1 thing brought it home to me the other day. Because I still think of Celtic as a massive club. And, of course (and I include Rangers in this) in various senses still are

Celtic's record signing is (I believe) £11 Million.

The 3 teams that have just been promoted to the Premier League are all predicted to go straight back down. And, this Summer alone, have between them signed 13 players for more than that amount.

Yeah it’s a different world. It’s also a different league(s) which is a whole different product to a much bigger audience worldwide so it also doesn’t make too much sense to compare them in some ways.

[A British league would transform the finances of your club.]

It's only fun.

Tony and I have sniped about our respective teams for years. It's a North v South London thing We both enjoy it, and don't really take it that seriously

To quote my Wife, at the end of the day it is only about 22 overpaid blokes chasing a bag of wind

On the assumption you support the team that bears your name, it must be disheartening to be both head and shoulders above all other Scottish clubs, with a massive level of support and an awesome history, yet only have the budget of a bottom-half Championship club. A British league would transform the finances of your club.

To return to your point, Spurs got ridiculously lucky in Europe. More so than they were unlucky in the League.

I am 62 years old. And Spurs have not won the League in my lifetime

Assuming we got the current owner and board to change their ways, then it would be great. Until then we'll just plod along being that big club that likes to act like a small club. Very frustrating.

I would have cashed out at 4/1, too. Nothing to do with this "Spurs-y" nonsense. Quite a lot to do with what Tikay said-Spurs were bound to sit back, and PSG were awesome going forward. The other point was that Palhinha wasn't fully fit. When he went off (together with Kudus and Richarlison) we lacked the ability to fend them off and counter effectively.

Love the idea that fans of various clubs feel able to believe Spurs cannot win things. To be in the Super Cup you have to win 1 of the 2 big European competitions, and to have won it in the last 50 years.

Arsenal have, like Spurs, played in it once. In 1994. Under George Graham. And got beaten as easily as PSG beat Arsenal in the Champions League last year.

Played as well as we could. Which is probably why the PSG Manager felt Spurs deserved to win.

We've no longer got Aussie Idea-less at the helm. Lovely guy. Deserved a chance after doing well at clubs in small leagues. But I am more confident than for years.

You’re getting a bit carried away EssexPhil, whilst it was nice for yous that Spurs won the Europa league, they had an easy run in all the way through with the exception of Stuttgart. Don’t go down that route of sniping back at people who give opinions, sit back and enjoy the season, then let us know we were right all along 😄

Shambles.

Will be surprised if they  make the top half.

You’re going to give Booder another heart attack!

Doesn’t count I believe. Only the two that stay in.

Never getting a morning squeeze out of this thread.

Good Luck Tom.

Give big Jim McShane a hug from me when you see him.

[I have received almost no response from the moderators (only from Ironside, thank you), to my fair questions about whether those posts need to be here. The person abusing me, for not having good enough reason to be suicidal, is himself a moderator. That is the reason I ask on the forum. I repeat, I deserve no pity, no sympathy. But, in 2025, this horrible, old school attitude to suicide, and to someone who is actively feeling it, needs to be challenged. Please delete the relevant posts (and mine)]

I am posting because I don't want silence to suggest anything but how deeply sorry, and devastated I am, and always will be.

I don't want anything I say to sound the slightest bit like an excuse,  the slightest bit like looking for sympathy.

I can promise that on both issues, with the football one being bad, and the poker one far far bigger, I have suffered massively, and , especially with the poker, can be sure that I will every day for ever.

My wife came home the day after I got home from Vegas to find me with knives and 30 paracetamol tablets.  I would have thrown myself in front of a truck on the last day in Vegas if it wasn't for a dear friend talking me through every step of the way. I have had suicidal thoughts ever since the football incident, and have had a period of time on anti depressants.  I have been very suicidal the last two weeks, and frequently think of throwing myself in front of a train. Some messages here may seem undeservedly supportive,  but they have kept me alive. I am trying to keep myself alive for my family, and 6 year old boy

I want to clarify the football thing. The poker consequences are all completely deserved.  They are deserved for ever. The football thing, I do believe I have suffered enough.

 I sang 'always the victims, it's never your fault.' I got punched, got arrested in the commotion. What I did was very bad. It deserves a football ban, deserves a fine. But 99.9% of the punishment comes in the articles being there for ever, and having exaggeration (Sheffield Star) up to 'mocking the dead.'

'Always the victims' is a generic football chant that I have heard multiple times on the TV before and since. I repeat, what I did was bad, but I want to clarify the whole thing. Obviously my mental health has been bad for a long time, and the football thing has put me in a deserved dark place for a long time since, the poker thing a deserved, far far deeper one

If you think getting convicted for a crime or fiddling a few quid from backers is enough to want you to commit suicide when you have a 6 year old child then you need to seek professional help and stop fannying around on a poker forum worrying about what a bunch of people think about you.

Let me make it completely clear, that I am fully aware of the massive punishment I deserve for what I have done. I will live that punishment for ever.

I think it is fair, however, as an independent thing, to ask, why some posts are still here? My feeling is that the thread doesn't need to be, but I do understand that there is an argument for the thread being here.

But why do 2 posts- one abusing me for my reasons for being suicidal not qualifying as being good enough, and another, more well meaning, telling me that I am not suicidal- have to be here?

If there is some kind of qualification required on this forum, for whether someone is allowed to be suicidal, let me fill you in on the rest of my life. I have chronic fatigue syndrome. It is horrible. I have gone from running marathons, to my body packing in, in mysterious and unpredictable ways.  3 days ago, I walked 800m, as part of the near impossible attempt to slowly build. I am now on my third day of feeling exhausted as a result, dead to the world, depressed.

I repeat, the suicidal feelings that I have felt after my poker mistake are deserved. That mistake is of course independent from any illness. Explained partly by beng in a dark place, but with absolutely zero excuse.

I have received almost no response from the moderators (only from Ironside, thank you), to my fair questions about  whether those posts need to be here.  The person abusing me, for not having good enough reason to be suicidal, is himself a moderator.  That is the reason I ask on the forum. I repeat, I deserve no pity, no sympathy. But, in 2025, this horrible, old school attitude to suicide, and to someone who is actively feeling it, needs to be challenged. Please delete the relevant posts (and mine)

Have you forgotten the messages we exchanged? The ones where I explained why I didn’t want my posts removed? And the one where you said the matter was now closed?

I’ve only played Golf twice, once in England and once in Vegas. I was terrible both times.

I’ve always felt golf is an expensive sport, am I wrong? Can you hire clubs, or do you have to have your own? How much is 18 holes roughly?

I have shared a table with him and I am definitely not his biggest fan, but...

I thought this was really badly handled on day 7.  The time to stop him was on earlier days when he was doing the likes of stalling with T5 off utg.

Day 7 he was given a 10 second clocks on hand 1.  I watched 2 hours on Saturday night and they barely gave him time to think before clocking him whenever he had a decision.  Remember one spot where he had QJ or QT suited and 12bbs after a Kenny Halleart open.  Thought it was a shove away from the main event, but he got no time to think it through.

I thought the table were just behaving like a lynch mob at times.  Pretty sad not one of them seemed to realise it was a wrong and asked if they weren't going a bit far.  Thought there was a bit of scope for someone to step in and calm the situation..

A whole round penalty for calling someone a "prick" seems excessive when he is on 12bbs, especially when there is a good chance he was being a prick at the time (certainly a couple of them were). 

Another round penalty for "bitches" when 7bbs seems crazy. I have never took a hand penalty for swearing and have said worse at a table. 
Felt like a power trip by the supervisors, as was swiping his T9 on a QJx board when one of his opponents was deliberately hiding his chips (hate twats that do this, just show your bloody chips, never gets enforced enough fwiw).  Give him penalties for excessive stalling or talking whilst others are thinking, not for minor swearing and trying to get a better view of chips).  Think it should be a fair game for all, and it isn't ok to rig the game against those you despise.

And it wasn't Hallaert who got the ear plugs, it was Adam Hendrix AFAIK.

And FWIW, Kassouf nicked about £150 from his mate from memory.  He lost his sponsorship and still gets vilified for it now (I even liked one of Barry Carter's posts taking the piss).  But that number is nothing on his loss of equity on day 7, and is nothing in comparison to a recent theft on these boards. I thought it was pretty shitty at the time, but think it is time people just moved on from it. 

Have heard a few say that this will lead to bad behaviour by others, but just can't see it.  We went through this 9(?) years ago and I struggle to remember anyone doing a Kassouf after, and can't remember many mini Hellmuths either. 

Finishing on a more positive note, would like to see Halleart or Margets win. Sat next to Hallaert in Vegas 3 years ago.  Really nice fella, and good for the game.  Margets would be such a good result though, maybe Krissy B would be more deserving, but she is pretty high up in most deserving women. Been at the top a long time, and about time one of the last longer women wasn't doom switched late on.  Mizrachi would also be good for the game, but he has had more than his share of run good this year.

Nice post, particularly about all the Will stuff. I

Happy anniversary to your diary. 💚

Thank you Vinni. How do you remember these things?

Dunno really, I just have a good memory for dates and numbers. Used to know 50 or 60 phone numbers off by heart back in the good old days before those pesky phones took over our life, and now I have to double check my own number when telling people it

My message is aimed directly at you and your friends and not just a view on suicide in general.

Tell me you have not a scintilla of empathy or compassion without using those words.

I have no clue who you are, nor what you have done in the past to warrant your status as moral arbiter, but your recent posts make me instinctively aware that I wouldn’t want to spend time with you.
(I couldn’t give a fuck if you feel the same way)

😄

My message is aimed directly at you and your friends and not just a view on suicide in general.

I am posting because I don't want silence to suggest anything but how deeply sorry, and devastated I am, and always will be.

I don't want anything I say to sound the slightest bit like an excuse,  the slightest bit like looking for sympathy.

I can promise that on both issues, with the football one being bad, and the poker one far far bigger, I have suffered massively, and , especially with the poker, can be sure that I will every day for ever.

My wife came home the day after I got home from Vegas to find me with knives and 30 paracetamol tablets.  I would have thrown myself in front of a truck on the last day in Vegas if it wasn't for a dear friend talking me through every step of the way. I have had suicidal thoughts ever since the football incident, and have had a period of time on anti depressants.  I have been very suicidal the last two weeks, and frequently think of throwing myself in front of a train. Some messages here may seem undeservedly supportive,  but they have kept me alive. I am trying to keep myself alive for my family, and 6 year old boy

I want to clarify the football thing. The poker consequences are all completely deserved.  They are deserved for ever. The football thing, I do believe I have suffered enough.

 I sang 'always the victims, it's never your fault.' I got punched, got arrested in the commotion. What I did was very bad. It deserves a football ban, deserves a fine. But 99.9% of the punishment comes in the articles being there for ever, and having exaggeration (Sheffield Star) up to 'mocking the dead.'

'Always the victims' is a generic football chant that I have heard multiple times on the TV before and since. I repeat, what I did was bad, but I want to clarify the whole thing. Obviously my mental health has been bad for a long time, and the football thing has put me in a deserved dark place for a long time since, the poker thing a deserved, far far deeper one

If you think getting convicted for a crime or fiddling a few quid from backers is enough to want you to commit suicide when you have a 6 year old child then you need to seek professional help and stop fannying around on a poker forum worrying about what a bunch of people think about you.