D1rk

I mainly rant about football but enjoy most sports, history, politics & all sorts of other delights

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

We've all been there... 😂

[B/R Football @brfootball]

Marco Reus knows 😂

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@utdrobbo I have no idea how Matterface got the job. They gave up Clive Tyldsley.

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@UTDPatron @Muppetiers Live in a world where people can spout bollocks, get views and money

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@UnitedStandMUFC @FabrizioRomano Glad i dont follow this shite now. People just spout shit to gain followers...its a no-win situation for a club

This mug has made money from being a knob

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@ZaidBalll A few years back there was a brilliant account who exposed a lot of the "ITK" accounts. It had a field day with Ross and others. Sadly it got banned and fell away

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@Adroit_Cadet I think stat wise it appears Santos is similar to Tchouameni - a good shield but not much a progressive passer

Given the seeming lack of real world class CMs I wouldnt mind a mid 4 of:

Kobbie, Ederson, Santos and Wharton. Some good combos there.

Part of me wants Bouaddi tho...

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

To be clear, if you're a Somali who doesn't work and doesn't integrate, you're BAD. If you're a Somali who does work and does integrate, to the point that you're an elected official proudly serving your community, also BAD.

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

Not to once suggest his emotion isnt real, and maybe because he is captain, but would have thought it would be Ruben Neves doing this

[ITV Football @itvfootball]

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal pay tribute 🇵🇹

One year on from Diogo Jota’s passing… he is still in our thoughts forever 🕊️

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@utdrobbo I'd be really happy with Tchouameni, Baleba, Ederson and Hall with hopefully a decent backup striker too

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@Merlin3711 @AAtma777 @utdrobbo Wouldnt argue the point...as you said initially you cant win

£85m. Game has gone mental.

[CentreGoals. @centregoals]

💔✉️ The gutwrenching letter Yan Diomande wrote to his late sister:

"Dear Roxane,

"Remember when somebody bought me a fake United jersey, and I wrote Ronaldo 7 on the back with the black marker?

"We didn’t know rich or poor. We just knew happiness.

"Remember 25 people sleeping in one house back in Abidjan? Mum wanted to watch her soap operas. Everyone else wanted to watch movies. Remember how I always used to fake like I was asleep and then go into the TV room after midnight? I’d put the TV on real low. Just like 2 volume bars. I’d watch football in the dark and dream.

"Remember when the adults saw me playing football in the dirt and nicknamed me “Roberto Carlos” because of how hard I would shoot? And remember how I was secretly so mad about it, because CR7 was my idol?

"Remember when I went to play so far from home? I was 9 years old. Inter Foot Sud Comoé, all the way near the Ghana border. Just a little boy on his own. I don’t know if I ever told you this story, but me and the other kids used to go into the village and steal potatoes because we were so hungry. We did a “bank heist.” Two kids distracting the shop owner, and 18 other kids running out with two potatoes. They weren’t even good. But they tasted amazing. Hahahah. It’s still my favorite thing to eat. Boiled potatoes with some oil. It reminds me of those times.

"Remember when I got my first real football boots, and I used to sleep with them? Growing up, I always played in those white plastic sandals. Even when I go back home now, I still play in them. It’s our tradition.

"Remember when I would come back home, and you would tell my friends from the neighborhood, “Why did you stop training? Yan is not going to buy you cars. You have to keep working.

"You were 10 years old, and already my agent.

"Remember how we used to sit and dream about moving to France? How we were going to go shopping and get our own apartment and I was going to be a rich footballer with cars and a big house, and you wouldn’t have to worry about nothing. You were the one who always believed that I could be the next Cristiano, when everybody else laughed.

"Remember when I moved to America for high school at 15, and I was so homesick? I didn’t know what anybody was saying for months. They sat me next to a French kid, and he tried to translate everything the teacher was saying. Remember when I called you, saying, “You won’t believe it, the kids here argue with teachers.

"Back home, you know we wouldn’t even dare to blink at our elders.

"Remember when I couldn’t believe the kids were smoking after school? You used to say it sounded like I was in an American TV show.

"Remember when they took me on trial at Bournemouth? At Chelsea, Rangers, Olympiacos, Crystal Palace? Eze and Olise even came up to me after one training and said, “Yo kid, you’re really good.”

"But they still didn’t sign me.

"Even the B teams in the MLS didn’t want me. I didn’t even know why. They never gave me a reason. The adults handled everything. They just kept taking me all around Europe, and everybody kept saying no.

"My visa was up. My dream was over. They sent me back to Africa, and we cried together.

"You were the one who never stopped believing. A few weeks later, I signed for Leganés and we cried different tears.

"That was back when I used to have emotions. Now, I don’t feel anything. It’s like I’m not even human. Since you died, I’m just blank.

"I don’t even think I shed a tear the day they told me that you were gone. I was just in shock.

"It was a few weeks after I made my debut for Leganés. Who makes their debut at 18 against Real Madrid? It was too crazy. It was a dream.

"And then it was a nightmare. Someone kept calling me from back home. I was annoyed. I didn’t understand why they kept calling me.

"I picked up, and they didn’t even soften it. You know how it is back home. No emotions. Just...

“Your sister is gone.”
“What?”
“She died.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Somebody put something in her drink at a party, and she never woke up. She is gone.”

"You were 15.

"15.

"I never got any answers. I don’t know if I want to know why. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it’s just something that happens in our country. Maybe I could have protected you. I don’t know.

"I try to trust God’s plan. It’s all I can do. I don’t try to forget, because I know I won’t forget. All I can do is use the pain to work harder, and to do everything we dreamed about.

"I wrote this because I can’t speak about it. I wrote this because I want you to know that I will make sure that you live on. I will make sure that everybody knows your name. The whole world.

"Everything I do on a football pitch, it’s for you.

"So much has happened since I last saw you…… You would not even believe it. I don’t know if I believe it.

"You know what’s crazy? After my debut against Madrid, I actually swapped shirts with Mbappé. Remember when we used to watch him on TV, and you’d say, 'Mbappé? Yeah, he’s good. But my brother is better.'

"I was wrong about one thing. I don’t want to be rich. I see what it does to people, even to family. When I was at Leganés, everything I was earning, I was sending home. It got to the point where I didn’t even want money anymore. It was just a burden. They never stopped asking. I guess they thought I was a millionaire already. I didn’t even have an apartment. I was living at the training ground in a room with no TV. Just football and sleep, football and sleep.

"I didn’t want a big house. I didn’t want cars. I just wanted to put everything into football. Everything to show the world that my sister was right...

"Ha…. you will think this is funny. When I moved to play at RB Leipzig, I was always late. Well, not late. But I was on time, which in Germany means you’re very late.

"So you already know what I did next. I started arriving 90 minutes early to everything. I was so early all the time that the guys started calling me 'The German.'

"I always have to overdo everything. I have zero chill. You always said that.

"The pitch is the only place that I feel at home anymore. It’s the place where I feel calm, and I can speak to you. I just wish you were still here so I could tell you….. We did it.

"Everything you said came true.

"We’re leaving for the World Cup tomorrow. For real. Your brother is going to play for Côte d'Ivoire, like Drogba, like Yaya, like Gervinho.

"I don’t even look at it like a game. I look at it like a stage. This is my chance to show the whole world what you saw in me. Every time I score, I’ll make sure everybody knows your name. I’ll make sure they don’t forget you.

"You always said that I could be better than Cristiano. If I see him there, I’ll tell him hello for you.

"I’m going to do what you predicted, I swear. Before I even had real boots, you were telling everybody, 'My brother is going to be the greatest in the world.'

"I will prove that you were right, or I will die trying...

Your brother,

Yan."

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@1776_kat @GBPolitcs Europe is in a far better state than America right now.

[pdb @nufcpb]

Duncan Ferguson reckons Algeria should just man mark Messi. Can’t believe no one has ever thought about that in the last 20 years

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@Muppetiers Can we add Felix Nmecha to the list? 🤣

[BBC Sport Scotland @BBCSportScot]

Just listen to this... 🥹

Goosebumps as the Scotland fans belt out Flower of Scotland at the World Cup 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🎶

#BBCFootball #FifaWorldCup

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

Andrew Mountbatten

Then the bile we have to read from Sarah Ferguson to Epstein

And now this from Lady Victoria Harvey

Abolish the monarchy, and throw in the aristocracy too.

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@Dxnilio @cesketo @cmtrackernet Not got latest transfers

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

For all of my life Russia has tried to decouple Europe from America and break the North Atlantic Alliance. It never succeeded. Instead it lost the Cold War, leaving NATO more powerful than ever. 

But now success is staring the Kremlin in the face. All thanks to Donald Trump. 

Denmark’s Prime Minister says that if Trump tries to take Greenland by force it would destroy NATO. He’s right, of course. The problem is President Trump doesn’t seem to care. 

Previous Presidents have toyed with the idea of acquiring Greenland. Harry Truman even made an offer in 1948 — $1.5 billion in today’s money, since you ask. The Danes turned him down. 

But Trump is the first President to threaten force if he can’t get what he wants by negotiation. 

Nobody should underestimate the catastrophic consequences for NATO if its leading member annexed the territory of a smaller member. It would be the abnegation of everything NATO is meant to stand for. 

Nobody denies Greenland is gaining in strategic importance to America. Melting ice is opening up new sea lanes around it of growing geopolitical and economic significance.

It sits almost midway in the Arctic region between Russia’s northern coast, with its intercontinental ballistic missile bases, and the US mainland. It is on the approach route to America should these missiles ever head this way. It’s why America already has a crucial Space Force base in Greenland. 

So when it comes to Greenland the US obviously has skin in the game. But the crucial point is that, in security terms, America can have whatever it wants in Greenland without annexing an ally against its will. 

After it turned down Truman, Denmark signed up to the 1951 Greenland Defence Agreement (renewed in 2004). It gives the US the right to build as many bases as it wants and station unlimited numbers of military folk there. During the Cold War around 15,000 US person were based in Greenland. It’s now 200. 

Trump claims Greenland is under threat from imminent takeover by China and/or Russia. It isn't, of course. 

They haven’t seen a Chinese ship up there for 12 years. But if Trump truly believes it, there's nothing to stop him from ramping up US military assets in Greenland back to Cold War levels or more.
Moreover his European Nato allies are on side – the defence of what's being called the 'High North' does need to be bolstered. That's why they sanctioned some extra troop deployments to Greenland last week, a small first step to increase Nato resources in the Arctic. 
But instead of welcoming the move, Trump inexplicably saw it as a threat to America, designed to thwart his ambition to grab Greenland. 
So he slapped penal tariffs on the UK and seven other NATO allies. He always puts higher tariffs on America’s friends than its enemies  
The Trump administration depicts Greenland as a defenceless frozen waste in danger of being picked off by NATO’s enemies. It’s a nonsense. 
Greenland is a self-governing Danish protectorate. As such it is fully covered by NATO security guarantees, including the all-important Article 5 — which says an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
Yet Trump still wants to grab Greenland, all part of his mission not just to be Imperial President of the USA but Imperial Overlord of the whole Western Hemisphere. 
In an almost deranged message to Norway’s prime minister today he even suggests he’s keener than ever because Norway denied him the Nobel Peace Prize.
There is no dealing with such nonsense. Europe and Canada will need to start preparing for a NATO without America, embracing all the extra defence spending that will entail. 
Under Trump America is on the brink of becoming the enemy, not our most important ally. As a lifelong supporter of the US it is chilling to write and say such words. 
The stakes could not be higher. As I speak there is despair in European capitals and delight in Moscow. That should tell you everything about the dangerous watershed we’ve now reached.

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@BBCMOTD @alanshearer Anyone got any analysis/insight as to why this was offside? 10 hrs later and still no clarity

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@ManUtd Didnt look offside...

[D1rk @DiRk__88]

@lauriewhitwell Certainly looks onside. Peculiar they never showed it - doesnt exactly give confidence in VAR process