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For me, the same core issues remain. It’s an outdated ban based on outdated justifications that unfairly vilify working class fans. I don’t even drink myself anymore, but I can’t see any reason why rugby/cricket fans should be able to drink in their seats, but not football fans, besides classism.

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But I remember discussing the booze ban issue at length with lots of different fans 10-15 years ago, and this issue genuinely didn’t come up at all back then. Fascinating how this issue has so insidiously crept up on the fan experience.

Prior to that, of course you got covered in beer sometimes, but it wasn’t so performative and it wasn’t ’a thing’ in the way that it is now. It seems like a whole generation of younger fans has been led to believe that doing this represents being a proper fan, somehow.

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Recollections may differ, especially as I left the UK in 2019 and haven’t spent much time in English stadium since, but my feeling is that performatively throwing pints in the air became a thing during and after the 2018 World Cup, inspired by Box Park screenings etc.

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Banning football fans from drinking alcohol in sight of the pitch is unfair

Really interesting to see the booze ban debate flare up again today. The argument I keep seeing come up is that people (reasonably) don’t want idiots covering them with beer every time a goal goes in. When I wrote this piece back in 2014, I barely remember this coming up as an issue.

theguardian.com

People are free to consume alcohol at cricket and rugby matches so why should they be threatened with arrest for drinking at football stadiums?

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Absolutely. This kind of thing going into a game vs a side like Forest just shows how out of hand perceptions had got. Written off after 4 games.

Bobby’s goal line clearance. 👌 #pusb

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That’s such a wonderfully taken goal from JDS. The guy just keeps stepping up. #pusb

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3 points from that opening 5 games is also a pretty fair return based on performances. Our points return prior to this has felt pretty harsh relative to some of our spells of play. #pusb

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Long road ahead, but hopefully that sends out a message that we’re here to compete. #pusb

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That’s an absolutely massive 3 points. Changes the tone of the international break entirely. #pusb

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A goal! An actual goal! Against a fellow Premier League team! #pusb

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Still very young of course, but excited to see what impact he can make for us.

The laws of physics dictate that if you throw enough technically gifted footballers at a mini-crisis, one of them will stick. #pusb

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Kind of love this lineup. Just want Gboho/Cherif/Yirenkyi/Hamer to do a madness and make themselves undroppable for Forest. #pusb

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Indeed. It‘s just the simple explanation that people reach for when they don’t know what they‘re talking about and they have an instinctive dislike of Lampard.

You sense a few neutrals are desperate to whitewash the evidence of the past couple of years and declare that Lampard is, in fact, a 'fraud‘.

No doubt. I don’t think there‘s any shame in losing to Brighton, but losing 5-0 at home is below par, regardless of goalkeeping masterclasses or dubious refereeing. On paper, nearly every side we’ll face this season will be better than us, but we have to start picking up points somewhere.

This is what concerns me. We can come up with all sorts of mitigations, but ultimately we‘ve not scored or picked up any points and, whether fairly or not, we‘re now seen by others as the league‘s whipping boys and 'in for a long season‘ etc.

Tom Furnival-Adams @tomfa.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Haven‘t been able to watch the game today. Any insight into what (the hell) is going on? On scoreline alone, this is totally unacceptable. Wasn’t panicking before, but I‘m starting to! #pusb

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Great to hear that from a neutral perspective. All I want at this stage is to look organised and at the required level. I thought Man City started well but faded badly 2nd half.

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So, so good to see genuine fight and self belief. #pusb

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Shame to still go away with zero points and zero goals so far, but the signs are very encouraging. We looked like a legit Premier League side. #pusb

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That was an absolutely cracking performance. Really strong in the second half and so much more confident and defensively solid than against Arsenal. #pusb

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If Hull have a good season, it will mainly be down to the way they set up and the fact there’s less tactical adjustment required. The revisionism around the quality and potential of our squad based on two games is deranged.

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As I‘ve said before, assessments of transfer business are disproportionately influenced by recency bias, even though signings made earlier in the window are generally preferable as they allow for bedding in and are less informed by panic.

It‘s so tiresome. I know Transfermarkt values are not hard science, but the value of their squad was way behind us and Ipswich going into deadline day. Their last-minute business means it’s now nearly on a par with us. As you say, they had more business to do to have sufficient quality.

In the Championship I couldn't care less, but I fear the premature conclusion that we're not up to it actually starts seeping into elements of our fanbase and it becomes self-fulfilling at some point.

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I don't think I saw any recognition in the post-Arsenal analysis that Ellis Simms and BTA are not first-choice starters for us in those positions, but conclusions were drawn regardless.

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Totally. I feel in our case, many journalists (let alone fans) just aren't very well informed. Most of the neutral analysis I've seen is people looking at a random team sheet and deciding 'this isn't Premier League quality' without even attempting to substantiate that or learn about squad roles.

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Exactly. And I remember having these conversations a few days ago; we all expected to lose to Arsenal and City. The problem was our entire fanbase seeing 3 points from Hull as a given. Reality is, it will take a bit of time to adapt and gel, but it will happen.

E.g. a year ago today, Spurs were 4th and Villa were 19th (and that was after 3 games). It's like every season fans and pundits forget how this works. Trends aren't trends until they're trends.

Hull may continue on this trend and we may be in for a long, hard season, but, for me, it's way, way too early to be jumping to these kind of conclusions based on what we've seen already.

The odd thing is, our early-season fixtures were baked in long ago and everyone expected us to lose at least 2 of our first 3 games and yet most had us down as the most likely of the three promoted teams to survive.

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The speed of 'the narrative' in the Premier League is genuinely exhausting. I thought we'd relegated this lot *checks notes* a fortnight ago?

The concept of Anthony Martial has completely thrown me off. In my mind, he’s about 45 and played alongside people like Ji-sung Park and Dimitar Berbatov. Now I‘m hearing he only turned 30 in December and was a Manchester United player as recently as 2024.

020

Hull have had a great couple of games, but their deadline day splurge happened because they went into the final day of the window with a squad lacking quality, even compared to us and Ipswich.

Always strikes me, but especially now I‘m paying more attention to the Premier League, how much recency bias is involved in assessing who’s 'won‘ (eurgh) the window.

Periodic reminder: doing lots of deadline day business does not a successful transfer window make.

Anon Opin @anonopin.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Reposted by Tom Furnival-Adams

TV producers - you don't have to show David Beckham at every sporting event he attends. We know what he looks like. We know he is a freeloader. It adds nothing to our enjoyment of the event.

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Tom Furnival-Adams @tomfa.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

You‘re not a premier league club if you’re not 'in crisis' at least a couple of times a month. We‘re massive.

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The Premier League is relentless. Fewer games, fewer opportunities to pick up points, less room for error. The reality is that we don’t have 10 games to acclimatise. #pusb

Struggling to handle the pressure and quality of Arsenal is understandable but we showed last season that we know how to beat teams that cede control. Worrying that we‘ve faced two very different types of opposition and come away from both ties with nothing. #pusb

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100%. Having Arsenal and Man City away first up unfortunately put a lot of pressure on picking up at least a point vs Hull. We‘re in danger of digging ourselves into a hole that we never get out of.