Ratcliffe slammed, Manchester City mocked and uncapped, underrated star backed for England

Is it possible to keep politics out of football when the likes of Sir Jim Ratcliffe insist upon inserting themselves into such debates?

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Man City maths
I read your story about there being 12,000 empty seats at the “Emptyhad” for the City v Brighton cup game. By my maths that would mean a crowd of 49,038 on the night. The BBC had it at 49,107 so in the same ballpark.

So I was confused when I saw stories about Man City rejoicing that a new record was set for highest attendance in any domestic cup match ever played at the Etihad on Wednesday. The story on their official site says this record crowd size was 55,343. By my maths that would be 5695 empty seats. Their story adds that Wednesday’s attendance smashed the previous domestic cup record set in an FA Cup third round tie against Burnley in January 2018 when the crowd was 53,356.

Now I don’t know who to believe about the attendance. Football365 and the BBC, or the famously good with numbers Man City.
Danny, Brighton

Politics365
Do you know whats even more boring than ‘poppy protest footballer’ (todays mediawatch) taglines?

‘Right wing migrant hating xenophobe’ in every f**king thing you write about United.

Morons.
Richard, Manchester

What an odd and pithy response by the Editor to Phils request to keep politics out of F365.

Not sure if it’s a joke but the obvious question is why is it necessary to include politics in a football website?

Will my understanding and appreciation of football somehow be enhanced if viewed through a political lens even with a light sprinkling of left or right rhetoric…I just don’t see how.

I may not agree with all the football opinions on your website but I enjoy the perspectives nonetheless.

In an age of over saturation of politics, why can’t we have an environment focused only on football debate, 365 days a year.
Zak

(Ed – the U.S. president – and reigning and probably only ever FIFA Peace Prize winner – got a red card overturned at the most recent World Cup. Not sure how we’re meant to keep politics out of football really.)

Jim membership
Why is that right-wingers, (self) proclaimed protectors of free speech, always have a brain fart when they think someone has said something anti-right-wing?

Phil, the Will Ford article was not a political commentary but because it used the term right-wing to (accurately) define Jim Ratcliffe, the article has now become political. If that’s the case, Jim Ratcliffe should have kept his big mouth shut and just focused on football (or whatever sport.) But you can’t shout your gob off about immigrants ruining ‘your’ country, and promoting Brexit, while living in a tax-exile away from said country and expect no backlash.

The article is correct in that the Glazers are happy to place such a gobsh*te in a figurehead (straw man) role to take the heat while they wallow in the billions they will make from their investment. They know he’ll make all the ‘right-wing’ decisions and noises like firing tea ladies the media, especially right wing rags like the Mail, will mop up. But far easier to beat up on the deliverer of the message, eh?

The only losers in this are the Man Utd fans of any and all political stripes.
Paul McDevitt

I’d wager the average football fan has very little in common with a multibillionaire tax exile living in Monaco.

Ratcliffe lectures the country on immigration while living tax free in Monaco, sacks hundreds of staff at United, raised ticket prices, removed the discount for pensioners and even moved long term season ticket holders from their regular seats, so he can fit in more high paying corporate hospitality. All from a bloke who apparently understands the working man.
Ant MUFC (lefty)

Dear Ed,

OK, I’ll bite.

If Phil wants to keep politics out of football, perhaps we could start with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose frequent interjections on the state of the UK and immigration, and his begging for taxpayers’ money to build a new stadium – from his tax exile in Monaco, no less – are about as welcome as a wet fart in a stuck lift.

Best,
Nick Glover, Scouser in Brum (JFT97)

Load of balls
Andy, Swansea

“lets go balls out and attack” was what you got from Liverpool v Chelsea.! Wow

Have you ever seen football before? Or were you 3 Gelato joints in?

That was one of the untidiest, lacking in quality games of football since manu last entered a pitch!

Goals scored by only mistakes

Very little skill on display, very little talent and some huffing and puffing. Not balls out attack by any stretch, surely?

Rio and Trey (The Bird – Love that, If he gets into the Alton and Larry levels then he and we should be ok) stood out (for us at least) but if that what you call balls out attacking football, I have a bridge or 2 to sell you and possibly a football club for £5billion   (the worlds biggest most famousest and bestest club in the world……) and you can talk about or not talk about Bruno as you wish!
Al – LFC – Nothing to see here, move along, Sidown guy, take a load off!

Marc of the man
A player is missing from your underrated XI

With all the names gaining the plaudits at AFC Bournemouth and rightly so; Alex Scott, Evanilson, Truffert, Rayan, Kluivert, Kroupi.

Along with the big names that have come and gone in the last few seasons, Semenyo, Huijsen, Zabarnyi, Kerkez, Solanke.

One player has stood out for being consistently brilliant over that time and is completely flying under the radar.

Marcus Tavernier

Now that his goals are increasing, people might start noticing. It’s quite baffling how his names never even mentioned for an England call up.
John, AFC Bournemouth

The mystery is solved
Didn’t Joe Wilcox play in that great Blackburn title-winning side of the 90’s with Duncan Shearer, Stephen Hendry, Nora Batty, Ellen Ripley, Brandon Flowers and Robin of Sherwood? You remember; they were managed by Kelly Dalglish and had all that money pumped in by local businessman Imperial Walker, right?

“Experiences” at University around the turn of the century may have muddied my memories of the 1990s.
Chris Bridgeman, Kingston upon Thames

Oh balls, shouldnt really type these while at work, Joe Wilcox is apparently one of the first players to move from Villa to Birmingham in 1908, Jason Wilcox is the shabby excuse for a football director
Rich Jennings, bugger

RE: RHT/TS
So, RHT/TS x signs off his missive in today’s mailbox with (sic) (What’s that saying about keeping it zipped lest you confirm what people already thought of you?)

I hope that he realized when he was typing the email that the saying was equally applicable to him. As one of the mailbox regulars, he has had his foot in his mouth (and some mailboxers (is that a word?) would rather have it (the foot) in other places) more often than not!

Mandatory third paragraph so that my 427 (brackets) can be closed.
Govindraj, India

Re- (What’s that saying about keeping it zipped lest you confirm what people already thought of you?)

Practise what you preach you horrific troll.

Thanks
Everyone from the mailbox