CliftonCliff

1 hour ago, phantom said:

No offence, but are you aware of how life has been slowly getting back to normal?

Your statement above is very sensationalistic and medically proven that people can be around each other with the right measure in place

 

With respect, that response is patronising and dismissive. I'm sure Wendy is quite well aware, as we all are, but she makes a perfectly valid point and I would not call it sensationalist at all. Moreover, very little about Covid19 is "medically proven", as you put it. There is the scientific advice, which varies from expert to expert and is revised and refined as more research is done and more data becomes available. Much of it is good advice, but ultimately it is scientific opinion, not scientific fact. Safety in this context is a relative concept. Nowhere and nothing is completely safe at this stage in the pandemic - as localised surges in infections and the reintroduction of measures that had earlier been relaxed clearly demonstrates. And that's before you even get to the vexed subject of compliance. Some sections of the great British public have not exactly covered themselves in glory, as Bournemouth residents could readily confirm. I will take some convincing that it's possible to re-open stadiums with a degree of safety that would be acceptable to most people. And in the face of what looks disturbingly like complacency, Wendy is quite right, in my view, to remind us that this horrible and really very dangerous disease is potentially lethal, as the best part of 50,000 UK citizens have sadly discovered to their cost.  

It’s been stated in media coverage on numerous occasions that Ibbotson was not qualified to fly at night or to carry paying passengers. We now know in addition that the aircraft had a potentially lethal fault. So, neither plane nor pilot were fit for purpose.

Yes, it is unbearably sad and made arguably more so now by this confirmation of what has long been suspected, that the flight should never have left the ground. As well as sadness there should also be anger at the illegality and level of irresponsibility involved. Whether anyone is held to account remains to be seen. I imagine tracing the lines of legal responsibility could be a very complex process.

22 minutes ago, phantom said:

The thing I wondered is if this is the "norm" that pilots hand off work other people?

Guess if nothing had gone fatefully wrong this may have never come to light?

Since the tragedy, I have seen comments from people with inside knowledge of the aviation world claiming that this sort of thing is not that uncommon, which is disturbing if true, though perhaps not entirely surprising. It’s not that hard to legislate against but, like many things, it may be a whole lot harder to monitor and enforce.

One wonders where the father and son football agents will stand in all this when the dust settles. Lots of newspaper reports at the time suggested a clear line of responsibility leading to them. I’m no lawyer, but even if, in moral terms, their fingerprints appear to be all over it, it seems doubtful that any criminality would stretch as far as them.

I’m pretty sure we have some legal people on the forum. I wonder what their take would be on this?

3 hours ago, Never to the dark side said:

Do the freight trains from Portbury docks,not already use the "up relief"(the slow line)?

Quite possibly, but it’s likely that safety and other regulations are much more stringent for passenger traffic than for freight, so an upgrade in that area might still be required.

7 hours ago, RedDave said:

Interesting article. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6718009/The-time-Cardiff-care-money-Emiliano-Sala-died.html

Strong stuff. Would seem this story has a long way to run yet.

I think one has to draw a clear distinction between sentiment on the one hand and the hard reality of the business legalities on the other. They are quite separate things and it doesn’t seem appropriate to me to criticise Nantes on moral grounds for simply requesting payment of fees due to them. As someone has said, media reports using the term “demand “ in this context will tend to have a distorting effect on how this issue is perceived, which isn’t helpful.

This has been a terrible tragedy and just like everyone else on OTIB I feel very sad about it, but if, as seems overwhelmingly likely, Sala was legally Cardiff’s asset at the time of his death (again, please forgive the terminology) then they must pay any money owing. People at Nantes have been just as devastated on a human level as everyone has and I’d be very surprised if their handling of the business details was not conducted in a sensitive way, as opposed to the aggressive stance implied by press reports.

24 minutes ago, Owl Visiting said:

Lad who I went to school with did the same, he was captaining these massive things in the RAF at 26 and now flies Boeing 787 Dreamliners for BA. Must earn a fortune.

We always knew he'd go on to do well, really clever, popular, captain of the school football team etc etc.

Talented sod.

Makes you sick doesn't it? I bet the sod was good lucking and got all the girls, too. The bloke I know is a bit like that. Small guy, quietly spoken, modest, unassuming and very level-headed, but he's done all this really impressive stuff. I suppose when you've accomplished all that you don't need to big yourself up - your achievements speak for themselves. You would trust him though: if you do have to jet halfway round the world at 30,000 feet and eye-watering speed in a glorified tin can, he's just the sort of bloke you'd want flying it. Not fair to draw unfavourable comparisons with the guy piloting the lost plane without knowing the full facts, of course, but you do wonder... 

1 hour ago, chowie said:

An eerie video on BBC about the dangers of flying small Aircraft, the Aircraft he talks through is the actual one they are looking for N264DB

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-34492176/my-life-as-a-ferry-pilot

Thanks for posting that. Disturbingly relevant, as you say. The particularly unnerving thing about it was his reference to the ten or a dozen experienced small aircraft pilots known to him personally who have died as a result of baffling and inexplicable errors. Statistically rare, I know, but still doesn't fill you with confidence.

I know next to nothing about commercial flying and am happy to be corrected by anybody who is better informed, but common sense tells you that in this situation you are in the hands of a single individual, not a Captain and First Officer/Flight Engineer or whatever, so if he makes an error, falls ill (been known), or something similar, there is no back up, no one to take over, spot the problem early or rectify it, and much more limited equipment, compared with the highly computerised systems on modern passenger planes, to assist when technical problems occur or a mistake is made.  

As it happens, I have a near neighbour who happens to be a BA captain on long-haul routes and by a coincidence my wife and I are seeing him and his misses later for a drink. Like a lot of them, he is ex-RAF (fast jets), so there isn't much he hasn't experienced when it comes to flying. I'll be very interested to get his take on what's happened here.

5 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

Speculation online that the pilot was vastly experienced with 100+ single engine channel crossings. 

What I can’t fathom is why not fly commercial. At night in the middle of winter, it just seems such an unnecessary risk. You can fly through AMS and be in Cardiff in 4 hours. 

I haven’t read everything that’s been written on this aspect of the story, so apologies if this has already been covered, but I’m not clear whether this was a flight being provided by a properly registered and regulated commercial operator, albeit on a private charter basis, or just an arrangement with some bloke with a private pilot’s licence and a single engined plane. If it’s the latter then I agree it does seem a strange thing to do. Experienced pilot or not, I’m pretty sure air accident statistics would show you are safer flying with a commercial operator. I have been on short flights in light aircraft on numerous occasions just for fun, and enjoyed it, but I’m buggered if I’d undertake something like this. You just feel so sorry for the poor sod: like others I have been surprised at my own reactions and just how upsetting I’ve found it. Very, very sad.

2 hours ago, Moments of Pleasure said:

They managed three seasons of second tier football in the 90s, finishing higher than us in one of them. Around Easter '93 we beat them at AG and this helped relegate them shortly after.

They have not been back to the second tier since. Rovers have only had three spells in the second tier (90/91 to 92/93; 74/5 to 80/81; 53/54 to 61/62) spending fewer seasons at this level each time.

If/when they next reach this level, they'll do damn well to last more than one season in the Championship.

So in summary, they’ve had, as you say, three shots at tier two, in the fifties, seventies and nineties, staying for nine, seven and three years, respectively, and haven’t been higher than tier three for a quarter of a century (but have paid visits to tiers four and five in that time. Blimey, that’s even worse than I’d thought.

There’s been a running debate nearly all season as to which three you pick when all of Pisano, Wright, Flint and Baker are available. Bailey is making the decision easier for LJ with every game he plays at the moment. Having been as solid as a rock for so long, he has looked uncharacteristically shaky in recent weeks - and lucky to be still on the field today, by the sound of it.

Just now, 1891 B.C. Sweden said:

Fielding, Wright, Flint, Baker, Bryan, Brownhill, Pack, Smith, Walsh, Paterson, Reid.

Subs: Steele, Magnússon, Vyner, Eliasson, Kent, Woodrow, Taylor.

That’s probably our strongest available eleven, provided none of them are too fatigued. Bench looks a fraction more reassuring as well. Still think we’ll shade this one - just.

9 minutes ago, havanatopia said:

Sorry to hear that; you drunk the Clevedon water in Brizzle? What is going on with those pipes.

Up the football league we go.  

Get well sooner.

Thanks Havana. Seasonal lurgy in my case. Lot of it about, as they say. At least I’ll be fit for the Man C rematch. Hope you enjoy yourself while you’re in town and the boys give you something to cheer about today. Give ‘em a shout for me.

Less fortunate than Havana in that I have not recovered from illness in time to attend. Intensely frustrating, but will have to rely on you guys and the customary lifeless commentary from RB. Have a feeling it could be a scrappy affair today, but that we might scrape a tense 1-0 win from a poor match. Hope I’m wrong about the quality and right about the result. Enjoy, all you lucky enough to be in attendance.

15 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

omg

Brilliant set up Callum 

Not doing too badly for a bloke with no end product is he?

9 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

Yep, 2-1 win in November '75.

I remember being high up in the open end right at the back and there being constant hassle with the police with literally scores of City fans - about 85 iirc. - being ejected throughout the match.

Masses of complaints in the EP on the Monday about the heavy handed police and the thought at the time was they were waiting for City determined to teach the fans a lesson after trouble at a pre season Anglo- Scottish match at the same ground a few months earlier.

Thanks for that Noggers. Your memory seems to have remained more intact than mine with the passing years. Don't recall any of the controversy, but I suppose as I was living in Brixton at the time the aftermath would have passed me by. I can remember that I was alongside the pitch rather than behind the goal, and consequently not in the midst of the majority of City fans. Let's hope there is nothing like that to spoil the occasion tonight.

Only been to one game at the Cottage, but it was a good one to remember. Late seventies, living in London at the time, City's promotion season when Alan Dicks's side went up to the old First Division. Can't recall the score, but I distinctly remember Tom Richie scoring and I believe we went on to win convincingly. A repeat tonight would do nicely, 

2 minutes ago, havanatopia said:

So is Pisano injured then?

Yes. Knee -  in training.

7 minutes ago, Andy082005 said:

We are going to get slaughtered down the right hand side if it's O'dowda and Vyner...

Don't see why, necessarily. That's pretty negative before a ball's even been kicked.

The injury to Pisano is unfortunate, but what little I've seen of Vyner doesn't suggest he's about to let anyone down. Flint needs no motivating anyway, but imagine he'll be even more fired up than usual. I'm OK with that back line in the circumstances.

All three orthodox wingers are in the squad - COD, Leko & Eliasson - so plenty of pace if we're forced to chase the game late on, as seems likely. It could be worse.

3 hours ago, Cheesleysmate said:

That's correct. Lee needs to learn how to counteract. He will learn. Personally, I only care about City being the best that they can be whether that is with a 30 something year old or a 70 year old manager. I guarantee if we went down and Birmingham finished mid to top half of the table then we'd be wishing we had Harry or Warnock in charge.

Fair enough and point taken, but I suppose what I'm trying to say is you can be young or experienced, but you can't be both. Or to put it another way., how tactically astute were Harry and Colin at 36 (or whatever age LJ currently is)? Were they even in management at that age, for that matter? (You could add to that another question, too - what would they cost you at today's salaries?)

If you want stability, continuity and long-term development, you can hardly appoint an old man of seventy. Even Ferguson couldn't maintain it much beyond that age. And if you invest in youth, you must be prepared for uneven progress. You can't have it all ways (though that won't stop OTIB members demanding precisely that).

29 minutes ago, Cheesleysmate said:

 

More couldn't work out how to counteract Harry's change in formation and threw on the wingers in a desperate attempt to get back into the game. Taking off Brownhill was a mistake. He will learn in time how to deal with it, but for now when he comes up against a Harry or a Warnock they know how to tactically pick apart our threat.

People would do well to remember that the two managers you mention are as near as dammit to double LJ's age and have been in the game all their working lives. Older hands than Lee have been outmanoeuvred by Harry and Colin and there is a reason the former was once a strong candidate for the England job. It's frustrating to lose a game we should have taken something from, but    both players and coach are still learning. One can envy the canny ways of a Redknapp or a Warnock, but I'm not sure I'd want a 70 year-old in charge at AG.

4 minutes ago, CotswoldRed said:

I know of someone called Chris Peacock. 

Can thank his parents for his nickname - Crispy. 

Could be worse. There's a fair few Mike Hunts about. Ask Mike Hunt-Hertz on here.

46 minutes ago, Clevedon Red said:

No Matthews again. Time to send him back and replace in Jan??

According to the local rag he has recovered from illness, so unless that information is incorrect you wonder if LJ has finally had it with him, international call-up or no international call-up. He certainly made no bones about what he though of him being out of shape at the start of the season. It's very disappointing, as there's clearly a good player in there (LJ has also made that clear), but if he can't be depended upon to get himself fit and stay fit, he might as well not be here. I don't want to condemn him until the full facts are known, but we are over half way through November, about a third of the way through the season, and his contribution so far has been negligible. As I understand it, he is on loan for the duration, no recall, which may or may not mean we can't send him back, but you begin to understand why he wound up training with the U-21s at Sunderland. If this does really all come down to a lack of professionalism (and I stress the "if") then he's a waste of space and the sooner we off-load him in favour of someone who actually want to be a pro footballer, with all that entails, the better. 

2 minutes ago, chinapig said:

My preference is for 2 holding players but goalscoring midfielders are priceless so I'm not dissing Bobby at all. I'm glad LJ is less cautious than me!

Same here.  Prefer two sitting, but I also like Bobby and am so pleased by his progress under LJ. It's a dilemma, but the man in charge appears to know what he's doing. Just as well it's not you or me picking the team!