Albert Quixall

The Last Ronin. Quite a slow paced film about one (two actually) of the ronin who survived the mass suicide of the Ako retainers who took revenge on Lord Kira. One was a messenger who, during the battle, went from place to place relaying Squire Oishi's messages to the various units. Instead of dying with the remainder, he was ordered to take care of the families of the ronin, which he duly did for the next 16 years. The second supposedly fled the night before the battle and was branded a coward. In fact Squire Oishi had entrusted him with the care of his illegitimate infant daughter, telling him to raise her and see her married to a rich merchant. This he eventually did, but not before encountering the messenger who still believed him a coward. When the truth comes out, it leads to a powerful climax which, unfortunately, can be guessed at halfway through the film. Sword of Desperation. A decent enough film. A samurai kills his lord's mistress in front of him. Instead of being beheaded for the murder, he is sentenced to exile in his home with only a young maidservant to help him. Upon his release, he is given an important job guarding the lord who still hates him for his crime. The lord is at odds with his reform-minded brother, an expert swordsman, and the lord fears that one day, the brother will take his life. Behind the scenes, the chief retainer is scheming to make sure the brother never takes power which puts the brother on a collision course with the samurai guard. The swordplay at the end is brutal and we get to see the one technique the samurai has that will defeat all comers, but at great cost. The sword of desperation.

Didn't he turn us down when we tried to sign him from Leeds all those years ago?

Smart move turning down Arsenal when he did.

Buyers these days are looking for fast money and buying Wigan won't guarantee that. Maybe the knew owners thought that buying an English team was a licence to print money, as others have done and they failed to do their homework properly.

It used to be. Cup Final day was one of the highlights of the year, especially when we were in the final. Waxing nostalgic for a minute, if you were lucky enough to watch United at the old Wembley in a cup final. it is a memory to be cherished. 100,000 people in full voice was very loud and the old Wembley had good acoustics. I don't like the new stadium or the fact that semi-finals are played there. It was a privilege for a club to get to the old stadium but now it feels like a cynical attempt to cash in. United v. Chelsea should be played at Villa Park, a decent half-way point for both sets of fans (or their cardboard cut-outs). This one is in Chelsea's back garden, or near enough.

Another club from the North-West takes a hit. Wigan, not too long ago conquerors of City at Wembley, are facing insolvency and a 12-point deduction, that will relegate them. The new owners, who bought out Whelan, dipped their toes in the water and have concluded that the club is not a viable financial prospect. Of course blame will be placed on Covid, Brexit, and what have you but you have to wonder what they were thinking when they bought the club in the first place, just four months ago. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/01/wigan-go-into-administration-four-weeks-after-hong-kong-takeover

Shame Souness is no longer in management. Your wish could come true.

Dividends still paid. Wait until they sell Pogba and then pocket the fee. Ole might get a few crumbs.

It took us 26 years to bag our 8th title. We never won the old First Division after 1967. We went from being Champions of Europe in 1968 to relegation in the space of 6 years. We've repeated a lot of the same mistakes since Fergie left. It didn't have to be that way but, despite the club telling us a plan was in place for Fergie's retirement, there really wasn't, unless you count Moyes and his crew. We've seen it all before. The current team, manager, and DOF are not good enough to win another title and I don't think they ever will be. Top four trophy is the limit of our ambition now.

I did see that. Busby was the same way with Tommy Doc, at least to a certain extent. He vetoed transfers (Shilton) and had a say in how much players were paid. Moyes was out of his depth. I don't think Gill would have made that much difference because Moyes didn't want to listen. Woodward is here for the duration. As long as the Glazers stick around, so will he. We will have to become a football irrelevance before the Glazers sell.

I thought we did and Woodward tried to sell him that 'Disneyland for adults' crap that turned him right off. They'll catch us and pass us before we're anywhere near mounting a challenge for the title again. People don't want to hear that but we are so fractured, it will take another Busby or Ferguson to get us back on track. To be fair, Fergie played a large part in it. So did Matt Busby when we turned to shit after 1969. Both of them didn't want to face building another team from the ground up and left the new boss with a multitude of problems. Plus both handed the managerial role over to men who were nowhere near big enough for the job.

FFS. Somebody put a hex on him. That's the only explanation I can come up with that makes any sense. Even Hargreaves wasn't injured as many times as Jones. And we're stuck with him for another three years unless someone makes an offer for him and that isn't likely to happen, unless a medical school wants him for experimentation purposes.

Coaching problem that can be ironed out as long as the player has the capacity to take instructions.

I haven't read all of them but the ones I have read are very good. I read the first three in the series. I've never seen any of the Pirates of the Caribbean series and probably never will. I prefer Errol Flynn as Captain Blood to Johnny Depp.

Some good choices there mate. Going to watch the original Taking of Pelham 123 with Robert Shaw and Assault on Precinct 13. Haven't seen them in ages.