Hamdon Mart

Thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon's entertainment at the RHPC and as miser says, should have been more.

Abi Harrison could have broken scoring records today if things had gone differently. One cleared off the line, smashed one against the bar, put two more wide and scored twice too. Glad to see she's got off the mark for the season, think more goals will follow. 

City overcame the loss of Vicky Bruce in the warm up and galloped into a two goal lead shortly after the halfway point of the first half (an Abi Harrison double) and when the chances came and went during the game, and with only a two goal lead, you feared what might happen if Palace pulled a goal back. Thankfully they didn't and City wrapped up the game with two in the final fifteen minutes, the second of which was a scorcher from Emily Syme. Been said before, usually by the esteemed @Erithacus, but Aimee Palmer makes evrything tick, such a good player and maybe a touch under rated. Other stars for me were Ffion Morgan and Emily Syme when she came on.

Depth wise, I think City are as strong as I've seen them and must almost have two very good players for each position now. Really enjoyed today and congratulations to Lauren & her staff for a great afternoon. 

I for one thank you for bringing it up.

I've discovered I've had 67 laugh reactions for 134 posts, a nice precise 0.5 laughs per posts & I've also had 264 reactions from those posts which weighs in at a very healthy 1.97 reactions per post.

Chuffed with those figures to be honest. *

* (Of course, now I've created this post, my figures are all skew wiff again.)

Just in case you missed the start of the cricket at The Oval, here it is courtesy of the Barmy Army's Twitter feed....

https://twitter.com/TheBarmyArmy/status/1568544470131425280

The sport of cricket have also shown exactly how to do it this morning.

A respectful silence followd by the South African anthem and topped off with our National Anthem. Superbly sung, emotional and rounded off with a stirring round of applause.

Football, you've missed out here. 

4 minutes ago, Super said:

Sure there will be games midweek.

City are at Norwich in midweek. Not sure how many will make the trip, a few hundred perhaps.

As against 18-20k that could/should have paid their respects at AG tomorrow. 

Big difference. City aren't home again till 1st October, almost two weeks after she's buried. The moment will have gone by then. 

4 hours ago, Super said:

You are right and now the Rugby Authorities are going to come under fire for playing on.

I've been on Twitter for most of the afternoon and haven't seen any evidence of this. Quite the contrary in fact, they've been congratulated for making a fair, sensible decision and communicating it properly.

Football's big problem is that it is more worried about "how things look" than actually dealing with facts and getting to the root causes of things. Once you start worrying about the wrong things, you take your eye off the ball and make decisions that are either slightly baffling or plain stupid. This has been evidenced many times over the years.

The Gate would have been fantastic tomorrow. Might have sold a few more tickets on the day, upwards of 18-20k people paying their respects, belting out the National Anthem and sharing the day with fellow like minded folk. You can tell people get comfort and strength from being with others; yes, there's a few goons that are at Balmoral, Windsor & Buckingham Palace to be seen on TV but for a lot of people, they are there (and would be at the Gate tomorrow) so they can meet up with others & talk about their memories of the Queen. Have a pint or three, raise a glass to the Queen (and to the new King) and celebrate a life well lived. Instead, many will probably spend the day grizzly, on their own, sat in front of the box and fed up. And feeling like that, many people won't bother to pay their respects anyway. The Queen will have been buried for nearly a fortnight before City play a home game, the moment by then will have gone.

Tell me that's the right decision. 

3 minutes ago, BrizzleRed said:

Ok, so have a word with whoever makes decisions for his team, as it isn’t compulsory to cancel everything

If his son plays in the JPL, chances are it won't be his club's decision. 

Toolstation Western League have said "The intention is to continue with the League programme with the recommendation of a minutes silence before kickoff. If clubs wish to wear black arm bands, they are approved.

The decision is subject to any instruction from the Football Association."

I said last night on Twitter that I think they will call off the fixtures for this weekend but that I politely disagreed with that policy.

For me personally, I'd love to pay my respect to the Queen by belting out "God Save The Queen" Tony Adams-style at the Gate tomorrow joined by 20,000+ like minded others. Could also have a two minute silence or two minutes of applause as well then into the game. If people want to mourn the Queen in a non-football environment, then feel free to do so... the country has entered a period of national mourning for ten days so there will be plenty of opportunities to mourn in a more reverent fashion.

This has been the culmination of many years' hard work from Jay to get to this point and I for one could not be any happier, this was the best deadline deal ever!

I remember there were a few whispers that the club would retire the shirt until Jay was old enough to wear it but this was many years ago when Jay was in Exeter's academy. Back then, it would still have been somewhat of a pipe dream; although he has always been a gifted player, that is still some jump to be a good enough player to play in League One at 19 and whether he feels it or not, there will be pressure on him because of his dad's name. 

My two lads and I visited all 92 clubs in 2 weeks to raise money for the ASF and met the family who are some of the nicest people I've ever met. They treated us to match tickets (we finished at Exeter City on a Saturday) and lunch and arranged a special on-pitch presentation at half time. They must be busting with pride at what Jay has achieved and is still achieving and Jay's younger brother Taylor's not a bad player either. 

1 minute ago, elhombrecito said:

Yes, we got an extra sub too, which can be used in a an extra 'block'.

Thanks!! 

Following on from the last question then about subs (and I should really know this...)

I thought you had to make your five subs in three "blocks" plus half time but City's were on 78, 82, 87 and 90+3. I presume that's part of the concussion sub scenario then too.

2 hours ago, robin for life said:

Quite right too, put in an excellent shift, been unselfish all game, and the chance he gets to put his name on sheet, is an awful ball. Then he gets subbed with 90 seconds to go, rather than giving him the full 90 he deserved. 

To be fair, taking him off when the game is won means he gets a decent individual ovation from the fans which will boost his confidence IMO.

I've watched City for three seasons, this is my fourth and tonight was as good as I've seen Massengo play. Treat him right, get him to sign the contract and he will be a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggge asset for the club, either playing wise or to sell & finance other transfers. 

I like the lad; 100 games in the bank six weeks after your 21st birthday is damn impressive. 

I produce Cadbury Heath's programme (in association with the vice chair) and they're a lovely little club with some great people involved there. Chuffed to bits they won last night! 

Attendance was 403 (for the pedants among us!).

Came up as a last minute decision and glad I did as I got to meet @shahanshahanagain which is always a Brucie bonus. Thoughts on the game? Very impressive display by City particularly in the first half; think Shania Hayles is an upgrade on Mel Johnson and I like the look of the Boddy/Syme axis in midfield. Mustaki looked decent and Brooke Aspin had another good game at the back. Abi Harrison was, well, Abi Harrison and rattled in another unstoppable shot from the edge of the box.

Second half was a bit disjoined with players going off then coming back on again in different positions but all in all, worth a fiver of my hard earned to see the slightly new look Robins. Lauren Smith is a very, very good manager, extremely under rated too, I'm glad she's our manager. 

1 minute ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I don't think Stroud's ever been a particularly bad referee, more quirky, but we're coloued by our poor record with him in charge. For the most part he was fine yesterday, although Chris Martin may have felt hard done by with some of the decisions that went against him. Sunderland fans can certainly have no complaints as another ref may have sent Pritchard for a very early bath yesterday. 

It wasn't Pritchard, it was Corry Evans.

15 hours ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Need to see it again, but at the time thought Pritchard was lucky to stay on the pitch, maybe later in the game he would have seen red.

Not sure if the knock took just before half time compounded the original knock or another, but he just stopped moving after.

It was Corry Evans that crocked Massengo. 

I thought that the capacity for football matches was 26.5k because of the segregation.

The Atyeo holds 4.2k (?) and Downsy announced there was 2,352 from Sunderland so 1,848 shy of capacity in that stand. 26,500 - 1,848 leaves 24,652 which is pretty much what was said. From my vantage point in the Lansdown Upper, there were a few dozen empty seats in the South Stand block nearest to the Lansdown. 

On a footnote, when I worked for Yeovil, the ticket office manager said there would usually be between 10%-12% of ST holders that don't turn up for games. Leaving aside the fact that Yeovil were/are s**t, if that equates to City as well, it means that around 1.5k ST holders don't get to games which would also explain the disparity between what we see and what the crowd is announced as. 

Agree with Gazred on this one.

Had a similar choice a couple of years ago, laptop or tablet & went for tablet. Found it far more flexible and last year, bought a keyboard/shell case off eBay for about £15, effectively making it feel like a laptop anyway.

4 minutes ago, BS2 Red said:

What way did it go? Well i'm not bloody chasing it!

 That's the one, it had to be.

Bless him, he will be sorely missed. Hope the club do something for him; appreciate they can't do it for everyone but even a still picture of a red fedora on the big screen at a certain time in the match would be IMO a fitting tribute. 

14 minutes ago, BS2 Red said:

There was a time when every single time I was on a bus he seemed to be on there. And every single time he was telling somebody the "lion escaped from the zoo" joke. It's a terrible joke, but I laughed every single time I heard him telling it to yet another person.

If that's the same gag I've heard him tell often, I'll never hear it again without thinking of him.... 

Really sad news to read this morning. 

First met Stoney about a decade ago when his grandson started playing for my youth football team. He'd come along and cheer him on, all the while his encouragement would be interspersed with gag after gag after gag.

A lovely guy that would do anything for anyone. Think there was an urban myth that one game he was refereeing his own team and he headed them a last minute equaliser from a corner (or something similar).

A very sad day for local football in general. Love and best wishes to the family, all of whom are massive City fans. 

A fascinating thread, this, especially as I've started research on a book about this very subject. I actually started the research more than two years ago and have dozens of celebs (some, er, more celeb than others!) that have agreed to do an interview for my book.

Some of the names mentioned on the thread are spot on, others are a little wide of the mark. 

I plan to start interviewing/writing at the end of this year and hopefully, the book will be out sometime in 2023. 

12 hours ago, Erithacus said:

Had a suspicion that Coventry were in a bit of flux. Don't think they have any connection with Coventry City, so are on their own. Could there be a chance to pick up one or two prospects?

And great news that Fran is going to be between the sticks again. Real feather in City's cap, that.

I think they're completely on their own which is probably part of the reason why they're in such a financial state.

I'd take Mollie Green, scorer of that iconic 97th minute winner that saved the club on the final day at Watford, and possibly Katie Wilkinson too, the captain. They've also got former City stars Charlie Estcourt & Olivia Fergusson too.

It's quite sad that after that extraordinary finish to the last campaign, a lot of the good feeling and momentum seems to have been lost albeit by making a decision that in the medium to long term, should be the right one.