The coverage is dreadful. How long are they dragging this out?
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General Football 23/24
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Third round draw in full
Arsenal v Sunderland
Birmingham v Bournemouth
Brentford v Chesterfield/Walsall
Bury v Bradford
Cardiff v Grimsby/Shrewsbury
Carlisle v Yeovil
Chelsea v Leyton Orient/Scunthorpe
Colchester v Charlton
Doncaster v Stoke
Eastleigh v Bolton
Everton v Dag & Red/Whitehawk
Exeter v Liverpool
Huddersfield v Reading
Hull v Brighton
Ipswich v Portsmouth
Leeds v Rotherham
Manchester Utd v Sheffield Utd
Middlesbrough v Burnley
Newport County v Blackburn
Northampton v MK Dons
Norwich v Manchester City
Nottingham Forest v QPR
Oxford Utd v Swansea
Peterborough v Preston
Salford City/Hartlepool v Derby
Southampton v Crystal Palace
Sheffield Wednesday v Fulham
Tottenham v Leicester
Watford v Newcastle
West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City
West Ham v Wolves
Wycombe v Aston Villa
Ties to be played between 8-11 JanuaryThat rug really tied the room together.
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A surprisingly good piece over on F365
Continues over hereProfile of an icon: Paul McGrath
On November 5, 1989, Paul McGrath played 90 minutes for Aston Villa in a 6-2 league win over Everton. The game was unusual for McGrath in that the central defender played with sweatbands on both wrists.
Few of the 17,637 in Villa Park would have noticed McGrath’s sartorial tweak. Nor too Robert Millward of the Birmingham Mail. ‘Aston Villa produced their own box of fireworks to set Villa Park alight with thoughts of another League championship,’ the Birmingham Post reporter wrote.
In fact, those sweatbands were covering up a series of cuts on McGrath’s wrists, caused by a Stanley knife a few days earlier. “I was in trouble with the club,” McGrath says. “I’m drunk and ashamed, on the edge of my bed, and reaching for the knife. I remember the blood pouring across the floor and the screaming of the nanny looking after our boys.”
Football has a significant problem with the treatment of its players. The ability to kick a ball in a pleasing manner is mistaken for a skin thick enough to protect you from depression and addiction. Most supporters don’t care what occurs in a player’s private life, but woe betide them if it impacts on their ability to perform. So goes the repeated mantra of the comments section: ‘They’ve got so much money, how can they be depressed?’ A reminder, as if it should be needed – mental stability cannot be bought. Players are not robots.
McGrath was a superb footballer, but that should not be his lasting legacy. Instead he is an emphatic reminder of the frailty of sportspeople. Mental illness does not pick and choose its victim according to pre-set criteria; it is an indeterminate beast.
There is no greater tribute to McGrath’s excellence than that his battles with addiction never became apparent to supporters of Manchester United, Aston Villa or Ireland. Yet even that compliment is soaked in pathos. His ability to hide his problems only caused them to fester untreated.
McGrath was a supreme defender. His grace and style made him look out of place, a Premier League-style ball-player in the blood and thunder of the First Division. His ability to read the game allowed him to avoid the physicality and aggression many of his peers relied upon. McGrath’s elegance made him extremely popular among his own supporters, but also opposition players and supporters. He was the footballer’s defender, the perfect antidote to the grit and gruel of English football’s 1980s.
Said it before on here, but I don't think I've seen many more gifted footballers live in the flesh than the Black Pearl. Astonishing ability and reading of the game, and even then he was held back by both his inner demons and systemic injury issues."I will make the boys feel your support"
Jurgen Klopp June 2020
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Stirling has a similar gait if I'm not mistaken?Originally posted by McDermotX View PostA surprisingly good piece over on F365
Continues over here
Said it before on here, but I don't think I've seen many more gifted footballers live in the flesh than the Black Pearl. Astonishing ability and reading of the game, and even then he was held back by both his inner demons and systemic injury issues.
McGrath was one of my favourite players, I reckon he'd have made a decent rugby player.Was muß, das muß.
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Karim Benzema has been suspended from the France team until an investigation into his alleged part in a blackmail and sex tape case has been resolved.
The striker, 27, who could miss Euro 2016 hosted in his country, was banned by the France Football Federation.
Benzema is under investigation for an alleged blackmail plot to extort money from French team-mate Mathieu Valbuena.
The Real Madrid forward denies any wrongdoing but if found guilty, could face a minimum of five years in prison.
BBC
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