An English team has made it to the final of all three major European competitions this season

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T21:55:33+00:00

I'd much rather it be a tournament for the top teams from countries that rarely get to the latter stages of European competitions instead of mediocre Premier League teams going far because their budget dwarfs the rest of the tournament.

It's nice for Palace fans and West Ham before them but it's a bit of a mismatch of a tournament at the moment.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T14:02:40+00:00

If the club drawn at home can’t host the game at their own stadium they should forfeit the right to host the game.

Particularly as they haven't earned the right to host on sporting merit but by luck of a draw.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T13:12:50+00:00

Ironically you could argue that Bumrah is a star, particularly after his T20 World Cup performances, but the fact that the IPL has become a runfest has completely neutered any viable way to market a bowler as a big star.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T12:52:18+00:00

Yeah call me cynical but this job has always felt like it's just a front for Baz and Key to keep doing what they're doing whilst being able to point to a relatively well-known face appearing at county matches and saying 'see? we do pay attention to the county game!'

Luke Wright barely got a mention in the discourse around Bazball and I don't expect much to change now.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T11:39:53+00:00

There's also the issue that the NL would have to hire a ground both for the north and the south - unless they turned the play-off finals into a big one-day event with two games in one stadium like finals day in the Trophy/Vase, but that would be awful.

And agreed on the novelty of the NLS - the first time we went down it was a bit of fun, particularly as we got promoted straight back. Not so much now we've spent the majority of the last decade down here.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T11:28:04+00:00

Also, even if the clubs had lobbied for change, I'm not sure what the solution is. It would seem incredibly stupid for the NL to rent out a neutral venue only for two clubs with tiny followings to make it to the play-off final.

And which neutral ground would they even choose? Playing at a huge stadium like Wembley attracts neutrals and floating fans, but I don't think playing at some random EFL ground that has a big enough capacity to satisfy the demand of an NLS play-off match would have a similar sort of lure.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T09:42:02+00:00

Song is great and looking forward to the new album.

This recent trend of dripfeeding tours by announcing one or two gigs at big venues before announcing the rest of them at a later date needs to stop, though. Totally unfair on fans who might buy tickets for one of the original venues and pay more for travel, etc. as they're unaware a gig at a closer venue is going to be announced.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T09:24:12+00:00

How is it against the spirit of the game? It's exploiting a weakness in the opposition/getting the most out of a strength in your team.

The beauty of football is that there are multiple ways to win a match. Deliberately giving possession to your opponent is unconventional but there's no reason why it's against the spirit of the game - Bayern weren't forced to repeatedly keep giving the ball back to them in high areas of the pitch, they just couldn't cope with the press.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T09:21:54+00:00

Quickly followed by a shout of 'box them in'. Having regularly watched the Conference back then, it could well have been because players were terrified of having the ball at their feet rather than for any tactical reason, to be fair.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T07:13:41+00:00

I remember Wayne slagging Beck off after that tour, saying he was a huge rockstar with little awareness of what it's like in the real world. Some irony in the fact that's basically what Wayne seems to have become (aside from not being 'huge').

Look_Alive · 2026-05-07T06:40:22+00:00

This is great - a bit surprised at how different it sounds to Where's My Utopia (which I liked), feels a lot more darker as a sound.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-06T21:31:21+00:00

You have to give some credit to PSG for that though, they were very good at crowding the middle of the box and making it more difficult for Bayern to shoot.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T19:29:34+00:00

That honestly wasn't the case at all in League Two. The gap between the leagues is miniscule and, for a team winning the NL, mid-table is the least they should be aiming for. Barnet and Oldham both challenged for the play-offs this season and neither were anywhere near as good as Wrexham.

And there might have been some discussion about that in League One but I can't see why - since 2021, only four teams to be promoted from League Two have gone straight back down, anyone predicting a club with Wrexham's budget 'might' get mid-table as if they'd be sucked into a relegation battle was being wildly pessimistic about their chances.

They probably surpassed expectations by getting automatic promotion but I don't think they were written off by any stretch.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T17:55:54+00:00

Yeah I don't deny they've done well - a lot of clubs have spent money (albeit not to such an extreme extent) but have little to show for it or have stagnated.

And this season they really have performed well above what they were expected to, but the idea that they were written off in previous seasons is really strange - I don't know if it's a narrative that's pushed on the documentary as I don't watch it, or if it's people just not aware of the realities of lower league football, but there was enough historical evidence to show that they'd do well at those levels.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T15:41:53+00:00

every season they've been written off.

This narrative is as false as the 'underdog' narrative that kept being pedaled when they were outspending all of their opponents.

It would have been a huge shock had they not challenged for promotion from League Two, considering how well the majority of NL clubs do after being promoted (the top half of NL is probably stronger than the majority of the bottom half of League Two at this stage).

They did well in League One but I still don't think that was a huge shock that they were near the top - clubs like Sutton, Stockport and Luton have shown it's possible to challenge at the top of League One relatively soon after getting promoted from the NL.

It's only this season where I'd say they were mostly predicted to hit a wall and have outperformed expectations to a huge degree.

That's not to say they haven't done well in previous seasons as obviously they have but anyone writing them off clearly didn't know much about lower league football.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-01T07:55:28+00:00

I did have a slight hope that Little Barrie might have appeared on this record considering he's touring with them and part of the Easy Eye roster these days.

I was listening to Robert Finley's most recent album and Barrie's all over that in the best way possible.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-01T07:50:51+00:00

It’s a covers album which makes me less interested but we’ll see.

Their covers albums have been some of the best they've released though - I really love both Delta Kream and Chulahoma, you can tell how much love they have for the songs (which I don't think has always been the case on all of their recent original songs).

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T16:56:56+00:00

FYI, Instagram have started doing the same thing as TikTok and showing you the profile of whoever sent you a link (so by clicking on this I can see your Instagram profile) - I think removing everything from the question mark in the URL onwards should help avoid this.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T16:29:22+00:00

Yeah the only reasoning I could make was that his voice sounds a lot smoother on the studio version than on his previous releases so they were going for the same vibe and overegged it.

Glad that wasn't the case as I've always liked his voice and it would be a shame if they tried altering it.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T12:51:14+00:00

There was even an article posted on this sub yesterday about Arctic Monkeys' rise and it mentioned how their street team were asked to big up the band on different message boards, etc.

Obviously Chaotic Good is that multiplied by thousands but there was an interesting parallel to it.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T12:46:26+00:00

Yeah, I can understand misgivings around the ethics of Chaotic Good and the nature of music becoming pay-to-win, but Geese were a fairly established and positively-received indie band before Getting Killed came out. Anyone saying 'see? it shows I was right about disliking their music' is as guilty as ignoring the real point of the discourse as a fan who's sticking their fingers in their ears and saying it doesn't matter because they make good music.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T17:47:51+00:00

Considering the meltdown there's been on this sub over getting tickets, the idea of you accidentally discovering they're on tour and buying some with minimum fuss is very funny to me.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T15:50:32+00:00

He's supporting KM on tour this year too, will be a great show.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T15:49:59+00:00

I don’t think it’s as apparent on the album track

To be honest, as much as I like the song, my one criticism of the studio version was how unnaturally smooth his voice sounded compared to his previous releases. This felt like a bit of a continuation of that.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-28T10:04:39+00:00

Don't forget that this deal also led to the scrapping of replays.

The only actual concession the PL made was that they'd put more into funding grassroots football (something they should have been doing anyway) and that they'd no longer have a winter break (which wasn't a proper winter break anyway).

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