pongo88

I prefer not to have information on your personal fetish

IIRC he brought his own coaches with him when he came. If he still needs help what do you do with them except let them set out the cones at the beginning of a training session

I miss, to a degree, matches played in fog. Where has all the fog gone?

I can remember the Anglo Scottish Cup. It was awful with sparse crowds and a sprinkling of unbelievably drunk Scottish fans who could hardly stand up. One of them spoke to me and said something like “Mony A Mickle Maks A Muckle.”. I couldn’t argue with that so I made my excuses and beat a hasty retreat

This question is asked every year. Often people say they won’t but the total remains roughly the same. I’m sure this is because of the cheaper childrens’ tickets sold so it would be interesting to know how many full price tickets are sold. PS - I will because I’ve been stupid to support City for so long and I’m stuck in an addiction

I hope Rovers do sign him for another year. His goals per game ratio this season is his best ever but it’s extremely unlikely to be repeated particularly due to his age. When he was at City he had no pace or mobility and, even allowing for the drop into League 1, it can’t have improved. Another year and he’ll be even slower

When I watch City I find it difficult to see a discernible style of play. My playing career was limited to Saturday parks football and Sunday morning pub teams (usually with 11 player suffering from a hangover). We were often poor but, no matter how bad we were, it was obvious what formation, tactics etc we were using. With City I now see a set up of goalkeeper plus 10 outfield players just wandering around a bit. Often players in strange positions- eg Sykes on the left wing. It usually gets worse in the second half when the subs come on and what limited shape there was previously just disappears

I did and I also saw dozens of other awful passes during the game. The players seem to have lost all confidence and seemed to be bedazzled when required to do the basics

Half of the crowd had left before the final whistle. Those that were left booed the players as they came over to the Dolman / South stand. They usually get a bit of applause even if it’s half hearted. Shows how bad it was today

As the World Cup gets bigger with each tournament the costs become too big for most countries to host the event. In 1966 16 qualified teams were divided into four groups of four, with each group playing a round-robin format. In 2026 there will be 48 teams. It’s understandable that the competition has grown since ‘66 but 48 teams is a bit OTT. There are only approx 200 countries in the world

Rueben McAllister, son of Jamie, is now on loan at Kelty Hearts ( average attendance approx 600) in Scottish League 1

Hope this jogs your memory The first resulted from a long ball up the left wing by City that went out of play by the Shrewsbury’s penalty area. A defender threw the ball back to the keeper, but did he see big John lurking? No he didn’t because Atyeo nipped in to intercept the throw and glide the ball into the net from a narrow angle The second and fourth were similar, coming from moves down City’s right wing. With one a high cross came over and Atyeo rose to beat a defender and glance a header into the net. With the other the cross was low and Atyeo nipped in front of a defender to side foot the ball into the net The third was as described above

City finished the season with goals for / against of 95 / 55 giving a goal average of 1.73 Mansfield, who were third, had goals for / against of 95 - 61 giving a goal average of 1.56 If goal difference had been applied City would still have been promoted as the goal difference was 40 against Mansfield’s 34

I remember that match. I'm glad the article mentions Atyeo flicking the ball over his head and volleying it to score as I've often wondered if my memory was deceiving me. Sometime, with the passage of time, you remember goals as being much better than they were, but not in this case. What the article doesn't mention is Atyeo was marked by the centre half which was why he flicked the ball over his head. He also had to run around the centre half to volley the ball as it came down. City supporters behind the gaol went crazy! I remember that match. I'm glad the article mentions Atyeo flicking the ball over his head and volleying it to score as I've often wondered if my memory was deceiving me. Sometime, with the passage of time, you remember goals as being much better than they were, but not in this case. What the article doesn't mention is Atyeo was marked by the centre half which was why he flicked the ball over his head. He also had to run around the centre half to volley the ball as it came down. City supporters behind the gaol went crazy!

It does matter who’s in charge as, with the present set up, he won’t be asked to come back. If he’s not asked, he can’t answer the question. As I said, even if there was a change in ownership, and was asked, he would probably say no

Absolutely true, he’s not coming back. For him to do so it would require SL to sell the club and the new owner to sack Brian Tinnion. By the time this happened Pearson would have settled into his new relaxed lifestyle and wouldn’t have any interest in giving it up

Great report as ever. I particularly liked the description of Mehmet. It’s perfect: “the diminutive Mehmeti who looked like he was a bloke crossing a local park trying to briefly impersonate a footballer yet also desperately trying to avoid coming into any contact with the ball.”

With an injury ravaged team!

I can’t face travelling to away matches anymore as the amount of dull motorway travel isn’t justified by the performances. It’s also possible to watch every away match on numerous sites but I’ve given up on that as well. Going to every home match is more than enough suffering. I’ve almost given up on OTIB posting as I can’t think of anything positive to say. As you get older “the good old days” seem to be much better as you tend to only remember the good bits. Unfortunately, now the good bits are few and far between

Some people are more susceptible to hamstring injuries than others. Quite a few years ago an England wicketkeeper (Alan Knott?) had regular hamstring problems which he solved by doing non stop exercises to stretch the hamstrings. He did this in his non playing time and throughout each match, making him look as though he had ants in his pants. Cricket is different to football but the principles are the same as, being a wicket keeper, he would have to do sudden sprints to get the ball. The City’s medical staff are obviously qualified but it begs the question as to whether or not they are drafting preventative exercises for the players to follow, particularly those returning from long injuries.

As I was bored I had a look at the Rovers forum and found this recent classic: “Although he was only manager for just over a year Denis Rofe had us playing the best Football and probably the best Rovers team I've seen. If he was appointed before the season instead of Martin Dobson we could very well of got promoted into the new Premier League.” Someone actually believes that Denis Rofe, as manager, would have got them into the Premier League!

like Nigel Pearson fits the bill

Do the opposite of what we did today. QPR set up with a rigid 4-5-1 to defend, score on the break and win 1-0. (Admittedly City was so poor they became more adventurous in the second half and could have scored more). With a game plan like QPR’s it’s hopeless playing lots of slow motion passes in midfield as this allows the opposition to retain its defensive shape. It needs players who can beat a defender with a bit of trickery, some pace through the middle and on the wings. City had some success with Bell’s pace before his injury so the substitution of Cornick as a replacement defies belief. He wandered around a bit but was never going to trouble a packed defence. City should have tried to get McCrorie and Roberts into the game more as attacking down the wings forces defenders to turn towards their own goal. Sykes would have been a better sub earlier assuming he was fit. A proper plan B would also help. LM brought on a lot of subs but was there a proper plan? I don’t think so

There one extra failing you didn’t mention - whenever there’s a 50-50 ball he turns it into a 40-60 ball in favour of the opposition. He’s got no strength, is easily pushed off the ball and isn’t prepared to fight for the ball.

Is he Louis Diony’s long lost brother?