Steve Watts

I've no idea what you're talking about. You told me just before Christmas that Scott would never make a footballer as long as he had a hole in his arse.... and followed that by getting all excited to learn that Neil Kilkenny is still playing and may be tempted away from Western Union to return home......! ? I was having a convo with a Reading fan tonight. They're absolutely spitting fire at the manager for saying that "Apart from the four goals, we played well" after their hammering by QPR today. I told him that I can understand what the managers saying....unless they really were shit. We shipped 6 at Fulham and we were all praising the overall performance. A mad 20 minutes of defensive capitulation in the first half, (which could've been different if the pen had been given for the foul on Dasilva at 3-2 instead of them going straight up the other end to make it 4-2) was bookended by a really good, if wasteful, performances where we really took the game to the best team in the league. Whether it's a measure of how bad we've been for the last few years, that we're getting all giddy about playing exciting football for once, or whether we're genuinely just recognising the potential for this to be the start of something very special remains to be seen. But I can't see many fans around the country being so happy with what they're seeing after the last two results. It really does feel like it's all beginning to come together. It's just the small matter of getting to the root of the defensive problem. Sort that out and a play-off push is no longer the stuff of fairy tales, but a genuine possibility.

Wait? We lost?

I agree. I'd like to see if he could iron out the errors if he was given the opportunity that Vyner's been given. At the end of the day, he hasn't had a run in the team. He's shown flashes of potential, but admittedly been error prone. But for me, he's a better defender and footballer than Zak and I think his errors could be coached out of him. Like you say though, Nige obviously doesn't agree, so it's all immaterial.

These two statements contradict each other massively then considering his appointment to Director happened on Nige's watch! The truth is that none of us know what is on his job description. Since he returned he's helped a hell of a lot of players progress from his careful loan placements. The truth is also that due to our financial situation we're can't simply pay she loss of money to someone with 20 years experience running an academy.

Curious as to why you think that? I'd say that the many of the young players have benefitted from the moves he got them as Loans Manager. Now as Academy Director, he surely has even more responsibility to bring to the table, doesn't he?

Not sure if it will be "Stop paying transfer fees" as opposed to "Sell academy products and reinvest wisely" as a means to refresh the squad. The key word there of course is "wisely". We have sold to spend before, but had run out of saleable assets until this season. Unfortunately he who shall not be named just spunked the cash for fun to feed his ego trip. With Gould at the helm I would hope that we will be far more sensible. It's a shame that we didn't approach Biff before he left Man City for West Ham. The emotional pull might just have been enough to tempt him here. Now that would have been an ambitious signing.

Parking won't make much of a difference in that situation right now as 2/3 of the ground is uncovered anyway. Obviously covered terraces change that somewhat, but at the moment the club aren't there. Would be great for them to see some sort of success, for sure. The cup run showed the potential.

There's a reason I changed my wording from "us" to "the fan base" before I pressed "Submit Reply"!!!

The park and ride will only be a 10 minute walk from the stadium, however, which would help. And most residents will live within 3 miles, so the younger/fitter among the fan base are in walking distance. Would be even funnier if it were to happen in a Southern Premier League South match!

Nige did throw him under the bus a little after the Huddersfield match though. Can't remember the exact quote, but he was speaking about Ayman and said something along the lines of "he had to cover when the left sided defender wasn't doing his job". It seemed a very pointed comment at the time. Must've been a press interview as it wasn't on the official site. He did mention in that interview that the range in individual performances week on week was too wide.

Fluffy Slippers was another nickname I seem to recall! He always had the technical ability, but always seemed like he could do with bulking out massively every pre-season.

How have Matty's Bryant and Hewlett not had a mention yet?!?

Would still be more mobile than Chris Brunt ever was for us!

Hang on, last month you were moaning about people having freedom of choice stripped away with entry to the ground and now you're trying to say what people should or shouldn't be allowed to wear? If it's a neutral team, then why should it cause any problems? Bizzarre.... It's almost as if we don't see United, Chelsea, Arsenal etc shirts in the ground every home game.

Never a handball. It struck his elbow, from behind, and it was in a perfectly natural position. I'd have gone mad if that had been given against us. Weimann completely stopping to appeal rather than hacking it clear was frankly astounding.

Yep. Woeful throughout but got those two right, and the "handball" in the build up to the winner right as well. Never a handball and you'd expect someone of Weimann's experience to play to the whistle rather than stop, appeal and let them waltz past him. The only difference between their pen and ours is that if he'd given us the pen he'd have had to have sent the bloke off. He utterly bottled it. Some shocking indiscipline from some very senior pros on our side tonight though.

Wish I'd known about this last season.... I'd have used that instead of Robins TV and hoped for buffering from kick off until full time! ?

I can't be the only one who clicked this topic with a feeling of dread about the contents! Can we please add a little more context to the headings than just a name when they're of a certain vintage?!? My heart cannae take it! ?

Give it up, James. If you argue with an idiot they'll eventually just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

This is spot on and a much better example than the one I was going to use. That was going to be AIDS. The most famous AIDS victim is undoubtedly Freddie Mercury. Ask 100 people what he died from and a very high percentage would say AIDS. And they'd be wrong as it was in fact pneumonia. The virus had just robbed his body of the ability to fight it. Just like with cancer as in your example. And covid as well. It makes me laugh with the hit by a bus argument, because it's still possible that covid had a hand in the death as the mythical person hit by a bus may not have been strong enough to fight the injuries compared to someone who hadn't had the virus. The fact that it hinders the body's defence system when fighting any illness or injury is extremely valid, but is just conveniently ignored because Doctor Vicky Pollard of Facebook University said it is irrelevant! The only real thing we need to accept is that certain people you can talk to until you're blue in the face. They don't want to be convinced and will not be convinced under any circumstances.

Was he a Johnson signing though? There were plenty of people on here calling for the club to sign him. Seemed to me like it was an Ashton signing designed to get showered with adulation and stroke the ego. You thought Ashton knew what he was doing?!? ? Is it just me that sees this as a "they all look the same to me" style of comment?!? I think he'll end up flitting between the championship and league one. I think he'd boss many league one teams in the way JET did. That would see him secure a move to the championship where he'll again flatter to deceive and find himself back in league one where he'd boss many...... Etc etc ad infinitum.

I was simply responding to a point in a post....

Absolutely not what I said. I said the New World Order/Great Reset conspiracy theorists are Batshit crazy. And that is a view I will stand by. That's not a different opinion, it's grounded in utter falsehoods and proven to be so. But you feel free to twist words however you like, I won't lose sleep over it.

I wholeheartedly disagree with people saying he should be banned from the stadium for life. That doesn't go far enough as a punishment. He should slapped with a season ticket and be forced to watch City like the rest of us! That'll learn him, innit?!?