By Punished Go To PostLiverpool will continue to be ALIVE
ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ
By Righteous Furry Go To PostCavani had to do so little to become something of a cult hero last season. Was like you'd forgotten what it looked like when a forward could be bothered to run.I wanted him out and the Uniteders were up in arms "he's been good" "we need him" "he's a professional". Bullshit.
Yet another unreliable cunt that got a pass for not complaining.
By bud Go To Postlife truly is suffering, lads.Have you changed your mind?
The Le Tissier article courtesy of some lad on reddit
As Matt Le Tissier hosts a live chat on social media, questions veer from his predictions for the Europa League to whether the World Health Organisation is infringing on civil liberties. One minute he is talking about his favourite goal; the next about what to believe from the front line in Ukraine.
Quite how this former England footballer came to be a highly contentious oracle on world events, strangers asking his views about lockdowns and health policy, seems a question worth asking — especially given those wider opinions have caused Le Tissier to resign as an ambassador from Southampton, the club where he has long been adored.
Far from making him take a step back, that controversy after retweeting a post which cast doubt over the validity of a massacre in Bucha — he subsequently deleted it — has left him unbowed. He is more determined than ever to carry on sharing his thoughts, including an hour over Zoom when we disagree about almost everything.
Le Tissier said he developed the ability to endure criticism during his playing career Le Tissier said he developed the ability to endure criticism during his playing career.
Le Tissier, 53, says that he does not care what I think, or if he has two followers on Twitter or almost 600,000 as he speaks with evangelical scepticism against masks, lockdowns, mainstream media, the government, Sage scientists, pharmaceutical companies and much more besides. He has talked of a need to “tear down the system”, and he is not about to stop.
“If that means I come in for a bit of criticism and I get labelled by you guys in the media who try to paint me out as some sort of nutter then that’s a price I am willing to pay,” he says.
Did we misread him for those years when he seemed more than happy to let his talents do the talking? Was this maverick footballer also a secret campaigner? Did he ever discuss social issues in the dressing room?
“No, never,” he says. “All I did was play my football, have a laugh, spend time with my family.” He cannot remember ever voting in a general election.
There was, though, an independent streak in Le Tissier to be turning down lucrative offers, including one from Glenn Hoddle’s Chelsea. If he was more of a conformist, he might have won a trophy and more than eight caps between 1994 and 1997.
Le Tissier says that he has never minded being a man alone. In one moment of lightness, he talks of being the only Southampton player who did not drink beer. He could not stand the stuff.
“I drink Malibu, something that came in for a lot of criticism in a dressing room full of butch, macho footballers,” he says. “‘Fourteen pints of lager and a Malibu and coke please’. You have to be quite a strong character.”
Le Tissier speaks with pride of “not following the crowd” and he has certainly lived true to that code in the time of Covid. In August 2020, he lost his job as a presenter on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday though he believes that was more to do with it being “a show with five middle-aged white blokes on it” than his increasingly trenchant views around the pandemic.
“A couple of years ago I felt like something wasn’t right. People were interfering in my life who shouldn’t have been — mainly the government and scientists. I felt a real sense of injustice and when I feel a sense of injustice I can’t keep my mouth shut. I have to speak up.”
Some will agree with him that the scale of lockdowns was unnecessary; and some followed him in declining any Covid-19 jabs.
But Le Tissier goes much further. For example, when I put to him that we were all responding at the start of the pandemic to images from Bergamo of hospitals overwhelmed by gasping, dying patients, he replies: “Some of those were actors, by the way.” Really?
According to him, ventilators caused harm to patients; PCR tests were entirely responsible for elevating a flu bug into a pandemic; masks a sign not of precaution but of weak compliance. “If you think otherwise, you haven’t really done your research without wishing to sound rude,” he says. He claims to have read many scientific papers, including those which were “suppressed”.
“PCR tests were the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind,” Le Tissier adds. And he is only just getting started.
We end up having a squabble about whether promoting Covid vaccinations should trouble my conscience, and I ask if he is aligned with Novak Djokovic, which is not a comparison he welcomes at all. He says that he wants to “put to bed once and for all” the idea that he is anti-vax. He has been vaccinated all his life but resisted Covid jabs because of a lack of long-term data.
“One thing I object to is that it is always painted as a black and white thing — pro-vax or anti-vax,” he says, believing that too many of the rest of us have succumbed to fear and brainwashing in a world in which contrary voices have been censored.
Perhaps he is right about the need for more plurality of voices but, then, what about his own ability to see all sides rather than to grasp at anything to reinforce a particular narrative?
Even that retweet about Ukraine, which I suggest could seem highly offensive given the evidence mounting against Russian forces, he regrets only in not explaining a wider context. “The point of the tweet was to say ‘don’t believe everything you read in times of war because both sides use propaganda.’ ”
But surely he is not disputing that Russians have killed many innocent Ukraine civilians in a brutal invasion? He responds by saying that it is strange, given modern technology, that there is not more footage of fighting.
I suggest that we have seen enough images of destroyed villages, towns, even cities like Mariupol? “Some of those images have been falsified, you know that don’t you?”
When I say this is the stuff of far-flung conspiracy theorists, there is a flash of frustration. “If you want to discredit somebody, you just have to say ‘ah, it’s a conspiracy theory’ then you don’t have to actually argue anything. It’s absolute dogshit.”
Le Tissier says that most people he engages with shake him by the hand and thank him for speaking up for the voiceless. Within football, he insists that there are many who show him support privately but do not want the criticism.
“When things blow up like a couple of weeks ago, I get a lot of support,” he says. “It would be nice if they were public but I understand that. Not everyone has the same mentality as me that can cope with the flak.
“I had it most of my career from you sports journalists who would constantly take pot shots at me for not working hard enough, so it’s water off a duck’s back. If you have had 50,000 people at Old Trafford call you a fat bastard and questioning the size of your nose it really doesn’t affect you too much.”
That said, he does have a bite back at Gary Lineker, whom he accuses of illiberalism. “I find it funny that he goes out of his way to criticise me for having an opinion that’s different to his. I have followed Gary on social media for many years and a lot of the stuff I completely disagree with but I have never attacked him for it. But the other way round . . .
“He is meant to be the nice bloke, the woke Gary Lineker, nice and inclusive but he is the one going out of his way trying to dig me out.”
Le Tissier insists that he will not back down. He was on a march in January outside the offices of the BBC against mandatory vaccinations for NHS workers and may attend other rallies.
I tell him it must be exhausting to be scouring the internet so convinced he is being lied to all the time. And what about losing that job at Southampton, for whom he scored 209 goals in 540 appearances? That must have pained him?
“To be honest, it’s no great hardship,” he says. “It wasn’t a great financial thing for me, something that was more of a title, a way of being linked to the club. I am still welcome to go down there.
“So nothing really changes except Southampton don’t get the cancel-culture people ringing in saying ‘you need to sack Matt Le Tissier, his views are harmful to the people’.
By domino Go To PostHeadline in a few months: "United's search for a new head of corporate development progressing slowly"
🙌🏿
“I drink Malibu, something that came in for a lot of criticism in a dressing room full of butch, macho footballers,” he says. “‘Fourteen pints of lager and a Malibu and coke please’. You have to be quite a strong character.”
Judge leaving us probably a good thing. He was a close confidante of Woodwards and the less we have of his lingering stench the better.
John Murtough now seems to be in control of all football based operations at the club. That includes scouting infrastructure and then negotiation of contracts. Wonder will he seek to appoint new people.
We lost our two senior scouts last week. Been rumours of Rangnick lobbying for Paul Mitchell to be hired to hear our recruitment network.
John Murtough now seems to be in control of all football based operations at the club. That includes scouting infrastructure and then negotiation of contracts. Wonder will he seek to appoint new people.
We lost our two senior scouts last week. Been rumours of Rangnick lobbying for Paul Mitchell to be hired to hear our recruitment network.
By Killer7 Go To PostMitchell plsHopefully.
By bud Go To Post3-2 is okay, but 4-2 would've been better.Indeed, that was too close for comfort.
By domino Go To PostRangnick bringing Ragnarok to the deadweight
🙌🏿
This is an interesting read on things. No matter whether you think Judge was competent or not, he was still the man in charge. His sudden departure could make things very difficult for United when it comes to negotiating for players this summer. Personally, I want all of Woodwards mates to piss off.
I've said this countless times in the past but INEOS is the best chemical company in the world.
pls save us jim
pls save us jim
Finally Matt Judge is gone. The guy is seriously incompetent. After several years, my prayers have been answered.
allah
allah
Ridiculous goal. Pretty entertaining match, Barcelona has hit the post 7 times already.
Waiting to see who will face us in the Champions League final on Sunday.
By Cleff Go To PostThis is an interesting read on things. No matter whether you think Judge was competent or not, he was still the man in charge. His sudden departure could make things very difficult for United when it comes to negotiating for players this summer. Personally, I want all of Woodwards mates to piss off.I think the plan is to appoint Paul Mitchell as head of recruitment. Fabrizio mentioned it in one of his podcast and he has been seen at Old Trafford on some match day recently.
By Fergie Go To PostPSG lol.Hopefully they shit the bed vs Troyes in a couple weeks time. Feel like they'll probably go right back down.. got Lille and PSG in their next two games and it's very tight at the bottom. City have oddly barely loaned anyone to them and that team is bare bones as fuck. Top scorer in the league has 5 goals, lol.
By Meier Go To PostNew album from Blossoms out today. Very good as per usual.New Bloc Party album also came out today, only listened to the first single but seems like a return to form.
By LFMartins86 Go To PostNew Bloc Party album also came out today, only listened to the first single but seems like a return to form.Thanks for the heads up! That's good to hear. Haven't listened to anything new from them in a very long time.
There's a massive gulf between data in baseball vs football but fuck it, okay. Dodgers are arguably the best run team in all of American sports, always high spenders (though not the richest), and have a ridiculous youth system and talent pipeline. Daddy Boehly please emulate.
By Pedja Go To PostThe Le Tissier article courtesy of some lad on redditReally goes to show you can't trust the French.
By Meier Go To PostThanks for the heads up! That's good to hear. Haven't listened to anything new from them in a very long time.No problem, listened to a couple of tracks and I like it but not every song is a bit.
There's some glimpses of how they were at the start of their career but it's also quite a bit different as half the band left.
Traps is a banger though, it was the right choice for the first single. Callum Is A Snake, By Any Means Necessary and You Should Know The Truth are the others that have grabbed me at first listening.
The schedule for the next season of Portuguese football was announced today, the most important thing is that the group stage of the League Cup will be played during the World Cup.
The League Cup format in Portugal is a bit unusual, first round is all 2nd Division teams and the teams who ended between 16th and 7th in the first division on a single leg knockoff round, 2nd round is the winners of the first round plus 6th and 5th again in a single leg knockoff match.
3rd is where things get different. Group stage with 4 groups, teams who ended 1st to 4th head each group.
Playing the group stage during the World Cup will make things interesting as the bigger clubs wil have more players missing.
From our current starting team, we will probably be without Coates, Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Porro, Matheus Nunes, Ugarte, Palhinha and Fatawu Issahku.
By Shanks D Zoro Go To Postkill me💀💀💀💀💀
By Laboured Go To Post
If I were a United supporter I’d at least feel secure in the knowledge that you’ve got enough money to keep throwing darts at the board. It isn’t quite like how Liverpool reached a stage of needing every single one to hit, without the kind of safety net the other clubs of the big 4 have.
By Oddinho Go To PostBTdubs you guys ever listen to Mdou Moctar?this slaps hard
Africa is producing all the best psych rock right now
