In the Net

That's a hell of a thing for a teenager to do - very brave, although it shouldn't matter a jot in this day and age, I'm sure we all know that he will get some adverse comments. Best of luck Jake.

That was an interesting watch - thanks for posting. Shows that beneath our colours, we all need a bit of help sometimes to get through life. Keep up the good work.

Ah, bugger - that'll teach me for not doing my own research! Thanks for letting me know, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for something more reliable!

Thank you for citing that our two clubs do have something in common! ? I'm typing this from the naughty step!

I didn't re-type it myself, copied it from somebody else, and they named the site they got it from. You're quite right, I should have cited the source for authenticity.

Oh well, it wasn't me! ? You'll always get some folk who live in cloud cuckoo land, and believe everthing they read, or what their mate tells them down the pub.

They're from one of the big websites, Transfer Market or something like that. You are somewhat grasping at straws to suggest that I may have made them up. You respond to quite a lot of my posts, so, obviously read what I write. I would have hoped you may have realised that I am a person of integrity, who always tries to take a balanced view of situations.

Close call, but I'd say the more recent mob have just shaded it in the wasters category. Barton also sussed out the CEO and Director of Football pretty quickly too, and standards are actually improving on that side of the club too - at long last.

I didn't point anything out in my post - I just provided information on a topic which is frequently discussed on here. I am under no illusions about the differences in the attendance between the two clubs - same as I can remember that your attendances were low when you were in the basement division. Those are the realities of football, and always will be, unless you're a Liverpool or Man Utd etc. Have to say, you seem rather salty this week, strange as we are of no significance to you.

For me, the "Massive Achievement" is how Barton has managed to transform the club and squad, from what it was when he got here. Yes, we are only back to where we were a couple of seasons ago, but he has changed the ethos and culture at the club, he's brought in some excellent backroom staff, changed a lot of the medical staff. Everything is so much more professional, and the players appreciate that, and have responded to it. The training methods are obviously working, once the effects of Covid had gone (some players were affected for quite a long period), you could see that the players energy levels were there for the whole 90 minutes - not something we've had before, and it was noticeable than most other teams were flagging in that last 10/15 minutes, which often gave us scoring opportunities. He's obviously got good contacts within the game for loans, so hopefully we'll get a couple of decent youngsters in to add to the squad. His man management appears to be good, which I know will surprise some people because of his reputation. I wouldn't expect people on here to listen to his interviews, but he did say in August/September that we probably wouldn't see the best of this squad until around Christmas, as it takes time for a whole re-build to gel, and get to know each other's games. He also said that he would get us promoted, and he instilled that belief in the players too. Apologies if this is a longer answer than you wanted!

Ooops, BBC Wales need a new researcher too! Collins spent his youth career with Rovers, before moving to Newport.

Yes, according to Sky - they need to employ better researchers. I certainly was not "throwing a stone". Some people on here like to discuss the attendances, so I posted the info - without any comment added. I see that somebody has now posted the home attendances, which, likewise has started a discussion. Apologies if you found my post offensive in some way.

Yeah - a sour one no doubt.

I didn't make any comment about it - just put it on here as some of you seem to like discussing attendances.

Some of you on here seem to love attendance stats, so here you go:- Averages of Away Support in League Two 1. GAS - 1,040 2. Bradford - 921 3. Tranmere - 853 4. Swindon - 845 5. Mansfield - 845 6. Port Vale - 832 7. Oldham - 785 8. Northampton - 611 9. Exeter - 605 10. Walsall - 531 11. Carlisle - 514 12. Hartlepool - 504 13. Leyton Orient - 492 14. Newport - 490 15. Rochdale - 480 16. Barrow - 291 17. Colchester - 290 18. Sutton - 242 19. Forest Green - 227 20. Scunthorpe - 226 21. Salford - 173 22. Harrogate - 168 23. Crawley - 159 24. Stevenage - 155 I think Rovers were 3rd in the home attendance stats, Swindon were 2nd @Shaun Taylor

My Dad used to play for a team called Bath Rovers in the 1940's, they also wore quarters, I'm sure that other teams did too, as it was a popular style of shirt back then.

The majority of the squad JB inherited were the biggest bunch of wasters to wear the quarters. He was able to get the majority of them shipped out, kept the few decent ones, and built his own squad. He'll obviously have to get some replacements in for next season, whether he is successful remains to be seen, however, I don't think that the previous relegation will have any bearing on what happens.

Their colours are sh*t though! ?

Indeed, JB will have to re-do it again in a higher division, I just think it won't quite be to the extent indicated in your post. I would have expected Coutts to have been offered another contract, if the appearance clause hadn't triggered the option - which he didn't have to take up. I can't imagine that the players who followed JB from Fleetwood would have done so for one season, only to clear off after helping the club to gain promotion. Who is this Finlayson that you speak of? ? Evans only had a one year contract as he was returning from playing in Germany, and had a history of injuries - he's proved to be a very good signing, if a Championship club came in for him, I wouldn't blame him for going. It's quite normal for players to leave contract negotiations until there's a clear picture of where the club will be playing the following season, and, also to compare with other offers they may receive. Not sure what level any approach to Nicholson would come from, he;s got a young family and may want to return to Scotland. We've got a good nucleaus of players who are still under contract, which JB can build around. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with this time.

We've had a few run-ins with Wycombe - the brain fog kicked in! ?

When asked where he sees the club in five year's time, Johnson said: "I'm going to stick my neck on the line a little bit and say Europa League." Agreed it wasn't the fan base, and I do remember some being embarrassed by his comment. We've all been there.

You have to take what comes along in life, and make the best of it!

Yes, there were certainly rumblings of action being taken. Their safety officer called the game off because of a thunder storm, by the time fans were walking back to their cars, the sun was shining. Rovers were 0-3 up at the time - I'm not sure that City would have accepted it meekly either, as there was no history of any previous danger at the ground during thunder storms. There is so much at stake financially in football these days, that people tend to use what they can to the advantage of their team - do I like that - not really, but the world has changed. I've already said that I don't blame Northampton, that's the way things are these days, I'm sure that a lot of clubs would do the same, including ourselves.

Likewise with your squad, apart from the French lad and Scotty Murray the kit man. Why would it be any different for either of us? At my age, it hard enough keeping up with who our own players are!

Scunthorpe do not owe anything to another team - football is a professional business, you look after number one. Their manager did what many other managers have done in the past, took the opportunity to have a look at how some of the younger players performed in the first team environment, once their fate was decided. There was only one change in the back 4 from the previous game, which they drew 1-1, Lobley, who was substituted after about 25 minutes. The 17 year old goalkeeper had also played in the previous match - conceding 1 goal. Let's replay all the Cup games where the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd fielded virtually their 2nd string of players, this was so unfair on the clubs which had to face full strength Premiership sides in the competition. Once again - clubs look after number one - themselves. Average age of the Rovers team =21 Average age of the Scunthorpe team = 20.6 Take 38 year old Glen Whelan out of the equation, and there probably would have been no difference at all. Mansfield and Sutton recently put 4 past Scunthorpe, and Salford put 5 past them - these teams were all involved in the fight for play-off position - we'd better investigate how they managed an above average number of goals. Promotion isn't based on one game, apart from the play-off final. It's decided on how teams perform from August to May. This season a lot of teams had weakened squads to chose from as some point, due to Covid, I'm sure other teams near the top of the table will have played some of these - that's the roll of the dice.