Brentford + Villa, Who knows? and an apology

I feel I owe a bit of an apology. Well, I don’t really, but I’m a nice guy and feel a bit guilty about not commenting much lately.

I want to do a Max Bygraves and tell you a story.

I’ve been with Virgin Media for their broadband for the 25 years I’ve lived here. And probably 10 years before that, when it was Birmingham Cable, then Blueyonder.

And so it came to renewal time. Long story short, they wanted 54 quid a month for 200ish Mb. Which is a total joke. I rang to negotiate, but they weren’t having any of it.

So, sick of this total ripoff, I told them I was done and cancelled.

The reason Virgin have been able to charge so much is because there’s no competition. I remember Openreach installing Fibre down our street about 2 years ago. We’re the last house in the block. I thought they’d done ours too, but they hadn’t and because of that , Virgin knew we had no choice if we wanted an ounce of speed.

Which is where I looked around and Vodafone said we had Fibre installed and they could do me a deal. I signed up and long story short again, They’ve messed me about for 2 months now, with no installation.

They’ve even credited my account with 300 quid for my trouble. Great, except I’ve never used any of their services.

Hence I’m hotspotting off my phone for internet and it’s abysmal. Some days I can’t even get half a Mb.

And so it was for the Brugge game. I saw the first goal and missed the other 3, because of buffering.

The moral of the story?

The big boys have it all their own way and rip you off. Until the customer decides he’s had enough.

And the funny part of all this, is that while I await Openreach giving me a supposed connection, I’m here in Spain for the weekend, where my 600Mb up/down connection is working perfectly at around a quid a day. Go figure. Which one is the third world country, I ask myself? Spain or the UK? I’m happy with my thoughts.

Tomorrow then and I don’t have a clue again.

Squad news is that Unai’s comments confuse me somewhat.

Tyrone Mings, Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara and Pau Torres are sort of okay, but need to be protected. Barkley is out, as is Onana, who is apparently close. García, Malen and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba {sorry, but who?} are all okay after being ineligible for Europe.

As for Brentford,Norgaard is back after a concussion injury and Mathius Jensen will be involved. Rico Henry is in full training, while Gustavo [Nunes], Igor [Thiago] and Josh [Dasilva] are all running.

I wish they’d just say if they’re ready or not, but hey ho.

It’s quite simple, this one. We’re rubbish, so the best I expect is a 1-1 draw.

Except I think we really ought to start proving that we’re better than what I perceive.

I think we might sneak this, 2-1. I’d love that. A win it is.

UTV!