| Help for the FA!!! 12:17 - Mar 31 with 2746 views | Moor_Pinot |
Firstly best wishes to all on here, stay fit and well and out of the way of the 'hidden foe'.
It snowed here yesterday - the télé said for the first time since 1946 so it must still be winter and that got me thinking of the season's end for the U's.
The FA decision to cancel all non lgs below the National Lg [which is a non league into which other leagues feed, thus the decision is incongruous and challengeable to say the least] makes me cross. I feel for Sth Liverpool FC, Truro City, South Shields, Jersey & of course the U's' next manager Wayne Brown's Maldon & Tiptree - all denied their promotions.
So I have tried to get the FA out of the latest hole they've caused and assume no football will be played before September 1st.
Here goes my blueprint!!!
# Retract last week's decision
# Play all EFL & Non Lgs to a proper conclusion by October half-term incl P/Offs.
# Sat-Tue-Thurs-Sat games to be encouraged. [I remember in 2005 wet weather and the Southern Lg's refusal to extend the season meant that Tiverton played 5 home games in 7 days W3 D1 L1 [0-3 to Stamford] I went to all five, so did the usual 350 folk, ....people WILL go]
# Freeze the 2019-2020 FACup & FLT - no finals.
# At season's end allow a 3 week break for club secretaries and the new fixtures [U's will now be in Lg 1]
# 2020-21 season to begin mid November.
# NO FA Vase, FA Trophy, FLT, Lg Cup or FA Cup
# Distribute proportion of the prize funds to clubs below step 2 - say £2000 each.
# Allow the old-fashioned County Cups so that team managers have competitive opportunities in addition to league and U23 games.
# Promote within the fixture list four separate weeks when clubs play Sat-Tue-Thur-Sat. This equates to 16 games, thus, more than a third of the season achieved in just 4 weeks.
# Add two Tuesday games to January's fixtures.
# Re-instate the 'old' Easter Programme of Good Friday, Easter Sat & Easter Monday games 3 in 4 days. They used to do it, they still could.
# No Transfer window. May induce a bit more club loyalty and will allow clubs to sell/acquire within Fair Play rules to allow for extra injuries etc.
# Season to end at 30 April 2021 with two weeks only allowed for P/Offs as in all non lgs already. This out of respect for cricket which will not have been played in 2020.
Whitsun now reserved exclusively for cricket.
# Extend summer break and start new 2021-22 season [U's now in Championship, Ipswich in Lg 2] in early Sept, again out of respect for cricket but also to allow extra recovery time.
# Re-introduce Cups but FA to reserve the right to stagger this OR to learn from the previous compacted year and to make informed decisions [eg cancel FLT, introduce Thursday games]
# Re introduce transfer system and window.
# Durham Exile to host Friday night preview programme on TV with weekly guest from another club who previews his club's game according to Durham's format. Airs at 10pm
# I don't give a fig about the PL BUT....................use a huge proportion of their ridiculous income across UK/Europe to re-invest in European countries' health systems post Covid19. The quality of Prem Lg football won't alter but the progression between leagues will be much more healthy and the money won't feel so ugly if it is righting the wrongs of the now much denuded health services all over. Apologies to anyone who is a Ferrari dealer obviously.
So there we have it. Got the FA off the hook, promoted the U's and avoided looking at the weather out of the window!
Again, stay in and stay OK.
As George Harrison said 'All things must pass'
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| Help for the FA!!! on 14:59 - Mar 31 with 2733 views | Leadbelly |
I doubt the FA could discuss all that let alone decide anything before a mid November resumption...but that’s because it’s the FA.
It snowed in Manningtree on Sunday. Proper blizzard conditions started about 10 yards from my front door as I took the dogs for a walk. By the end of the road my hands were numb so we came home and had tea and hob nobs until the weather improved.
Regarding unseasonal snow; My various trips to Canada have covered January, April, May, June, July, August and September. Guess during which month I witnessed no snowfall? |  |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 16:42 - Mar 31 with 2722 views | noah4x4 |
I played cricket in a snow interrupted match in June (I think) 1994. This was on a mountainside above Lake Coniston in the Lake District.
The really weird thing was that season, we lost zero Saturday fixtures due to rain. My home club in Kendal being in a rain shadow area protected by the mountains. It always pi55sed down in Barrow on the other side (I wonder if the U's will visit next season). We lost most games for other reasons, but could not blame the weather! |  | | |
| Help for the FA!!! on 18:11 - Mar 31 with 2716 views | wessex_exile |
| Help for the FA!!! on 16:42 - Mar 31 by noah4x4 |
I played cricket in a snow interrupted match in June (I think) 1994. This was on a mountainside above Lake Coniston in the Lake District.
The really weird thing was that season, we lost zero Saturday fixtures due to rain. My home club in Kendal being in a rain shadow area protected by the mountains. It always pi55sed down in Barrow on the other side (I wonder if the U's will visit next season). We lost most games for other reasons, but could not blame the weather! |
One of my childhood diaries (not certain exactly which year) listed snow on a day in June/July in Colchester - can't remember the exact date, but it definitely happened. |  |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 20:42 - Mar 31 with 2692 views | mfb_cufc |
| Help for the FA!!! on 18:11 - Mar 31 by wessex_exile |
One of my childhood diaries (not certain exactly which year) listed snow on a day in June/July in Colchester - can't remember the exact date, but it definitely happened. |
That would be 2nd June 1975 when snow stopped play in the Essex v Kent game being played at Colchester in their cricket festival. |  |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 21:26 - Mar 31 with 2689 views | mfb_cufc |
You make some very good points Pinault, but of course a lot depends on when this season starts again. I get the impression the PL and EFL will want to get going again no later than 1st July, even if it means playing behind closed doors. That would have the season ending in about mid August, and the 2020/21 season starting in September. Then I reckon only the League Cup would need to be scrapped.
The only other time I can remember League football having to make up for a lot of lost time was the big freeze of the 1962-63 season, when Colchester played on 15th December 1962 and never played again until 16th February 1963. They caught up by playing 20 games between 4th March and 17th May.
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| Help for the FA!!! on 22:03 - Mar 31 with 2685 views | noah4x4 |
I remember the big freeze of 1962-63 well.
I was aged 8 and my Dad (being Polish) knew a bit about snow and sleds. He built the only two man bobsleigh to ever feature in Kidderminster where mountains are nil.
We could get a push off near St Andrews church near the Bromsgrove Street/Findon Street junction, hurtle down Anchorfields, accelerate down the hill and take the sharp bend into the Playhouse Theatre Car Park. We were a year ahead of Nash and Dixon who won Gold at the Innsbruck Olympics.
This fun went on for a couple of weeks and we even managed to develop snow side walls on the bend for ever better personal bests. Then the complaints came. The Co-op coal lorry could not climb the now slippery hill and folk were running out of fuel. Police arrived, but didn't know what to charge us with. So a clip round the ears and off we went while the council destroyed our handiwork with salt and shovels.
On the way home, I passed St. George's Parish Hall. The weekly rummage sale was a regular highlight. Usual haul was a bit of Mecanno or Bayko Building bricks. This time I saw a complete set of ten leather bound Chambers Encyclopedias. Cost me two-bob (ten pence) which was a weeks pocket money. Good job I had the sled, but it still took me two trips home. I still have them 58 years forward. They were printed in 1882, and are a fascinating read printed before 95% of modern inventions.
Happy Days. [Post edited 31 Mar 2020 22:05]
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| Help for the FA!!! on 16:13 - Apr 1 with 2651 views | burnsieespana |
| Help for the FA!!! on 18:11 - Mar 31 by wessex_exile |
One of my childhood diaries (not certain exactly which year) listed snow on a day in June/July in Colchester - can't remember the exact date, but it definitely happened. |
It sure did because the cricket was stopped in the Castle Park and seem to recall we were playing Derbyshire.
On this day I went up to London for a business meeting with a friend and it was snowing when we left and hot sun when we returned in the late afternoon. |  | | |
| Help for the FA!!! on 19:23 - Apr 1 with 2632 views | durham_exile |
Pinault - some very sensible thoughts for the FA to consider. I fear that a fudge might be the outcome regarding this season.
I see that Maidenhead United have written a letter which is gaining currency which would see no relegation and although four clubs would be promoted from League Two, under their reasoning we would miss out! Hopefully their ideas will be squashed.
I like the idea of me hosting a Friday night TV programme about the Super U's. Although I'm sure that my friends would say that I have a good face for Radio!
Anyway take care.
Stay safe
Up the U's |  |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 19:50 - Apr 1 with 2625 views | thrillseeker |
| Help for the FA!!! on 22:03 - Mar 31 by noah4x4 |
I remember the big freeze of 1962-63 well.
I was aged 8 and my Dad (being Polish) knew a bit about snow and sleds. He built the only two man bobsleigh to ever feature in Kidderminster where mountains are nil.
We could get a push off near St Andrews church near the Bromsgrove Street/Findon Street junction, hurtle down Anchorfields, accelerate down the hill and take the sharp bend into the Playhouse Theatre Car Park. We were a year ahead of Nash and Dixon who won Gold at the Innsbruck Olympics.
This fun went on for a couple of weeks and we even managed to develop snow side walls on the bend for ever better personal bests. Then the complaints came. The Co-op coal lorry could not climb the now slippery hill and folk were running out of fuel. Police arrived, but didn't know what to charge us with. So a clip round the ears and off we went while the council destroyed our handiwork with salt and shovels.
On the way home, I passed St. George's Parish Hall. The weekly rummage sale was a regular highlight. Usual haul was a bit of Mecanno or Bayko Building bricks. This time I saw a complete set of ten leather bound Chambers Encyclopedias. Cost me two-bob (ten pence) which was a weeks pocket money. Good job I had the sled, but it still took me two trips home. I still have them 58 years forward. They were printed in 1882, and are a fascinating read printed before 95% of modern inventions.
Happy Days. [Post edited 31 Mar 2020 22:05]
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Love this type of old story | | | |
| Help for the FA!!! on 21:26 - Apr 1 with 2611 views | wessex_exile |
| Help for the FA!!! on 16:13 - Apr 1 by burnsieespana |
It sure did because the cricket was stopped in the Castle Park and seem to recall we were playing Derbyshire.
On this day I went up to London for a business meeting with a friend and it was snowing when we left and hot sun when we returned in the late afternoon. |
Thanks Burnsie and MFB for corroborating, I knew it happened and the timeline sounds about right. I certainly remember though it was heavy and settling at the time, it was otherwise a freakish blip in what was actually quite a warm day. As a teenage boy, I do also remember being bitterly disappointed it didn't hang around for very long, though I suspect snowballs were briefly thrown  | |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 00:04 - Apr 2 with 2605 views | durham_exile |
| Help for the FA!!! on 22:03 - Mar 31 by noah4x4 |
I remember the big freeze of 1962-63 well.
I was aged 8 and my Dad (being Polish) knew a bit about snow and sleds. He built the only two man bobsleigh to ever feature in Kidderminster where mountains are nil.
We could get a push off near St Andrews church near the Bromsgrove Street/Findon Street junction, hurtle down Anchorfields, accelerate down the hill and take the sharp bend into the Playhouse Theatre Car Park. We were a year ahead of Nash and Dixon who won Gold at the Innsbruck Olympics.
This fun went on for a couple of weeks and we even managed to develop snow side walls on the bend for ever better personal bests. Then the complaints came. The Co-op coal lorry could not climb the now slippery hill and folk were running out of fuel. Police arrived, but didn't know what to charge us with. So a clip round the ears and off we went while the council destroyed our handiwork with salt and shovels.
On the way home, I passed St. George's Parish Hall. The weekly rummage sale was a regular highlight. Usual haul was a bit of Mecanno or Bayko Building bricks. This time I saw a complete set of ten leather bound Chambers Encyclopedias. Cost me two-bob (ten pence) which was a weeks pocket money. Good job I had the sled, but it still took me two trips home. I still have them 58 years forward. They were printed in 1882, and are a fascinating read printed before 95% of modern inventions.
Happy Days. [Post edited 31 Mar 2020 22:05]
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Noah fascinating stuff. My wife and I lived in Telford for about 11 years from 1981 to 1992 and I know Bridgnorth and Kidderminster fairly well as places. Always went that way down to the M5, which was usually better than using the A5, M6 and M5.
For the 1962-63 Winter - I went into Chase Farm hospital Enfield North London the day after Boxing Day at Christmas time 1962 to have my tonsils removed, I was six. In those days you stayed in for a week.
The snow descended and my parents were unable to visit me daily because of the inclement weather. I had plenty of toast and ice cream that week. Apparently good for the throat.
To see parts of London in a white out was bizarre to say the least. Trolley buses were struggling in the conditions and some provisions were scarce to say the least.
Still Happy days.
Stay safe. | |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 10:09 - Apr 2 with 2591 views | noah4x4 |
Wouldn’t it be great to revert to so much of the 1960s other than the pollution from coal fires and Cold War tensions?
The winter night skies devoid of modern light pollution were awesome. I can remember pond dipping at nearby farms when today the countryside seems ever further away despite cars. Then, an exciting excursion on a bus might be a mere five miles. Every day, there was something new to explore because we walked and cycled. Now it’s urban sprawl everywhere.
I think I know every square inch of Worcestershire from my childhood. Then skipped the rest of the UK to head abroad. I was determined that this year would be dedicated to exploring Britain with a new midweek adventure every week (between cricket and footie), doing stuff like the Trans-Pennine railway pub crawl before Bradford City. I have parking booked at the Bristol Balloon Festival. Had plans for the cheese rolling race at Brockworth and many more, all scuppered by Coronavirus.
Am chomping at the bit to get moving again. But have a request. April 22nd is Earth Day. That evening, will you all please turn off your lights between 23:00 and midnight. Then we can all marvel at how beautiful the night sky once looked. | | | |
| Help for the FA!!! on 15:06 - Apr 2 with 2572 views | Moor_Pinot |
| Help for the FA!!! on 10:09 - Apr 2 by noah4x4 |
Wouldn’t it be great to revert to so much of the 1960s other than the pollution from coal fires and Cold War tensions?
The winter night skies devoid of modern light pollution were awesome. I can remember pond dipping at nearby farms when today the countryside seems ever further away despite cars. Then, an exciting excursion on a bus might be a mere five miles. Every day, there was something new to explore because we walked and cycled. Now it’s urban sprawl everywhere.
I think I know every square inch of Worcestershire from my childhood. Then skipped the rest of the UK to head abroad. I was determined that this year would be dedicated to exploring Britain with a new midweek adventure every week (between cricket and footie), doing stuff like the Trans-Pennine railway pub crawl before Bradford City. I have parking booked at the Bristol Balloon Festival. Had plans for the cheese rolling race at Brockworth and many more, all scuppered by Coronavirus.
Am chomping at the bit to get moving again. But have a request. April 22nd is Earth Day. That evening, will you all please turn off your lights between 23:00 and midnight. Then we can all marvel at how beautiful the night sky once looked. |
Will do.
There are some interesting maps or imagery taken from space showing Europe before the lockdowns and now. The lack of pollution is stark and very thought provoking.
My next car will be a hybrid.
Some good WILL come from this horrid thing if we obey advice. Animals, birds and crucially bees should have better springs along with countryside growth being permitted rather than scalped. Cleaner air may pervade for a year or two. More if we learn and get the learning through to politicians...... Which we won't.
Next year Noah you'll do all those things and more and enjoy them exponentially more too. I'll be able to move house which I now cannot this year. With good health and luck in avoiding the 'hidden foe' next year could give a fair few folk a lift.
Fingers crossed. | |
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| Help for the FA!!! on 22:09 - Apr 2 with 2555 views | gerry_us |
It surely shouldn't have taken a pandemic for us to finally realise that salaries in the Premiership are obscene. Clubs should be dictating to the players that they will not be paid until football starts again and certainly not applying for government hand-out like "normal hard working people" are having to do. The PFA seem to have other ideas; sort of like "cloud cuckoo land". Are they saying that these prima donnas are unable to see out three months before being paid again? Well sell one of the Lamborghini's fella's.
Sorry for the rant...off to bed now. Night  |  | | |
| Help for the FA!!! on 23:02 - Apr 2 with 2552 views | noah4x4 |
With only 37% of Premier League players being British, I suspect 63% might wish to donate part of their salaries to offer aid to Spain, Italy, or Belgium. I have no problem with that.
The issue for me is that Spurs and others have laid off their non-playing staff and expect me and you, as humble taxpayers, to pick up the bill for 80% of salaries up to £2500 per month per person. Not paying their ovepaid players for one month would probably cover any liability for those wages. Wasn't it last year it was revealed some clubs could play behind closed doors and still survive with zero ticket revenue?
To be fair, live broadcast revenue might have ceased. But what about royalties on repeats? Whilst Sky TV and belatedly BT TV are permitting a temporary Sports channel subscription holiday, I suspect revenues have risen from streaming movies and similar whilst we are in lock down.
I read a report today that Worcester Warriors professional rugby was furloughing both staff and players. By contrast the ECB is releasing £61M to aid cricket and today announced a further £20M to specifically to aid the recreational game (which has some paid staff like groundsmen, bar staff etc).
The Premier League now needs to show leadership. If Barcelona and Real Madrid can take salary cuts to support backroom staff, the overpaid prima donnas in England can too. | | | |
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