Just popping in to say hello 
My laptop is having a revamp but hope to get back to posting soon.
Mandy, don’t feed the troll 
Liverpool mad in this house, good luck to all true fans, whoever you support.
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Thanks Lily. Not responding to him anymore.
It’s going to be a great Champions League Final and a great Europa League Final.
Come on English football 
(couldn’t find England flag!)
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Just being there is a dream so anything else is a bonus, we are big outsiders which means we can play with very little to lose.
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Anything can happen Peter. Just looking forward to the spectacle. It will be an amazing night.
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It’s been one helluva ride over the decades but what happened the other night tops it all for me. The reaction of Mopo just about said it all and Hoddles possible ticker alert was pure magic.
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Absolutely Mandy, there has already been four heart thumping surprises this past week
No pun intended 
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Forgive me not being a Football fan, but I picked up on the Liverpool win, which obviously must have been exciting, but when people talk about ‘English Football’ at Club level is that utter rubbish?
How many English Clubs are literally ‘English’ as in totally English players?
Before anyone has a go at me, Yes the same applies to Rugby.
Just not cricket, is it Norman 
What little interest I had in football soon dwindled when it really became all about the money (bursts into Jessie J song)
My interest now is only to support my husband in between his facetime football banter. I draw the line at swearing and learning the off side rule, life is too short 
I wish the french language would sink into my brain not just the carp:hugs:
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Unfortunately It’s all about the money.
It always has been about money, it’s just that there’s much more about at the highest level nowadays.
When I went to work it was to earn money, what’s the diference ?
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Well Norman, that’s an interesting point. In terms of the Premier League then I doubt any teams are 100% English. Certainly my own team, Tottenham Hotspur, have more foreign than English players (including a brilliant French goalkeeper) although probably more than most. Arsenal, for example, have no top class English players at all.
The mix of players, though, makes the Premier League the best and most exciting league in the World.
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As well as foreign players the majority of teams in the PL all now have experienced foreign coaches who have transformed the style of football over the last 20 years. Whilst it might be good viewing for the neutral if you are a supporter of a club without a billionaire backer then realistically you know you’re unlikely to ever win the league. My family back in the UK all have season tickets at Norwich and are looking forward to next season with dread rather than excitement.
Watching City has always been a roller coaster. They’ve always been betwixt and between the two divisions since the early seventies. (I started watching them in the mid 60s with crowds of 5000) .One or two seasons in the Prem funds them for a few years in the Championship. They are what they are and know their place in the footballing heirarchy. Delia and co know exactly their probable fate but enjoy the ride all the same.
I am not up to speed on cricket these days but don’t the Clubs also have ‘overseas’ players?
Also the money applies now doesn’t it? I was partially involved in the ‘Pajama Game’ when it was introduced in Australia by the Packers. Names drift away from me over the years but I remember one player telling me about the selection process in what was a hugely disruptive event in Cricket there. Apparently Players were held in an ante-room and called in to meet Packer, one of the Redpaths (I can’t remember which) and Tony Gregg who was the BIG name of the game at that time.
Apparently the interview was one question i.e. ‘Do you want to be Rich?’ Those who answered directly ‘Yes’ were pointed to one side of the room and asked to wait there. Those who answered with something like ‘Well, it depends’ or similar, were thanked for coming and shown out.
The Company I worked for were the Distributors of Stuart Surridge Cricket Gear (amongst many other products), and I was the Sales Promotion Manager. Most of our support to Players at the time was in free equipment, and they were not well-paid by anyone.
As we all know it was a turning point in the game, and Five-Day Tests soon lost their allure.
I am still of that generation that remember Sport being Amateur – albeit with a few under the lap favours, and although skills levels in all sports have developed, there was something a bit special about amateurism, even though now it is a perjorative term.
You’re also not up to speed on humour Norm, Graham was being sarcastic.
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It is quite amazing that football players can be bought and sold for millions and millions and pop stars can earn huge sums but, when business people get paid a salary commensurate with their skill and the legal responsibilities they hold, there is a huge outcry.
It is a very sad state of affairs and very discouraging to true talent which will go elsewhere, where they are appreciated.
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Nothing to do with sport so totally off topic, but Norman’s comment reminded me of a tiny incident that has stuck in my mind for over a decade.
Towards the end of when I lived in the UK, there seemed to be a trend for utilities giants and other wannabees to try and take over your lives - they wanted to supply you with electricity, gas, telephone, internet, insurance, banking, probably wipe your *rse for you as well - and they were on the phone virtually every day trying to lure you in and I got royally sick of it. Literally days before I moved, I think it was the Friday afternoon and I completed on the house on the Monday, one particularly persistant female coldcalled me and rattled into a pitch about prices and how much I would save on my bills and throwing out so many figures in the same sentence that not even a maths professor could have kept up. When I could finally get a word in edgeways and started to say Thank you but I’m not interested, she immediately barked back “Do you mean you’re not interested in Saving Money!!?” as if it was the crime of the century. I still remember the way she said “saving money”, there was love and reverence in her voice.
I think the reason that little vignette has stayed with me is because it perfectly summed up one of the things about the UK that got right on my nerves, all that focus on how smart it is to save a penny here and a ha’penny there, as if that’s the most important thing in life. The endless credit card promotions through the post, the endless talk about money. People would talk animatedly about mortgage rates and household bills, Saving Money seemed to be classed as worthwhile hobby, like playing backgammon. And the glee and triumph if they found they’d “won” because they’d got the best deal. I was brought up that you don’t talk to people outside the family about your personal finances, and it used to really gobsmack me that my neighbour or a sales person on the phone would ask me point blank how much I paid per month for my mortgage, as if everyone’s private life is public property. Almost as shocking as asking me about my toilet habits. I don’t know if that attitude’s still around, I certainly don’t see it so much when I go back these days but then I don’t really tune in.
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Anna… different and yet similar…
Recently I cut into the “spiel” and asked firmly but politely … “is this call important”… “very important, Madame Wood, it concerns insulation”… 'nuff said. 
Just a short anecdote along similar lines - We were two of seventy members at a lovely little golf course in the Pyrenees mountains eighteen years ago where along with one other Brit we were the only foreigners.
Until on day in the bar a stranger, who had overheard me speaking English interrupted saying he was a Brit and had bought a place nearby and was joining the club.
I told him he could not do better as our’s was an extraordinarily friendly club with great competitions. The next thing l knew he was quizzing me about my personal circumstances, type of house and where exactly did we live, how much had we paid for it, what investments we had which bank we used type of car we had and how much it cost.
Had a friend or relative here in France asked such questions l would have been reticent to give up such details - The fact that a complete stranger, within minutes of meeting me, could ask such intrusive questions was mind boggling - and l told him so. I was very angry.
Madame Wood, who is French, did her best to calm me down and said only a Brit would be so rude and obsessed with money to have behaved that way.
Whenever we meet a Brit, and it’s not often these days, and the conversation quickly turns to money, we make our excuses and Foxtrot Oscar.
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