David Tully

Retired vicar now living in Newcastle - loves sport and walking. Learning to relax and enjoy God’s goodness and love. 6 lovely grandchildren

[Tom McTague @TomMcTague]

This week’s fabulous cover of the @NewStatesman, by the great @PronouncedAlva

[ᜰ 🇦🇷🇯🇵 @markklfc]

Jamie Carragher on Japan leaving their World Cup dressing room spotless after the match:

🗣️ “I have to say, this deserves just as much attention as anything that happened on the pitch tonight. Everyone talks about goals, assists, and tactics, but this tells you everything about the culture of that team.

When I saw the dressing room, I honestly couldn't believe it. After ninety minutes of football, emotions running high, and a dramatic result, they still left the place looking like nobody had even been there.

People might look at it and think it's a small thing. It isn't. Small habits reveal big character. Respect doesn't only show itself during the national anthem or after the final whistle. It shows itself when nobody is watching.

That's what impresses me about Japan. They don't clean the dressing room because FIFA tells them to. They do it because it's who they are.

In football today, we're constantly hearing players talk about professionalism. Well, this is professionalism. Not social media posts. Not interviews. Actions.

And if I'm being honest, there are a lot of teams with bigger reputations that could learn something from this.

The scary thing is that this mentality often translates onto the pitch. Teams that respect every detail usually don't stop at cleaning dressing rooms—they respect every pass, every tackle, every minute of the game.

That's why people around the world keep talking about Japan. Not because they're trying to get attention, but because they keep earning it. In a tournament full of stars, they've managed to remind everyone that class doesn't always come from what you do with the ball it comes from how you carry yourself when the game is over.”

[Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq]

Roy Hattersley’s origin story should be a Netflix series.

[Toon Polls @ToonPolls]

RT if you’re in support of a Nick Woltemade flag.

#NUFC | @worflags

[David Tully @Tully1David]

RT @northumbriana: two proud NE port cities with a distinctive language and a difficult relationship with their national capitals

[Rick Wakeman CBE @GrumpyOldRick]

by the time these cheap cremation companies have paid for the tv ads , I'm guessing that out of the couple of grand they ask you to pay for the privilege of having them set fire to you when no-one's looking, the remaining £8 should more than cover the cost of the matches

[NUFC360 @NUFC360]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle are the first side to start as many as seven English players for a Champions League knockout tie since Manchester United against
Monaco in 1997/98.

@Squawka | #NUFC

[Matt Roller @mroller98]

Two very similar-looking sporting fixtures this Saturday

Rugby Union: Scotland vs England (Calcutta Cup)
Cricket: Scotland vs England (Kolkata)

[David Tully @Tully1David]

@bbctms @T20WorldCup @BBCSounds @BBCSport I think you have the wrong time for the England match

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

France and the UK both have seven* cities with a population over a million. Here is the best data we have on their comparative economic strength. This isn't productivity (where France leads by much more). Just raw output divided by people.

[Diocese of Durham @DioceseofDurham]

From 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday 9 December, @durhamcathedral will be hosting a 24-hour prayer vigil, where we will pray for the appointment process of the next Bishop of Durham. The vigil will take place in the Feretory, the tomb of St Cuthbert, which is located behind the high altar at the east end of the cathedral. All are welcome to join us, as we pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit at this important time in the life of our diocese. The Cathedral will be open as usual until 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday, after which point those wanting to join the vigil should go to the Porter’s lodge, from which they will be taken into church on the half-hour and on the hour. The vigil will continue in this way throughout the night, and will conclude at morning prayer on Wednesday 10 December at 8.30 a.m.

[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.

[John Simpson @JohnSimpsonNews]

This was the Daily Mail’s 2016 take on Britain trapped in the EU and gazing at the freedom and prosperity outside.

[David Tully @Tully1David]

@NUFC @NUFC360 “Timely” is not the right word, I think you meant lengthy!

[Bill Edgar @BillEdgarTimes]

Eberechi Eze is the first player with a palindromic surname to score a top-flight hat-trick since Albert Malam for Huddersfield against Liverpool in November 1934

[Matt Baker @gambettola68]

https://t.co/1FLPiu63MB

[Pedro 🔴⚪️ @aimars_prodigy]

Newcastle. You were incredible, shame about the result.
#SLB #NUFC

[Christopher Goulding @GouldingChris]

Merry #TrafalgarDay one and all.
Remember that this historic sea battle was won by the Toon's Cuthbert Collingwood - not Nelson (who was shot dead less than half way through the day's proceedings).

[David Tully @Tully1David]

Why are Newcastle playing Ikea? #NUFC

[Christopher Goulding @GouldingChris]

I suppose Stanley Tucci's agent will pretty much be able to name their price when someone gets around to filming 'Conclave 2: A Yank in the Vatican'.