Messages

1

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 11:10:54 PM »

Manchester United's recruitment under Solskjaer has been quite good but as a manager he's totally out of his depth

They are currently in a similar enough situation to the one Liverpool were in towards the end of Roy Evans's tenure

It's obvious they need a new manager but for purely sentimental reasons they're desperately trying to fool themselves into believing that Solskjaer is the answer, he isn't, and they know it, he knows it, everybody knows it

Pochettino hasn't taken a job since leaving Tottenham, he's clearly holding on for the Manchester United job, but he won't wait forever

Manchester United would very quickly become a very serious force with him in charge

You rate Poch a little too highly is you really believe that. Regardless of manager the Glazers, Woodward and the board will remain the main issue with United.

Yeah, it's questionable that any manager out there is capable of taking the club back to the top under the current ownership.

Money is spent, but with no real vision or consistent direction. Everything is haphazard, panicked, delayed, or done for the wrong reasons.

Investment is routinely deferred until long after it's necessary, resulting in gross overpayments when the need becomes blindingly obvious. Even then, transfer sagas can run for months, or even across windows, because of penny-pinching over the last few percent.

That wiff of desperation to plug gaps in the squad will grow stronger over the next couple of weeks, and any player the club attempt to sign will have a few extra million thrown onto their price tag. The same happens every transfer window. Silly games of brinkmanship that always result in United eventually overpaying and Woodward coming away looking like a tit.

But there's no urgency to do things better, because as long as the CL cash is coming in none of this really matters.

Arsenal's board is the worst of all yet they stumbled upon the right appointment in Arteta and now things are looking up for them

Manchester United have nobody there who really knows what they're doing, so they stumble along

Pochettino does know what he's doing - the organisation of a football club is about leadership and persuasion, which he has in spades - once you have a manager who knows what he's doing on the football side of things, won't tolerate shit and has a clear direction, everything flows from there

He took over Tim Sherwood's shambolic Tottenham team and turned them into title contenders in less than two years, and reached a Champions League final

All on a shoestring compared to what Manchester United have to spend

It's mental they haven't gone for him yet - but I expect he'll be there before the end of this season - few other top jobs are likely to become available in that time, bar maybe Tottenham, who he would be unlikely to return to, Barcelona, who won't appoint him and who he wouldn't join, or perhaps Chelsea, who have their own Solskjaer minus the likeable personality

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General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 09:42:16 PM »

I didn’t see the game so won’t comment on it but the question maybe has to be asked whether there is any draw to United the way there used to be? Ole is not the most inspiring manager, also doesn’t seem to have a whole pile of control. They can throw all the money they want at players but they’re not close to being a challenging team. They’re in the no mans land that LFC were in after Kenny quit

That's where the right managerial appointment comes in

Under Pochettino Manchester United would become a serious draw for top players

Look how Klopp turned it around at Liverpool

Players suddenly wanted to go there

Manchester United because of what they are as a club will always have the potential for a quick turnaround

3

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 09:36:42 PM »

Was thinking the same earlier. United now akin to Liverpool around 96-98. United now have the players equivalent to the likes of Calamity James, Collymore, Redknapp, Matteo, Bjornbye, Babb, Ruddock...ie. just not good enough.

The current United team hasn't been as close to challenging as that Liverpool team - Liverpool had two genuine chances of winning the league in '96 and particularly '97 but weren't good enough

But they're in a better position monetarily so the future is brighter for them

One decent managerial appointment makes all the difference now

Liverpool went into a serious malaise around '98 - that was the point where they became properly seen as an also ran rather than a natural title-winning club, and despite some memorable trophy wins and a couple of title challenges over the next two decades they never properly emerged from it until Klopp came along

Houllier wasn't the right appointment for Liverpool

Benitez was but the game was stacked against him

Rodgers almost performed a miracle on the back of arguably the best player ever to play for Liverpool

But they were always winging it

4

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 09:25:42 PM »

Ian Rush

Rush was never quite the same when he came back

Aldridge remained first choice in 88/89 and it was really only as a sub in the FA Cup final against Everton that the old Rush sparkle surfaced again

He had two decent enough seasons after that but not as good as the pre-1987 period when he was the best striker in the world

By 91/92 he was firmly past his best, as were Liverpool

5

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 09:14:59 PM »

Has there ever been a case of a player sold and was brought back and was a success?

Mark Hughes?

Gerard Pique

Matic at Chelsea

Peter Beardsley at Newcastle

Liam Coyle at Derry City

6

General discussion / Re: Man Utd Thread:

« on: September 19, 2020, 09:10:26 PM »

Manchester United's recruitment under Solskjaer has been quite good but as a manager he's totally out of his depth

They are currently in a similar enough situation to the one Liverpool were in towards the end of Roy Evans's tenure

It's obvious they need a new manager but for purely sentimental reasons they're desperately trying to fool themselves into believing that Solskjaer is the answer, he isn't, and they know it, he knows it, everybody knows it

Pochettino hasn't taken a job since leaving Tottenham, he's clearly holding on for the Manchester United job, but he won't wait forever

Manchester United would very quickly become a very serious force with him in charge

7

GAA Discussion / Re: GAA Response to Coronavirus

« on: September 19, 2020, 08:57:30 PM »

So what exactly is the rule on Covid outbreak
I know that Horan recently said that if a county has a case week of championship game
Then they are out
Is this still the case?
Fair chance that Dublin won’t be winning Leicester or AI if that’s the case

I'd accept that if it meant I'd get to see Philly McMahon poleaxing Jamie Vardy

8

General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: September 19, 2020, 12:58:02 PM »

It's likely that the Dems win the Senate and Presidency
The way the SC is chosen is not a law of nature. It will have to be changed to deal with issues such as climate change.

If Biden wins and the Democrats take the senate - and that appears a long shot to me at this stage - the Democrats should expand the Supreme Court to 15 and ram through the most left-wing justices they can find, as well as massively expanding the judiciary nationwide as a whole - which is already long overdue

And make DC and Puerto Rico states

The reality is that as long as the Democrats don't have the presidency and the senate, another liberal justice will never again be approved

If Biden wins and the Democrats take the senate, the gloves need to come off, it needs to be absolute war, and the right-wing needs to be totally obliterated - because the right-wing wants to totally obliterate democracy and any sort of reason

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General discussion / Re: The Many Faces of US Politics...

« on: September 19, 2020, 01:23:06 AM »

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.

And there goes the election, and whatever is left of American democracy with it, because the election will probably end up in the Supreme Court

The last five years feels like a very unfunny joke

100% certain Trump will railroad a joke justice through now

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General discussion / Re: Documentaries

« on: September 19, 2020, 01:14:14 AM »

The assertion was that many hawks in the RUC/UDR wanted to escalate violence and indiscrimate sectarian killing in order to bring matters to a point of civil war. The UVF decided that shooting up a school in Beleek was a bridge to far, and I never rhought Id say it, but fair play to the person or persons at that meeting who influenced that outcome!

Things were bad, very bad, but had that event been sanctioned the troubles would have got ten times worse. Every moderate on both sides would have stepped up to get involved.

There was nothing so bad that could not have been worse,  but that's not a comforting factor. The bad stuff that was enacted was state sanctioned, that's the bad part of it. When all the forces of the state are fully employed in enacting the atrocities in order to save the state, there is no fall back to what is commonly understood to be justice.
The 'your side is just as bad as our side' is not an argument when the State sanctions atrocity.

The implications are, or at least should be worse when it is state sanctioned, as opposed to a group like the IRA - but the hurt inflicted on the families of the victims is equal no matter who commits an atrocity

There is no resort to justice when the state sanctions atrocity but the IRA were subject to the so called justice of the state.
Even a moron like yourself  should be able to tell the diffference and how the scales of "justice" served was perceived.

Thanks for the insult

It's not an argument though

What I object to on this thread is the clear implication that because the British state engaged in appalling atrocities, that therefore Joanne Mathers, Patsy Gillespie, the workmen on the minibus at Kingsmills, the members of the Irish Collie Club, the attendees at an Enniskillen Remembrance Sunday ceremony, worshippers at Darkley, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry all "had it coming to them"

That is the implication that has run through at least some posts

They didn't "have it coming to them", no more than the Reaveys did

Also, the Good Friday Agreement meant that many victims of the IRA did not see justice served

Stating all that is far from "moronic" and very far from being on the side of the murderous British state

However on this forum, if you add any bit of nuance at all, there will always be somebody who has no intention of ever facing up to the reality that the IRA/INLA caused incredible pain to many totally innocent people, calling you a "moron"

11

General discussion / Re: Documentaries

« on: September 19, 2020, 12:57:01 AM »

Eugene Reavey’s dignity in the face of the most brutal circumstances is admirable. His message of peace and reconciliation is something I don’t think I’d be able to reciprocate had I been in his shoes. Likewise Alan Brecknell.

I found it very strange some years back when Joe Brolly wrote about the Reavey murders in detail one week - I think as a rebuttal to a vague suggestion by Jarlath Burns that the Irish flag might not be flown at GAA matches - Brolly was asserting that the GAA should not lose its essential Irish nationalist identity - and then the next week he vilified the Creggan Kickhams club because some of Peadar Heffron's team mates did not support his decision to join the PSNI in early 2002

It was appalling what happened to Heffron when he had his life ruined by a car bomb - but Brolly did not seem to understand how a lot of Catholics would have had deep suspicion of the PSNI, at least in the early part of its existence, and that that was a totally legitimate opinion to have

I couldn't understand Brolly's stance - even though I think Heffron's decision to join the PSNI was a brave decision which I think was ultimately vindicated - because the new force required people like him to take such courageous decisions if it was to have any chance of being successful

However I could certainly understand how some people would not have felt the same way at the time

12

General discussion / Re: Documentaries

« on: September 19, 2020, 12:41:59 AM »

So after all that not a sniff of a follow up from RTE, Newstalk, Indo, Times, Miriam O Callaghan, Matt Cooper, Ivan Yates and the rest of our media heros. 120 people accused murdered by the British security forces and their chums and nothing.

Yet, prior to the 2020 General Election the Murder of Paul Quinn was brought up and his family used to bash Sinn Fein and that was across the board on all platforms, wall to wall coverage.

So is there anyone out there that is still stupid enough to believe that the mainstream media in this country are anything but corrupt lackies of the powers that be?

Nobody gave a sh*t about Paul Quinn during that whole disgraceful agenda. It was actually vile to see that being played out in public for a particular political end.

It was completely legitimate to bring up the Paul Quinn murder, as it was the Robert McCartney murder, and the Northern Bank robbery

Sinn Fein still have serious questions to answer as regards all of these, they have not convinced in the answers they have given, Mary Lou McDonald couldn't answer the questions put to her abut the Paul Quinn case and Conor Murphy when she was asked these questions in the final election debate earlier this year - and it's not as if she didn't have advance warning she would be asked about it

Ascribing bad faith motives onto others for your own self serving, bad faith reasons is not an argument, it's total deflection

That is as bad faith a motive as it would be if somebody from the British government ascribed a bad faith motive to the makers of Unquiet Graves

13

General discussion / Re: Documentaries

« on: September 19, 2020, 12:33:36 AM »

The assertion was that many hawks in the RUC/UDR wanted to escalate violence and indiscrimate sectarian killing in order to bring matters to a point of civil war. The UVF decided that shooting up a school in Beleek was a bridge to far, and I never rhought Id say it, but fair play to the person or persons at that meeting who influenced that outcome!

Things were bad, very bad, but had that event been sanctioned the troubles would have got ten times worse. Every moderate on both sides would have stepped up to get involved.

There was nothing so bad that could not have been worse,  but that's not a comforting factor. The bad stuff that was enacted was state sanctioned, that's the bad part of it. When all the forces of the state are fully employed in enacting the atrocities in order to save the state, there is no fall back to what is commonly understood to be justice.
The 'your side is just as bad as our side' is not an argument when the State sanctions atrocity.

The implications are, or at least should be worse when it is state sanctioned, as opposed to a group like the IRA - but the hurt inflicted on the families of the victims is equal no matter who commits an atrocity

14

GAA Discussion / Re: GAA Response to Coronavirus

« on: September 18, 2020, 10:22:01 PM »

Considering Armagh is under restrictions now, it might not be too long before zero fans are allowed into games in Athletic Grounds

Be grand for December 19th

Given it's the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, we could even have the RC and Church of Ireland Archbishops throwing in the ball for a half each

Would be a lovely throwback

15

General discussion / Re: China Coronavirus

« on: September 18, 2020, 10:09:00 PM »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/coronavirus-is-out-there-seeding-widely-and-things-will-get-worse-1.4357549

Case numbers started rising rapidly five weeks ago.

That increase is now a national trend, not just confined to Dublin.

Dublin, though, has an incidence three to five times higher than the rest of the country.

More older people are becoming infected; for example, the incidence among 65-74 year-olds, which fell to zero at one point over the summer, is now 23.6 cases per 100,000 population.

Case numbers are doubling every 10-14 days at current rates.

From a letter to The Irish Times on Wednesday:

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/covid-19-is-far-more-dangerous-than-flu-1.4354743

Sir, – The HSE has rejected the claims of Dr Martin Feeley (clinical director of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group) that Covid-19 is less serious than the annual flu and that people at low risk of the virus should be allowed to be exposed to it, which would enable the country to develop herd immunity (“HSE rejects senior doctor’s comments Covid-19 is ‘less severe’ than annual flu”, News, September 12th).

We fully support the HSE’s rejection of Dr Feeley’s opinions.

When it comes to Covid-19, we must where possible be led by data. On average, seasonal flu strains kill about 0.1 per cent of people who become infected. Current data indicates that Covid-19 is substantially more dangerous than flu. Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US, has given a death rate 10 times that of seasonal flu.

Regarding herd immunity, no country has explicitly advocated this approach because of the dangers it will entail. Recent seroprevalence studies indicate that 1.7 per cent of the Irish population has been infected with Sars-CoV-2 and there have been 1,784 deaths and many survivors with severe long-term effects of Covid-19. It has been estimated that at least 70 per cent of the population need to be infected (or immunised with a highly effective vaccine) to reach the critical threshold for herd immunity. Therefore, herd immunity through infection will come at price of substantially more morbidity and mortality from Covid-19 in the Irish population.

It would also be virtually impossible to protect vulnerable people, since a large proportion, as many as one in three, of the Irish population are in a high-risk group. Apart from older people, this includes those with heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Widespread infection would also likely give rise to people with debilitating persistent symptoms.

Since he is advocating for herd immunity, can Dr Feeley give an upper limit of the likely number of deaths that would be acceptable if a herd immunity approach were to be taken?

We are in a most important phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is essential that commentators base their statements on current science as best they can. Otherwise they are in danger of misleading the general public or providing support for those who support disinformation for political ends. – Yours, etc,

LUKE O’NEILL, PhD

MRIA FRS;

DAVID McCONNELL,

PhD, MRIA;

KINGSTON MILLS,

PhD, MRIA;

TOMÁS RYAN, PhD

Trinity College Dublin,

Dublin 2.

Let's do some maths

There are 4.8 million people in the saorstát

1.7% of that is 81,600 - that's how many the experts above think have got Covid to date

We've had 1,784 deaths as of the other day

1,784 as a percentage of 81,600 is 2.18% of a death rate for those infected

70% of 4.8 million = 3.36 million - that's the figure you'd need to be infected for herd immunity, in theory

2.18% of 3.36 million = 73,248

So under the herd immunity the internet experts want you could be looking at a death toll of 73k

Even under more generous assumptions, ie, a death rate of 1%, or even 0.5%, you're looking at a pretty monstrous toll under this crazy plan

None of this takes a big brain, it's basic maths

And we don't even know whether herd immunity exists - it seems that most experts assume immunity of maybe 2 to 3 years - but we don't yet know for sure - and there have now been documented cases of re-infection, even if extremely rare so far

If 1.7% of the population has so far been infected, you'll be waiting a long, long time to reach 70% - we're now over six months into this thing

Let's be generous and assume for the purposes of argument 10% of the population has been infected - you'll still be waiting a long time to reach 70% - unless you let the virus rip - and then you overwhelm the health system and the death rate goes way up

Herd immunity as an idea is hare brained, but the internet experts and libertarian zealots seem to like it

Libertarianism as an idea is also hare brained and beloved of internet experts, so these ideas go nicely together, they tend to come as a pair