M42Owl

My first memory of watching us at Vicarage Road was when Graham Taylor was in charge. In a style similar to that which I think Xisco wanted for us, Watford ripped us apart on the counterattack. Speed down the wings with John Barnes left and ? Callaghan right with Wilf Rostrum overlapping and, I think, Blisset and Jenkins (fast, big, powerful) up front. Four nil at half time.

I remember thinking at HT, that if we get a quick goal we might still get something out of the game. And straight from the kick off, the defence opened up and Ticker Taylor ran through on goal.

He missed. The hoped for comeback petered out. FT 4-0. But I have a weird affection for the game as it was my first hearing, at a match, of “always look on the bright side of life”.

On one level, the footballing level, I agree with Maguire: “proper fans” don’t boo players. Not individually anyway.

Boo a team at full time if they’re poor or uncommitted maybe, but not an individual. There might be an argument that booing a player is the kick up the backside he needs. I don’t go along with that. Booing individuals damages confidence that is probably fragile to start with and is most likely to make performances worse.

Then there’s the non-footballing level, where a player does or says something away from the pitch (Ched, Greenwood, Hughes spring to mind). But there are areas that are less clear cut: I suspect most Jewish or Arab players are currently treading a fine line between staying silence and expressing their reasonably held views.

But on to Henderson. And I think this is where players live in another reality. It’s fine, in my opinion, for any player to express strong support for LGBQ+ or not. But if Henderson was sincere in his support for the LGBQ community then he wouldn’t have gone to Saudi - it’s not like he’s struggling with the cost of living crisis. So he’s shown himself to be a hypocrite and he deserves all the booing he gets. It’s nothing to do with his football (although being selected before better players doesn’t help). It’s not even his expressed views. It’s his sudden apparent change in those view when big money is involved; it’s his hypocrisy.

And Southgate and Maguire, presumably when asked, could hardly call Henderson a twat, but equally they don’t need to give such fulsome support for him. That why I think they’re not living in the real world. They don’t see that Henderson has done anything deserving of criticism. And the only way for most of us to deliver that criticism is via a few boos. Top footballers (and managers) are in their football bubble and nothing else matters. Social media accounts and support for any oppressed group or cause is mainly to boost their likes and their ego and their sponsorships.

Maguire and Southgate need calling out for supporting Henderson almost as much as Henderson does for his hypocrisy.

* There are some, perhaps many, exceptions: Grealish and Defoe, but at the top of the game, I think they’re probably in a minority.

2 hours ago, Gamblor said:

That’s technically true, but we’d have a game in hand over Ukraine, whose remaining game would be against Italy, whilst we’re playing North Macedonia and Malta. I’m no Southgate fan, but we’ve all but qualified. 

Yes, I know. 
But a current big lead and “as good as qualified” could be “ahead of third only on GD” in a few days.
 

And yes, we should pick up the necessary points against N Macedonia and/or Malta, but it’s England. They’re almost as good as Wednesday for cocking it up.

Put in a dire performance against Italy on Tuesday and we most likely will be level on points with both Ukraine and Italy. 
 

Hopefully, Henderson and Phillips won’t get a look in.

13 minutes ago, Neville Facking Bartos said:

It's all well & good the fans being patient (most won't be mind) if the Chairman isn't. Wouldn't be surprised to see play offs mentioned at his PC 😄

Ignoring Stuart Gray and Steve Bruce, Chansiri has seen the back of six managers. Only Pulis and Xisco could you say he was impatient with, and not many would argue with the decision to get rid of those two after such a short time.

So think Chansiri’s record is mainly one of patience - Carlos, Jos, Monk and Moore - all given plenty of (too much, some would say) time.

 I’m usually one of the last calling for a manager to go, yet it’s only Stuart Gray that I think Chansiri got rid of too soon. I think Chansiri’s instinct is (was?) to give his man time, but he’s been overly influenced by impatient vocal fans.

Mid-week. Lots of travel. And we’re a bit crap.

But, new manager (maybe) and only 1648 tickets.

I’m in the Friday morning slot, will I get one?

Want: someone that’ll get us organised, playing on the front foot with a bit of pride and confidence. Out of the likely candidates that probably whittles it down to no-one.

Don't want: Warnock, Wilder, Evans, any previous Wednesday manager, any ex-United manager, Lampard/Gerrard/Terry etc whose name will precede the club’s, anyone over 50 whose managerial career is mainly tier 3 and below, Big Sam, Little Sam, Big Mick, any manager whose last/current job was in Saudi / China / Thailand, anyone generally considered a bit eccentric, e.g. Di Canio, Carbone. 
 

Would accept (meh): Pretty much anyone not in the list above, with a few years experience and more than one success on their CV.

Left field: A woman. Or a bloke doing well managing a women’s team.

12 hours ago, HappyOwl said:

How does Thompson change it for Saturday then these players have been shite so what does he start with tomorrow? Biggest line up announcement at 2 pm Saturday since Jos left and we brought Westwood back 

Hopefully Thompson has been watching and seen Xisco’s mistakes and remembers Moore’s solutions.

Will he keep a back four or go back to three? Back three please.

Will he go back to tippy tappy play it out from the back rubbish? Even Xisco abandoned that on Tuesday. So surely Thompson will go long. To be fair to Xisco, he did say we play it out because we can keep position if we go long ball: as demonstrated on Tuesday night. But Moore got around that by using Paterson (at LWB) and Smith. Also, if we the drop tippy tappy approach, does that open the door for Ihekwe?

I think Thompson will go something like…

Keeper

Iorfa, Ihekwe, Bernard

Paterson, 3 CMs, Musaba

Smith, Wilks.

1 hour ago, Otto_Man said:

Only if you live in Europe...

Or Asia, or North or Central America, or the Middle East.

Back to 2030…

It’ll be a bit tough on the teams playing their first game in S America then jetting off to Portugal for their second group game three days later.

7 hours ago, HoylandOwl said:

If they turn down £200m then they're bonkers. 

Why’s that?

Before commenting further, I’ll add the caveat that I don’t follow the detail of the goings on in the EPL, only to the extent that you can’t get away from it. So I don’t know what other business Liverpool have done this summer.

Having lost Mane last summer, they then failed to qualify for Champs league. How much has that cost them? I don’t really know, but if finishing bottom of EPL get £100m, I suspect that the difference between fifth and fourth, and missing out on Champs league, is seriously big money.

This summer, they’ve already lost Firmino. Have they replaced him? If they lose Salah now, what does that do to their chances of a top four finish? What good is £200m in your pocket if you can’t spend it for four months?

By January, without Salah, they may well be too far adrift to make it into the top four again. Surely they’re better keeping him, get a few goals and points, then sell in January (even if less than £200m) and get an immediate replacement.

Of course, I hope they do sell, because it’ll likely be bad for them, but the sensible decision would be to hang on, for now. It’s a similar debate, but with much bigger numbers, that we have with “should we cash in on Windass?”, but “he’ll keep/get us up, so the value is in keeping him”.

The amount of crap puns on this site is staggering. Deery me!

On 15/08/2023 at 10:19, Neville Facking Bartos said:

The only reason they could possibly have for arriving at that decision was the player clattered had not got near the ball and the one behind did but failed to head it towards goal 

It doesn’t matter where the ball is: it could be down the other end of the pitch. If a foul* is committed, by the defence in their penalty area, then it’s a penalty.

* Unless its obstruction, in which cases it an indirect free kick.

2 hours ago, HoylandOwl said:

The EFL ‘celebrated’ Kane’s move to Germany by involving us…

Showing Kane’s first goal in professional football. 

Gary Madine’s debut iirc.

All 8 summer signings starting.

Played with two in front of the back four v Southampton. Think it’ll just be the one today. 4-1-4-1

1 hour ago, HoylandOwl said:

Will Collar, features for Stockport tonight according to this... And although I've not heard of him, it seems there's some hype about him. 

Surely they will tie him to a long contract then.

Smith didn’t fit into Moore’s approach either for most of the season, but he still got 20 goals.

A faster approach, would be good for him. Wingers cutting in from the “wrong side” wouldn’t.

I think he could get double figures given a run of games. But if better is available and affordable then move him on.

Cba to do any checking on this, but I’m reasonably sure that whenever Bannan has been out due to injury or suspension for a few games we’ve actually done quite well.

I can’t see how this is going to end well (for BC fans). 
Owned by an American “Capital Management” company: they’re going to want a return on their investment and likely won’t be looking too long term to get it. They’re going to have to invest / risk significant sums (or hope for the luck of a Luton) to match the parachute clubs. They might have deep pockets, but how deep will they be prepared to delve for a middling championship club in a massively loss making league?

Dawson

Valentin   Bernard   Iheckwe   James

Bambo  

Delgardo Byers Bannan Musaba

Fletcher

Will it make Monday P.M?

I’m not holding my breath.

Dawson

Iorfa 

Ihiekwe 

Famewo

James

Vaulks

Delgado

Byers 

Bannan

Windass

Fletcher

We did draw with them last season.

We might not be as good as we were last season (debatable really regarding starting 11) but neither are they. 
 

I don’t see why we can’t give them a good game if we start off with a positive mindset.

2 hours ago, Hirstys 12th Pint said:

£17.17 a game for me on Kop. 

So taking category D as the average for the season - £36 - this just demonstrates the foolishness of missing early bird STs. Go to 11 home league games and the ST starts saving.

Iirc, in my early days where all matches were priced the same, STs were one price (no early bird) the break even was 16/17 games.

Edit: misread. It's £33 so 12/13 game break even.

Pretty much as expected based on latest ST prices and the £5 members discount.

What really irritates me is that members get a SWFC Christmas card, whereas mere season ticket holders are taken for granted. And the birthday party discount could pay for the membership alone.