MadAmster

50 minutes ago, Curtains said:

Because the EFL are still sanctioning us it is difficult to see a path to the Premier League even if a rich investor bought us and I think it would deter them anyway. 
So i am grateful to David Clowes for saving us but I’m still a bit glum about what we have been through as a Football Club. 

Rules are rules. When a club, any EFL club, comes out of Administration they are subject to a tight budget for the next 2 years. That's been the rule for ages. You have to live by your means for 2 years. You present a fully costed budget in a business plan to the EFL. If they like it, they'll agree to it. If not, they'll tell you what they don't like and you amend it. It seems that both of ours, this season and last, were accepted first time. Elon Musk, richest man in the world, could buy us tomorrow but he still wouldn't be allowed to overspend the agreed business plan. This was all known the minute MM put us into Admin...

On 11/09/2023 at 15:20, kevinhectoring said:

Not a single 90’ !! Not even one  

After the success against Oxford he just didn’t deliver. That’s the truth and it is a sad one 

... in a team that wasn't performing. He needs a lengthy run of games playing between MF and the striker. Only way to see if he can do at senior level what he did in the U18s way back when.

I'm over for this one. 2-2 draw.

I've been a fan of his from his U18 days. He's a #10. He has rarely played that role in the first team. He has played Left back, left wing, right wing and DM though. I'd agree all day long with anyone saying he has yet to fulfil his potential. That's spot on. However, I would then point out that he's hardly ever played in "his" position. Would Zak have been any good as a Centre Half? Colin Boulton on the right wing? Wee Archie in goal? Of course they wouldn't. My fear for the lad is that we throw him out with the bath water next summer because he didn't develop into the player everybody at the club thought he would become. He then goes elsewhere, gets played as a #10 and is a success...

We have a record of buying strikers (Weimann and Blackman etc) and playing them as wingers. Round pegs for round holes, please.

Hmmm. Some interesting thoughts posted. My initial thoughts were Midfield and my mind strayed to the likes of Gemmill and Thorne and Seth lad, all for different reasons. The I realised we go over, rather than through, MF more often than not so any of those 3 would be wasted and get neck ache.

Defenders? Obvious candidates there too. Roy mac, Toddo, Igor, Ooh Mark Wright. Not the best footballer of the bunch but, as we're in L1, MW would be the better suited to this level IMO.

Then I looked up top. Zak, Studger, Davo, Charlie. All excellent players but would they fit into this squad? Probably not. That leads me to Coldplay, but, then again no as there wouldn't be the onrushing Hughes, Bryson or Hendrick for the great interplay. What's left? Proper battering rams like Howard or Hulse. Either of them would rip this League apart. In the end I plumped for Stevie H for no other reason than I have a match worn, signed shirt of his and the bloke's a gent.

Lastpost. In Dutch that means a nuisance. 😉

18 minutes ago, ilkleyram said:

Please could you let me know what the maximum number of comments we’re allowed to make on any one topic is? I can’t find the number in the t’s and c’s

What's the number of comments that upsets blondes ?  😉

Seen several people online saying the verdict was he didn't prevent a goalscoring opportunity and there was no mention of hands. On this forum too.

The question then is... what did he do (or did they think he did) to prevent a goalscoring opportunity? It can only be hands as nothing else he did was against the Laws of the game. I'd like those people to explain how he was deemed to have prevented... ? If it wasn't handball, what was it?

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Wildsmith

Smith   Nelson   Cashin   Forsyth

Fornah   Hourihane

Mendez-Laing   Waghorn   Washington   Sibley

Subs: Vickers, Bradley, Elder, Embleton, Barkhuizen, John-Jules, Collins

I like the look of that but my opinion doesn't count unless it's the one that PW will not be utilising a back 4 any time soon

3 hours ago, oodledoodle said:

Did he sign in the end? Completely passed me by if he did. He looks a decent prospect.

They both signed and one is currently away on international duty.

My take.... Loach, Fozzy and maybe Waggy will retire. Cash and Bird will go, IMO. Tommo and Sibs likely to stay. Not much point in having NML and Barks if we aren't going to play wingers and neither of them is a wing back. Hourihane, Smith and Collins to be let go? All of which means another rebuild next summer. That would be 3 consecutive summers of squad rebuilding. Probably not the best plan going forward.

20 hours ago, SSD said:

I don't think the expectations are too high at all. The bookies and supporters saw us finish just outside the play offs with a bundled together squad and you would have thought with the investment made behind the scenes in recruitment and having a manager with plenty of league one promotions, we would definitely be challenging. 

What I am really surprised at is we've brought in Mark Thomas who recruited upcoming talent to Oxford, yet our management team have decided to target older, more experienced players on higher wages. Now I'm wondering whether this is purely down to the restrictions in place by the EFL that we're still unable to target younger players in lower leagues and fees are out of the question entirely. It's these contradictions behind the scenes which does give me cause for concern. I don't get the impression Warne particularly wants to use youth unless it is an absolute last resort. The best teams always have a nice blend of youth, prime and experienced footballers. I do fear we have too many experienced players causing a lacking energy on the pitch and why we do seem to struggle against teams who will happily pass the ball around our players.

I am under the impression the resources are there for the manager to have a very successful season, resulting in high expectations. With a dross style of football and a stubborn attitude to change his ways to adapt to the players strengths currently on the field, ultimately that will be his downfall. The best managers utilise every ounce of quality from their squads. I think we've got a very competitive squad on paper vs the rest of the league. I don't think we'll see the best out of it under Warne sadly.

Maybe the "younger" players have been brought in to be molded into 1st team players later this season or next? The 2 ex Rangers lads for starters...

18 hours ago, Archied said:

 

when I feel it’s time for warne to go I will know and it won’t be stats that tell me , it will be goals for , goals against , points gained and lost and how I feel sitting in the ground

Ah but, yes but, no but..... aren't those stats? 😉

... apart from the sitting bit, of course.

16 hours ago, uttoxram75 said:

The only way you'd get better refs is by appointing ex-professional footballers.

The same ex pros who, as "pundits" and "co-commentators" explain away all the "5hithousery" we all dislike as being "part of the game". Timewasting is against the Laws of the game. Feigning injury too. Preventing the quick taking of a throw or free kick by picking the ball up and wandering off with it or standing 5cm from the ball so it can't be kicked when the Laws state they should retire 10 yards IMMEDIATELY. The all in wrestling in the box as well. All this crap is against the Laws of the game. Ex pros still think it's part of it. It all started in South America and Southern Europe and it crept into the game worldwide for one reason only. Refs let them get away with it. Give free kicks, penalties, cards. Everything the Laws give them the power to do. It'll stop, but only if refs are consistent.

Of course, all of this is in the revised instructions given to refs this season. Some are complying, some aren't, others do it inconsistently. Almost all of those new instructions are not new Laws. They have all been in the book for decades. Refs just haven't applied them. They need to start doing so. 

17 hours ago, NorwichExile said:

As much as the decisions have been awful, fans have to take some of the blame. From school teams up, ref's are threatened and abused for trying to do their jobs. I've seen grown men threaten to stab a teenage ref because they didn't like the decisions. We're basically picking from the few who've managed to be thick skinned (or plain ignorant) enough to survive grass roots, and it's a pretty piss-poor pool.

That said i'd have sent Wildsmith off (i'd have been wrong, but that was my snap judgement) and I dare say if it'd happened against us, most of PP would have been baying for a red.

Pretty much my tale on it as well. When I were a lad..... refs started in local football. Good performances saw you promoted  up the Leagues so you knew they were, in old money, reffing in the top 4 divisions because they were the cream of the crop. These days they get abuse, both verbal and physical from U6s upwards. Many potentially good refs never get far up the ladder because they put their personal safety first. That means that, higher up, the refs got there, not because they were the cream of the crop but because they were the best of what's left after the good uns have quit. IMO that is the reason SBC, L1 and L2 refs aren't very good at best and totally incompetent at worst.

35 minutes ago, Archied said:

what stats do you mean consistently bad ?

Possession? often means bugger all 

xg stats ? Often means bugger all 

ect ect ect 

goals scored v goals conceded ? Means everything , in fact it’s the only thing that actually matters

points won? Means everything 

stats can only really tell you what you already know and can see with your own eyes 

Here's some stats. We should have had 3, maybe 4 penalties. One given. They should have had 0 penalties but were given one for a foul that was outside the box. Their other goal took a lucky deflection. They couldn't have complained, despite all their possession, if we'd come away with a 3-0 or 3-1 win. Red card has since been rescinded. Ref was crap. Same bloke who gave Plymouth the penalty at theirs last season. 

20 hours ago, sage said:

Different incident

I'm talking Wildsmith....

1 minute ago, angieram said:

That arm is not in a natural position and deflects the ball away from the goal. 

I don't believe it strikes the arm at all, it strikes his body. Even if it did, then it's deflected off his body so it's not a foul so it's not a red card.

3 minutes ago, sage said:

It hit his chest, Nowhere near his arm. The ref had to be guessing. You don't give red cards on probabilities. 

He even checked with his assistant. Looks like both need to make an appointment at Specsavers.

Just watched the highlights back on RamsTV.

1. At 0-0 I'm now convinced it WAS handball and the ref got it wrong

2. For the 0-1, he had blown before the ball crossed the line so he was right to disallow Wash's goal and award us a penalty.

3. Their penalty. I'm now convinced the foul, and it was a foul, happened outside the box


4. JWs sending off. I think he got it right. Only able to get a blurry screenshot of it but it looks very much like he played the ball with his left hand.

... and then I saw this from a different angle. An appeal will see the card overruled.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwtbMEDo9Vl/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D&fbclid=IwAR1yneRjIcka3uvff4sd1FSJLE2CSa-XNgA_lKcomZIXgxk9yJm45ID4IRE


5. Nelson penalty shout. They didn't show it in the highlight reel. Was it or wasn't it? I don't know.

At 0-0 Handball not given. Should have been. We then score but get a penalty instead. 0-1 (shades of Attwell?). They get a penalty. Was it one? I'll have to see it when the highlights get posted. It was definitely a foul but it looked just outside the area to me. Free kick, not a penalty and certainlynot 1-1. Wildsmith? Again the video didn't show where it hit him. Maybe we'll get a better view later? Big shout for handball in the 2nd half. The Bolton player was on the ground, leaning on his hands, the ball hits his right arm but as he's supporting his body, it's not a penalty. They're a good side. Had us working hard from the off. From about 25 minutes we got into it. Gave them too much time and space early doors but we defended well. Should have gone in a goal up at HT. After the sending off they took control again but needed an OG to take the lead. Fournah had a good game but we really missed Tommo's energy. Not how you want to go into a 2 week break but that's football. 

Chris Martin spotted at Derby Station

18 hours ago, Ambitious said:

Washington, NML & Darren Robinson it is then.. 

 

Charlie Lindsay called up as well.

18 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

A few possibilities:
Mendez-Laing - Guatemala
Cashin - Ireland U21s
DRobinson - N. Ireland U18s-U21
Cox - Wales U18

I'd already mentioned NML and Cash... Cox isn't in the 1st team squad so wouldn't count towards the 3 call ups. I had, indeed overlooked Robinson.

This begs the question, who else has had a call up for international duty leading to the postponement of the Northampton game?

If NML gets the call then he's got CONCACAF Nations League games on September 4, 8 and 11 and again on October 13 and 17.

Hourihane for Ireland is a possibility.

Washington we know is in the Northern Ireland squad. That could be the 3 causing the postponement and I expect Cashin to get a call, either for the U21s or the senior side making it 4. I don't think anybody else will get called up.