Football

[scotrail158713]

It was just about a complete wipeout in non-league football in south east Scotland today due to the cold temperatures. Just 1 game out of a possible 24 went ahead.
I was refereeing a game this morning as well and that was the first time I’d genuinely considered a postponement - the 3G surface held out though.

 

[Iskra]

Leeds 4 Middlesbrough 0

The finishing finally clicks and we subsequently batter a team, without even getting out of first gear truth be told. We are now top as West Brom play on Monday night.

Next up is a tricky one: Huddersfield away.

 

[DarloRich]

Darlington 2 v Telford 3 : Darlo 2-0 up and cruising at half time yet somehow conspired to throw the game away giving a second half hat trick to some clown who has scored 3 goals all season. FFS.

Leeds 4 Middlesbrough 0

The finishing finally clicks and we subsequently batter a team, without even getting out of first gear truth be told. We are now top as West Brom play on Monday night.

Next up is a tricky one: Huddersfield away.

Boro are shocking at the moment.

PS:

Better stop dreaming of the quiet life
'Cos it's the one we'll never know

 

[youngiecj]

Rochdale 0 Boston 0. Very proud to be a Boston fan today, great performance and a chance to finally give York St one final big game.

 

[youngiecj]

Wow what an incentive to beat Rochdale, Newcastle at home in the 3rd round.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Next up is a tricky one: Huddersfield away.

Our mini-revival has somewhat stuttered in the last few weeks, and it seems to finally be clicking for your side... so I'm expecting the most one-sided derby for quite a few years this lunchtime!

 

[Iskra]

Our mini-revival has somewhat stuttered in the last few weeks, and it seems to finally be clicking for your side... so I'm expecting the most one-sided derby for quite a few years this lunchtime!

The Championship is rarely that simple though is it.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The Championship is rarely that simple though is it.

That's true... but then that's why I'm keeping my expectations low!

And I've just seen our team, development squad on the bench... if you don't beat us today you don't deserve to go up!

 

[Iskra]

That's true... but then that's why I'm keeping my expectations low!

And I've just seen our team, development squad on the bench... if you don't beat us today you don't deserve to go up!

Your team will play out of their skins today. #cupfinal

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Your team will play out of their skins today. #cupfinal

We're doing surprisingly well so far, but it's hardly our cup final... even when we beat your old enemy two years ago it wasn't our cup final!

 

[Iskra]

We're doing surprisingly well so far, but it's hardly our cup final... even when we beat your old enemy two years ago it wasn't our cup final!

Looks like no DVD for you this season then

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Looks like no DVD for you this season then

We were well beaten, but given our injury record I was quite pleased with the performance. Blooded a few youngsters who didn't embarrass themselves, so I'm not overly disappointed.

If you manage to finally get up this time around, you'll need to improve massively to have any chance of staying up.

 

[Iskra]

We were well beaten, but given our injury record I was quite pleased with the performance. Blooded a few youngsters who didn't embarrass themselves, so I'm not overly disappointed.

If you manage to finally get up this time around, you'll need to improve massively to have any chance of staying up.

It sounds a nice problem to have to deal with

Personally, I don’t care about Premiership football. We play attractive football, have a borderline genius manager, sell out every week, are on TV all the time and have plenty of media coverage. 2/3rd’s of the fixtures in the Premiership are dull, we’d be subjected to even more ridiculous KO times, getting additional tickets for home games is already extremely difficult, away tickets are almost impossible for most allocations and it’s over sanitised. The only attraction of the PL is financial security, which isn’t even guaranteed.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I noticed that Fort William only lost 2-0 this weekend in a Highland League away match....then realised it was Lossiemouth who they were playing.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I see that the police have arrested a 41 year old man in relation to the offensive happenings that took place during the Manchester derby match at the Etihad stadium. So it is not just the "callow youth" who seem to be tarred with the racist brush.

 

[DarloRich]

An interesting week for Darlo

Tuesday: Lost 3 - 0 at Leamington. Several players were unable to make the trip due to work commitments for this rearranged game. We were awful by all accounts

Saturday: Won 2-0 at home to Chester who are 3rd in the league!

 

[youngiecj]

We were well beaten, but given our injury record I was quite pleased with the performance. Blooded a few youngsters who didn't embarrass themselves, so I'm not overly disappointed.

If you manage to finally get up this time around, you'll need to improve massively to have any chance of staying up.

How did Duhaney get on at Right Back, he was excellent at Boston on load, showed real promise of a career at a much higher level..

 

[SS4]

It sounds a nice problem to have to deal with

Personally, I don’t care about Premiership football. We play attractive football, have a borderline genius manager, sell out every week, are on TV all the time and have plenty of media coverage. 2/3rd’s of the fixtures in the Premiership are dull, we’d be subjected to even more ridiculous KO times, getting additional tickets for home games is already extremely difficult, away tickets are almost impossible for most allocations and it’s over sanitised. The only attraction of the PL is financial security, which isn’t even guaranteed.

We got promoted last season and the grass definitely isn't greener in the prem - mid table is the best one can hope for. VAR is a joke - one I'm starting to feel is being misused on purpose to ensure that decisions are given to the correct team regardless of what actually happened and the gulf in quality between top and bottom (or the have and have nots in terms of £££s) makes it like two or even three separate leagues all wrapped in the banner of one.

At least in the championship we would won regularly and be like you guys are this season in terms of media coverage. Prem coverage is focussed on the traditional top six and basically nobody else - if you're not a fan of one those clubs you are either a footnote (if you play one of said clubs) or all but non-existent (if you don't). Good luck getting Sky/BT to show many games from elsewhere in the league. - only Amazon have managed to bring broadcasting into the 21st Century by allowing users to pick their stream.

Lastly, I find the behaviour of footballers increasingly abhorrent. That they find it acceptable to backchat and crowd the ref, that they appeal for everything, go down under a 1 on the Beaufort Scale and generally lie and cheat to waste time. After getting more into rugby last year and this the player attitude is much better in the latter

 

[507021]

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has signed a new five-year deal which extends his stay at the club until 2024.

James Milner has also signed a new contract which runs until summer 2022.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

How did Duhaney get on at Right Back, he was excellent at Boston on load, showed real promise of a career at a much higher level..

He did okay against Leeds, until he got injured (which kept him out at Charlton). Not quite the finished article yet but he stepped up to the Championship pretty well. Unlike most of the youngsters we've been forced to turn to he does have a Premier League appearance under his belt!

The Cowleys seem to have lost patience with some of the prima-Donna players we signed last summer, I can't wait for January so we can ship out the mercenaries!

 

[greyman42]

Lastly, I find the behaviour of footballers increasingly abhorrent. That they find it acceptable to backchat and crowd the ref, that they appeal for everything, go down under a 1 on the Beaufort Scale and generally lie and cheat to waste time. After getting more into rugby last year and this the player attitude is much better in the latter

Simply change the rules so that any backchat warrants a yellow card. I agree that player attitude is much better in rugby as they know that dissent will not be tolerated.

 

[scotrail158713]

Simply change the rules so that any backchat warrants a yellow card. I agree that player attitude is much better in rugby as they know that dissent will not be tolerated.

Referees are allowed to do that just now but sadly a lot don’t. I did it in a game a couple of weeks ago though, as I had a 12 year old think it was acceptable to call me a “F****n joke” when I gave a free kick against him.

 

[Antman]

Referees are allowed to do that just now but sadly a lot don’t. I did it in a game a couple of weeks ago though, as I had a 12 year old think it was acceptable to call me a “F****n joke” when I gave a free kick against him.

Exactly that, referee's have the power to stop it now but they don't. It will mean a lot of red cards initially but players will soon get the message.

 

[scotrail158713]

Exactly that, referee's have the power to stop it now but they don't. It will mean a lot of red cards initially but players will soon get the message.

I think what it is is that a lot of refs think comments like that are part and parcel of what you’re to put up with. However you shouldn’t be letting someone swear at you - it’s bang out of order.
For me, I don’t mind players questioning my decision, and I’m happy to explain it to them. (Sometimes a challenge with 12 & 13 year old boys though ) But if they start swearing they’re going in my book.

 

[Antman]

I think what it is is that a lot of refs think comments like that are part and parcel of what you’re to put up with. However you shouldn’t be letting someone swear at you - it’s bang out of order.
For me, I don’t mind players questioning my decision, and I’m happy to explain it to them. (Sometimes a challenge with 12 & 13 year old boys though ) But if they start swearing they’re going in my book.

That sounds fair enough to me, I wish all referee's did the same.

 

[youngiecj]

Boston 1 Rochdale 2. Well out of the cup in typical Boston fashion an own goal and a penalty. Great atmosphere and a good crowd, we pushed a league one side all the way. Concentrate on trying to go up now. Starting with Gateshead on Saturday!

 

[507021]

Liverpool have agreed a £7.25m deal to sign winger Takumi Minamino from Red Bull Salzburg.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Liverpool have agreed a £7.25m deal to sign winger Takumi Minamino from Red Bull Salzburg.

In these days of inflationary price tags, that seems to be in the "loose change" range.

 

[507021]

In these days of inflationary price tags, that seems to be in the "loose change" range.

Absolutely, especially for a player of his quality.

 

[fowler9]

Absolutely, especially for a player of his quality.

Frankly gob smacked how cheap he was.