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Dean Holden and his Three Lions visit


Phileas Fogg

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Haven’t seen it mentioned on here, but lots of pics doing the rounds of Dean Holden plus his brother and dad visiting the Three Lions Pub yesterday - as promised on the Sound of the City interview.

Apparently he was there for several hours chatting to everyone and playing pool. 

A small thing but another gesture that’ll buy him lots of goodwill from City fans. 

Was anyone on here there?

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11 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

Love to see it, but possibly not the best thing to do in current climate?

technically nothing wrong provided all measures adhered to, but it does seem a tad unnecessary given the climate. Just hope he's not pessimistically thinking he might not be here when COVID's gone!

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25 minutes ago, devoncider said:

technically nothing wrong provided all measures adhered to, but it does seem a tad unnecessary given the climate. Just hope he's not pessimistically thinking he might not be here when COVID's gone!

He’s also tested twice a week 

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4 minutes ago, Prinny said:

In times like this socialising is really important. Or you go crazy and start measuring grass.

I often wondered what the value of doing that was.  When I played it wasn’t difficult to look at the grass length with your eyes and work out whether the ball would zip around or hold up.  Some pitches were longer in the corners so you knew that you could hit balls into that area and it not run out.

Genuinely, how did he use that detail in his preparations?  What was the different between a 10mm grass length and a 12mm grass length.

All a bit of bollox imho.

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22 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I often wondered what the value of doing that was.  When I played it wasn’t difficult to look at the grass length with your eyes and work out whether the ball would zip around or hold up.  Some pitches were longer in the corners so you knew that you could hit balls into that area and it not run out.

Genuinely, how did he use that detail in his preparations?  What was the different between a 10mm grass length and a 12mm grass length.

All a bit of bollox imho.

If I remember rightly it was just one point from an article about marginal gains. That alone won’t make much difference, but attention to detail like that can have an impact.

The GB cycling team prior to 2012 did something similar - some minutiae detail about the spokes on the bikes. They made an adjustment and were able to shave a fraction of a second off their times. Do that a few times and it starts to add up.

I also saw something about Bielsa asking for videos of an opposition team’s 3rd choice keeper (equivalent of Wollacott) so that no stone was left unturned.

I doubt the grass thing in isolation made much difference - but when you consider weather, temp etc it starts to add up.

I think LJ was a bit fascinated by the marginal gains aspect of sports - in itself a very important aspect, but it didn’t help with his PR amongst supporters who will see it as just superfluous waffle.

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5 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I often wondered what the value of doing that was.  When I played it wasn’t difficult to look at the grass length with your eyes and work out whether the ball would zip around or hold up.  Some pitches were longer in the corners so you knew that you could hit balls into that area and it not run out.

Genuinely, how did he use that detail in his preparations?  What was the different between a 10mm grass length and a 12mm grass length.

All a bit of bollox imho.

I'm surprised that you of all people are advocating using your eyes and brain and not a heat map of grass lengths and a statistical model approach to ball bounceability against shoot length!

But honestly, maybe he did that because he's socially awkward and uncomfortable waiting around others when there's not honestly that much to do. I've definitely gone and done something "useful" at work instead of hanging around in a socially uncomfortable environment. The whole garden shed industry is based off of that. I imagine they leave some leeway (measured of course) when they travel and turn up early so there's time to fill.

And/or I think he's also of the "marginal gains" mentality that served British cycling so well. But building personal relationships and not making people look at you like you're crazy as a person in authority is also "marginal gains" IMO.

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1 hour ago, Phileas Fogg said:

If I remember rightly it was just one point from an article about marginal gains. That alone won’t make much difference, but attention to detail like that can have an impact.

The GB cycling team prior to 2012 did something similar - some minutiae detail about the spokes on the bikes. They made an adjustment and were able to shave a fraction of a second off their times. Do that a few times and it starts to add up.

I also saw something about Bielsa asking for videos of an opposition team’s 3rd choice keeper (equivalent of Wollacott) so that no stone was left unturned.

I doubt the grass thing in isolation made much difference - but when you consider weather, temp etc it starts to add up.

I think LJ was a bit fascinated by the marginal gains aspect of sports - in itself a very important aspect, but it didn’t help with his PR amongst supporters who will see it as just superfluous waffle.

Absolutely this. He was the same when he was a player. He is obsessed ( for want of a better phrase ) with being the best he can be & improving. Some people will use it as a stick to beat him with, others will see it for what it is. Personally the ‘ having a drink with supporters’ doesn’t do it for me, but I see it for what it is & understand it. Dean is certainly ticking a lot of boxes with what he is saying & doing. I certainly think he has listened/read a lot of the fans views & all the best to him, cause if he’s doing well, I’m happy! COYR 

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3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I often wondered what the value of doing that was.  When I played it wasn’t difficult to look at the grass length with your eyes and work out whether the ball would zip around or hold up.  Some pitches were longer in the corners so you knew that you could hit balls into that area and it not run out.

Genuinely, how did he use that detail in his preparations?  What was the different between a 10mm grass length and a 12mm grass length.

All a bit of bollox imho.

And how quickly does grass grow?  Could it have been necessary to remeasure at some point in the game?

Would different types of grass have properties that varied with length, I would also think that the number blades per m2 would affect the running of the ball, do we know if that was counted?
 

 

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3 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

Don't think he was left with much choice, given how he was hardly a name most people wanted.

 

The cynic in me does lean toward it being a specifically targeted PR campaign due the overwhelmingly underwhelming nature of the appointment. But I also don’t doubt that Holden appears to be very genuine in his efforts, and hats off to him for that. 

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11 minutes ago, Harry said:

The cynic in me does lean toward it being a specifically targeted PR campaign due the overwhelmingly underwhelming nature of the appointment. But I also don’t doubt that Holden appears to be very genuine in his efforts, and hats off to him for that. 

It's probably six of one, half a dozen of the other.

 

Don't imagine he would have gone if we had lost the first 3, put it that way.

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28 minutes ago, Harry said:

The cynic in me does lean toward it being a specifically targeted PR campaign due the overwhelmingly underwhelming nature of the appointment. But I also don’t doubt that Holden appears to be very genuine in his efforts, and hats off to him for that. 

Nothing wrong with the pr campaign if the man behind it is a genuine bloke. Holden is a decent guy and on top of that he's a breath of fresh air following four and a half years of utter bullshit being spouted in every media interview.... And he's winning too which helps.

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