M42Owl

Why do people like Kirchner commit to buying clubs when they don’t have the wherewithal to conclude the deal? Surely it costs a fortune just to go along with the charade, but with nothing to show for it at the end? And why are administrators so gullible?

And Boro.

On the basis of nearly zero transfer activity so far (I reserve the right to amend my predictions as transfer news comes in)… Portsmouth Wednesday . . MK Peterborough Derby Plymouth . . Fleetwood Morecambe Bristol R Cambridge . Man City Forest (if they don’t win today, otherwise Norwich) Sunderland Northampton.

Reasons for wanting Huddersfield to win tomorrow… Forest would make championship more difficult for that lot across the city. If Forest go back up, we’ll have the longest duration outside the prem amongst the “big” clubs. A record I’d like someone else to hold. Scabs. Huddersfield might beat Derby’s record low points next season. Could be a laugh. Lee Chapman hasn’t been forgotten, nor forgiven. 1990.

I might be wrong, but I think the first Coventry shirt with the “T” design but no “Talbot” was an attempt to get around the ban on shirt sponsorship. Another example of Jimmy Hill’s thinking being way ahead of his time. And Talbot wasn’t British Leyland. History in Hillman, then Chrysler, then a short time as Talbot before Peugeot took over and eventually shut them down.

38% on its own is a meaningless stat. If we’d conceded more goals from open play would things be better, or just look better? We conceded 50 in total which is less than Wycombe and Sunderland, and only 6 more than Wigan and MK. We all know that we conceded too many goals from corners and free kicks, but how many did we actually concede? 19. How does this compare to other teams? I suspect that since signing Storey and Dean and having “proper” defenders regularly at the back, set piece goals conceded have been less frequent.

Should it be called the “Wayne Rooney’s League One” game?

At the other end of the scale… Did anyone else see the program about Macclesfield FC last night? Robbie Savage having a wtf moment (and I agree with him) at players who were going to get, at best, £150/week (or was it per game?) feeling the need to hand over a proportion of that to an agent.

So our back three currently consists of Iorfa and Palmer. With Brennan in reserve. So we must be confident of doing some quick business to get reinforcements in. Looking at it like that, it’s a surprise that we haven’t tried to keep Hutchinson. That said, he has been a liability lately out on the left. Made a few mistakes and failed to link up with Johnson in a meaningful manner. We must sort out the left side (a fit version of Gibson) as the top priority so we’re not reliant on Palmer. Then get a replacement for Dunkley / Dean in the middle. Making offers to NML and Wildsmith seem a bit strange. NML struggles to fit into the 3-5-2 formation and Wildsmith just struggles to get in. Odd.

Maybe we should try to scupper their discussions with Michael Smith with a counter offer.

Until Everton move to their new ground.

We need a keeper that commands his area and directs the defenders. I’m convinced that much of our defensive weakness at corners was down to a lack of assertiveness from BPF. Whether or not Ben Foster does that, I don’t know, but he’s as good a shot stopper as BPF and more experienced. Got to be worth a year as first choice and maybe a second as back up.

Bit of an attacking change: Dele-Bashiru for Byers and NML for Hunt. Need to get Hutch and Johnson linking down the left and the power of NML down the right and we’ll create chances the forwards and FDB. But most of all, we name a big game from Dunkley.

Concede early and their shithouse tactics will be maximised. Keep it tight and gaps will open up and they’ll start to get nervy. We need our defence to be on top of their game today. A commanding keeper performance from BPF would help.

Carson wasn’t on Reesh’s last update, surely I’ve missed someone mentioning him? Is he a Euro winner too?

No mention so far of Talbot at Cardiff?

So the question, was “is three wins from five enough for top six?”, is now, “is one win from three enough?” If that win is against Wycombe then yes, it’s job (top six) done. If we draw v Wycombe, only two more points would be needed to stay ahead of them. So 82 points obtained without another win would be enough. A defeat v Wycombe and a win and defeat from the last two and I think we will finish below Wycombe and Sunderland leaving us battling for sixth with Plymouth. I think they’ll win v MK, so we’ll miss out on GD. In this scenario, one win in the final three is not enough. We would need four points from Fleetwood / Portsmouth. Maybe even all six if Wycombe boost their GD and Plymouth get a result at Wigan.

FDB rested after his first 90 mins for ages. Dunkley is the one I don’t understand. Dropping him disrupts the entire back line and the left side.

It’s only a few years ago that I read of his career “after Wednesday”. Just checked on Wiki, appears it happened before Wednesday. Doesn’t alter the fact that I hated him for displacing Turner for no good reason and we lost.

My dislike of Barry Watling is, perhaps, a bit harsh seeing as he only played once, but I remember a young Chris Turner coming through the ranks and being the only bright spark in a truly depressing squad of players. The manager at the time (Ashurst?) said Turner needed competition so brought in Hartlepool’s reserve keeper. Fine thus far, but no one expected him to play: he did and as you say, we lost 2-0. I seem to recall that he shovelled one in at the near post at the kop end too. Turner was recalled and we never saw BW again. I did read, many years after, that he went on to have a decent career at Hartlepool and became a bit of a legend, but in my mind the dislike lingered.

Barry Watling Peter Feeley Owen Morrison Craig Armstrong Simon Stainrod Jimmy Smith (?) Kachunga John Bostock Leon Knight.

Any away game with a late winner is special. Already mentioned… Leeds and Nuhiu’s winner in the snow Joao at Brentford Add on… Maguire at Millwall. There’s a couple at the Baggies that I’m probably getting a bit mixed up. A late disputed winner (did it cross the line?) by Burton. And Leon Clarke coming on as a late sub to time waste and get Robinson sent off in frustration. Another great day was the win at Brum with Hooper’s superb strike and Brummie man (or whatever he got called) was right behind where I was stood.

Correct Correct Bowditch, correct. Apologies for this, but I couldn’t resist. Thought it was an easy one. Correct. All done.

Frankfurt nearly doing a Wednesday. 1-3, panic, penalty, 2nd yellow, 2-3, full time.

Barca 0-3. Oh dear, never mind.