I refuse to acknowledge Friday night FA Cup 3rd round day, so happy FA Cup 3rd round day to all who celebrate. My absolute favourite day in football.

Brighton! LIPWORMS play Rossi Bar this Thursday.

No, that is the album cover for My bloody valentine's 'loveless'.

My first words for 2026 are below about the new singles from Flip Top Head and Alice Costelloe for Hard of Hearing. 2026 is already a good one for new music. hardofhearingmagazine.com/2026/01/09/t...

Coincidences happen, but lots of coincidences suggest there's a deeper issue. This pre-dates Mousinho as well. Maybe not to this level, but we had major issues with injuries under Cowley. The recruitment team or medical staff (or both) are surely, surely missing something?

Fun fact, the last 3 seasons Pompey have played Arsenal - including their under 21s, Pompey have also played at Wembley that season* 2019/2020 Checkatrade Trophy final was a year later, but there was a pandemic .*

Using early 26' to catch up on good stuff that shamefully passed me by last year. This was one. Real great stuff. Turkish psych meets space-disco vibes. Like an amalgamation of Erkin Koray, Altin Gun, and Yin Yin and thus, it's very much up my street. koshinmoon.bandcamp.com/album/s-n-2

Fela Kuti's records are some of my very favourite music. Just before Xmas, I jumped on a zoom with Lemi Ghariokwu, who painted a number of Fela Kuti's greatest album sleeves. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Today is the birthday of both Syd Barrett and Alan Watts, so it's The Piper and The Gates of Dawn (greatest album ever made?) and Watts' talks today.

Real good psych-funk that came out at the end of 25'. So much good stuff is coming from mainland Europe. mpsc.bandcamp.com/album/lost-a...

Quick note that I will be writing a "How To Buy" for MOJO magazine on Thee Oh Sees. BUT I NEED YOUR HELP! What is your fave rave Oh Sees/Osees/OCS LP, and why? Pls share far and wide. Here's one of mine: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVcn...

It's a Monday. It's the first day back. It's chilly. It's also a gloriously sunny day. With that, I'm going in on one of my favourite albums ever. margoguryan.bandcamp.com/album/take-a...

Lovely stuff. The club also donated a shirt for our 24' food bank drive raffle, & the club offered to do the same for our recent one. Whilst we didn't have one this time, they approached us w/o us needing to ask. Whatever we think of on-field right now, there are very good people behind the scenes.

Get in!

And now there's no football to ruin my day. What a beautiful day.

A beautiful yet chilly morning here in Portsmouth ahead of the football club ruining such a morning later.

He's literally set himself up as Ruler of Venezuela. George Bush at least got a congressional resolution and an attempt at a UN resolution before invading and occupying Iraq. Trump didn't even consult with the Gang of 8 in Congress and now declares himself the ruler. Sheesh.

Finally got around to giving Star Wars Outlaws a go, as it was on sale on Steam and I'm giving Geforce Now a try. I'm 15 hours in, which is a lot for me, as I don't normally have time. I'm an easy target as I love Star Wars and SW games, and it's not perfect, but I really am having a total 'blast'.

It might be the New Year, but it's the same old Pompey. Horrendous stuff.

We got to do shows at not one but two new Portsmouth venues in 2025, and that's a good thing. Hopefully, the trend of new venues extends everywhere - plus fingers crossed for not just the survival of all those standing, but to see them thrive.

#GoodNews - not quite #UniversalBasicIncome, but headed in that direction. With the understanding that people in poverty's problem is lack of money #UBI @ubilabnetwork.bsky.social www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

Stuff it gonna share this again as it's all but the end of 2025. Plus there's a shameless thread of writing bits.

All Monday night football should be accompanied by a day off to be able to drink to numb the inevitable loss to Charlton at home. That should be a law.

What an album! Also, UK Weyes Blood shows next year, please.

One of the greatest ever games and pieces of art in general. It might sound pretentious, but Shenmue isn't a game you just play, but one that you feel and experience. It still holds up as well, so get it.

This reminds me of another team.

Frustrating. We were class the first half. Second half was signature Pompey this season. We're desperate for signings, as we have next to nobody on the bench. Devlin is the best player on the planet, though.

Merry Christmas, one and all. Hope it's a good one.

About damn time.

@princessclairina.bsky.social happy birthday!

Very very niche but my Pompey Christmas XI.

2025 has been a God awful year, yes. But at the same time, the whole awful post-punk talking thing that lasted for years officially finally left us, so let's take some wins.

Very niche, but I've been on a 2015 psych binge today and 10 years later, I still believe the likes Moses Gun Collective, Fever The Ghost and Zun Zun Egui should have been the biggest bands in the world.

There's discourse every year about what the best Christmas song of all-time is, but the conversation starts and ends with Dead Ghosts' Christmas offering. youtu.be/QVcoo6TFS-w?...

Hayden Matthews has now scored more goals against Pompey than Ronaldinho.

Swanson and Bowat being out is very concerning.

Putting events like these behind pay walls means fewer younger people becoming inspired to take up sports in the future.

My last writing feature of the year for Hard of Hearing is below, where I wrote words about the debut single from a band I'm super excited about and your future favourite band being Goodbye. hardofhearingmagazine.com/2025/12/19/t...

Joe is right. Little rooms are where salvation lies.

Being a grim day, I'm going to be grim and shamelessly re-share this. Also, once again, The New Eves are the best band in the world.

It's a grey and wet day down on the south-coast. Alas, this Los Mirlos session is bringing the sunny fun times. youtu.be/dFqpRTjAvpM?...

Our last show of 2025 is tonight and my second to last music gig rock show event of the year, where I'll be finishing up at Kola (maybe my new second home) for the Pompey homecoming of Hotel Lux this Friday. The world might feel like a grim place sometimes with the news cycle, but music is good.

Tonight!

ROLL CALL: ✨SOUTH EAST✨ Introducing your #IVW26 Venues… Head to the link in our bio to see all the venues that have been announced for the week so far 👀 We’ll be announcing each regions venues throughout the next week, stay tuned for more 💛

I will be heading to London tomorrow via the delights of National Express for our last @strongislandrec.bsky.social show of the year. Absolutely free entry. Should be real fun.

Rob Reiner (1947–2025)

This is absolutely deserved and I'm not just saying that because he's technically Strong Island alumni thanks to Strange Cages. Insane work ethic, damn great live and a wonderful human being.

King Gizz live streaming their shows is bloody cool. Good way to start a hungover Saturday.

Nobody asked, I know, but on the left is my top 50 albums of the year, all in alphabetical order. On the right side is my definitive top 10 in order from 1 - 10. A damn good year of music.

Both excited and scared to listen to this, given Illmatic is in my top 5 albums of all time.