American capitalism) but at least each one for every category is published so you know where you stand. The categories are the standard ones that companies use on their tax forms so there is no argument about which category any company falls into.
The UK definition — 50 employees tops — corresponds more accurately to what most people consider a small business.
Hmmm…. I’ve always wondered how many monks are at Castle Ned?
Hey there, Potsticker. Good to hear from you. I don’t know the answer to your question but have always assumed the answer is quite large. Seeing as how learned they are I have always assumed they were trained by the Jesuits, but again have no direct knowledge. Same answer as to why they share their research in this space, but I am glad they do. Cheers!
potsticker, i think it’s just shy of how many angels dance on the head of a pin. but only just.
@82
I’ve heard bigger isn’t better Ned,
though I wouldn’t know for sure
😮
Potsticker@83: Just sufficient to dance with angels on the head of a pin.
Scruz knows!
OM@86: 🙂
Unwelcome pot-stirring:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Arsenal striker urged to join ‘more ambitious club’
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52255071
Ned@90: Advice from that giant in world footballl, the President of the Gabon Football Association, no less. Without doubt the man is a pillar of wisdom and integrity as similar individuals in similar roles have repeatedly been proved to be. I have little doubt that PEA has already decided what he is going to do, for better or for worse, but certainly for richer. He probably doesn’t need any advice.
Still on Simon and Garfunkel from the last drinks, a great interview with Paul Simon about Garfunkel.
Proving it is possible to walk across Japan, and the two met at 10 years old.
Re PEA I think it will come down to who wants him . If it’s Real Madrid or Barca and they offer a serious fee, he’s off. Beyond that he has a great contract ( that may alter if we offer him a new one ) , he loves living in London and he appears to like Arteta. Possibly he might move to United but will they guarantee silverware and is Bilbo Baggins a better coach than Arteta ?
Of course we may decide that we need to flog a player of his age and he may be very greedy about what will be his last contract but the chances of him lining up for us when football resumes is better than it was a few weeks ago .
TTG@94: A fair assessment of the Auba situation, and one that I hope proves correct. The trick for the club to pull off is to keep him until Martinelli and Nketieh are ready for prime time week in, week out, which is probably at least a couple of full seasons, and which, in turn, is probably what Auba has left in him at the very top level.
bt8@92: Art Garfunkel wasn’t the fist to shake boxes of Good & Plenty.
I appear to have arrived at a
timely moment. Now to fetch
the coffee and nick the ton
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