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Reply | Rest of the Championship thread
at 08:53 1 Dec 2024
I would be amazed if Argyle don't go down. Saw them at Bristol City yesterday and they were absolute rank. Don't think I've ever seen a league side give the opposition so much time and space, and the number of times City got in behind them was unreal. Not sure if they have a lot of injuries, but they were absolute pony. Should have been 6/7-0. |
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Reply | San Mamés, Bilbao
at 14:18 22 Nov 2024
Guggenheim - great building, but wasn't that fussed about any of the art. We did a week across the two cities. Really liked Bilbao, but loved San Sebastian. The food in both cities is amazing - you can go into the least promising looking place and the pintxos will always be at least really good and often amazing. Friendly locals, Bilbao is probably the closest I've ever seen to Naples where every business seems to have something to do with Athletic hanging on the walls. San Sebastian is in such a beautiful setting with the bay, the food is incredible, and it's a really attractive city too. No recommendations, but every place seems to have it's speciality - we went to one bar which literally just served one type of tomato - place was packed with people coming in for a quick drink, a tomato, and then heading somewhere else. They love their cider there too. Have a great trip. |
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Reply | Where have the goals gone in the Championship?
at 10:06 22 Nov 2024
I saw Sheff Utd at Bristol City the other week, and they kept plugging away playing balls in behind the defence, had loads of width and pace, and got two very late goals to win the game. Didn't sit back after they'd equalised, happy to get a point. Felt very old school in a good way.
Scott Parker and Burnley at City tomorrow with a 12;30 kick-off. Should be mental. |
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Reply | Where have the goals gone in the Championship?
at 09:56 22 Nov 2024
In their last match, Southampton had 72% possession and no shots on target. Russell Martin football at its best.
One of my favourite things over the last few years has been watching an away team go 1-0 up and then as the clock is ticking down, watch the home team’s defence string together 475 passes in their own third, with the away team camped out entirely in their own half with no ambition or need to be drawn out or lose their shape. Who wants to go back to wingers running at defenders or switching it up a bit, when instead everyone can die of boredom waiting for someone to find the perfect opening. I’ve seen games recently where I’ve half expected the ref to blow up 10 minutes early because it was so obvious that the losing team were never going to equalise, and the winning team were never going to cross the halfway line. I watched a game last season where looking around, so few people were watching the match at one point that if all the players had left the pitch, it would have taken a few minutes before anyone noticed. A 12:30 kick-off with two teams playing walking football really doesn’t help the atmosphere either. No wonder so many kids just sit their staring at phones.
The current philosophy: Better to lose and die with the ball at your feet than risk losing possession. Winning the goal battle is less important than winning the possession war.
It’s fed down to the lower divisions and non-league too. It’s particularly great watching not-that-good-at-football kids on a Sunday morning trying to play the ball out from the back on pitches that are either like ploughed fields or swamps. The keeper, playing the ball to either full-back every time, so that after 5 mins, even young kids know what’s going to happen, and pressure the defenders into misplacing/mishitting passes. I’m not suggesting that teams go direct all the time, but the ability to mix it up, to inject some pace and directness, seems to me to be so important in terms of creating some excitement. When someone comes on who will run at defenders, it completely changes the atmosphere in the ground. I must be a philistine because I also found the amazing Spanish team dull as fu ck to watch once I’d seen them a few times, even though I can appreciate they were all brilliant footballers. It’s just all so fu cking sterile these days. |
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Reply | Al Fayed, Fulham, massive points deduction & enforced relegation
at 10:31 27 Sep 2024
I think a lot of us knew that Al Fayed was an unpleasant bloke but being completely honest, most of us chose to overlook that because after years of struggling to stay afloat and at the Cottage, Al Fayed offered us the prospect of staying at a refurbished Cottage and returning to something like our natural historical position (2nd tier with maybe the occasional spell in the top tier). For my lot, the most important thing was the prospect of keeping the ground. We'd just had a brilliant promotion-winning season under Micky Adams, which had gone a long way to restoring some pride to the club and energising the support. I was fine with us bobbing about in the 3rd with the odd tilt at promotion to div 2. That Micky Adams promotion is still my joint favourite season
I was very happy for Al Fayed to spend millions on players and managers that led to us playing football of a quality that I never thought I would see a Fulham side playing. Playing in Europe, getting to a European final, turning over big clubs... that wouldn't have happened without his investment. But I was never one to clap him on his lap of the pitch before games as I wasn't ever comfortable being a peasant clapping a billionaire for throwing us a few coins. .
Just as at Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle, and PSG, a lot of football fans are willing to turn a blind eye if someone is pumping millions/billions into their club. I'm shocked by the scale of the revelations that have emerged but I'm not massively surprised.
It's been pretty depressing to see some Fulham fans questioning why many of these women have only come forward since his death and questioning how any women could "put themselves" in a position where they could be se xually assaulted. As ever, these people don't bother listening to the women themselves explaining the fear/intimidation/sense of shame etc that they experienced. There's a piece in the Guardian today with one of his accusers outlining the surveillance she was under and the level of intimidation. How are you supposed to handle that when you're a young girl/woman?
I hope all the women involved find some sort of catharsis in coming forward, I hope that those people who facilitated it all or knew and turned a blind eye, are exposed for their roles, and that women in similar situations feel empowered to speak out when there is still a chance of bringing predators to justice. |
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Reply | Derby away
at 13:15 24 Sep 2024
I was at Derby with Bristol City a couple of weeks ago and they were asking for proof that people were Derby at the Brunswick. Shame as it's a great pub. Alex just along the way is another great pub though if you like your ales, and away fans are welcome there. Very friendly boozer. Considering Derby isn't the most exciting of cities, it has to be one of the best in the country for old school pubs and ale. |
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Reply | The Modern Football Fan - What went wrong
at 16:35 23 Sep 2024
In 1994, I got a club coach midweek to Bradford to watch Fulham, as we were earning buttons and couldn't afford to do a hotel overnight. I've only done club coaches in emergencies, and there are generally a fair few oddbods, but this coach had a bloke who loudly announced that he was a Chelsea fan who liked Fulham too - going to watch Bradford v Fulham midweek in division 3 - and unsurprisingly, everyone on the coach told him to fu ck-off. He seemed genuinely surprised that everyone else thought Chelsea were a bunch of cu nts. At the services, for some reason he said to me and my mate, "Lads, I'm going to get a porn mag and have a wa nk - see you in a bit". And ten minutes later, we saw him leaving the bogs and putting a jazz mag in a bin. Absolute wrong un. |
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Reply | The Modern Football Fan - What went wrong
at 10:46 23 Sep 2024
Not sure if I could do non-league every week, but I really enjoy it when I go to games with my dad. Very little diving, players generally just get up after a hefty challenge, there's usually 1 or 2 players who stand out etc. You know that your attendance is valued, you're not surrounded by tourists (except the odd groundhoppers) and if you and your group have enough pints/pies, you've probably paid the right-back's salary that week. You don't come away feeling exploited and the game hasn't been scheduled for 4am on a Monday morning. Lots to like. Seem to be more teenagers and blokes in their twenties at non-league games these days. |
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Reply | Looking for company at Derby away
at 07:10 21 Sep 2024
I love the Brunswick, but they were asking for evidence that people were Derby fans when I was there a few weeks ago. The Alex are absolutely fine with away fans and it's another great pub if you like your ale. |
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Reply | Devasated
at 18:47 13 Sep 2024
Sorry for your loss, and as others have said, it sounds like you've been a wonderful brother. i'm sure your friendship meant everything to him. Fantastic to have family looking out for you to such an extent. I hope the fact that he is now at peace is some comfort to you. RIP Jim. |
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Reply | Harry Kane
at 08:17 11 Sep 2024
He also scored his first pen in the same game against France. Taking 2 pens in the same game must be so tricky in terms of going the same way or trying something different. Kane has a superb penalty record and he puts that down to knowing in the build up to the game, exactly where he going to place it. A second penalty in the same game has to muddy that process.
He's been an absolutely fantastic footballer - reads the game brilliantly, excellent passer of the ball and a superb finisher. |
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Reply | First Cinema you saw a film in?
at 13:26 5 Sep 2024
In 1963(?), my parents saw the Beatles play at the Astoria in Finsbury Park and the Granada in Walthamstow. |
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Reply | You Are FIFA
at 12:28 5 Sep 2024
Mic the refs up so everyone in the ground and watching at home can hear players and coaches shouting "Fu ck-off!" at the officials. Refs would be compelled to send players and managers off, managers would go mental, and sponsors would be seriously unhappy. Some players might even feel shame at the idea that their kids and Nan have heard them abusing the officials. Would probably sort the problem out in 2-3 weeks. Every episode of 'Welcome to Wrexham' sees me hoping that some fourth official smacks Phil Parkinson really hard in the mouth - unbelievable that officials put up with that.
Enforce stoppage time rules.
The first time a keeper wastes time, warn them, and the second time they do it, book them. Even if it's in the 10th minute. Booking a keeper for time-wasting in the 93rd minute is utterly pointless.
"Professional fouls" and "taking one for the team" do my head in, so to stop cynical rotating of fouls amongst players to avoid bookings, every five free-kicks you concede, you lose one of your substitutions. |
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Reply | Dynamic Pricing
at 16:27 4 Sep 2024
I was just looking at Real Betis tickets and they operate it too. Absolute wan k. It would maybe be a bit more forgivable if the standard ticket started at reasonable and rose to expensive with surge pricing, but it will always be expensive rising to extortionate. For people whose work patterns mean they can only book tickets late on, this would be a nightmare, when it's already difficult finding reasonably priced tickets at lots of clubs. And in a country like Spain, where they schedule games for TV about 10 minutes before they're due to kick-off, this seems especially wan k for people having to wait and see what day/time a game is taking place.
On the subject of obscene ticket prices, I'm enjoying my regular emails from Fulham begging me to spend £71+ booking fee for a seat in the Hammersmith or Putney to watch us play West Ham or Newcastle. Get fu cked. |
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Reply | Dynamic Pricing
at 22:04 2 Sep 2024
Tout: These tickets are rare as rocking horse sh it, but if you pay me 4 x face value, I can sort you out.
Ticketmaster after the majority of tickets have been snapped up: These tickets are rare as rocking horse sh it, but if you pay us 4 x face value, we can sort you out.
It's exactly the same with football clubs taking the piss - you just need to say fuc k-off because anything else just encourages them to keep on taking liberties. |
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Reply | LFW Message Board Glossary
at 14:36 30 Aug 2024
Leeds are still kicking themselves for not buying the Yorkshire Dales before they became a national park. With a bit of ingenuity, they could have built a 4 million all-seater stadium on that site with a fu ck-off car park and a bowling alley. They could have been the most massive club in the world and not just in West Yorks. Missed opportunities. |
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 14:10 30 Aug 2024
If they're not promoted by mid-September, they can always get rid and bring in Frank Lampard or Brooklyn Beckham. The flaming wheelie bins, and lights and laser show that they put on at St Andrews is too showbiz to be slumming it in League 1 for more than a season. Champions League quality razzamatazz. |
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Reply | LFW Message Board Glossary
at 13:29 30 Aug 2024
"Missed redevelopment opportunities": Rangers could now be playing in a 30,000 all-seater stadium in W12, if they’d shown a bit of vision and bought the Dairy Crest site, Television centre, the Territorial Army site, the Jack Tizard school site, the Grange Hill school site, the freehold to the Springbok, the Linford Christie stadium, HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and/or Holland Park roundabout. |
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Reply | Brest
at 11:32 30 Aug 2024
Yeah, a bit smaller than 20,000 but that's the one. I wanted to go and watch them play Lorient in a friendly on a Saturday night, but my wife didn't want to spend a couple of hours driving us there and back. Sad times. |
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