Marina's Rolls Royce

11 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Marina why the head on hand emoji?

Quid pro quo

11 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Any idea when we expect to see Mebude in action ? If you ITK.

73rd minute in tonight's match but I'll be jolly cross if Liam was just winding me up when he sent me the text requesting my input on game management.

2 hours ago, IAmNick said:

is everything ok bud

OK?

Well.... let me think......

We've got a new Manager who I believe will do well and improve on the work of the previous one, we've made some good signings this season with Knight and Dicky outstanding and McCrorie looking promising, we have a strong defence getting stronger, we already have some potentially exciting young talent for next season, a fantastic stadium where we continue to get great support, top training ground and facilities, several players coming back from injury such as Sykes ,Twine and Atkinson with the unknown wildcard of Mebude, the potential to finish the season strongly and have a great owner in Steve Lansdown who continues to provide financial stability.

My glass is half full and I'll fill it up again when it's empty so I'm feeling really positive and won't fill my pants or rupture my spleen when we  lose .

1 hour ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

We'd probably need 30-35 pts from 15 to have a realistic chance of the top 6, maybe 25-30 if lucky.

It ain't happening.

So is this season already over as far as you're concerned?

1 hour ago, 95red said:

Amazing  support  again considering  we got nothing  to play for this season.The lansdowns  must be thrilled. 

What you clearly fail to appreciate is that the vast majority of people attending the match are not posters on otib and not prone to the same extreme negativity or "I'm not gonna give my money to Lansdown" or "the season was over in January".

With 6 points between us and the top six and 45 points still up for grabs and several players on their way back , this team has everything to play for but, hey, don't let that get in the way of your negative nonsense.

1 hour ago, IdliketoRogerMoore said:

I smell gas! 

43 minutes ago, BS3_RED said:

Yes, you can go and watch them.  You wont be missed. 

37 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Mate.

This is the most bollocks argument ever. 

Someone disagrees with you - they must be gas!

You clearly care, and that’s laudable. But your methodology of making your point is absolutely ridiculous. Hes not gas. Hes just reacting to a frankly ridiculous post.

1 minute ago, bearded_red said:

People are very angry aren’t they.

After a fantastic much needed win and some impressive consecutive performances against PL sides (which is a rarity in my support since the 80's)- yes I guess there's much anger that our club hasn't self combusted in the way which some have predicted. 

Just now, W-S-M Seagull said:

I didn't know I was now living in North Korea. 

 

 

You helped to create the OTIB NK so don't moan. NP has gone and the club moves on even if you can't.

Your recent repetitive statements that the season was over in January is somewhat misguided but no doubt if NP was still in charge and in the same points position then you'd be booking hotels in Manchester for next season.

5 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I won’t expect much but he will be at least on the bench and get pretty regular minutes I would assume. Unless his levels in training are really poor and if that’s the case it’s another waste of money 

In recent seasons I can't think of new signings who have been "a waste of money".

Half the first team didn't involve a transfer fee and those that did have been great value such as Knight, Sykes, Dicky and increasingly Tanner. TGH is solid and McCrorie looks worth what we paid and some. Perhaps you refer to Mehmeti?

It's also pretty fair to say that BCFC have been at best pretty frugal but that's a different conversation..

1 minute ago, BigTone said:

Never heard of him but lets hope he is what we need and his name isn't an omen. Good luck to the lad.

Perhaps an anagram will help put your mind at rest, Tone?

RED DUMBIEE

or my favourite

BUM DIED ERE

and the other signing we loaned back?

DRAB MIX

34 minutes ago, KendrickDNB said:

My take away from that interview as well was how happy he looks to be here - hopefully we see that on the pitch too

My take away from that interview was that if he was as old as me then a little bit of wee would have come out.

2 minutes ago, petehinton said:

One rhat doesnt “block the pathway” for those involved in the periphery of the first team, potentially ready for first team exposure, for want of a non wanky phrase. Becoming overloaded in positions where we have good enough talent in the 21s to blood through. 
 

If he does have an option as the parent club suggests, that changes things a bit vs just having someone else’s player take Nelson/Yeboahs wide player ‘spot’ for example.  However not exactly sure how he’d fit with how we’ve played here the last month or so, unless they see him becoming a central striker. 

So, in your opinion, do you feel that we shouldn't have signed this player  and who do you think should have been promoted to the first team from the academy whose pathway is now blocked?

1 minute ago, petehinton said:

Just said the same. Not very “academy first” this window, is it 

Just out of interest.... what new signing in this transfer window would put the "academy first"?

1 minute ago, Top Robin said:

Apparently he's a 6ft 2' striker

He was 6ft 4" when he signed.

Typical City.

Just now, Jose said:

So much for coming in and getting a head start ready for next season. Don’t really know what to make of this. 

A full pre season is a head start.

Just now, Davefevs said:

One who stands with his feet together!

No, what I meant was he’s a player like Matty James who goes quietly about his work and doesn’t grab your attention.

We're brilliant at signing players who don't grab your attention so it seems like a fit.

9 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Wrote this on WhatsApp to @Harry and @Exiled Robin and @redcherryberry just now:

which was what I mentioned yesterday.

What's an 'attention' player?

4 hours ago, FNQ said:

This will no doubt go against the grain, but in my opinion he ain’t up to it.

In such a critical position we need better. JK has a great engine, never stops running or trying, but he’s lacking the quality that we desperately need in such a critical midfield position. If we are to move on then so does JK.  He’s the weak link when compared to Matty James, TGH, Sykesy, or Joe Williams, and even Scott Twine..

There I’ve said it..

The last time I used the immortal phrase "There I've said it"-

it worked out really well for the player. Me... not so much.

( From BBC main page)     Rory Bidwell Age 12 from Torrington in Devon has a higher IQ (162) than Albert Einstein at the same age but has said "football is my life".

Dunno about you guys but there's definitely something VERY very intelligent looking about him.

3 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I don't believe in such things but I do know that for those who believe in such things it cant be Max. Having played every game we'd be top if it was him. 

Equally, for those that believe- it could be that we'd be bottom if it wasn't for Max These things work both ways.

I was listening to Talk Sport earlier and despite SC having huge experience , winning four promotions and two Cups - the only thing they managed to say about his appointment was " he's got the right accent to manage FGR". 

I was so annoyed I almost spat out my cider,  stabbed myself with my pitchfork and kicked my sheep.

Is this "job for Cotts" possibly a job for Cotts?

Minimum of 9 points and a late charge to sneak into the playoffs where the momentum will propel us into the Premier League. And my nurse has confirmed this as  a fact.

Interesting interview with Alex in the Daily Telegraph- I'd post a link but it doesn't work. Worth a read as there's new stuff worth knowing.

Alex Scott believed his hopes of being a professional footballer had ended with Bournemouth. Aged 14, he was released by the club just as he had been, a year earlier, by Southampton. How remarkable it is that the 20-year-old is now a £25 million star having been signed by Bournemouth last summer from Bristol City; the ‘Guernsey Grealish’ who is tipped to be a future England international.

“I never quit football. I always played football. But there was a point when I realised the opportunity to become a professional had probably gone, when I left Bournemouth. That was my mindset,” Scott explains.

“My head wasn’t there. I didn’t want to play football over there (mainland). Then two years later, to be given that opportunity again, I really wanted to go for it and it was a stroke of luck. I always played football non-stop but I thought the dream was over.”

It is quite a story. And it all began when Scott was just eight years old after he was scouted by Southampton at a summer camp in the Channel Island of Guernsey, where he is from. Soon he was leaving school early every Friday to fly to Southampton, spending the weekends in a hotel with either his dad Noel or mum Steph. Scott did that for almost five years.

“At first I just loved it,” he says. “In Guernsey it’s always, ‘You have to get off the island to play professional football’. So that was a dream for me, doing what I loved doing. The downside is you are in a hotel every single weekend.”

As he got older, the demands increased. There was a half-day at school on a Tuesday, Wednesday in Southampton, back on Thursday. “Things kept building up and it was getting tougher and tougher and I was not enjoying my football,” Scott admits. “I was not playing well anymore and I knew it was almost coming to an end.”

When he was let go it was “horrible” but he adds: “I saw it coming early on and at that point I wasn’t too fussed.”

‘I just thought...I’m the best player here’

It is tough for him to think about the sacrifices his parents made – and the expense. His “confidence was at an all-time low” when Bournemouth picked him up and it was little surprise that the move did not last, with Scott fearing all the time away from home actually meant he was missing out on part of his childhood. “You lose your whole social life back home,” he says. “I just wanted to be with my friends.”

What happened next is instructive as Scott re-found himself and re-built his career in grass-roots and non-league football back in Guernsey, firstly with St Martin’s and then, at 16, with the island’s men’s team, Guernsey FC, where it quickly became apparent he was far too good for that level.

“That is when I really enjoyed it again, I loved it and felt like I was ready to get back into the academy programme,” he says. “When you play for Guernsey you play for your island and you are representing 65,000 people and it’s not something you can take for granted.”

Soon a trial game was arranged with Bristol City – with Guernsey coach Tony Vance sending clips to the academy director Brian Tinnion. “Luckily I got the chance and scored a hat-trick,” Scott says. It was not just any hat-trick – it was a perfect hat-trick, left foot, right foot, header and all in the first 30 minutes.

“I went on trial and thought, not in an arrogant way, but I thought in training, ‘I am the best player here’ and I just had that belief to go on,” Scott says. “I never would have thought the time it took to get to the first team after that would be that short, it was only a year and a half, and half of that was lockdown.”

Bournemouth had continued to monitor his progress and even tried to hijack the deal to Bristol City but Scott had already agreed. “Bristol City heard that Bournemouth were interested and they said, ‘Get him here tomorrow’,” he says.

Scott instantly fitted in – and pays tribute to the lessons he learnt playing men’s football early. “That was one of the key things that made me stand out from the rest – the way I could use my body and my intelligence having played against senior and older lads,” he says.

“The lads (at Bristol City) were brilliant. Speaking to them now they say. ‘When you were first with us we knew you were going to go on’. It was a nice thing to hear.”

It was after Scott’s outstanding performance in Bristol City’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Manchester City last February, when that Grealish comparison was made and he swapped shirts with the England international, that things really started to “blow up”, although many clubs were already considering making a move. Scott knew a transfer was likely in the summer.

“While I was playing I found it easy to ignore. But once the season was done that’s when it got a lot harder because it’s almost down to you a little bit. You almost have to make your mind up – do you want to stay? Do you want to leave? It came to a point where, yes, I wanted to leave,” Scott says.

He was sold on Bournemouth’s “ambition and vision” – but then the whole deal was almost called off. Scott suffered a knee injury just before he was due to sign and, for the third time, it seemed he was not destined to play for Bournemouth.

‘The deal’s done...I was so happy’

“It was awful,” he says as he recalls video footage of his team-mates at Bristol City holding their heads in their hands as he went down in training. “You can see they are shocked and gutted for me. I went down on my knee and I thought the move was off. Because of what happened, the way it felt, I knew something was wrong.”

The initial scan resulted in a diagnosis of only one week out. But, then, after a medical in London, there was bad news. “I drove down to Bournemouth, was in the hotel and I have gone up to my room. I’m buzzing, about to sign the deal. I came down and I could see my agent’s face and I knew something had happened. He pulled me (to one side) and said, ‘12 weeks’. And I was like, ‘12 weeks?’ and he said, ‘Your knee, 12 weeks’.”

Scott was told the deal was not happening and sat dazed in a corner of the hotel as Max Aarons, who was also staying there, completed his move. He went to bed believing it was off and came down to breakfast the next morning to meet his agent Wayne Henderson and talk what next. “He just said, ‘The deal’s done’,” Scott recalls. “I was so happy.”

The knee damage ruled him out for the start of the season but allowed him to “scout” his new team-mates from the stands and learn what the impressive new head coach Andoni Iraola wanted from his team: pressing triggers, passing movements, pattern of play.

It meant that even when Bournemouth got off to such a tough start, with six Premier League defeats and three draws, Scott could see it would change. “Watching the games was huge, learning,” Scott says. “I knew when I came into training and when I played games things would click naturally. You are scouting your team-mates and seeing what they like. Which foot they use is important, which passes they see in games, who is likely to do a trick and beat a player, who is likely to cross early.”

Once fit Scott was thrown straight into the team and says “that was probably the best way to do it” as he and Bournemouth thrived. League leaders Liverpool are Sunday’s visitors to the Vitality Stadium and confidence is soaring with Scott likely to feature with his trademark look of having his socks rolled down. “I first did it because it was tight on my calves in the second half of a game and I ended up playing well so I kept it. Obviously Jack Grealish influenced it as well,” he says.

And the ‘Guernsey Grealish’ comparison? “Of course! He’s one of the best players in the league so I will take that,” Scott says, laughing.

13 minutes ago, redkev said:

I’m not being critical , I really do think we have the makings of a very good side , though we never seem to have them all ready at the right time , by the time this stokes lad ( if he signs ) and the Irish lad are up and ready for first team with our track record we will probably have sold another 2 or 3 so we never seem to get the best all at once , it’s just very frustrating, imagine if we would have been able to keep  semenyo scott and Kelly with this current side 

don’t get me wrong I know it’s never gonna happen but still no less frustrating 

Yes- possibly and it's frustrating to be a selling club  but SL said some time ago that was the model. The other issue is that as long as we are in the Championship , we have zero chance of keeping a player who wants away when a PL club comes calling and they all do even if its Bournemouth .

Some have said about a new collection of No10's as if it were a bad thing. I think that if we have developed two that are really good ( e.g. Murphy and possibly Stokes) then perfect- sell one and keep the other. Some time back it was hoped that this would be the case with Scott and Benerous but injury prevented this plan from happening.