He even looks like Barney from How I Met Your Mother

Even mentions Arsenal’s annual collapse.

Not sure he’s the best writer, but his stuff is usually decent.

I stopped reading whe he said he liked Merson as a pundit.

comment by There'sOnlyOneReds (U1721)
posted 10 minutes ago
I stopped reading whe he said he liked Merson as a pundit.
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And if that is true, I don't think I'll start reading.

Ah, then you should have carried on Toor, it's because of one of yours that he likes him.

Carry on Virtue, you won't find him in admiration of him as a pundit.

"Ronaldo is often portrayed as a kind of android-warrior, a muscle dummy filled with hair-gel and topped with a sneering robot head-thump engine."

That is a pretty accurate description of how I think of him.
I quite like Merson as a pundit too, and for much the same reason. He’s more of a fan, than a pundit, but that’s quite refreshing.

Football hasn’t retained as much of its power for me as it has for Barney, but I probably agree mostly with his reasons.

I mostly only watch my own club, now, and I don’t care about Cup Finals unless my own team is in it. Wasn’t the case when I was younger. Don’t even much care about rivalries, only in how my own team is developing (or not). I doubt that will ever be broken, because it’s tied up with childhood memories, and identifying with family, and friends, and home.
Still love going to the stadium.

I did watch the last half-hour of the Spurs match the other night (Juve scored about a minute after I switched the TV on), and I agree with Barney that it was quite compelling, but there’s quite a lot of it that’s not, and if a team buys half the known-universe and then runs away with it, I’m not remotely interested in them.

If a managerial genius transforms the fortunes of a football club, I’m quite interested in how he did it. But if a rich owner comes in and buys up anything that moves, I’m not curious about how he did it, because it’s not exactly a mystery.
(I’m not saying it’s any less valid, just that I’m not interested in it. I work in Finance, so outside of work, I'm looking for a break from it).

Agree with all that Wessie. The cup finals losing their interest is I think, to do with age. When I was younger I loved the whole day, but work, kids, Life, gets in the way, I just watch the match now, and not always that.
I have said before that I have a soft spot for Pool, not that I want them to win anything, but that they're like us. Two big City clubs, transformed by two great managers, similar fans, history, and aspirations. I think you may have another.
Roll on tomorrow and a United win, and I'll be like Merson in front of the telly.

Roll on tomorrow and a United win, and I'll be like Merson in front of the telly.
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Yeah, for all that I said, I can still go a bit Merson when we score.

(At Stamford Bridge last year, I was on the end of a row, and got swept down the aisle by a goal celebration. On TV, it looked like I had run down to the perimeter wall to go nuts with all the kids, which drew a fair amount of p1ss-taking from Mrs Road).

I like Mrs. Road.
I'll have to go with womanu since 52.