Portland Bill

2 hours ago, BarnzFM said:

It’s fair to say that this guy isn’t going to get a fair chance if someone of you are criticising where he’s looking in an interview ffs

I’ve no opinion either if he’s good or bad as a football manager.

My only thoughts are, when you are talking to someone, you look at that person. 

Was there something on the floor!. 
It was a hard watch imo. 

I’m surprised that others are surprised we haven’t signed anyone else.

I’m sure Pearson said in an interview about a week ago, that all business was done. 

Thought this may interest some of you.

Living in Somerset myself, I have had to listen to her numerous times over the last couple of years. She has been the commentator on all of Yeovil’s games.

She is 100% not the sort of commentator I want to listen to, I can’t handle the screeching voice, it drives me nuts. 

1 hour ago, phantom said:

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/city-men-news/digital-season-ticket-how-to-forward/

Worth going back through the previous pages on here if you get any problems as many were discussed with solutions 

Thanks mate, much appreciated

I’m slightly hijacking this thread!!.

I have bought 3 digital tickets for the Bristol Bears v Exeter Chiefs. They are for someone else, is it easy to send these tickets on to another person ? 

On 30/07/2023 at 11:21, italian dave said:

I think the Bountyhunter was before One Team in Bristol, wasn’t it?

OTIB was the one with the red cover. 

The Bountyhunter was different class, no City fanzine has ever come close to being as good as it was. 

1 hour ago, Jimbo123 said:

Fixtures are out tomorrow.

We'll be at home first weekend as the second weekend (12/08) the balloon fiesta is on.

With that in mind, do we have any preferences for the key dates?

Opening Home Game - Leeds or Leicester at home my preference. TV game in front of a sell out crowd, hopefully on the Friday night. Best to play the relegation sides before they get into their stride I usually find.

Opening Away Game - Sheffield Wednesday away, big away allocation and a winnable game.

Boxing Day - Just any home game will do, QPR at home I'll guess.

Final Day - Blackburn away. 8,000 allocation for if we need anything. Imagine we needed 3 points there for promotion  

Boxing Day, potentially Plymouth.

On 05/06/2023 at 10:40, Riaz said:

You must have missed alot of football then. Pulis days? Russell Osman days?

They weren’t good either, but Pulis and Osman didn’t have the luxury of spending the massive amount of money Johnson was able too.

I think it was four transfer windows he said he needed?. Whereas he was actually doing alright until he let all of Cotterill’s players go and bought his own in!. He was given all the riches, and dismally failed. 
I actually quite liked him as a player, as a manager he ended up sending me to sleep!. 

45 minutes ago, bcfcredandwhite said:

Really? 
I’ve been watching City admittedly a little longer than you (50+ years), and I’ve seen some really dire crap over those years - in lower divisions too. 

The football under Johnson ‘stagnated’ and became boring, it was right that he went  (although the way his successor was appointed was a debacle that made us a laughing stock) - we were burning money and going nowhere, but there was good stuff too like our cup run - that night vs Man U was one of the most enjoyable in my 50+ years as a fan.

 

 

I got so disillusioned watching his football that I stopped going, coupled with the fact he blamed everyone else for how bad it was.

He constantly threw players under the bus, and counted the ‘box entries’!

That’s how bad it was in my eyes. 

On 03/06/2023 at 18:58, Northern Red said:

I can only assume the people who are shocked that penalty was given by VAR haven't watched much PL football this season.

It's not corruption or any nonsense like that, just a shit rule being applied consistently. It has been all season in that league.

Exactly, we have a situation where there are two handball laws, one in the box, one outside the box.

The lawmakers are the problem, no one else.

10 hours ago, shelts said:

Some of the best football I’ve witnessed in my time watching Bristol City . He’s a decent enough guy and a tidy manager . I’m a little surprised how well he’s done at Hibs , don’t know Scottish football that well so can’t say if they finished where they should’ve 

Personally, some of the worst football I ever witnessed, that’s in the 45 years of watching City. 

5 hours ago, leader said:

Can anyone get it on the firestick

Sky sport 3 NZ 

English commentator.

On 31/03/2023 at 18:21, spudski said:

The laws state that defenders have to be 10 yards back from the ball.

If a free kick is given, and allowed to be played quickly, and a defender is within 10 yards, the laws state it it should be retaken. 

So to allow a quick free kick with that scenario, goes against the laws. 

Hence my posts on referees overruling laws of the game. 

Wrong, the referee can play the advantage rule. It’s little things like these that a referee would know, and a fan wouldn’t. 

If, when a free kick is taken, an opponent is closer to the ball than the required distance, the kick is retaken unless the advantage can be applied; but if a player takes a free kick quickly and an opponent who is less than 9.15 m (10 yds) from the ball intercepts it, the referee allows play to continue. However, an opponent who deliberately prevents a free kick being taken quickly must be cautioned for delaying the restart of play.

4 hours ago, spudski said:

I'll take that as a compliment, as most refs haven't got a clue. Hence the daily complaints. 

Who gives a shit about an assessor....our own manager constantly complains about the standard of refereeing and the association.

You have a typical referees view point...everyone else hasn't got a clue apart from you. **** off...****. 

Every referee ‘does’ give a huge shit about an assessor, but you know best big boy. 
You have just proved my point. You clearly don’t know any referees. 

On 31/03/2023 at 11:40, Three Lions said:

Your a ref? Would you let this one go in one of your games? Looks to me the defending team have to be thinking the refs going to a ceremonial free kick as hes fannying around and not in control.  

Two of the defending team are more interested in arguing with the referee than defending the free kick, so they got what they deserved. The whistle does not ‘have’ to be blown for a free kick to be taken, and it’s common all around the pitch for a player to take a free kick quickly, I personally don’t see any issues at all with the clip.

This scenario has happened numerous times.

On 31/03/2023 at 12:18, spudski said:

According to the Accrington players, the ref had verbally said to play to the whistle. They were expecting to set up a wall and go through the ' ceremonial free kick' procedure. The ref didn't comply to his own instructions. 

This thread and others on such subjects, just goes to show how so many of us find the free kick laws and rules applied by refs, baffling and ambiguous. 

Free kick laws are written by the FA, say that you are entitled to take a free kick or corner without having to wait for the referees whistle. 

However this law is rarely allowed ( so what's the point of having the law ), as referees decide to manage the game themselves. Instructing both sides how they will interpret and manage a free kick situation. 

If a referee has told both teams to play to the whistle, but then allows a quick free kick without his whistle, then this is where controversy happens. 

Then you have the ' ceremonial free kick'... which goes along the lines of...

• Place the ball
• Show players your whistle
• Tell them not to take the free kick until you signal to do so
• Move sideways/backwards to the players lining up in the wall – keep eye on the ball
• Stop at the nearest defender
• Establish 10 yards whilst still keeping an eye on the ball
• Use voice and presence to take player back with you into the wall
• When wall established to your satisfaction move to one side, level with or slightly in front of the wall still keeping an eye on the ball
• Blow whistle 

 

The laws go out of the window...as the ref chooses to manage the game how he chooses...which can change from game to game. 

They can decide to give an advantage, pull a game back, slow a game down, offer a quick or slow free kick routine etc etc etc. 

Controversy occurs when communication is either mis understood or poorly directed. 

 

Oh dear!. Have a chat with an assessor, then come back to me if you are still convinced the “ref decides to manage the game how he chooses”. 
You really haven’t got a clue!. 

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I’m talking about communicating / education to fans, to the media, etc.

re small misdemeanours, well for me they’ve made a rod for their own backs, and it’s a downward spiral of weakening the rules / laws (whatever they’re called).  Why not tell managers / players to “suck it up” rather than bend the rules for them l because they had a little whine.  And are decisions made with a view to how they they impact refereeing at lower levels.  It only takes a strong ref (and their bosses) to start tackling things like swearing, crowding, etc by sending players off, and it will start helping refs at lower levels.  Pro refs have a huge role to play in setting the standards of what is acceptable or not.

Mark my words, a few weeks of managers seeing refs enforce rules and sending a few off might make them think differently.  But today they moan and get their way as the rules are changed.

You’re passionate about refereeing.  I get that.  But I also think you’re in the camp of refs can’t come under any criticism too.

I’m passionate about the rules being followed consistently, I’m not blaming refs at all.  But, when does Alex Scott’s 5 yard kick the ball away become a distance where he does get a yellow for example.  6 yards, 7 yards…???  Isn’t an offence and offence, does “minor” come into it?  If kicking the ball away is a yellow card offence, and he’s on a yellow, then send him off.  It doesn’t matter whether he’s Alex Scott, nor what minute of the game it is, nor whether he’s on a yellow or not.  That’s what winds me up, I don’t believe there’s anything in the rules that say the ref should take those factors into their decision.

Rugby, usually very good about their rules, got it wrong a few years back with lifting at lineouts.  They changed the rules to allow lifting and it’s now a bloody farce.

I agree with the majority of what you say. I would love to see the Reds at the top throw red cards at these over pampered players.

But I know and so do you, as soon as this happened the media would go into overdrive and the officials would get the shit, not the players. 

Pro referees ‘have’ become soft on disciplining players, especially the swearing, diving and cheating, but if they clamped down big time, they will  get attacked from every corner, and especially on here!.  It will be the usual shite, the games not all about you ref blah blah. 

As for me protecting and support referees, someone has too!. It gets boring reading attack after attack on the officials. You only have to look on this forum. It amazes me just how many ‘football fans’ don’t even know the laws off the game, but feel they are qualified to attack the officials.

I can clearly remember a few years ago, an opposition player kneed the ball back to his keeper, 2/3 of Ashton Gate stood up and screamed for a back pass, they didn’t even know the rule. 

6 hours ago, W-S-M Seagull said:

What happened to the GK having 8 seconds to release the ball? 

It’s 6 seconds, it’s another one that the authorities didn’t feel the need to clamp down too hard on after the initial first season. It causes a lot of hastle and controversy, so instead the referees will normally vocally tell the keeper to get on with it if he/she feels the keeper is taking too long. 

3 hours ago, sugarwray said:

Also for the end of each half (including extra time) I thought

Restarts!. 

17 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

I remember reading that 'Obstruction' was being dropped, but it looks like it was (pointlessly) renamed. Below from the Irish examiner ;
"In a longwindedness drive, the offence ‘obstruction’ was removed from Fifa’s Laws of the Game in 1997 and was replaced with “impeding the progress of an opponent.”
‘Impeding the progress of an opponent means moving into the path of the opponent to obstruct, block, slow down or force a change of direction by an opponent when the ball is not within playing distance of either player.’

The penalty for impeding remains an indirect free-kick"

I do get why @Clutton Caveman said it was dropped, as I said it was announced at the time. Just in real terms it meant nothing.
As for 'Shielding the ball" . I was always told , to shield the ball legally, you had to be within playing distance of the ball. In todays game I have seen players yards away from the ball, basically shoulder charging an opponent to stop him getting the ball, and nothing given. As always, inconsistency and lack of clarity are a main fault. 

You can throw the ball away and not get punished, but kick it the same distance and you possibly would.
Kick a player running through chasing after a ball , when you are yards away from the ball , with no chance of playing the it, and it's a booking. If the same player was stood still not trying to play the ball ? Sending off. 

Little inconsistencies that need clearing and cleaning up. Personally I think that Assistant Referees should be used as such. The days of Offsides and throw ins should be binned and more trust and power given to them. It seems some Refs (not all) still believe that they are the only eyes on the pitch worth a say. 

Shielding/protecting the ball has become part of the modern game, every player does it, none of them complain, it’s now accepted, the officials rarely get involved, simply not worth making a meal out of something which players accept is the norm.

 With regard to the ‘taking one for the team foul’ and as you described it, I totally agree, a lot of those fouls should be a red. It’s exactly the same as a professional foul when a player is through on goal. 
Assistant referees are heavily involved in decision making, they are in constant 90 minute communication with the referee on microphone but you just don’t see it. 
Re kicking/throwing the ball away, I explained in a previous post how things have changed re this. 

8 hours ago, Davefevs said:

They can win….they can communicate / educate better, even little changes in their tolerance to things like kicking the ball away.

Will wait to see how Webb transforms refereeing.

They communicate for 90 minutes believe me. I’ve pointed out before about  the kicking the ball away matter. Managers and players ( and fans!)  moaned about the amount of bookings for small misdemeanours ( in their eyes) which often led to a player getting a red for two minor offences.

So, the FA told referees not to give yellows for these ‘minor’ offences. 
So don’t blame referees for following instructions given to them from the powers that be. 
 

Let’s imagine, 30 minutes to play, Alex Scott already on a yellow card, proceeds to kick the ball 5 yards away after giving away a free kick. Do you want him sent off?. Or do you want the ref to just have a word?. 

4 minutes ago, Midred said:

There's probably not a law that says the ref should be consistent in his administration of the laws!

When the team that wins the free kick asks the referee to get the opposition players back 10 yards, he will. When a team wins a free kick and wants to ‘play’, they can, as long as the ball is in the position where  the foul/ handball was committed. 
Take in to consideration, an injured player on the floor, a yellow card for the offence, the opposition players standing over the ball. 
You will find it’s not a simple consistency matter, as every stoppage is different. The only way you will find out, is to referee a game yourself. 

14 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

I think you are correct. I worded it rule change as couldn't think of an alternative phrase. 95% of the time referees stop quick free kicks or pull them back as nobody was ready. There should be a directive that free kicks can be taken as soon as the team fouled wish.

You will find that there is communication between the referee and the players. 99% of the time the team with the free kick will ask for “ten yards”. The defending goalkeeper will also ask for the whistle.