1.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 08:03:41
Brilliant.

2.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 08:33:52
Brilliant read. I’d only say that you can add City fans to that as their owners are cosying up to Assad and Putin as well as having been accused of downloading spyware to UK government computer systems, notwithstanding the human rights abuses.

{Ed001's Note - I could but I would have to find some first....}

3.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 09:52:15
Nice to see young Elliot high on the graph too.

4.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 10:07:16
Ed01 I must say, that’s one of if not THE best article you’ve ever written. Bravo, Monsieur! And if you haven’t seen what Klopp has said about the atrocities against the families, I propose everyone check it out in his Fri presser. The man suffers NO fools regardless of what the haters think of him.

My first WC was in 1986 in Mexico and we all know what happened there. Have only missed one WC since so NOT looking forward to this one either as it is impossible for me to ignore all these terrible things and just “focus on the football”. Sorry, can’t and won’t do that.

We all knew this WC was a farce, bought and paid for by the sheikhs down there in Qatar with a ton of brown paper bags to go around from the jump. I remember back then that the likes of Beckham, Zidane and a certain Pep Guardiola were their spokespeople and got well-paid for it. Maybe they should ask them about all the atrocities committed against those workers and families.

And on that topic, my bro in law is from Nepal and he was telling me that a ton of Nepali people went to work to build these stadiums and went missing or died as well. All in all, this is a shambles of a WC and I’m afraid that it will be the Saudis’ turn to “purchase” the rights to host one in the near future. The precedent has been set, sadly.

{Ed001's Note - thank you.}

5.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 10:32:49
Fair play Oli travelling all over the world to every World Cup since 1986. Some dedication that and must have cost you a fortune.

6.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 11:12:16
For all those stats lovers go to premier league stat page and compare trents stat to reece james. and remember trent has played approx 100 games more. he definitely had few bangers but he's definitely not as bad as he's made out.

7.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 11:13:53
You all are going to need few minutes to find trent there!

8.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 11:38:26
Great article, Ed. If you haven’t seen it, check Gary Neville getting owned by Ian Hislop on HIGNFY. Gary Neville is absolutely awful at trying to be principled.

{Ed001's Note - I saw that, I would expect nothing less of Neville, he is a vile hypocrite.}

9.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 11:54:07
My master plan for this World Cup is to just not watch it.

Essentially meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but I just can't get motivated to be bothered with it.

10.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 12:04:33
Outstanding article tris. One of your best. I intend to have the World Cup on in the background as I work over the next while but I have very little interest in it. I’ve always loved the world and European cups. If not for the average football but for the hype, the drama, the emerging stories of what’s happening in troubled camps. The lunatic lesser team that’s come out of nowhere and are now somehow in the quarter final and no one is sure how to play them. The shocked media outcry when England don’t win it. (Especially on sly) and the moments. The World Cup moments that remind me why football is the greatest sport in the world. My point is it’s usually a spectacle but everything you said has hit home. With a tournament entrenched in such evils, how can I get excited. I haven’t bothered to get a pot going with my friends this year. That about says it all. For me- football is at an all time low. I can’t help but feel there are many things ruining the game. This is just another reminder of how far it has fallen.

{Ed001's Note - normally the World Cup is the one time I do get excited about international football. Normally. From the moment this one was awarded to Qatar though, it has made the tournament less and less appealing the closer it came. It just doesn't feel right.}

11.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 12:06:26
Agreed SR.
Give it a wide berth.

12.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 12:30:46
Watching him complain about how the Super League would take football away from the grass roots and working class fans, whilst collecting a wage from Sky, who have done more than anyone else to gentrify English football in the last 30 years, told me everything I need to know about Gary Neville and principles.

Had the Super League gone ahead and Sky gotten the rights to broadcast it, do you think Nev would've left Sky on principle? I don't think he would have.

I don't really care if public figures don't have principles, or don't universally apply them 100% of the time. Realistically, most people can't do that and still be able function in society. Just don't be a hypocrite about it and pretend you're something that you're not.

13.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 12:38:30
Brillant article Ed001: One of the most hypocritical points Fifa made was about not bringing politics into the game!

What may i ask was the whole BLM movement and taking the knee if it was not political?

I simply can not get behind such a barbaric regime aiming to cleanse its conscience through the most blatant show of sportwashing.

Football should never come before Human life under any circumstances, and atrocities should always be highlighted and the proper action taken, which should have meant both this world cup and the previous one in Russia were both Boycotted by every single country on the planet.

The fans of Man city, PSG, and Newcastle can turn a blind eye to facts as long as they are winning, its a bit more difficult as a Human being to turn away from what your conscience is telling you.

Let us remember this as Liverpool fans the next time we clamor for our next owners to be Saudi based.

{Ed001's Note - thank you kk7!}

14.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 13:07:08
Kk7 the thing that makes me laugh is both City and Newcastle having modern slavery statements on their websites and the doing things like celebrating LGBTQ diversity without any hint of irony.

15.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 14:05:43
Great article Ed 01.

{Ed001's Note - thank you Bill.}

16.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 14:07:12
Edd001 what's your opinion on gary neville? To me he trys to present himself as the morally just chosen one on sky sports. Leans very much into the modern far left stuff which is fine. Everyone has their beliefs but I definitely think he's a lot more calculated than viewers give him credit for. For me it's all about the cheque.

{Ed001's Note - he is very hypocritical, always been about the money and will say whatever it takes to get that money. He is a greedy get.}

17.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 14:15:27
Great article Ed as usual.

{Ed001's Note - thank you very much stone mate.}

18.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 16:31:22
Thank you for this Ed, no one should be allowed to forget what this world cup really cost or the sheer malignancy attaching itself to the game.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome mate. It wasn't the article I had set out to write, but it is impossible to write about a World Cup without mentioning these things imo.}

19.) 06 Nov 2022
06 Nov 2022 23:33:30
So Neville is a politician then, right Ed01?