MadAmster

CBT was injured when he arrrived, not been properly fit since then. Some rest to properly fix whatever it was and then BOOM, pre season and flying for the weekend of August 10th.

Promotion should always be the aim. However, not making it isn't necessarily a hanging offence. I want promotion next season. Would love it to happen. Midtable or better would suffice though. Ipswich? They built over 4 seasons into a team capable of back to back promotions. 2 years ago we had 5 players and no money. We brought in a shedload of players on freebies. 1 year ago we had a bit of a clearout and brought even more in. Today we have 14 players out of contract. Some will retire, some will go back to their parent clubs, some will be let go. We are likely to have an influx of 10 to 12 players again. A million miles away form the Tractors steady build. Would I like back to back promotions? Hell, yes. Do I expect it? Hell, no.

Correct. I've just been going through the new deal and they have, indeed, said there will be a longer advanced notice of which games will be moved. Home games on a Friday/Saturday and again the following Tuesday sound an interesting prospect for a visit home. Having said that, even if we're in midtable obscurity, I fully expect we'll have more games moved than most. Each weekend, 5 of the 12 SBC games will be televised live. On average, we can expect each team to have 5/12 of their 46 games televised which is 15, so 7 or 8 of our home games. That, however, is an average. I fully expect at least half of our 23 home games to be televised. Idem ditto away. 20+ games, live on Sky and only available on Sky in the UK and VPNland. All other non UK places will still have access to their club TV service and Sky/football clubs also have a similar thing to iFollow for expats.

Might we have won 3-0 if VAR had been in use? The Adams disallowed goal. Was that wrongly disallowed? He was definitely in an offside position when Sibs (?) shot. A defender then put in a block on the shot, the ball went into the air and Adams acrobatically volleyed it into the net. The defender had purposely blocked the shot. That played Adams on, didn't it? I remember earlier this season a Mo Salah goal that caused a lot of discussion. IIRC it was a free kick from the left, Salah was in an offside position, as the ball came in, a defender jumped and attempted to head the ball away, however, it merely glanced off the top of his bonce and dropped to Salah, who was still stood in an offside position, who put it away. Not sure whether the flag went up or not but VAR looked at and said, in perfect accordance with the offside Law, that the defender had purposely played the ball and, therefore, Salah was not offside. Same circumstances as Ebou's disallowed goal...

Next season is, indeed, the time to pass judgment on CBT. Arrived injured, looked it, improved and that showed as well, then his injury flared up (or was it a different one?) and he didn't shine. Get better, get fit, get a full pre season in him and, hopefully, we'll get the player we thought and hoped we were.

Not had a season ticket since the 83/84 season when I moved to the Netherlands. I usually manage between 6 and 8 games a season. Flights, trains, hotels, match tickets and food and drink make each trip an expensive one. I'd do more games but 8 games is about as far as I an stretch my pension. This new TV deal will likely see me having to book flights closer to game day which will see me having to pay higher fares. I usually travel in Friday morning and back Sunday tea time. I may have to reduce my weekends away to Saturday morning to Sunday tea time. Thanks Sky! NOT

Agreed. However, we should, IMO, temper our expectations. Clowes has been clear from day 1 that the club will be run sustainably and be self sufficient. i.e. he's not going to throw millions at it. We'll spend what we can afford and no more than that. If it takes 2 or 3 seasons to start challenging for the top 6, so be it. Obviously, top 6 is where I'd love to be this time next year. I'm just not going to run that particular flag up the pole as it's a perfectly normal wish but not a likely probability. Midtable would do me fine under the circumstances. If we do better, you won't find me complaining about it.

@DavesaRam The lift was right 🙂 On the PW front, I'm expecting to see more of his post 3rd promotion with RUFC football than that of the first 2 he had with them. In the weeks leading up to us nicking him, their fans were waxing lyrical about the results and the style of play being served up. An expansive style. I hope my expectations become a reality.

No, but it did derail him...

Having been decimated 2 years ago, take a look at how the 18s and 21s have improved over the season. 21s started with something like 7 straight defeats. Picked up in recent months. We're starting to see what they can put together. They will now be in possession of a list of names and positions from PW. Let's see what transpires.

I know we can't afford his wages (unless he's pocketed enough during 7 PL seasons) but Will Hughes contract runs out this summer. Would you welcome him back?

... then you probably also read from my posts that RUFC fans were waxing lyrical early season about both the results and the style of play. More expansive than "Warneball". Not just down the outside cross it and hope...

I did once suggest QPR name one of their stands the R's end... they never replied 😉

If PW plays the game he did at Rotherham in his 3rd season in the SBC with them, he'll get much better service and better back up from oncoming midfielders. We shall see.

Warne's already said, a couple of weeks back. exactly what I wrote. If he shows well in pre season, he's there but, if the staff think he's not quite up to it yet, it'll be a loan, hopefully, with recall clauses in the contract

I was at the game and loved every minute from hitting the Neptune at 0930 and leaving the Brunny about 2030 en route to my hotel where I had another couple before hitting the hay, having been up since 0300. I've just watched the full 90 plus all the shenanigans on the pitch afterwards. Congratulations, Owen. You didn't melt. You stayed very professional and did a sterling job. Your voice was so chock full of emotion, you could have been forgiven for having a meltdown but you soldiered on. Like a true Ram, fighting till the end. Thank you for your coverage, not just from last Saturday but also from the other 38 games where this expat watched and listened to #RamsTV just outside of Amsterdam. Already looking forward to next season's offerings and hoping I can, again, get over for around 8 of the games. Ewe Rams!

Leave as is. Why? Well, he is the L1 Guardiola but based on his first 2 stints in the SBC with Rotherham, he's more like the SBC Zola or Rooney. Fair play in his 3rd stint with them he had them 8th and, if they won their game in hand, potentially 5th after 10 games. he lfet to come to us and they dropped to 19th and got relegated this season. I'm still of the opinion the 2 relegations say more about RUFC than they do about PW. Their fans were praising his football there in those opening games. Proper football, not Warneball they said. He may well have learned what does and doesn't work in the SBC. We shall see. We need to see decent results and proper football. I hope he delivers both. By decent results, anything better than midtable would be a bonus, and a very welcome one, at that.

As I said in the post you quoted, Dajaune Brown is contracted to Derby until the summer of 2026. That means he IS staying. If he does the business in pre season he'll be 1st team squad. If he fails to impress to the required levels pre season he'll be loaned out to a L1 or L2 side for the season with possible recall clauses in January and/or if all our strikers are injured.

The full list is Sibs, Wildsmith, JJ, Barks, Ebou, Thommo, Gayle, Hourihane, Smith, Collo, Fozzy, Waggy, Robinson and Loach My thoughts are as follows: Sibs, Offer him a good contract. If he turns it down, at least we'll get around £500K compo at a guess Wildsmith, needs to improve his kicking but that, and his occasional rush of blood can be worked on. Keep JJ, He's shown he could be excellent. Any offer should be a low basic offer with increments when fit but not picked, on the bench, subbed on, starting to take him up to a decent wage. Pay as you play in increments or no offer at all. Barks, thanks and good luck in the future Ebou, sign him up. If we can't afford him we need to find another MF biter we can afford Thommo, See Sibs Gayle, doubtful on this. Poor stats at Stoke in the Champ, are Champ defenders that bit better than L1 and too good for him or would he get better service from us? 35 in October so maybe pay as you play? Hourihane, Full time coaching role at Villa. Thanks for your service Conor. Smith, age a concern? Especially with Rooney back. Wages cut as cover? Collo, Is L1 his level? Probably. Not sure he'd accept being cover. Fozzy, his age going against him? Wage cut and used as cover. Waggy, Thanks Waggy but we need more next season than you now have to offer. Robinson young un for the future. Contract, either a loan or 21s and the occasional squad appearance. Cameos off the bench and develop his undoubted potential Loach, does some coaching as well. If he's up to the odd SBC game if needed then a new deal. He's not a drain on the budget. Bird has gone to Bristol City. I hope he has 44 good games next season 😉 Somebody mentioned Dajaune Brown in this thread, he has a contract up to the summer of 2026 already.

I think that the PL relegation race will come down to the last day Burnley v Red Dogs (all clarets for a day innit?) fixture and at least one of the two will go down, maybe both if Luton can bag some points, which I don't see happening.

Just to complicate things a bit more, young Rooney will be fit. He can play CB, RB and he can play DM. Him alongside Adams?

Going on what Rotherham fans were saying in September 2022, Warne had learned from his 2 relegations with the Millers and had them 8th, albeit after just 9 games with a game in hand on all those above them. Win the GIH and they were 5th. He left they ended up 19th last season and got relegated this season. I think the 2 relegations say more about RUFC than they do about PW. 3rd time round he'd got some players who were capable of top half play and results. My hope is that he does that with us and plays all football has to offer. Decent keeper, solid defence, both steel and skill in MF, wide players who can go both down the outside and put in a decent cross to a #9 who's where you want your #9 to be and also cut inside and shoot. Strikers who can put a good header in, be in the 6 yard box to pick up the pieces, create goals himself, run the channels at the right time, shoot from distance and hit the 20 goal mark through the season. All of the above must be able to control the ball and have a good first touch. I do realise this particular demand would mean we wouldn't take Haaland on as his 1st touch is awful (atrocious v Real Madrid) but he does have a great eye for a goal... L1? Thanks but no thanks. Too many dark arts teams. Too many awful referees, their assistants and 4th officials. Too many cloggers who get away with it. If I were to referee a L1 game, I might end up having to abandon the game as at least one side would not have enough players left on the park. Refereeing guidelines call for yellow cards for timewasting. They get given very occasionally. Idem ditto for diving, feigning injury, preventing the quick taking of a freekick, corner or throw. All designed to reduce the chances of an opponent creating chances and possibly scoring. These are all things many fans hate, refs have been told to take action but they seldom do. When I played, I did commit fouls but I never purposely took down a player who had "done" me. I am a firm believer that, if you get beaten by speed and/or skill you should accept it and stop the player next time, legally, by being better positioned and "doing" him. I'm convinced that a return to "sporting behaviour" and cutting out the so called professional foul would see more attractive games and more goals scored. Isn't the game all about scoring goals and also not conceding them within the Laws of the game? Football is probably the one profession where deliberately breaking the Laws is seen as a professional act rather than the act of cheating that it actually is.

A sensible Trotter @BWFCNick you are. I thought you were unlucky not to have left Pride Park with a point as I'm still convinced the ball and Waggy's arm came into contact. He was the last player to touch the ball so, even if it was accidental, the goal should have been disallowed. Conversely, I think we should have left yours with at least a point. We had a goal disallowed so we could have a penalty (in fairness the ref had blown before the ball went in but he ought to have waited before pointing to the spot and allowed the goal, IMO) two other nailed on penalties refused and our keeper sent off for chesting the ball outside his area. Then you got a penalty for a foul, and a foul it was, outside the area. A win each gave us 3 points apiece. A draw in both and we'd both have had a point less so in the end the mistakes helped us both out. With regard to the playoffs, I hope you win them. Two clubs put in jeopardy by previous owners have managed to escape L1 through the right door. BWFC is another club almost extinct thanks to an owner. You can complete the hattrick and some sort of poetic justice will have been served. Good luck.

I would prefer the 2 we have, Sibs and Elder, despite the latter's penchant for being unavailable.

ATG my 8th visit of the season. Won 7, drawn 1. 1Wildsmith - 8 35Nelson - 8 5Bradley - 8.5 23Blackett-Taylor - 6 6Cashin - 8 2Wilson - 7.5 4Hourihane - 6 12Smith - 7 32Adams - 8.5 17Sibley - 8.5 20Elder - 6 8Bird - 8.5 16Thompson - 7 9Collins - 8.5 11Méndez-Laing - 7 7Barkhuizen - 6 IF Sibs gets offered a new contract, it will be interesting to see whether he or Elder will be PWs 1st choice at LWB.