Silvio Dante

5 minutes ago, Malago said:

“Which ex scored in a top flight cup final in the 80s.”  Is the question.  That unequivocally means a player that had already played and left City IMO..

But, as the answer is Clayton Blackmore, that means your reading is wrong and pedantry wins again!

@Oh Louie louie preparing for an evening out…

One of my small pleasures is each Tuesday in the Guardian reading Squires cartoon based on recent football events. It’s sharp, a bit political, and full of references. The downside of him being a Swindon fan is outweighed by his work.

Anyway, guess who’s in this week…

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2022/jan/25/david-squires-on-drones-ghost-ships-and-a-weird-premier-league-weekend?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

3 minutes ago, Malago said:

You  may be correct but that was before he played for City and therefore wasn’t a City ex at the time.

Ah it’s in the wording though

”Which ex city player” and no qualification means they played for us at one point. Not that the event happened after they played for us.

If it was worded as “Which ex city player then went on…” said player would have had to play for us before the event. The lack of the qualification allows for players to play for us after the event.

Yes, I’m pedantic…

I’m going for Jacki.

It doesn’t say he played for us before scoring said goal. It also doesn’t say top flight is English top flight. Jacki’s club won the Polish cup in 1985 - no idea if he scored but the answer seems to tick a few boxes 

To be fair, no huge surprises there. Simpson on the bench makes sense as it’s the only other fit defender we have at the moment, and your only choice becomes whether Williams is fit enough to start, and you move Scott to RWB instead of DaSilva, which would have been harsh on both considering Saturday. COYR.

1 minute ago, The Original OTIB said:

Who's this Simpson bloke?

21 minutes ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Il come back to you if he progresses funny how you can slate him and kick him in the bollox hope he dont come back to bite our ass.

I’m not sure he slated him to be honest. @Merrick's Marvels gave what I’d consider to be a fairly balanced appraisal based on what we know, and didn’t “kick him in the bollox”. The fact is that Pearson, Holden and three managers at conference level haven’t felt Louis has what it takes to improve them. Does that make him a shit footballer? No, he’s better than anyone who’s posting on this thread by far.

What it does say is that for, whatever reason, better qualified judges than you or me don’t think Louis’ undoubted goal scoring instincts outweigh what they consider his negative points.

I don’t think you’ll find anyone wishing him ill. He’s assessed as not good enough. It happens. But you’ve made no case as to why we will be proven wrong here.

Remember on page one of the thread when I said teams had to play as long as they had 11, even if no GK?

Well….

Afcon 2021: Comoros will play without a recognised goalkeeper for last-16 tie with Cameroon https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/africa/60104273

5 hours ago, RobintheRed Red said:

Hes being released dont drink dint smoke obviously pearson has a problem with him the other young uns no better.

Don’t Drink Don’t Smoke?

What does he do?

Subtle Innuendos follow

There must be something inside

I didn’t think they were “too nice”, I think we just seem to have developed a streetwise streak.

Flint would have known of Semenyo as a youth player. What he wouldn’t have expected now was someone who bullied him in every challenge, beat him up physically and, yeah, left a bit on him (within the rules of the game). 
 

Was fantastic to see.

We always have the tunnel camera footage after a win, but I think Joe Williams has taken it to a new level:

I think we probably have to say that Louis has missed the bus in terms of making it at City. He undoubtedly seems to have the knack of scoring goals, but if there was ever a season to break through it was this one - we’re operating with a small squad, a manager who’s giving young players minutes and he was the like for like replacement for someone who desperately needed resting in CM. Add into that I think it’s now three loans at Conference level without pulling up trees, and I think it looks the right decision to part ways.

A comment that I haven’t seen referenced much from Niges presser was his statement to the effect of that if you’re not in and around at 19, you rarely will be in and around (yes there are Vardy and Reid type exceptions) and this seems to fall into that category.

What I think we have to realise is that now the academy is producing, players that may have made it here or at least been given a crack won’t come through - I’m thinking players like Harper here - and the 19 year olds will have 18/17 year olds snapping at their heels.

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Have you watched the recent documentary series on Apple TV….really interesting seeing the songs come together.

Yep, 9 hours well worth spending. 

7 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

We've already got a song for Andi.

There can be more than one - If the Beatles had stopped at “Love Me Do” would you be happy?

Theres no doubt the above is shite but you have to go through your Maxwells Silver Hammers to get to your Come Togethers.

But it’s still shite.

31 minutes ago, myol'man said:

I thought that Truro were going to be the next big thing a few years back, new stadium shared with Cornish Pirates. What happened to all that?

I think the thing with Truro is unless they go full time and pay people to move there, they’re always going to struggle to develop. The location isn’t as favourable for employment as here, for example, and teams like WSM and Yate are part time and rely on people having other jobs while playing for them. If those other jobs aren’t there in Truro, they get less players.

Add in that a standard away game (even here) is a few hours away adding massive costs and it’s difficult to see how they get much further. They’ve been bankrupt twice to my knowledge and sold their ground.
 

IIRC, Cornish Pirates have turned down promotion before as it’s not financially viable 

1 minute ago, phantom said:

How odd, I'll tell the guys at Weston later 

I’m assuming mine is right - Yate tweeted last night they were into the playoffs and the table is from the Southern League website. I’m guessing Weston updated the games played but didn’t put the result in. Crafty trick to make the playoffs!

3 minutes ago, phantom said:

Would not say a massive club, sadly the following is still low for the size of Weston. But much of this is because Weston has become a commuting town over the years so people already have affiliation with other clubs. 

There is a big City following in the town already that follow regularly, Weston will always struggle to push on to the next level

The association with the college is a massive thing for the club and town and hopefully see's the club bringing local players through.

As for getting to the National league, as much as the Bliss family have done an amazing job over many decades running the club, the step up in finances to compete at the next level up would surely need additional financial input

The league is certainly looking interesting, but lots of clubs are on the verge of the play offs

Sorry Phants, as a Yate boy I have to correct your table:

2 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Tranmere are surrounded by by far bigger clubs so that’s why they play home games on Friday evenings. They’ve done so for as long as I can remember.

Except they don’t any more.

Factually correct as ever.

Just now, Steve Watts said:

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.

 

I’m saying nothing.

13 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Weston has a 76k population vs Yeovil's 45k and also more than Taunton.

Maybe they should do a Tranmere and start to play games on a Friday night so that all the City fans, and maybe some Rovers fans, who travel up can watch them as well.

 

That seems like a fantastic idea. I remember when Tranmere did that in the 90s and it galvanised the club - Weston look to have the biggest potential to do the same (although with the development of Yate/Sodbury, we’ll be nudging 40-50k conurbation population soon)

…but what about a third?

I’ve posted here before about Yate Town -  pretty much smallest club in their league at level 7, and last night won their 4th game on the bounce to hit the playoffs. Weston Super Mare are one place behind, and the game at Lodge Road in two weeks looks set to be a cracker.

Anyhow, it got me thinking. Yate are punching above their weight now, and although there are plans to improve the infrastructure, getting anywhere higher than Conference South seems optimistic - unless there was a Salford style takeover.

So, if there was something of that nature to Yate, Weston or another club in our catchment area, could the Bristol area sustain a third league club, and where? I’d assume attendances of 2k-5k tops and the question becomes if that’s new fans or taken from us/Rovers. Would it impact? Is it sustainable?

It would, however, be a fantastic laugh to see Yate beat Rovers in a League 2 or Conference match!

1 hour ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Anybody, got any footage of city in the masters please.

Found some:

https://youtube.com/user/ApeOfDeath1990

That’s the grainy Cardiff mobile version. If you want to see us battered in the finals, and have Amazon prime, go nuts:

1 hour ago, Oh Louie louie said:

Anybody, got any footage of city in the masters please.

Trying to find. I went when we played in the Masters at Cardiff in 2008. Squad is below.

I can only imagine with Kuhl, McCarthy and Biff in the squad we just waited for everyone else to get tired by running around the vast surface area of our players to get to the goal.

Ahem.