Hamdon Mart

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. 

Hibernian Women have announced the signing of Ava Kuyken.

Sad that she's going, more often than not she'd impress me in centre midfield. 

Another good UTC podcast with a City link is Aaron Wilbraham, that's a good listen too. 

Listened to this episode this morning, a really good listen (even for a Yeovil fan, it mentions Gary, Lee, McIndoe etc). Won't spoil it for anyone but that prison gym story, bloody hell. Have just done some further research on that one.... gulp! 

Slightly off topic but if you go through the library of UTC podcasts, some of them are absolutely superb. The second part of the Clarke Carlisle one understandably gets a little dark but on the other end of the spectrum, FFS don't listen to the Andy Woodman ones when you're driving or else you'll end up in a hedge. So, so funny!! 

The trouble is though, clubs that advertise positions with what is perceived to be a poor salary will probably find somebody that WILL do the job for that salary & therein lies the problem. 

Folks circumstances are different and some will work for it if they have a few quid in the bank as a buffer. Some graduate type peeps will do it for the experience and a springboard into a different / better paid job elsewhere in the industry. If I was qualified enough to do this for £20-24k, I would possibly consider it. However as someone who has started working in football relatively recently (and in my mid fifties), I'm unlikely to be considered for the role.

2 hours ago, exAtyeoMax said:

yes, he tumbled over the speakers/amps at the front. Kept laughing about it afterwards

Was during "Read My Mind" then he changed the lyric to "Funny how you just fall down" seconds later to make light of it. Quick thinking.... 

8 hours ago, phantom said:

Strange then.

The Manics were on stage at 7.00pm last night, the decision for them to start half an hour earlier than advertised must have been taken well before then surely. And certainly not "shortly before 7.10pm".

And now Lia Cataldo joins Ffion in staying....

https://twitter.com/bristolcitywfc/status/1530115341912879105 

1 hour ago, Frenchay Red said:

Them starting at 7 took me by surprise.

There were several sound checks going on from around 6.30, and I wasn't really paying much attention to the stage when the utterly brilliant Motorcycle Emptiness began.

The knock on effect meant that there was an overly long wait after they finished to the Killers starting.

I think the different timings must have had something to do with the Killers' finish time. 

Originally, Manics were on at 7.30pm with the Killers on stage from 8.45pm, ending at 10.25pm. Assuming Manics would be playing 45 minutes, that would have left a 30 minute turn around between sets. Manics finished at 7.50pm, Killers stuck to the 8.45pm scheduled start though; if Manics had started at the publicised time of 7.30pm, Killers wouldn't have come in till 9.15pm and then finished at 10.55pm. That would have played havoc with people's buses, trains, curfews (?).....

Sorry there's a lot of times in that last par. 

Another one there tonight; on the pitch, just left of centre, quite near the front.

Didn't understand why the Manics came on at 7pm and not 7.30pm as advertised, maybe it was to do with the curfew I suppose. Was a little disappointed with the Manics to be honest, that's the ninth time I've seen them and far from the best. Killers on the other hand blew my socks off, no wonder people rave about them live, you can see why.

Great night and as an after thought, couldn't help thinking how small the pitch actually looked when you're on it. Dolman Stand looked really short which was bizarre, Lansdown was as grand as ever. 

The only ones I have away numbers for at Ashton Gate are...

Preston - 753
AFC Bournemouth - 2,429
Stoke - 890
QPR - 1,882
Fulham (FA Cup) - 715
Cardiff City - 2,272
Reading - 946
Hull City - 795

On 09/05/2022 at 13:57, Tinmans Love Child said:

https://www.football365.com/news/farewell-quest-treated-efl-just-right-respect-colin-murray-john-nicholson
 

Nice little story on Colin Murray’s EFL programme on Quest, and the move to EFL highlights on itv4 next season.

I think Colin has done a great job, he really shows that he gives a sh*t about the lower leagues, does his homework, and I always get the impression if you met him and said who you supported, he would know what’s going on with your team.  Hope he moves to ITV4 with the show!

 

He came down last season or the season before with Ali Maxwell & Gary Rowett to the Gate and did a programme from there. Came into the media room and walked over for a chat with me (I've not met the guy before by the way!). Asked me who I was working for, who I supported etc and then chatted for 10-15 minutes about my team knowing a lot about them for someone with absolutely no connection to them.

So in answer to your comments, yes he would. 

On 03/05/2022 at 22:34, phantom said:

I only just realised that Coventry United stayed up, considering at one point they were completely finished, then had a ten point deduction they did amazing to survive, and what a way to do it with a 97th minute winner 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/61309594

 

Went to this game at Vicarage Road.

In 50 years of watching football, that is right up there as one of THE most amazing finishes I've ever seen. If the free kick had gone wide/over, the ref would have blown for time straight after the goal kick and Watford would have stayed up with Coventry dropping down. 

As it was, it flew into the top corner and Coventry won. That said, Watford hit the bar in the time added on to the stoppage time, hearts in mouths time again. At least two ex-City players play for Coventry in the shape of Charlie Estcourt and Liv Fergusson. 

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I find the iOS app choppy at the HPC. So on safari and fine.

My phone calls often cut out up there, Dave, and I struggle to get tinterweb up there too. 

It's a shame that it's not built on top of a hill really....... oh, what's that? 

1 hour ago, Super said:

It's a no from me it never works second time round.........

To be fair, Gary Johnson at Yeovil worked brilliantly second time around. Took them into the Championship via the playoffs.....

58 minutes ago, shahanshahan said:

Club have announced that over 5000 tickets have now been sold for Sunday's game. Already going to be most attended home game for City Women & the FAWC, but this is even better

That's great news, can't wait for Sunday. Think my biggest challenge will be to remember the game's at AG and not to sail on up the hill to Failand.... 

2 hours ago, The Horse With No Name said:

On a side note, I think Keith Stroud is very much improved recently, and is one of the refs I enjoy watching, even if he is a bit OTT in his gestures.

I saw him at R***rs a couple of weeks ago and he's getting more flamboyant in his gestures these days. Not sure he's much improved although he's working from a low base admittedly.

8 minutes ago, B1ackbird said:

Couldn't he be sponsored by AA?

They would certainly help with his recovery! 

Seriously though, hope he can rebuild his career somewhere and sort out his MH issues. Everything he has gone through is something most of us have suffered but maybe not all at once and we're all built differently in terms of coping with it. 

1 hour ago, BCFC Richard said:

Honestly a terrible performance. We've seen some bad refs this season, but they've tended to be just incompetent and given bad decisions each way. He gave an insane number of free kicks their way, some were beyond baffling. The pen is super soft, Martin booked for a 'foul' when he would have been clean through. He was also constantly slow with the whistle and indecisive - him and the linesmen reversed at least two decisions. 5 yellow cards for us 1 for them. 20 fouls 'conceded' by us - 5 for them. 

One of the most unbalanced performances I can remember seeing - thank God we won. Honestly think we win that super comfortably (possibly even with a clean sheet) with a competent refereeing performance. 

Agree with your general comments about the ref but just to be pedantic.... City had four yellows (Kalas 31, Dasilva 66, Martin 82 & Williams 90+5) and Martin's yellow was for kicking the ball away. 

Really enjoyed the game today albeit it was sooooooooooooo cold, then it rained and for a while, the sun came out and was in my eyes!! (Stop grumbling - Ed).

Agree with Erithacus, Aimee Palmer was great today. In addition, Satara Murray was nearly back to her best too and for me, that was the best game I've seen Mel Johnson have. She had the right back on toast several times & with luck and more accurate finishing, she could have had two or three goals herself. Abi was Abi and could have had more, credit to the Palace keeper for keeping the score down. 

22 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

F & a language would count as dissent?

Foul & abusive language is a two game ban.

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

I genuinely wonder if he has some deep rooted issue with us.

Apparently he was on Yeovil’s books, so certainly has some connection to this part of the world.

In the 3 games quoted he has given the opposition 4 penalties (2 of which were very dubious) & last night gave every marginal call to QPR.

He’s either incompetent or biased.

I've commented on the matchday thread, Graham, but having followed YTFC for almost fifty years, I cannot remember him at all. 

IF he was with us, it wasn't for very long and he wasn't very good.