phil ball

[The FSA @WeAreTheFSA]

Monday Night Football 2025/26

MNF fixtures are known until Mon 4th May (GW35) and it's a very uneven picture. #EFC and #MUFC a big draw for broadcasters but these unsocial slots cost travelling fans extra time off work etc.

We understood no club was meant to play more than 5 games in these Mon/Fri slots but that's clearly not happening and it's not fair on those supporters.

Both the broadcasters and Premier League have questions to answer on this and we'll be raising these TV/fixture issues at our upcoming supporter engagement meetings.

Broadcasters put a lot of money into the game but, as we saw through Covid, without a crowd football just isn't the same. Matchgoers deserve respect.

[Football Tweet ⚽ @Footballtweet]

🇦🇷🗣️ Marcelo Bielsa back in 2024: "I am sure that football is in a process of decline. It is becoming less and less attractive because what made it the best game in the world is not there anymore."

"If you let a lot of people watch football, but you don't protect the pleasure of what they watch, that favours business, because the business is that a lot of people watch football."

"For me, the introduction of technology (like VAR) does a lot of harm to football. This sport has a particularity: when it becomes completely predictable, it loses its appeal."

"As time passes, as fewer and fewer footballers are worth watching and as the game produced is less and less enjoyable, this artificial increase in the number of spectators will be interrupted."

Do you agree with Marcelo? 😳

[TheSecretScout @TheSecretScout_]

This is the controversial penalty given in the Fa youth cup game between Man City and Everton.

It was 0-0 at the time

[Keira Connolly @keira_con]

Wise words

“My name’s Frank. I’m 64, a retired electrician.
Forty-two years I spent running wires through houses, fixing breakers, making sure people had light in their kitchens and heat in their winters. Never once did anyone ask me where I went to college. Mostly, they just wanted to know if I could get the power back on before their ice cream melted.

Last May, I was at my granddaughter Emily’s school career day. You know the drill — doctors, lawyers, a software guy in a slick suit talking about “scaling startups.” I was the only one there with a tool belt and work boots.

When it was my turn, I told the kids, “I don’t have a degree. I’ve never sat in a lecture hall. But I’ve wired schools, hospitals, and your principal’s house. And when the hospital generator failed during a snowstorm in ’98, I was the one in the basement with a flashlight, keeping the lights on for newborn babies upstairs.”

The kids leaned forward. They had questions — real ones. “How do you fix stuff in the dark?” “Do you make a lot of money?” “Do you ever get zapped?” (Yes, once, and it’ll curl your hair.)

When the bell rang, one boy hung back. Small kid, freckles, hoodie too big for him. He mumbled, “My uncle’s a plumber. People laugh at him ’cause he didn’t finish high school. But… he’s the only one in the family who can fix anything.”

I looked that boy in the eye and said, “Kid, your uncle’s a hero. When your toilet overflows at midnight, Harvard ain’t sending anyone. A plumber is.”

Here’s the thing nobody told me when I was young — the world doesn’t run without tradespeople. You can have all the engineers you want, but if nobody builds the house, wires the power, or lays the pipes, those blueprints just sit in a drawer.

We’ve made it sound like trades are what you do if you can’t go to college, instead of a path you choose because you like working with your hands, solving problems, and seeing your work stand solid for decades.

Four years after high school, some kids walk away with diplomas. Others walk away with zero debt, a union card, and a skill they can take anywhere in the world. And guess what? When your furnace dies in January, it’s not the diploma that saves you.

A few weeks ago, that same freckled kid’s mom stopped me at the grocery store. She said, “You probably don’t remember, but you told my son trades are important. He’s shadowing his uncle this summer. First time I’ve seen him excited about anything in years.”

That’s the part we forget — for some kids, knowing their path is respected changes everything. It’s not about “just” fixing wires or pipes. It’s about pride. Purpose. The kind that sticks with you long after the job’s done.

So next time you meet a teenager, don’t just ask, “Where are you going to college?” Ask, “What’s your plan?” And if they say, “I’m learning to weld,” or “I’m starting an apprenticeship,” smile big and say, “That’s fantastic. We’re going to need you.”

Because we will. More than ever. And when the lights go out, you’ll be glad they showed up.”

[Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson]

The death of British industry is not inevitable.
It is a choice.
An ideologically driven choice made by Net Zero muppet Miliband.
Labour has given us the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world.
Save our industry!

[Based Jessica @RealJessica]

A coal-fired power plant in China's Sichuan province.

China now emits more CO2 than the USA, Europe, Canada, Japan and South Korea combined.

Meanwhile, Europe is regulating their manufacturing out of business to "save the planet". It is all ridiculous. They close their factories in Europe, move to China, then pay for the ocean shipping to transport the finished products to Europe ... that is their solution? How does that make any sense?

All they are doing is transferring their wealth to China and making everyone in Europe and the USA poor. Bring back manufacturing to Europe and the USA. Stop this insanity.

[Lee Harris @LeeHarris]

Petition: *DO NOT INTRODUCE DIGITAL ID CARDS*

An Incredible 185,820 signatures already!

Signed. This MUST NOT be allowed to happen!

https://t.co/EhPqarcLlZ

[george coley @coleyg15]

@SkySportsPL How come the ref waited with his hand on his ear & then blew & gave the pen. Was he getting info? surely the first decision should be his opinion then let VAR get involved.

[Scott Lewis @Scott_Lewis82]

The UK doesn’t create anything.

No one wakes up in Shanghai, Lagos, or Dubai thinking: “I need something from Britain.”

Once, this country forged ships, steel, locomotives. Now we export Netflix actors and HR departments.

Finance isn’t real, GDP is smoke.

It’s just numbers about numbers bankers trading made up money for imaginary value.

We don’t build, don’t innovate.

We don’t produce anything the world actually wants or needs.

Meanwhile, the average Brit is told they’re “productive” because they spent 9 hours on a Zoom call about inclusive language while sipping a £4.80 oat milk flat white.

Wake up. Productivity is creation.

If you aren’t building, planting, protecting, or selling you’re just noise.

[John Redwood @johnredwood]

In the 1980 s when we privatised businesses most were protected from foreign takeover by a government retained golden share. It was a big mistake by the Blair government to give into the EU and to give up all those shares.

[Katie Lam @Katie_Lam_MP]

The Government rejected a national inquiry into rape gangs and promised five local ones instead.

Months later, we still know almost nothing about them.

Victims, survivors and the British public deserve better. They deserve justice.

Please be aware, some of this is graphic.

[Richard Tice MP 🇬🇧 @TiceRichard]

I urge the Government to nationalise British Steel from the Chinese who are abandoning it.

Blast furnace raw materials need ordering in the next ten days or so.

Just ten Labour MPs turned up for this vital debate to save British Steel - shameful.

[Simon @SG_EFC]

@SkySportsNews And there it is as expected.. Sky supporting their favoured 6 to unsettle players.. An England manager only interested in the club badge not the player.. Cant not wait for England to fail miserably as they always have in the past when their manager takes this view 🤣

[The 1878s @The1878s]

What an honour and privilege to be invited down to our new stadium this morning by @Everton to be interviewed live on @BBCBreakfast

What a gentleman Beto is 💙

[Iain Crawford @CrawfordTartan]

There needs to be an urgent enquiry.
MoTD highlighted that this VAR team did NOT show the ref the angles that clearly show two shirt pulls enough to slow Ashley’s run. They ONLY showed the angle that could give the ref cause for any doubt . This is match fixing , is it not?

[Adam Bennett @adbennoEFC]

Today was the day the Premier League told the world they can’t have the threat of Manchester United being relegated hanging over them.

That officiating today was a total fucking disgrace.

[Ell Bretland @EllBretland]

Beto’s goal went in and my natural reaction was to hesitate. Then I stood clueless for five minutes. Then I celebrate getting an added time penalty, then another pause.

It’s not football and all 20 fanbases need to protest for its removal.

[St George's Hall @SGHLpool]

New event: An evening with Duncan Ferguson⚽💙

Join Duncan Ferguson for a special live event celebrating his first book, BIG DUNC: The Upfront Autobiography!

📅Wednesday 7th May 7:30pm - 9:00pm
🎟️ https://t.co/VhvubY4nRd

@LinghamsBooks @BookaBookshop