Simon Doyle

Hang in there, that struggle bus comes to a stop at some stage. Sending you best wishes.

Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.

Troy Parrott on becoming Republic of Ireland’s hero and Mourinho’s impact After instilling belief in pursuit of World Cup 2026 qualification, Parrott tells Miguel Delaney about his newfound stardom, how he transformed his game and aspirations for the future

Exclusive interview with Troy Parrott

"It's something I'll always have - that’s not going to be my career. I’m not going to be that fella that scored five goals one time in 2025. I want to have more big moments like that, hopefully starting in March"

www.independent.co.uk/sport/footba...

True, but he still had more time to get used to it and get his message across without the spectre of relegation. It took Iarola 10 games to get his first win. Tudor has experience in short term fixes and keeping a team up which is great and maybe better than PL experience, just think it would help.

No, because he started off with a pre season and wasn’t coming into a side fighting relegation. All the examples of Klopp etc. are the same. Tudor is coming into a different situation entirely. He has experience of that though which is great though. Not a big deal, just a concern.

Absolute spot on summary, not arrogant or disparaging, telling the truth about what it’s like to manage the club.

I said it yesterday that it was a concern but because it’s just for 12 games and the position we’re in, there’s no time to bed in like there would be coming in at pre season. Might be a good thing though, here’s hoping.

True, and I know options were limited but I think a relegation battle is a different story to taking over in mid table, he’s got a lot of work to do in a very short space of time and some knowledge or experience of the PL would help I think.

Certainly is and let’s hope they do because the alternative isn’t just a mid table finish.

The lack of PL experience is a concern for me, especially the position we’re in. Best of luck to him and hope it works out obviously but really no idea how this is going to go.

Saw it on TV last night and couldn’t believe it wasn’t a red. He got a yellow and according to the commentary team, who referred to it as “a bit cheeky”, VAR had a quick look and were fine with it. It just got pretty much dismissed.

#NoToDeZerbi

Glad you posted that, thought I was seeing things earlier, looks more deliberate than Xavi’s one. Commentators on TNT called it cheeky, definite red.

I think we need a DoF who aligns with the clubs ethos of playing attractive attacking football and let them appoint a head coach/manager based on that, recruitment of players should follow a similar pattern and not just bought for a particular coach. Establish that and go from there.

Completely agree, I’d put up with poor results if I could see there was something there, something to build on and some bit of hope. I don’t understand how he didn’t get that or maybe he just couldn’t do it.

With the way the club is being run I feel the need for some reassurance that those bookies odds are just them, as usual, trying to fleece some money out of people.

I’m never a fan of sacking managers mid season as it generally means we’ve failed, but he had to go. I’ve thought for a while that he completely underestimated the size of the club, the tradition and the expectancy of the fans, he never really got us or seemingly tried to.

‘Absolute hell’: Irishman with valid US work permit held by Ice since September Seamus Culleton has been in a detention facility in Texas for nearly five months despite having no criminal record

This is absolutely insane. The sort of Kafka-esque nightmare you would find in a Philip K Dick book set far in the dystopian future. A window on America tumbling into autocracy.

www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

I was coaching a schoolboys team in our local football (soccer) club and we had a kid from Seattle for a couple of years, his parents were absolutely sound, lovely people as was their son, CJ, big Seahawks fans so I picked the Seahawks. Hope they’re celebrating somewhere tonight.

I’m absolutely thrilled with that, never thought I’d be this happy with a Super Bowl win, brilliant defence from Seahawks and well deserved win.
GO SEAHAWKS !!!!

THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS ARE YOUR SUPER BOWL LX CHAMPIONS 🏆

I don’t think that Spurs will go down
but the thing with relegation battles is that the more you get dragged into it the harder the supposedly “handy” games become due to the tension and must win nature of the games, can’t afford to slide much further.

a meme — the top says “My dog just got a haircut and now he looks like he gave up drinking and got his life together” and underneath are 2 photos of a dog (a schnauzer i think?). on the left, the “before,” he’s scruffy and in need of a haircut and a bath. and on the right, the “after,” he’s clean and clipped and wearing a jaunty red bow tie and looking very dapper indeed.

i don’t know if it’s the jaunty bow tie or what but i cannot stop laughing at this

Yes, agree with that. I don’t think there was anything malicious in it, just thought under the circumstances it was a needlessly tough challenge. I hope I’m wrong but I fear for Deki, he’s out an awful long time.

Thought it was an overly aggressive challenge at the time, considering the position on the pitch and the fact that both teams had cup finals coming up. I know players can’t hold back but no need for him to go in as hard as he did.

Can’t be disallowing goals for that.

Didn’t think it was a foul, the only way that you could see there was any contact was when they slowed it right down, it’s a bit of a scramble and Solanke gets a toe to it, there’s always gonna be some kind of contact in those situations. Doubt we’d get a pen if it was other way round.

Loved the effort and spirit showed in that second half, a much underrated quality, especially after such a poor first. Great to see Xavi starting to settle and show his ability, people too quick to judge new players to the league.

I quite enjoy the odd Bundesliga game, it can be a refreshing change from some of the PL games. I’ll probably miss bits of it but hoping to watch most of it.

Hamburg v Bayern coming up, might be worth a watch to have a look at Vuskovic.