#it holds nothing back but imo it uses them to really drive home its true meajing. which is really refreshing storytelling

[tillman]

I think im just really vibing with the weird sense of hope asano manages to cram in what otherwise all seem like the most soulcrushing works. Like ok maybe not punpun but even then that sense of wonder is there thru the first half … its such a unique feeling its hard to explain but im really enjoying it

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 311: Hand Gun

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “thinkin’ about dropping in some woke analogies of the very real and very presently relevant issue of racial profiling idk what do you guys think” and then shrugged and did it without waiting for an answer, and ngl it was a bit sudden, but I’m here for it. All Might was all “DEKU YOU NEED TO EAT” and Deku was all “OKAY” and took his hero bento and went to go stand dramatically on a tower in the rain whilst having some highly anticipated Vestige flashbacks. OFA II was all, “sup, I guess I’m not Kacchan... OR AM I,” and ngl I think he is?? Alternate universes anybody?? Hello??? But anyway, so OFA the First a.k.a. Yoichi was all “remember that time you guys rescued me from my evil brother and Two took my hand and we Had A Moment?”, and Two and Three were all “ahh yeah good times”, and it was very nice and very, very gay. The chapter ended with it being very unclear if Two and Three have actually lent their power to Deku yet or not lmao. Y’all need to get your shit together dudes.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “what if I gave a random bad guy a fucking tommy gun that shoots nails” and jesus christ calm down son. The Hawksquad, a.k.a. SQUAWK as per @hotchocolatier​, are all “time to drive aimlessly around town acting like Deku has a restraining order on us because that’s literally the best plan to combat the League we could come up with,” and I have no further comment. Hawks is all “idk about you guys but I want to know more about AFO and Tomura’s whole deal” and I can’t remember the last time I identified so strongly with one of these characters. All Might is all, “[EXPLODES???]”, and the chapter ends with that mysterious hot girl from the Tartarus breakout being all “HELLO I CAN TURN INTO A GUN AND I LITERALLY DON’T GIVE A FUCK” and (1) WOW, and (2) IT’S TRUE, SHE CAN, AND SHE REALLY DOESN’T. GODDAMN.

(ETA: so this wholly escaped my notice on the first go, and also has nothing to do with the chapter itself, but I only just realized that this chapter was scanlated by a new group, TCB Scans. they actually did a very good job, and I’m curious if they’ve found a new RAW provider, because the quality this week is actually crazy good in comparison to what we’ve been dealing with for the past few months. I’m gonna have to get caught up on what exactly happened here lol.)

so what will it be this week? more Vestige antics? more of Sad Nomad Deku standing on buildings and pretending like he’s some cool aloof antihero, as if he could fool us when we all know his hero backpack is secretly stuffed full with his nerd diaries and the remnants of all the hero bentos that All Might keeps giving him?? or, just putting it out there, just a crazy thought, but you don’t suppose we might actually cut back to U.A.? mmm. side-eyes emoji

maaaaaan I’m starting to get tired of this trend of beginning chapters by dropping in on random power-tripping civilians and/or Shindou lol. just once can we get a chapter that opens with someone I actually give a fuck about

oh at least Endeavor is here

A WHAT SUPPORT ITEM!??! HOLY SHIT DDLKJSLFKJL

lol somehow that’s more terrifying than bullets for me?? like I’m fully aware that bullets will fuck you up way worse and that in real life nail guns probably don’t work like this AT ALL and only have a range of like... hold up let me just google... up to 100 to 150 m/s and distances of up to 500m wait WHAT

okay wait. hold up. like I was expecting google to tell me nail guns only shoot a few feet at most, and instead the first search result is some CDC blog article that’s “dispelling” the “””myth””” -- please note my repeated sarcastic quotation marks -- that nail guns can fire 1400 feet per second, by explaining that actually they can fire anywhere from 315 ft/sec to 1,295 ft/sec, and that “it is in the pneumatic nail gun user’s best interest to handle these tools as if they were a firearm despite having a lower velocity” dlkjdslkjflkl

SO THAT SCENE IN IRON MAN 3 WHERE TONY RAIDS A HOME DEPOT AND BUYS A BUNCH OF RANDOM TOOLS AND SHIT AND GOES ON TO STAGE A ONE-MAN INVASION OF AN INTERNATIONAL TERRORIST’S FLORIDA MANSION HQ IS ACTUALLY TRUE. YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE FILM “HOME ALONE” IS ACTUALLY A DOCUMENTARY. “the Discovery Channel television program “Mythbusters” compared the penetration capacity of an airborne projectile shot from a pneumatic framing nail gun to that of a 9mm hand gun” HELLO YES AND A MERRY “WHAT THE FUCK” TO YOU AS WELL

anyway, so. there’s apparently a reason why the Number One hero, who can burn people with the intensity of a sun going supernova, is hiding here behind this concrete support column making frowny faces. nope. nuh uh. he ain’t about that. I don’t blame you buddy

so now he’s barrel rolling out of his hiding place and setting this dude THE FUCK ON FIRE because HELL NO. BAD ENOUGH I HAD TO WATCH THAT FUCKING MUSHROOM EPISODE LAST WEEK! YOU TAKE THAT SHIT SOMEWHERE ELSE

LOL look at his face

I know the context is actually him being all “I know I’m responsible for basically everything that happened and so that’s why I’m so grim and serious about this mission to set things right piece by piece,” but in my mind this pissed-off face is 100% all because this dude tried to shoot his eye out with a nail gun. look at that. you made him go full flame face again. beard and all. protecting his face so that it can hopefully melt any stray nails that get too close. nope nope nope

good lord. so what’s up next. let me guess the guy fighting Best Jeanist has like an atomic chainsaw or some shit

lol nope we’re just cutting back to Hawks and Jeanist chilling in the Jesla after they’ve wrapped things up

Jeanist has got some serious Groot energy you guys jesus christ he’s like 12 feet tall

oh snap someone threw a pipe at him now

today is just the chapter of Endeavor being assaulted by random DIY tools I guess

I mean, I get why they’re pissed at him obviously; I would be too lol. but tbh I also don’t really understand the “get out of here we don’t want your help” attitude that all of these people suddenly seem to have?? like it if were me, I would be fucking DEMANDING for him and the other heroes to be working round the clock to fix their stupid mess. I mean who else is gonna do it?? it’s their mess, I sure don’t want to be the one to clean it up instead. anyways but whatever lol

oh shit?

so they haven’t dropped the whole “OFA secret potentially gets revealed to the world” thing yet after all. that makes sense I suppose, it did seem like that whole thing wound up playing out a bit too easily

anyway so yeah

the locals are definitely none too happy. well at least Dabi’s got something to be cheerful about I guess

so now we’re cutting to the interior of the Jesla and they’re chitchatting about the current investigation

oh wow this actually makes a bit of sense now. so there was a reason they were keeping their distance from Deku

please note that even in this abstract Endeavor’s-Mental-Image-Of-Him panel, Deku’s eyes still don’t have the light in them anymore :( my poor son

also ftr I still think using Deku as bait in this particular sense is the shittiest idea ever ngl. like sure, let’s let the sixteen-year-old run around battling miscellaneous escaped prison convicts while we stay several kilometers away ON PURPOSE despite the fact that you’re using him as bait to draw out the Big Bad, who just a reminder can destroy anything with a mere touch and who you were all basically helpless against. what exactly are you all planning to do if Tomura or one of the other League VIPs actually shows up to retrieve him?? are you even keeping tabs on him at all in real time?? jesus

(ETA: well that escalated quickly lol.)

Horikoshi is all of a sudden dropping whole pages of exposition here and I can’t be bothered to summarize this lol so just,

a big fat YES to what Jeanist said, though. that’s why imo they would have been better off laying a trap at U.A. rather than just wandering around out in the open. I assume they’re trying to cut their potential losses because U.A. is full of students (and civilians), but those students also happen to be more capable than pretty much anyone else in the manga at this point. and tbh they’re already in life-threatening danger regardless of how things play out from here on, so they might as well at least try to use the few advantages they have right now. U.A. is almost certainly going to come under siege at some point anyway, so they might as well prepare for it

lol I don’t think I’m explaining this very well because I don’t have the patience right now to break it down point by point like it really ought to be, so for now I’ll just say that imo “U.A. siege” stands a good chance of being the eventual endgame even now, and so this whole “Deku runs around being bait” arc is really just killing time until then lol. like and subscribe for more rambling nonsensical takes such as this. maybe next time I’ll even put it all into one single sentence for maximum meandering senior citizen rant value

well it’s nice that they’re finally talking about all of this I guess

we readers have known all of this for months now but this confirms the heroes are finally caught up. ALSO, Hawks is so fucking smart, as always. kinda wonder if things would have played out differently if All Might had let him in on the secret a bit earlier. probably that’s why Horikoshi made damn sure they didn’t find out until after the War arc lol

OH MY GOD YOOOOOO HAWKS OUT HERE ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

“anyone else wondering why AFO bothered to raise Tomura as his fake heir for fifteen years when he was secretly planning on taking over his body the whole time” YES, [raises hand] lmao Hawks where the hell were you when I was debating this “AFO is the final villain and Tomura is just his pawn” thing on multiple occasions over the past several years lol

lmao seeing them debate the metaphysics of OFA and all of its mystical bullshit is seriously surreal you guys

JEANIST HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT MY META TAG I HAVE WRITTEN SO MANY ESSAYS. I ACTUALLY WAS PLANNING ON WRITING ANOTHER ESSAY ABOUT THE THING THAT I’M PRETTY SURE HAWKS IS ABOUT TO BRING UP, BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT WHOOPS, BUT MAYBE I WILL NOW LOL LET’S SEE HOW IT GOES

yes!!

WHICH AFO FUCKING ENSURED HE WOULD BE BY LITERALLY PLANNING OUT EVERY LAST DETAIL OF HIS FAMILY TRAGEDY, FROM SECRETLY GIVING TENKO THE QUIRK TO MAKING SURE NO CIVILIANS OR HEROES WOULD HELP HIM UNTIL AFO FINALLY STEPPED IN. I’M 1000% CONVINCED THIS IS THE CASE YOU GUYS. NOT JUST BECAUSE I’M NOT A FAN OF “THE WORLD IS A FUNDAMENTALLY SHITTY PLACE, ACTUALLY” TAKES BECAUSE MISTER ROGERS TOLD ME TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE HELPERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT LITERALLY JUST DOESN’T MAKE A LICK OF SENSE OTHERWISE. THEIR ENTIRE HOUSE CAVED IN FFS, YOU’RE TELLING ME NONE OF THE NEIGHBORS FUCKING OVERHEARD THAT SHIT AND WENT “UMMMMMMMMM” AND WENT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON?? “DIDN’T THERE USED TO BE A HOUSE HERE, AND LIKE A WHOLE FAMILY, AND SHIT?”

LIKE I’M SORRY, BUT IT’S ONE THING TO SAY IT’S REALISTIC THAT NOT A SINGLE PERSON WOULD ATTEMPT TO HELP THE WANDERING TRAUMATIZED CHILD AFTERWARDS (WHICH I DISAGREE WITH AS WELL BUT AT LEAST THAT’S MORE SUBJECTIVE), AND IT’S A WHOLE OTHER THING TO ARGUE THAT IT’S REALISTIC THAT NO ONE WOULD BE FUCKING NOSY. LIKE THAT’S A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL OF “THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS” ENTIRELY LOL. anyway tl;dr AFO is a piece of shit and Tomura’s entire worldview is based on a magnificently intricate and savagely cruel lie more at 11

anyway so after all that ranting it looks like that wasn’t even what Hawks was talking about after all lol. I just went off for absolutely no reason lol oh well. instead it seems that Hawks is suggesting that Tomura’s carefully cultivated hatred might not yet have actually reached “can defeat OFA” levels even after all of that trauma. interesting!

don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here while my brain furiously scrambles to put together all the parallels between Hawks and Tomura that it never noticed before until exactly this second. like I’m not even sure that was the intent here at all (I need to check out another translation or two lol), but regardless my mind decided that now would be the perfect time to make the connection between these two twenty-somethings who both had horrific childhoods and spent years being molded by their respective manipulative guardians, and developed eerily similar “laugh at everything because what else can you do” coping mechanisms to deal with it all hmmmmm

anyway so they were talking more about their strategy, but now all of a sudden Jeanist’s phone is beeping??

AND NOW WE’RE CUTTING AWAY TO ALL MIGHT AND HIS MIGHTMOBILE DAMMIT so that means the call to Jeanist was actually something important then!! WAS IT BAKUGOU OMG. DOES YOUR INTERN WANT A WORD FFFKLFSJK please it’s been so long I just need a little crumb or two to tide me over lmao have mercy

anyway so All Might’s following the GPS tracking device he’s apparently got planted on Deku (which in my conspiracy headcanons he’s actually had for a long time now, like since before DvK2 lol because HOW ELSE WOULD HAVE HAVE KNOWN THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN GROUND BETA, PEOPLE) and thinking angsty thoughts about Deku’s sucky life

AND NOW ALL MIGHT’S PHONE IS RINGING TOO?? BAKUGOU HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU CALLING. “WHERE ARE YOU HIDING THE NERD GODDAMMIT”

OMG

lol is he under attack or is he just finally giving All Might the slip like we all know he SECRETLY PLANNED TO ALL ALONG oh my poor dumb angstmuffin

OMG AHHHHHHH WHAT

DID ALL MIGHT JUST FUCKING DIE LMAO NO OF COURSE NOT, BUT WHAT

WHAT IS HAPPENING OMG

THE FUCK IS THAT. AT LEAST IT’S NOT A NAIL

OH IT’S A SPEAKER!! OMG DID THEY TAKE ALL MIGHT HOSTAGE

“THEY’RE HERE” WELP, TIME TO SEE JUST HOW SHITTY THIS SHITTY PLAN REALLY IS LOL

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

SHE!!!!

omg. AND OVERHAUL JUST CHILLING THERE IN THE BACKGROUND ALL “WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO DO I’VE GOT NO FUCKING ARMS” YEAH GOOD RIDDANCE LOL

DOES THIS GIRL HAVE ONE GIANT LEG OR WHAT, LIKE WHAT’S THE DEAL HERE

-- HOLD UP WAIT, THE GUN IS HER ARM, HOLY SHIT SHE CAN TURN INTO A GUN -- OKAY HOLD UP BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY THAT IN BIGGER TEXT BECAUSE !!!!

YOU GUYS, THE COOL TARTARUS GIRL IS BACK AND HER QUIRK IS “CAN TURN INTO A FUCKING GUN.” THIS IS NOT A DRILL!! MY BEST GIRL MT. GUN IS FINALLY BACK ON THE SCENE WITH HER QUIRK “CAN DO ANYTHING A GUN CAN DO.” “I HEARD Y’ALL WENT AND NAMED ONE OF YOUR HEROES ‘GUNHEAD’ EVEN THOUGH HIS HEAD ISN’T EVEN A GUN, LIKE WTF IS UP WITH THAT LET ME SHOW YOU HOW IT’S DONE” DANG OKAY

lmao only fifteen pages this week, and STILL NO KACCHAN (THEN WHO WAS PHONE!!!), but man I don’t even care because finally we’ve got a cliffhanger that’s actually deserving of being a cliffhanger! hot dog. okay then

[asgardian--angels]

for @maylovely because you asked about why some people don’t see melkor as evil. i didn’t want to hijack your post with this super long thing. this is something of a summation of many different metas i’ve never gotten around to writing but i hope it even begins to express my thoughts on the matter (as nothing i write is ever comprehensive enough...). i’m not trying to disagree, because every person in the Silm fandom views the story differently. Hope this helps you maybe understand where some of us are coming from though? 

OK HERE GOES

I think it comes down to a couple things: what source material you’re looking at (just published Silm, Unfinished Tales, HoME, etc), and what perspective you view Middle-Earth from. I am definitely in the camp that believes Melkor isn’t evil, because to me Tolkien designed a world with no ultimate good or evil, that everyone is a mix, and furthermore, what is ‘evil’? Evil is a human (out-of-universe speaking) construct used mostly to judge other humans. In-universe, evil is used to represent that which actively works against the freedom of the Children of Iluvatar and seeks to mar Arda away from the vision of the Valar, which supposedly is also the vision of Eru himself. These are both extremely flawed ways of thinking when looking at Melkor, because 1) he isn’t human, and 2) defining evil as something that threatens your existence as you know it is super anthropocentric and does not tell a complete story.

To explain:

I know you tend to focus on the elves in the Silmarillion. A lot of people do. We’re going to obviously gravitate to groups of characters that act and think like us. Thus, you and others are looking through the eyes of the elves as they view the acts and deeds of Melkor - of Morgoth, as they call him. If one is looking through a purely mortal lens, then yes, the things Melkor does is the epitome of pure evil and you’re both goddamned terrified of him and absolutely loathe him with a burning passion (I know you don’t, but I’m just saying, if you were an elf). He threatens everything you know and hold dear. He’s tortured your kind and keeps them as slaves. He spilled the first elven blood. By every definition there, yep, evil. That’s valid, that’s fine! Obviously we are supposed to view Middle-Earth and its stories through the eyes of mortals. No one’s rooting for Sauron to get his ring back, not even me.

But I choose to see things from the perspective of the Ainur, and that which is even greater than the Ainur - Eru and the Great Music, and when possible, even beyond that to question what is the nature of Ea and the Void and hell, where did Eru come from anyway? Loads of fun, never many answers. But looking at the story from this POV changes a lot, especially how one thinks of Melkor. Melkor is the greatest Vala, the most powerful Ainu, he who was given the special gift of the wisdom of all other Valar combined - that is, while each Vala governs a specific element of Arda and can only comprehend that one small piece of reality and the great plan of Eru, Melkor can see it all. This is HUGE. One could argue his worldview is actually the most accurate, if you can sift through the resentment and shame and abandonment issues that cloud it. He knows more of Eru’s design than even Manwe (so why isn’t he king? ‘i’m not bitter,’ melkor says, bitterly with a bitter expression). Thus, it is fair to say that his treatment in Arda by the Valar is unjust. This is a really big topic, I’ll tl;dr it. They cannot possibly understand his role in Arda because it’s beyond their sphere of influence. Only Melkor can know what Melkor’s purpose is, even though he can know all of theirs.

So what is it? Like all Valar, he governs a realm, that which he thought of himself in the Song. His is even more expansive than his kin, to match his knowledge of the other elements. Fire, ice, rock. The core materials of Arda. More than that, decay, upheaval, entropy. Change. He is the Vala that maintains Earth’s dynamism. That’s his job. It’s a big one, and Eru made him fit for it. He needs the knowledge of how all things on Earth work. Now, Melkor is ruled by fate and his nature, and he cannot fight this, nor should he. Would one demand Ulmo live on land, or that Orome never hunt again? The rules are the same, and yet, he is treated differently. This is because his duty conflicts, in the limited perspective of the other Valar, with the intent of Eru, which is the maintenance of Arda as a paradise, eternal, unchanging. Melkor’s work destroys their creations, and thus it must be wrong. This is their biased point of view, for they cannot know Eru’s true intent. So you have the Ruling Powers all against Melkor, even his own brother, and they pass this on to the elves, starting them off with that viewpoint, and no one except Melkor (and his chosen few, Mairon included) actually freaking understands that his job is necessary and he’s just doing what he was made for. The Earth cannot be stagnant, change - even cataclysms - must occur for life to grow and evolve. It threatens that which exists, but offers opportunity for adaptation and survival, and a new place for those in the future. In the long run, Melkor’s work would help the creations of the other Valar, particularly Yavanna. It would never wipe out the Children of Iluvatar, just force them to evolve, become wiser, more wary, skillful, and hardy. However, the Valar and the elves see it only from the present - our creations and livelihoods are threatened, he wants to see it destroyed. He is Evil. No, he is the Earth. Impartial to that which inhabits it. The Earth doesn’t care whether you live or die. You are utterly meaningless to the Earth. Your life holds no value. You adapt to this inevitable change, or you go extinct. Not its problem. No one’s asking the Earth to halt continental drift or sea floor spreading, are they? No one can prevent volcanic eruptions or avalanches or mass extinctions, they are a necessary term and condition of dwelling here on Arda. The fact that this force has a face and a voice suddenly makes it subject to our moral code, which is, Don’t hurt us!! Sorry, doesn’t work like that. Melkor’s a force of nature, the biggest one in fact, and since he was made he’s been shamed and ridiculed for being who he was simply because no one else had the capacity to understand his role.

During the time of the elves, a LOT happened. Melkor was fundamentally changed by the silmarils. I put forth the argument that throughout his time here, he’s attacked sources of holy light, the most powerful thing in creation apart from the Flame Imperishable, not (only) because he was petty and bitter and wanted to get back at his kin, but because as a force of entropy, he can’t help but be attracted to them. Bringing things from a high energy state to a low energy state is sort of his gift. The silmarils messed him up. Everything in his life went downhill after he stole them. He’s suffered from a lot of internalized issues forever - what I’d talked about above, but also everything concerning his right to Arda as king and how he was wronged there (I am, also of the belief he does have standing for that claim), and a nice slew of fear (being the only Vala to be able to even feel that emotion - scary imo) and abandonment issues and self-loathing. When he took on the burden of the silmarils, these things intensified and weighed on him. His fear turned into extreme paranoia to the point where nearly all of his actions were driven by it. He was willing to go out of his way to try and secure his safety through torturing for information (not a great success rate there), making rash decisions, and literally cowering in his tunnels like a naked mole rat. He predicted his impending doom and was clawing at any way to avoid it until he fell into such a pit of despair about it that he just gave up and let himself be taken. He was just so tired. But to stay on topic - I just view all of his actions in the First Age from a non-human perspective, as he would, seeing people and individual lives as meaningless and inconsequential (Sauron’s biggest mistake actually, as that became his undoing multiple times. Also, hint, the other Valar don’t really care as much as they claim to about the cost of mortal lives). He acts on the scale of Gods, not Man. To me, from this perspective, he is not evil. I’m not saying from a different perspective he can’t be. We don’t really know for sure Melkor’s true goals and intentions, seeing as no one ever cares to ask him. I have plenty of firm theories, and they concern themselves with Arda, Ea, and the Void, and no where in that list is included Iluvatar’s children.

Whatever Melkor’s done, it is a part of fate. He has not rebelled, he has not broken any rules, everything he’s done has been within the realm of Eru’s intent - and everything Eru’s done in response to Melkor has also been to drive this ultimate plot forward exactly the way it must. The Valar more than any other being are driven by their nature, they have far less, so to speak, autonomous choice. They cannot change. If they did, the world would go topsy-turvy, and that includes Melkor most of all. The others physically cannot see that, illustrated by their audacity to claim that the world doesn’t need him and they can just boot his Vala butt out of Arda. The paradise of the Valar, stowed away for their eyes only (and the elves who were Good Children) cannot last forever, and then it will be Melkor’s time to return. Nothing is meant to last forever. So Melkor may have done things that to the human perspective, were evil and atrocious, but to sum it up, everything happened just how it was supposed to, Melkor’s job is to do things you don’t like and is thus doomed to never getting appreciation, he really is under no obligation to give a shit about the Children, and really the elves killed way more people than Melkor ever did. Melkor’s documented direct casualties can be counted on a hand lol. He concerns himself with Arda, his creation, his charge, not with the little people that are holding onto the skin of the world demanding it stop being itself. Add onto this the corrosive power of the silmarils, basically making the most powerful and potent being under Eru go a bit cuckoo for cocoa puffs in his later years, and that to me is why Melkor isn’t evil. If one insists he is, then he is a necessary one. No two ways about it.

[spursroundup]

Article about Poch's history

Dailymail (I know, I know) published this article recently as part of their 'Poch to United' nonsense. The article itself is pretty interesting and gives a good insight into Poch's mentality (and imo why he'd be less likely than most to be tempted by United's apparently unlimited money or whatever), so in order to reduce the number of clicks Dailymail gets, I figured I'd paste it here.

(Prior warning, there's one paragraph about United and Madrid, and the argument the writer makes is pretty mind boggling. Rest of the article is decent though)

________________

Jorge Griffa is holding court in his elegant Buenos Aires apartment in the upmarket district of Recoleta. The 83-year-old is an icon of Argentinian football and his office is a shrine to his professional life. Pride of place is the photo of the 1959 Argentina team in which he played who won the Copa America, but the reverence for Griffa doesn't principally stem from his playing career. Rather, he was the original super scout. Generations of Argentinian football superstars, such as Gabriel Batistuta, Carlos Tevez and Jorge Valdano, owe their start in the game to Griffa.

In the 1980s, with another football visionary Marcelo Bielsa — now at Leeds United — he set about transforming his local club, Newell's Old Boys, in the city of Rosario, 200 miles north-west of Buenos Aires. Griffa, the academy director, and Bielsa, the youth-team coach, would tour the hinterland of Rosario, the endless acres of flat Argentine pampas, scouring the remote villages for talent.

Which is how in 1986 they came to be near Murphy, a remote community named after Irish migrant John James Murphy in the 1870s, and where Hector Pochettino, father of Mauricio, ran a cattle farm. 'We went to Santa Isabel, a small town near Venado Tuerto,' says Griffa. 'We were giving a coaching course and someone mentioned a boy, Pochettino, who was about to sign for Rosario Central [local rivals of Newell's Old Boys]. 'Bielsa asked me about heading back to Rosario [as it was late by now] and I said: "We are not going to Rosario, we are going to Murphy, where this Pochettino guy lives. We'll see if he's already signed for Rosario Central". 'We arrived at their house at 2 o'clock in the morning. I knocked at the windows, Mauricio's mother answered and recognised me. We got in, I started to talk about soya beans and other crops, which were not part my interest at all.' Eventually they got round to the point of their visit. Griffa confirms that they really did ask Pochettino's parents if they could view the sleeping 14-year-old Mauricio in his bedroom and, upon seeing him, did indeed exclaim: 'What legs! A footballer's legs!'

They weren't wrong about the innate footballing ability. What they couldn't know was the sleeping teenager would venture from the backwaters of Murphy and become the most desired coach in world football. Having managed Tottenham since May 2014, Real Madrid and Manchester United are now fighting for his services. Many believe United wouldn't have appointed an interim manager this past week in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer without an indication Pochettino will come next summer. Long feted by Sir Alex Ferguson and now, it seems, United's executive chairman Ed Woodward, his courage in playing attacking, attractive football that fits an English model and promoting youth makes him eminently more qualified for the job than any of Sir Alex's successors. On Sunday, though, he takes Tottenham to Everton.

Griffa and Bielsa must have done something right that night. Somehow, they persuaded Pochettino's parents, Hector and Amalia, to allow him to play for Newell's Old Boys in a tournament at Mar de la Plata, some 400 miles away on the coast. 'The team were champions,' says Griffa. 'And his father came three days later, with an envelope and told me: "You've earned it". It contained Mauricio's transfer papers.' So, aged 14, Pochettino left behind the family home and farmyard kick-abouts with his brothers, Martin and Javier, and memories of watching Argentina's 1978 World Cup win on a small black-and-white TV powered by a tractor battery. He headed 100 miles to Rosario, home of Newell's Old Boys.

Rosario is a largely industrial city on the mighty Parana River, which flows into the River Plate. It was once the main arterial route for 19th century migrants who headed this way for a new life, like Pochettino's great grandfather, who came this way from Piedmont, Italy, in 1854. At Newell's Old Boys, Mauricio joined Griffa's burgeoning youth academy. There he met Miki D'Agostino, who would become a lifelong friend and is now one of his assistants at Tottenham.

Roberto Sensini, a team-mate of Pochettino's at the 2002 World Cup finals and at Newell's Old Boys, trod the same path: an out-of-town boy who moved to the bare, makeshift hostel situated under the main stand of the club's stadium, located in Rosario's central municipal park, where the trainees lived. Sensini recalls: 'We slept on beds made of cement with thin mattresses. There was a fridge that was locked during the nights to stop us grabbing food. It was either very cold or very hot! There was no air-conditioning or heating at all.' Sometimes, though, Griffa would treat them, bringing a slaughtered cow from his own farm and cooking them a barbecue.

Pochettino says: 'We lived underneath one of the stands... one big room with screens that divided the whole thing up. That's where we all slept, like one big bedroom. There were loads of us sharing in that accommodation, 25-30 young players. It was hard in the sense that I was away from my family, the usual stuff. I had to study at night. 'I can recall quite a few things that weren't easy but something kept you going: passion for football and motivation to play. That papered over all those other little problems that happened to you as a 14-year-old kid.' At 16, Pochettino was offered professional terms, although he kept studying at agricultural college to follow his father. At 17 he made his debut for a Newell's team who had just won their first league title in 14 years and reached the final of the Copa Libertadores, South America's equivalent of the Champions League.

At Newell's, they still remember his first training session with the senior team. Pochettino was 17 and up against one of the most senior professionals, Tata Martino, 10 years older and who would go on to manage Barcelona. Uncompromising and committed as he was, Pochettino took Martino out in a challenge. Pochettino tells the story in his book, Brave New World. 'He [Tata] turned around and said to me, "Kid, I'm going to kill you". The coach shouted, "How could you do that to Martino?". "Sorry, sorry," I responded. Tata said, "I don't want to see you within three metres of me".'

Sensini watched on amused and impressed. 'It's true, he made this tough tackle on Tata and there were angry words, but it's part of football, nothing serious. 'The episode showed Mauricio's character, because the usual situation is that the old player treats the younger one with some rudeness, but Mauricio is very easy to talk to, transparent, with good values. We call them 'campechanos' — good natured, down to earth.'

Whatever, coach Jose Yudica was impressed and soon promoted Pochettino to the first team.

The real gear change for Pochettino at Newell's came in 1990, when Bielsa was promoted to first-team coach. Playing a 3-4-3 and a unique pressing style which will now be familiar to Spurs fans (and influenced Pep Guardiola), Bielsa led the team to another league title and another Copa Libertadores final. Griffa says: 'When Bielsa took the first team job at Newell's, he told me we had to buy two central defenders. I told him: "You have them in house — Fernando Gamboa and Pochettino"'. Those two would form the centre-half partnership for Bielsa's team. Pochettino still cites this period of his life and the faith shown in him by Yudica, Griffa and Bielsa as his inspiration for giving young players a chance.

'It was a team that left its mark in Newell's history,' says Sensini. 'Mauricio always talked to his team-mates with authority and in clear terms. Mauricio has learned from many coaches, but Bielsa was a man that left his mark on him.'

Bielsa would feature again in Pochettino's career, when he moved to Spain to play for Espanyol. This time, however, his old coach reduced him to tears, accusing him of losing the drive he had shown as a young player at Newell's and slipping into a comfort zone. 'I've never felt so embarrassed,' writes Pochettino in his book. 'Everything he said was right. I'd been blinded, trapped in my own world.'

Bielsa forgave him and when he moved on to be Argentina coach Pochettino was in the starting XI at the 2002 World Cup, though he is best remembered for tripping Michael Owen in England's 1-0 win. 'For sure it was a dive,' is Pochettino's not entirely inaccurate memory of the incident. His second playing spell at Espanyol — he played at Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux in between — came to an end in 2006.

By then, he had settled in Barcelona and taken his coaching badges in Spain with his former Espanyol team-mate and goalkeeper, Toni Jimenez, now Tottenham goalkeeping coach - but a coaching job didn't come until 2009, when Espanyol were desperate and in relegation trouble.

Early on in the job, he was spotted making a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at the top of the mountain of Montserrat outside Barcelona. A non-practising Catholic, he was actually there to pray for his mother, Amalia, who had breast cancer and thankfully made a full recovery, but local media naturally dubbed Espanyol's subsequent escape from relegation as a miracle attributable to the Virgin.

It was while coaching Espanyol he met Jesus Perez, now his assistant and the man who sits alongside him at press conferences, on whom he relied as an English translator early on. Yet, Pochettino hadn't been sure about his appointment initially. Perez had been recruited by a sporting director who Pochettino suspected of trying to undermine him, but when their video analyst walked out to join Barca, Perez was co-opted to his team. Now he is probably the most influential person in Pochettino's life, other than wife Karina. The tag team of Karina and Perez persuaded Pochettino to take the risk of joining Southampton in 2013.

Perez is also a university-educated physiologist, and accounts for Pochettino's teams being among the fittest in football. Those who watch training at Spurs say: 'He works their b******* off them.' Pochettino trains players all season at full intensity: he believes that though there is an injury risk, it bears fruit after Christmas, which is borne out by performances.

Perez is the principal link man between team and manager but the quartet are all part of Team Pochettino and will be seen at Spurs Lodge huddled in a corner, sipping mate, the Argentine infusion drink skilfully prepared by Jimenez. 'The staff he has — Jesus, Miki and Toni — are incredibly close,' says Ossie Ardiles, Spurs' other favourite Argentine. 'He makes everyone at the club happy from top to bottom,' says Ardiles. 'You can feel the camaraderie and the atmosphere. Very, very few times in my life have I experienced something like that. And when I have, it's when things have been very successful.'

When Ricky Villa is in town, Ardiles will take his old friend and fellow Spurs icon to the training ground for lunch with Pochettino. Villa says: 'Mauricio has the spirit of an amateur, by which I mean every day he says to the players: 'Forget about money, play from your heart'. I know everyone talks about winning [trophies] if you are a manager, but he improves every player he works with. For me that is the main point of a manager.'

Only belatedly has Argentina appreciated his talent. He left aged 22 and never played in the capital.

'Maybe in Rosario he was a big name but not in Buenos Aires, the big city of football,' says Villa. 'Cordoba and Rosario are secondary.' But now everyone is waking up to the talent of the farm boy. 'I wouldn't change him for any manager in the world,' says Ardiles. 'He gets better and better. What he's doing this season is fantastic. I can't speak highly enough of him. Whenever people are nervous [about results], I always say we can't possibly have a better manager than him. 'He's very committed. Last season, people were talking about him going to Manchester United, to Barcelona, to Real Madrid, the Argentina national team. 'He is a little bit tired of all the time saying the same things. What can I say? He's very happy at the club and I hope he continues for a long time.'

Ardiles' only beef is that Pochettino and Villa sometimes make him feel left out. Villa, like Pochettino's father, runs a ranch. 'I am a city boy, they are farmers,' says Ardiles. 'They talk a lot about horses and cows and I don't have a clue.' Right now, Pochettino may be the world's most valuable farmer.

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[holbyconfessional]

Casualty S32 Episodes 8-14

Finally got caught up.  Since this is SO historical now, I’m going to put the whole lot under a cut, save dashboards!!!

Casualty S32 Episode 8

I found the COTW here pretty heartbreaking, the elderly couple with the woman dying from COPD.

Connie finally confirms to Ethan that the patient she's been discussing with him is herself.  And then proceeds to blackmail him about his role in Scott Ellison's death, in order to force him to perform an off-the-books emergency embolectomy to save her arm.  Great leadership skills!

Alicia passed her driving test, despite being a shockingly awful driver, already responsible for several accidents.  Nice.

Casualty S32 Episode 9

Nosy and unpleasant Louise has discovered Sanosi.  It gives her an excuse to be rude and aggressive to Dylan, lots.  But, don't forget folks, we're supposed to like Louise because she always does the 'right thing' in the end - in this case, spiriting Sanosi off Dylan's boat, just in time to save the day as Connie goes barrelling in, expecting to find something.

Lily is jealous of Iain and Sam's easy relationship.  She can't see that Sam is 'a lad' and Iain is so much a lad that he barely hit puberty, and frankly, she's never going to get the grown up relationship she wants from him.

A return of the transgender morgue worker, which was good - I like her.   And most of all, I loved the chat between her and Max, where he tells her all about Zoe, and how she left because she was afraid of happiness, and how he thinks about what his life with her would have been like every day.  It broke my heart a little.  You don't get chemistry like theirs every day, and I wish she hadn't left - him or the country!

Casualty S32 Episode 10

Elle and Marty.  Here is where I amuse myself with my outraged old lady rant...  Now, I'm not a single mother of three boys, but I'm pretty sure if I was, I wouldn't be having men over to shag in my house unless I was sure that a) it was a solid relationship, and b) they had met my kids in a low stress environment.  I don't deny the fact that Elle has a right to a life, including a love life, outside her role as a mother, BUT, as a mother, her kids need to come first when managing such a life, and part of that means setting an example.  In this day and age where kids learn WAY too much of their sexual knowledge from porn, I'm not sure it pays as a parent to model anything like a promiscuous lifestyle, and for her kids to come in and find a complete stranger in bed with their mother... Well... You see where I'm coming from.  On the flip side, I may not be an Elle fan, but anything that highlights any sort of relationship chances for us older women, in whatever orientation, then I say, you go, girl!

But, also in the story.  I don't know how old Blake is supposed to be, but isn't he a bit old for the 'if Mum gets a partner, I'm afraid she won't love me any more' thing?  I don't know that much about teenaged boys, but it didn't ring entirely true for me.  Going with the chilli powder being nothing more than a practical joke would have sat with me better.

Dylan. I feel really awful for him right now, as someone who doesn't forge relationships easily, he was clearly really attached to Sanosi.  Of course, he did the right thing, he's perfectly right that Sanosi could never have the life that he dreams of when always on the run and in hiding, and it was perfectly valid that Sanosi wouldn't be able to see that, and would only see how Dylan had let him down.  With Dylan's own history of OCD and mental health problems, I will be interested to see where this development drives him.  I am always happy for more Dylan on the screen.

Connie. Right, so her tumour is malignant.  Worst possible news.  And she's still burying her head.  I'm all for not rushing storylines, but I think we need to move on this one, folks.  I love Connie, and like Dylan, I am happy for her to have screen time, but dragging this storyline out much more risks losing its momentum, and for it to just become boring.   IMO!

COTW, I'm still not sure why the girl was put into care.  As a mother, if there is any risk that your partner might in any way hurt your child, don't you ditch the partner and keep the child, rather than ditching the kid??!!  I know that jury was out as to whether partner hit mother, but surely all the more reason?  Incidentally, I do appreciate how hard it is for some people to escape from domestic violence, but the mother didn't seem like an utterly downtrodden victim to me.  Comments welcome from folk who may know far more about it than I do, and no offence meant if I've shown ignorance.

Casualty S32 Episode 11

So, there's a new F1 called Rash, who pukes when he gets nervous and makes lots of mistakes.  

Lily and Iain's relationship is a little strained after her jealousy toward Sam, and Lily wants to apply for the project in Hong Kong, but after Iain comes back round and stops giving her the cold shoulder, she self sabotages her presentation so she doesn't have to make a decision.   Everything I've just said is wrong on so many levels.  I think the way Iain treats Lily is pretty vile.  He has a right to be angry over the ketchup/Sam incident, but not to give her the cold shoulder every time she doesn't behave according to his doctrine.  He's just a spoiled little brat.  And as for self sabotaging for a man, well, need I say more about the stupidness?!!  Still, good for her for finally making the right decision, even in the face of Iain's grand and embarrassing karaoke gesture!

COTW continues the theme of unhealthy relationships, with the love triangle of man leaving partner for her best friend.  Wake up, best friend, like that dude was ever going to be trustworthy!  Proven by his about face at the end.  Good for the woman to turn him away in favour of supporting her friend.  Who is still her friend, despite the attempt to run off with her man?  I'm all for sisterly support, but even I think that might be going a bit far...

Casualty S32 Episode 12

'I know what you did'!  Perhaps a wee bit childish of Max, but pretty serious overreaction from Ethan!  I hope this Scott Ellison guilt won't be everlasting, because although in reality, I'm sure it will stay with him forever, as a viewer, it's a bit like flogging a dead dog...

I was intially pleased when it was announced Sam was to return to Casualty.  And happy to see her for her first couple of episodes.  But tonight has helped to remind me just how annoying she could be.  I mean, she threw Iain's phone out of a moving ambulance window!!  In WHAT UNIVERSE could she possibly imagine that this behaviour might be acceptable??!!!  Phones aren't 50p, and people rely on them (rightly or wrongly) to live their entire lives!  I can't even begin to articulate how disgusting I think her behaviour was.  And Iain more or less let her get away with it.  Euch.

Slightly different COTW in the former abuse victim ambushing then manipulating the paedophile into holding up a store.  I think the storyline was all kinds of uncomfortable, from witnessing the psychological damage to the victims, shown in the evidence of Ocean's self harm, and the fact that she feels the only think open to her now is to mount a personal vendetta on abusers, by deliberately seeking them out through chat rooms, and attempting to force their arrests through other means.  I think the fact that she didn't seem to understand the gravity of what she had done, in terms of the safety of innocent bystanders (collateral damage?) spoke volumes to the degree of psychological trauma that she had experienced. And that is not even mentioning the presence of the paedophile himself, a father to two young children.

The other COTW was the homeless man, who had been picked up for a one night stand by someone of some seeming privilege.  I'm not sure what this story was designed to highlight - perhaps a seasonal reminder that homeless people are rarely homeless by choice, but rather caught in a cycle that try as they may, they're unable to break.  Perhaps this could have been a more powerful story if it hadn't been chosen to play against the far more hardhitting paedophile case.

Casualty S32 Episode 13

It's about time we got some closure on the Robyn/Glen storyline.  I rather enjoyed the huge flashback/fill in the gap section of this episode, I'm not saying I was ever a massive Glen fan, but it was an interesting and refreshing change.  I felt a little bad for him at how badly people treated him - on the one hand, I know he walked out on Robyn at the altar, which is an unbelievably shitty thing to do (he should have done it before 'the day' ;-)), and I really dislike people's propensity to 'know' what's best for other people - by and large, folk should have the right to make up their own mind; but regardless of all that, I think it's safe to say his heart was in the right place, and there was of course a little more to it than your average jilting.

Robyn 'He's here to hold his daughter.  Who was here to hold me through all of this?'  Selfish, selfish person, surrounded by family and friends, support on every side - Charlie and Duffy giving her and her daughter a home, everyone rushing round to be there for her at every turn.  I shake my head at her.

On the plus side, lots of 'Dee Dee' in the flashback, which was a winner. I like the mention of his past drunken reveal to Zsa Zsa about his crazy family.  Do we know much about his crazy family?  Has it been covered before?  I'm dredging my memories, but coming up blank.  If anyone does have any recollections, do tell me...

One thought I do have about this episode, which is likely highly controversial - as a non-religious person, why is Robyn getting Charlotte christened?  I could understand (although not really agree) if Robyn was a churchgoer herself, but why do it since she's not?  To cover bases?  I think that's rather missing the point of religion, no?  (This taken from E12, where Max says he doesn't know why she's doing it as she's not religious and neither is he...)  Now, I could continue talking about my opinions on this for some time, but I don't want to get soap boxy, so I shall desist.  Plus side of this part for me?  Yay, Lexy!

Casualty S32 Episode 14

So, last episode wasn't merely closure for the Robyn/Glen storyline.   Because Glen is back.  As a porter.  Short or long term, I wonder?   After all, we know his tumour hasn't been cured, although it's at bay.   Ah, well, we'll see.  Still, lots of chances to see people be unnecessarily mean to him.

Thank goodness Connie has finally started her chemo.  Ethan in charge of the ED, fairly unsurprising that he should initially make a hash of it, only to save the day!  I liked that he took Connie there, then went and collected her afterward, though.

COTWs, young boy looking after younger brother suffering from CO poisoning.  I really hoped they could stay together.

Priest with a tattoo trying to remove it because he thinks his new congregation won't like it.  Is that a thing?  I thought priests only felt guilty in the eyes of their god?  After all, if he was comfortable enough to get the tattoo in the first place, why on earth would other peoples opinion matter that much??!!