MC Prussian

Look who turned up as mascot for Farnham: Part of a bet – Crouch had finished last in his Fantasy Football league.

Popped up in my FB feed today: The Tripods (1984/85). A remake is long overdue. Disney hold the rights, though.

Surprised that there have been hardly any mentions of Claude Puel. Turgid, dull football under an uninspiring, cocky manager who just couldn't admit his own mistakes. Looking at our managers since 2000: - Peter Taylor (2000-2001): pretty much destroyed O'Neill's legacy - Garry Parker (2001): one match, one loss, no comment - Dave Bassett (2001-2002): another journeyman who didn't leave a lasting impression - Micky Adams (2002-2004): Given the financial difficulties at the time, he did an outstanding job - Bassett/Wilkinson (2004): four matches, four draws -- Craig Levein (2004-2006): dull football under a dull manager - Rob Kelly (2006-2007): mediocre - Nigel Worthington (2007): five matches, two wins, three losses - Martin Allen (2007): forgettable stint, despite two wins and one draw in four matches - Rudkin/Beaglehole/Stowell: one match, one draw - Megson (2007): another mediocre manager for us - Burrows/Taggart (2007): couldn't steady the ship – I'll always remember Burrows' hat - Ian Holloway (2070-2008): big gob, disappointing results, relegation to League One, fraud - Nigel Pearson I (2008-2010): Did great given the circumstances, re-established a team spirit, no-nonsense approach, Steve Howard's header against Leeds, the stadium went crazy, return to the Championship, quite a shock when he got the boot, disgraceful handling by Mandaric (imagine how Pearson could've flourished at the start of the King Power era) - Paulo Sousa (2010): I'll never understand why he came here, felt totally out of place in England, lack of communication skills, culture gap, big name, poor results - Powell/Stowell (2010): Perfect record, albeit only one game - Eriksson (2010-2011): Wow factor, big-name signings, big dreams, winning record, shocking news to pretty much everyone when he was sacked - Rudkin/Beaglehole/Stowell (2011): Temporary solution, forgettable - Pearson II (2011-2015): Longest-serving manager in the past 25 years, took over where he left off, the Vardy discovery, laid the foundation for his immediate successors, promotion to the Premier League after 12 rollercoaster years, The Great Escape - Claudio Ranieri (2015-2017): Dilly-ding, dilly-ding-dong, Pizza, very likeable, managed to get the best out of Pearson's boys, magic moments, PL title, 5000-1, Bocelli, Champions League - Shakespeare (2017): Did very well, surprised a lot of people, held his own on the big stage - Appleton (2017): I'd already forgotten he managed us for two matches, another perfect record - Claude Puel (2017-2019): Made me fell out of love with the club with the football on display, Paulo Sousa all over again, just in the highest division this time - Stowell/Sadler I (2019): Another perfect record (one win) - Rodgers (2019-2023): Second-longest stint of any LCFC manager since 2000, plus FA Cup, Community shield – apart from the silverware during the pandemic, will always remembered for the way he left the club – made me fall out of love with the club even more - Stowell/Sadler II (2023): Two losses, forgettable - Smith (2023): Uninspiring - Maresca (2023-2024): Thanks for promotion back to the Premier League (even though the last few league matches were a chore to watch, as we limped over the finishing line) – but then changing ship and leaving for Chelsea was a bit of a dick move - Cooper (2024): Craig Levein, part II, just worse – who thought it'd be a good idea to hire a former Forest manager? More uninspiring, cautious, timid football - Dawson (2024): Who? - Van Nistelrooy (2024-2025): I'll say it again – who thought it'd be a good idea to ask Ruud, one of the PL's finest strikers, for help when your club has one of the worst back fours in the entire league? And how many games did we go without scoring again? - Cifuentes: New start in the Championship, pretty much a clean slate with a promising, young, talented squad (for most part), is at the start of a longer rebuilding process, with close attention to finances (PSR) I'd love for us to get Pearson back on board, if only as an advisor/scout. Or at least some of the players he managed, not just Kingy. We could use some of that mentality. Looking back, 2007 was a particularly terrible, tumultous year, way too many changes, with the low point of relegation to League One for the first time in the club's history a year later. Before Pearson came along, we had simply no clue. Pearson's two sackings were shocking at the time, as well as Eriksson's and Ranieri's.

A guilty pleasure of mine, a movie that left a lasting impression on me the first time it was shown on TV: Of course, without Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen and Katherine Ross, it'd only be half as fun (and big).

We-ate-es.

Split Enz touring in New Zealand, celebrating the band's 50th anniversary: https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/split-enz-will-reform-for-electric-avenue If you don't know Split Enz, shame on you. Precursor to Crowded House, and with some odd similarities to Oingo Boingo (Danny Elfman's first band). Neil Finn's a fantastic songwriter, and his son Liam's not bad, either.

Nobody mentioned yet that we haven't played these in a league match in 31 years?

Staying in Italy, Empoli third:

If you get the chance, go and watch Jaws in a theatre near you. 50-year anniversary. 2nd highest box office in the US right now. Just shows how bad and/or unimaginative modern-day Hollywood movies have become.

AI Banger.

Fixtures for matchday 4 to 12 are out: https://uscremonese.it/il-calendario-della-cremonese-dalla-4a-alla-12a-giornata/

Nelvana animation studio is closing after 50+ years. https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/corus-halts-production-at-nelvana-canada-253760.html

Just watched a CR1 TV segment, with Vardy in training. The fans are rightfully excited, lots of enthusiasm: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17CeLvSLDr/?mibextid=wwXIfr ”Speriamo in tanti gol”. Well, so do we.

Nicked off the Serie A FB page:

My bad. Still impressive, though. And a sign of more reasonable transfers to come, one would hope.

So we’re No. 1 in terms of net revenue per player sold. Better than Southampton. #shrewd But long overdue, after years of overspending.

Not for the same price, though. And Haaland’s stats in less than one season are much more impressive. Daka should’ve gone to Germany, Italy or France. He was and still is too lightweight of a striker.

I agree. He was unproven at this level and nowhere near worth £23m (and these wages). If we stick with the Haaland comparison, Dortmund paid about £5-6m less for him than we paid for Daka – and Haaland didn't even play an entire season with RB Salzburg. Let that sink in.

Not quite the same. Haaland went to Germany and proved himself with Dortmund. Haaland is also of a different physique, and has bulked up a bit over the years, without sacrificing much of his speed. Daka came straight to the UK, and I think that was the biggest mistake. Then again, hindsight is 20/20.

As I‘ve stated before, the club were duped by his scoring record with RB Salzburg. 27 goals in 28 games in 2020/21 with the Bayern Munich of Austria is a misleading stat, since the rest of their Bundesliga is rather shit. Pretty much all of Austria‘s pros play abroad, preferrably Germany. Daka seems to be stuck playing on a youth level, and has thus far failed to man up.

Benvenuto. Jamie Vardy is a Leicester City icon, and I do not tend to use that term lightly. I wish him well at your club, hope he helps you maintain league status or maybe even achieve the unthinkable. I'd love the two teams to compete in a friendly next summer, preferrably still with Vardy active. What's the best way to come and visit Cremona and US Cremonese? I'm inclined to take a trip down to the South of Lombardy, it's not too far from where I live. Flight to Milan and then an easy train ride down? Are tickets easily available? I suppose Vardy will lead to a bit of an increase in attendance.

He does have pace, not as much as when be bought him, mind. Reminds me of the Ahmed Musa situation. What he also has – which we found out pretty early on – is a terrible first touch. And that scoring records in the Austrian top division don't translate well abroad. With Marti Cifuentes, it's the last straw for me. Either he manages to motivate Daka, or the latter's got to move. There's also still a few transfer windows open for another week or so. There's always hope. And RB Salzburg.

David Luiz: Not David Luiz

Grimsby fined £20'000 for fielding an ineligible player: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cjdyd1y141ko