Alf Bentley

Decent on the wing but likely to tread water in wet conditions. Mouthy personality would also be a magnet for red and yellow cards.

Another good away win for Newport yesterday. Starting to look like Fuchs might keep them up, which would be a great achievement given his inexperience and their position when he took over. LCFC manager for the L1 rebuild? I see an old news article in which he said he'd try to bring Vardy to Newport....how about bringing him to LCFC for L1 26-27?

I got 50. Stan Bowles would've been disappointed with the one I missed.

"I just want your extra time and your.....Twix!"

The day Leicester police tried to force me to become a Derby fan..... About 20 years ago, I'd arranged to meet a Derby-supporting mate to attend a Leicester v Derby match at KP. I'd got him a ticket to attend incognito with me among the LCFC fans. I met him off the train and we retired to The Hind for a pint or five before the match. The Hind was full of Derby fans, but no problem as neither of us were wearing colours. Suitably refreshed, we exited the premises to walk to the ground....only to find that the Plod were gathering and escorting all the Derby fans to the ground under guard. A particularly meat-headed plod ordered us to join all the Derby fans to be frog-marched to the away end. I explained that we were home fans, but he just yelled at me to join the away fans. We tried to sneak through the barriers to join the home fans, but just got yelled at again. So we were frog-marched all the way to the KP with the other sheep/Sheep by mounted police who had no power of reason, looking in vain for a gap in their ranks or their barriers. Once we arrived at the ground, suddenly all the home and away fans were allowed to mingle civilly outside the turnstiles, so were easily able to get into the home end. WTF was the point of that?!?! As I recall, the game was an absolute pile of shite (0-0 or 1-1 draw?), so with hindsight (and Hind sight) it might have been better if they'd frogmarched us all the way up to Welford Road cemetery instead!

Happy Birthday. The Plod will be around for you later.

I remember how birds would often peck through the lids to get at the cream. When I was a kid, we received silver, red and green tops, I think, but can't remember which was which. (By "birds", I mean those feathered, flying mini-dinosaur things. No reference intended to the thread discussing physically enticing women).

Abstinence

What's all the fuss about a "buttlift crackdown"? Surely, if your "butt" (Eng. bum) is lifted, then it is logically inevitable that your crack moves down a bit?

Good win for Christian Fuchs' Newport County at Salford (1-3). Still bottom, as Harrogate also won, but only 1pt behind them and 3pts behind Barrow, Crawley & Bristol Rovers, who managed 1 point between them. I'd love to see Fuchs keep Newport up and start to build a career in management. He comes across as having the personal qualities to make a go of it, but who knows?

Rev. Jesse Jackson (84), civil rights leader and long-time activist https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c394g14n3rzt An influencer before that became a superficial, bullshit-promoting occupation. I'm amazed he was as young as 84! I'm 63 and he was someone appearing on the TV News as a well-established international figure, back when I was a kid in the 70s - and who was alongside Martin Luther-King when he was assassinated back in the 60s. He clearly became a leading civil rights activist by his mid-20s....

Berner wasn't in the squad that got relegated. Pearson signed him on a free in the summer. But I certainly share your pessimism if we do go down. Which is why it's crucial that we stay up. It wouldn't be easy regrouping in the Championship in the summer, but a damn sight easier than trying to do so in L1. The financial complications would make that a much harder task than in 08-09, even assuming we did stay afloat financially. That, in turn, makes it crucial that we make the right managerial appointment - and make it soon. Even with money, it's not easy to quickly turn round a team/squad relegated to L1. To do so with our financial complications & PSR rules would be almost impossible. The job NP did in his first stint can be overlooked in light of his second stint. Only about 3 of the L1 title team had been regulars the previous season (King was only just breaking through in 07-08 & became a regular in 08-09). That nearly-new L1 squad went on to make the Championship play-offs in 09-10, with relatively few major additions (Wellens, Gallagher, Weale...?).

Within a couple of years, these lads either became Man Utd hooligans or members of the Bay City Rollers.

Andrew Ranken (72), long-time drummer for The Pogues - a key element in a great band. https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/the-pogues-drummer-andrew-ranken-dead-b1270572.html

I have no personal experience, but my ex is on PIP. She was already on it, but had to reapply because the conditions for approval were changed (made tighter). The process took several months, I think. If there's a glut of people having to reapply, that could explain it. Particularly as they're probably understaffed and I imagine the process might take longer if staff are getting used to new assessment rules, as well as dealing with large numbers of compulsory reassessments, not just new claims or routine reassessments?

Rudderless with Rudders, but when will we be Ruddersless? Maybe, when Rowett came out of his interview for the job, he saw Pep sitting in the waiting area, next to go in?

A meter story, Norwich, 1983.... - Upstairs: 3 bedsits, occupied by Beardy Hothead Lad, Smarmy Pink Beret Lad & Beery Scruff Lad (me), plus a shared kitchen....and shared coin meter. - Downstairs: Aging landlady Vera with her work-from-home poodle parlour and ample supply of Daily Mails, make-up and blue rinse hair dye. One day, Vera confronted me with (unfounded) accusations of thieving. Someone had broken into the meter and attached bits of Bluetac to the wheel, slowing down its movement so as to reduce the need for 50p coins. I was prime suspect, but pled Not Guilty. Despite being Vera's golden boy, Smarmy Pink Beret Lad eventually confessed. Strangely, about 6 years later, I bumped into Smarmy Lad outside an independent cinema in Brighton. He was still smarmy, still wearing a beret but I'm not sure it was pink any more. Like a Dick Emery character, Vera was a sucker for good-looking young men. I had a mate who looked like then noted "beefcake" snooker player Tony Knowles and I still remember Vera simpering excitedly over him when he showed up on the doorstep.

On that point.... I know Trump says different stuff every day, but these comments 2 days ago should've received more coverage, I think: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mke841zj0o "US President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to "nationalise" elections. American elections are primarily run by state law, and voting has long been administered by local officials across the country. "The Republicans should say: 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalise the voting," Trump said during an appearance on the podcast of his former deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino. His remarks come days after the FBI raided an elections office in Georgia to examine voting records from the 2020 election. In the interview, Trump did not name the "15 places" where he thought Republicans should "nationalise" voting. The president tied his desire to federalise voting mechanisms to his key agenda item of deporting undocumented immigrants from the US. "If Republicans don't get them out, you will never win another election as a Republican," he said".

I'd wondered about a Russian connection to all this myself - and I'm naturally a cock-up theorist, not a conspiracy theorist. Marr raises a lot of valid questions in that clip. The connections are all circumstantial thus far. He might be adding 2 + 2 to make 5....but he might be adding 2 + 2 to make 4. Quite apart from all the circumstantial stuff, we already know that the Russian state has repeatedly acted to try to disrupt Western democracies and businesses. It's certainly not unthinkable that the it was using Epstein as another means of doing this - though more evidence is needed, of course. Re. evidence: it would be really good if democratic forces in the US managed to compel the release of all the Epstein files, with redaction kept to a minimum - though I won't hold my breath in anticipation of that. I wonder how much of the redaction concerns incriminating evidence against Trump? Might that partially explain Trump's relatively friendly attitude to Putin over Ukraine? Maybe his attitude merely stems from his liking for big power strongmen presiding over spheres of influence...but maybe not? As for Mandelson, the evidence already revealed strongly suggests that, if there's any justice, he should go to prison - though, of course, his guilt would need to be proven in court. I say that as someone who's mainly voted Labour throughout my life and who's even been a party member at times. I really don't think it's good enough to say that he's been of no significance for 20 years. He was a major political figure for 25 years from the mid-80s until 2010 (16 years ago), latterly as a senior cabinet minister. Gordon Brown, his PM at that time, is himself calling for a police investigation into Mandelson's activities. Rightly so. It seems that, as a senior cabinet minister during an existential financial crisis, Mandelson was feeding market-sensitive and politically-sensitive inside info to a foreign financier and convicted criminal paedophile - as well as offering advice to a major bank on how to pressurise the British PM and Chancellor over financial policy, to further the bank's interests. That comes pretty close to treason in spirit, if not in law... This is seriously unhelpful to Starmer's reputation, too. There's some irony and some hindsight in that. Hindsight as, though Mandelson had acted dubiously before and was known to have been matey with Epstein, Starmer almost certainly knew nothing about the scale of his misconduct and Mandelson was known to be a shrewd political operator - and did seem to handle the tricky Trump mission well as ambassador to the US. Irony in that there now seem to be a few economic green shoots (early days, I know) and Reform/Farage's popularity may have peaked and be sliding a bit.....but his appointment as ambassador certainly looks misguided now, given the warnings Starmer was given by others (inc. Labour politicians). It might be the final nail in his political coffin. Even if he lasts beyond May, this scandal plus likely bad election results might mean that it's Streeting or Rayner who end up benefiting from any green shoots. It could well tip the balance for MPs or party members previously unsure that changing the leader would be a good idea.

Low? Nice one, Finners. David Lowe-Calorie Chickenburger Thanks for getting involved.

I'm speculating, but maybe you needed alcohol after your mother died so as to access emotions (or cope with them) or to be able to perform the role you wanted to perform for your Dad? If so, at that important moment maybe alcohol served a beneficial purpose - even if you've not viewed it as beneficial overall in the longer-term? I might be quite wrong, but maybe you posted those thoughts because you're questioning whether you really want to continue along your current path. It might be an early step towards returning to sobriety - or at least considering it or subconsciously building your motivation? All the very best to you, whatever it means and whatever path you take. (So long as it doesn't take you to the Joke Thread! )

I didn't think you came over as complacent. Your reference to "5 months" just reminded me of my own history: falling off the wagon about 4 times after around 4-6 months abstinent, due to complacency on my part. I just thought I'd mention it, in case it was useful to you or anyone else in avoiding complacency after a few months booze-free. I found it enormously frustrating each time I relapsed, as I always ended up back at square one, boozing excessively, causing myself problems and having to rebuild the motivation to stop again. It literally took me about a decade to understand how complacency undermined me - having positive daydreams about past or imagined boozing, not challenging them mentally, so heading straight back down the slippery slope into abuse. If I'd understood that earlier, I might now be celebrating 20 years of abstinence, not 10. Maybe I'm just a bit slow on the uptake! I gather that some people who drink excessively can revert to a healthy relationship with alcohol, but I suspect it's a small minority. Certainly, over the 25 years that I tried to control my drinking, the only thing that ever worked - and worked repeatedly, relapses notwithstanding - was complete abstinence. Attempts at moderation always failed. It's like my brain only has 2 gears: it can function well without alcohol or can enjoy getting drunk (in the moment -- but with major negative consequences), but cannot function at all for "moderate drinking" - "moderate" inevitably becomes "excessive". Each individual has to work out which thought processes help them stay sober, I think, and each individual is different. I see my non-drinking as an ongoing decision. I could choose to drink again any time I want, but I choose not to do so, because I know that I'd inevitably revert to excessive drinking and I know that the benefits of that (and there are some) are massively outweighed by the negatives. I prefer to see it as an ongoing decision, as I know what a contrary bastard I am. If someone - even me - tells me I can't do something, I'm more likely to want to do it! I don't think about not drinking every day, but if any thought about past boozing or potential future boozing enters my head, I remind myself of the reasons for my ongoing decision and the need for me to avoid complacency. I don't feel proud of my 10 years off. I just feel lucky that I managed to find an approach that seems to work for me and appreciative of life, which I mainly enjoy - certainly a lot more than I enjoyed life while boozing (isolated moments of alcohol-induced exhilaration notwithstanding). I suppose each self-reminder to avoid complacency - including this exchange - also acts as reinforcement of my ongoing decision. All the best to you - and all others here - in finding what works for you in tackling this problem. My life has more fun (despite LCFC!), more relaxation, better relationships, more time to get stuff done and a lot less stress without alcohol. Plus there's the simple fact of being alive - my best mate of 30+ years drank himself to death by 55, despite having everything to live for. Sláinte! (Toasted you with a Guinness 0.0%, there! )

Sorry if this is misplaced advice, as I don't know you and each personality or addiction issue is different, but.....I'd beware complacency a few months into sobriety. I'm not implying you are complacent, just basing that warning on my own personal experience. For a couple of decades, I tried various means of reducing or stopping my alcohol intake. About 4 times in my last 10 years of drinking, I fell off the wagon after 4-6 months of abstinence. I've since read that this is a common phenomenon. I've been sober for 10.5 years and am confident now that the only way I'll ever drink again is if I take a carefully considered decision to do so - and I'm not likely to do that any time soon. Not drinking is now the norm - the "habit", if you like. I'm now no more likely to suddenly start drinking again than I am to start snorting coke, voting Reform or supporting Forest! When I'd only been sober for 4-6 months, my new "habit" of sobriety had yet to be fully established. On those occasions when I fell off the wagon after 4-6 months, it was the lack of a new norm, plus complacency that did for me. Like you, I was finding it perfectly easy not to drink. I was feeling the physical and mental benefits of sobriety - and was having no urges to drink. Where I went wrong was that I'd have brief daydreams about the fun-packed good old days of drinking, particularly at times when life was boring or frustrating (as life inevitably is, at times) - and wouldn't challenge those thoughts. Once I'd failed to challenge such dreamy thinking, it was a rapid slippery slope and I'd be back to drinking regularly within a couple of weeks, at most. It's a tricky one, because the truth is that I did have a lot of fun boozing, in all sorts of ways....it's just that the positives clearly came to be outweighed by the negatives. When you've just given up, the negatives are at the front of your mind. After a few months off, you may be feeling good or bored, but the bad memories are almost forgotten. Now, if I start remembering good times drinking (infrequent) or wondering if I'll drink again some day, I always make sure to remind myself of the negatives and how they outweighed the positives....like reinforcement to avoid the slippery slope of mental complacency. Finding other sources of satisfaction or pleasure is also important, I find, meaning you're aware of the benefits of sobriety. Good luck to you and everyone else trying to tackle this tricky psychological addiction.

Something I didn't know until this morning......... Do you know what was No. 1 in the charts on 30th July 1966, when England won the World Cup after extra time? Great song, too (even if the singer comes across like a cross between Harry Redknapp and Steve Cooper)....