England and France are favourites but this competition does tend to throw up curved balls.

Portugal

Italy. Just had a proper look at the groups and the top half of the draw is much easier than the bottom half. Classic opportunity for Italy. Coast through an easy group, play Austria or Ukraine in the quarter finals, save their legs and their best form for the semis and final. They've done it before. More than once!

Group F is mental - France, Germany, Portugal and Hungary.

not really interested. will only be watching if the alternatives are shite and i,ve nothing better to do.

Going to also go with the Italians, it's a relatively young squad (compared to how old their squads usually are!) And I think a lot of the players in it have great potential. Look out for Gianluigi Donnarumma. Really good keeper who seemingly has decades left at a high level.

West Germany for me.

They're in a tough group. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.

We've lost our (potential) first ever day out at Wembley due to the Euros being moved. And we know who to blame for them being moved. Yes, I'm holding a grudge.

England to lose to Spain in the semi final.
Belgium to win it.

Tempted to put my money The Country Once Part Of The Former Socialist Republic Of Yugoslavia That Isn't In Greece Macedonia.

I'm going Dutch.

Italia but plays second fiddle to Pools V Bromley, Stockport V Pools and the final Pools V Notts County.

Unfortunately I can't see Ingurland winning, but I'll hope. My reckoning for what it's worth is the Frenchies.

England must have been disorientated by playing at the Riverside - they looked like the Borer on a bad night for most of the second half.

Instant loss of interest now Southgate has confirmed England will be kneeling down in support of scum like George Floyd and his Marxist followers.

Simple solution to stop the booing would be cancel the knee on the grass shit.
It's ran its course now and is only benefiting the world domination which this species craves on.
Expecting crowd trouble at the Euros when the fans who are for and against this shit come to blows.

Which species would that be? Humanity? We've had world domination for thousands of years, for better or worse.

Fascinating to hear that people like Lewis Hamilton and Harry Kane are Marxists. Do you have to be super rich to qualify these days?

Thanks for the embarrassing racist guff chaps.

Booing at football matches is the traditional way of some fans registering their disapproval of what is happening in front of them.
I don't agree with taking the knee but I wouldn't boo any players for doing it.
If I was an England player I wouldn't take the knee, nor would I be influenced by fellow players or the manager. I am not a sheep or a racist.
I still maintain that no individual element of society should be highlighted in whether which lives matter and will always stick to my belief that all lives matter. I know that sentiment doesn't sit easy with the self appointed members of the moral high ground but to single out one part of society has a segregating ring to it and surely segregation and single selection is what we are trying to change.

Ah, the usual "criticise BLM and Floyd the criminal, you must be racist".

Would it be right to boo next rememberence day because there are were a few well evil soldiers in the British army over the years?

Yes as long as the British Legion start supporting the communist party.

You could always try it, then you might have the answer to your question. I have no impression that warfare is a picnic but I can't really answer your question cos I have never been to war so I have no first hand experience of evil from any soldier/soldiers. I would say however that my impression of Remembrance Sunday is it is an occasion that honours the memory of those who gave their lives fighting for their/our country and I can't for the life of me envisage anyone wanting to boo that..................but I've seen enough in my lifetime not to rule it out.

That Floyd had a criminal record is not in doubt. His last criminal conviction was in 2009. That Floyd was murdered by a police officer in May 2020 is also not in doubt.

What is in doubt though is the belief that he was murdered because he was black as the BLM would have us all believe, plus the categorisation that anyone who remotely disagrees is automatically a racist. Therein lies the problem.
We are one step away from treating Black people differently from White people and other sections because of the inevitable backlash from BLM and their supporters.
All people are the same and should be treat the same.
That is what we should be preaching and not allowing the segregation of one group just because that group demand it. Multi cultural integration has to be the goal. White supremacy, Black supremacy or any sort of supremacy has to be frowned upon. That is why we have to have united slogans like All lives matter. At that point we will start getting somewhere.

France vs England final, France to win.

Mr Derwent, I imagine you are a similar age to me, yet you come out with statements like "We are one step away from treating Black people differently from White people" and use a word like "segregation" apparently without irony. Can you remind me of any point in the last 50-60 years that black people were treated the same as white people, apart from the very recent past? Amazing isn't it that instead of being pathetically grateful they've come over all 'uppity' and assertive?


As I'm aware that Mr I delights in his little provocations and you will always want to have the last couple of hundred words, I'm happy to leave this exchange of views here and get back to enjoying Pools' play-off season - hopefully all the way to a win in Bristol on 20th June.

Am I not allowed to have a different outlook to you even though we are of a similar age? Do you not recognise diversity of opinion? Are we all to have a similar view to you?
I can only give you my opinion on how I have seen black people over the last fifty or sixty years.
Over seventy years ago Pele, a black footballer, was revered across the World and white kids like me wanted to be like him. At the same time I revered cricketers like the great West Indians.
Gary Sobers was idolised by me, and I still consider him to be the best cricketer I have ever seen.
I have been holding Black people in great esteem for over sixty years and count them amongst my friends. As I do with my Chinese, Asian and Jewish friends. They are all good people and the colour of their skin means nothing to me. What they do and the contribution they make is what is important to me. I have never met a Black convicted criminal but have met quite a number of white villains.
I haven't accused anybody of being uppity and assertive, those words are forth coming from you not me.
Count the words relative to both of us on here in say the last six months and you might find you are also capable of banging the old gums.
As for your comments apertaining to Mr I, I'll leave the great man to deal with them.

I do share your opinion on Pools however and join you in wishing us a successful end to the season. I include every member of our club, whatever their origin.

always remember that a big number of those who were killed did not want to be there. they were conscripted and did not really have much of a choice in the matter. the reality is far removed from post war films about WW2 where little dicy attenborough and his like could not wait to be heroes.

totally agree. its not as if it had happened on the streets of britain either. it happened somewhere with much worse race relations than this country has. if it had not been george floyd it would have been someone else shortly after who might have been totally innocent of anything apart from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. many people with middle of the road views are getting totally sick of the virtue signalling of people and any comparison to this country to the land of the free{whites that is}. if they want to kick up race hatred in this country the BLM are going the right way to do it. if they are not careful people will be forced into their camp or somewhere on the right. afraid if all races do not take a hard look at themselves we,ll be in bother where no problems actually exist.

t if they want to kick up race hatred in this country the BLM are going the right way to do it. if they are not careful people will be forced into their camp or somewhere on the right. afraid if all races do not take a hard look at themselves we,ll be in bother where no problems actually exist.[/quote]





You won't get any harmony when the likes of Abbott and Co are stirring up trouble on a daily basis.



Italy to win.

agree on both counts. the former are allowed to do it openly which annoys the other side as they are basically underground now. thats were both sides should be, underground and never heard of again.

It's entirely a political movement and you cannot separate the loony left BLM from the words as Southgate is trying to do. What happened to kick it out? That's an organisation fans were behind almost to a man. The booing is about being pissed off about being lectured to and the virtue signaling not racism.

southgate really has no other option but to follow the line from those who employ him. if he didn,t his only option would to resign before they had an excuse to sack him. take away social media kick it out has more or less worked. whether more by luck than design there is very little racial stuff at games now. you will always get the odd incident like the odd incidents of everything in life. nothing ever goes completely away no matter what it is. push something too hard and you will eventually get a backlash.

If Southgate even remotely insinuated those booing fans were half right, he'd be sacked on the spot. Not saying I disagree with kneeling, frankly it doesn't bother me. But you can be damn sure if England players stopped their would be a meltdown of global proportions at the FA.

For them it's not about equality or awareness of struggles in the BAME community, it's purely good PR and box ticking to add to their portfolio. The FA do not give one fuck about their service users, black or white.

And I say that as someone who agrees with BLM for the most part.

My money is on......................


In three weeks time


"We've learnt a lot, as management, as players, as totally over the top wokish media, and as parasitic rulers of the peoples' game "

"We can now build towards the World Cup with confidence"

"Our squad was young and they will have learnt much"

"No one could plan for the knee injuries caused by the pre-match PR exercise"

"The looting by the victorious Scots fans was appalling"

"Has Shearer ever said anything remotely fresh or provocative?"

[quote="Brasil Brush"]If Southgate even remotely insinuated those booing fans were half right, he'd be sacked on the spot. Not saying I disagree with kneeling, frankly it doesn't bother me. But you can be damn sure if England players stopped their would be a meltdown of global proportions at the FA.

if even one england player did not do it the FA would do there best to make sure his england career was over for a start. then they would do anything in their power to blacken this player by finding out any misdemeanor he had done since leaving the womb. about time there is a new kick it out campaign that kicks out politics from the game which will be the new scourge of the game if they are not careful.

"We'd have won it if it hadn't been for Grealish and Foden catching covid"

"He was 16 when he wrote that tweet"

"The French cheated, again"

Embarrassing stuff from some sections of the board I see. Courting controversy and crying foul when people accuse you of being racist. It’s not ok to boo the players who in their own way are making a statement for a more integrated society for what is it 30 seconds? Some of them do some good work that goes unnoticed too I’m sure. Plus there’s Rashford. Done some good stuff that man. I don’t think they have a hidden agenda or are in support of the political organisation. They are trying to raise awareness and be in solidarity with one another. They aren’t telling you your opinion is wrong necessarily. They aren’t stopping you speaking your mind. They are reminding you that many of them face racism on a daily basis. Something to think about. Perhaps those booing dont want to be reminded that the problem exists. We need to keep trying to educate them that it does,

So I guess you just chose to ignore points made by others.

I didn't ignore the comments I said they were embarrassing.

whilst all that is fine but they must realize that anyone who boos or has a different take on it have their opinions and free speech on the situation. the knee takers are not part of a marxist organisation as the ones againt kneeling are not members of far right organisations either. only today some arrogant sod said those against the knee need to be educated. education can go both ways and needs to. all these multi millionaire footballers need to know what racialism really is. you can close down an unnecasary twitter account but not avoid the shit their parents and grandparents got 60 plus years ago just doing a job of work, catching a bus or doing their shopping. as a kid moving to yorkshire i have seen and heard stuff that made my skin crawl.

Malta........................what do you mean Malta didn't qualify......again..

Why shouldn't people be allowed to cry foul and what qualifications have you got to judge people who cry foul??????
Yes Rashford has done some good things but possibly the only reason you know Rashford has done some good things is because the media has chosen to inform you. There are hundreds of thousands of other people who have done good things that you will never hear about. Dedicated people who do it on a daily basis for years on end. There might be some on this board deserving of that accolade who you have never met but are freely prepared to judge.
The is no such person as a perfectly educated individual. All of us would benefit from further education, including you. So, maybe from your lofty perch on the moral high ground, you might like to look inwards at your own performance, instead of outwards with your judge's cap on.
Just a thought.
Whilst we are discussing the subject of racial abuse maybe, from your vast knowledge of the subject, you can help me with a problem of understanding which I wrestle with.
It concerns two sportsmen whom I know well.
One is Black and the other is Welsh.
We were discussing Racism and it's impact. The Black man, who was a footballer, related to a match where every time he got the ball a section of the crowd made monkey chants. The Welshman, an ex rugby player said he had experienced something similar but the chant against him was BAAA. The Blackman said it shouldn't happen but his experience was worse. They disagreed and it got heated. Eventually they both mentioned that I hadn't said a word and asked what I thought.
I asked them both if they felt angry and abused by their respective experiences and both said yes. I replied that here was common ground between them insomuch that they both felt abused, which angered them. I said neither situation should be tolerated simply because both instances involved deliberate abuse with intent to h urt.
The Welshman then offered the opinion that the black man's experience was more likely to be punished than his experience and wanted to know why. I couldn't answer that question on the grounds that abuse is abuse and both instances had racist undertones and should be treat as such.
What would you have said to them??

Are the FA and players going to boycott the World Cup in Qatar then, or will they just ignore the Amnesty international reports on human rights issues and modern day slavery?

They'll ignore it because money and It has FIFA's blessing. It could be a form of ethnic genocide but if FIFA bless it most national FA's would go through with it.

To be fair, it's not out of character for FIFA to be morally bankrupt, it's the FA who want to paint themselves as this loving, community based association. I'll give them credit, theyve done some great initiatives, but theyve also made some major gaffes.

From the lofty perch you have placed me on I’d have said that they are free to react however they personally felt against the racism directed at them Derwent. But others who witnessed the racism third hand might be equally affected and are entitled to react in their own way. That’s their right irrespective of how those two individuals interpreted things. It’s about society. What happened to those making the racist comments? Nothing presumably which is the whole point the players are trying to make aren’t they? I don’t really see how anyone who hasn’t experienced racism can hold such strong opinions on what to do about it, or try to equate it with anything else. If everyone started on a level playing field everyone’s issues would matter equally. The fact is that they don’t No one I’ve heard of faces racism in this country solely because they are white? There are other disadvantaged groups in society but they will be formed from a mix of ethnic backgrounds, or religions or traditions. Shall we boo them too as we don’t agree with their approach? I’m not a big fan of religion. Perhaps as I walk past every place of worship I’ll boo. That’ll help change the opinions of the congregation I’ll bet. Booing referees is allowed mind. I’m not sure it has ever helped either though.

This is always what happens when you challenge anyone supporting BLM.

My point is that the support of 'Kick it out' shows that racism is not the problem amongst the general football populous and where there is racism it tends to be stamped on by others on the terraces. The problem with BLM is the politics; they are a disgusting organisation and most people don't like being preached to by them as if they were in the KKK. Their UK supporters of the BLM arseholes tend to attack stuff we hold dear; the cenotaph and Churchill statues which isn't a great start.

So in summary, don't lecture me about racism, I got that years ago. I'll happliy support a non political campaign like KIO but BLM, never because of the other things they stand for.

Belgium

another thing to do for fans who do not like the kneeling is to be quiet, stand up and turn their backs to the pitch whilst its happening.

I see racism as abuse, which it is and loads of white people face abuse on a daily basis. The Welsh rugby player I referred to is white.
I am widening the picture.
Let's call it descriptive abuse.
Not only do Black people get descriptive abuse but so do people who are fat, bald, small, tall, ginger, male, female, elderly, young, physically impaired, not very good looking, not very academically bright, etc etc etc etc. The cruellest part of society are children, who can abuse mercilessly. The worst area for abuse is social media.
Just like all lives matter, all abuse should be tackled.
Then and only then will we begin to eliminate racial abuse. Not only do we need to stop people from uttering abuse but we also need to stop them thinking it. We can only do that by education and that education starts at birth.
It's no good being selective as to which abuse is condemned or tolerated, that's not good enough. We need to broaden our horizons.
There are people who preach anti racism and consider themselves tolerant of diversity and then refuse to even associate with certain other types or refer to them in an abusive manner.
I was brought up hearing jokes about the Irish, that was abuse of white people. A lot of the Gypsy population are white and they get abused incessantly. The Police get abused and physically attacked. They are mostly white. A and E staff get abuse on a daily basis, so do politicians, bus drivers, match officials, shop workers. In this country there are loads of examples of abuse but the emphasis on eradicating it appears to be centred on Black and ethnic minorities. That is where we are going wrong in my opinion.

i feel i,m as important as any really priveledged white person like the royals and feel a black person is as important as me. quicker we all realize that we have more in common with each other the better. giving one section of a society a bit more publicity and a leg up on others is a way to cause disharmony among the population. there is no need to like or dislike a certain section of the community but need to respect them no matter of your own personal experiances with them.