Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle: Wilson & Joelinton inspire NUFC to late win in London

It could’ve went either way in the final 10 minutes, but that’s a huge win for Steve Bruce, a big moment for Joelinton and another reminder of just how important Callum Wilson is to this team!

Our £20m man broke the deadlock in the 88th minute via a cool finish and brilliant assist from Joelinton, and was then on hand to set up the big man just 90 seconds later, with the Brazilian bagging a well deserved goal to seal a much needed 0-2 win.

It wasn’t pretty at times, with a promising first half display followed by an uninspiring second 45 that saw us create very little and begin to sit deep, however it’s a big three points that stops the rot and sends us into the top half and 10 clear of the bottom three.

Bruce made FOUR changes to the team that went down without a fight against Chelsea, bringing in Shelvey, Hendrick, Almiron and Wilson and ditching five at the back in favour of a 4-4-1-1 system – a move that must now become the norm after we created more, won and kept a clean sheet!

Elsewhere, Lascelles and Saint-Maximin dropped out through injury, with Hayden also missing (Covid?) and U-23 star Elliot Anderson on the bench for the first time in a Premier League game as a result.

(4-4-1-1: Darlow – Manquillo, Fernandez, Clark, Lewis – Hendrick, S Longstaff, Shelvey, Almiron – Joelinton – Wilson)

We started well, having 60% the ball in the opening 15 and pressing higher up the pitch, with a good give, go and run in behind from Joelinton creating an early opening for Callum Wilson – only for a last ditch Palace clear their lines after a dangerous ball across the box from the Brazilian.

Aside from the odd decent stop from Karl Darlow, who parried clear powerful efforts from Schlupp and Eze, we were the better side and looking the more likely to score.

Shelvey’s ability to pick out forward passes was making a difference and Joelinton looked lively. He was pressing well, linking up nicely and looking much more confident in possession, however he did lack conviction where it mattered, hitting a tame effort too close to Guiata after catching Dann on the ball.

Going into the second half, this felt a lot like that opening day game at West Ham. We were the better side without being brilliant, but the home side were passive and there for the taking if we wanted a win.

That said, the biggest chance after the restart came for Palace, with Ayew getting in between Fernandez and Manquillo and through on goal – only to poke his effort wide.

Sadly, the much improved pressing and passing game that saw us control large parts of the first half seemed to disappear in the second, with us punting hopeful balls long to Wilson and Joelinton for the first part of the final 45.

Without creating much at all, Palace were now the ones enjoying just short of 60% possession and looking the more likely, with them getting behind our midfield on a few occasions and winning the odd dangerous free kick.

Not much to write home about, but Bruce-ball was creeping back in and we now looked the side both there for the taking and most likely to lose.

Aside from one header apiece from Joelinton and Benteke – who had his well saved by Darlow – there were few chances, meaning it was anyone’s game heading into the final 10 if one side could kick one.

Thankfully, we rode a late Palace storm, with Fernandez doing brilliantly to block a goal-bound Kouyate shot and Van Aanholt flashing wide from a dangerous position…and you know what happened next!

Joelinton burst inside, latched onto a lay off from Wilson and played a clever reverse pass to set his striker partner in behind, leaving our lethal No 13 to do the rest.

A clever finish through Guiata’s legs and brilliant late goal – but we weren’t done yet.

This time it was Wilson who turned provider, getting the ball out to Joelinton down the right hand side. He got one-on-one with his man, cut inside and saw a left-footed shot sneak in via a wicked deflection.

A slice of luck for the big man, but a goal his industrious performance fully deserved, with him refusing to let his head drop after a few too many first-half misses!

Next up, a trip to Aston Villa and several winnable games ahead of a few tough tests after Christmas:

  • Aston Villa (A) – Friday 4th December
  • West Brom (H) – Saturday 12th December
  • Leeds (A) – Wednesday 16th December
  • Fulham (H) – Saturday 19th December
  • Man City (A) – Saturday 26th December
  • Liverpool (H) – Wednesday 30th December

A big win for Steve Bruce and more proof that we must stick with a four-man defence!

HWTL!

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About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

268 thoughts on “Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle: Wilson & Joelinton inspire NUFC to late win in London

  1. kimtoon:
    Sharpy, i loved Jetro mate, excellent player. If fitness ok i would have him back in a heartbeat .

    First offer on my house intoday £20k below asking price !! Cheeky gits.

    Kim – yeah fitness being ok I’d love to see him back too.

    That’s good news about your house – 20k less is a p!ss take, but if offers are coming it’s a good start ??

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  2. Sh!tting on the toilet will also debut along with break-dancing at the 2026 Olympics. Along with “can you count how many Kardashians are on TV”. Spoiler = 150.

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  3. Sharpy17: Kim – yeah fitness being ok I’d love to see him back too.

    That’s good news about your house – 20k less is a p!ss take, but if offers are coming it’s a good start ??

    3 more offers all 20 – 30k less now, two were cash offers too. They want to convert loft and flip it as it’s a much wanted road to live in and high spec ones go for £475,000. I think they see the disability stuff and think they can try it on . It’s mostly Londoners that buy here now anyway.
    Royally peed off with it now, got more coming in tomorrow too, that will be 11 strangers wandering around my home this week.

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  4. So…

    I bought this house fro 20 grand 20 years ago and now some Londerner want to offer me half a mil for it? It that a bad thing? For me? I can move to north wales and buy a mansion.

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  5. Eric , the problem is what they are offering just covers what i’m buying which is a bungalow that needs quite a lot of updating and it makes it impossible for me to move. I’m asking well below what most houses in this street have gone for in the hope of a quick sell. Houses in pretty poor condition have gone for 380, 370 over the last 3 years and i’m asking 350 in 2020 and mine is in good condition, it may not be the latest trend but the big stuff is done, rewire, new boiler, lined drains, things unseen but costly to fix.
    If they want the post code and road, they need to cough up.
    I can’t move out the area as i would lose the gp practice, which lew is used to. That’s why i have been looking for a bungalow i can afford for 11 years !
    Bungalow is 320 and needs around 20k of work on it .

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  6. kimtoon: 3 more offers all 20 – 30k less now, two were cash offers too. They want to convert loftand flip it as it’s a much wanted road to live in and high spec ones go for £475,000.I think they see the disability stuff and think they can try it on . It’s mostly Londoners that buy here now anyway.
    Royally peed off with it now, got more coming in tomorrow too, that will be 11 strangers wandering around my home this week.

    Kim – just be bold. Tell the new ones coming in about the offers & that they would be wasting their time with offers under whatever you’d accept. Doesn’t have to be done in a rude way, just lets them know the craic. It would be a lot worse if there were no viewing or offers coming in. It’s frustrating, but all part of the stupid BS game now isn’t it?!.
    Hopefully you’ll get someone who comes in and makes a fair offer ??

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  7. Kimtoon: my comment doesnt sound nice. It wasnt what I meant.

    I was thinking of my sister-in-law’s sister who I met a couple of years ago. She is late 40s and retired to Scotland on the proceeds of a sale of a terraced house in London.

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  8. Are we going to see training ground pictures? I want to know who might play on Saturday and who will be missing.

    Also, I lived in London and it is a big place. Is the whole of London in tier 2 or below so they can have fans and Newcastle cannot? Sorry, but that makes no sense. I lived in Islington and went to see NUFC play Wimbledon. That’s like travelling from Newcastle to Sunderland. These rules make no sense.

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  9. London will be in tier 3 next week. But interestingly Newcastle now has only 120/100,000 and that’s below the rate London was when they went into tier 2. But I doubt Newcastle will go to tier 2. I think it will be almost impossible to get from tier 3 to tier 2.

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  10. It is interesting to watch Man U now. Not only do you not know what team will turn up for the game, you dont know what team will turn up for each half. It has me wanting to watch the Manc derby. City are a strange team as well. They have exceptional players who do extraordinary things but I still find them boring to watch. The Pep-ball is just a bit boring even when punctuated by a De Bruyne 25 yarder.

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  11. So, now we are getting the NUFC news from instagram. I am happy that Wilson looks like he will be fit for West Brom but couldnt The Chronic have sent one of their interns to the training ground to see which players turned up. Not exactly rocket science and better than yet another rehashed Keegan story. At least it would be relevant to Saturday’s game.

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  12. Eric Sykes here with an exclusive interview with the Editor of the famous Evening Chronicle:

    Eric: Well, Mr. Douglas, given the global pandemic, lockdowns and cancellation of the Villa game how is it looking for this weekend against West Brom? Who will be available and who will be sidelined with this deadly virus?

    Mark Douglas: I will have to refer you to/quote our ex-journalist Luke Edwards as he is the only one who seems to be doing any, erm… journalism these days. I picked up a copy of The Telegraph this morning and it says here that the number of players who tested positive is in double figures. Does this qualify me for a mention as a “stringer” on John Craven’s News Round?

    Eric: No. But are you quarantining your staff as you dont seem to know who will be available for Saturday and it would seem that it would be a simple matter to send Wor Lee to the training ground and see who drives up in their Bentley or Range Rover?

    Mark: Nah, Lee has been assigned a cut and paste job of interviews done with John Hall from last year and 3 years ago. An EXCLUSIVE about why he sold the club 13 years ago and what Mike Ashley told him. This is the news all of our fans want to hear.

    Eric: Are we doing journalism by tweet and instagram now? Wilson said he is available via instagram and that is the only news we have got from you in the last 14 days. Is that how it works now?

    Mark: Yes.

    Eric: So, what did Shaka Hislop say about Keegan and why is that relevant in these trying times when NUFC have a health crisis and even the families of players are infected/affected?

    Mark: we needed some filler as we are doing fck all else here in Chronicle Towers. Sean McCormick, go and get is a cup of tea mate, I’m parched. And see if you can find that picture of Amanda flashing her boobs so we can run another takeover story.

    Eric: thanks Mark. What’s Lee’s prediction for the game this Saturday?

    Mark: as usual, he will say it is a prediction but will not actually make a prediction.

    Eric: we’ll have to leave it there before my brain turns to mush, much like all of your journos’ had many years ago. Thanks, you have told me ****** all.

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  13. Seriously, what are The Chronic doing? They could have someone go to the training ground and count cars. They wouldnt even need to get out of their own car. No social distancing or mask required. One of the interns must know how to opereate a drone FFS. Look Jimmy, it is just like Playstation except you have to go to the training ground and operate it there!!!

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  14. Why the secrecy from NUFC Olly? Other clubs just tell you who is not avaialable. It is not a privacy issue. They tell us who has had a knee operation etc. Why is this different? We will find out tomoorrow in the Bruce news conference but why the fcn cloak and dagger act for 2 weeks?

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  15. Just talked to me Mam and she said her 88 year old sister had fallen over on the way to the shop. She has been diagnosed with dementia. I said she should be in a care home but me Mam says it is up to her son.

    It is fcn insane.

    I went back last Nov because my 88 year old Aunt had a stroke after I knew she had dementia but nobody would admit it. I went to help out me mam because she was freaking out.

    Does your Mam need to be run over by a car COUSIN for you to realise that this is serious!!!!!!!!!!

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  16. Eric Sykes:
    Just talked to me Mam and she said her 88 year old sister had fallen over on the way to the shop. She has been diagnosed with dementia. I said she should be in a care home but me Mam says it is up to her son.

    It is fcn insane.

    I went back last Nov because my 88 year old Aunt had a stroke after I knew she had dementia but nobody would admit it. I went to help out me mam because she was freaking out.

    Does your Mam need to be run over by a car COUSIN for you to realise that this is serious!!!!!!!!!!

    Bless her mate, hope she’s not too badly hurt & makes a speedy recovery from the fall at least.

    My cousins Gdad has dementia & he’s in a care home. They have been truly brilliant with him through this lock down.
    It’s been hard for my Aunty not being able to make regular visits, but the staff in the home have kept regular touch with her & sent plenty of videos & photos for her.

    Hope your auntys ok mate ??

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  17. Sharpy, mate. A neighbour found her on the ground a while after she fell and took her home. That’s it. My cousin, her son, is my age (57) and still thinks she can live alone because she has carers in during the day now. Drs have officially diagnosed her with dementia and she lives alone. I dont get it. The drs should insist she has 24 hr care.

    Her twin sister is in the same situation. She is my favourite aunt but I saw her 5 years ago and knew she had dementia. Everybody else denied it. I pretended I thought she was going deaf so she would at least see a dr. Still at home after a stroke with nobody seeing her from 6pm to 8am. The NHS is supposed to be so great but they are failing my Aunts.

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  18. I went back to Newcastle last year to help out me Mam who was seriously freaking out about her sister. Me mam is 78, sister 88. Me Mam still has all her senses but she was overwhelmed so I got a $1,200 plane ticket and went home to help. I thought my Aunt was going to die but she made a miraculous recovery. But she is now alone drifting in and out of knowing where she is with me mam getting her food and checking in on her.

    The drs have fcking checked out and nobody even does a follow up visit. She has cares, THAT SHE PAYS FOR, but they dont see her after 6pm. The NHS ignore her even though she had a stroke at the top of her stairs a year ago.

    One day the morning carer will find her dead at the BOTTOM of her stairs.

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  19. I dont know what happens with Kimtoon’s boy but it sounds like it is all on her. My Aunt was in the hospital for 6 weeks after a stroke last year and there has been literally no follow up from the NHS. No drs visit. Nothing. The carers wash her and wash the dishes but that’s about it. But they are not NHS paid. They dont insist she goes for a check up. Her left side was paralysed so this was not a minor issue. The NHS should be following up but instead they are leaving her to die and letting my 78 year old mam (79 in March) take on the burden.

    It is not just underfunding of the NHS it is lack of care and protocols. It is almost as bad here.

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  20. Eric – I toyed with the idea of saying your cousin may be worried about putting her in a home with the way COVID has ran through them – but it may also be a monetary decision. Either way mate, it’s certainly not my place to judge as I don’t know the first thing about it.
    I just know how difficult it is to see a loved ones health/mental health drain away from them.
    I doorstep visited my Gdad in November to drop off his birthday presents & he didn’t look well at all. I’ve spoke to him regularly on the phone as I always do – but obviously this year haven’t seen him much at all. So it was tough to see him looking so fragile & how much his sight has deteriorated.

    My & the wife have been really lucky that our elderly relatives are still kicking about & we’ve loved watching our son form relationship with them. He’s 12 in Feb so they have saw him grow & he gets how precious his time is with them so really spends quality time with them when we meet up.

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  21. Sharpy: sorry to hear about your family issues as well. We expect it. I was just a bit annoyed that there was no after care for my aunt. She leaves the hospital and no dr ever gets in touch again> Not even her GP? But I will stop my rant here and now.

    On to another rant…

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  22. I watched Wraith’s youtube channel today and John Gibson was on saying that NUFC had done the right thing by keeping secret the players who had tested positive for Covid. How is that? Does that mean Palace did the wrong thing when they said Wilf Zaha was isolating? Or Arsenal when they said Arteta was. Or Moyes. Or many others?

    “Gibbo” (Gibbon) brought up the “think of the children” old chestnut. Every other team has been transparent about their cases, why the secrecy at the NUFC/KGB? I have no idea why. We will find out Saturday anyway. And we already have an inkling Hayden was positive.

    We know when someone gets a hamstring or a hernia. What is the difference? Dont tell me to think of the children, that just doesnt wash.

    Gibbon should know better. He is as old as the hills and should see through the NUFC/KGB BS.

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  23. There are laws in the US that do not allow 3rd parties to disclose medical infomation. But that is not what we are talking about with NUFC/KGB who tell us everything about player medicals and injuries. I know that Martin Dubravka had an ankle operation for example. That Dwight Gayle had a knee operation, same with Sean Longstaff, and Lejeune had 2 knee ops. Why is that different. And dont say because it affects their family when it is Covid because it also affected David Moyes’s family.

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  24. NUFC/KGB have not even said that they are keeping the players’ names secret because of privacy rights. They have said SFA. Is it different to when a player gets a knee injury? Probably. But why are other teams not concerned about saying who has tested positive for Covid? Why wasnt Boris Johnson concerned about his privacy or Donald Trump? We all know it will come out in the end. Luke Edwards seems to have Steve Bruce’s ear and is telling us numbers if not names.

    Just why all of the BS at NUFC/KGB?

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  25. based upon all information from NUFC/KGB, Steve Bruce, Instagram and Luke Edwards here is the team for saturday:

    Not Sure

    Really? Yes Really? U23 Left Back

    Hayden YouDontSay Who’sOnFirst

    JimmyNail Wilson PleaseNotJoeLinton

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  26. ERIC real sorry to hear of your family troubles it real hard for you being so far away hope their help improves
    a slight change .one thing that really upsets me is the poor homeless/rough sleepers do they get any help in the usa? here they get very little,if you put your dog outside without food and water you would be in court quick sharp,its heartbreaking the world a mess

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  27. Icedog: I dont think the Govt provides anything but there are charity shelters. There are not that many homeless in Chicago as if you can scrape together any money at all you would head south or west on a Greyhound bus. The winters are brutal.

    Places like San Franscisco with mild weather year round is where there is a big problem. I was there a few years ago and there are literally thousands in the downtown. You have to feel sorry for them but some are very aggressive. You can see how it happens though as unemployment benefits only last 6 months. Then you are on your own.

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  28. From what Bruce said some players must have had covid symtoms and not just tested positive and were asymtomatic. He said some players were fatigued. Pogba said the same thing, although you wouldnt know as he normally strolls around the pitch at half speed anyway (am I allowed to make a Covid joke?).

    Anyway, I am glad the match is on and that any player in the squad had to have 2 negative tests. I have had my say about the privacy BS and will stop now except to say we will find out tomorrow who is still isolating so what is the point of not telling us.

    Depending on who is fit we could end up playing 4 wingers and 4 centre halfs.

    I really hope we can get a win, but you know if we do that Bruce’s pundit pals will say this is the greatest Managerial feat of all time. Better than Clough winning 2 European cups or Paisley with all of his titles.

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  29. There are millions of people over here who think that Covid is a hoax, egged on by Trump and internet conspiracies. How a man who was helecoptered to hospital with Covid can act like this I have no idea. And it is not just a bunch of kooks saying this, it is on TV every day. 10,000 at a Trump rally, 900 invites for a White House indoor party with no masks. This is after more than 50 in Govt have tested positive.

    The reasoning baffles me. It is not like Stuart on here who says the cure is worse than the disease because of the poverty it causes. They make no sense.

    They have closed the Chicago Bears training ground because of Covid now.

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  30. US Covid deaths have now surpassed US soldier deaths in WWII. That’ not just the Europe theatre but the Pacific as well. And still many on the right say it is a hoax. I was in Mexico in March with a couple of friends one of whom works for Amazon. When we were there he was informed that everybody had to work from home and then the biggest tech conference of the year was shut down as we were sitting having a beer.

    My point? That this has been going on since March and people are still in denial. They show pictures every day on the news of people who have died from this. And they are not all old and fat people.

    Last week Covid surpassed cancer and heart disease as the leading cause of death in the US. And the outgoing President makes jokes about it! Or what he thinks are jokes as he is the least funny person I have ever seen.

    I cannot even go out for a pint. Not sure if the football/soccer bar I go to to watch NUFC will even exist after this. There have been 2 bars permanently shut down within 500 yeards of my house.

    God, I want so much to see the back of him. He has totally taken over Ameircan TV. I know he will not totally go away, but just a little bit less airtime. He is Boris times 100. The man is a lunatic. I would fly back to the UK for a couple of weeks just to get away from him, it is that bad. Dont think I am allowed though 🙂

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  31. I know I have gone on and on about Covid, but what else is there going on. Bruce didnt hold a press conference for 2 weeks and we cancelled a game BECAUSE OF Covid. There was the secrecy around the team which continues and is ridiculous. Now the Chicago Bears have, you guessed it – Covid. Nowhere to go because of Covid, even the Museums are closed.

    Then there is the TV. All news about Covid interspersed with a bit of crazy Donald.

    They are saying over here not to travel for Xmas. Not an advisory or to take precautions. A flat out do not travel.

    You lot in the UK cannot even go to the EU as of Jan 1.

    It is getting a bit crazy. Maybe I will move to New Zealand.

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  32. Icedog:
    Sorry 3000

    Yep, they keep comparing it to the World Trade Centre tragedy where there were less than 3,000 deaths. It paralyzed the whole country.

    I am actually still going to travel. Booked a trip to Maine in April today. I know I am totally contradictory but I also know what precautions to take. Still have a trip booked to Florida Keys Jan 18. I will decide the week before if I still want to go. Planes are safe, I am worried about the airport. But once I get there it would be 25 degrees celsius every day and I would be outside. The Hotels have been ultra cautious with sanitization because they want to stay open.

    Ice: I am going stir crazy so have to have something to look forward to. The weather is closing in in Chicago. Only bad news from the UK and I need an outlet. Cant even go to the fcn pub, as I said earlier.

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  33. Icedog:
    Thought the air con on planeswas very iffy

    No. They changed it with the new models in the last 10 or 15 years. They send the air out through the engines which are 450 degrees hot then cool it down again to put back in the cabin. It is not like the old days of recycled air.

    I looked it up and a Dr explained how the air in planes is very germ free now.

    I am not risking my life for a holiday, so I have looked into some of this stuff 🙂

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  34. Also, Icedog. I have a friend who is a flight attendant and he has been flying like 10 flights a week for the last 10 months. He explained the plane air circulation to me as well. BTW, I did ask him if he was the only straight male flight attendant and he said Yes. Used to be an accountant and got so bored with that he went into being an Air Stewardess. Who the fck knows – each to his own.

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