gingerjon

A quick, casual read - which is how most people consume most media and always has been - would make you connect "we want players" and "next home match".

Exactly. Nobody is going to a cold caller, "Yeah, just let me get my bank details out for you ..."

90% of people will think it’s a scam.

A bit of whimsy. Their 2021 Champions League title has qualified Chelsea for the Club World Cup twice.

That’s worrying from an RFL oversight point of view

He would have lost because his case was too good.

It says a lot that I’m going to need to go back and check. Inter Miami v Porto PSG v Atletico Bayern v Auckland They’re the ones I’d count if I was keeping a log as I saw a decent amount of them. Snippets of other games and I watched the highlights of Boca v Benfica because it looked a decent game.

Yes. Having no money is why an agency to address that was brought in on a long term contract. One agreed by the clubs. But that is the past. What is being done now? Beyond working hard to ensure Nigel gets to be called Chair?

The bits I’ve seen have been fine but, broadly, unenngaging - aside from certain passages of play and moments. It feels a bit like county RL matches. Perfectly fine but it’s not the “must win” for anyone involved. That may change but it’s nowhere near there yet.

I’ve watched chunks of it and it really doesn’t have the intensity of week in week out league play. The heat and empty stadiums aren’t helping that. But they are good players so obviously you’re going to get occasional good games. The US is a really poor host. That seems to be backed up by reports from people in the grounds. There is no guarantee of any of the things people seem to think are guaranteed. Beyond the fact that it will obviously happen again. And all the interest, every time, is of the “you wouldn’t know her, she goes to a different school” kind.

I was in the very lovely Ship Inn, Mortlake, when he was having drinks with some colleagues when he was leaving the BBC. Annoyingly, he came across as a really nice bloke. Hate it when that happens.

In the past now. Meanwhile, in the present, stagnation and silence.

There has been no change, as far as I can see, in terms of how Salford are being treated nor, again, as far as can be seen, any steps taken to ensure the situation can't happen again. Judge the current rulers of the RFL by their current rule not by flinging around Elstone's salary and ... well, it's good that they've got a willing water carrier in the RL press, isn't it?

“What time’s kick off?” ”When can you get here?”

I understand tractor production is at an all time high.

Quite a long WhatsApp but we got there in the end.

Oh, is it turning out not to be fixable with bluster and backroom shenanigans ? That is a surprise.

I noticed at one point that we were having a box on screen to keep showing the live feed whilst also covering a replay or cut away. It shows my inability to pay attention these days that I'm not sure if that's still being done but I thought it worked well.

Love the drivers on there saying it's POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD. As opposed to, more likely, enough wild eyed morons behind the wheel getting livid. (The number of times drivers try and force lollipop men and women off the road is quite startling.)

German goalie will be a bit gutted.

It's definitely the action of someone who knows that they were in the right to spend a huge chunk of cash and then withdraw the day before. The defence of him, to the extent of deliberately muddying what was done and why he was guilty, by the RL media is one of several reasons to regard them all as a circle jerk club and nothing more.

The two sets of fans are having fun. Also the DAZN mics have been so hilariously reconfigured that so am I.

If you can find the film "Roll Tide/War Eagle" then that's not a bad place to start.

And yet, tell an American that European club soccer culture is close US college football culture and they will get it.

It’s a full day hire though, isn’t it?