Spacehorse

Monday 8th May 1972 & title D-Day for Derby, Leeds & Liverpool
A week after Derby finished their league campaign, Leeds & Liverpool played their final matches of 71/72 knowing exactly what they needed to do to win the title. This was a massive advantage both had over Derby & something that would never be allowed to happen in the modern era because of the risk of ‘result manipulation’ – something it later emerged Leeds had attempted to do…
The permutations on the night were straight forward;
·        Derby would win the title if Leeds lost & Liverpool didn’t win
·        Leeds needed only a point away at Wolves to win the title
·        Liverpool needed to beat Arsenal at Highbury & for Leeds to lose
Leeds were therefore favourites going into the evening & 2 days after winning the FA Cup, were in confident mood to secure the double - as per below sycophantic back page. Wolves however were not straightforward opposition – they had reached the UEFA Cup Final & were particularly strong at home, as Derby had found out the previous November;
 

 
That evening, 55k crammed into Molineux with a further 40k at Highbury and thousands more listening on the radio, many of them anxious Derby fans. Onto the action & the timeline of the evening;
13 mins – Emlyn Hughes hits the crossbar for Liverpool at Highbury but the ball stays out – Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0
16 mins – Ray Kennedy of Arsenal plants a header against the post – still Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0
25 mins – furious appeals for a penalty at Molineux as Leeds claim Bernard Shaw of Wolves handled on the line. Ref unsighted & linesman doesn’t flag. Still Wolves 0 Leeds 0 - Leeds are top & heading for the title as things stand
43 mins – Wolves take the lead through Frank Munro. Wolves 1 Leeds 0 & Derby are back top of the table
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ArJjYAqxiHc?start=0&end=9
67 mins – Derek Dougan doubles Wolves’ lead – Wolves 2 Leeds 0
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ArJjYAqxiHc?start=10&end=19
68 mins – Billy Bremner pulls a goal back – Wolves 2 Leeds 1 & Leeds only need one goal to go back top. Don Revie sends Jack Charlton up front for the last frantic 20 mins
https://www.youtube.com/embed/ArJjYAqxiHc?start=20&end=30
88 mins – John Toshack puts the ball into the net for Liverpool at Highbury for what seems a late title winner….but it is ruled out for offside by referee Roger Fitzpatrick (he of the disallowed Kevin Hector goal late in Stoke v Derby match)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLcJX8yjUFs
90 mins – sub Terry Yorath heads the ball over Wolves keeper Parkes from 6 yards out but Gerry Taylor heads off the line – still Wolves 2 Leeds 1
Finally full time – Wolves 2 Leeds 1 & Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0. Derby County are crowned Champions of England for the first time.
 

 
Predictably both Revie & Shankly pointed to controversial refereeing decisions as key factors in their inability to get the results they needed. Brian Clough meanwhile was both elated & incredulous – here he is being interviewed by David Coleman the day after, whilst on holiday in the Scilly Isles;
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ke8457SVa48?start=57&end=167
 
And so the final table was as follows - one of the closest title finishes in history with the top 4 all within a point of each other. A high-quality title race too – the top 3 all won the league again over the next 3 seasons, 5th placed Arsenal had won the double the year before & Spurs in 6th won the UEFA Cup;

I actually don’t think Q has played a blinder, and there are criticisms I could make (particularly regarding some naive comments about how long it might take), but I do appreciate what a basket case of a liquidation they took on. Morris left them with a crock of poo, and it seems to me he has been a pain in the arse subsequently in regards to a) quickly resolving the Boro matter and b) being more accommodating regarding the stadium sale.
You may recall that a few months back that you were arguing strongly with me that Morris had, and would have, no influence over the proceedings; that MSD were in control of the stadium situation because of their fixed charges, blah de blah. You were as wrong then as you are now in your back and forth with @duncanjwitham, who very ably popped your overinflated view earlier today.
It seems to me Q had no choice but to accept CK’s proposal, as he was the only one at the end offering to buy the club without the stadium.
My wife thinks you are a complete arse. Of course that is not my opinion as that would be against forum rules.

Mel to either return or be liquidated?
He made mistakes, but I think forcing him into a giant blender is too harsh a punishment. Can't we just smash his specs or something?

Farewell Mr Durden, it’s been lovely knowing you….

Unforntley yes we have.

Good news incoming.
I have received an email tonight, informing me that a multi-billionaire is being subjected to most unfair Government persecution, and that he has substantial monies held in assets and cash In the UK. He needs urgent help. Tomorrow l just need to send ₽1,000,000 to Sberbank, and with tremendous gratitude he in turn will in a few days time send me £50,000,000 and Mason Mount to an address of my choosing.
Obviously hush hush at this stage, but I will keep you all in the loop subject to any NDA restrictions.

Rights that’s the accord sorted, we’ve given them a 1-0 head start. 

Dunno who normally does this but...

When I moved to the US in 2006 people over here had normal teeth, even on TV.
Now it seems we have gone down the US route of everybody having bright white veneers.
Sarah Parish, in the dreadful Stay Close, looked utterly ridiculous her teeth were so white. Nobody born in England in their fifties has teeth that bright.
Then the other day I was watching The Apprentice (don't judge me) and it seemed 80% of them had teeth whiter than any naturally occurring substance found on planet earth. For half the program it's all I could focus on, they look preposterous.
When did this start happening?
And more importantly, does anybody know where I can get mine done on the cheap?

What nonsense,  in this case ‘ coffers ‘ is exactly what he is thinking about , his ! 
Do you honestly think a player would ‘ volunteer’ to join a club like Wigan so the club gets a paltry few quid ? 
He should have stayed the season and fought , then got his dream move to Wigan or Rochdale in the Summer .

He is certainly above the mean average.

............Inverurie Ram would be doing the match day threads!
Blackpool.....Won
West Brom...Won
Stoke City....Won

It does appear to be unravelling. 

Dont want to be a spoil sport but I can see the time coming when we will get a total shutdown on all sports where fans are attending and even all football,rugby,horse racing and any others where large masses are attending.
Dont think it will be to bad for us,give time for DCFC to get its act together,maybe even cancel this season and hey ho we might still be a champiuonship team next year.
See how many covid cancellations there are this Saturday

44 Rhuthenium
5 Boron
83 Bismuth
16 Sulphur
1 Hydrogen

Yes please.

&  
 

Why have they put a hat on the FA cup on the end?

Bloody facts ruining my line up ?
Knight for Morrison, Sibley for Stretton & swap with Lawrence in that case..

But they would also need to have very very very long arms. It would narrow the search down to be fair. Always a good idea to think things through to a logical conclusion. I used to think that I would simply need to find a girlfriend / wife who had small hands. As I rapidly approach 60 I recognise that them wearing thick glasses is now equally essential.
 

Told ya! Fantastic. A Fozzy goal. Looping header into the far corner, dropping into the corner in slow motion. Come on you Rams!

He's adopted us as his own
He's adopted us as his oooooown
Wayne Rooney...
...he's not 'really' of our own but he's not ducked off in the face of severe adversity and he's slagged off the bloke we all currently very justifiably dislike more than anyone else in the whole world and as he's doing a great job this season that means any valid criticism of him last season was obviously completely wrong and even if he did possibly undermine our previous manager and seriously underperform as a player none of that matters now and if you bring it up you must hate Rooney and be a fully fledged member of the Mel Morris fan club because there's no such thing as the middle ground between agreeing with certain decisions which have been made by Mel made and backing him 100% in everything he does and I could probably go on but can't remember exactly what I've already written or would write if I was thinking clearly and hadn't drank a number of beers..
...he's one of our own. 
 

Here we are, administrators in, massive points deduction, an estimated £50m or whatever in debt, unable to pay wages. And then we read in the Teesside Gazette that Steve Gibson is suing Derby County. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/middlesbrough-Derby-rooney-mel-morris-21660410
His gripe is that Mel sold the stadium to another of Mel's companies (accepted as OK by the League because not every club owns their stadium and you can't force a club to) and that Derby loaned Matt Clarke when Gibson wanted him to go to Middlesbrough.
Of course claims such as these are manifestly absurd and would normally be laughed out of court. But the problem is it's inconceivable that the Derby Administrators can also afford to pay lawyers to fight the Middlesboro Chairman. Equally, it's inconceivable that Derby could afford any additional fines the courts might impose.
The sole purpose of this can only be to ensure the end of Derby County as a football club. Nothing less. The entire football world including honest Middlesbrough fans should be outraged by this behaviour and condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The club can't afford to fight this, so it's up to us fans to shame Gibson into stopping this despicable course of action.

Well done Carl.
And congratulations you magic RAMS!!

Well done Carl.
And congratulations you magic RAMS!!