Red-Robbo

Haha! If you can pull that deal off, see if you can move on to swap Danny Simpson for Thiago Silva.

RIP fellow Red

Very good call on Goodman. They are a small chain I'd love to see open a West Country outlet.

If Carling did errors of judgement....

Cameroon is also in the grip of two violent insurgencies: one of English-speaking Cameroonians in the far-west and one a spillover from the Jihadist groups to the country's north. Security is very heavy and quite oppressive around the stadiums. That will put a bit of a downer on attending for many fans.

Ha! Listened to a bit of the first half on Radio Bristol and then, when it was 2-2, took the dog for a long walk somewhere where there is no phone signal. Thought to myself, 'the way Fulham are pressing it could be 5-2 at h/t'. If there'd been a betting shop on top of the Mendips, I could've made a few bob. Was too scared to read the f/t score when I returned until about 8pm. You know, as we sometimes say if the U23s get a pasting, matches like this can teach the players and manager more than if we'd lost 3-2 but Fulham had still dominated. A brutal lesson, yes, but still part of the learning curve: especially for young players. And ultimately, in the fullness of things, I'd rather lose 6-2 than 4-0. Semenyo's goals and some of our forward breaks can give us hope against easier sides. Getting a brace yesterday and in such a fashion might open up the scoring floodgates for AS in the way I was hoping for in a recent post. Of all the steps up in ability we've seen this season, his has been the one that's most surprised and delighted me.

I'd say he was pretty successful here, but just didn't have what it takes to sustain success throughout the season and get us over the line. The advantages he had to help that success is a topic that's been done to death on here.

Not bollocks as in incomprehensible jargon (which is the usual charge), but I guess in the sense that what he said was not reflected in how we played.

Pearson's one of those managers who doesn't enjoy the media part of his job, whereas LJ did. Some people are naturally guarded and are under the impression that you, as a reporter, are just trying to trip them up all the time. I think that is how Nigel reacts., and in his defence he's been in the game long enough that he probably does have some grievances. FWIW I never bought into this idea that Lee J waffled and talked bollocks in his interviews. He was perfectly lucid in my view. The problems arose because what he said often did not reflect what we saw on the field.

The pain never goes for some people.

Some cracking names in the Zimbabwe v Malawi match. Teenage Hadebe started, with Godknows Muriwa and Admiral Muskwe on the bench.

Wave it in the air 1970s stylee.

Can never understand neck scarves. Wore one once and it was the most annoying, uncomfortable garment ever.

First time I read that report. Notice how he borrowed the surnames of Kevin Nugent; Ryan McGivern and Ryan Taylor for his fictitious betting experts.

Aye, but a Cockney geezer. Ever heard him talk!

Akinbiyi was born and grew up in London, so substitute Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rico) for him.

I think your memory may be at fault there. He was playing in Sweden before we bought him, but had been a professional in Spain as well. You are correct that he had been in firefighter when he started off in Finland. My recollection was he was a decent ball-player but, as you say, too lightweight for the English First Division and we released him from his contract by mutual consent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertti_Jantunen

We signed him from Malaga. I don't know if he'd started off as an amateur in Finland, but he was definitely a full professional there. Played for a couple of Swedish first division clubs after us.

This is true, but it's an expensive habit. Were I him, I'd have just said: "Managers are not allowed to publicly criticise referees directly, but I will be asking the FA to review Mr Davies and his assistants' performance and submitting my own thoughts on the matter". The unspoken inference would tell you just what he thought of those clowns.

Must've been working that weekend as that is definitely a fixture I would have travelled to in 1984. I DID go to the Torquay game spoken of on this thread and can attest that it was quite, er, lively in the vicinity of Plainmoor. The most insane game I went to wasn't a City fixture but Spurs v West Ham in 1983. I'll be honest, I ran most of the way back to Tottenham Hale Station (White Hart Lane tube was a right-off!). I'm a lover, not a fighter.

3rd March 2018. Sadly, you don't have to go back that far to find when we conceded three!

Cape Verde have exciting striker Dodo plus a defender called Carlos Ponck. Sierra Leone have the unusually named midfielder Rodney Strasser.

I bet he wishes Craig Woodman still plays for us.

I would guess the crap money and long hours that Reach PLC foist on reporters might be the reason. I think I read that he's a new dad? That was probably the trigger to move.

Hope he has no axe to grind with us....