this exists it is called thinking

Usage rate klaxon

Transfer fees can tell us a lot about how clubs can and want to construct a squad. The positions of the big five/six are very clear, with Newcastle obviously seeking to bridge the gap. The gap between the big teams and the rest is also pretty huge, with two very clear clusters

And this, friends, is the fun of it! Both types. My PhD supervisor used to tailspin every time I sent him anything because it was all just digressions and research rabbit holes and I didn’t finish but I fuckin loved it

I mean, obvs not significant, but come on

I think that the two most important things a manager can do are pick the best players at their disposal, & be pretty similar to the last manager so those players probably fit what they want to do. And if they don’t, the playing squad fit should be more important than ‘philosophy’. Apropos nothing

23/24 the European football market incl UK was worth ~€38b. The European gaming market is worth ~€22b. I doubt it’s an exaggeration to say that the staff of the English football press dwarf those being paid to write about gaming across Europe as a whole

When @iainmacintosh.bsky.social asked me to write about a computer game again, I could hardly say no Here is my take on Command & Conquer: Red Alert and the pleasures of nostalgia trackrecordmedia.org/2025/09/11/d...

When @iainmacintosh.bsky.social asked me to write about a computer game again, I could hardly say no Here is my take on Command & Conquer: Red Alert and the pleasures of nostalgia trackrecordmedia.org/2025/09/11/d...

Football would never

the Venn diagram the Venn diagram @batconservation.bsky.social

Look at the cute flying bat patterns! From a talk at the @batconservation.bsky.social conference, where are the cool kids hang (upside down)

The Google Gemini ad where the guy needs ai to tell him a bucket hat has a brim really is just the industry owning itself so magically If this is how you use ai you are an actual idiot, of course, but it’s telling that the industry thinks appealing to lazy/stupid is actually a compelling use case

In Our Time is a GOATed show and even though MB could come across a bit stuffy at times, the show and his approach taught me a lot about how my autism manifests as a series of wildly focussed hyperfixations, so thank you Melvyn for feeding me that good stuff

Mary Shelley doesn't get enough credit for not only anticipating the silver-spooned narcissist techbro who recklessly creates technology without thinking through the consequences, but also for knowing that said techbro would be an absolutely terrible father.

Football as it’s meant to be experienced, in the pouring rain

Just to point out that they grounded the entire fleet of 737Max aircraft as a precautionary measure

Analytics FC are delighted to announce our partnership with Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League. Cavalry’s agreement with Analytics FC will see the club access our TransferLab and Emerge data-scouting platforms, developed in collaboration with LCP. analyticsfc.co.uk/blog/2025/08...

This is a really, really good piece that explains some apparently simple stuff that people just don’t appear to realise. Point 1 especially.

This is very good because it is articulate and clear in a way that ~certain people~ are not

Go. Away.

The laziness and implied bias of the BBC here is extreme - "No 10 did not comment" presumably because the CPS and courts are independent, but there's no attempt to find anyone who would argue the opposite view, just the unchallenged whine of someone who called for asylum seekers to be burnt to death

The actual pay of most footballers is really nothing like what most of those polled probably assume it is. It’s wild to me that the number is so much higher than parasitic capitalists given the position of players in the football ecosystem and the length of career

I’m the Muskrat of the transfer market

Writing this gets you an immediate follow (It’s a good piece generally, also)

I was reading the FootBiz newsletter yesterday morning and it opened with observations about how European prize money is increasing the "financial stratification" of various leagues, especially those where one or two or three dominant teams regularly achieve continental football.

Eintracht Frankfurt were one of the best stories from last szn, qualifying for the Champions League once again. For @analyticsfc.bsky.social: I wrote about: - Playing chaos ball in attack - Ekitike's growth to stardom - A recruitment option - What is next for them? analyticsfc.co.uk/blog/2025/08...

Added a couple dozen tactics accounts to balance out all the analytics nerds in here

How does a team cope with the loss of a key player? It's the question Eintracht Frankfurt must answer this season. @moesquare.bsky.social assesses their strengths and issues, and how they may go about delivering despite the departure of Huge Etikite. analyticsfc.co.uk/blog/2025/08...

Every day, Labour finds new ways to shame itself.

This’ll be good

Unleash Barry. Not the Welsh resort

When a British actor dies: British media obits: "Critics still consider his 1992 performance of 'Hamlet' at the RST an unmatched stunning tour-de-force" Same actor, US obits: "Best known as the villainous General Mogg in 'SpaceGoobers'"

Absolutely detest any UI changes. Doesn’t even matter if it makes stuff better (which the Netflix one doesn’t) but I just can’t abide things being not what I have got used to. Can’t imagine why

Good result for Sochaux tonight is what actually matters

If you look at English players in the PL last season valued currently at €25m or more: 46% from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, or Man City academies 87% from PL2 academy team 74% from a team in the PL in 24/25 82% from a team in the PL in the last decade 4/7 of those not PL2 born 2000 or earlier

This is very true even when you don’t want it to be, especially for elite sides. The reason Saints had a ‘great academy’ for a few years was, in part, because they went down to L1 and had to play youngsters and couldn’t sign competition for them, so they developed and a few made it back to the PL

This is absolutely brilliant

I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/

Won’t someone think of the negative transfer value!

This.

New season, new reminder that you can follow a bunch of smart soccer people here

People are unhinged

I once put this meme in some seminar slides and I regret nothing, in fact every day I regret it even less than nothing (by @janelleshane.com, previously posted on twitter: twitter.com/janellecshan...)

Im addicted to The Great House Revival on BBC. Hugh does not give a single fuck

The speed with which bigots are happy to leap to mass survillance and surrender their – and others' rights – to "solve" whatever problem they deem so profoundly threatening to their world is breathtaking. Petty authoritarians.