yeah, I guess my point wasn't clear. I'm not coming down on one side or another, I'm just saying people like McClean should keep their politarding off the pitch. There are an unlimited supply of emotive political issues that might be close to the heart of individual footballers, but I don't want to hear about any of them when I tune in to watch a game of football.

There are more people in England who agree with the above than don't imo.

I suspect it's more like

49% irrelevant, don't care
49% quaint, harmless, bit silly but hey
1% GOD SAVE OUR GLORIOUS MONARCHY
1% embarrassing archaic institution that anyone in a modern democracy should be fully ashamed of

Agree. Who gives a ****? People get mad over such trivial stuff.

I just want to watch football without all this political stuff happening. It's not going to happen because the game is now so global and big. Anthems (internationally) and Poppy's (domestically) are here to stay so just accept it and get on with the game.

What I do disagree with though is national anthems being played before meaningless friendlies. Cup Finals, charity shield, internationals etc fine but not preseason matches, lol.

but it's you and the people giving you +1 that are "mad over such trivial stuff," the rest of us have a meh wgaf attitude and go on to enjoy the match without any second thoughts

have been asked about IKTS, is there interest again? if so what sum do you prefer? (we have done 10, 20 and 25 too i think in the past)

i'm def in for whatever amount suits everyone else

Yes! The more $/€/£ the better imo

+1

How is this equivalent whatsoever?

Something a little less presumptuous about the virtues of the royals?

In for ikts

That Bill Burr bit is brilliant and so spot on

In for ikts, preferably 20-50 USA#1 dollars

I like TChaz's points.

I really admire the fact that McClean is passionate about a cause that means more than football to him to the extent that he continues to take these stances despite the trouble it will cause him. However I do think he could do himself a favour and tone it down. I guess that's the point though - he believes in it so passionately he's not willing to compromise.

WBA are a bit stupid though - the first thing I thought when I heard they'd signed him was about the poppy. They would know full well that the anthems are a pre match ritual and could have see this coming from a mile away if they had any prescience. Name him on the subs bench and bring him on early.

Mc1 - weren't we going to do battle in IKTS this year? I recall you talking some smack at some point, which obviously gave us all a laugh.

If you lose you have to put a video on youtube of you listening to God Save the Queen.

In for ITKS and FF

damn I love Bill Burr

I'm interested in obtaining Arsenal-Liverpool ticket for Aug 22 matchday. What's the best site to get one for a neutral? Or can I just buy them in London the day of the game?

The best advice I can give is to search google for tickets, as I don't believe Arsenal have an affiliation with a 3rd party seller I.e stub hub.

And expect to pay a premium with the Liverpool match being 4/19 with regards to Arsenal's biggest home matches.

One thing going for you though is that a lot of supporters will be on holiday so you may find it easier to obtain tickets.

On "James McClean should just suck it up rather than creating a scene":

From what I can tell of the people who say this, they will reflexively condemn anything that stirs up this type of debate, because they know it brings out the horrible and the stupid on both sides. Some justify the view as a consequence of the maxim "politics has no place in sport" (which I agree with) but this is a smokescreen because anybody who truly believes this would surely object to the observing of national anthems in sport in the first place. Get rid of this ridiculous tradition and thereby stop putting players in this awkward position - the obvious solution if you want to keep politics out of it. The problem is that an even bigger debate would likely occur before this change could ever be affected. People don't want that debate due to aforementioned horribleness and stupidity and also because in the current climate, it's futile (national anthems are here to stay in sport, at least for now). Hence they castigate James McClean for taking a principled stand, rather than criticise why he was ever put in that position in the first place. It's really quite selfish when you think about it.

The other thing I think people are missing is that there really wasn't a middle ground for James McClean. I can't think of anything he could have done - including not taking the field for the anthems (if that would even have been possible) - that wouldn't have drawn criticism from some people. He wasn't being inflammatory (LOL at anybody who thinks turning 90 degrees shows that intent and double LOL for anybody who is actually offended) so he gets a free pass from me to do whatever he thinks is best. As it happens, I'd go further and commend him for taking the principled course of action. I doubt very much that he enjoy the attention.

FWIW, I'm English but against nationalism in general, although I don't think either of these things inform my opinion here. My opinion is the logical consequence of the view that politics doesn't belong in sport.

Gueye turns up at Villa and delivers a sick burn.

sorry but im not going to sit here and let you talk about mc1 in that manner

So Sterling scored 3 minutes into his city preseason debut?