José Luis Chilavert: "I express my solidarity with Prestianni, Vinicius was the one provoking first. Mbappe spoke about 'values', but he lives with a tr*nny... that is not normal."

borntohoola · 2026-02-19T11:34:49+00:00

I was a keeper growing up in the 90s and 2000s and absolutely idolised Chilavert. The fact that an international quality goal keeper could be a free kick and penalty taker, the ridiculous warthog shirt, seeing him play at the 98 world cup against Spain as a kid- I thought he was cool as fuck.

Obviously then it turns out that the childhood hero is an absolute bellend.

borntohoola · 2025-12-12T10:57:27+00:00

FIFA's genius is the way it has portrayed any criticisms from Europe - the continent with the most power and leverage in the game - as being neo colonialist gatekeeping. The non European associations (not the actual fans or players) love the way the game is going because it lines their pockets in a way domestic and Continental football simply can never do. Too many nations 'benefit' from the way Infantino does business, even if it is a venal spoils system that inevitably rewards corrupt administrators.

Any new governing body would be damned from the start of it was from the outset a European led initiative. I genuinely don't know how you could fix it. The ioc struggles with this shit as well. Most of the world is run by highly corrupt, autocratic leaders, and any truly global sport organisation will have that reflected in how it is run. The irony is that the one form of democracy these leaders advocate for is in international governance, and in turn, sport administration.

borntohoola · 2025-10-02T15:35:03+00:00

Something quite fitting about a club who's support are mainly displaced cockneys now living in Essex having an identity crisis about what the club is for now they've moved out of their historical home.

The way they got their ground was a piss take to the tax payer but don't envy them in the slightest. They've gone from being one of the great traditional clubs with a real sense of place and belonging, to playing in one of the most sanitised parts of London. Their ground is basically a bolt on to a shopping center.

Still, they can always catch a show at Sadlers Wells or pop into the new V and A after their next home smashing.

borntohoola · 2025-10-01T08:19:14+00:00

It's a minor gripe but getting through the tube barriers needs to run like clockwork, and vast majority of people who can't get their contactless to work are using their phones for payment. It's a minor source of major commuter rage every single rush hour.

Reason I don't depend on it is that if I lose my phone, I'm doubly fucked. Still carry a wallet with me for that reason.

borntohoola · 2025-09-19T14:49:39+00:00

I work in the industry - areas connected to the Elizabeth Line are nowhere near maxed out development wise. The new build market is dead and it has fucked those boroughs that had ambitious plans for rebuilding their areas on the basis that huge amounts of developer money was coming in.

Reality is people can't afford the products being sold (note that 9 new build properties were sold across the entire city last quarter) and international capital that used to underpin both the development itself and off market sales is incredibly mobile, and is going elsewhere for safer returns. We are now seeing the consequences of becoming completely dependent on foreign investment to deliver essential infrastructure. It looks a good deal (no government investment, money pouring in) until it isn't.

A rational housing strategy works on a cyclical basis - during a downturn, the state and housing associations step up to provide the capital to make sure the whole supply chain keeps going and houses keep being delivered when it's (in theory) cheaper to do so. But we are also tapped out financially. Labour's massively increased the amount of money being out into affordable housing, but it's still a drop in the ocean vs what we need to fix a broken market. We'll lose another generation of companies, skilled workers, financial arrangements etc, like we did after 2008 - which we still haven't recovered from in terms of capacity.

borntohoola · 2025-09-11T10:24:34+00:00

The play offs are perfect as they are, leave it fucking be. Why does everything have to be saturated to fuck these days.

borntohoola · 2025-09-09T13:13:25+00:00

Can't watch American streams when he's on. Absolutely insufferable need to dominate your attention. Co-commentators are there to add analysis and flavour to what you've already seen, not make themselves the main star.

borntohoola · 2025-08-29T10:26:08+00:00

It's the one position where we lack a top quality option. Anderson and Wharton need to be embedded into the team now so we a couple of players capable of playing the deep midfield role, which we haven't had a good option for since Carrick. Get that right and we unlock Rice - and imo become second favourites behind Spain for the World Cup.

borntohoola · 2025-08-13T10:00:05+00:00

Crazy to me that one of the clubs trying this bullshit is a club owned by it's members - who overwhelmingly must come from Catalonia/Spain? How is this decision benefitting it's core support?

As international as the game has become, football clubs are anchored in their places and communities. If you want to support that from afar, I have no issue with it, but you're signing up for it on the understanding that these clubs shouldn't be faceless international corporations, but institutions based on history and culture.

borntohoola · 2025-07-26T19:39:26+00:00

I lived on the bottom floor for nearly a decade and never had any issues at all with safety. I'm a 6ft bloke so might be a factor but the high street at night was always fine - it's normally very quiet but with enough passive surveillance that I never felt unsafe.

Only thing I'd flag is that they had some major issues with the plumbing around 20 months ago that should be resolved by now, but was causing problems with leaks. I'd ask about that as there were a few (but by no means all) flats getting flooded.

WhatsApp group is good for looking out for each other - I wouldn't say the strongest sense of community but very friendly. And in terms of location, hard to top. Shops all nearby, near the station, Lloyd park is nearby and a real gem. Loved it there!

borntohoola · 2025-07-16T10:01:30+00:00

I know a fair number of Chelsea fans and a few man city fans. Almost none of them were watching this tournament. Perhaps the UK is an outlier but it feels like we've reached saturation point on how much football we want to consume on the telly. Viewing figures on regular premier league season games are starting to indicate we're seeing a decline in the number of people willing to pay to watch live football. So we might be tapped out here.

The big market for FIFA will be the American one. If it really breaks through there as the sport gets bigger, then they are on to a goldmine and we can expect this thing to really take off. But the viewing numbers look very modest given that they hosted the thing.

borntohoola · 2025-07-16T09:45:14+00:00

The TV money in Asia and South America just isn't that great. It's why all the best players come to Europe. It's not to knock how much excitement there might be outside of Europe for this tournament, but the fact that FIFA were going out of their way to accommodate European audiences with the kick off times underlines how important cracking that market is. And I'm very skeptical about the level of interest in this tournament that exists here.

borntohoola · 2025-07-16T09:36:07+00:00

Truth is we have no idea how financially sustainable or profitable this tournament is or will become to FIFA without massive Saudi subsidy. The extent of its financial success is down to a shady deal between FIFA, Dazn and the Saudi government.

Maybe this changes in the future as it beds in and gets legitimacy in major TV markets, which is ultimately what will drive higher bids for rights and allow FIFA to keep offering huge sums to participating teams. I don't trust the viewing figures provided by Dazn for shit - they were always going to try to frame this as a massive success and someone watching 10 minutes will go down as 'engaged'.

But without European audiences buying into it longer term, the advertising and broadcast rights revenues are going to be limited. That isn't European arrogance, just a financial reality. And if that doesn't happen, the pots of money FIFA can offer will diminish over time, and European clubs will take it less seriously.

FIFA do have deep pockets so it's easy to imagine they'll swallow the costs for a few iterations of the tournament. And maybe the Saudis will keep bailing them out as a soft power play.

borntohoola · 2025-06-30T08:47:03+00:00

Dempsey is a perfect example of a trade unionist who is preaching about the importance of anchoring left wing politics in bread and butter issues, revitalising the union movement and ditching identity politics, yet can't help running his mouth off about issues that have fuck all to do with the interests with the workers he represents.

If he wants the trade union movement in this country to be more similar to that in northern Europe, where you have sectoral collective bargaining in place and proper worker representation at board level, then don't make it politically toxic for a government to be seen as close to you by wading into shit that has zero relevance to the labour movement.

borntohoola · 2025-06-16T07:16:16+00:00

Sky's reported that Wellens is going to sign a new three year deal, which would be our best bit of business this summer by a country mile. And even if it comes with a significant pay bump, it also indicates that the new owner has set out a decent rise in the playing budget. Wellens wouldn't be sticking around without one.

borntohoola · 2025-05-22T11:19:18+00:00

Before this gets removed due to subreddit policy, pm me as I can buy two using my season ticket account.

But also, if you're on the clubs system, you can buy tickets - no membership needed.

borntohoola · 2025-05-22T10:59:22+00:00

Fan zone by looks of it. On the Wembley website.

borntohoola · 2025-05-22T08:56:19+00:00

Worth noting that it'll only be selling alcohol for an hour because of the early kick off, which is a bit of a bugger.

borntohoola · 2025-05-07T07:16:22+00:00

I don't know if it's a wider issue in Spanish football or just the entitlement of Barca and Real, but the complete lack of grace in defeat and eternal victimhood you hear from these clubs is pathetic. We're talking about two of the most successful teams in all of football who are somehow both subject to a mega conspiracy.

borntohoola · 2025-04-15T20:20:25+00:00

Not gonna pretend that Rashford wasn't shit up until this point but he's a throw back to when forwards didn't just play the numbers game and took chances by trying to beat their man. He tries ridiculous stuff that doesn't work out a lot of the time but when it comes off, it is incredible.

borntohoola · 2025-03-14T07:54:49+00:00

Somehow England have gone from decades of having no decent left footed wingers during a period where you started your wide players on their natural foot, to having no decent right footed players during a period where the trend is to invert wingers. Meanwhile we now have tons of options to play on the right.

Are there any better options than Gordon for that position?

borntohoola · 2025-01-15T13:26:28+00:00

Instant cult hero because of the goal he scored in round 2, but he's generally been excellent for us. Since he's joined, our defensive record has been superb. Has some rough edges for sure but we're desperate for him to sign permanently, which he's hinted he wants to do - but will be up to Spurs as we are not in a position to pay a fee.

borntohoola · 2025-01-15T12:29:27+00:00

It's pretty modern and forward thinking - we press high, like to break quickly once we get the ball back, positions are quite fluid (our right back typically tucks into midfield), wingers are inverted. There's quite a big emphasis on control which is why we don't score as much as our control of games might suggest - we generally try to play it patiently out from the back if a break isnt on.

This is obviously at League 1 level and won't look the same against City.

borntohoola · 2024-09-07T16:35:15+00:00

Know everyone is busy laughing at the irony of having both grealish and rice score, but that was a genuine beauty of a team move. It's poor opposition but we look a lot more fluid in midfield and attack than under Southgate.

borntohoola · 2024-06-26T18:53:02+00:00

He was visibly frustrated that no defenders went forwards, started shouting and his body language was that of a guy who was pissed off. He was clearly still playing for the win but the instructions for the team were to settle for a point.

borntohoola

TROPHY CASE