TigerTedd

Oh no!! I’ve just considered the world’s most squeaky bum scenario. 

peterboro win their game in hand. Then Bolton and boro both win their next game and we lose to Cambridge  

then we’re all the same points going into the last game of the season. With them playing each other.

the twists and turns during 90 mins of that last day will be ridiculous. I’d still expect us to beat Carlisle, but still, there will probably be a moment before we take the lead when either boro or Bolton score, and we’ll be technically out of the autos for a moment. Can you imagine the gnashing of teeth in here during those moments!?

42 minutes ago, Foreveram said:

Portsmouth, one, Barnsley one

I’d take that. Portsmouth will go out celebrating their promotion, take their eye off the ball in their next game and lose it. And then we’d go into the last game with a snifter of a chance of being the champions. Maybe that pressure in the last day would get to Portsmouth and they’d lose again.

if they lose this one, they’ll go all out in the next game to secure promotion. No taking their eye off the ball. And it’ll be all over by the last day. I like a last day with something riding on it.

imagine what a weird bittersweet feeling of being promoted but not winning the league on the last day of the season, by virtue of two defeats, having led the league until that last day. 

38 minutes ago, Zag zig said:

My pick of those quotes is Jesse being active on social media! Wonder if he’s treating them to some Tik tok moves, with contorted hand gestures to show how cool he is? 🙄

Apparently he’s easily the biggest signing in the K league’s 41 year history. Serbs like a small fish in a tiny pond. He should be tearing it up like Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia, to be fair. It’s embarrassing that he can’t even get a start. 

36 minutes ago, Comrade 86 said:

Well spotted, but we remain =1st all the same. It also somewhat underlines the point made, in that their sub-par metric and the reason they have fallen short, is goals scored; even with their mad recent run, they've netted 13 fewer than Derby and 18 fewer than #1 ranked Posh. We're slightly profligate in front of goal, but that aside, we are a strong side by every salient metric. 

You made me have a look. It’s stark the difference between the top 6 goals scored and all the rest. The top two are the lowest scorers in the top 6, strangely. But even pompey, the lowest scorers, are 9 goals better off than the next highest outside the top 6. Posh are 17 goals clear!

and those next highest scorers are reading and Charlton right down in the bottom half, which is a bit weird. 

as much as we all like free flowing, high scoring football, I think the evidence shows time and time again that it’s the teams with the best defences that win things. 

2 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

I had them down to win the title, but I’m edging towards Arsenal now.

This aged well. 

9 hours ago, McArthur Park said:

Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but has anyone seen the bit on twitter about Bolton's season ticket launch video? It unfortunately includes a picture of Derby fans by mistake under the wording" All Wanderers". Just made me laugh. Maybe someone cleverer than me can link it.

You could understand it a bit if it’s a home kit. They are quite similar. But an away kit?!

Just now, Turk Thrust said:

Next time it’s detention

I hope we remain stationery in this league, and don’t drop down a place. 

10 minutes ago, Turk Thrust said:

Loose?

Lose? I never get that one right. 

1 hour ago, plymouthram said:

Taken off Bolton forum tonight;

It does hurt and that's what it feels like today. The point is bittersweet and should we get promoted it'll seem decent but given the context of our season it seems like another chance we've had that's gone wayward.

Portsmouth are not a better side than us. They are however more consistent and ultimately that's what's done it. Couple that with the extra 8 points for pens they've had and it's a game changer for their season. Had we got the pen at the end of todays match we would've had a similar boon but it's not to be.

Us and Derby have had the same number of pens this season but Wycombe and Portsmouth have had significantly more. Is there something substantial that they're doing that we are not?

Getting in box more often. People often credit a lack of penalties with bad refs and any other excuse, but it normally tends to be the simple fact that if you get in the box more often, you get fouled in the box more often.

To be fair, we’ve scored more goals than anyone else. So we’ve probably got in the box often enough, we’ve just been more effective at tucking the chance away more often, rather than waiting to be fouled. 

19 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Fascinating stuff, isn't it? I'd say FTL (faster than light for those who don't know it) is probably scifi, but there's a chance. Failing that, there's time dilation from relativity, so you can make the journey by travelling *very* fast, even if thousands of years would pass on Earth. I guess your question about the ethics of sending embryos is related to the ethics of generational ships, but my thought is none of us choose the circumstances of our births. 

Coming back from America I rewatched Interstellar on the plane, which of course ends with Anne Hathaway's Dr Brant beginning the process of developing the embryos at the end. Which is a lovely twist, with Humans branching to form different civilizations across space.

I'm also publishing a book on brain preservation at the moment and, while not discussed in the book, the author and I have talked separately about the applicability of it for long-duration spaceflight. It could well be an "ethical" method to seed the stars in the future. 

I’m just thinking if you don’t have a friendly Anne Hathaway because there is no option other than to send the space ship on a red dwarf style journey spanning thousands of years (unless you had like one generational family of in bred caretakers on the ship), then you’d need to work out a way of automatically raising embryos into a civilisation of children, without it descending into lord of the flies. That’s going to be a pretty shitty childhood at best. And with absolutely no way for us sending the ship to know how it would turn out. Seems like it would be theoretically possible, but it all seems a bit unethical. Stupid ethics getting in the way of a good bit of science. If nothing else I’ve come up with the plot of a decent sci fi book. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my study. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Man United are so crap!!

im glad Newcastle have caught them. They e been in a false position for ages with people wondering if they can catch Tottenham and villa. No! Of course they f****** can’t. They’re crap. 

even the incredibly crap Chelsea could over take them if they win their games in hand. And West Ham are only one win away from overtaking them.

they won’t even have Europa league next season at this rate, and they don’t deserve it. The points they have got have been very lucky, they should be down in the bottom half somewhere. Which is shocking for a Man Utd team. 

I don’t know why I care so much. I don’t like Man Utd at all, but it’s just shocking to see how the mighty have fallen so far. It’s strange to see such a top 4 mainstay from my youth reduced to such mediocrity.

i honestly think there’s some thing psychological there about me feeling that society peaked in the 90s and this is making me realise more and more that Those days are long gone. 

2 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

Time to book those play off final tickets then?

1 hour ago, TheRamOfSwad said:

Love you Derby, I knew you would do it 🐏⚽️ 

So close I can taste it 

COME ON YOU RAAAAAAAAAAMS!!!!!

Don’t say that. I literally just said the same thing to my wife, but reading it from someone else has made me realise that’s exactly what Derby county do to you. We’ll get close enough that’s it’s almost guaranteed, before somehow f****** it up. It’s the Derby way. 

1 hour ago, Carl Sagan said:

Been in America for a few days, including a bit of work at the Carl Sagan Institute - even got to sit at the desk in his Cornell University office. They're searching for Earth-like worlds beyond the solar system, which we might one day travel to. The hardest step is this first one, becoming a multiplanetary species, building a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. Once we've done that it will have led to so many new technologies, especially around automation, life support and terraforming, that the next steps become far easier.

I know FTL travel is pure sci fi, but I guess with enough progress in automation tech, would it be possible to shoot off an unmanned ship full of frozen embryos and hundreds of years later have that ship populate a new colony light years away.

i wonder what the ethics would be in that. 

We win next game. Bolton loose and Portsmouth loose. We go into the last game with 2nd confirmed, and a chance to still secure the title. COYR. 

I thought Lincoln were charging up the league. But one loss today and oxford’s result makes the play offs look a long way off for them now. 3 games to make up 5 points. 

im still backing us to bridge the 5pt gap to Portsmouth with 2 games remaining though. So if we can do it, Lincoln can do it. 

3 hours ago, Patrick Rams said:

It's absolutely beyond belief that the 3 high flyers in the Championship.. desperate to return to the promised land.. Leicester Leeds and Ipswich have in their last two games ..six matches in total..haven't scored a single goal between them! Leeds in particular have managed only one point from the last nine available..what's shame!

Southampton: 

9 hours ago, ram59 said:

Maybe Southampton could sneak in, they've Fester and the dirties away, but if they win their remaining 6 games, they should finish in the top 2.

If carlsberg did season ends.

southampton beat Leicester and Leeds to sneak into the top two at their expense. Coventry or someone win the play offs. Leicester and Leeds both get smashed with massive points deductions. 

meanwhile, Forest scrape into 17th by a point, but loose there appeal and have 2pts taken off for a spurious appeal. And get smashed with more points deductions next season for good measure. Forest, Leeds and Leicester as good as down already, might as well call off the relegation (only problem is that boro can’t go with them).

oo, boro have a terrible last few games of the season and go down from the championship with Rotherham and Birmingham. 

we of course win all of our last three games, while Portsmouth loose all theirs, and we go up as champions. Ready for a back to back push riding the waves of positivity. 

I’m so torn!! It’s hilarious watching Leicester let there massive lead slip away. But if they slip out of the top 2, that means Leeds get in. I can’t work out who I want to go up less. 

1 hour ago, jono said:

As far as I am concerned as long as a club remains solvent .. either from simple trading profit or by virtue of an owner with deep pockets, I don’t care. 
 

The sporting and industrial model just doesn’t work. While there are zillionaire hobbyists or daft gamblers or cowboys mortgaging institutions we are in a mess

(Ownership of a football club isn’t really ownership, it never has been, never will be. They think they own them because of a few pieces of paper, in reality they are custodians (with a key to the stationary cupboard ) of something that only really belongs to the fans 

But that’s exactly why there needs to be some rules in place. Without the rules, the owners don’t know this, think they can do what they want, and then just f*** up the club that isn’t their’s.

1 hour ago, Simmo’s left foot said:

Certainly need to protect him, and maintain his development, worst think we could do is drop him into the first team and then moan if he does not do well! 

Ahem - Morgan Whittaker - ahem. 

And what sort of deterrent is minus 2? They’ll make that up in the first game. That’s just equivalent to any game where they stupidly let in an equaliser in the last minute. We effectively got a minus two punishment in our last game for the crime of being a bit crap. 

They secured promotion and the riches that comes with through their breaches. It’s like saying they’re going to deter diving by handing out yellow cards, and then that becomes a slap on the wrist.

send them off, you’ll soon see it stop. And demote teams that break the rules, you’ll soon see it stop.

(although that is a bit like advocating the death penalty for shoplifting. Maybe I’m a tyrant. I hope not.)

4 hours ago, Turk Thrust said:

Definitely no penalty. Saka looking for a foul there

Counter argument. So Goldstein was saying that a referee told him that the litmus test was, if Neuer was Saka’s baby, could he have got out of the way rather then kicking him?

The answer maybe yes, but at the speed he was going, it’s not up to saka to try to avoid contact and possibly contort himself in an unnatural way to hurdle Neuer. Neuer was on a trajectory to make contact, and got no where near the ball. Saka shouldn’t have to do him any favours to try to avoid the contact.

the mistake Saka made, if anything, was sticking his leg out. If he’d just kept running straight, Neuer would’ve taken him out.

4 hours ago, Chellaston Ram said:

A 4 point deduction is hardly a deterrent to stop other teams gambling 

Break the bank for a great striker and all they need to do is snatch you a last gasp winner and two last gasp equalizers (ie turn a draw into a win and two losses into draws) and the 4pts were worth it. 

On 08/04/2024 at 03:35, Bris Vegas said:

Unfortunately Forest have a lot of winnable games coming up.

Burnley, Sheff Utd and Everton away, plus Wolves and Chelsea at home.

I think they will get another 10 points.

I don’t see Luton getting any more than 6.

Luton gave it a brilliant go but they dropped some easy points by losing at home to Sheff Utd and squandering a 3-0 lead at Bournemouth.

Or put it another way, and they have a lot of high pressure 6 pointers. All those clubs will be targeting Forest as 6pts they need to get. If they loose all those games, they’re screwed.