Nick Butler

A bit partial to New Order and Celtic.

[Wu Tang is for the Children @WUTangKids]

Lmao been waiting for this….absolute cinema….no notes!

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@donhutch4 @JimSpenceDundee You ok Hun

[Justin🦩Boldaji @justinboldaji]

Telling everyone how impressive my first gay bareback orgy was

[Stu’s Football Flashbacks @stusfootyflash]

It’s 35 years to the day since the game dubbed ‘The St Patrick’s Day Massacre’ took place at Celtic Park.

Here we see the FOUR red cards which were handed out during the match, to Peter Grant, Terry Hurlock, Mark Walters & Mark Hateley.

Absolute mayhem.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@wearejames Still one of my favourite albums. I’m a sucker for the Stutter closer

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

The Adoration of the Maga. A few thoughts. It all felt a step too far by Gianni Infantino. The award of the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize felt more to do with its president’s desire to please powerful politicians as much as Donald Trump’s love of such glitzy, expensive offerings of loyalty last seen in medieval courts.

It felt more about politics than sport, a risky game for Fifa to play whenever it wants to bring a national association into line for perceived interference by government in the future. The Trump trophy weakens Fifa statutes. It also distracted from the real trophy, the World Cup, and the group-stage draw, traditionally a celebration about bringing countries together. Infantino took his eye off the balls.

A football draw designed to work out who plays who and (eventually) where and when is not the time or place for such politics. Infantino wasn’t speaking for the world in bestowing the Peace Prize, as he claimed. So presumptuous. So out of touch. Many probably agree that Trump has been a force for good in geopolitics, some might disagree. Most would probably feel such decisions should be left to experienced experts like the Nobel Committee and, please, can we get on with a football draw.

It’s spectacularly naïve or simply arrogant for Fifa to enter such non-football areas. It feels more and more that this was as much an Infantino initiative as Fifa’s. Infantino was supposed to drain the swamp when he arrived at Fifa in 2016 in the wake of assorted corruption scandals bedevilling the governing body of world football. How fitting that the nadir of Infantino’s propensity for self-aggrandisement as leader of what’s supposed to be a team game came in Washington. It was there that Trump promised to transform politics with his “drain the swamp” rhetoric, also in 2016.

The selfie moment was particularly cringe-worthy. Infantino forgets that football is the star of the show, not a 55-year lawyer. A senior football executive, who’s been at the heart of the English and European game for more than 20 years, messaged me during the drawn-out draw with his verdict on Infantino. “I feel revulsion, anger, shame, disgust – how has our sport been taken over by a Swiss ***** and turned into a total travesty???” He also pointed out that ensuring the leaders of USA, Mexico and Canada each somehow pulled out their own country’s name was not a good look for a draw based on chance.

Great for the cameras, though. Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture of Infantino's priorities. And who gets the next FIFA Peace Prize? And wouldn't Infantino have gained more respect had he used the money for the Trump trophy to subsidise excessive ticket costs? He's lost sight of what should be the real priorities for the leader of football. The game.

It's sad, really. Many sensible people work at Fifa, passionate about the game not their own ego, but it's alarming what happens to the leadership when they take power there. Even the great football manager Arsene Wenger has changed since becoming Chief of Global Football Development at Fifa. He now campaigns for more games, backing the expanded World Cup, which he would have railed against as a widely-admired, free-thinking club manager, fiercely protective of his players' well-being. "I believe that 48 teams is the right number." Arsene, just listen to yourself.

Many fans probably won’t lose much sleep that Wenger dances to Fifa's tune or that Infantino cosies up to Trump, Aramco and co. Some probably think Fifa’s a video game. Most just can’t wait for the football. The game’s about Mbappe and Messi, Haaland and Salah, Kane and Dembele, not Infantino and Trump.

The game’s about the Tartan Army, the brilliant Mexican following, the ever-hopeful English, the mobile carnival of Brazilians and the millions of other fans flocking to venue cities next summer, only a third with tickets. The USA is prepared for the party. I covered USA 94 and you couldn’t really tell there was a tournament on, certainly where I was in Detroit, Chicago and DC. You will this time, also in Canada. Mexico's total immersion was never in doubt given their passion for the game.

Infantino should remember this. He runs a great football organisation, not a political organisation. He needs to re-focus. Fifa is undeniably a force for good in many countries. The Fifa Foundation runs a new community programme that supports 154,924 people in 54 nations. Its new Digital Education Programme works on computer literacy amongst disadvantaged groups, helping them into the workplace. It’s easy to say it’s all about Infantino (Foundation board president), soft power and ensuring he keeps countries onside, voting for him, but the Foundation undeniably changes lives.

Infantino needs to look at his Adoration of the Maga and remember what he should be doing for football: serving it, not himself. #FIFAWorldCup.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

My love for New Order encapsulated in 2 and a half minutes

[Reno Dakota @Bus_stop_ratbag]

The Perfect Kiss outro continues to be unbeaten live.

The shorts and loafers with the cowbell.

And damn, Hooky. Wow. 🔥😅

1985 New Order live. I stand by it.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@M_daizen_1020 Good to have you back big man

[DS @DorkSirjur]

Bit of very rare Prodigy on a Friday? Go on then. 34 years ago:

This is @the_prodigy @ Thor, Tooto's, Colchester, UK 17.08.91

Quite a chunk of cassette aesthetic on this one but its a rare recording of one of the finest acts to come out of the UK. Tracklist and flyer in first comment.

Reminder that all mixes uploaded here today go on my Kofi for download tonight.

👇🔥👇

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@sharrond62 Do you ever think, ‘today, I’ll have a day off from getting angry about fuck all’.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@KemiBadenoch So what you’re saying is no-one has a right to a defence lawyer doing their job. Nice one Kemi

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@liamtuffs1 Lifting a parody post off facebook for views. Nice

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@GSGB01 @antmiddleton

[Jason Reid @JasonReidx]

Protect Kneecap at all costs from these maniacs.

[PictureThis Scotland @74frankfurt]

The KLF on the Isle of Jura where they burned £1 million pounds in August 1994.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@Happy_Mondays Kuff Dam.

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@neworder The Perfect Kiss. (Especially the mid 80s live finishers)

[BRYN_BORANGA @BRYN_BORANGA]

dunno about Bond but he's an absolute shoo-in if there's ever a silver screen adaptation of the Dean Gaffney story

[Nick Butler @nickb586]

@Victoria_Rixon We have the 2025 winner of things that didn’t happen