Open End Numb Legs

Let's face it, we don't really know what the players and coaches say to each other during the game these days, they spend the whole time with their hands over their mouths with paranoia at being lip read.

I remember years ago in my cricket days, the skipper and me had a regular laugh to break the tension when the game wasn't going well. If the opposition batsmen (batters?) were running away with the game and we had tried everything, we would stand in the middle of the pitch pointing and waving our arms about to give the impression we had some great plan to turn things around when in reality we were saying 'we're stuffed', 'your missus is looking good today' and 'where are we drinking after the game?' I sometimes wonder if the pros do that.

That Barnsley badge is great, proper old school that.

They probably think Doncaster United were in for him too...

5 hours ago, MarcusX said:

Not sure you can credit Pep or call it an unusal call to sub Ederson? He suffered a head injury and clearly didn't look right even after the game.

It caught my attention that he was checked by the physios and passed as ok. After play re started he seemed ok, making himself available for passing and showed no signs of the knock with his decision making. I agree - concussion is very serious, but why sub him then and not immediately at the time of the injury?

It was as though Pep over ruled the medical team and decided, with the importance of the result, to take no chances.

An interesting 5 minutes I thought.

18 hours ago, Gillies Downs Leeds said:

 

Sounds like a lot of scouts!

12 hours ago, Super said:

Pretty disrespectful towards West Ham saying they have already won the league.

Writing their team talk for them. A shame WH don't have anything to play for but then sometimes motivation comes from strange places, such as being written off beforehand. Moyes will have a plan for sure.

I saw most of the game last night. Very tippy tappy, both teams looked reluctant to shoot. Credit to Pep for that unusual call on subbing the keeper.

About Villa, that is quite an achievement this season when you look at the teams below them. Europe is a great adventure - if you have the depth of squad to play that much football.

55 minutes ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

......FFS these are all in one season .....

 

The Gaffta Nominations for 2023/24....

A tough list to whittle down.

Seeing as there are so many to list, we should break it down into categories for awards purposes:-

On pitch laughs

New stand mistakes

Hospitality hostility (toilet roll on a twig etc)

Squad makeup

1 hour ago, Peter O Hanraha-hanrahan said:

I know we’ve got our ‘Champagne Moment’ of the season but I was wondering what their MD20/20 moment of the season was?

1) Forgetting to fax the paperwork off when trying to sign JCH

2) 75 fans to Fleetwood 

3) losing 5-0 to Lincoln

4) Their ‘Daddy’ getting sacked and replaced by Arnold Rimmer

5) Their club suggesting disabled fans are abnormal

6) Breaking their own record for consecutive games without a goal after selling their best player for £4 million less than they said he was worth.

7) Having their attendances beaten by our Women’s team

I may have missed out many others.

Personally I think the whole JCH **** up takes some beating.

An excellent summary. I suppose you could add leaving space for a big screen in the new stand but then putting it on the roof so spectators can't see it.

The burnt food is memorable. Not to be re posted now as it is lunch time.

I only popped in to use the facilities, been stuck in here ages, can't find my way out.

'You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave'

7 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

That takes me back! The old school wheel-in telly!

They can warm up the valves whilst the players are warming up.

On the roof? There were questions on here as to why there was a seating gap at one end. The theory by some was that it was reserved space for a big screen, then someone said they needed a crane to lift it in but couldn't because the new roof was in the way. Is this the result?

I have a techy sort of brain which is all fine with 'there's something wrong with the PC/car/washing machine*' sort of Dad role but when I see the talent of Squires it does make me wish I was wired with a bit of art in my head too.

* Other domestic problems are available. Regularly...

25 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Why foreign owners per se?

Not saying we should do it, a comment more about how other clubs have done it and the anti feelings that often seem to follow, whether rich (Newcastle?) or just pretending to be rich (Gas?).

Obviously people can have their opinions but I really don't agree with this OP.

Taking our money? Not in the PL? I think some people have a lack of awareness. Just look around at other clubs and what their situation is.

The sports pages are currently dealing with relegation misery, dodgy owners, points deductions, constant manager changes. Meanwhile the really big teams are disliked by everyone except in the primary school playground where they can only understand trophy numbers.

I am disappointed my Dad didn't live to see another promotion but he was a realist and always understood how much investment the club needed just to tread water.

I don't agree with everything the club might do but having new foreign owners just to get into FFP trouble with a PL relegation dogfight is not something I would enjoy.

Challenging for top 6 feels about right for the club at this time. If only we could find a way to beat the bottom 6 teams we would have been a lot closer this season. That is down to the coaches to work on and a more interesting discussion for me than SLs strategies.

Whoever wrote that could be individually thrown under a bus when instead the organisation should look at the training and development that is provided to them.

When that club asks for volunteers to maintain the buildings and infrastructure (remember 'keeping your hand in during retirement' adverts?) you do wonder whether they have competent staff in the right places, volunteers or not.

39 minutes ago, Bristol Rob said:

Well this is a full house if you are playing "excuses and managing expectation" Bingo.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cq5n9v0jjyno

 

A mis quote there?

Instead of '.....  intent and drive'

He said '..... in tents and drivel'

1 hour ago, Judah_Eskendar_Tafar said:

Ring of Bells (CPH)

 Golden Lion

 Live and Let Live

 Globe

 Star

 Half Moon

 Fire Engine

 Horseshoe

 Rising Sun

My Dad used to say you could always tell a true sports fan by the way he gave traffic directions...  

'Can you tell me how to get to the train station please?'

'Yes, you go left at the Queens Head, straight on at the Kings Arms and right at the Red Lion. If you see the Dog and Duck you have gone to far.'

I grew up and went to school in 1970s Wiltshire. All the football talk was about the big teams. No one else even went to watch professional football, it was your local town game Saturday and The Big Match on Sunday.

Then for the last couple of years there was a lad in class who had moved out of Bristol and was a City fan. I finally had someone to talk to during Monday morning maths about the game we had seen 2 days before.

It was great to chat about our heroes, not so good for my maths though.

30 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

We definitely do seem to an older support. In my little group of 7 there are only 2 younger than me (I'm 60 this year) . There does seem to be a bit of a 'yoof' section coming through, a lot of those being sons and grandsons of us older ones. What is more concerning for me, is that areas that in my younger days were almost entirely Rovers, just aren't any more.

My view is the 'areas' thing is in the past, for any team in any city. Life just isn't like that any more, what with work, transport, education, accommodation.

Perhaps some of your generation have given up somewhat on catching up with City and the next youth generation have less rivalry in mind.

4 minutes ago, Miah Dennehy said:

Any idea how the City woman's game was priced and were there any freebies for STH? That's not a dig btw, I am genuinely concerned at figures like this and my club ignore them at their peril. 

I can't answer your question but can I ask another?

Do you think it true that there is an older demographic at the Mem or is that just an OTIB perception? If true that would be my concern if in your shoes, rather than the actual numbers.

I think the Barton era was terrible for a club trying to be family friendly. How would anyone want to align their youngsters with that sort of role model?

1 minute ago, bert tann said:

He owns a 16000 capacity kebab shop in Venice

Plenty of pillars in Venice, explains the inspiration for the new stand.

This is cautionary example to us all I guess. I wasn't there but can imagine how a crowd would jump to the wrong conclusion, adding to the problem and the stress.

The instinct to protect is very strong, leaving one child to deal with the other must have been very tough.

I was in Cornwall over Easter. Met a family who had lost their 4 year old who had run out of a public toilet into a car park and disappeared. The panic and stress for the parents was easy to see. Roads, cars, incoming tide, sand dunes, cliffs.... several of us, all strangers, helped search the area, fortunately he was found safe along the beach but in that moment of dealing with such a situation your mind is racing.

There are so many factors at play here. There are 4 physical mobile networks, companies such as Giffgaff, Tesco, Sky etc all piggy back onto one of those.

The proximity of the cell tower and the capacity of the cell tower will dictate how much data can pass through. All very well having a high speed 5G connection to the tower but if the data link back to the network from the tower is at max capacity your data will still queue through a router and/or get discarded.

People trying to watch video such as Sky Go updates rather than just browse the BBC scores pages will clog up the whole works.

Wifi technology is short distance so would need a lot of antennae around a ground to work well. This also still needs a high capacity link back to the network to carry all the data. If you are linked to the wifi but on the edge of range, your mobile might keep swapping between cell data and wifi which probably won't help.

As with all things, it comes down to money. Installing lots of network capacity which is only used for a few hours a week and for half the year might seem costly to a club. I am surprised that mobile or fixed network operators don't do more in exchange for advertising.

2 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

I find it hard to believe that this is genuine, as there are no spelling errors!

No way they would get that apostrophe right.