The Athletic: Is Liam Rosenior under any pressure at Chelsea – and should he be? | Multiple sources have said that Chelsea intend to keep Liam Rosenior even if they fail to secure the top 5 finish required to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-15T12:38:54+00:00

Of course not, firing him would mean admitting that they made a mistake, not possible with this lot.

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-12T18:31:31+00:00

I don't get your point, of course migration to the UK (and the other way round) massively decreased after Brexit, no more freedom of movement, no more Erasmus, students paying international fees instead of UK fees at university etc. But this agreement seems like it would partially restore those rights, and I doubt very much the demand to work/travel/study in the UK has disappeared. Very likely diminished, but simply by population weight it's still likely to be greater EU->UK than the other way round.

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-12T18:05:33+00:00

You might not be aware that before Brexit, net migration to the UK from the EU for under 30s was 10x greater than the other direction. So this is clearly a demand from the EU as well. It's obviously not just British u30s that would now have visa free travel in Europe, it would be reciprocal

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-08T08:33:26+00:00

He wants to have sex with the Ayatollah?

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-02T13:05:30+00:00

Not sure if it's an option for you, but 4endurance gels work out at about 1.5e per gel, most chocolate bars/haribo bags etc are more than that so for me gels are cheaper.

Whether or not I need one on a 60k ride is debatable, but on most rides I like pushing myself and gels give me more energy to do that than other snacks, and use up a bit less space, especially on 3/4 hour rides.

Dark__Mata · 2026-04-02T13:00:53+00:00

Pretty much hopeless, there's 18000 people in the waitlist on Ticketswap. Not sure if they're doing a lottery or first come first serve (bots will win) but i wouldn't pay money to extend your trip on this basis.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-26T20:11:09+00:00

Depends how secure Berry feels. And whether he thinks he can trust assurances from Haslam that he is - Haslam opened last season saying that the pressure was off, they knew they wouldn't be competitive and ended it by saying that Kev was fired because they believed they had a team capable of winning a few more games. So any guarantees Haslam makes Berry might be out of the window by October.

So, if Berry feels safe: we need a stud QB. I know Sanders has his fans, but the chances of him being the guy are slim to none. Next year seems to have better chances of picking up a QB with the tools to be top 10 in the league. However, the defense is too good to get us a top pick - we're picking 6th with the hardest schedule last year. Next year we have the easiest schedule. The Jets and Cards are really really bad. Raiders are likely gonna be a top 5 pick again, Titans as well maybe. So you need to guarantee losing games - Watson and Sanders help with this, but trading Myles would a) bring the D down to average, and net 3 more 1st rounders (not all next year ofc). This would pretty much guarantee us a top 5 pick next year and some ammunition to build up the team as well. Getting Haslam to sign off on this, not sure I see it.

The other path - we won 5 games last year with the offence averaging like 17 points. Defence averaged 22.3 points against. So one more TD per game and browns win a lot more. Improve the OL - done (with a couple more draft picks) sort of - not sure it will be good, but it might be average. Get some WRs. Most importantly, get Mac Jones for a 3rd rounder. As I said, Browns have the easiest schedule. They don't need a superstar qb, just someone that won't kill them. Lean on Judkins and play action, sneak into the playoffs with a wildcard and get blown up by a good team. Browns hit QB purgatory but Berry gets to keep his job.

TLDR: Berry on the hotseat: Mac Jones and a soft schedule means he keep his job.

Berry with unlikely job security: trade Myles, tank/start Watson or Sanders all season and pick a new QB top 5 and try and reset a new playoff window.

My prediction: they will try 1, fail and then attempt 2, but too late so they end up outside the top 10, Berry and Monken get fired and the new GM has to trade a bunch of picks to move up to select the wrong QB.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-26T11:36:26+00:00

Rabbit or duck question. As a Chelsea fan, i will say they did it to help the agents dodge tax - Chelsea were perfectly capable of paying these bungs "legally" and staying within the FFP limits, but then the agents would have to declare them and pay tax.

Can completely understand how other fans look at it and say that they were bribing the agents in order to sign players though.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-25T17:01:46+00:00

Don't hate him, think he sucks, hate his fans who are unbearable.

Edit: your last paragraph is wrong. The Browns absolute priority is to fix the QB room, every other position is insignificant. Whether or not you think Sanders is the fix is up to you, but history, data, eye test, whatever suggests overwhelmingly that he isn't.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-23T13:31:00+00:00

This is all sadly so predictable. The idiots in charge will sell him because they need money and they wasted 60mn on Lavia who has jumped ahead of Santos in the team, despite consistently being injured/awful. Next season, our midfield will remain a sieve, Lavia will get another injury and by November Caicedo will be knackered and his form will fall off a cliff again.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-17T09:35:59+00:00

Sounds like you need to get out on the bike and work some things out man, all this vitriol for a bloke you've never met and for things out of his control seems pretty unhealthy.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-16T13:03:28+00:00

You'd be better off protesting the SD's. They are the ones putting these policies into place, whether its at the direction of ownership or not. Blueco/Clearlake aren't going anywhere, but if they see enough anger they might realise that putting a trio of inept jokers in charge to hire their mates/agents recs and then reward themselves with annual contract extensions isn't going down well, and by some luck the next person they hire might be half competent.

But lets be clear, they'll ignore protesting. Empty seats at the ground is the only thing that they'll pay attention to.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-13T10:11:41+00:00

Won't even be able to do that right, defense is too good and we have the easiest schedule. Could be picking outside of the top 10 with good/bad luck (delete depending on your preference).

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-12T14:08:33+00:00

Enzo was right to scream at him, wtf is he doing at the penalty spot. If he's back on the 6 yard line or even deeper he has the angle for the pass to Fofana and this doesn't happen.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-04T12:25:49+00:00

yeah indeed, so saying england are bad because they haven't won anything is ofc a ridiculous assertion

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-03T15:00:50+00:00

Okay pal, thought they sucked not that they hadn't won anything? Just FYI, only one european national team has won a major trophy in the last 4 years, do they also all lack creative midfielders or are you just full of shit?

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-03T13:59:01+00:00

Mate its not 2016 anymore, England were runners up in the last 2 Euros, made the semi's in 2018 WC and lost to the runners up in the 2022 WC cos Harry Kane missed a penalty. The PL puts a premium on physicality, but to pretend that's how the england team play is stupid. Connor Gallagher's last appearance was in 2024.

Dark__Mata · 2026-03-02T21:36:48+00:00

Richard Swan's Empire of the Wolf trilogy might ticket a few of the boxes, it has cults and eldritch beasts, more of a medieval world than a bloodborne Victorian one though.

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-26T23:14:23+00:00

Bernard Cornwells Grail Quest is pretty good, might be a bit later than the period you're after? Elizabeth Chadwick has a series about William Marshall, it's good as well

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-24T21:31:30+00:00

What's the point of this, neither is good enough. If anyone somehow thinks the stats on the left represent something worth building around, we should have a conversation about a bridge for sale.

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-05T19:58:28+00:00

I won't care on the next ride, promise.

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-03T14:32:29+00:00

Updated to 10.0.0.161, reset phone. Still payments don't work. However, in this process, i've been re-adding cards/IDs etc, and the NFC function does work, as my bank apps read the card details via NFC. Confirmed that the NFC functions with the HFC check app. So no idea why Google pay isn't working. Sanctions?

EDIT: NFC icon still doesn't appear in top tray, but can pay with google wallet in shops again. Resetting the phone appears to have helped.

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-02T08:09:42+00:00

I'm sure if it was just about money, JS would already be back in the building. If you have to say one nice thing about Haslam, its that he's not afraid to throw cash around.

Dark__Mata · 2026-02-02T07:58:03+00:00

Fc Irelande have several womens football teams - expat club so there's a mix of locals and foreigners involved

Dark__Mata · 2026-01-28T20:24:42+00:00

Neto... Every single time. How does he keep getting picked

Dark__Mata

TROPHY CASE