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To try and alleviate the boredom I’m gonna have a water bomb fight with my gashead neighbour over the fence .... I’m just waiting for the kettle to boil ... ????

I bet Portsmouth fans would disagree . Gonna take some strong boys to carry Ashley down Gloucester Rd.

Ye YEAH BUT right you jelus SHITHEAD da Gas av got da famus kwarterz an dEY got Irene an dEY took 60000 to Wembly Welcome to Horfield Mr Ashley!

That’ll be handy for Gasheads to get their favourite Slazenger gear without having to catch the bus up to Cribbs. Bit of Pierre Cardin for away matches when they want to show off their best clobber.

What a dopey *** !

I’ve been a firm advocate for finishing this season, whenever that is, and starting the next season, when we are closer to a vaccine or when we know more about The virus. I’ve changed my mind: this season should be cancelled with immediate effect and a new season start afresh whenever it’s safe (and by this I’m thinking next year). Football is insignificant in the big scheme of things and should remain there.

The big difference in our Country is the obscene amounts of money tied up in TV contracts not just with Sky but around the World It certainly makes you wonder Spot on, this wasn't a decision by the FFA

Yeah Scotty is a great example, given his personality as well, how much is it worth having someone like him around as a morale booster for the lads etc, he's always out on the pitch pre-match as well

You may be interested in this @Bristol Rob taken from https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/i-left-heavy-heart-barry-4082150

If you listen to the glorious relegation phone in, in the space of 2 callers their Wembley crowd went from 40k to 45k.....by the end of the phone in, they'd have made out they had the entire stadium to themselves!! #deludedfools

Of course, Slazenger Joggers, Lonsdale t shirt, ‘No Fear’ beenie. The Slaghead starter uniform.

Surely 'Only fools punch horses'? 'Smack a pony with a right hook Headbutt windows on the van Preach pure delusion every bloody season Cus sister, you're my mam Where we both come from is a mystery Now every bugger supports the City A Billionaire owner who ain't got no bread God, why wasn't I born a City red?' I thank you!

What an absolute hero.Give this man a Knighthood now,even if it has to be done by video link or something. Astounding effort.Well done Captain Moore,an absolute inspiration.

Talk that rather than clawback, Sky / BT could look to add an extra year (protecting them from having to negotiate / tender for another big tv deal for another year) or request additional tv games for free over the rest of the deal

“Ridiculous suggestion” that this season may be postponed or cancelled - and you are the guy with ‘multiple contacts in China’ - yep you’ve really had your finger on the pulse with this one ... obvious from day one that this was a serious situation, yet people who have lots of ‘work contacts’ in China told us it was nothing to worry about ... well, it IS something to worry about and ill informed people who spouted shite from the early days of this crisis should be embarrassed ...

Fair enough. But it seems to me that there is no need to rush back football, yet many seem to want to do that. Other professions mostly provide a useful service; football, at the end of the day, is just a source of entertainment. I'd argue that reopening a hairdressers or getting Mc-bloody-Donalds open, is a higher concern than getting football going again.

£750m in repayments to broadcasters? On paper anyway. I agree that football can pale into insignificance in this context, but it's a problem for clubs and broadcasters alike,

Sport is needed to lift morale though. If in a few months time most other professions are back at work why should sport be any different as long as it’s behind closed doors with plenty of testing carried out? You simply can’t stop the world from turning completely for 18 months or however long it takes to get a vaccine. The high risk category folks need to be shielded but the rest of us will have to start living semi normal lives again.

Unfortunately it will also come down to a numbers game, as you would need and equal divide of clubs. The line has to be drawn somewhere, and I suppose a bit like when we used to play in the FL Trophy and Cambridge were in the south. Someone somewhere will still be the 'wrong' side of the line due to an imbalance of numbers, a bit like Gloucester City who play in the national league north, yet Oxford play in the south, as did Worcester City before they were relegated.

I say this every time this is suggested but, given the road network in this country, wouldn`t an east/west split be better? I suspect the likes of Exeter or Cheltenham can get to Rochdale or Accrington a lot easier than they can to Colchester or Cambridge.

I think the old Div 3 north and south would be a good compromise depending on how many clubs are viable.

Just found this article that kind of answers the points raised by @Robin 101 @Kingswood Robin@Mr Popodopolous Bury AFC, set up by fans after the Shakers were expelled from the EFL, is one of 11 clubs to have applied for a spot in the North West Counties League. Bury FC were removed from the English Football League in August after several months of financial problems. The NWCFL said that clubs must meet certain criteria by 31 March to be considered for a 10th-tier place. It is understood that Bury AFC have found a ground to play at next season which meets these requirements. The NWCFL lists them as one of two new clubs applying to play in the league next season, the other being FC Isle of Man, with the other nine teams coming from lower down the non-league pyramid. "This confirms our belief that we are the only team currently with an application in to play football in Bury next season," Bury AFC said on Twitter. The league confirmed in December that an application had been made by the new club, which is unaffiliated to Bury FC. At the time, prospective investor Robert Benwell said it would cost £600,000 to start a new club in the lower divisions of English football. Last week Bury FC, which still exists as a company, defaulted on a plan to help settle its debts with creditors. The Shakers were due to play in League One this season but their opening fixtures were postponed and their expulsion from the English Football League came after a last-ditch takeover bid collapsed. TAKEN FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51584394

Socking as some of the amounts might seem, the role also has to be taken into consideration. I know I had a bit of a joke with Scotty Murray on Twitter last night re this, but he is more than a kit-man....he’s an ambassador for the club too. No idea what he’s on, but he should be on more than the person who works at a launderette. Digressing slightly, remember Howard from the Halifax adverts. He was initially and employee of Halifax, but he ended up leaving Halifax, because they couldn’t pay him enough within the grade / salary band to justify his added value and media commitments ....so he went freelance. True story.

French football season cancelled - how long is it going to be discussed before they realise the English season has to be cancelled

European leagues have until 25 May to tell Uefa whether they want to complete or cancel their seasons. Football is suspended in all European countries apart from Belarus because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Premier League has this week stepped up its plans to resume the season in what has been labelled 'Project Restart'. Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham have opened their training grounds to players for individual work. The Premier League league is hopeful of a potential 8 June restart and finishing at the end of July to fit in with Uefa's European competition plans. This would require full training to begin by 18 May. Top-flight clubs will meet on Friday to discuss options for the restart. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said he had been in contact with clubs about restarting the Premier League "as soon as possible". Professional Footballers' Association deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes said: "We have been assured of the intentions of all that there would be no resumption unless guarantees of safety could be given to the players. "The overriding principle for all parties is the health and safety of all participants on and off the field, and of course the wider public." The Scottish Premiership is suspended indefinitely and the season could yet be declared over, a move already taken with the second, third and fourth tiers north of the border. The Dutch top flight was abandoned on Friday with no promotion or relegation and no champions, while on Monday Belgian clubs postponed a vote on confirming the cancellation of their top flight until next week. The deadline set by Uefa is referred to in a set of guidelines on 'eligibility principles' for European competitions that the governing body's president and general secretary have sent out to football bodies. "Given the unforeseen and unprecedented situation [...] national associations and leagues are facing a situation whereby the completion of their domestic competitions may be at risk," they write. Stakeholders are told they "should be in a position to communicate to Uefa by 25 May the planned restart of their domestic competitions, including the date of restart and the relevant competition format". It adds: "In the event that a domestic competition is to be prematurely terminated for legitimate reasons […] Uefa would require the national association to explain by 25 May." Uefa is understood to have set the date because of its next executive committee meeting two days later, when decisions on the restarting of the Champions League and Europa League may be reached. It is viewed as flexible guidance, rather than a rigid deadline. Last week, after a video call meeting of all 55 national associations, Uefa made clear it wants on-field performance to determine which clubs make up next season's European club competitions, despite the current shutdown. Uefa urged clubs to "explore all possible options" to finish their seasons. It accepted that in "special cases" some could be cancelled, but asked authorities to use "a different format" if needed in order for teams to qualify for European competitions. If league seasons cannot be finished, it said national associations would need to select clubs to qualify for Europe. Uefa said it could "refuse or evaluate" selected teams if necessary. TAKEN FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52456304

Spot on and the same will apply to many clubs. Have this feeling that the composition of the divisions next year will be a lot different to the way they are now.

They have given a number of players notice that their short term contracts wont be extended - I guess from a clubs point of view having a player on a monthly contract that wont play is just burning money

Ipswich never won the Gloucestershire Cup and so the 15ers are bigger.

I know a lifelong Newcastle Fan that I meet up with a couple of times a year and we always obviously talk some football. Whilst we may have our moans (me: LJ, him: Ashley) we're both overall fine with how the clubs are being run; partly because he's looking at Sunderland and I'm looking at Rovers and we're both thinking how lucky we are compared to them. He wouldn't describe it as being "toxic".

The man who admitted making many of his business decisions whilst drunk, to a commons select committee. Ideal owner for them, another marriage made in heaven.

And what would that be....?

Mike Ashley is looking for an EFL club to buy apparently. If he bought them and then they were relegated perhaps the newspaper headline would be "Ashley Down"........I'll get me coat

but I expect they have all posted that they like Rovers more than City, and actually they are the second team they support

And get change.

If anyone follows the ‘Football Away Days’ page on Facebook then the Rugby Ground is today’s ground up for discussion. The post is only 10 mins old but there are some great comments already: ‘wouldn’t look out of place in Syria’....’ I went there once or twice in the 90's & judging by that picture it's stuck there‘.........’Not a great ground, away end is open or you can sit in a tent’.....’Shit ..away end open...pubs home fan friendly only ...train stations miles away’......... I’m sure the ‘compliments’ will keep on rolling in throughout the rest of the day seeing how loved they are!

Nice little montage from the perspective of Wycombe, you know that little team that Rovers sent down when they survived by beating them the week before.

If you can catch Covid-19 again, then there’s not likely to ever be a vaccine. The WHO have only really said that they have no evidence of immunity, that’s not the same thing as immunity not existing. It’s early days, they are just being careful until they have proper evidence. It’s highly unlikely that immunity isn’t gained after having it though. Covid-19 is a virus and humans will produce antibodies that combat it. There’ll be freak cases where a tiny proportion of people catch it twice, but that’ll be problems with their immune systems, not the virus. The big danger is that this virus acts like flu and mutates quickly. That’ll mean we will be in danger of catching it over and over because it’ll be a “new” disease every year/few years.

Never forget! ....

It's a personal fav of mine. That little whiteboard with BRFC, the famous not exact quarterzzzzz. Timpot.

Football enjoyed it's boom years after the Second WW, lasting most of the 1950s, but then beginning to tail off and slowly decline through the 1960s (coinciding with the abolition of the maximum wage, and a widening of leisure pursuits and opportunities). There was a spike post 1966, what with us being World Cup winners and all that, with crowds going back up again, lasting two seasons, before attendances again continued to decline. Crowds shrank steadily through the 1970s, as fewer goals were scored, players were paid more and wore their hair longer (then having it permed, and blow dried) and behaved more "unsportingly," the game became more "professional" and increasingly less like it had been during the post war boom years, reaching a low point in the 1st Division in 1984. Crumbling grounds and crowd violence contributed to the decline. And unemployment and recession. People were giving the game a miss (just as we were getting our act together on the pitch). Crowds were made up of a greater proportion of young (angry) males. Attendances didn't really recover until the late 90s. We - City - missed a great opportunity to cash in on potential support by messing about in the bloody 3rd division for much of the 50s, and the lower half of the 2nd when we finally got out of the 3rd. The advent of televised football, from the mid 60s, was a great time to have a great team. Leeds United timed this perfectly (and still enjoy the benefits of this today). Liverpool did nicely from it to, as did some smaller but also successful clubs (eg Ipswich, Forest, Derby). By the time we got to the top in 1976 the game was becoming deeply unpopular, loathed by much of the rest of the country. Crowd violence at home and abroad (eg England games) helped to turn thousands of those who might be tempted into armchair viewers, if that. We missed out again by only playing top class clubs on a regular basis as football across the country began to nosedive into its greatest unpopularity. Interestingly, although Fewers like to seize upon our disappearing support through three successive relegations, the 4th division's lowest two seasons for support in its existence were the two seasons following our promotion out of it in 1984. To suffer an unprecedented "trauma" of three successive relegations and play two seasons of 4th division football at the same time as football was at it's least popular and support nationwide was at its nadir was bloody unfortunate / typical for us, and is the context that Fewers always neglect to include, or simply don't understand, when saying how massive their support was in the Banana pub league (when football's popularity, and attendances, across the country, the game and the divisions, was the polar opposite of the game in 1983 and 4). Wolves' support dropped lower than ours, when they were in the 4th in the 80s (a greater decline from bigger crowds than ours during the good times). Cardiff's attendances in the 4th were thinner still, sub 3k average in more than one season). Our support was ok, in the circumstances, more than ok, and only less than theirs, Rovers,' for one of those dismal seasons: the first season down in the 4th, when we were 92nd for a week or two. And they were a division higher than us, chasing promotion/having a good season. So, in conclusion: we're more bigger-er than Norwich; they're more bigger than Northwich.

It seems increasingly likely that many clubs will not be able to survive the current crisis and - sadly for me- Rovers would appear to be one of those at serious risk. What will become of this thread if we do go? You need to start thinking of your exit strategy, would it become the 'Cardiff dustbin thread' or will you wait to see if a 'phoenix' Rovers starts up and start hating them instead? Personally. I'm beginning to see the upside of this scenario. I can continue disliking City and laughing to myself when they fail without having Rovers ******* it all up for me by, well just by being Rovers really,

The point is a second wave means a second lockdown which then hampers playing a whole season again, its easier to keep this season alive where you've only got 10 or so games max for most clubs and then alter next season based on what you know months down the line. The regulations for a new season don't need to be set until this one finishes, you can make it a 19/23 game season if needed etc. If you void/finish the season now etc and it turns out you only have 3 months or so where you can play football in what would be the 19/20 season you may as well have just kept delaying this season and made it a 19/20/21 season. The point I was making was I quoted a post that said this season should be kept alive until it impacts next season where there is no guarantee of a whole next season anyway even if it could start on time in August.

21 mins: 'City fans in the away end and waiting outside for us'..... MUM...!!!!!!

I think there will be various options personally; Get your money back Accept a subscription to Robins TV in lieu (assuming 3pm Saturday games could be shown) - if they include home and away it looks a pretty good deal. For my SS ST it would work out at just under £8 a game. Even if it was just home I`d probably still go for it - once I`ve factored in not having to travel 120 miles each way it`s not bad at all. Transfer your 20/21 ST to 21/22 and buy games from 20/21 as you want via Robins TV at the normal rate. This is all assuming, however, there will be no football with crowds until the 21/22 season. If say, crowds are allowed for the second half of 20/21 it needs rethinking.