lager loud

7 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I think Manning and his team don’t read the game real-time.  It’s quite an issue imho.

This is a major reason I’m quite pessimistic about our prospects this season (but hoping to be proved wrong). I get echoes of the LJ era when we were regularly ‘found out’ by opposition managers who altered the pattern of the game by in-match (most noticeably half-time) changes.

Most of LM’s changes seem to be “pre-programmed” rather than responding to what’s happening in a game. The insistence on substituting Conway on 60-65 minutes regardless of the game situation or his performance stood out as an example of this last season.

It takes more than an organised system with decent players (both of which we have) to be successful in the Championship. Sometimes you need to do something different to counter the opposition or to counter its adjustments to your own style. I’m not yet convinced that LM has the required skill set for this.

Just now, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

Just saw a report that Aden Flint picked up all 4 season awards at Mansfield from their supporters groups. Obviously they can't have a young player of the season award. 

Or they’ve got an exceptionally old squad.

6 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Anyone flying to a different country for RTV today…no joy in Frankfurt.

I’m watching in Budapest - but had to ignore a message telling me I wasn’t entitled to buy the stream…

28 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Tbf I’ve been quite vocal that I’ll renew come what may, while still criticising the club. The move in kickoffs is likely to really impact me though as I run a grassroots team and as such next season will probably be a trial run. The balance will be between losing seats which I really do like and have had for years versus reduced games attended (and I always factor in not being at 2-3 games a year) and what that does to net price.

If the football is as it is, I can see 25/26 being very messy for that reason for a lot of people. It really is make or break for them.

I’ve done some ‘finger in the air’ calcs for my own situation (Dolman Centre, adult). I reckon the breakeven point is attending about 15 or 16 games - obviously depends on which seats I bought, and some assumptions about what happens to Membership and pay-per-game prices. 

I'm guessing we’d still have perhaps 10 Saturday 3pm kick-offs, although there could be one or two of those I couldn’t get to. So it comes down to whether I’d go to midweek evening games (mostly not), BH games (Xmas No, Easter Yes) and when our other weekend games would be moved to - Saturday teatime is OK, Saturday lunchtime sometimes OK, other times unappealing. I’m not sure which of those times is ‘prime’ for Sky, but I suspect we won’t be getting the top slots. 

All in all, it’s a close decision financially, and may well come down to the seats/convenience/priority issues.

Mmm.

A couple of us pretty much decided yesterday that we won’t be renewing. That will be the first time since about 2002 for me. We’ll get memberships but pick and choose our games, and watch on TV when that’s an option.

It’s not really to do with the quality of the football or the character of the manager - we carried on through the worst of McInnes, O’Driscoll, Holden, and Lee Johnson - but due to the new TV deal. We’ll go to pretty much every Saturday 3pm kick-off and perhaps Saturday lunchtime (pain to get there so early but a few beers afterwards compensates). But there will need to be a good reason to go on a Sunday or to any evening game (particularly Friday evening, which is my least favourite KO time). It will be interesting to see how many games that actually leaves us.

The main downside will be struggling to get tickets for away games. We only go to two or three a season, but one in particular - QPR - is a regular fixture if it’s a weekend game, meeting up with some old mates who are QPR fans. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.  If QPR stay up, and the game is at a time when we’d want to go, we’ll either have to get tickets via other ST holders or, as a last resort, get seats with our friends in the home end.

For the first time in the 20 years or so I’ve had a season ticket I’m going to give serious thought to not renewing this time. 

Since I retired a few years ago I don’t need the ‘release’ of going to the game as I used to. The experience itself is pretty dull at the moment anyway, so it often feels more of a chore than a pleasure. I much prefer 3pm Saturday games to ones at ‘odd times’ on the weekend (Saturday 5.30 is OK as it can be followed by an evening in the pub, but it’s a real pain to get to a game by lunchtime (and to get home after a midweek game); and Sunday games get in the way of other things I do).

It seems the new TV deal next year will mean more games will be at odd times, but will be available on Sky. So the option of buying a membership and picking and choosing my live games seems quite appealing ATM.

If I do renew, it will be more for social than footballing reasons: City games are the main times I get together with my oldest local friend, who comes over from his home near Newport for the City games. If I thought our meet-ups would wither away without City games I’d probably stick to getting a ST.

13 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

had mine at 10.11am yesterday.

@lager loud let me know if you need more than your own allocation,

Thanks Dave. I do have a few takers for this one. I think I’ve got access to enough but will let you know if not.

I’m a ST holder. Should I have had an email about this by now?

51 minutes ago, The Enormous Turnip said:

As votes stand, a little over 30% of voters either want Steve Lansdown to remain as owner or aren't sure, but only 60% of those (18% total) trust or possibly trust them to make good decisions in the club's best interests. Unpack that! 

For this Q2 “not sure”/Q3 “No” voter it’s because of the risk that a new owner could be even worse.

4 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Those who are driving. Straight up the M5 or off at junction 9 and follow A46. What’s reckon 

I generally stick on the M5 to the M42 then M6, M69. The A46 is a nicer drive but may be slower (assuming the M42 is moving OK).

Returning to my home town (and the club I first supported) for this one and staying over tonight to catch up with a few mates for some beers - in much better pubs than were around when I began drinking at the end of the 70s! 

I’ve been watching City for nearly 40 years now, and only followed Leicester ‘properly’ for perhaps 10 or 12, so I’m definitely much more red than blue when they’re playing each other, but I can still get pretty involved when Leicester are playing anyone else. I’m hoping that at least one of the teams gets automatic promotion as I don’t think I could cope with them meeting in the playoff final!

1 hour ago, JoeAman08 said:

I enjoyed the intent to press and get forward when we won the ball. We lose being brave then it is what it is for me. 

That was one of the most noticeable improvements last night, IMO. In the first half in particular we often had Knight and Williams up in the final third, which helped create overloads for Sykes in particular. And our defenders were also willing to break forward with the ball (which I think is essential to disrupt a fit, organised opposition (i.e. every Championship team).

Playing like that is bound to leave us exposed to the quick break/transition, but I think we have enough of an attacking threat for the benefits to outweigh the risks. It’s certainly more enjoyable to watch!

16 hours ago, BasSavage88 said:

There are no issues 

There clearly are: the system is not updating as it is supposed to for everyone, and the passes did not work at the turnstiles for a number of people at the PNE game. That didn’t cause the scale of chaos experienced at Arsenal last weekend, but it did delay the entry of a good number of spectators.

My pass for Birmingham has disappeared, to be replaced by a 2023/4 Season Ticket, which has a QR code. I only got into the PNE game after the pass was changed at the turnstile to ‘Birmingham City - 5th August’ - no idea if that’s relevant.

So it’s anybody’s guess what will happen on Saturday. I certainly won’t be arriving too close to KO time!

3 hours ago, Davefevs said:

A right pair of helmets.

 

As we’ve digressed into Half-Man Half Biscuit….here’s a little delivery I got yesterday.

Home kit, nit away kit though!

Will that be getting an outing when HMHB play in Bristol in September, Dave? I’ve got an ‘unusual’ DP away top lined up for that gig…

24 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

Amazing how many folks debate offside/onside decisions each week yet clearly haven't the first inkling of what Law 11 says or how it operates. The professional officials saw what happened and enforced Law 11 accordingly. Here's why.

When the ball's played over both Sharp &  Ndiaye are in offside positions but are NOT offside (that's default position of Law 11.) Having assessed if a player is in an offside position (they both were,) ask what offence is the player committing to be adjudged offside? No offence = No offside.

Should either player have first touched the ball when crossed they then would have become offside and a foul committed.

Should either player have impeded the movement of or impacted the vision of a City player (accidental,) or deliberately take action themselves to impact an opponent or attempt to play the ball, then they would have become offside and a foul committed.

Ndiaye being behind and yards from both Tanner & Vyner commits no offence. Sharp, rather than impeding Tanner or Vyner is actually impeded himself by them - Vyner jumps backwards into him, Tanner pushes him in the back to prevent him jumping for the ball and himself jumps over Sharp. Sharp sandwiched therefore commits no offence and is not offside.

As soon as Vyner touches the ball both opponents are onside.

 

 

I’m quite happy to admit that I don’t keep up to date with every change in the laws and their interpretation. So I had a look at Rule 11 in the FA’s Laws of the Game 22/23 (copied, badly, due to formatting issues, below). There are more ways a player can become offside than you mentioned.

• preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or
• challenging an opponent for the ball or
• clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or
• making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an or opponent to play the ball

Unless you believe Sharp was neither “challenging for the ball”, nor “attempting to play the ball which is close”, nor “making an obvious action which clearly impacts [either Vyner’s or Tanners] ability…to play the ball” then he’s offside. I’d argue he was doing at least two of these.

5 minutes ago, AppyDAZE said:

 

The moment Vyner (not his fault) heads it backwards after being put off, the bloke is ONSIDE.

He wasn't interfering in any way with the mix up, a different player was, and he was onside too.

Sharp was (marginally) offside when the ball was played across. Looked pretty clear on the Sky freeze frame last night. And shouldn’t have been a difficult one for a professional linesman to spot.

That’s a small shame, as I today booked my COVID booster jab for 10.50 in Yate on that Saturday. Mrs Loud will have to put her foot down to drive me to the game on time.

On the other hand, post-match beers starting around 2.30! Every cloud…

6 minutes ago, Ian M said:

No question Sykes was a red in my opinion, I also called it straight away like others but.... wasn't the penalty shout on Atkinson in the previous phase of play? If we could actually get that, Sykes doesn't even make that challenge!

I’m not 100% on whether the Atkinson incident was a penalty, but I think that was one of three or four occasions in the few minutes before the goal when City felt the ref wasn’t giving us decisions we could/should have got, culminating in the challenge on Sykes. I’d have felt like kicking someone by then, too - which is not to excuse Sykes, but might help explain why he reacted the way he did.

I partly agree with this, in that it clearly took a while before NP worked out how to change things after the red card, and it’s not clear why Wilson or Tanner couldn’t have done the RWB job.

But TC and AW were clearly running out of steam before they were taken off (TC in particular). NW, I thought, could still have done a job (but hasn’t played 90 minutes much, recently). 

And the players who did come on all did a decent (and ultimately successful) job.

It’s possible that I’m comfortable with NP ignoring the right backs on the bench because I still have occasional nightmares about the time Jimmy Lumsden decided to play Steve Neville there (in what was essentially a back two, if I remember correctly) rather than bring Andy Llewellyn off the bench.

27 minutes ago, Sheltons Army said:

No chance

What goes against him , besides the actual challenge , is the intent 

As soon as he lost the ball (Probably a foul) you can see him turn in angry mode and what was coming

Agreed. I thought he was going to be sent off about two seconds before he actually made the tackle: I could almost see the red mist in his eyes from the Dolman.

Freeman should have gone too, mind. No excuse at all for barging a player, off the ball, well after the whistle has gone.

1 hour ago, Sleepy1968 said:

VPN IPs get blacklisted so try a different server on the VPN or try a different VPN provider. What VPN are you using?

Cheers. Windscribe. That may have been the issue. With a bit of @Davefevs helpdesk assistance I have managed to buy a pass. I did ’move’ to a different location, so perhaps it was the IP causing the problem. Although I tried so many things (log off and on, remove and reload the City app etc) that I’m not sure what made the difference in the end!

Should I be able to buy a video pass for the Hull game by now?

I’ve taken a ‘trip’ to Frankfurt this morning. I’m definitely ‘there’ as iPlayer won’t let me access any content, but Robins TV is only offering me audio passes.

?

18 hours ago, Davefevs said:

On a similar theme, as soon as the refs whistle goes for a free-kick, any opposition player who touches it afterwards (unless deliberately booted at them) or stops the kick being taken by standing near the ball should be cautioned. None of this fake “I didn’t hear the whistle” lark.

I’d go further. Once the free kick is awarded any opposition player who deliberately moves closer to the ball (within 10 yards) has to leave the pitch until the ball next goes out of play (other than for a free kick awarded against the offending team). Want two or three players to slow down a free kick? Feel free. But you’ll have to defend it and the follow-up play with eight or nine players.

With footballers being so fit and so well organised these days, taking a quick free kick is one of the few ways a team can use its nous to gain a clear advantage. Seeing that possibility frustrated by players standing in front of the ball - often abetted by refs whose response is to insist that the FK can’t be taken before he whistles - drives me crazy.

6 hours ago, MarcusX said:

Latest version appears to be: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1374/contents

In terms of meeting with your family as you've mentioned I would have thought it would be covered here: 

(2) No person living in the Tier 3 area may participate in a gathering outside that area which—

(a)takes place outdoors in a place which satisfies the conditions in sub-paragraph (4) and consists of more than six people, or
(b)takes place in any other outdoor place and consists of two or more people.

The full section is this (my bold):

Participation in gatherings outdoors

2.—(1) No person may participate in a gathering in the Tier 3 area which—

(a)takes place outdoors in a place which satisfies the conditions in sub-paragraph (4) and consists of more than six people, or

(b)takes place in any other outdoor place and consists of two or more people.

(2) No person living in the Tier 3 area may participate in a gathering outside that area which—

(a)takes place outdoors in a place which satisfies the conditions in sub-paragraph (4) and consists of more than six people, or

(b)takes place in any other outdoor place and consists of two or more people.

(3) Sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply if any of the exceptions set out in paragraph 4 or 6 applies.

(4) A place satisfies the conditions in this sub-paragraph if it is a public outdoor place other than a fairground or a funfair and—

(a)no payment is required by any member of the public to access that place, or

(b)the place falls within one of the following categories—

(i)outdoor sportsgrounds or sports facilities;

(ii)botanical gardens;

(iii)gardens or grounds of a castle, stately home, historic house or other heritage site.

This is clear: you can meet up to six people in public outdoor spaces.

IMO if you have to debate this much about whether it's allowed or not, purely based on intepretation of the law, than common sense says you probably shouldnt do. You're obviously going to, but if everyone made the same choices where would we be? Might as well let everyone do whatever they want?

I’ve only been debating because people have made assertions that are not supported by the legislation I've read; not because I’m unsure about what that legislation means but because there might be some other legislation that I haven’t seen. 

It’s not about letting everyone do what they want but letting people do what they want within the law. If that’s dangerous then the law should be better, although I accept a general moral obligation not to do things that endanger others - but I don’t think this will. I’m intent on not breaking the law.

The issue is travelling to that tier 3 area, but I don't know if that's set in law. It's definitely against the guidance and again, it's not about what you can get away with, it's about what you should do.

I accept this point, but have concluded that there is a low enough risk that this isn’t something I really shouldn’t do. I’m not looking to ignore guidance more broadly.

It would be covered by the fact that you should not travel from Tier 3 to Tier 2 unless essential, that's quite obvious.

And if that was set in law I wouldn’t do it. An interesting side question I’ve only just considered is whether from tomorrow it will still be OK for me to go from South Glos to the Chew Valley/Blagdon lakes, which is something I do quite often (without getting close to anyone else). Certainly not essential.

Even playing football locally we're not allowed to play against a tier 3 team and anyone from tier 3 in our team isn't allowed to play for us.

I haven’t looked at the detail of the laws as they apply to those organising such activities. It wouldn’t surprise me if rules like this are part of the reasonable steps organisers need to take to manage Covid risk - which may be open to interpretation. I would expect organisers to err on the side of caution when coming up with their rules.