Alistair Walker

Ex-sheet metalworker. Ex-Laboratory cleaner. Atheist. Ex-pool player. Like darts, but Love Leeds United and archery.

[Jonathan Pie @JonathanPieNews]

I think this picture sums up the current political landscape of the UK fairly accurately.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@theadelites Superb piece Adonis. 👏

[Suffragent @Suffragent_]

Many people called these 12-year-old girls far-right, racist thugs - even though they’re children.

Turns out they were defending themselves against pervy migrants.

Many people need to apologise and delete their accounts.

[Mr Miyagi @MrKeisukeMiyagi]

URGENT BREAKING🚨

Flood warnings in Southampton.
The local council has asked residents to man up and stop crying.
#saintsfc #EPL #skysportsnews

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@Suffragent_ Lowe

[Mr Miyagi @MrKeisukeMiyagi]

A friend of mine got caught masturbating in the showers today…. That really ruined our trip to Auschwitz #tommytank #jerkingthegherkin

[Mr Miyagi @MrKeisukeMiyagi]

Fucking Hell! The price of grooming products is getting ridiculous, 70p for a small tube of Smarties! #fucktheeconomy

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

Lmao

[Mr Miyagi @MrKeisukeMiyagi]

#CFC spent day going down faster than ladyboys in a Thai crackhouse. Those ladyboys had bigger balls too.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@theadelites Full strength.
The fringe players starting in the cup, got us this far, with regulars coming on if needed.
Let those fringe players start in the cup again.
League starters for Bournemouth.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@theadelites Only a visitor on holiday would buy one of them, surely.

[Adonis Storr @theadelites]

In 2019 #LUFC’s then manager Marcelo Bielsa sent a scout to watch Derby train ahead of their upcoming fixture.

The scout stood on a public footpath and took a few notes.

The modern equivalent of a dark ages witch hunt followed, spurred on by hyperbolic pundits.

Keith Andrews accused Bielsa of not giving a damn and not adapting to the culture of England.

In fact, Bielsa explained in a 45 minute impromptu press conference that he cared too much.

In the extraordinary presser, Bielsa broke down a tactical analysis of Derby - showing that he had amassed such an unprecedented amount of information and statistics on them - that the training session the scout watched could give him no extra information that he didn’t already have.

Bielsa explained that he sent the scout anyway because if he didn’t do everything he possibly could - within the rules - to help Leeds win, then he would feel irreconcilable guilt.

And after spy gate had been investigated by the EFL - and Leeds were found to be in breach of the “spirit of the game” and fined £250,000 - Bielsa refused to let #LUFC pay and instead paid it out of his own pocket.

What was that Keith Andrews said about Bielsa not giving a damn and lacking respect?

Today, the ‘spirit of the game’ has never felt less vague.

Was it in ‘the spirit of the game’ to drag Bielsa’s name through dirt on every show throughout the spy gate scandal?

And where is the ‘spirit of the game’ now, with football club-owners-cum-charlatans taking fans for a ride on their get-rich-quick schemes of stripping a community’s cherished possession of its assets and selling to the highest bidder?

Where is the spirit of the game in agent payments and state-funded sports-washing?

Or in the ceaseless betting advertisements that ruin lives?

Or Man City’s 115 charges and the PSR hypocrisy that fails to create a level playing field - PSRs sole reason for existence?

Is VAR in the spirit of the game?

Is making away supporters travel 100s of miles at midnight in the spirit of the game?

I’m not sure I have ever seen, I’m not sure I’ll ever likely see, a more erroneous use of the term and law being applied to punish a club.

Those few weeks in 2019 were bizarre. The media made an avalanche out of a snowflake and pundits and wannabe coaches got paid to lambast Bielsa from the rafters.

And after hearing about how Marcelo has revolutionised the game wherever he went and was idolised by the world’s best coaches. And after seeing Leeds United become “everyone’s second team (for the first time in the club’s existence)”- these pundits and analysts finally had a reason to tear Bielsa down off that pedestal and they did so with relish.

They talked of Bielsa in the scathing tones usually only reserved for war criminals.

Yet his only crime was that he sent someone to stand on a public footpath and watch a football team train because if he didn’t he’d feel guilty.

It was a ridiculous moment for the culture and the irony was compounded when Leeds and Bielsa won the FIFA Fair Play Award for letting Aston Villa score a goal in another bizarre story for another time.

If anyone embodies ‘the spirit of the game’ it is Marcelo Bielsa - or at least, football would be lucky to embody his spirit.

The Argentine will be back in the country this month as his Uruguay side play England.

Tonight, Keith Andrews returns to Elland Road as manager of Brentford.

A timely reminder of what Andrews’ said about Bielsa during spy gate ⤵️

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@GrahamSmyth It's got to be a joke, right?

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@LUFC Start other players, and sub them on after they've done whatever they do. Piroe has never stopped a game for it before. Failing that, start the game after they've done. Just don't stop the game. All the time wasting is bad enough.

[Suffragent @Suffragent_]

WOW‼️The brilliant Trevor Phillips says Labour are SABOTAGING the grooming gang inquiry — because they don't wanna lose Muslim votes or admit the abuse happened under Labour-run councils.

"They're downplaying the intersection of race and sexual predation for their own gain.” 🇬🇧

[Rikki Doolan @realrikkidoolan]

Christian Premier League footballer Cody Gakpo got publically reprimanded by the @fa @premierleague for revealing a vest written ‘I Belong To Jesus’ after scoring a goal, for breaking their rules on religious expression.

Yet billboards are displaying messaging about the Islamic faith and games are being stopped for fasting breaks.

This is not equality!

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

Every time I go out in the car, I feel less like a driver, and more like a pothole acquisition and evasion manager.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@theadelites Perri still very good shot stopper.
I think he just needs this season to adapt, and learn. If he's still here next season, he could be a lot better.
A lot of players struggle first season.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@theadelites Buonanotte's first touch hasn't been very good considering how talented he's supposed to be.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@mightywhitespod Thought he'd use this opportunity to rest GG, and play Byram.

[Alistair Walker @8ballali]

@iGerLynch They're sacking their most successful manager, after buying him the huge centre-forward that suits his methods. 😂🤣