GrahamC

Whisper it, but Keith Stroud has been very good.

Don’t think Manning reckons the rest are up to it. Bet Tinnion would be raging if Nige had gone with 7 subs.

Gow scored the year after in a 3-1 defeat.

100%. One isolated incident aside (Aston Villa, I think) where it wasn’t working, this has been flawless. Remember Wells’ goal at Blackburn, this innovation has been a success. VAR is far too open to interpretation, we quickly moved away from clear & obvious error into complete guesswork. Also hard to avoid the thought that it is being inconsistently applied. Liverpool created a media frenzy over an “error” in a game of theirs but the reality is they, Man City, Chelsea, Man U benefit far more often from it, sides like Wolves, Bournemouth, Burnley & Luton have had loads more contentious decisions go against them.

March ‘75, Donnie Gillies. The first away match I ever attended outside of Bristol.

100%. The fact that he has attended a couple of rugby games recently & did a Q&A for them tells you all you need to know. His only interview was in Guernsey & focused mainly on the sale of Alex Scott. I think (as others have posted) he’s basically lost interest & handed it all over to his son.

Wouldn’t be completely shocked. He failed at both Stoke & Southampton, in hindsight his success at Luton now looks far more a case of being a part of a slick operation, as Edwards is taking it to another level. Wouldn’t mind him getting it, as he’s totally obnoxious in every way & I struggle with the concept of someone managing them (Coughlan, Tisdale) who isn’t easy to despise.

Standard. Inflate a pretty poor crowd by pretending no one there at all supports the opposition. Track record as serial liars for this.

To be fair if it was anywhere near that penalty spot he probably couldn’t see what he was doing.

Harsh on Newport.

This is definitely in the wrong thread. Delighted for Seb though, this lad has got it.

I don’t know, is the honest answer as to whether it is a wider reflection, after all it was only 200 people, so definitely not a larger sample size than OTIB. I’ll be honest I’m bemused at present, nothing Manning has said worries me but the rest of the set up, plus the frankly bizarre forum last night has made me wonder if what I thought about our fanbase was right.

That first bit simply isn’t true. At the end of his first season in charge Tinnion was effectively allowed to dismantle Danny Wilson’s squad. The likes of Tommy Doc, Matt Hill & Danny Coles all left & he brought in 7 more players, most of whom were disasters. He had his own squad, but he couldn’t manage them, the likes of Dave Partridge, Grant Smith & Michael Bridges were on him, not the regime before. He never managed another football club again because he isn’t a good manager.

Look, I really don’t think the major point here is whether he could or couldn’t make tonight’s meeting. Perhaps he thought it would be a total waste of time, had something else to do? Not sure that he goes to the senior reds is remotely relevant, either.

Ian Gay lives in Devon now, I believe. Absolutely reasonable for him not to be there in those circumstances.

I was supposed to have been going tonight, but a combination of a full on day at work, (not finishing until 5.45) feeling pretty rotten all day & some personal stuff that I have going on meant I didn’t make it. I wanted to say that before this next bit, because I do absolutely understand why those who live miles away or who have other valid reasons why they don’t want to be in an enclosed space at present, weren’t there. However those who could & are on this thread saying why don’t they ask this or they should ask that, are as much a part of the issue as to why it has clearly been dominated by the hard of thinking & sycophants, who want to know if the Lansdowns have anything they would like to tell their loyal subjects. Sadly a significant percentage of our fan base are total ********, you only have to listen to comments you hear in the ground & so when you have a combination of being stupid & inarticulate you get questions like tonight.

@Davefevs re 8 subs, it was only 8 on Saturday as well. This suggests that he doesn’t think the likes of Nelson or Araoye are worth a place yet & young Joseph James dropped out at the weekend having been on the bench up at QPR. Like you I’d play Naismith at LB in Pring’s absence- he’s played there before, has loads of experience & is left footed. Interesting to me that Manning has already said at least once we are thin on numbers, so you do wonder if not having a full subs bench for either game so far is a subtle attempt to make the point we need a couple of new faces in January.

100%. Only saw the last 15 minutes or so but did well. Obvious difference in resources but absolutely no lack of determination or skill. Let’s hope they can finish above another club in the mini league at the bottom.

For Southampton I’d start with Weimann over either of them. Far more likely to contribute to the defensive side of things & neither of the other two are exactly knocking the door down to get selected. I appreciate he’s not been in great form himself but he’s an experienced option who must surely end his goal drought soon.

Yep, possibly. However as even staying up is going to be a challenge I can’t see those type of supporters being remotely interested in second tier women’s football, which could well be the prospect in 24/25.

“A bit of defensive donkey work”. Lost his man completely at a corner, didn’t switch on & was little help to Pring most of the time. Once he had the run & shot then he completely changed, but defensively he’s still a bit of a liability. Totally get the confidence player bit but has to do more when we don’t have the ball or are defending. This is down to him, not Manning or Pearson.

Honestly I don’t. I think the crossover in support for the 2 teams is relatively low, you only have to look at any threads on here about them to see that it is a relatively low level of interest. There are some very keen fans of both sides but with regards to attending I think it is a small number & the large gates for the women’s games tend to be against the massive clubs (Arsenal, Man U) and/or when the opposition has England stars.

Think they should retire the number 2 shirt, because it’s jinxed. Last season’s wearer of it Kane Wilson didn’t start a single league game, the previous season Danny Simpson did & he only started 2. McCrorie was incredibly unlucky as to how this all occurred & completely blameless, not sure that is true of everyone who was at the club then.

Also re Tanner those of us who sit together were discussing a while ago how very few players have jumped straight up from League Two & looked comfortable. The only one we could think of apart from him was Albert, who was exceptional, basically he came in to the side & was our main attacking threat right from the start. Tanner has already made 50 appearances for us, is 24 & cost just £300k. Along with Mark Sykes two excellent value for money signings of recent times.

Think that’s a bit harsh. Not sure I expected Bell to ever be an automatic choice & think he’s done ok overall this season, starting it with a few goals but a little bit out of form at present. Tanner is a defender, that’s it. He isn’t going to play defence splitting passes or break forward regularly but for £300k I reckon we have got ourselves a steady player. Thought Pring did ok today against a decent opponent & he’s certainly going to be ahead of Roberts as our first choice left back even when the latter is fit.