Keep the Faith

A shot. We’re really growing into this game now…

I would have thought that if he knew the players were against Manning but didn’t want to upset the club he just wouldn’t say anything about it rather than stating the opposite.

53 minutes ago, Baba Yaga said:

I am especially looking out for the fixtures against the bottom half teams before the end of the season, so far I don't think Manning has beaten any and it's been like half a goal per game or something very close to that.

I think this is a huge part of it for me. Mid to lower table teams at home. Unless we work out how to win/draw the majority of these we aren’t going anywhere. I’m relatively comfortable with how we play and fair against better opposition at the moment (clearly improvements can be made there as well).

Home games against Cardiff, Swansea, Blackburn, Huddersfield and Rotherham. We need points and far more convincing displays. 

Not entirely sure what people want from a debut other than a goal, someone who made us seriously dangerous from set pieces for the first time in donkeys years and generally made a nuisance of himself high up the park. 
 

He wasn’t perfect and tried a lot of things that didn’t come off. I was happy he was trying. If he is type of player and style of play Manning wants I’m in.

24 minutes ago, Calculus said:

Not really, 'twas just an old joke. A pity he left for us at the time, and as it turned out not good for him in the long run either.

Well do I remember what Nicky Maynard achieved with us, particularly when Paul Hartley was running midfield.

Here's a reminder:

 

What that video reminds me is not only what a great finisher he was but how much I miss Dele Adebola.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we had a coach/manager good enough to be poached by someone better.

I think the reaction on here alone would be worth an LJ reappointment!

Don’t get the anti Rowett stuff. He looks a decent option to me. Complaints about playing style seem slightly odd as Pearson didn’t exactly deliver earth shatteringly good football or results at home and I say that as someone who has no issue with him.

On 09/10/2023 at 09:30, 22A said:

We are assured that newts are an endangered species. Despite that, all across the country developments are stopped because someone claims to have seen newts in that area.

Some people believe the preservation of native species is more important than football. Which is a fair view.

I’m a bit surprised they didn’t flag Wells offside…

10 hours ago, Swede said:

I take your point but have you ever been to Blackburn? Its a bleak 5hithole of a dump with what looks like a large shiny blue and grey spaceship called Ewood Park landed right in the middle of it. Very depressing.

But then it is close to the Forest of Bowland, Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District with Manchester and Liverpool not far away. He probably wouldn’t live in central Blackburn!

16 hours ago, The Bard said:

I need to pick this to pieces. You're both wrong and right.
You're trying to lay this at the door of class - the English disease.  That's rubbish.  Football and rugby are played in other countries.  Ones not so obsessed with gentleman and players and that hypocritical Victorian horseshit.    

1.  The rugby referee actually runs the game.  They have a massive influence on it compared to a football referee. The referee for Brighton v Man U on Sunday made virtually no difference to the game did he? Refs at our level only do if they are incompetent.  There are parts of rugby (eg the breakdown) that come down to how the referee views it. Get that and scrums wrong and you're likely to lose.

2. Rugby is physically violent and knackering, especially if you're a forward.  It's difficult to shout at someone if you're talking to your ancestors as Max Lahiff put it.

3. Role of the captain.  Rugby refs communicate with captains. I don't get why the same thing doesn't happen in football.  Just need to flash yellow cards around to stop the ref being surrounded.

4. Rules of rugby allow refs to punish the team for poor behaviour.  March them back 10 metres.  Football needs to do the same

Absolutely spot on here. You just can’t compare football and rugby. When a penalty is given in rugby usually it’s involving the forwards and they are shattered from the last phase of play and in a pile on the ground. It just isnt the same as football where they are relatively fresh players within yards of the red all on their feet with a decent view of the incident.

Only the captain being able to talk to the ref would be the best way to take something from rugby if it could be managed. It would take a lot of strong refereeing to dish out the yellows and reds when it was first done but I feel it should be achievable.

58 minutes ago, spudski said:

Oh I agree with what you say completely.

Corruption and taking advantage of situations in football has been going on for ages. Since the very start.

I just to try and see the bigger picture...as to what can be done to stop it. Tbh...I don't think there is a definite answer.

Football at the very top has so much influence these days. The people involved...big power hitters. It's pure business and Politics in some cases. You've only got to look at Juve and Milan in Italy to see that in a glaringly obvious way for many years.

It's very much a catch 22. 

We love our football...yet we support the sport knowing it's corrupt.

In the same way we know the Government system is corrupt, and in some cases large businesses corrupt.

Until systems change, and the public refuse to go along with it, it will never change.

It's never ending corruption. 

From a human perspective, I find it very odd that we accept these circumstances, often buy into them, knowing full well it's corrupt, discuss it when it's brought to light ( even though we know it goes on) condemning it...yet celebrate if our team, party or shares come in as winners. 

It's nuts when you think about it.

 

 

 

There’s usually something similar in any sport where you have to turn a blind eye to something to allow you to enjoy it at the highest level at least.

I love watching professional cycling. I know the history of the sport wi the regard to doping. I’m sure there are athletes doping and/or manipulating the rules to their advantage but I still love to watch it and just have to not think about it otherwise the joy goes. Same goes here in football.

9 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Let's say we had won that them into Europe, okay Europa League.

Thst prize money probably enables us to take the risk on keeping one if Bryan or Reid going got promotion as well as adding Maenpaa, Hunt, Webster, Weimann. Wonder how much that cost us...ripple effect etc.

Whilst my comment was a bit tongue in cheek if found guilty what does this open them up to in terms of being sued by pretty much anyone for some sort of loss of revenue? Could be an epic class action!

Can we have the league cup they screwed us out of in 2018?

15 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

City second (Bell): https://streamin.me/v/d6925226

Alex Scott that is another level. Good lad waiting for the game after the window closes for that piece of class.

Swansea isn’t so bad. The area around the marina is quiet nice, the beach is serviceable and the Gower is just around the corner. Obviously it’s no Bristol!

1 hour ago, Fordy62 said:

1.2m Ade Akinbiyi

150k Mickey Bell

Shaun Goater around the same price as Mickey Bell must be up there as well.

For a first goal for the club as a young lad that is an absolute belter. Well played Sam Bell!

It was hard enough getting my 4 year old to sit still for 95 mins on Saturday!

I think it comes down more to people being able to make a choice rather than not being able to cope with a game of football being postponed. The two should not be conflated.

Another example would be the Bristol Half Marathon next weekend. Say that we’re taking place this weekend is it right to cancel something at the last minute that people have invested significant amounts of time and sometimes money in when they may have no particular strong feelings about the death of the queen? Of course it could still be cancelled. Perhaps some feel that it should I would say it could have an incredibly negative impact on thousands and that isn’t necessarily fair.

2 hours ago, GrahamC said:

You honestly believe that cycling is clean now, do you?

I wanted to believe that after being there to see Wiggins win the Olympic gold & Froome win the TDF & to think that Brailsford was simply a managerial genius, but I know how that all turned out.

There were some interesting views from French cyclist Thibaut Pinot recently on Rafael Nadal and how he manages his injuries through regular injections to numb pain, a treatment which is banned in cycling because of the potential performance enhancement. Lots of people saying Nadal is a hero for playing through the pain but effectively he is taking injections to enhance performance.

Everyone knows the issues cycling has had with drugs and it is almost certainly not clean now but more so than it used to be. It is definitely a physically brutal sport and they can certainly suffer more than most!

On 05/05/2020 at 21:09, daored said:

What would really lift morale is finding a vaccination so we can get to some form of normal life again. Allowing grandparents to hug their grandchildren, families to reunite, bars and restaurants to reopen so we can mix as a society once again. For us not to have to queue outside supermarkets , to be allowed outside other than essential shopping / exercise 

What will not improve my morale is seeing 20 football clubs playing games in empty stadiums, taking up recourse of the emergency services, taking up tests that could be used for front line staff / the general public to allow us to speed up an exit from lockdown and a return to some form of normality. 
 

 

Whilst clearly this would be what everyone would prefer a vaccination could be years away or not arrive at all. We can’t wait for it. It has to be treated as a good to have if/when it arrives and not something that starts a return to normality. I also don’t really see how trying to restart football will have a negative impact on vaccination research but I’m happy to be corrected on this.

They claim to have more testing capacity than is currently being used and will continue to expand it before football restarts so that shouldn’t be a major issue (although the government’s record on this is terrible). Clearly if they are taking testing capacity away from more essential areas then this should be a major consideration. The same goes for the emergency services but again I imagine they hope that that the situation is a little less volatile by the time it restarts so it should be manageable. If not then again they will have to have a massive rethink. 

It might not lift your morale but I imagine there are plenty of people who would be delighted to be able to watch some football on TV and have one extra thing to think and talk about that isn’t the virus. They may well come up with some very creative ways of making the viewing experience more appealing especially given that it’s not likely to be a short term fix but could be in place for quite a while.

These people’s livelihoods are directly related to football. They have to think about how to start things again just like every other business in the country.

Before I right this I will state that I am as conflicted about the place of sport during this situation as anyone is and don't know what the right answer is or really what my opinion is! My view seems to change every day. I miss football, professional cycling and as an amateur triathlete all my races have or probably will be cancelled for the foreseeable future. All these things upset me. 

However I will say that it is interesting how it has taken a crisis in the developed world to make people take the view that there are more important things than sport. There are international crises every single day. Right now east Africa is going to be consumed by a plague of billions of locusts which will wipe out crops for millions. Virtually nobody outside of the affected regions would even know about it let alone do something about it. The suffering of refugees in camps across the world is horrendous. We don't assume that we should stop sport until these issues are solved. I don't know why this is, perhaps because they aren't in front of us every day, or maybe because people don't think there is a solution. 

Perhaps sport helps us forget or ignore these thing by giving us something else to focus on. I include myself in this. Perhaps that is a good thing as there will always be things like this and if you can avoid it people don't want to think about it.

If this is going to be with us for years then are we just going to have to accept that and start things up again as normal with the acceptance that death rates will be higher and life expectancy a bit shorter. We have such developed healthcare systems in the developed world that perseveration of life at all costs seems to be everything. Should we just change our view on this? 

This situation gives you time to think about these things. I don't think my simple mind is really up to the task!

We're only 36 points ahead of Coventry and they've got 39 left to play for.

And they've just appointed Tony Mowbray. Solid appointment at this level and with the new manager bounce who knows where they might finish.