Football

[DarloRich]

Halifax promoted from Conference North after beating Chorley ( should have been Darlo 3-2 in extra time.

Forest Green Rovers promoted to the league after beating Tranmere. Another victory for moneybags bankrolled clubs. But that is all the FA care about.

Conference North placings have been sorted. We lose Fylde and Halifax (promoted) Worcester (resigned) Altrincham & Stalybridge (relegated) and Gloucester (moved to south league) and gain York, North Ferriby & Southport from the conference, Blyth Spartans & Spennymoor ( from Evo stic Premier) and Leamington from Southern Premier.

league is, provisionally, as follows:

• 1 AFC Telford United
• 2 Alfreton Town
• 3 Blyth Spartans
• 4 Boston United
• 5 Brackley Town
• 6 Bradford Park Avenue
• 7 Chorley FC
• 8 Curzon Ashton
• 9 Darlington FC
• 10 FC United of Manchester
• 11 Gainsborough Trinity
• 12 Harrogate Town
• 13 Kidderminster Harriers
• 14 Leamington FC
• 15 North Ferriby United
• 16 Nuneaton Town
• 17 Salford City
• 18 Southport FC
• 19 Spennymoor Town
• 20 Stockport County
• 21 Tamworth FC
• 22 York City

With a reduced budget that will be a really tough league for us. Mid table at best.

That depends on the goings on behind the scenes at Darlo. It has been a mad few weeks. Firstly all but one of our directors resigned over the misunderstanding of the ground grading rules. This was bad. The fans forum that followed was toxic on both sides. The remaining director indicated we had been running at a loss ( covered by fan loans/ share purchases) and the manager faced a 80K budget cut for the next season

Then the manager initiated he felt we could go no further with our current ownership model ( setting out some required budgets for conference and league football) indicated if the budget was cut we would perform badly on the field and that he would quit as it did not match his ambitions for the club. He did say, however, that lined up a new mystery investor.

I was told ver ysoon after the meeting who the investor was but it took some time to come out. It was none other than Raj Singh, chairman at the time of our implosion and fans enemy number .

As you can imagine that went down like the titanic, the fans split into pro and anti camps and things got nasty. Singh then pulled out citing said nasty internet men, the club issued an unhelpful statement blaming keyboard warriors and everyone got angry.

Upshot is we need to raise funds asap for the seats and for the budget to keep the manager in position. I have bought some more shares which i cant afford. The manager is on leave and is said to be "considering his position"!

It is never dull being a Darlo fan. Those premier league types don't know they are born!

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Halifax promoted from Conference North after beating Chorley ( should have been Darlo 3-2 in extra time.

Forest Green Rovers promoted to the league after beating Tranmere. Another victory for moneybags bankrolled clubs. But that is all the FA care about.

Conference North placings have been sorted. We lose Fylde and Halifax (promoted) Worcester (resigned) Altrincham & Stalybridge (relegated) and Gloucester (moved to south league) and gain York, North Ferriby & Southport from the conference, Blyth Spartans & Spennymoor ( from Evo stic Premier) and Leamington from Southern Premier.

league is, provisionally, as follows:

• 1 AFC Telford United
• 2 Alfreton Town
• 3 Blyth Spartans
• 4 Boston United
• 5 Brackley Town
• 6 Bradford Park Avenue
• 7 Chorley FC
• 8 Curzon Ashton
• 9 Darlington FC
• 10 FC United of Manchester
• 11 Gainsborough Trinity
• 12 Harrogate Town
• 13 Kidderminster Harriers
• 14 Leamington FC
• 15 North Ferriby United
• 16 Nuneaton Town
• 17 Salford City
• 18 Southport FC
• 19 Spennymoor Town
• 20 Stockport County
• 21 Tamworth FC
• 22 York City

With a reduced budget that will be a really tough league for us. Mid table at best.

That depends on the goings on behind the scenes at Darlo. It has been a mad few weeks. Firstly all but one of our directors resigned over the misunderstanding of the ground grading rules. This was bad. The fans forum that followed was toxic on both sides. The remaining director indicated we had been running at a loss ( covered by fan loans/ share purchases) and the manager faced a 80K budget cut for the next season

Then the manager initiated he felt we could go no further with our current ownership model ( setting out some required budgets for conference and league football) indicated if the budget was cut we would perform badly on the field and that he would quit as it did not match his ambitions for the club. He did say, however, that lined up a new mystery investor.

I was told ver ysoon after the meeting who the investor was but it took some time to come out. It was none other than Raj Singh, chairman at the time of our implosion and fans enemy number .

As you can imagine that went down like the titanic, the fans split into pro and anti camps and things got nasty. Singh then pulled out citing said nasty internet men, the club issued an unhelpful statement blaming keyboard warriors and everyone got angry.

Upshot is we need to raise funds asap for the seats and for the budget to keep the manager in position. I have bought some more shares which i cant afford. The manager is on leave and is said to be "considering his position"!

It is never dull being a Darlo fan. Those premier league types don't know they are born!

You had the 6th highest average attendance in the league Darlo - and your gates were four times higher than ours. You shouldn't find it all that hard to compete with the more impoverished teams in National North.

 

[DarloRich]

You had the 6th highest average attendance in the league Darlo - and your gates were four times higher than ours. You shouldn't find it all that hard to compete with the more impoverished teams in National North.

we need to be at the top rather than in the middle to avoid stagnation but I agree we should be ok even with a reduced budget. However we have got a great deal of ground work to undertake, a lease to pay and a 5 year season ticket loan thingy to repay so things are tight at present.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Is the public transport system in rural Gloucestershire good enough to cope with hundreds of visiting supporters trying to get to Forest Green at the same time?

 

[Butts]

Is the public transport system in rural Gloucestershire good enough to cope with hundreds of visiting supporters trying to get to Forest Green at the same time?

The yokels will be out with tractor and trailers aka Sark

 

[DarloRich]

Is the public transport system in rural Gloucestershire good enough to cope with hundreds of visiting supporters trying to get to Forest Green at the same time?

no. One bus from Stroud. The pubs cant cope either. FGR plan to move to a new, all wooden ground, at Junction 13 of the M5 at some point. It will be sad when it all goes pop.

 

[Darandio]

I was told ver ysoon after the meeting who the investor was but it took some time to come out. It was none other than Raj Singh, chairman at the time of our implosion and fans enemy number .

As you can imagine that went down like the titanic, the fans split into pro and anti camps and things got nasty. Singh then pulled out citing said nasty internet men, the club issued an unhelpful statement blaming keyboard warriors and everyone got angry.

I'm guessing he found a little bit of cash lying around somewhere, maybe he sold the house next to Allens West? Never before was I so happy to see a housing estate go up, even more so when it completely surrounded his land.

 

[DarloRich]

I'm guessing he found a little bit of cash lying around somewhere, maybe he sold the house next to Allens West? Never before was I so happy to see a housing estate go up, even more so when it completely surrounded his land.

he has flounced off again. I am sure he will be back with some scheme or other.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'm guessing he found a little bit of cash lying around somewhere, maybe he sold the house next to Allens West? Never before was I so happy to see a housing estate go up, even more so when it completely surrounded his land.

The housing estate was Singh's development, wasn't it?

 

[Darandio]

The housing estate was Singh's development, wasn't it?

Yes, you may well be right actually.

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes, you may well be right actually.

I rather think he made a few quid from that!

 

[Darandio]

I rather think he made a few quid from that!

Most likely!

Still cannot stand the guy though.

 

[DarloRich]

It was Singhs development. I expect he made a bundle. I suspect he had a development plan for the land around the arena and that was behind his interest in the club.

he recently gave an interview to the local paper about the events in 2012 and the article smelled odd to me and doesn't tally with my recollection of events!

 

[Tetchytyke]

If you do that kind of thing it will affect the quality of the refereeing :roll:

If a professional referee becomes biased because the crowd question his parentage, then he's just proven he's not capable of refereeing professionally.

It's all part of the fun. I'm not talking homophobic sexist or racist abuse. But shouting he needs his eyes testing is not a problem, and part of the tribal fun of football.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Sad to see Forest Green go up, if I'm honest. There are now too many plastic moneybags clubs in the lower leagues that add nothing and will cause huge problems when the owners get bored. Even people in Fleetwood don't want to watch Fleetwood.

 

[Lankyline]

Even people in Fleetwood don't want to watch Fleetwood.

It is Fleetwood after all

 

[Kite159]

Who wants to put some pennies on Middlesbrough somehow holding Liverpool to a draw* with Arsenal brushing aside Everton to steal 4th place on Sunday?

(with Everton knowing they have 7th if they allow Arsenal to win they could prevent their city rivals from champion's league football next year, with Middlesbrough scoring late to break the hearts of Liverpool fans)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Four becomes Three as Reading book their place at Wembley, beating Fulham 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate) thanks to Yann Kermorgant's spot-kick. Fulham despite finishing 6th were many peoples' fancied side out of the four- with Reading and Huddersfield probably 3rd and 4th respectively. Whether it's us or Sheffield Wednesday facing Reading in the final, we underestimate them at our peril. They did finish 3rd after all...

 

[backontrack]

Reading has the best defence of the four I'd say, and they like to park the bus. You'd need both extensive goalscoring choices and a strong defence - they like to catch you on the break through their full-backs Gunter and Obita - and Huddersfield doesn't seem to have the depth.

Wednesday might have a better bet against them than the Terriers, with Reach and Wallace on the wings with Winnall and Fletcher up front as well as Forestieri - but Huddersfield can control games using Brown and Mooy so it could be close.

 

[richw]

If a professional referee becomes biased because the crowd question his parentage, then he's just proven he's not capable of refereeing professionally.

It's all part of the fun. I'm not talking homophobic sexist or racist abuse. But shouting he needs his eyes testing is not a problem, and part of the tribal fun of football.

Thanks for the explanation what you meant by abuse. As you may know I referee rugby, recently I refereed a rugby match with a football pitch immediately along side. The football referee was called all sorts of obscenities, homophobic abuse and abuse relating to sexual tendencies were strife. This is Completely unacceptable.

I'm looking forward to "should have gone to Specsavers" style jokes next season. My rugby referee society have secured a shirt sponsorship deal from the manager of our local branch, so we will have specsavers logo across the front of our new shirts!

 

[Antman]

Proposal to change the National League play off format:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39951821

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Huddersfield Town (a.e.t.). Huddersfield win 4-3 on penalties.

A game slightly edged by Huddersfield over the 120 minutes, but no clear gap between the sides, the lottery of a shoot-out was required. Town's heavy German influence will be the obvious reference point for lazy tabloid journalists, but the team spirit we've shown all season has been more significant than the Teutonic heritage of many of our players. Of course, of our 5 takers, the only one who missed was the English Jack Payne. Commiserations to our resident Merseyside based Owl, but that the decisive penalty was missed by the dirty cheating b'stard Forestieri was the icing on the cake!

Now on to Reading at Wembley, if my heart and digestive tract can take it!

 

[richw]

if Huddersfield win the playoff will they be the first team to ever be promoted to the premier league with a negative goal difference?

 

[AlterEgo]

if Huddersfield win the playoff will they be the first team to ever be promoted to the premier league with a negative goal difference?

I'd guess so. Would make a good trivia question!

I'd like to see Huddersfield in the Prem next season. It's good to see more teams get a crack at the big time.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Huddersfield Town (a.e.t.). Huddersfield win 4-3 on penalties.

A game slightly edged by Huddersfield over the 120 minutes, but no clear gap between the sides, the lottery of a shoot-out was required. Town's heavy German influence will be the obvious reference point for lazy tabloid journalists, but the team spirit we've shown all season has been more significant than the Teutonic heritage of many of our players. Of course, of our 5 takers, the only one who missed was the English Jack Payne. Commiserations to our resident Merseyside based Owl, but that the decisive penalty was missed by the dirty cheating b'stard Forestieri was the icing on the cake!

Now on to Reading at Wembley, if my heart and digestive tract can take it!

Did you go?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Did you go?

Unfortunately not, watched in the pub instead... would give a kidney to have been there though!

 

[richw]

Congratulations to Man Utd guaranteeing their 6th place finish in the league!

 

[RichmondCommu]

Congratulations to Man Utd guaranteeing their 6th place finish in the league!

I guess they would argue it won't matter if they can beat Ajax.

 

[richw]

I guess they would argue it won't matter if they can beat Ajax.

And if they lose? £150m spent last summer. I'd call that failure.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Congratulations to Man Utd guaranteeing their 6th place finish in the league!

Since the inception of the Premier League (or whatever it is called), has any team finishing in the top six drawn as many games as Manchester United in a season?