John Bates

Husband, Dad, parkrunner, Man City fan and ex Fang Farrier

[The Warning Daily @TheWarningDaily]

Irish band Dea Matrona will be opening for The Warning at their concert in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 28, 2026.

[Erling Haaland @Erling]

All aboard! 🚣‍♂️🇳🇴

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

The irony of Burnham's bollocks about Right to Buy and council housing is that the secret of Manchester's housing success was literally the exact opposite - prioritising maximum private building over number of subsidised units. Here's (Labour) council leader Richard Leese.

[Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound]

Further to Blair. Literally every honest sensible person in all the main parties privately agrees with all these propositions:

- welfare spending is too high and is throwing good people on the scrapheap
- defence spending is too low
- the triple lock is unsustainable
- without cheap energy we cannot exploit the AI revolution
- we should be investing in EVERY form of energy: renewables, nuclear and the North Sea
- migration needs to be controlled to boost social cohesion and because the boats look like a huge failure of the state
- any new relationship with the EU will be imposed on us until we are stronger and cannot involve the closeness some desire without freedom of movement
- we are deeply embedded with America in ways which the public does not understand and cannot be told and however joyous it makes us feel to hate Trump, disengagement at the deep state level is not only wholly unrealistic but also undesirable
- Whitehall needs a total overhaul so specific project expertise and political appointees can be brought in quickly

Blair basically says all that.

The one thing he doesn’t say and which the same group of people agree on is this and it’s something Blair left behind:

- judges and quangos have too much power, are unaccountable and without redressing the balance in favour of parliament it is very difficult to do anything big fast
- the bare minimum that needs to change in this regard is to reform judicial review and planning law so we can put building and economic growth ahead of newts and NIMBYs

None of that above really ought to be up for discussion. It is all common sense but not one of our politicians will publicly say all of it

Whatever you think of Blair, engage with what he’s saying not how he makes you feel. The bare minimum we should expect from any leader is that they have an analysis of the current situation and a plan to deal with it which is as coherent and realistic as his intervention. Pretty well every critique I’ve read so far has failed to meet this requirement.

Over to Andy and Keir and Kemi and Nigel and Zack and all the others

[ibukun' oluwadamilola @ibukun_dami]

Pep Guardiola winning his 20th trophy at Manchester City feels bigger than silverware now because at this point, Pep is no longer just a successful manager.

-He is an era.
-A football ideology.
-A tactical reference point for an entire generation and English football will never look the same again because of him. A thread 🧵

When Pep arrived in England in 2016, there was genuine scepticism. People said:

“He only succeeds with elite teams.”

“His football is too idealistic for England.”

“The Premier League is too fast and physical.”

“Cold rainy nights” and all the usual clichés.

What followed was one of the greatest tactical invasions English football has ever seen. Pep did not merely win in England. He changed England. Look at the league before and after him.

Before Pep:
-transitions dominated
-chaos was celebrated
-technical midfielders were secondary
-build-up play was inconsistent

After Pep, everyone suddenly wanted:
-ball-playing centre-backs
-inverted full-backs
-positional rotations
-elite build-up structures
-pressing systems
-control

He recalibrated the tactical IQ of the league.

The most remarkable thing about Pep at Manchester City is adaptability. People wrongly describe him as rigid. In reality, Pep may be the most fluid elite coach of his era.

-The Barcelona version.
-The Bayern version.
-The City version.

All completely different ecosystems with the same principles and different executions.

At FC Barcelona, Pep created perhaps the purest expression of positional football we have ever seen. That team felt like geometry in motion.

-Xavi controlled rhythm.
-Iniesta manipulated space.
-Messi destroyed structure.
-Busquets organised everything invisibly.

The ball became a weapon of suffocation. Opponents barely touched it, but the Barcelona side often gets misunderstood. People reduce it to “tiki-taka”. That team was not sterile possession. It was aggressive possession. They used the ball to:
-manipulate pressing structures
-create overloads
-isolate weak defenders
-destabilise defensive shapes

It was positional domination with violence underneath it.

Then came FC Bayern Munich and honestly, that may have been Pep’s most intellectually ambitious phase.

He walked into a club that had just won the treble under Jupp Heynckes and still tried to evolve everything.
-False full-backs.
-Centre-backs stepping into midfield.
-Hyper-positional structures.
-Insane rotational patterns.

Some people hated it. Coaches around Europe studied it obsessively. Pep’s Bayern side did not fully conquer Europe. But tactically, that team became a research laboratory for modern football.

A lot of concepts elite teams use today were refined there. You can see traces of Bayern's Pep in:
-Arteta’s Arsenal
-Alonso’s positional systems
-De Zerbi build-up patterns
-even aspects of modern international football

Then came Manchester City F.C. and this is where Pep became something else entirely. This is because England forced him to evolve beyond idealism. The Premier League does not allow comfort. You deal with:
-relentless transitions
-physical duels
-compressed schedules
-tactical variety
-emotional intensity

Pep adapted and that adaptation made him even greater. Early City were obsessed with control and later City became monsters in every phase. They could:
-dominate possession
-destroy you in transition
-press high
-defend deep
-attack wide
-attack centrally
-play physically
-play technically

That flexibility is why they became historically dominant and then there is the psychological effect Pep had on English football. Managers stopped thinking survival-first. Suddenly everyone wanted:
-automatisms
-structures
-coordinated pressing
-possession identities

Even relegation-threatened teams now try to build from the back because Pep normalised tactical ambition across the pyramid. That influence is enormous.

What separates Pep from many great coaches is sustainability. Most dynasties collapse after 3 or 4 years. Pep kept rebuilding. Different title-winning teams:
-Aguero era
-David Silva era
-De Bruyne era
-Haaland era
-Different tactical structures too.
-False 9s.
-Box midfields.
-Inverted full-backs.
-Wide wingers.
-Dual pivots.

He keeps evolving before opponents fully solve him. and honestly, one underrated aspect of Pep’s greatness is his courage.

This is because hyper-technical football is risky. One mistake and you look foolish. Pep never abandoned his footballing convictions completely even when critics mocked him relentlessly. That stubbornness reshaped modern football.

The funny thing is people spent years trying to separate “great coach” from “great resources” with Pep. But football history already answered that. Elite clubs always hire elite minds. Nobody questions:
-Ferguson at United
-Sacchi at Milan
-Cruyff at Barcelona

Pep belongs in that lineage now.

20 trophies at City is absurd but the trophies alone do not explain the legacy. Pep changed:
-coaching language
-recruitment logic
-player profiles
-tactical education
-academy structures
-build-up philosophy
-entire football cultures shifted around him.

That is deeper than medals and maybe the ultimate compliment is thus:

Even the coaches trying to “reject Pep football” are still reacting to Pep football.

That is influence. The game bends around certain people historically.

-Cruyff did it.
-Arrigo Sacchi did it.
- Sir Alex Ferguson did it.
-Pep Guardiola did it for this generation.

#PepGuardiola #ManCity #FCBarcelona #BayernMunich #PremierLeague #Football #Tactics #UCL #DeBruyne #Messi #Haaland #Arteta

@PepTeam @ManCity @premierleague @PremLeaguePanel @Edwyeen @Ademola_Host @Okkeeeyy @TheOddSolace @Coachayere @Adikastakes @ZachLowy @dayveedtalks @ESPNFC

https://t.co/hAlcOBxnRM

[City Chief @City_Chief]

Man City overachieved this season.

Remember, this was supposed to be our “banter era”. Rival fans were celebrating our decline in January, saying the cycle was over and City were finished.

Fast forward to the end of the season:
🏆 League Cup winners
🏆 FA Cup winners
🥈 2nd in the Premier League

That is not a decline. That is a rebuild season most clubs would dream of.

[Sam Dumitriu @Sam_Dumitriu]

Southwark’s Planning Chair opposed a 860+ home development because locals couldn’t afford the new homes.

It’s a common misconception. So I’ve decided to explain the evidence showing how luxury flats can make housing more affordable on the Old Kent Road.

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@AllisMcD @sharrond62 @parkrunUK Agree they should suggest register as sex not gender category. Use of gender instead of sex by all and sundry is the realm problem.

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@AllisMcD @sharrond62 @parkrunUK So how can they police it?

[June Slater @juneslater17]

There are less than 300,000 Jewish people in Britain.
They have never forced us to eat Kosher food.
Never insisted their religion is the only one.
Never demanded we practice it.
On the whole They have blended into society here so well, that unless they disclose their religion you wouldn't even know they were Jewish.

Jewish people living here generally have nothing to do with Israeli politics in Israel.
The only time you see a Jewish person asked for comment on TV is usually during or after attacks on their community.

I have never once felt intimidated or threatened by any Jews,
We just rub along very well. I have no fears they're growing their presence in politics, or threaten my rights to live as I do.

Peace is on the cards over in The Middle East
Some people are ideologically driven to avoid peace.
Sadly they get a lot of support and publicity.

[Rob Rinder @RobbieRinder]

On the holiest day of the year we are attacked at a Manchester synagogue. Our children walk to school behind barbed wire protected by guns. Yet some still answer this atrocity with “what about…” This is my country, the sanctuary my grandfather found after surviving the Holocaust, promising freedom under the rule of law. Today I pray for the victims, thank the brave who responded and wonder if that promise is fading. A community this small cannot stand alone. If you believe in Britain (wherever you’re from & whatever your faith) you must stand with us. Many Jews cannot imagine a future here and history tells us what follows when that happens.

[Nick Timothy MP @NJ_Timothy]

We should thank the brave police officers who took down the terrorist.

We should tell Britain’s Jews that this will always remain their home.

And we should stop telling ourselves reassuring lies about the threat of extremism and violence in Britain. https://t.co/dx84kxfRn3

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@CheekyWeeBism @sharrond62 No parkrun is not, any "cheating" is down to individuals, and they are the ones to go after.

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@CheekyWeeBism @sharrond62 No idea, you mentioned it above

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@CheekyWeeBism @sharrond62 And why just transgender. I could register tomorrow as Jean Abercrombie and age of 30.

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@Caterin00138072 @sharrond62 How can they police the reports? The cost of checking ID would mean charging for registration. Against parkrun ethos of free for all.

[John Bates @johnbates_me_uk]

@CheekyWeeBism @sharrond62 Not insinuating anything. I agree men should register as men. However as its all relies on applicants doing so correctly parkrun not in a position to corroborate names, sex etc. If that is insisted on parkrun would have to move away from ethos as free for all due to cost.