Alf Bentley

So, I'm still the defender-biting, red card attracting bad boys of South American football... Let's face it, neither Uruguay nor Uzbekistan is going to win the World Cup, but the former has slightly more chance of giving the punter a run for his money. Sorry, @Brizzle Fox, I didn't bribe Stan, honest!

@StanSP You have me down as Uruguay.......and, er, @Brizzle Fox down as Uruguay.... And there we were thinking the biggest WC scandal would be generated by Infantino or Trump.... It looks like nobody is assigned to Uzbekistan. Over to VAR....

Thumbs up for The Fall, Kirsty McColl and The Hitchers, among others. Some shameful omissions.....

Winner - Spain Runner-up - Argentina 3rd and 4th place - England & USA Most Team Goals - Belgium Top Goalscorer - Haaland Most red cards - South Africa Most Goals Conceded - Iraq

1. StanSP 2. Jiggers the Fox 3. Alf Bentley 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48.

I read somewhere that he had work duties as manager of a German lower league team. Wikipedia has this..... "Okazaki co-founded the German football club Basara Mainz in the 2014–15 season when he was a player of Mainz 05. Now he serves as the club adviser. The club is run by the other co-founder, Takashi Yamashita, former player of Mainz's reserve team. Basara Mainz started in tier 11 of the German league. It was promoted to tier 6, Verbandliga Südwest, in 2019".

That All-Star XI is truly bizarre. I'm still trying to work out how much trolling has been involved in the selection process. I strongly approve of a few selections: - Pulis as manager is a fine bit of trolling, though they should've gone the whole hog and recruited Warnock - Deeney is a masterstroke of a selection given his profile and, er, historical association with LCFC - McAuley isn't a bad shout, but why not recruit a few more pre-PL LCFC veterans.....Howard, Lloyd Dyer, Wellens, Hume, Dickov, Logan...? - I suppose Shane Long scored against us a few times - Dwight Gayle is a great shout, as he's inherently annoying, so good booing opportunities. But couldn't they have got El-Hadj Diouf, too? What other criteria have been applied to selection? - Looks as if you're straight in if you name is Wes (tribute to Capt. Morgan?) - An association with Pulis or being the sort of player Pulis would appreciate definitely seems to be a criterion....

Fair points. I get the impression that nationalisation isn't necessarily viewed as a permanent solution, anyway. Apparently, they have interested buyers and might just be nationalising to avoid it being mothballed (hard to reopen) - so could potentially resell it, if a viable buyer with a secure future plan does come forward - doubtless still with govt support, perhaps with commitments like those you suggest?

Last polls I saw suggested nationalising British Steel and closer relations with Europe were policies with majority public approval. I agree they will not shift the dial and suddenly win Starmer or his govt majority approval. As I've said, I think Starmer has missed his chance on an individual level. But, as I said, the sort of things that WOULD shift the dial - eliminating cost of living issues, improving living standards, improving public services, cutting tax, greater secure employment - cannot be achieved QUICKLY by any government of any persuasion, even without external factors like the Iran War or structural factors like decades of stagnant growth and an aging population. Labour would claim to be making progress in some of those areas (but not others) but it's not enough - and they'll doubtless be turfed out of office if that remains the case in 3 years. Of course, immigration is the other big issue with the public. Stats actually show a significant reduction in immigration - but people who focus on immigration will never believe such stats and will never be happy about immigration even if stats suggest that it has fallen to zero (in which case we could end up with major labour shortages in some sectors).

I haven't a clue what you mean by this post, so will leave it there unless you choose to explain.

Nationalising British Steel is a real action. A much clearer commitment to a closer economic, diplomatic and defence relationship with the EU is a real policy, though it will need to be backed by specific actions. I'd agree that's not enough. There's a King's Speech on Wednesday, so that will be a moment of truth. That needs to include some achievable, popular actions. The problem is that a lot of what most of the public want (rapid improvement in cost of living and living standards, rapid improvement in public services, preferably cuts in personal taxation) is almost impossible for any government to achieve quickly, however effective their policies - and Labour have certainly made mistakes, as well as some good calls. I presume that voters will now have the same high expectations of Reform-run councils? I anticipate Reform councils cutting Council Tax yet improving local services, while somehow reducing immigration to local areas despite not having the powers to do so.... There were particularly interesting council results in Bexley and Bromley, both held comfortably by the Tories. Both would've been seen as territory ripe for Reform victory....but both border Kent, which has been run very badly by Reform for the past year....so there may be an anti-Reform backlash in 1-2 years to match the anti-Labour backlash...

I take your point, I think. If you have a completely stuck habit of weekend drinking (even if you're not completely happy about it), then it could be beneficial to find a psychological means of ensuring 2 nights per week doesn't become 4 or 7. Particularly so, if your risk is mainly of drifting into drinking most or all nights, not drinking excessively on particular occasions. The opposite was the case for me: I never wanted to drink every day, but often drank too much on drinking days. I still suspect that an awful lot of drinkers would be like me and would end up getting wrecked at weekends and/or drift into the odd extra night. But maybe it's a strategy that could work for someone who had more self-control than me when they were actually drinking... p.s. The fact your 5-2 win becomes a 6-1 this week maybe suggests your habit isn't as completely stuck as you suggest?

I watched Starmer's speech in full and thought he performed much better than usual. Greater passion/commitment, less bland politicospeak, greater clarity about priorities and actions. But I still think he needs to go as leader. People wanted that passion and clarity and those priorities and actions 2 years ago. After years of strife, voters were desperate to see change - or at least signs of progress. 2 years doesn't seem like a long probation. Starmer's unlucky to be judged so quickly, due to all the bad years that preceded him. But, I'm afraid people have judged him and their view of him is now cast in stone. If some things, at least improved, a new leader would get some credit and win back some votes. Whereas, even if the next 3 years go comparatively well, I don't think voters will give Starmer credit for that. To succeed, he'd need a miraculously good performance - and that ain't going to happen, given all the existing problems, structural factors, global events etc. By hanging on, he could increase the risk of a Farage government - though I still think a hung parliament with a lot of Reform MPs remains the most likely electoral outcome, at this stage.

If the Friday & Saturday drinking isn't a problem, surely you win 7-0, not 5-2? The fact the Fri/Sat drinking is counted as "goals against" makes me think the drinker is still viewing it as problematic in some way.... My personal context is that for about 25 years, I tried numerous methods of limiting my problematic alcohol intake, including 2-3 days off per week, limited number of units per week etc. I was deluding myself. I never drank every day and units per week was a secondary consideration. The problem was that on many occasions when I did drink, I'd drink too much and negatives would ensue. I eventually found that total abstinence was the only way of fully controlling my intake and avoiding negatives. Most problem drinkers find the same, though a minority can limit intake. During one period in my mid-20s, when I had a demanding new job, I became a weekend-only drinker. I'd end up getting wrecked on Friday & Saturday, recovering Sunday, then spending the week looking forward to the next weekend release/binge. Chiles' strategy sounds like a recipe for that sort of life balance....not ideal. I'm not being anti-booze (I had some great times boozing), I just think it's crucial that each individual is honest with himself/herself about the nature of any problem and what will/won't address it: - If someone is genuinely at ease with a life of weekend boozing and weekday sobriety, great....that's a 7-0 win, then - and a luckier person than me, as I couldn't manage it. - Likewise, with any other drinking pattern: if you're genuinely at ease with your life balance drinking in that pattern, it's not really a problem, is it? - But if you're not fully at ease with your drinking - whatever the level. frequency or pattern - you need to honestly identify the problem and do something that addresses it. But trying to convince yourself that things are OK, by announcing 5-2 wins, while trying to avoid 2 nights turning into 3 or 4 or whatever is a self-deluding "white knuckle" strategy that is unlikely to work long-term. In many cases, the person will end up trying to convince themselves that it was OK drinking 10 pints Friday & Saturday and feeling awful for 3+ days, then spending the week impatiently looking forward to the next binge. That's if they don't slip up and "have a couple" on Monday or Wednesday or Thursday, as they were "feeling a bit low/rough" or whatever... Good luck to everyone, though, whatever path you take. That's always the No.1 thing that I learned - every drink problem is different (though some are similar) and every path to improving things is different, too.

It could get interesting if the Wrexham and Hull scores are similar in the later stages of their last match. Particularly if neither is winning and Derby are.... Their records are so close: - Wrexham 70pts, GD +4 (67-63) - Hull City 70pts, GD +3 (68-65) - Derby 69pts, GD +9 (66-57) Say Hull win 2-0.... - If Wrexham win 1-0 or 2-1, they have equal points & GD, but Hull make the playoffs on goals scored - If Wrexham win 3-2, they have equal points, equal GD AND equal goals scored...but Hull make the playoffs based on head-to-head results - If Wrexham win 4-3, they have equal points & GD, but Wrexham make the playoffs on goals scored Yes, I'm a numerical nerd.... Let's just hope Derby don't leapfrog them both. I'd prefer Hull to make it - aside from the obvious negatives of Derby & Wrexham, I have a cousin and an old friend who are Hull fans.