Bedred31

Years and years ago at England matches, it was ‘one man went past Mo, went past Maurice Malpas, one man and his guide dog went past Maurice Malpas’. Now, as a ageing, respectable professional member of the establishment, I still laugh at that.

Virtually any footy crowd can be controlled by half a dozen British policeman- 2 on horseback, 2 with dogs, 1 with a video and 1 to drive the van. Then there’s France or Italy, where you have half a dozen different para military outfits and officers equipped with automatic weapons, handguns, tear gas, riot shields and mirrored sunglasses.

I did a bit of refereeing in the late 80’s after I finished playing. N and E London, specifically the magnificent Hackney Marshes. The piece of golden advice I was given when I started was ‘don’t referee kids or the Greek League’. Sound advice then.

This, I know, will jar with the modern zeitgeist, but female presenter interviewing England’s women players for their halftime thoughts is not the way to cover England v Germany.

Fair point about free coverage. And to be fair, Le Saux’s an ok contributor.

Yes- results aside, quite the most awful footy coverage I’ve ever seen. Can’t think of a single aspect that is better than dire.

Southgate going the way of all England managers. Playing players out of position and players who are demonstrably out of form and not playing for their clubs, because they’ve served him well in the past. He seems to have lost any ability to inspire or motivate, and he’s always been a fairly ordinary tactition. His major advantage- luck ( he’s never had serious injuries like Erickson and has two pretty favourable draws in competitions- seems to be deserting him as well. With a bit of that luck, we’ll have a respectable World Cup, but I can’t see him in post this time next year.

A look at the Championship ins and outs is striking. Virtually every club has significantly more outs than ins. Burnley really the only club with a number of big sales ( one or two other isolated examples) and almost every fee ‘undisclosed’. Compared to 3 years ago, the Championship market has collapsed, although the parachute payment clubs can still evidently pay competitive wages. If NP achieves anything from this he’s a genius- no City manager has been so restricted since Russell Osman put his hand in his pocket at a presser and pulled out coppers.

Bugger- it’s tomorrow isn’t it.

But not in the next hour and a half- absolute genius having a full fixture list on deadline day.

Ref then allowed + 5 mins, primarily to allow for the numerous Cardiff subs in the second half, notwithstanding that it was ‘their time’! As a postscript, I remember no subs- just. Came in for the 1970 World Cup, I recall, as FIFA were worried about playing at altitude and heat in Mexico.

Our corners are terrible. Varied, but near post, far post or training ground plan, always dreadful.

I still have the Evening Post supplement- ‘65 Years of Ups and Downs’. 65 years seemed an impossibly long period of time. 42 years feels equally incredible.

We rarely beat Luton! Time to take stock will be the first international break from 17 September- we’ll be 11 league and at least 2 cup games in by then. Either way, SL’s a reluctant sacker, so NP’s safe until Christmas, when I think things will look a lot better. (For a start, Strictly, which my wife is addicted too, will be off the telly).

Do we actually own these buses?

This is getting very ‘Clough for England’ (you have to be 50+ to understand) and I suspect that only death will break the relentless refrain.

And they won’t be doing it for free. Undoubtedly more expensive than local police, which means the club, in due course, will be picking up the bill, unless we already have a fixed service user agreement with ASC, which would mean local taxpayers picking up the bill.

Don’t think ‘neutral’ in this context means reasonably convenient for both sides, as it’s still a Coventry home fixture. Somewhere in the Midlands is my guess- and WBA would be better for us. Dark horses, say MK Dons or Oxford- both newish, well tended outfits.

I agree, absolutely, in an ideal world. But we’re not even where we were 3 years ago. Put yourself in NP’s boots. You have £8-10m to play with, and think this could keep us up and help the club to push on, or £0. Do you throw the dice or protect a club asset at the price of your job? It’s not as if he hasn’t set the scene in recent interviews.

He was a ‘Villa lad’ and Scott’s a ‘City lad’ and at present, in financial terms, there’s a universe of difference.

We should brace ourselves for a surprisingly modest offer from a prem. club. The landscape is still different post Covid and no one’s gong to offer £15-20m with add ons. Initial offers may be £5-7m and at £8+ we are at risk. And we’re not just a selling club now, we’re a selling club in a hole. Difficult to keep a player anyway who can triple his wages with a move to any team in the top flight. Either Scott or Antoine will go this window- NP will demand it because he knows he needs 2/3 more and this is the only way to finance it- and the fee will probably be ‘undisclosed’ as it won’t be over £10m.

This is not a typical season as the fixture list is initially very crowded. We have, I think, 8 league games in August? This will shake out in the next month or so, because the 10 games in threshold will come v quickly. Personally I’m a bit bemused by the Pearson experience. I really like the theory of him as manager - quite different from before, shake up the lazy players stealing a good living, proven track record at this level. But I thought some things were a given- good organisation, strong spine, high work rate, bit of niggle. In other words, more perspiration than inspiration, but with a shout at pulling it off. Yet our defence is the most porous it’s ever been in my 50 years of supporting City. We’re going to have to see this through, I think, as we have no money to spend and frankly Steve L left the building about 18 months ago ( as he’s entitled to and as I would if I was him).

I’ve never understood the equation between flares and ‘atmosphere’. To me atmosphere is shouting, chanting, singing- with shirts, scarves, banners and flags. Jumping up and down. How blinding/choking your fellow fans with a nautical distress signal improves atmosphere is just lost on me.

Lots of positives from today. Pearson‘s got a good nucleus and has them playing to a plan/mindset. And he’s done it with no money. But we’re v vulnerable to the effect of injuries. When fit, this lot can compete, even, with a bit of luck, challenge. But 3/4 key players out ( and usually by Christmas our tally is 5/7) and it could get iffy v quickly. Lot rides on August- got to keep Scott and Antoine and bring in at least 1 more, which means shifting out some more deadwood.

Yes, and having been at every major England match since 1988, I’m very grateful. And I don’t need reminding, cos I was there, always. But in 2018 and 2021 we scored early, bossed the game, then sat back, lost the initiative, failed to make the right impact subs at the right time, tried to protect a 1 goal lead , let the opposition back in before running out of steam and losing. Literally the opposite of everything that occurred in the second half tonight.