downendcity

I remember their last game if the season 20+(?) Years ago Vs Wimbledon I think it was. Needing a win to escape they were 2 down and out, but "miraculously" recovered to win. Always thought that game was fishy. They seem to live a charmed life

The other half are locked out if Rovers' games!

Not according to Robbored's maths!

Early/mid 70s district league. If it was Ryley's grandad it would be a sliding doors moment...........or is it wheels?!

I always wore shin pads until one game (at Wick I think it was) when I unpacked my bag to find no shin pads. Sod's law, 5 minutes into the game I knocked a through ball past the centre half. I was quick, so he raised his foot to bring me down. The edge of the sole of his boot (screw in studs) ran up the front of my shin and peeled the skin off like a pencil sharpener. Cue everyone pointing out that I should have worn shin pads!

Prior to the introduction of VAR, I am certain that many saw that technology was the way to go in being able to avoid the inconsistencies and errors in refereeing. Goal line technology seemed to reinforce that feeling, but it has a major advantage over VR in that it is completely objective, in that technology simply measures whether the ball was over the line a yes or no decision. VAR is subjective and while before fans could criticise the "man in black" for making the wrong judgement call, when he had to do so in real time and from only one viewpoint ( and not usually the best one), I think the growing annoyance is that we now have a load of other people applying their own subjective judgements on a game incident. Not only that, but they can do so remote from the game and with the benefit of slo-mo replays ( in themselves the cause of different subjective judgements), multiple camera angles and the time for consideration not afforded to the on filed officials. Despite all of these "advantages, their decisions still cause confusion and disagreement, because they are still subjective judgements. The other issue is that VAR has also come into operation with increased interference with the laws of the game by administrators making them increasingly prescriptive, so that in the penalty area an unintentional "handball" by an attacker is penalised when a goal is scored ,whereas exactly the same handball by a defender is not. Similarly just how far back in the build up will VAR go to try and find some infringement to punish? I always thought that rugby's equivalent of VAR had the advantage over football because of the natural breaks in play. However, the last rugby wc final changed my view, as it seemed to me that their VAR operators were looking for every opportunity to become involved in the game - something that seems to be happing with VAR. It also showed up the subjectivity flaws in reviews, as the early sending off impacted the game big time, yet a similar offence by a South African later in the game did not receive the same punishment. Unfortunately, the genie is now out of the bottle and my fear is that the application and influence of VAR will only get worse.

Reading this thread, this game immediately came to mind when thinking about what is a dangerous tackle? Think there are a few 'clear and obvious' errors among this lot. Had VAR been around back then the ref would have spent 90 minutes consulting the pitchside tv replays and the VAR operators would have been on Valium!

Ah, but everyone does expect Robbored.

He took the same maths exam as Diane Abbott!

But where would we put the 40,000 who'd be locked out if the ground?

Redmaids?

You should have gone to A& with that!

On my Wembley Ball thread @Roger Red Hat posted this picture. It elicited some replies regarding the boots featured and reminded me of an early pair of boots I had. My first few pairs were run of the mill boots from Perry's Shoe shop in Staple Hill. Then I had the chance to have a hand down pair of my cousin's Gola boots that he had grown out of . I cleaned a dubbined them so they were as soft as you like. They also had a long tongue, which was the look you wanted back then . However, the red letter day was when I bought my own boots for the first time from the sports shop by the Top Rank ( can't remember the name ) A pair of Adidas Santiago were the dog's b*******! When I got home and showed them proudly to my Dad ( who had not the slightest interest in football, he asked how much they cost. When I told him £4.99 ( I think it was) he couldn't believe I would pay that much just to kick a ball around! Later on I had Stylo Matchmakers ( not the all white ones) then Patrick boots for a long time before using Puma until I finished playing in the late 80s

...by the ghosts of shoppers who died while trying to find their way out if the store!

"Alice, Alice who the **** is Alice?" Mind you, it's always good to keep a clean sheet!

Paternoster lifts The stuff of nightmares - I think I'll take the stairs!

My body shape changed substantially in just a week - Christmas week!

Ah, green shield stamps. Anyone else remember their Dad's driving round for miles, looking for the garage offering quadruple green shield stamps and nearly running out of petrol in the process? Back then I remember, in my Guinness Book of Records, that the boss of Green shield stamps was the highest paid man in Britain.

No, but the bloke you tackled didn't get up in a hurry!

The hot knife trick started as a good idea, but just a slip and you ended up with a hole bigger than the one you started with!

Bit earlier for me SR!

Does this bring back memories of Christmas/birthday wish lists? As I remember it was a bit too bouncy on Oldbury Court school playground, , but stung like mad if it caught your thigh ( we all wore short trousers in those days!) on a cold day. Also remember trying to mend with a hot knife to weld the plastic together after a puncture on the rose bushes around the play ground.

For using their sharpener?

It's ok Dave, he did his working out on paper..........

If you think his level is league 2 then cashing in on him would net us, what, about £200,000? He scored 1 in 4 in his first full season in the championship straight from the academy and you think he's a league 2 player?!