#steve mcclaren
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♡ CHARACTER LIST ♡
(characters i take requests for)
♡ PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS ♡
percy jackson, luke castellan, ethan nakamura, travis stoll, connor stoll, nico di angelo, charles beckendorf
♡ HEROES OF OLYMPUS ♡
jason grace, leo valdez, frank zhang
♡ TRIALS OF APOLLO ♡
lester papadopoulos
♡ MAGNUS CHASE AND THE GODS OF ASGARD ♡
magnus chase, alex fierro
♡ HARRY POTTER (LIGHTNING ERA) ♡
harry potter, ronald weasley, fred weasley, george weasley, bill weasley, charlie weasley, cedric diggory, draco malfoy, blaise zabini, theodore nott, tom riddle
♡ HARRY POTTER (MARAUDERS ERA) ♡
james potter, remus lupin, sirius black, barty crouch jr, evan rosier, regulus black, lucius malfoy, severus snape
♡ HUNGER GAMES ♡
peeta mellark, gale hawthorne, finnick odair, haymitch abernathy
♡ A BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES ♡
coriolanus snow
♡ DIVERGENT ♡
tobias eaton (four)
♡ THE LUNAR CHRONICLES ♡
prince kaito, carswell thorne, jacin clay, ze’ev kesley (wolf)
♡ STRANGER THINGS ♡
steve harrington, billy hargrove, jonathan byers, jim hopper, eddie munson, dmitri 'enzo' antonov
♡ SCREAM ♡
billy loomis, stu macher, randy meeks, dewey riley, mickey altieri, roman bridger, mark kincaid, chad meeks- martin, richie kirsch, ethan landry
♡ THE DEAD POETS’ SOCIETY ♡
neil perry, jason todd, steven meeks, gerard pitts, charlie dalton, knox overstreet, richard cameron
♡ THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY ♡
conrad fisher, jeremiah fisher, cam cameron, steven conklin
♡ TO ALL THE BOYS ♡
peter kavinsky, john ambrose mcclaren, josh sanderson
♡ MY LIFE WITH THE WALTER BOYS ♡
cole walter, danny walter, alex walter, isaac garcia
*my favourites (to write for)
**please also check my request rules before sending a request in
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Hello there! Thank you for choosing to follow my blog I only have a few rules. No drama. No hate. Handle your issues privately like adults. No forced ships or pressure for replies. You can use icons, big ole gifs, or nothing. I don’t care I just wanna have fun with you but please cut your posts. Last but not least I write for me if you don’t like what I do kindly leave me out of it thanks!
Affiliated with @soughtbirthright, @theolderh3nderson, @pogueland1a, @hawkinssongbird & @deermooses.
Icon credits: @tutorgirlcommissions
PSD Credit: @jaynedits
MUSES
Original
Briana Madison ( Werewolf OC )
Spencer McClaren ( Fandomless OC )
Claire St James ( Future OC )
Sylvie Nightbloom ( Human Fantasy OC )
Vanya Ulafiel ( Fantasy OC )
Ruth Rutledge ( Stranger Things OC )
Eight ( Stranger Things OC )
Cordelia Robinson ( Space Ranger OC )
Grace Scott ( One tree hill OC )
Miles Gardner ( Virgin river OC )
Seamus Graham ( Fandomless )
Diego Garcia ( Fandomless )
Jackson Harrington ( Stranger things OC )
Aniyah Stokes ( Outer Banks OC )
Charles Foreman ( Stranger Things OC )
Theodore Blight ( Fairy OC )
Annabelle Honeywell ( Human OC )
Mike Yeun ( Fandomless OC )
Mythology
Persephone
Aphrodite
Artemis
Hercules ( Headcanoned / Disney Based )
The Witcher
Geralt Of Rivia
Princess Ciri
It Series
Beverly Marsh
Eddie Kaspbrak
Arcane
Vi
Echo
She-ra
Adora
Catra
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Tony Stark
Stephan Strange
Frank Castle
Jessica Jones
Peter Parker
Kate Bishop
Carol Danvers
DC Cinematic Universe
Bruce Wayne
Diana Prince
Barbara Gordon
Selina Kyle
Pamela Isley
Lena Luthor
Kara Danvers
Disney
Maya Hart
Cassandra
Queen Elsa
Tinker Bell
Fawn
Miguel Rivera
Judy Hopps
Helen Parr
Twilight
Bella Swan
Edward Cullen
Charlie Swan
Jacob Black
Emmett Cullen
The Last Of Us
Bree Tanner
Uncharted movie
Nathan Drake
Joel Miller
Life is Strange
Dina Fonseca
Mel
Abby Anderson
Lev
Yara
Max Caulfield
Dana Ward
Chloe Price
Warren graham
Alex Chen
To All the boys
Sean Diaz
Red dead redemption
Sadie Adler
Arthur Morgan
Mary-Beth Gaskill
Karen Jones
Peter Kavinsky
Lara Jean Covey
Stranger Things
Steve Harrington
Eleven Hopper
Will Byers
Jonathan Byers
Dustin Henderson
Max Mayfield
Robin Buckley
Eddie Munson
Eden Bingham
Teen Wolf
Stiles Stilinski
Derek Hale
Supernatural
John Winchester
Dean Winchester
Meg Masters
Jo Harvelle
Lucifer
Lilith
The Vampire Diaries
Josie Saltzman
Klaus Mikaelson
Hayley Marshall
Jackson Kenner
Landon Kirby
Lizzie Saltzman
The Walking Dead
Negan
Rick Grimes
Glenn Rhee
Beth Greene
Scream
Stu Machar
Emma Duval
Tatum Riley
The Office
Michael Scott
Jim Halpert
Kelly Kapoor
Pam Beesly
Brooklyn 99
Jake Peralta
Rosa Diaz
One Tree Hill
Peyton Sawyer
Nathan Scott
Outer Banks
Rafe Cameron
Sarah Cameron
JJ Maybank
Topper Thornton
The Bear
Carmy Berzatto
Virgin River
Jack Sheridan
Lizzie
High School Musical
Troy Bolton
Rickey Bowen
Gabriella Montez
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Too Many Conventions!
Hello!
Turns out, I'm a liar. If you read last week's blog, I ended it with a whole little plan for the next couple of weeks, completely having forgotten that I'm about to enter the most convention heavy stretch I have all year! This is my last "free" weekend until April pretty much!
A week from today, 2/25, I'll be at the Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival! If you're anywhere near the Phoenix area and want to see me to buy comics or bring your own to get them signed, this is the place to do it! I'll be bringing a pretty chunk of my stock, including stuff from Sonic, Godzilla, and pretty much what's left of my Transformers/Hasbro stock! Maybe this one, maybe in a couple more events like this, I'm going to be running out of Transformers vs. Terminator and Wreckers, so get 'em now while you can! Becca will be there too and you can get us both to sign our little mini-comic, Jimmy Squarefoot! We'll also be bringing copies of a zine we made explaining the issues with AI! And Becca will have a bunch of other stuff at their own table!
There are a bunch of other really great people attending including Elizabeth Brei, Danny Djeljosevic, Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, Tone Rodriguez, Cecil Castellucci, and so many more! So come on out and see us!
Then, Becca got into WaifuExpo the following weekend, 3/3-3/5! It's going to be a cool little adult (18+) focused con in the Dallas-Fort Worth area! Becca's going to be in the artist's alley and I'm going to be there as their booth babe. I will NOT be bringing any of my stuff, only Becca is tabling (*tho if you are planning to attend and get ahold of me ahead of time, I might be able to pack a few things to give in person). Becca's working very hard on preparation and will have some exclusive stuff for adults debuting there!
Similarly, lots of cool guests including some very notable cosplayers and voice actors and other artists! It also seems like it's going to be a very activity heavy con if that's your jam!
It's also our first time in the DFW area, so if you have recommendations, those would be appreciated!
Then, if everything goes right with the first two cons and I'm still feeling groovy, I am tentatively planning on going up to TFCon LA on 3/10. Again, this is health and finances permitting after two other back-to-back shows, and I am not coming as anything other than an attendee, but if you catch me at Jack Lawrence's table and want me to sign your Wreckers or Alex Milne's table and want me to sign your TF/Terminator or whatever, I'm happy to do so!
And finally, I expect to be attending WonderCon 2023, March 24-26! Again, same deal as TFCon--my availability will depend a little bit on not having gotten sick/burned out from the other shows with only one weekend of "downtime" and I'm going mostly as an attendee, rather than tabling individually or with IDW, but this is the one con where I'll be most open for meetings.
After that, I have to assume that I'll hibernate until the summer! And somewhere around there I'll get back to what I mistakenly proposed last week and do another "Ask Me (Almost) Anything". In the meantime, new posts are going to be coming to the blog, but they'll be a little irregular because they'll be coming in-between shows!
Thanks for rolling with that change and hope to see you soon!
What I enjoyed this week:
Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game--I managed to get the new Kiana and Mei back-to-back, so I'm pretty happy!), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Book), Poker Face (TV show), Romantic Killer (Anime), Warioware Inc (Video Game), The Fablemans (Movie--I cried 3 times!), Kaguya-Sama: Love is War-The First Kiss That Never Ends (Movie), Valentine's Day, Snack vs. Chef (TV show), Chainsaw Man (Manga), rearranging my desk (I had to dust the... 150 [estimate] little hunks of plastic on my desk and decided to rearrange them), Becca's first Twitch stream (more on that below)!
New Releases this week (2/15/2023):
Off week for my books
New releases next week (2/22/2023):
Also an off week for my books!
Announcements:
Wait, this is still a section? With all that other stuff I've already been promoting? Well... Yeah!
Social Media - I am still primarily on Twitter because that's still where I know the most people and the format I like the best, unfortunately, but you can find me on all my socials here as I continue to try to move away from that site that is less and less functional each day! And, hey, sometimes it still works to reach people like this update on Sonic (it is good and fine and in many languages and countries).
Aradia Beat - The past few weeks, I've been plugging this cool Magical Girl Anthology Magazine that Becca's part of! This morning, the campaign closed and they had just exceeded their second stretch goal! Thanks anyone here who contributed and if you missed out, well... you missed out! No, but give Aradia Collective a follow and they'll be able to tell ya if there'll be any other ways of getting it in the future!
More Magical Girls - Our pals Elizabeth Brei & Danny Djeljosevic and a bunch of their friends are getting close to their goal on their Kickstarter for Sweet Little Resistance, which you should check out! And you can tell them you're psyched for it at AZCAF!
Becca is a busy beean - Somewhere in all this con prep and the many shows we're attending, Becca's also managing regular Patreon updates (and this month, any new sign-ups will have their first pledge go to The Brown Building here in San Diego). They're also open for commissions. And they're now streaming Wednesdays & Saturdays (including tonight, but not when we'll be at shows) on Twitch! I'll usually be there too, moderating the chat and making jokes, playing the soundboard or whatever. You can check out their first stream playing Heartbreak High on their page now! I think the plan is Wednesdays will be games and Saturdays will be art, so come check it out and hang!
Legislative Tracking - Legislators are doubling down on attempting to pass anti-trans bills. Fortunately, some of them are not managing to move forward. Unfortunately, the bad guys keep trying. Here is a legislative tracker for you to keep an eye on and hopefully if anything is happening locally to you (and on the federal level), you're able to reach out to your reps and can tell them to knock that shit off.
Pic of the Week:
A very dumb little promo I made for all of our upcoming stuff (or... well, a lot of it) to the theme of Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania, in theaters now! (NOTE: Made when Aradia Beat was still funding, it's over now, sorry!)
#convention life#arizona comic book arts festival#comics#comics editorial#transformers idw#sonic idw#aradia beat#godzilla idw#waifuexpo#magical girls#twitch#streaming#heartbreak high#tfcon#wondercon
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In (somewhat) Defence of Gareth Southgate
For all of my Football watching life, England have been a disappointment. I was born several days before Football came home with the opening of Euro 96, when England reached the Semi-Finals. They would not reach another for 22 years. In those 22 years, The Three Lions won one knockout game, a Round of 16 tie against Ecuador. They took part in four penalty shootouts in that time and lost all of them. Their very worst was reserved for the Euros, in the 2000 edition they didn’t get beyond the group stage and in 2008 they failed to even qualify. Since winning the World Cup in 1966, England had been by a considerable distance, international football’s biggest underachievers.
Despite regularly having some of Europe’s and the World’s best footballers, England failed to qualify for the World Cup three times between 1974 and 1994, and reached just two major semi-finals between 1970 and 2016. For everyone of my generation and even the generations above, supporting The England National Team had been an extremely underwhelming experience for as long as could be remembered.
But after Sven-Göran Eriksson had failed to win more than one knockout game across three tournaments with England’s “Golden Generation” things sunk to new lows. First England failed to qualify for a major tournament for the first time since 1994, when Steve McClaren’s England missed out on Euro 2008, then under Roy Hodgson, the side performed abysmally first at the 2014 World Cup where they were the very first team of 32 to be eliminated, mathematically unable to advance to the next stage just 7 days after the tournament in Brazil got under way. 2 years later, greater embarrassment was dumped on the country when England exited the European Championships at the Round of 16 stage against minnows Iceland, a nation of around 350,000 people playing at their first major tournament.
By this stage it had become increasingly difficult to care about England. They had long since become completely unworthy of support, they were too frustrating, players who were consistently quality for their club sides would only perform for England in qualifiers or friendly matches, playing as shadows of themselves when it came to crunch time at a World Cup or Euros.
Just when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse, Sam Allardyce took the job and was sacked after just one game, due to footage emerging of him negotiating with a journalist posing as a businessman, as the England manager advised him on how to get around FA rules on player ownership.
By this stage, public opinion and mood towards the national side couldn’t have been any lower. England U-21 Manager Gareth Southgate was promoted to take temporary charge of the senior team. Southgate’s 4 games as temporary manager featured 2 wins over Malta and Scotland, and 2 draws with Slovenia and Spain, despite England leading 2-0 against Spain after 88 minutes. He had hardly passed his audition with flying colours but got the job anyway, because there was simply nobody else willing to take it.
A 94th minute winner by Kane to beat Slovenia 1-0 at Wembley had secured England’s flight to Russia, and the result rather summed up England’s qualifying performance. They managed 18 goals in 10 games, only one more than Slovakia and Scotland, in a group up against the likes of Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta. Expectation on a England side had likely never been as modest as it was going into the 2018 World Cup.
England’s first game against Tunisia saw a promise of the usual rubbish from the side in a major tournament as they struggled and needed an injury time winner to beat the African outfit 2-1. However against World Cup debutants Panama, suddenly things changed. A nation desperate to be able to get behind their national team was finally rewarded with something. England led 5-0 at Half-Time, and went on to win 6-1, their biggest ever win at a major tournament. It was only Panama, but people had not forgotten England’s struggles in recent years against the likes of Trinidad & Tobago and USA, and now was not the time to be pedantic. With qualification secured, Southgate rotated for the final group game against Belgium and a 1-0 defeat meant a second place finish and a Round of 16 meeting with Colombia.
Kane gave England the lead from the spot, but Colombia equalised in the 93rd minute, with the game eventually progressing to penalties. It looked likely to be an all too familiar tale for the Three Lions with yet more penalty heartache when Jordan Henderson missed. But then something different happened to alleviate us all from the usual script, Colombia failed to take advantage and a Pickford save from Carlos Bacca meant Eric Dier’s converted spotkick was able to give England their first shootout win since 1996. In their first Quarter-Final since 2006, Southgate’s team beat Sweden 2-0 to reach their first World Cup Semi-Final since Italia 90.
They met Croatia and took an early lead from a Trippier free-kick. A great chance to double the lead was passed up when Kane opted to shoot rather than find Sterling with the goal gaping. Croatia’s experience and quality operators in midfield began to tell however, and after Perisic had levelled things up, Mandzukic delivered the knockout blow for Croatia in Extra-Time. It would be they who went on to meet France in the final, whilst England had to settle for a Third-Place play-off against Belgium who again beat them, this time 2-0.
Despite the disappointing conclusion, an unfancied England side had had their joint best World Cup since winning it 52 years prior. By finally winning a penalty shootout and a Quarter-Final, the team had finally given their country something to shout about and some pride had finally be restored after a long absence. The World Cup took place a few years after the Brexit vote which split the country, and in between two extremely divisive General Elections, the England team were able to deliver a very welcome respite from all the negativity and unpleasantness that Politics had stirred up across the nation, and Southgate was very aware of this. He summed up in his interviews the positive effect the team were having on the country, by giving the people something to united over for a change.
England’s resurgence continued in the newly formed Nations League, they won away at Spain in a game they led 3-0 at half-time and then scored 2 late goals to gain some revenge at home to Croatia. In the Semi-Finals, they led against the Netherlands but lost in Extra-Time. Third place though was secured with another shootout victory, this time against Switzerland. In the following Nations League, England beat Belgium at home but were unable to finish above them and qualify for the Semi-Finals, finishing 3rd below Denmark by virtue of head to head record.
Euro 2020 qualification was secured in emphatic fashion with 37 goals in just 8 games, with only 6 conceded. With all their group games at Wembley Stadium infront of a reduced capacity due to Covid restrictions, England made a solid start beating World Cup finalists Croatia 1-0. However to everyone’s surprise, England were then second best against Scotland and were only able to draw 0-0. They were also unimpressive against Czech Republic in another 1-0 win. It was hard to be optimistic at this point, England had kept 3 cleansheets, but only 1 player had scored for them and the ball was being moved especially slowly and cautiously, with striker Harry Kane regularly dropping far too deep to be anything but harmless.
Another reason to lack optimism was the team’s round of 16 opponent Germany, who England had not beaten in a knockout match since the World Cup final of 1966. Sterling grabbed his 3rd of the tournament with a quarter of an hour to play before Kane made it safe to ensure England’s progression to the last 8 and only their second ever knockout stage win at the Euros (their first not requiring penalties). In Rome, England got off to an ideal start in their Quarter-Final against Ukraine, Kane giving them an early lead. 3 second half goals were added as The Three Lions secured their best ever knockout stage result with a 4-0 win.
They returned to Wembley to meet Denmark in the Semi-Finals, and conceded their first goal of the tournament from a Damsgaard free-kick. They trailed for less than 10 minutes before an own goal drew them back level. With an extra-time penalty from Kane, England had reached their first final for 55 years, and their first Euros final ever. Against Italy, England had home advantage and scored with their first attack leading until the 67th minute when Bonucci forced the equaliser from a set-piece. The game progressed to penalties and it was advantage England when Belotti missed. Rashford though cancelled this miss out and Sancho gave Italy the edge when he also failed to convert. A Jorginho miss then put the tie back in the balance but 19-year old Bukayo Saka’s penalty was saved to secure glory for the Italians.
Since then England have secured qualification for the World Cup in Qatar, but made a dreadful beginning to their third Nations League campaign. They’ve failed to win in four games, losing home and away to Hungary, most damaging was a 4-0 home loss which must go down as one of the very worst results in England’s history. Now the Nations League is in my opinion played too often, it should be every 4 years like the World Cup and Euros, rather than every 2. And having these 4 games at the end of a long, hard season due to the World Cup being moved to this November, has not done anyone any favours. All that being said, you simply cannot lose 4-0 at home to Hungary, no set of circumstances can ever make that acceptable, and it has to go down as Southgate’s worst moment as manager so far by a big margin.
Aside from when the spirit of tournament football overtakes the nation and it’s all anyone can do to stop themselves from constantly alternating from “Football’s Coming Home” to “Southgate You’re The One”, Gareth Southgate is not a popular manager in this country, he is clearly not well rated. The level of criticism he receives however from supporters on social media I have always found to be extremely heavy-handed, the vitriol seems a lot more unpleasant and just plain nasty than it was against for example Roy Hodgson, and I’m not atall sure why that is.
Let’s look at some of the regular complaints levelled at Southgate. 1. Any decent manager would have won the World Cup or Euros with England. Well Sven-Göran Eriksson won 7 major honours with Lazio in 3 and a half years just prior to taking the England job, so he was certainly a decent manager. He could only manage 3 Quarter-Final exits with a team full of proven World Class players. Fabio Capello came to England just after winning La Liga with Real Madrid, he also has a Champions League and several Serie A winners medals in his trophy cabinet. So yes you could argue he was quite decent, though with him England won just 1 of 4 matches at the 2010 World Cup, exiting 4-1 against Germany. So it’s clearly not as simple as *any* decent manager would perform better with England than a World Cup semi and a Euros final, because Sven and Capello were better than decent and far more proven than any coach England are likely to get should Southgate be dismissed as many would like.
Another complaint levelled at him: “he wouldn’t be good enough to manage in the Premier League”. Well with very few exceptions, almost every International coach wouldn’t, Southgate is far from unique in this regard. The best managers nearly always coach in club football. Though it’s also true that club and international management are two different things that require different skills and qualities. Scolari for example looked out of his depth in the Premier League with Chelsea, but he won the World Cup with Brazil and reached a Euros Final with Portugal, so he was evidently still a good International manager. Aswell Joachim Löw had a fairly mediocre career in club management mostly coaching in Austria and Turkey before taking the German National job, where he reached atleast the semi-finals of four successive tournaments, and won the 2014 World Cup.
Next up, “He’s had easy draws, that’s the only reason England have gone far in tournaments.” Oh how short people’s memories are. England have been facing “easy” opponents regularly in tournaments long before Southgate arrived, although they repeatedly made very hard work of them. In 2010 England failed to beat USA or Algeria, in 2014 could only draw with Costa Rica who they finished three places below, in 2016 they couldn’t beat Russia, Slovakia or Iceland. It’s alright saying Southgate’s draws have been easy, but the fact is before he arrived teams similar in level to these ‘easy’ teams, were not being beaten by England. Under him England conceded 2 goals at the Euros in 7 matches, 2 of which went to Extra-Time. No matter who you played, you’ve got to be happy with stats like that.
Gareth Southgate is England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey. Such is the dislike for Southgate, this is often balked at, but it’s a statistical fact. In 2 major competitions as manager, Southgate has more wins than any other England boss, more knockout stage wins, more Quarter-Final wins and more goals scored under him at a major tournament. This is despite 5 England managers having been in charge at more tournaments. England have reached the semi-finals at 4 major tournaments, 2 out of 2 under Southgate and 2 out of 21 before him. This is some much needed perspective that a lot of people would benefit from gaining. Though I do not expect them to, as I have seen takes such as “anything less winning the tournament is meaningless” suit yourselves, but if you see getting to a penalty shootout in a Euros final as just as bad as losing to Iceland in the Round of 16, I feel sorry for you.
Now let’s look fairly at the things Southgate has got right and wrong during his tenure so far and adjustments he needs to make going forward. And he will be going forward. Talk of sacking the man is nothing short of ludicrous a few months short of a World Cup, especially considering Hodgson was given another tournament after getting England eliminated from the World Cup in a week. When Southgate’s worst performance at a major tournament so far is a semi, I think it’s fair to say he should be given the benefit of the doubt with a country that’s only ever won one tournament.
Where he has done well has been with the team spirit he’s been able to generate within the group, it’s a far cry from the days when the players sat at different tables based on the club’s they played for. These lads all get on, and when they don’t the trouble is stamped out straight away such as when Joe Gomez and Raheem Sterling carried over some ill-feeling from the recent Liverpool v City fixture into the camp. It was immediately dealt with, Sterling was sent home, lesson learned. He has also made sure every player feels valued and important, no more or less than anyone else in the squad barring the captain Harry Kane. You got the sense in previous England squads that lots of players felt they were just there to make up the numbers and weren’t really in with much of a look-in, it’s certainly not like that anymore, players are always getting chances.
However, it’s fair to say this also has a negative side to it. Southgate is so willing to give players chances, that it’s led to him chopping and changing the team a little bit too much. He doesn’t appear to know his best 11, nor his preferred formation. Players are coming in and out so much that it’s difficult for them to really impress because no sooner are they getting used to their role, they’re out of the side again for someone else.
Now on one hand, this is somewhat understandable, England have a squad full of very good players, and in certain areas such as right-back, centre midfield, attacking midfield and outwide, so little separates the players that they’re certainly not straightforward choices to make. But it is time to make them. All countries rotate a few players here and there to have a look at them and give them a chance, but with England it feels taken to the extreme. The other nations who are in with a shout of winning the World Cup such as Argentina, Brazil and Spain definitely rotate considerably less and their managers seem alot more certain in knowing who is their best 11.
In these 2 final Nations League games, which are now effectively the final warm-up games before the World Cup starts in November, Southgate needs to go with what he believes is his very best 11. It sounds simple, but currently he isn’t doing it, due to seemingly being side-tracked by this idea of giving every single player an opportunity at every possible occasion. The conditions in Qatar are going to be very hot and humid, and England are going to really struggle if they’re not able to better keep the ball. If I were Southgate, I would be looking to decide my best team and formation for Qatar based on what will help us to best manage the conditions which means getting the best possession based footballers in the team. We need to really look after the ball and make sure its the opposition, rather than ourselves doing most of the running, and in recent times especially against strong opposition we have simply not been good enough at staying in possession.
England have never got beyond the Quarter-Finals at a World Cup outside of Europe, and I think it would be a good result and continuation of their progress if they were able to. It looks a big ask currently, as Wales, USA and Iran will look to frustrate with organised defending, and it will pose a big question of England’s creativity which has been sorely lacking of late.
This will of course be the first ever winter World Cup and first ever mid-season tournament, and with no warm-up games prior or the chance to settle for long in the country before having to take to the field for the opening game, the competition is going to present some unique challenges and problems. Of course I expect Southgate to be savaged if England don’t win the tournament, but I really do think it’s difficult to judge any manager too harshly based on this competition due to it’s highly unusual circumstances. All the managers are in the same boat, but I believe these conditions will significantly lessen the advantages the big countries will usually have and we will see a lot more upsets than normal. I am predicting the strangest World Cup since 2002 which saw South Korea and Turkey in the Semi-Finals, I think we could see some similarly oddball names in the latter stages this time out too.
Barring a disastrous exit before the Quarter-Finals, I would keep the faith with Southgate going into Euro 2024. I see that as the tournament we really need to be focusing in on and looking to win, giving the ages of the players by that time. The realistic aim should be to win that tournament in Germany, as for Qatar, England should of course consider themselves capable of going all the way but I would consider another Semi-Final enough to keep the momentum rolling.
In conclusion, there is no doubting the time may come when we all look at Southgate and conclude he isn’t the man to end England’s long wait for a trophy. The defeats against Croatia in 2018 and Italy last year came in a similar fashion, and if such a similar loss happens where England lose their grip on a game with Southgate being found wanting again tactically, then the FA should make the call to say “Thanks for turning us around, we were in a real mess when you took over and you’ve set us on the right path, but we’re going to go with someone else now to try and get us over that last hurdle.”
And that sentiment should be echoed by every single England fan. Because Southgate has not been perfect, he’s been great in some aspects, not all, but he’s still been the best England manager for over 50 years. And I believe he deserves a lot more respect and warmth than he’s currently receiving. I won’t be surprised if we find out just how easy this job really *isn’t*, when a new man that everyone is shouting for such as Eddie Howe or Graham Potter find it difficult to improve on Southgate’s tournament results.
The Southgate appreciation club doesn’t have many members and stepping out from the crowd to argue that maybe Southgate isn’t a completely useless f****** c*** leaves you in the minority, but I can’t find a way to feel that level of animosity and disdain towards him. He’s given me some great days and nights watching the national team winning major Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals, days I never would have believed could come so soon after the shame of the Iceland defeat. Simply put, Southgate has made England worth caring about and worthy of support. Does that mean there hasn’t been bumps in the road? no. Does it mean that the time will not ever arrive where it’s time to move on from Southgate? No. But it means he should be worthy of at least a base level of appreciation.
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The photos and video of mase and Steve mcclaren today do make me laugh. Like why does steve always just look like someone’s dad has turned up to watch training😭
Is that the man that hugged him?
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Sports News - Steve McClaren gives verdict on Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough after recent struggles
Ghana Sports Today; bringing you all trending sports news as it happens. Get daily comprehensive summary of the recent sports – football news that have rocked the online scene. Check out the news below.
Manchester United assistant coach Steve McClaren has given his verdict on the future of Michael Carrick as poor results put the Middlesbrough manager under pressure.
McClaren, who famously won…
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Today Is…Sex Pistols First Official Gig
Although this wasn’t their ‘first’ gig, it was their first official one and the line up was vocalist Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock.The Sex Pistols evolved from the Steve Jones and Paul Cook band the Strand (aka the Swankers) and they would hang out in Malcalm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood’s clothing shop and Jones asked McLaren who had been…
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🚨🚨🎙️| Erik ten Hag on Steve McClaren shouting to Onana before the penalty:
“It’s his job to give him advice, coach instruction, then of course Andre has to decide.”
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dominos meme: russia invades ukraine >>>> steve mcclaren becomes manager of manchester united
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Mason Mount medical and expected club statement latest, per Fabrizio Romano
Mason Mount medical and expected club statement latest, per Fabrizio Romano
Mason Mount's transfer to Manchester United is set to be finalized soon, with his medical scheduled for Monday (3/7). Fabrizio Romano has given an update on the anticipated timeframe for the completion of the move.
Via Twitter he reports: “Mason Mount will undergo medical tests on Monday and then he’s finally gonna sign five year deal as new Manchester United player.
“#MUFC Contract until June 2028 — it will also include an option to extend until June 2029. £55m plus £5m to Chelsea. Statement this week.”
Mason Mount is poised to become Manchester United's first signing of the summer transfer window. In addition, the club is actively seeking to secure deals for a goalkeeper and a striker.
According to a report from The Athletic last Thursday, Manchester United and Chelsea reached an agreement on the transfer fee, following the rejection of previous offers. While Chelsea initially intended to retain Mount, they ultimately decided to capitalize on the situation as his contract is set to expire in June 2024.
Although Mount had previously expressed his contentment at Chelsea, a challenging year at Stamford Bridge has prompted him to seek a fresh start elsewhere.
Manchester United's midfield objective is to acquire younger players with long-term potential, considering that both Casemiro and Christian Eriksen are over 30 years old. At 24, Mount represents a positive step in this direction, and the completion of his transfer is expected before the commencement of pre-season training.
MASON MOUNT: PROFILE
- Mason Mount came through Chelsea’s academy and won the UEFA Youth League and FA Youth Cup, and European under-19 Championships with England.
- He made his name at Vitesse Arnhem on loan, where he first impressed Erik ten Hag, scoring 14 goals.
- Mount then went on to lead Derby County to promotion, also earning praise from now United assistant Steve McClaren, scoring 11 times.
- In total for Chelsea, Mount has made 195 first-team appearances, scoring 33 times. He says his favoured position is as a number eight.
- Mount’s biggest success was winning the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021, providing an assist for the winner. He also won the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.
- He has gone onto establish himself as a regular international for England. At only 24, he already has 36 caps and five goals.
- Mount’s best individual season for Chelsea came in 2021/22 when he scored 13 goals. This past season he found the net only three times.
Mason Mount medical and expected club statement latest, per Fabrizio Romano
Read the full article
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Hello there! Thank you for choosing to follow my blog I only have a few rules that I wish you to follow:
Personal blogs please don’t interact with my content.
This blog is multiverse & multi-ship but I ship based on chemistry.
Mun is well over the age of 21 so NSFW & Triggering topics will be here although they will be tagged.
Please do not use me as a meme or image source, I've had problems with that in the past.
If we have an issue I ask that you be respectful and speak to me about it in PMS or unfollow me if you're childish.
I use big gifs/icons, resized icons, gif icons, and gif hunts or nothing at all based on the convenience and how I'm feeling at the moment. ( Blacklist: CW: large image ).
If you need anything tagged let me know okay? I will always tag flashing images, gore, bugs, drugs, guns, etc.
Lastly, I have dyslexia and ADHD so if I miss a cue in the writing or my reply has some grammatical errors be nice! I'm sensitive, thank you lol.
Affiliated with @soughtbirthright, @theolderh3nderson, @pogueland1a, @hawkinssongbird & @deermooses.
Icon credits: @tutorgirlcommissions, find out exactly who it is on my ( credits page ), and please commission them! They're lovely.
You can find a WIP collection of my muses below the cut:
original
Briana Madison ( Werewolf OC )
Beatrice Lafoux ( Vampire OC )
James Barlowe ( Vampire OC )
Spencer McClaren ( Fandomless OC )
Claire St James ( Future OC )
Sylvie Nightbloom ( Human Fantasy OC )
Vanya Ulafiel ( Fantasy OC )
Ruth Rutledge ( Stranger Things OC )
Eight ( Stranger Things OC )
Cordelia Robinson ( Space Ranger OC )
Grace Scott ( One tree hill OC )
Miles Gardner ( Virgin river OC )
Seamus Graham ( Fandomless )
Diego Garcia ( Fandomless )
Jackson Harrington ( Stranger things OC )
Aniyah Stokes ( Outer Banks OC )
Charles Foreman ( Stranger Things OC )
Theodore Blight ( Fairy OC )
Annabelle Honeywell ( Human OC )
Mike Yeun ( Fandomless OC )
mythology
Persephone
Hercules
Freya
Thor
Hades
the witcher
Geralt Of Rivia
Princess Ciri
it series
Beverly Marsh
Eddie Kaspbrak
arcane
Vi
Echo
she-ra
Adora
Catra
marvel cinematic universe
Tony Stark
Peter B Parker ( OC )
Stephan Strange
Frank Castle
Jessica Jones
Peter Parker
Kate Bishop
Carol Danvers
dc cinematic universe
Bruce Wayne
Diana Prince
Barbara Gordon
Selina Kyle
Pamela Isley
Lena Luthor
Kara Danvers
disney
Maya Hart
Cassandra
Queen Elsa
Tinker Bell
Fawn
Miguel Rivera
Judy Hopps
Helen Parr
twilight
Bella Swan
Edward Cullen
Charlie Swan
Jacob Black
Emmett Cullen
Bree Tanner
uncharted
Nathan Drake
Nadine Ross
Cassie Drake
the last of us
Joel Miller
Dina Fonseca
Abby Anderson
Lev
Jesse
life is strange
Max Caulfield
Dana Ward
Chloe Price
Warren graham
Alex Chen
Sean Diaz
red dead redemption
Sadie Adler
Arthur Morgan
Mary-Beth Gaskill
Karen Jones
to all the boys
Peter Kavinsky
Lara Jean Covey
stranger things
Steve Harrington
Eleven Hopper
Will Byers
Jonathan Byers
Dustin Henderson
Max Mayfield
Robin Buckley
Eddie Munson
Eden Bingham
teen wolf
Stiles Stilinski
Derek Hale
supernatural
John Winchester
Dean Winchester
Meg Masters
Jo Harvelle
Lucifer
Lilith
the vampire diaries
Josie Saltzman
Elijah Mikaelson
Klaus Mikaelson
Hayley Marshall
Jackson Kenner
Landon Kirby
Lizzie Saltzman
the walking dead
Negan
Rick Grimes
Glenn Rhee
Beth Greene
scream
Stu Machar
Emma Duval
Tatum Riley
the office
Michael Scott
Jim Halpert
Kelly Kapoor
Pam Beesly
Brooklyn 99
Jake Peralta
Rosa Diaz
one tree hill
Peyton Sawyer
Nathan Scott
Haley James
Karen Roe
outer banks
Rafe Cameron
Sarah Cameron
JJ Maybank
Topper Thornton
the bear
Carmy Berzatto
virgin river
Jack Sheridan
Lizzie
high school musical
Troy Bolton
Rickey Bowen
Gabriella Montez
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Mr. Piggy
Howdy!
Pretty brief one this week. You may've seen that Feb 1 was Hourly Comics Day. This is an annual event where people make a comic every hour. Lots of them are super short--a panel or two--and often biographical. I participated and what I've wrought can only be described as Mr. Piggy.
Apologies to Alec "Mr. Boop" Robbins, Jim Henson, and Lizzo. Know that the recommended soundtrack is a canned laugh track repeating at a regular interval that cannot distinguish from the comedy and the drama.
If anyone has a good recommendation for a therapist in the San Diego area that takes Anthem, my inbox is open! I know hard it can be to be kind to yourself, to treat yourself well, to do things you need to to not have bad brain days and find balance in your emotions when things are, genuinely, very bad in the world. But it's worth it to try.
Thanks!
David
P.S. A funny little work story from this week. I was emailing with a creator who works under a pseudonym, and they mentioned that in reference to how their paperwork would have a different name. I'm looking at it and I'm like "Whoa, no wonder. It must be really hard being named Wells Fargo." I was, of course, looking at their bank information and am dumb.
What I enjoyed this week:
Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (Book), Persona 4 Golden (Video game), Poker Face (TV show), our new mattress, receiving mail, Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Barry (TV show), Genshin Impact (Manga--I finally went and caught up on that from a couple of years ago), other people's Hourly Comics.
New Releases this week (2/1/2022):
Off week for my books!
New releases next week (2/8/2022):
Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors - All Hail the King #5 (Editor)
Sonic the Hedgehog #57 (Editor)
Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 13: Battle for the Empire (Editor, collecting Sonic #50, 51, the 2022 Annual, and I think the 2022 Free Comic Book Day short?)
Final Order Cutoff (2/6/2023):
Sonic the Hedgehog: The IDW Collection, Vol. 3 (Editor, collecting Sonic #21-32 and the 2020 Annual)
Announcements:
Arizona Comic Book Arts Festival - 2/25! Just a couple more weeks! They've got a heckuva guest list including me, Becca, Elizabeth Brei, Danny Djeljosevic, Mitch Gerads, Steve Rude, John Layman, Henry Barajas, Jay Fotos, Jeff Mariotte, Marcy Rockwell, John Yurcaba, Andrew MacLean, Alexis Zirrit, Meredith McClaren, James Owen, Ryan Cody, and many more! Come and see us! Becca'll have some very cool new merch, too! And tickets are only $10!
Speaking of Becca, did you know they have a Patreon? They're doing weekly drawing prompts that're uploading Sundays, so lots of new stuff up there as well as a pretty impressive backcatalog from the past few years. This month, if you sign-up at any level, your support's actually going to a really amazing local organization, The Brown Building.
And final Becca news, they contributed to Aradia Beat, a Magical Girl Anthology Magazine! It's now on Kickstarter! It's both a tribute to 90s magical girl stories and part of a larger project about the overall preservation and mutual support of magical girl stories! There're two weeks left to back, so throw some money their way to make this happen and tell your friends!
#aradia beat#mr piggy#mr boop#comics#arizona comic book arts festival#comics editorial#sonic idw#godzilla idw#lizzo#baby yoda#what if Saturday Night Live was sold to the Muppets
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Former Newcastle man linked with a surprise return to the club
Former Newcastle man linked with a surprise return to the club
Stone has a history with Newcastle United, having worked with Alan Pardew and Steve McClaren at the first-team level from 2010 to 2015.
He became the U23 manager at Burnley in 2018 and was eventually promoted to work alongside Sean Dyche in 2021. However, he was let go once Sean Dyche was sacked last April.And as per the latest report he is now in line to return to the Premier League with his old…
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Sancho finally got his move to Manchester United last year, as the English club paid around £73 million to sign him from Borussia Dortmund. The winger shone for the Bundesliga side over several seasons, and he also made an impact in the Champions League.
He has struggled at Manchester United as he has been unable to adapt to life in the Premier League. Sancho was afforded a fresh start in the summer as Ten Hag took over at Manchester United. The 22-year-old benefitted from this at the start of the season as his form picked up.
This even led to calls that he should be back in contention for England, but his form dipped again in the weeks leading up to the World Cup.
He did not travel with the rest of United’s squad for their mid-season camp, and Ten Hag has revealed that his player is struggling "physically and mentally." "I don’t think he will be back this week, no," Ten Hag told reporters.
"We want to bring him back as quickly as possible, but I can’t give a prognosis of when that will be." Sometimes there are circumstances related to fitness and mood. We saw a drop in quality, and sometimes you don’t know why or what is causing it.
This has fueled speculation that Sancho will leave the club, with Chelsea mentioned as a possible destination. Transfer expert Graeme Bailey has suggested that Gakpo’s potential arrival could impact Sancho.
"Erik Ten Hag believes he can rejuvenate Jadon Sancho for the time being," Bailey told TEAMtalk. "He and his team, including Steve McClaren, have done great work with Marcus Rashford." The jury remains out on whether they can do the same here or not.
"United wants Sancho to get back to his best, though he’s some way down the pecking order right now." Another issue that Sancho will have to contend with could be Cody Gakpo’s potential arrival. That could also impact his future."
Gakpo has had a great few months, and it has now been claimed that he is valued at €80 million ahead of January. Sancho's departure was described as a "surprise exit" by TEAMtalk. Bailey cannot see Sancho leaving permanently, but a loan is possible.
“However, I can see a loan and maybe a return to the Bundesliga to get his confidence back." "There is nowhere in the world where he is held in higher regard than in Germany.”
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