MadAmster

Me Mam loved the little fella. RIP Willie.

To me, we really should have been 3 up at HT. As it was it was just the one. 2nd half Italy came out with a changed formation and tactics. Having been 2nd best all 1st half, they ruled the roost. That was obvious from the start of the 2nd half. 5 minutes in, Southgate should have changed tactics and/or personnel to counter the Italian changes. He didn't. We continued to struggle against the change and it went to penalties. That failure to change tack when necessary is what cost us, IMO.

He's pastor at least reached his sell by date

To me, we really should have been 3 up at HT. As it was it was just the one. 2nd half Italy came out with a changed formation and tactics. Having been 2nd best all 1st half, they ruled the roost. That was obvious from the start of the 2nd half. 5 minutes in, Southgate should have changed tactics and/or personnel to counter the Italian changes. He didn't. We continued to struggle against the change and it went to penalties. That failure to change tack when necessary is what cost us, IMO.

Has he signed yet ?

Not saying DCFC has but, clubs will have agreed sales/purchases with other clubs and signed the deals. They will have agreed terms and signed contracts with players. The only thing they can't do is register any deals with the EFL yet. I hope we've got deals at that point already but won't be thinking of hara kiri if we haven't.
RUFC were indeed 8th when we nicked PW. They also had a game in hand on all 7 clubs above them. Had they won that, they would have been 5th.

Club website has only ever said "in June" so sometime in the next 18 days. Is 18 days "imminent"? If so, you'd be correct. My opinion is that "imminent" would, to most people, mean inside a couple of days at most.
 

Not saying DCFC has but, clubs will have agreed sales/purchases with other clubs and signed the deals. They will have agreed terms and signed contracts with players. The only thing they can't do is register any deals with the EFL yet. I hope we've got deals at that point already but won't be thinking of hara kiri if we haven't.
RUFC were indeed 8th when we nicked PW. They also had a game in hand on all 7 clubs above them. Had they won that, they would have been 5th.

Yes 😉

Got it... so it's some time this month then? 😉

Hourihane was our top earner last season on £12K. Bird was said to be on 10K and Sibs on 8K. Bird has gone. Sibs is talking to the club. IMO it's not money that's the issue. I think he's looking for assurances as to where PW plans to play him. If he's not getting guarantees of AM whether that's as 1st or 2nd choice or a decent chance of regular starts at WB/LB, I think he'll look to go elsewhere to try to fulfil his potential in his favoured. Before anybody goes off on one saying nobody gets a guaranteed start, I agree. Sibs will want some sort of "guarantee" that, if he plays well, he'll get  a goodly share of appearances. If PW sees him as a squad player then he's going to try to find employ elsewhere.

I might be wrong but I think there's a "not" missing after "also"

You’re right - thank you!

Did some reffing in the Hampshire leagues in the noughties. I found the fastest running was getting away from the games back to the car (always parked away from the ground).
That was after the 2nd ACL rupture.

Rather more general than a specific game, but... each and every time one of the Madley brothers refereed us.

Rather more general than a specific game, but... each and every time one of the Madley brothers refereed us.

PW with Rotherham in the SBC.
1st time, relegated playing crap football
2nd time, same again
3rd time he had put together a better side playing decent football (source Rotherham forums at the time we poached him). He had them 8th after 9 games. All the sides above then had played 10. Win that game in hand and they would have gone 5th. He came to us and Rotherham ended up 19th. Just maybe, the 1st 2 seasons were more down to RUFC's inability to attract the right players? Both the results and the style were better 3rd time around...
IMO, forget anything he did at Rotherham. Derby is a totally different kettle of fish. Let's see what he can put together over the summer.

Thanks for the correction.

If PW et al, having seen him perform in pre season training/friendlies don't think he's quite ready, I'm quite happy to accept their opinion. If there's a slight doubt, give him some cameos in August. If the doubts are founded, it's out on loan.

Thanks. Weirdly, now most of us are 70+ most play golf. I'm out between 3 and 5 times a week on my 20 speed Guerciotti Alero for between 35km and 80km at around 30 kpu to keep the waistline reasonable. Down to 88kg come november, back up to 95 come April. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I reffed for several years but 3 years ago I had 2 breaks in my left fibula following a cycling accident. 2 Ops later I'd lost the ability to keep up with play for 90 minutes. Always said I was never going to be THAT ref... the one who never leaves the centre circle. Kept to my word and stopped.

90 minutes? I played getting on half my career there before retiring at 53.
My best season? That would be 98/99. The team had a perfect record. Played 22, lost 22. We averaged 8 or 9 goals against every game. It could easily have been 20 a game, hence a good season. 8 or 9 a game good? IMO, yes. I'll explain...
I was 44 at the start of the season. The average age of the side was about 50. The back 4 were all good players but the left back, at 52, was the baby of the defence. The central defenders were 56 and 58 and the right back was 60. We were ahead come HT in a few games, level in some and, even when behind, there was usually just the one goal in it. Around the 65 to 70 minute mark, all 4 were done for. That was when the deluge started. Kept me on my toes but you can't stop 'em all although I did stop a lot. I would think a good 80%+ of our goals against came in the last 20 minutes of games. The opposition teams were all 20s to early 30 in age.

90 minutes? I played getting on half my career there before retiring at 53.
My best season? That would be 98/99. The team had a perfect record. Played 22, lost 22. We averaged 8 or 9 goals against every game. It could easily have been 20 a game, hence a good season. 8 or 9 a game good? IMO, yes. I'll explain...
I was 44 at the start of the season. The average age of the side was about 50. The back 4 were all good players but the left back, at 52, was the baby of the defence. The central defenders were 56 and 58 and the right back was 60. We were ahead come HT in a few games, level in some and, even when behind, there was usually just the one goal in it. Around the 65 to 70 minute mark, all 4 were done for. That was when the deluge started. Kept me on my toes but you can't stop 'em all although I did stop a lot. I would think a good 80%+ of our goals against came in the last 20 minutes of games. The opposition teams were all 20s to early 30 in age.

90 minutes? I played getting on half my career there before retiring at 53.
My best season? That would be 98/99. The team had a perfect record. Played 22, lost 22. We averaged 8 or 9 goals against every game. It could easily have been 20 a game, hence a good season. 8 or 9 a game good? IMO, yes. I'll explain...
I was 44 at the start of the season. The average age of the side was about 50. The back 4 were all good players but the left back, at 52, was the baby of the defence. The central defenders were 56 and 58 and the right back was 60. We were ahead come HT in a few games, level in some and, even when behind, there was usually just the one goal in it. Around the 65 to 70 minute mark, all 4 were done for. That was when the deluge started. Kept me on my toes but you can't stop 'em all although I did stop a lot. I would think a good 80%+ of our goals against came in the last 20 minutes of games. The opposition teams were all 20s to early 30 in age.

90 minutes? I played getting on half my career there before retiring at 53.
My best season? That would be 98/99. The team had a perfect record. Played 22, lost 22. We averaged 8 or 9 goals against every game. It could easily have been 20 a game, hence a good season. 8 or 9 a game good? IMO, yes. I'll explain...
I was 44 at the start of the season. The average age of the side was about 50. The back 4 were all good players but the left back, at 52, was the baby of the defence. The central defenders were 56 and 58 and the right back was 60. We were ahead come HT in a few games, level in some and, even when behind, there was usually just the one goal in it. Around the 65 to 70 minute mark, all 4 were done for. That was when the deluge started. Kept me on my toes but you can't stop 'em all although I did stop a lot. I would think a good 80%+ of our goals against came in the last 20 minutes of games. The opposition teams were all 20s to early 30 in age.

So is Max Lowe 😉