Marina's Rolls Royce

Ashton is always the default position

As soon as Semenyo has a shot on goal

Klose for Vyner?? Well- we may as well get the injury to our new player out of the way from the get go before we get excited that we have a defence

Well Rovers v Swindon dont yet it was still the battle of the bell ends.

I have studied these stats very carefully and using my Bletchley Park enigma decipher machine and the help of @BigTone- I have the following conclusion: Shit season but slightly less shit than last season and should stay up but must do better.

Cardiff fans clearly confused about 'spending a penny'. Mind you, if these were pictures from the Minimal you'd think they'd just completed the refurbishment schedule.

We'll miss you but respect your decision

I'm certain that by far the majority of OTIB members and supporters would do the same if it were our fans, - we won a football match against rivals in a Derby match- we've done the double over them and for most of us that's enough by far. Great day out for me.

Thank goodness none of BCFC fans would ever do the same thing. As for fans giving grief to the police because they closed the road to try and segregate fans and the casuals jumping over the wall into Smythe park to chase the cardiff fans- I'm sure this was merely to ask them for a little contribution for new toilets which they hadn't yet heard about. There were , as ever, people determined to cause conflict and ,as ever, they succeeded. To suggest it was the purely the cardiff fans is delusional and to debate who won is pathetic. Violence won.

I cant 'like' 'thank' and ' laugh' in the same response so consider it all three. Looking forward to the match tomorrow. My son is bringing his mate who is a cardiff fan and sitting with us in W3 Dolman- any advice? He took my son to the cardiff away match and he sat in the home end and managed to scream jump around and celebrate in his head.

Haha! That's brilliant- next time I'll start a MDT on a Sunday- I haven't looked yet but he better have mentioned sheep.

Evening @Jerseybean- just checking how it's going and ensuring you mention romantic associations with sheep ( Mods just merge with the decent thread once JB has had his weetabix)

Words fail me...... something I share with the OP.

On this point if none other, I heartily agree. As for implosion - I hoped this would happen to the banks in 2007/2008- it didnt and after government bail outs they were just as bad within a few short years. I despair that for the price of a squad player at, say Man City, you could keep half the clubs in L2 afloat- maybe all of them etc. When 90% of the money seems to go to less than 10% of all our English clubs then it is indeed a broken system.

How does a club without an owner work except when in administration? But you're largely right- a shop without customers can't exist. There is, however, one exception to this rule- bristol rovers dont really have any fans but just about scrape by in the conference or wherever they play these days.

@KegCity @spudski The pub analogy works when it's a pub in a village- the only pub. I guarantee you that "customers" feel like it's their pub . It's not like any other business because it's at the heart of the community. As for statement that BCFC is broken- what utter nonsense. It's not broken but it is seriously wounded like dozens of other clubs in the EFL ( probably most)and mainly due to the pandemic combined with all the money going to the PL and then PP and each and every club's need to either merely survive or its non stop quest for promotion. Those who don't want to go to games yet pontificate on a forum about why they don't/won't support the club - well that's their choice but perhaps shouldn't be taken too seriously when they think of themselves as a fan or supporter. Meanwhile over 20,000 of us think otherwise and cant wait for saturday albeit that we've usually been regretting it by 5.10 p.m..

So , out of interest- do you feel the same way about your local pub? It may be owned by someone but it belongs to the drinkers? Trouble with this view is about the money- it's always about the money. Colchester , in common with many a business which have a place in a local community, are not exactly flowing with cash or the level of support which makes the business sustainable. Many people want the facility to be there but aren't always willing to support it other than as and when it suits them. I support BCFC but not from my sofa but with hard cash. I dont go looking for basically illegal free streams which deprive our club of desperately needed money and then go bleating on about no money for transfers. When City announce losses of over £30 million in a season ( year) I thank the lord that I don't own the club and I have zero liability for the losses. Fans are great when money is being spent on transfers/trying to get a promotion but turn very quickly if it doesn't work out and the club is in serious debt. Just ask any Derby fan. And whilst I'm on a rant- how difficult is it to pay £5 to OTIB and become a supporter? It's OUR forum after all..... isn't it???

Guys- it's just something that happened about 15 yrs ago and the point I was trying to make was that I think WR has matured into a seemingly decent bloke and a passionate Manager from what seemed to be, imo, not such a decent bloke years ago.

I never much liked Wayne Rooney. He seemed to sum up so much of what was wrong about footballers image off the field. The whole Wayne and Coleen thing like a new Posh and Becks only seemingly without any substance. About 15 years ago, I went on holiday to Cyprus and whilst on a sun lounger by the swimming pool, I was amazed to see what I took to be Wayne and Coleen walking towards me. I had to think quickly as it was during the season so how could he be here? I then figured it must be a professional lookie-likey. He took the lounger next to me and I clicked that it was his brother Graham and , as it turned out, Coleen’s cousin who he was dating. He started a conversation about the hotel but proceeded to gob every 30 seconds or so into a growing pile of spit by the side of his lounger. I asked him to stop as the hotel staff constantly came to clean and nobody should have to clean that. Fair play- he did and apologised. We chatted and he asked me to join him and his mates for drinks at the bar later. I did and later asked him about boxing and he said he had given it up, he said he didnt have to work as “our kid” paid for everything he needed so why should he go and work? “ Um… self respect maybe?” Not my cleverest statement but I really didnt mean it to sound how it did. His friends had to hold him back but I believed for a moment that I was going to be badly hurt- it made Robbored’s “interview” with GJ seem like tea with the vicar. It calmed down but it didnt help my attitude to all things Rooney. Fast forward 15 years and Wayne Rooney came to Derby and by a twist of fate and some financial meltdown found himself Manager of one of the biggest clubs outside of the Prem. He was reportedly being paid £90,000 per week. Next, the club were so in debt that the players were in danger of not getting paid so Rooney gave part of his salary so that they did- he’s worth over £100 million so not such a sacrifice but he still did it. Then with a double points deduction amounting to 21 points and no chance of buying new players let alone spending big money. In fact once in administration he is forced to sell not buy but he’s kept going where many Managers have not. Despite all the problems he has stuck to the task with a quiet dignity and has clawed his way from bottom of the Championship to a genuine contender to avoid relegation and pull of the greatest escape since .... well....the greatest escape- he’s 8 points off but with form that suggests he can do it. Without the deduction his team would be 11th and have a positive GD. I bet there were many close to him advising him to walk away from the shit show that’s Derby County. But he hasn’t and all the signs are that he’ll see out the season. If Everton do come calling - it will be very hard to refuse. So- my respect for this man has grown and grown and it’s hard not to admire how he’s become a very credible and hardworking manager and a growing force in football without actually playing. Good luck to him.

Towler and Cundy are definitely the possible answer. The question was : Who ,next season, do you think could possibly be breaking in to the first team squad?

It's just about the only bit of luck we seem to have had if indeed it is luck- Scott and Pring are potentially very impressive players so their emergence into first team players is a natural progression. Beyond that, lady luck is not really smiling at us much.

Not necessarily- check where you've been sitting

It's official- we are slightly less crap than Reading

Timing

A loaf