Football

[61653 HTAFC]

Well, we've got our man in Jan Siewert! He's not Martin from Wakefield (who really ought to be an Ossett United fan rather than Manchester City)...

Doubt we can avoid relegation regardless, but hopefully we'll put up a bit of a fight and be able to make a good fist of getting back up next season.

 

[The_Train]

it is a long time since Darlo played at that level ( and we were generally $hit) but we weren't that bad. I am sure of it. Has the standard declined?

Yes it has and that is why so many teams fall through the trap door and find non-league so tough.

But you have to be realistic. If the owner wont pay for good players you end up near the bottom. If you cant get the players you want you have to make the best of it.

I get that, and I know the chairman is more interested in lining his own pockets than seeing the club survive let alone succeed. However, from the managers point of view it is my opinion that if you are dealing with a poor standard of player (relative to the level of course) then the worst thing you can do is play them out of position. If they are no good in their favoured position, it is unlikely that they will be any good in an unfamiliar position.

 

[The_Train]

More sad news coming from the footballing world as it appears that new Cardiff signing Emiliano Sala is thought to be on board a light aircraft that disappeared whilst flying over the Channel Islands last night on route to join up with his new club.

We can only hope for a miracle but it doesn't look good

 

[Antman]

More sad news coming from the footballing world as it appears that new Cardiff signing Emiliano Sala is thought to be on board a light aircraft that disappeared whilst flying over the Channel Islands last night on route to join up with his new club.

We can only hope for a miracle but it doesn't look good

It's been confirmed that he was on the flight and as you say we can only hope for a miracle now, really shocking.

 

[Bedpan]

Ironic that Cardiff were so good to Leicester when they played their first game after the helicopter crash there - despite being in such dire need of points.

 

[Groningen]

Word is that he sent an audio message that the aircraft was falling apart.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The width of the English Channel from the north of the Channel Isles to the British mainland is very much a larger sea area than that between Dover and Calais in which the search area has to cover.

 

[fowler9]

Very sad about Emiliano Sala. It is sad when anyone dies but especially someone so young and on their way to live their dreams. Life is tragic sometimes, love to all.

 

[trainmania100]

I'm going to the Brighton game on saturday as it's a few stops by train from me.

 

[DarloRich]

Durham FA Challenge Cup tin pot trophy indeterminate round; Darlington 1 v Hartlepooh 2. We managed to throw away another game we were in control of. Shameful losing to the hangers even in a tin pot cup.

In other news the monkey hangers, in an intricate and strange job swap, replaced the recently appointed manager Richard Money with Craig Hignett who was previously some kind of director of football!

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Its amazing that Manchester City have so many players that they can play weakened sides (squads of 18) away to two third division clubs on successive nights. Can it be good for big clubs to hoard players in this way? Up and coming players of talent should be playing for lower league clubs to develop properly. I would reduce the number of subs from seven to five or even four to reduce the number of players wasting their time sat on their backsides on the bench.

 

[Karl]

I'm amazed at Manchester United's progress since their new temporary manager took over. I think they've won all of their games?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm amazed at Manchester United's progress since their new temporary manager took over. I think they've won all of their games?

I wonder if a certain former manager has been following events? I suppose that an FA Cup match away to Arsenal was not the easiest of cup fixtures, but I was surprised that Manchester United won that game 3-1.

 

[familyguy99]

FA Cup Fourth Round
Doncaster 2-1 Oldham

Oldham cup run have ended as Doncaster scored 90th minute penalty to send themselves through to fifth round for first time since 1956.

 

[Clip]

The newcastle saga continues. Christ its woeful

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Evo Stik Premier League

Hyde United 1 ... Marine 2

Yet another game that Hyde have lost at home to a side well below them in the league. Marine took a 15th minute lead, which Hyde equalised ten minutes into the second half, but Marine scored the winner 14 minutes before the end. Hyde now drop a league place to eighth as a result of this home defeat.

 

[Kite159]

FA Cup Fourth Round
Doncaster 2-1 Oldham

Oldham cup run have ended as Doncaster scored 90th minute penalty to send themselves through to fifth round for first time since 1956.

And hopefully they will get a nice draw against a premiership team for a good pay day when the BBC show it on telly.

 

[Cletus]

But hopefully not away to Millwall which could be dangerous!

 

[Kite159]

Looks like the keeper of the trophy cabinet at Spuds can breath easy as another year goes by without anybody discovering he misplaced the key several years ago

 

[Antman]

Great use of VAR I thought at Chelsea, it clearly wasn't a penalty, just a shame for Everton that it wasn't in use at Millwall yesterday. It's only used at Premier League grounds apparently?

 

[AlterEgo]

Millwall had a fine return to form over the weekend, with a street fight and racist chanting.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

It looks like the dream is over at Bradford. All our players now up for sale and just two points from our last six games. Well it was fun while it lasted. Almost certainly got enough points already to stay up this season but very pessimistic about 2019/20 and beyond.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Which teams still only sell match tickets to members?

Manchester United and Arsenal fall into this category while Liverpool sell memberships then newer members find they still can't get tickets any tickets at all as they don't have enough loyalty points. Rare general sales are restricted to those with L postcodes.

I suspect there must be many other clubs in the Premier League doing similar things.

Membership cards are, in my view, a rip off and an anachronism harking back to the days of Margaret Thatcher and David Evans.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Which teams still only sell match tickets to members?

Manchester United and Arsenal fall into this category while Liverpool sell memberships then newer members find they still can't get tickets any tickets at all as they don't have enough loyalty points. Rare general sales are restricted to those with L postcodes.

I suspect there must be many other clubs in the Premier League doing similar things.

Membership cards are, in my view, a rip off and an anachronism harking back to the days of Margaret Thatcher and David Evans.

So I am coming at this from a Cardiff point of view, where home tickets do go on general sale eventually if they don't sell out beforehand, but away games are essentially members only.
If it also applied to home games then my opinion would probably be a bit different. But for the way we do it:

Home games where members get priority over general sale means that longer term fans get priority. If Cardiff put all games on general sale at the sale time as the club members could buy them, then many of those members who have supported the club in the lower leagues too wouldn't be able to get tickets.

And as for postcodes, I agree it is a difficult one (I am a Cardiff fan who may well have a Bristol postcode soon, so that may be fun!) but at the same time making sure away fans don't just buy tickets in the home end is a pretty important thing as not only does it take away tickets from actual home fans but it leads to the potential for issues like what happened at Cardiff during the Man Utd match where a Utd fan got chased out of the ground for celebrating one of the goals.

For loyalty points, we aren't popular enough for that to come into home tickets, but certainly for away tickets it makes perfect sense. Does my dad who makes it to more away games warrant getting priority over me who makes less? Of course he does! As for newer members not being able to get enough points, I don't buy that excuse. We've had some Cardiff fans try to use that to complain about away ticket priorities, yet there have been quite a few games where away tickets have gone on sale to just normal members with no previous away games - the problem is those are the less popular games so they don't want to go to them!

As for them being a rip off? I guess it depends. For me I'd say £25 for priority over general sale and the ability to buy away tickets? Why not! But then again I have my season ticket mainly because of ticket priority these days as I probably don't actually save any money due to games I miss!

 

[Old Yard Dog]

As for newer members not being able to get enough points, I don't buy that excuse.

I know Liverpool supporters who have been members for a few seasons who were unable to get tickets for any league games at Anfield this season or last as they didn't have enough loyalty points. The only games they ever get to see are cup ties. And they can't accrue loyalty points as they can't get tickets. Its a Catch 22 situation. Makes me glad in a way that I watch a non-league side (but I'd far rather they were still in the league!).

 

[fowler9]

I am a Liverpool supporter from Liverpool who gets to go to a good number of home and away games including very high profile games. If you really want to get to a game you can. I have nothing to do with touts and only ever pay face value.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In English football, it seems that points are quite often lost by teams well placed in the top places in their divisions in what look like easier games, once the mid-January to end-February time period arrives.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In English football, it seems that points are quite often lost by teams well placed in the top places in their divisions in what look like easier games, once the mid-January to end-February time period arrives.

Unless that "easier game" is against Huddersfield!

 

[familyguy99]

Big news out of Oldham Athletic is that FA and Football league have given go ahead for Paul Scholes to become new manager at Oldham and probably be confirmed after Crawley match tomorrow afternoon. It be interesting to see how he does at Latics given this be his first management job and I hoping he does good job but half of me feel he be gone at end of season as doesn't go well but hopefully that doesn't happen.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The Highland League fixture list for today shows a clash of the "bottom two".....Lossiemouth v Fort William. The match was one of the few not to be cancelled because of a frozen pitch in those areas covered by this league.

Result

Lossiemouth 5 ... Fort William 0

Current league standings

Lossiemouth...P26...W2 D1 L23...Goal difference of -89
Fort William....P24...W0 D2 L22...Goal difference of -154.