In the cold light of the next day, it's perhaps worth a recap of yesterdays events.

There is a patch of carpet in my house, just to the right of coffee table which is now a little more worn. That was my spot. That's where I stood. It's right in front of the corner of our L shaped couch, which is my favourite spot to sit. However, between 4:30 and 7pm yesterday, the All Black forward pack couldn't have pushed me into the seat. If I stand there, we do ok.

It's amazing the superstitious bullshit that comes into one's head during a tense sporting match. Stand in the same spot, don't log off work, don't turn off the coverage, don't drink any water, don't change ANYTHING. We lost both wickets yesterday as I checked the score & Taylor was dropped when my family got home and they sat on the couch. I swear to god, if I'd sat down, Bumrah would have held the catch. Even as of this morning, I can't say I don't truly believe that.

I woke up yesterday with that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Timmy's couple of wickets the night before giving us a sniff. I'm always much better watching us bowl, than bat, but I couldn't do it yesterday. Went out for a 30 min bike ride at 10, which lasted nigh on 2 hours trying to keep my head off the cricket (sorry boss, not an overly effective day for me yesterday). By the time I got back, India were 5 down I still thought we had a sniff .... so I turned it on, put the laptop in front of me & settled in. And they walked off for lunch. Shit. 45 mins later, I settled in again, meeting coming up at 2pm, what could we do in that hour ... not much for a while. Head accepting the draw. BOOM, Wagner! Back in it. 2pm comes and goes, sit down. A few mins in, "so thats setup, Matt could you please ....FUCKING YESS!!!!!!" ... Oops. Supposed to be working. Trent in the wickets! Time for the inevitable slog from the tail enders. Come on guys, these runs are gold to India .... c'mon .....Timmy! Again, Timmy!

Breather. Shit. I promised the wife we'd go and get some clothes for her sisters 50th this weekend. I don't think I can watch it anyway. Resting heart rate is about 256 as it is. Off we go. 45 mins odd later. Gotta check. 19 without. Tea. Phew, negotiated that first session. At the picture framers now picking up the gift. "What do you think of it hon", she says "sorry, what, just checking the sco...FUCKKKKKKKKKK". Latham's out. Here we go. Phone away, pay attention. Drive home ... unpack car. TV on ... 44/1 .. awesome, under 100 to go. Big appeal and .... shit. Conway. Literally first ball of turning the TV on. What do I do?? Hit up the fern, and offer my predicament. Whilst doing this, an over passes with no drama. It's obvious now isn't it. Leave the TV on & we'll be fine. Hang on ... I've been watching the cricket from this spot, and then checking work / TSF in the over breaks. OK, thats what we do from here on in. Commentator is going on and on about run rates / dot balls. And it's working an absolute treat on me. Nervous shit needed. Can't do that, could cause a wicket. So stick with the plan. Getting fidgety. Drinks. What does that mean? Can I have a drink? Can I sit down? Not sure. Decide to change nothing. Wife leaves to get the kids. And suddenly the runs are flowing. Half way there. What the fuck is a mallet on the pitch for??? What does this mean? Can I drink some water now and have it offset by the mallet? Don't come back wife/kids, we are doing great. Oh, you're back. "Edged and ..... dropped". Jesus Christ. Do I need to kick the family out?? Not sure. Dot balls again. Dot ball commentator is back. Need a shit again ..... and we're scoring again. Under 50 to get. Surely our tail can get this now? Under 40 ... Under 30 .... ... Kane Dropped! It's in the stars, it's happening, nothing can stop us. 50 for Kane! only 7 or 8 to go. We're going to win! Can I have a drink now ... NO!!!!! Ross on strike, it's in the air ... it's 4! IT's over! We've won!! We've won!! We've won!!!

There is enough praise for the team above that there is little I can add honestly. It's a colossal moment in time for NZ cricket & it's so fitting that Ross & Kane had the unbroken partnership at the end. What a team. Perfect balance of youth, new players, legends, and team men. Although arguably they are all legends now.

Jamieson was officially MOTM and this arguably should be shared with Kane. Anchor in both of our innings. However, for me, its the players in the moments which really count, those who step up when the heat is on who should get this accolade. Think Carters drop goal / penalty in 2015 RWC, think Wilkinson for England in 03. Think Stokes for England. It's can be only person for me in this match. 3 times in the one test he had those moments. The value of his 30 runs in the the first innings cannot be underestimated. No lead, no psychological edge. India innings 2, both openers out lbw. No wickets, India without loss going into the last day with a handy lead. Different gravy. Remember I mentioned above India into he tail slog. Who cleaned up the last 2? Extra 20-30 runs on 4/5 less overs. Different gravy.

MajorRage MOTM of the WTC Final - Tim Southee.

What a day.

I was top tier in the temporary seats for 2011 final.

When Cruden got injured and tehre was a delay, i nipped down to get some beers ... in my haste to get back, I tripped over entering the stand (beers were ok though), and as I stood up and continued walking in, the cop/security guard standing there, put his hand out to stop me. I was expecting all sorts of shit, and questions as they were being pretty hard on drunken behaviour. Started panicking about kikicked out etc. Instead he slowly turned his head, looked me dead in the eye and said

"Before you go back to your seat, you need to know that Stephen Donald is now on the field"

SA Rugby In Shock After TMO Correctly Rules In Favour Of The Away Team

Shockwaves went through SA rugby today, when a TMO (television muppet official) correctly ruled against the home SA team for the first time ever in a televised game. Late on in the match, with the Lions looking to close out the match it looked for all money that the Lions had scored with time almost up to put the game beyond reach. Despite the ball clearly having not been grounded, expected transmission began with the assistant referee running in to let the referee know that the ball had indeed been grounded correctly, and he'd had a clear view.

However things began to unravel shortly after, when the referee decided that it was worth another look, leaving all viewers confused. After looking at 3 angles, of which the clearest had correctly been blocked by a spectators head, the TMO then sent seismic waves through the community by correctly saying the ball hadn't been grounded. The Blues then went on to score a last minute winner, although replays clearly showed there were at least 5 potential reasons for the referee to completely fuck up and call it back.

Lions coach Johan Ackermann when asked about the incident was inconsolable and somewhat confused. "I didn't really see it and haven't had time to review it, as like all good coaches I wasn't looking at the 42 live screens in front of me all showing the replays. This is however a huge shift change for SA refereeing, and I'm wondering if there is any point in even having home advantage anymore. Fans don't turn up, and if the referees are going to police things correctly and without bias, then we may as well just play away".

Team captain Warren Whitely concurred, simply saying "it's not my job to comment on referees decisions, but if the home teaming isn't getting all the 90/10's, let alone the 50/50's, it's going to be tough from here on in"

Blues coach Tana Umaga was delighted with the result, the first time in his tenure that his team actually did anything decent. "It's great to get a win against a well coached and strong Lions team, although I don't have time to talk right now, as I've got to help Sonny Bill get a flight to Port Elizabeth - he's got an old pal or something there he wants to catch up with".

SA referees were approached for comment, but politely declined as they, quite rightly commented that like all controversial decisions their view is firmly to have their heads up their arse.

And she's finished ... What a labour of love that was. I can't drive it properly yet as it needs to go through the Caterham check, then the government check (IVA), then registered etc. All of this is expected to take around 6-8 weeks, so it should be ready right about when spring is really kicking in. Perfect timing.

I did take it for a quick spin around the block though ... and the front wing fell off! Which I guess is good, as it gives me something else to fiddle around on.

It's been an absolute labour of love, full of swearing, foul language, frustration, irritation and pure anger.

But look at her. Isn't she beautiful. I can't wait to go and hang the arse out.

All this talk of respect - seriously, fuck off.

Year and years of Richie's a cheat, New Zealanders are classless, the constant fucking moaning against everything NZ rugby, the pissing and bitching from Aussies during RWC visit, I'm totally fucking over it.

I really can't be fucked with insults & advice from Australians about respect in sporting circles.

On the whole, I've done my best over the years to provide some reason where I think we are getting ahead of ourselves / shown arrogance / demeaned the opposition. But over this weekend, there has been a clear narrative to do everything in their power for global "neutrals" to demean the fantastic achievement of 18 wins in a row and divert attention away from it. The usual shit of Ab's offside (we were, we got penalised btw), AB's favouritism from refs, and then the final nail if this shower of shitness, the global attention on Chieka's whinge being FAR FAR greater than that of the achievement of this bunch of blokes.

And people want to talk to us about respect, or lack there of.

@stargazer said in All Blacks v France Test #2:

@tim Good to know that basically nothing has changed since last weekend. Hope the media (esp those of the NH), which generally either lacks intelligence or pretends it lacks intelligence, understands it, too.

[tin foil hat]

Don't be so naive. The NH media has really ramped things up, and you want to know why? Because Gosper, Pichot and co, LISTEN TO THEM. They write unbelievably one-eyed biased bullshit, and will continuously attack attack attack at points which are not really relevant to the context of what happened in the game, to divert away from anything which could be written as positive. And, "co-incidentally" enough, it's always NZ, or if not NZ, at least the SH, which is in the bad.

It's fucking bullshit and frankly, for all that is written about NZ, rule leniency etc being a "blight in the game", it's the cancerous journo's who really are the blight on the game. Here's a short list I've compiled:

Luke Pearce, the English ref. Apparently in test one, he was "let down by his TMO peers", or "leaned by the pro AB crowd", or "succumbed to the world rugby sponsored view that the AB's play to different rules".

Paul Williams, the NZ ref for Ireland - Aus "a disgrace to the game" - this was tweeted DIRECTLY at Gosper. Wanna know why? Because he didn't give Ireland a yellow card for continual Aussie transgressions. Maybe a point, but a DISGRACE? Especially after a week of continual media hum drum about the "unfair yellow" (where the poor young outstanding english ref was let down by everybody around who wasn't english) ruining the game in NZ.

Gardner - "should have certainly taken ALB's run into account", "a red card for ALB shouldn't have been out of the question given his part in it" ... this isn't from rabid one eyed fans, this is from JOURNALISTS ... who are sending messages to Gosper!! Seriously, here's the fucking video:

ALB did JACK SHIT. His eyes were on the fucking ball too, it doesn't even look like he touched him, let alone ran from 50 yards away to directly push poor skinny Fall into Barrett to milk the red card. The world rugby media release here is COLOSSAL BULLSHIT, written purely to appease the same NH media they infuritated with their COLOSSAL BULLSHIT media release from a week earlier about Ofa.

And you want to hear the ultimate shit in the face ? During the England - Tunisia football match, Harry Kane was tackled in the penalty box, rugby style .. One Walrus wrote ... "Some of the high tackling on Harry Kane in the Tunisian box would have even got an All Black carded. Lord Harry I should say"

Not a big deal really, for the pompous alanis morrisette style irony fellow, but you know who liked it?

His BFF Brett Gosper.

[/tin foil hat]

@antipodean said in Bledisloe I:

we don't have many right wingers running around,

Try the politics forum.

Parents have booked a flight out of NZ on the 14th April.

Fingers crossed.

@majorrage said in Racism in England Cricket:

Comes as zero surprise to me.

My son is a member of a club and it’s got quite a few non whites in it. The kids mix and don’t see anything. But at the prize giving it was like a licorice all sort crowd. White parents here, brown parents there.

I will add tho, that it cut both ways.

This post wasn't really clear.

One thing that always irks me a bit is the idea that we are all the same and must be treated the same. Well, that's just not true. Everybody deserves equal opportunities and the same sense of justice / appreciation, but reality is that a lot of immigrant / immigrant descendant people in this country have fuck all in common with the British when it comes to socialising - which is a huge part of team Sport. Vaughn is really in the firing line, but I wonder if his point was perhaps about trying to talk about integration, and he crossed a line.

I'll try and explain this without coming across like a bigoted arsehole. I have a 7 and a 9 year old and there is a huge community feel to our school. And I won't lie, it's awesome. They made us feel really welcome, we have a large circle of friends because of it and it's very very diverse. We have camps, dinners, balls etc. Standard stuff. I would say in each year, there are 5 Pakistani / Muslim families. I get on well with them, often chatting at pick up, talking about all sorts. But here's the thing.

They never go to the camps. Ever. They never go to the balls. Ever. They never go to the charity events. Ever. Occasionally you'll get 1-2 at the dad meet ups, and they don't drink and usually go home early. None of this changes what I think of them, it's just a fact. I'll probably see a couple of drop off tomorrow and we'll talk about the cricket as well as other things. And it'll be nice.

But some lines are never ever crossed, and others rarely. I'm not sure that sort of spirit really works in a team-sport environment & i can see how that could create tension. It doesn't excuse crossing lines, never. But perhaps when comments such as England cricket is institutionally racist there is a bit more to it. I know the world is supposed to be one big friendly melting pot, especially Britain & the US. But almost all of the social problems of these 2 countries come from the fact that multi ethnicity integration has its drawbacks. This to me, just seems like another in an ever-growing list.

Doesn't make those making the comments right, not at all. But lets face it, cricket is a basically a piss up played by lads. You are either one of them, or you aren't.

I'm not sure I'm ever going to feel well again. Shit got real in Singapore. I'm going to tell the story from the start.

When you let an almost 40 year old male with 2 young kids off the leash, in an Asian city for 48 hours, at which time, said male will attend a concert of a 90's rock icon ... I'm not sure what you are going to expect. But it happened.

Blasted down on Friday early doors, straight into a pub to watch the cricket, rugby, consume, consume and consume. At 2am, I was done, having taken about 250 selfies with people due to my red bandana, axl sunnies, and gnr singlet. I walked in in standard white man attire, polo, jeans etc, but somehow at some point, acquired some kit - I have no idea where from to this day. Little was I to know that at current figure, how much I actually did look like the singer - well, when standing on the scales anyway. Anyway, woke up Saturday on concert day with probably the worst hangover seen since the sevens a few years ago. Had crashed on the floor of a mates hotel, after my accomodation source had trap doored earlier on whilst I was busy signing off a bar tab for rining the bell at Mogambo's and subsequently buying the whole bar a shot.

So, as I raised my weary head, and casually checked my wallet to make sure my GnR ticket was still intact, the thought occurred to me that today was going be rather tough. To cut a long story short, after a casual lunch, an hour getting a foot rub and a long shower I started to turn for the better, so casually made my way to meet the boys at a hawker centre for pre loading. The food went down well, the ice cold beers, gentlemen jack less so, but then at 6pm, a mate of ours called Dave announced that our bus was here. So we trudged off and about 50 metres from the car park started to hear the relaxing, dulcet, calming, measured sounds of SWEET FUCKING CHILD OF FUCKING MINE. Our transport, was proper, proper baller. Decked out van, with a sound system Jonah would have been proud of, complete with ice boxes loaded with piss, a smoke machine, a light show and leather chairs .. there was a pole too, but I'm not sure what that was for ....

So we get in, in front of a crowed of about 100 people, and make our way out. Took for fucking ever due to the retardeness of Singapore to hold a 35,000 person concert (apparently) in the middle of nowhere with no public transport. Think Eden Park ... but in the middle of Karaka. Anyway, so fianlly get there, the drivers like I'm gonna fucking own this, and drives right through the crowds of people to drop us off about 2 metres from the entrance. It was fucking epic.

Anyway, get in, make our way to in front of the sound box, have about 15 mins to get some beers in , before they come on stage. So, I guess I should now right about the concert.

Nigh on 3 hours of their greatest hits. Fucking epic set list. Yeah, Axl is fat, and his voice is pretty bloody ordinairy these days, but the band is as good as they have ever been. Slash is just a god, Duff still has it (in a truck driver with egg on his shirt sort of way), Fortus is more of a lead guitarist than an Izzy, but he let nobody down, and Ferrer is arguably a better rock drummer than either Adler or Sorum are (to give credit to Adler though, the Appetite sound is lot to do with his drumming). They didn't miss a beat. The light show was awesome, the rig and setup was great. If I wanted to complain, I could say it wasn't even close to loud enough, but if you read the above, I was ok with that. And maybe the setlist was perhaps just a little too long ... don't get me wrong, but when you play November Rain (complete with about 5 minute intro of Layal), Coma and Estranged in full ... well, thats about 45 minutes right there. I would have happily sacrified a bit of knockin on heavens door, chinese democracy songs, and etc to really hear more of Axl giving it top beans as opposed to saving his voice. 90 minutes of old Axl, would shit on 2hrs 45 of new. He did his best on the jungle intro, and gave it shit for parts of Nightrain, Paradise & a couple of others .... but you know, he's old, he's fat - there's lawns to tell kids to get off these days and cheeseburgers to eat.

Annyway ... so it finished up at around 11:15am ... and given the complete clusterfuck of traffic, we were wondering how it was going to work. Litttle did we know ...

The driver of the baller-mobile, had basically ignored a whole bunch of Singaporeans cannot, and blasted his beast right through where you were supposed to stop and parked up EXACTLY where he dropped us off. People were streaming out everywhere wondering what the fuck this van was - he had paradise playing this time, with full light show, full smoke effects literlaly right in front of the main fucking gate. Oh, and he'd fully restocked the bar with fresh cans of beers, vodka, mixers and kit. I asked him if he had a cheeky durry ... at which point he leanded over and casually flicked open the glove box to see a selection of MArlboros finest. Unbelieveable.

Anyway, the boys piled in, and after rejecting about 5,000 people looking for a way home who were asking to join, trundled off through the crowed. We had the windows down, GnR on full tit, beers flowing for the 90 minutes it took to get back, literally crawling through swathes and swathes of people slowly trudging back to their cars/buses. IT WAS EPIC.

Anyway, the rest sort of peters out after that ... it was another late night and slow start yesterday, but nobody wants to read about that.

So, in summary ... yeah, GnR still have it, Axl less so, but fuckin hell, he gives it a go. Singapore is not a great place to go for a rock concert, but if you organise things right ... there is simply nowhere better.

Boiling Point

Few on here already reviewed it but thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

Not sure I'd say its a fantastic movie, but I'd say it's more an incredible piece of work. It's full on from the word go and the acting, especially by Stephen Graham is phenomenal.

Amazing viewing, would recommend to everybody

1 shot out of 1 shot.

Not what I'm listening to as such, but if you are a big fan of the Foo Fighters, then this is a really interesting read about Taylor.

Andy Greene  /  May 16

Inside Taylor Hawkins’ Final Days as a Foo Fighter

For 24 years, Taylor went all-out for Foo Fighters. Before he died, Hawkins told multiple friends he “couldn’t fucking do it anymore.”

I thought Milner might be in there but none of those ages work out.

The 1996 one must have been the Jan club mover.

Alli?

Absolutely no clue on the '78 born one.

Lukaku?

@Crucial said in What are you listening to, right now................:

@MajorRage said in What are you listening to, right now................:

@Crucial said in What are you listening to, right now................:

@MN5 said in What are you listening to, right now................:

@broughie said in What are you listening to, right now................:

Throw back to Stevie Wonder:

He’s no Jay Kay but Stevie went alright I guess

Jay Kay is a good showman and singer but the real star of Jamiroquai was Stuart Zender. Without his bass playing they were pretty average. At least Jay Kay recognised this and always had him up front stage.
His lines made the songs great (helped by the beautiful tones he'd get from those Warwick basses)

This is a cover (Roy Ayers) but still, he has improved it.

Can't agree with you there. The star is Jay Kay, no question. Bassist maybe the best musician but he ain't the star.

Poor choice of words perhaps. Of course Jay Kay is the star of the show.
IMO though the point of difference that makes their music good was Zender. His grooves (along with the drummer) give Jay Kay the stuff to work off.
Maybe with an average bass player they would have had a hit or two along with contemporaries like BNH or Soul II Soul but I still think that Zander's work took them a level above and provided whole albums of listenable music.
It was the music that got them noticed first then one (brilliant) video that took them to stardom. Jay Kay the 'star' factor that held them there. The guy has stage presence and wears silly hats but is a bit of a tosser personality wise.
These guys came from a very small label with no track record of promotion to this scale.

The support to my opinion comes from their history since Zender left and how no one gives a shit about Kay.

(All just my opinion of course)

I do know what you mean, I think.

I've often wondered these sorts of things about other bands I've seen. Generally, you'd say the singer is usually the star, but I can think of countless others where, for me, I'm going to see them live for others. Most obvious recent example is Carey in Tool, but this also applies to Chilii's (Frusciante / Flea), Ozzy Osbourne (Wylde) to name just a few.

I just don't think this applies to Jamiroquai. Regardless of what you think of him, Jay Kay is the star & he's a phenomenal front man. Yeah, there's always politics around these bands, but some of them are understandable. If you are playing to 20,000 people and you know that 19,000 of them ar there to see you, why do you divide things equally?

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Building myself back up:

@MajorRage said in Building myself back up:

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Building myself back up:

Been absolutely smashing it in the pool recently. Have really turned a corner and it's not agony every time I get in. Becoming seriously addicted. Wednesdays is 4km in the morning and 2km in the evening!

Weather has been absolute rat sheet here for weeks and being a massive poosey I did the half marathon on the treadmill. Fark that was boring. But - captain obvious time - was so much better on the knees and legs. I really get the point now. If I want to run for decades to come this machine is my destiny I reckon.

I'm not sure if I respect or feel sorry for somebody that can run that long on a treadmill. Isn't the treadmill the same as using a weight machines vs a free weights? It's been years since I stepped foot in a gym so not sure what the current thinking is, but I know it certainly used to be that free weights were much better.

I love running outside and would happily run in a blizzard as opposed to a treadmill inside. All part of it.

It isn't about preference or choice but potential necessity. I'd love to run outside until the end of time, but the difference in what it does to the body is absolutely massive, particularly in the very hilly area I live in. My knees get farked. Just a reality unfortunately. Got to adapt.

With running on a treadmill being so repetitive is that really better for you? As the impact is going to be centralised in exactly the same place every single time. Is that really better for you?

There is no doubt that the risk of twisted ankles etc is higher, but when you are going up / down hills round left/right corners isn't the impact spread out a bit more and thus less wearisome?

Genuine questions, and it seems my assumptions here are incorrect.

@canefan said in EPL 2021 / 2022:

Conte took over with Spurs in disarray, and in 9th place. He transformed the team and got us into the top 4. Levy seems to be allowing Paratici and Conte some freedom. Signing Kulusevski and Bentancur from Juventus in the January window ended up being a huge boost for the team. If Levy keeps his word and backs Conte, he and Paratici can continue to reshape the squad. I don't see us challenging Liverpool or City, but I'd be happy to consolidate our top 4 position and close in on Chelsea next season

Spurs were still in disarray a while after he took over. It's not that long ago he said to the media that the problem may be me. However, he had a great end of season and has seta good launchpad. I guess time will tell if Levy allows that launchpad to work.

I expect Spurs to be above Chelsea next season, probably in 3rd.

@Smudge said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

Back at work today. The unvaccinated guy next to me: "are you ok to be back at work today? I mean, is it safe for you to be here?".

Well, cuntyballs, maybe you could have got vaccinated and you wouldn't have to worry so much. And yes, it is safe for me to be here after my 7 days of iso, as per Govt instructions.

Did you look at him & cough?

@Rancid-Schnitzel said in Building myself back up:

Been absolutely smashing it in the pool recently. Have really turned a corner and it's not agony every time I get in. Becoming seriously addicted. Wednesdays is 4km in the morning and 2km in the evening!

Weather has been absolute rat sheet here for weeks and being a massive poosey I did the half marathon on the treadmill. Fark that was boring. But - captain obvious time - was so much better on the knees and legs. I really get the point now. If I want to run for decades to come this machine is my destiny I reckon.

I'm not sure if I respect or feel sorry for somebody that can run that long on a treadmill. Isn't the treadmill the same as using a weight machines vs a free weights? It's been years since I stepped foot in a gym so not sure what the current thinking is, but I know it certainly used to be that free weights were much better.

I love running outside and would happily run in a blizzard as opposed to a treadmill inside. All part of it.

Was just looking at I wrote again. Man I'm mixed up with Managers. I should clarify:

Guardiola, Klopp, Howe, Frank could all be written as the top! So here's a slightly deeper dive on this. Yes, I am avoiding doing work

Guardiola - I think he's hugely influential on pitch as well as on the management style. Thus, he gets the results, and the moments, that ultimately won the league. Yes, this is the same style which saw them bundled out, again, in the Champs League, but it just seems to work in the EPL.

Klopp - I'd probably more call him the overall manager of the year across all the EPL clubs. Just not necessarily in the league. And not through any fault of his own. You cannot deny his record this year, gunning for 4 trophies right up until the last day, and still possible to take 3. Love or hate Liverpool, you have to have absolute maximum respect for what he's done to that club.

Frank - Brentford were fantastic this season and worthy of the plaudits. And Thomas Frank has been core to that. I do fear for them a bit though with second season syndrome. IT's not uncommon to bounce up to the PL, have a decent mid table season then go back down. I can't put him up with Guardiola & Klopp just yet though. Different level.

Howe - Newcastle were completely fucked. Completely. Kind of like United right now. Couldn't buy a point, looked disinterested and were a complete shambles. He literally turned the club on its head. It was phenomenal. Which is why he gets my overall award, ahead of the others. Does this mean he should rightfully be the Manager of the year? Well, no. Mainly because he's been more than that. The jury is certainly out on the future, especially with cash and the upcoming transfer season, he could really fuck this up buying the wrong players. Only time will tell.

But for his last 6 months, he cannot be faulted. Thus, he's the overall EPL person of the year for me.