charlierc

Glastonbury Friday in the Netherlands and Glastonbury Sunday in Czechia. I count both of those against the possibility of him turning up at Glastonbury this time.

I mean, that poster design follows the aggressive branding strategy of Popworld to a tee. Even if I last went to one in 2019. Though I doubt it'll be the one and only chance to see Chesney Hawkes this year ... sorry.

Not been before - believe first time it was held in that location was last year after doing some initial research.

I mean, it's quite the left-field pick. Saying that Gracia managed a whole season at Watford without being fired. Bit of a novelty that. Can't exactly hold his difficult time at Valencia against him as Peter Lim has made that club a walking disaster.

Quite something to think that Frank Turner is playing this little festival round the corner from my home village

Looked like a lucky one to escape. Tbf I was semi-hoping for a key Man United player to be ruled out through suspension but that didn't work. Maybe burnout from going hell for leather against Barcelona on Thursday is also our best hope.

Hmmmm... I know Lance Stroll isn't a popular figure in F1 circles but this feels like a definite bad start to the year, particularly as there's a risk he might also miss the season opener in 2 weeks time. We saw Ricciardo on the backfoot last season after missing testing and it took Vettel a little bit of time to get going after his covid diagnosis meant he missed the first two rounds of last season.

It's an odd situation to be in. We're entering the cup final in ropey form, and now have a pretty unique goalkeeping absence situation, so it's less than ideal. But saying that, cup finals can be strange things, so maybe there'll be odder twists to follow. Well I can hope so at least, anyway.

I mean, I was talking about Chelsea losing to Southampton, but as far as Leeds go, they are in trouble. They don't seem any closer to replacing Marsch and seem lost until they do.

Never say never. I knew it was going to be difficult - Manchester United maybe arriving at Wembley for that tie a few days after a big Europa League tie with Barcelona, but Rashford has been in brilliant form since the World Cup and they look to have ironed some of their shit out. The draw with Leeds indicates not all of the kinks out of their system, mind, but that's not quite the same as the rabble getting demolished by Brentford in August. Dubravka's loan was poorly thought out, sure, and in retrospect, so was Darlow's to Hull, leaving us either with Karius - who last played a competitive game for Union Berlin during a loan spell in 2020 - or Mark Gillespie, who I forgot we still had and also hasn't played a competitive game since 2020. Bruno's return is a bonus, as was a hint from Howe that Willock should also be available, given that's 2 of the first choice 3. But I'm aware something hasn't quite clicked since the FA Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, which exposed a real lack of depth in the first team bubble. Too soon to hope for a similar rush of blood to the head by a Manchester United first team player against Leicester tomorrow?

I'm aware that they are - we're still a work in progress, and the miserable display in defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup demonstrated our back-up is a hard step below, even before the decision to sell Jonjo Shelvey to Forest and not bring in a replacement. Even then, doesn't always, and before the Merseyside Derby, there was no guarantee Liverpool were about to suddenly reboot back into, if not quite the machine they were even last season, at the very least closer to it. I wouldn't be 100% happy with the defence if I was a Liverpool fan, especially as Real Madrid in the Champions League is looming, but they seized the day here.

I mean, this feels unsustainable. Chelsea have spent most of 2023 so far just looking kinda clueless, not helped by a confused hyperactive transfer policy or the fact they seem to change formations every game. Losing to the bottom club under caretaker charge is certainly not going to help your job security.

While that might well be the case for their fame level as it was in 2020, my suspicion was that they've had a pop up in their levels and acclaim for their shows earlier this year will have helped. So I thought this was possible.

I think it's one of those things that timing can be a thing in football. Liverpool were awful for most of January but we came across them when they had a fillip after winning the Merseyside Derby on Monday, and with Willock and Bruno unavailable, our midfield was missing two of the regulars. The frustration is that Liverpool's defence was really pliable when we gave it a go. Even with ten men, we could've had a goal or two with Alisson making a few stops. But given the tone set by the nightmare that was the opening 20 minutes, sod's law that nothing just wanted to go in.

True - pretty sure Kaiser Chiefs have done those kind of gigs as well.

Interesting I thought it was likely to do this.

Well I can feel annoyed for Pope given it really puts us on the back foot. Even if Bruno Guimaraes being back after his 3 game ban is a boost given our midfield has clearly missed him.

What a bizarre situation we're in. Pope is suspended, Dubravka can't play due to playing in the Carabao for Manchester United in a loan move that frankly didn't work for anyone, Darlow got loaned to Hull (and is apparently yet to play for them) and so we're stuck with Karius, who is actually yet to play a game for Newcastle since signing a short-term deal in October. This game felt like a missed opportunity as well given Liverpool's defence was surprisingly pliable even after we went down to ten, and we could have scored, but when the first 30 was that much of a disaster, little wonder the rest of it wasn't an improvement. Obviously we're not gonna win every game - 17 games unbeaten is a great streak - but something's not looked right since the turn of the year.

I listened to recordings of those that they put up as de facto Bugle episodes last autumn and it sounded in line with what I was expecting tbf. Still made me laugh, mind.

I feel like Editors' popularity in Belgium has peaked given their spot at Werchter appears to be headlining The Barn against Chili Peppers. Saying that they've headlined Werchter outright before, both of which appear to be slots they're not exactly in the running for in the equivalents here. Was less aware of Shikari in Russia.

Tbf Real Madrid and Barcelona use a socios model where club members elect the board, and it usually takes a miracle for La Liga to won by somebody other than those two. To say nothing of their boardroom level partnership against the rest of the league to keep having things their way or force through the ESL.

I would never have guessed that of my own accord. Just had a look and tonight is their third of three dates at a 15k indoor arena over there... alright I stand corrected.

It's that vicious/virtuous circle where more money creates more money and then creates even more money, leading to the rest needing more money to keep up. I'm more surprised that Qatar, deep-pocketed as it is, has the cash to bid for another big sporting superclub jewel to go with PSG (assuming they're not planning to dump that project). Same in a way with the guy from Ineos given the cash they're throwing at America's Cup sailing, being a stakeholder in Mercedes F1 and Nice, although locals in France aren't glowing of their ownership of the latter.

I even left out Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Kylie, Queen w/ Adam Lambert and Rihanna as I didn't know they'd also done it. Whether the budget was smaller for 2022 and meant they had to deploy Westlife is another matter.

Singapore have done it for a while as well - they've had The Killers, Liam Gallagher, Muse, the Chili Peppers, Gwen Stefani, Green Day and Hans Zimmer for GP-attached gigs. Silverstone I think is a more recent adopter.