Notch 🎅
10.5K posts
Notch 🎅
@CraniumO
Ex Musician. Chef. Stretford Paddock FC founder member. Keep your mind open to anything.
13-year-old Leyton Taylor took his own life after relentless bullying at school over his sexuality, classmates mocked him for being “sassy” and having a boyfriend. He also faced heavy pressure at home, doing more chores than his siblings and helping care for his disabled half-brother. The bright, gentle Year 8 pupil was found dead in his bedroom last April. Inquest heard he felt rejected and overwhelmed; coroner recorded a narrative conclusion with no evidence of clear intent to end his life.
Strong leadership by Chelsea to omit Enzo Fernandez for next two games. Unlikely to have played in the first, Port Vale in the FA Cup, but dropping him against Manchester City in the Premier League is significant. Chelsea need the points to get back in the Champions League positions. Enzo is a winner and productive (8g, 3a in 30 PL this season). But his exclusion is clearly the right decision. Enzo’s flirtation with Real Madrid was disrespectful to Chelsea fans, team-mates, head coach, staff, sporting directors and board. He’s vice-captain. He's captain in the absence of Reece James and certainly hasn’t behaved like one. Some of Enzo’s frustration about the club’s direction is understandable but it’s unprofessional and unhelpful to state it publicly. Liam Rosenior is under enough pressure without dressing-room unrest/division. Enzo has also criticised underperforming team-mates like Filip Jorgensen against PS-G. All a bit rich: Enzo kept giving the ball away against Everton (still had two shots well-saved by Jordan Pickford). Opportunity for Cole Palmer at 10 v City? Palmer is not in the best of form, is better floating inside from the right with the ball, and is a different type of 10 to Enzo. Chelsea have options with Enzo dropped. They have enough wingers (Estevao, Neto) to cover Palmer moving inside. They have enough midfielders with Andrey Santos/Romeo Lavia although Moises Caicedo is far from his peak form. A booking against City (the 32nd PL fixture so two-game ban for 10th booking applies) would see Caicedo miss Manchester United at home and Brighton away. Chelsea discipline needs addressing more broadly. Rosenior says he has spoken to Marc Cucurella about his comments in an interview with The Athletic. Cucurella praised Rosenior but questioned why Enzo Maresca was eased out. Should he have been punished by club, too? He wasn’t indulging in transfer speculation as Fernandez was. His comments were actually sensible (a new manager really needs a pre-season etc). And, of course, as one Chelsea fan observed, Cucurella is difficult to drop as no quality replacement at left-back. A final thing on Enzo… would he actually get in Real Madrid’s team? Would Kylian Mbappe welcome the Argentinian who mocked the Frenchman and his team last year? #CFC
So they're backing an incorrect decision & hitting Maguire with improper conduct? Not even the normal BS apology. Rival ex-pros say it was a penalty, even Dermot Gallagher, ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett too. Manchester United get all the decisions though?
The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel has ruled that both the referee and VAR were correct not to award a penalty to #mufc’s Amad against Bournemouth. It was noted that “while Truffert ran a risk, the contact made was not impactful and therefore fell below the high threshold for a foul.” [@DaleJohnsonBBC]
Steven Gerrard joins Stick to Football tomorrow! 🔴 It doesn’t get much bigger than this… 👑
Thank you Italy 🇮🇹 for boycotting the AmeriKKKan World Cup🫡
Italy have not played in a World Cup knockout match since the creation of the iPhone in January 2007.
🚨 BREAKING: Italy are OUT of the 2026 World Cup. Third World Cup missed in a row. ❌🇮🇹
