It's a big day for mid-80s sponsorship fans (there's a lot of you about, don't be shy) what with Crown Paint having clinched new deal with Blackburn Rovers. According to their website "Crown make paint, yes, but we're about much more than that. We're a creative company with a positive passion for colour ... We get excited by its richness." The Mill, meanwhile, gets excited thinking of the ample midriff of Jan Molby during Liverpool's mid-80s pomp. Ah, the 80s. Filofaxs, Nik Kershaw's Riddle riding high in the hit parade, long, drawn-out union strikes ... those were the days. If you ask The Mill, and you don't, there's not enough needless nostalgia kicking around in today's media environment.
Meanwhile Sven Goran-Eriksson has told Thaksin Shinawatra that he needs £30m (to spend on players, not himself, presumably) if he is going to get Man City to challenge for proper honours for the first time since the mid-70s. Ah, the mid-70s. Parka jackets, Mud's Tiger Feet riding high in the charts, the economically crippling three-day week ... those were the days.
Massimo Moratti has earmarked Jose Mourinho to replace Roberto Mancini, if the moody manager leaves Inter, which he won't, because Moratti has convinced him to stay on. But if he hadn't convinced him to stay (which he has) then he would have turned to Mourinho (which he won't), who he sees as "one of life's achievers" (which he might just be) and not just some oddball shouting abuse at the employed from a house full of old takeaway boxes and videos of Chelsea's championship-winning sides of the mid-00s (which is just pure speculation). Ahh, the mid-00s. Illegally downloaded music, Eamon and Frankie's relationship troubles riding high in the hit parade, the war in Iraq ... those were the days.
Rafael Benitez has described England's all-conquering Champions League contingent as 'The Fab Four'. Ah, The Fab Four. Overrated performances on US chat-shows, The Ballad of John and Yoko riding high in the hit parade, eventual bitter fall-out over financial wrangles and power struggles ... those were the days.
Martin O'Neill is planning to rescue James Milner from his forthcoming Championship nightmare, bringing him back to Aston Villa for £8m. He used to play there in the mid-00s if you remember. Ahh, the mid-00s. Illegally do ... Oh, wait, we've done that one.
Milan Mandaric has made it very clear that he will not be making comedian, social commentator and occasional football manager Ian Holloway the 48th man he has sacked since he arrived in English football in the late-90s. Ah, the late-90s. Nintendo 64s, Billie riding high in the hit parade because she wants to, billions squandered on the Millennium Dome ... those were the days.
And ... Nathan Ellington wants international recognition, but don't get too excited Fabio, he reckons the country for him is Bosnia & Herzegovina. Apparently that's where his wife is from, which would have been enough for Jack Charlton to make him Republic of Ireland captain in 1990. Ah, 1990. Global Hypercolour T-shirts, Deee-Light riding high in the hit parade, vicious and bloody Poll Tax riots ... those were the days. Or perhaps not.
