paddycanary

I think Jack Wilshere has made himself unavailable due to injury.

Don't remember the exact details Corky but I think he came home for the semi-final (78?) without saying anything to Man United and got a bit bashed up. For the final, Tony Hanahoe & Jimmy Keaveney travelled over to Manchester to explain to Man U boss Dave Sexton the magnitude of his importance back in Dublin. Sexton had never even heard of Gaelic Football and was apparently flabbergasted that an amateur game would attract 80,000+ supporters. Of course Kevin Moran returned to Manchester after losing the final with a load of stitches in his head all bandaged up again & that was the end of his Dublin career!

Are you old enough to remember Kevin Moran CS? The bandaged warrior? Moved from Gaelic Football to Man United late 70s/early 80s. What you're describing there was pretty much his trademark. I think he got MOTM when Ireland beat England in Stuttgart in Euro 88, up against Lineker, Beardsley, Hoddle etc. Watched a documentary about him the other night.

I was way off! My glass does tend to be half-full though.

I have indeed. Pretty grim I grant you, but not in the same league as Coventry. I quite like Birmingham though.

Coventry is a complete shítehole.

Their issues need some serious vixen

That must be how he hurt his back

Are you suggesting you don't pronounce your 'aitches Mr Huh-Huh-Hairy sir?

Super post Barham. A microcosm of the the club's fortunes over the last 5 years. The last paragraph made me a bit sad, like the last two seasons. We've been so lucky/privileged to have gotten his best years out of him & he'll be extremely difficult to effectively replace. Kiitos Teemu!

Indeed. Kieran Scott's departure coinciding with Brexit-related transfer restrictions have seen the club slump right back to where we were. Has Webber lost his touch or is it simply a case of playing financial snooker with a rope at Prem level? An intriguing summer is in store, no doubt. Many thanks for the post Hank. Where do you get the time!?

Great goals though!

I'm of a late eighties supporting vintage so the likes of Peters, Keelan, Gavin, Forbes & Stringer (as a player) are beyond my ken. So I'll go for, in no particular order: B. Gunn, Crook, Wes, Grant Holt, Huckerby, Tettey I'd like to squeeze Jeremy Goss in there too somehow for those magic memories - supporters of all clubs from that era remember his goals. Can we have 7 banners please?

Exactly my thoughts! Still miss the great Alexander Tettey.

inveigle - Nice! Not a word one encounters too often!

Not sure I'm much help in a political discussion sadly but thanks for thinking of me. I certainly don't think anyone in Britain seeking political instruction/guidance should be looking westwards. I would suggest a gaze across the North Sea or in a south-easterly direction over the English Channel might garner more fruitful information on how best to manage national resources. In Ireland, one solitary department (the Department of Finance) is responsible for over 90% of all government/national expenditure, with virtually no financial autonomy for local authorities/councils. One could argue that makes us a "centrally-controlled" or "authoritarian" state! Our government departments keep a very close eye on how Denmark juggle revenue & expenditure. We have a similar population with one major city (sorry Corkio - more than double the Rebel!) driving the national economy which has been traditionally backboned by agriculture. In more recent times, we've been suckling at the teat of the pharmaceutical industry along with bending over backwards to entice American tech/software/data hubs to have their European bases here (see Intel, Digital, Dell, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Linked-In...). They all funnel their European income through here & the Netherlands to avoid paying their taxes. Angela Merkel repeatedly tried to rein this practice in. Dublin has also quietly become a significant financial hub, relative to its population. China was being strongly courted in recent times to open up new trade links but that seems to have gone cold - perhaps Uncle Sam has whispered to our leaders that caution should be exercised in this brave new electronic world seeing as so many of their blue-chip Silicon Valley companies have invested so heavily here? So again, I'm not sure there's much to be learned from a British viewpoint although I'm certainly no expert. No system is flawless and the UK has a unique history and standing internationally. But looking at volume of population and its dispersal along with the historical reliance on industry & manufacturing, perhaps a few things could be learned from...dare I say it...the Germans!

Wise words O Cap'n my Cap'n. I have first hand experience of such foolhardy behaviour. Numerous joints continue to undergo a process of gradual deterioration due to one isolated incident of stupidity on my part. One simple piece of hard-learned advice to impart: get it examined/get an x-ray.

They should use some of the cash from the bulldozers to pay the shipping fee.

He played the ball. There was contact, but he had every right to go down.

Ah now, we need to take a breath and count to ten before we pull out the big guns. A misdeed of Stalinesque proportions would be necessary before we invoke 'Old Green.'

Indeed, it is pleasing to see Leeds struggling. Alongside each poor Liverpool result. And also Chelsea going back into the pack. Just a shame to see Man U finding their feet again, but I suppose we can't have it all.

In my day, a strongly-worded letter would have dealt with this grave matter. How the wheel of life turns.

Which Goss do you prefer?

Don't you mean "Americanization?

What do you mean by that Jedi?