Howardh
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 May 2011
- Messages
- 8,185
Are Bolton playing behind closed doors on Saturday? I know they have avoided winding-up again; but have they the cash to host the game?
Interesting how a load of Wolves fans have suddenly "come out of the woodwork" on here since they got promoted.
In years gone by you never heard a dickie bird out of them !! The odd mention of Villa was about the extent of Midlands participation.
The Villa fans have sunk without trace nearly as fast as their team.
With four small clubs in the semis this year it's hardly surprising. Brighton are claiming to have sold their main allocation and have been given an additional 1500.
I wouldn't be so sure of that with us. Still a little optimistic, especially after our display against Chelsea (regardless of the result and the officiating incompetence that was on show, and how poor Chelsea were, I am very happy with the performance) and we have a winnable game in hand on Burnley (against Brighton, who are themselves falling into the fun at the bottom), and have Burnley themselves still to play. Added to that their run in is ever so slightly harder than ours (though it isn't nice for either of us - and both of us have horrible last games). It is going to be damn close I think!
Why do you consider a club 200 miles from Leeds as a genuine rival?
I could take exception to that, though I do agree that the true Man City fanbase is small and local. There is not the national or international support to follow the footballing growth of the team. That means a lot of supporters cannot afford to make another trip to Wembley this year, with one eye on a possible cup final place. The ridiculous KO time of 5:30pm does not help return travel, either.
There's no denying Man City are a very good team, but personally (and with respect), I don't think they can be considered as a big club (like Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc.) until they've won the Champions League.
I didn’t say they were local rivals
Check who their highest attendance each season is against for the last 15 years...
Rivalry is about many things. Animosity, competing in similar divisions, competing in the same parts of those divisions, big matches against each other (we played them in the play offs), it’s clearly a grudge match, we often have classic encounters (last two matches at ER finished 3-2 and 3-4), the games you look for first on the fixture list.
Millwall score highest for me on all the important factors.
Some Leeds fans claim rivalries with Chelsea, Man Utd etc but realistically we barely play them (it is great when we do though).
On the local front, Bradford we play even less than Man Utd. Huddersfield are tedious, barely register and we were rarely competing with each other in similar parts of the league at the same time. Sheffield Wednesday -possibly- but they are more interested in the Blades than us.
So if not Millwall, who else would it be for Leeds in the post prem years? Carlisle and Burnley, possibly.
Plenty of teams/supporters dislike us, but in most cases it isn’t mutual, rivalry is a two way process isn’t it?
You of course referring to having not played both the Bradford sides (City and Park Avenue) for a long time?
I'm not sure many Park Avenue fans would claim us as rivals having not played each other since 1952. City fans definitely would though. It's a shame City are looking like going down this season (sincerely).
The two Bradford clubs last played each other competitively in 1968/60 not 1952 (but not sure which City you are talking about).
The Bradford derby is the most evenly balanced one in the country with Avenue 21-20 ahead in the league games with the other 11 drawn. City are 2-1 ahead in the FA Cup while Avenue lead 1-0 in the FL Cup.
Avenue, famously, also lead Manchester United 9-8, with 3 drawn, in Football League fixtures. And we also beat Manchester City 8-2 at Maine Road in the FA Cup in 1946 (if that's the City you mean). Happy days.
On paper, we might just be one league below Bradford City next season, but we're not good enough to win three away games in the play-offs even if we manage to hang on in the top seven on NLN.
We are a part-time club kicking well above our weight. Our poor gates led to some budget cuts at the start of 2019 as a result of which we lost three good players. Since then we have been relying more and more on loan players which doesn't augur well for the future.
Good luck against Stockport. Whatever the result, it would be a travesty if anybody other than Chorley and Stockport went up. Brackley and Altrincham look like the main threats.
I suppose that Burnley winning their last match and Cardiff City losing theirs tonight make your aspiration a little harder now to achieve fulfilment.
Garth Crooks was worried about Town "not trying" now we're down but we've been rubbish all season... Bournemouth are safely in mid-table but really should have been able to dispatch Burnley, who have been lucky in both games against us and are probably the next-worst side in the league after us.I think Burnley beating Bournmouth is that one that is the real kicker! My optimism is slowly draining away
I get your point but Barca are more likely to win at home and Man U can't get through with a draw. I think priceless away win would have been a better way of putting it .The away goals rule is pretty irrelevant in this case .When will journalists start to understand the away goals rule?
On the back page of today's Guardian, it says "Barcelona secured a priceless away goal last night". This is very misleading as the only team who can win that tie on the away goals rule is Manchester United.
The simplest way of understanding this rule is this ...
If you don't score at home, you can't lose on away goals. That is why a 0-0 draw at home is not necessarily a bad result.
Looks like the Fleetwood job will be available soon. Joey Barton is alleged to have assaulted the Barnsley manager in the tunnel after the game.
How many "second chances" has Barton had over the years?
I can remember when he was playing for his hometown team Everton that on a night out, he extinguished a lit cigar on somebody's eye, and plus he also assaulted somebody else too. Quite rightly, he got sent to jail.
Looks like the Fleetwood job will be available soon. Joey Barton is alleged to have assaulted the Barnsley manager in the tunnel after the game.
This years title race is amazing.
Salah’s goal was an absolute stunner today. Who blinks first? Manchester City or Liverpool?
Exciting, and going to be exciting right to the finish...