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Reply | Altrincham FA Trophy Match Thread
at 18:24 1 Mar 2025
Those of us who have criticised the Mitchell and Rodney partnership were totally vindicated this afternoon, Bird hustled defenders showed as a target and scored an excellent goal, Rodney took the hint and played off him looking like he actually might get a decent lay-off.
After the first substitutions it was back to the same old same old , we regressed 15 yards closer to our own box, and gave their defenders an easy time to the extent that one of them played more like a midfielder.
If the substutuions were designed to save legs for Tuesday, they also succeded in showing exactly why we need to be able to hold the ball up at the top... |
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Reply | Turnstiles
at 18:22 27 Feb 2025
Should be OK then. (Crosses fingers and toes)....thank you... i hate it when they change things without explaining.... |
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Thread | Turnstiles
at 15:41 27 Feb 2025
Just bought a ticket on line and printed it out as per usual for cup games, my ST has a barcode and the download printout now has one of those squiggly QR code jobbies, ... Do the turnstiles scan both or do I need to download an app and bring my ancient phone ( which is far from reliable ) or will the printed QR thingy be OK? |
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Reply | New signing but not a manager
at 18:35 25 Feb 2025
WiKi....
Jay Gregory Maison Bird (born 6 May 2001)[1] is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One club Exeter City.
Club career
Milton Keynes Dons
Born in Milton Keynes, Bird joined the academy of Milton Keynes Dons at the age of eight,[3] and progressed through several age groups before signing professional terms with the club on 25 June 2019.[3] In August 2019 he joined Southern Premier Central club Hitchin Town on loan for the 2019–20 campaign,[4] but after only two matches a serious injury resulted in Bird being ruled out for the rest of the season.[5]
On 6 October 2020, Bird made his first team professional debut for the club, scoring twice in a 3–2 EFL Trophy group stage away victory over Stevenage.[6] The following 2021–22 season saw limited first team opportunities for Bird, with the player spending the first half of the season out on loan to National League club Wealdstone.[7] At the end of the season Bird was one of six players released by MK Dons.[8]
Dagenham & Redbridge
On 19 November 2022, Bird signed for National League club Dagenham & Redbridge on a non-contract basis.[9] Bird made his debut that same day off the bench, scoring a late winner as his new side defeated Scunthorpe United.[10]
Arbroath
Bird signed a one-year contract with Arbroath in July 2023.[11] He departed the club at the end of his contract.
Exeter City
On 2 July 2024, Bird signed a one-year contract with EFL League One club Exeter City, with the option of a further year.[12]
Career statistics |
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Reply | Time to go Jim. The turning point
at 16:27 24 Feb 2025
I have no doubt the BOD can put together a recruitment plan of some sort, Edward Ogden, Camerons brother owns a chunk of Spencer Ogden a recruitment company for crying out loud. It may well specialise in the oil industry but I am sure he knows enough to help to find what we need and give some ideas where to look and how to run the interviews..
The stark fact is we are not growing crowds. The product has no new buyers, people are not enjoying the show, most of us that do go, turn up as a result of sheer habit, to meet up with friends and get out of the house for a couple of hours, the football is miserable most of the time. Winning 1 in 3 losing and drawing a similar number of games at home is just poor. How long will people keep parting with their hard earned to watch 3 games in the hope of seeing a win? But for season tickets we would be struggling to get 1500 maybe even less...... |
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Reply | Time to go Jim. The turning point
at 11:36 24 Feb 2025
Whenever I read threads like the recent ones on here, I am reminded of a story from a pal who used to sell pet food for a well known manufacturer... He attended a sales conference , with well over 100 other salesmen and women, at a prestigious venue, there were a number of highly paid executives on stage and a long discussion about a new range of dog food. The animal dietician spoke about the carefully selected ingredients, the gravy and why it was excellent for animals, the marketing team talked about the TV coverage, the new commercials, the magazine articles , vouchers, special offers etc. And at the end the MD stood up and looked at the salesforce and asked a question,,...
" Given everything we have heard this morning, why are you not selling more of this terrific product"?
There was much shuffling of feet, eyes were diverted away from the stage and an amount of coughing and harrumphing and then a voice eventually piped up from the back of the hall..." THE F**KING DOGS DONT LIKE IT....
So here we are the football is crap, the results are mid-table we have only won 33% of home games over the last 4 seasons, 83 games and scored slightly more than 1 goal per game... " The F**king dogs dont like it". Something has to change. This situation is why gates are falling, season tickets will be a hard sell, sponsors will quit. What happens on the pitch affects everything and right now we are being fed thin gruel leading to starvation. For Gods sake give us something to cheer and shout about...and if McNulty won't, find somebody who will, we need a leader, not a lecturer. |
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Reply | 30 minutes of tripe
at 23:11 22 Feb 2025
Its now apparent why we played tippy tappy, we don't have anyone capable of winning a header from a long ball... |
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Reply | Match Thread, Dale v In form top of the table Barnet
at 21:07 22 Feb 2025
Unfortunately, we have no forwards that would worry Sudden Social Club. I think my thoughts on Mitchell have been widely,resd and largely agreed with, Rodney isnt at the races and then the tactical genius brought Ayinde on as a wing back ..
At least Hendo got a decent run out, and showed more nous than Mitchell and Rodney have shown all season, sadly too little too late.
Clearly we do not have the players to change the system radically, no tricky winger, no scorching pace, nobody leading the line, noone working off the centre forward, its one dimensional powder-puff, easy to defend against and uninspiring to watch.
The team that Jim built is going nowhere at a gentle pace , no aggression, no Hero for the kids, nothing to get the fans jumping up and down. Its predictable, anodyne and hapless. Its not the fact of losing to a team at the top of the table , its more that they really are not that great, but they were organised, strong and were prepared to get stuck in... we were not...
This Division is about horses for courses, the ability to win ugly, to chase lost causes and to be physically strong and mentally capable of finding an extra yard. Above all that its about scoring lots of goals. McNulty has backed the wrong horses in the wrong race , the big question is this.. is he big enough to admit he has got it wrong and change.. or not? He has to bring in a centre forward and a goal poacher of the game is up and the season over.....even if we were to win the trophy its a booby prize compared to entertaining the crowds, getting to the play offs and once there, who knows what might happen......But I fear we are living up to my prediction of mid- table obscurity. |
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Reply | The race for seventh, midweek 18th/19th Feb
at 13:24 19 Feb 2025
A budget to enable a play- off pĺace is at best hopeful, the reality is that whilst the cash may well have been equivalent to the budgets of similar- sized clubs in the division, cash alone does not guarantee success. Recruitment, the man- management, the way in which the squad gells into a team are as important as the amount of money that gets spent .. Football is littered with expensively assembled squads that have massively underachieved. You need decent players, some luck and an ability to actually win games.......not getting beaten is losing if others are winning....
Does the Head Coach have the killer instinct or is he a father-figure who excuses failures, is he a demanding , hard-nosed, no-excuses, manager of men or a teacher of boys?
As any soldier will tell you, all the planning and preparation goes out of the window as soon as the first shot is fired, at that point, the result depends on the qualities of the men in the field.... or on the pitch. Losing without consequences is easy to get used to winning against the odds is what sorts the men from the boys .
Herein is the essential problem, winning teams have a winning mentality, both individually and collectively, they find a way to win. We do not, yet, have that essential characteristic as evidenced by the number of points we drop for the lack of a single goal. Is it better to recruit on the basis of technical ability, as outlined by statistics or on mental strength, an almost undefinable characteristic? Ideally both.
Equally you do need a couple of highly effective old professionals that have the ability to see how a game is going and do the dirty work that isnt taught in academies or the FIFA coaching manuals and to dominate the dressing room. In our case a midfielder and a goal scorer with " reputations" would be ideal.... |
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Reply | The race for 7th (Saturday 15th Feb)
at 23:38 15 Feb 2025
Yet another game where a second goal would have won it for us...you can't defend your way out of this division you just have to take more chances than the opposition but without a potent strike force. every game is a toss up. No consistency, too many points dropped for want of a goal, draws that should be wins, losses that should, at worst, be draws.. It all adds up, 5 x 1-0 defeats 2 x 1-1 and 2x 0-0 draws.. 9 more goals in those 9 games could equal 13 extra points....which would put us above Oldham with games in hand. |
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Reply | Why Do Managers See Different?
at 15:57 11 Feb 2025
The problem is that you can't manage the game. I sometimes think that good players are coached to do things that do not come naturally to them instead of selecting good players who do what they do and to try and mold those attributes into a team.
The idea that you can put 11 individuals on a pitch to kick a ball against 11 other players and control the outcome with some sort of " system" is a nonsense. Especially when players cannot really carry out what you want them to do in any given situation because there is another player trying his best to stop them.
Managers of old simply put their best 11 footballers onto the pitch in their best positions and let them get in with it...
I get the impression that modern managers do exactly the opposite, they pick players to fit a system that they have seen on TV they employ players to fit that system, they coach them to play in that system at which point plan "B" becomes impossible. Brian Clough had a system and told his players what their jobs were, striker.. score goals... goalkeepers stop the opposition from scoring...defenders tackle and head the ball away from the goal...wingers stay with your heels on the line... midfielders, feed the wingers...simple... no recycling play nonsense, no mumbo jumbo, just simple instructions repeated often......
Its a simple game, the winner scores more goals than the loser...so make sure you can score goals, lots of them. Goals are what fans want to see, not endless passing. Shots not recycling for a better opportunity, not tippy tappy around their own penalty area, not fullback / wingers who are only average at both, not strikers who dont strike and can't head a ball or trap a bag of cement.. Goals and more goals thats all that counts.. if we won every home game 5-4 there would be 1000s more at every game...not scoring twice in a week at home is just pitiful, not scoring against Ebbsfleet should be illegal.
Low block, high block, false number 9s and all the rest is just trying to make something simple seem like an intellectual challenge for those who are not party to the inane nonsense of UEFA coaching manuals. Encouraged by the BBC and a whole raft of wannabee managers who want their 5 minutes of fame and half a million quid a year at a Premiership club with a 3 year contract. It even infected Keith Hill eventually and BBM relegated us with quasi intellectual BS that got him a dream
job and never mind the consequences..
I am afraid that McNulty is BBM Mk2, swap the Brogue for a hint of Scouse and the result is the same, word salad and not enough goals..No one watches football because they enjoy watching toothless 0-0 draws or 0-1 losses, Its about goals, it always was and always will be. |
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Reply | Pitch covers
at 15:26 10 Feb 2025
Probably one for the new stadium / facilities manager to sort out ... to be fair that desk is probably brimming over with stuff to do... |
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Reply | Reg Jenkins
at 22:09 9 Feb 2025
Not if he has been watching our shot-shy forwards he won't.... |
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Reply | Ebbsfleet (H) match thread
at 22:07 9 Feb 2025
I think thats about right, McN has a vision of what his team needs in each position, I suspect he isnt very flexible as each change probably means a re-think in the other 9 outfield positions...easier to find a clone to fit the system... The problems start when the system itself isnt working as he thinks it should and he hasn't got any options on board to make radical changes.. hence more of the same.. its fatally flawed, his emphasis is essentially defensive. He now needs to figure out how to win against tight defences, I would suggest 2 new forwards.... 1 big brute of a centre forward ( Cardwell at Southend last season would have been ideal) who can head the ball and a poacher. |
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Reply | Ebbsfleet (H) match thread
at 19:25 9 Feb 2025
The thing is James, its pointless building over a number of seasons, if the plans are flawed in the first place. What is being proved is that if you are a lower league club, and you want to get up the Leagues, playing like a League one club with non-league players and loanees is not a foolproof recipe for success.
Put simply , teams that have spent a while at this level relish the opportunity to put a spoke in our plans. They beat you with grit, determination and sheer bloodymindedness and a reasonable amount of skill.... we have probably more skill, but not enough of the rest of the equation and thats why we need more experience, power and athleticism particularly in the forwards. Defensively we are fine , we just need better attacking options, we cannot afford not to score a goal or more in every game. |
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Reply | Ebbsfleet (H) match thread
at 19:37 8 Feb 2025
Once again, we have failed to achieve the essential point of the whole game, putting the ball in the oppositions net. The attack is simply clueless, there were 3 or 4 presentable opportunities for an instictive goalscorer to net, unfortunately we have no such person in the team. The cluelessness was exemplified during the 1st half when a punt from our keeper was dropping on the head of their centre half , Mitchell and Burger were stood either side of him and both ran off in different directions each expecting the other to make a challenge and knock the ball on... quite how Mitchell thought the smallest man on the pitch was going to win the header I have no idea but it was proof positive that he will never be a target man as long as he has a hole in his *rse. Indeed when Rodney came on he actually looked more like a centre forward, taking a ball on his chest and laying it off on one occasion, but we need someone who contributes much much more.
McNulty is a defender, we have a competent defence at this level, but it seems that he simply knows nothing about forward play and winning games . The ball comes into the box from the wings too slowly. No one is playing the percentages, gambling on the cross beating the defenders and midfielders are not shooting from decent positions ... goals win games.. we are set up not to concede..fine playing away, but not at home, a smart manager would have a different plan for playing at home |
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Reply | Investment in solar energy
at 14:55 7 Feb 2025
Sorting out the electricity situation must have been high on the agenda for a while now, maybe they are also thinking of bringing gas in too so that we can set up the Dark Kitchen and improve the kitchens inside the COA at the same time.
Someone mentioned the other stands which are less suitable for solar, but which might be suitable for these wind turbines....
https://alpha-311.com/blog/our-turbines-are-and-spinning-londons-o2-arena
Putting 10 around the ground would give power when the solar isn't available ( at night) and reduce bills even further (they would generatd enough power to run 20+ houses.) |
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Reply | Oldham game
at 14:43 5 Feb 2025
I have said many times, we don't score enough goals, too many no scoring draws draws and losses by 1 goal , there is no partnership between Mitchell and Rodney, the latter goes missing in action for long periods of the game, Mitchell has the physical attributes but simply doesnt have an ounce of fire or aggression, put simply, they are easy too defend against, too " nice" . This is professional sport, not a Sunday League game, you expect them to be giving defenders a hard time, physically and mentally, picking up a few yellow cards in the process and using every trick in the book including the dirty tricks to score a goal or create an opportunity for someone else.. Given the chances being provided we should have scored at least 2 goals last night but once again a single goal was enough to see us off. |
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