Carl Sagan

1 hour ago, europia said:

If we gained promotion, which is by no means a certainty, the first season will be about survival on a sustainable budget. Beyond that further progress will probably require further inward investment, with a possible change of ownership at some point.   

I think momentum is so important in football. Last time we crawled out of the third tier under Arthur, we won the league the next season and went straight into the top flight. Look at Ipswich this season, top of League One and full-on competing for promotion, while Wednesday and Argyle didn't maintain their momentum and may very well come back down.

If we go up, and if the mindset is then just to survive for a year, we will likely be relegated.

15 minutes ago, Crewton said:

It's great to see some of our loaned-out youngsters making a mark. So many go out and get overlooked by their loan clubs - that must be quite demoralising.

I do feel bad for Oduroh at Hartlepool who presumably isn't coming back. It felt such a coup when he signed, after skippering the Man City youth team IIRC.

That said, I did wonder if Bates was gone for good too, but maybe this is to give him experience (18, same age as Brown)?

13 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Surely even if we lose tomorrow, wins in our final games will see us up?

Not strictly true. We would have 93 points, and so would Bolton if they win their remaining matches (with Portsmouth having more). 

Very disappointing (if predictable) results today with all three chasers winning. Lose at Portsmouth and automatic promotion is out of our hands. Sadly, with us scraping wins while Bolton bagged 5 each against Oxford and Reading, our goal difference can no longer be relied upon if the final points tally ends up being tied.

What does that mean for this game? Obviously we all want to win, but I expect we will set up as a "must not lose" game and be quite cautious. So one of the strikers (NML/CBT/Wash) drops our for a midfielder (who will probably be Hourihane). I expect it will be CBT who makes way. Warne would take a draw now, and I think so would I. Then we remain masters of our destiny with just 4 games to go.

25 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Is Gayle going to be fit 😊

What a lift that would give everyone, if he's on the bench.

It does feel the calm before the storm, while we await tomorrow's results.

All the very best to you and Leanne. And to your great nephews. Life's sometimes heartbreaking and difficult, and often complicated. But then also filled with joy. And I hope yours are filled with much joy in the future. 

1 hour ago, GboroRam said:

You keep going on about stuff like this and I'm genuinely trying to give you chance to post, but I don't see any relevance regarding X/twitter. I part think I should remove it, and also don't want to dictate the content of the thread. But I don't get the relevance. Yes, the market for social media is full of firms that put profits ahead of their user base. What's that to do with Twitter? 

How other social media companies compare with the new twitter is clearly relevant to many people on the thread. In this case, everyone else except Twitter is being sued for damaging children's mental health. Bizarre to suggest deleting it.

What a massive Monday and Tuesday coming. How we feel going into this game will partly be determined by what happens the day before. Normally in League One I'd say only wins matter, but if Bolton don't win I'd be OK with a draw here. The extra day works in our favour in terms of recovery time, which makes me think Warne will pick an unchanged team for this one. Which would be:

Wildsmith

Wilson     Nelson     Cashin     Sibley

Ward     Adams     Smith     Blackett-Taylor

Mendez-Laing     Washington

Bench: Loach  Robinson  Hourihane  Thompson  Fornah  Collins  Waghorn

I hate seeing Sibbo so far back, but at least when you look at Saturday's positions on WhoScored, the "back four" was actually more like Nelson, Cashin, Adams and Smith, with Wilson and Sibley much further forward. This selection means not rushing Collins back into the starting lineup - we need to be careful with him.

On a side note, what an amazing few days it's been for young defender Keilen Robinson, playing for England U19s and then making the first team bench. Congrats to him!

3 hours ago, Kernow said:

The title doesn’t really bother me, nobody really remembers who won the league, the key is getting out of the division and whether that’s 1st or 2nd, I’ll be just as happy.

An ideal world for me would be if we went into the final game 3 points clear and something like 10 goals GD better than 3rd.

Basically a situation where unless we lost to Carlisle 6-0, we’re up. A full house at Pride Park, early kick-off in some late April sunshine, then the whole afternoon to celebrate. Perfect.

This is Derby we're talking about - I still wouldn't feel safe. Has to be 4 points clear for that.

48 minutes ago, Matchday Fred said:

What was left full-back Sibley doing on the right-wing just before the goal ? That’s some version of ‘total’ football.

I presume he'd just taken an inswinging corner. On the radio in the bit I was able to listen to, they were saying Sibbo's corners were very good (as I think they always are).

Looking at Twitter vids, a couple of shocking first half offside calls given against us when players were clean through. Yards onside.

Fantastic result. Called away so missed the commentary, but so relieved when I checked the final score. Probably lucky not to have to go through the in-game tension with the rest of you. Well done to the lads. We don't have one foot in the Championship, but I'd say maybe a big toe. Lets hope it can cling on. I fully expect the three teams in the hunt below us to win on Monday. Might even put an accumulator insurance bet on it...

54 minutes ago, dcfcreece1601 said:

Scored the only goal in a 1 nil win 😍 keep him on loan there it's working 

Booked on 20 minutes. Scored this goal:

Apparently through one-on-one for a second but a blatantly wrong offside call. Subbed on 72 minutes.

Today's (fantastic) results:

• Wycombe 1 Portsmouth 3
• RAMS 1 Blackpool 0
• Stevenage 0 Bolton 0
• Peterborough 1 Carlisle 3
• Barnsley 0 Cambridge 2

The race for automatics now looks like this:

I've added a new column of maximum points each of the five can achieve. It tells us that four wins and a draw now guarantees promotion (as that takes us to 94 points). As the games unfold, we hope the final task will become easier. We don't play again until the big game away at Portsmouth on Tuesday, by which point this table will have changed. Monday's key fixtures are:

• Bolton vs Reading
• Orient vs Peterborough
• Burton vs Barnsley

At a first glance, we can't now finish lower than 7th, because Oxford have to play Lincoln. So almost guaranteed that playoff place! 

With Gateshead bringing in a new striker last night, after Dajaune Brown has bagged 8 goals in his last 7 (with plenty of assists too), has our young striker secretly been recalled to lead the line? With Warne choosing
 

Wildsmith

Wilson  Nelson  Cashin  Sibley

Smith

Adams           Hourihane

Washington        Brown       Blackett-Taylor

Bench:   Loach  Ward  Radcliffe  Elder  Mendez-Laing  Collins  Waghorn  

2 hours ago, ram59 said:

Just seen on SSN that Gateshead have signed another striker from Crawley on loan to the end of the season, does that mean that DB is about to return to Derby for the run in or am I adding 2 and 2 to make 5?

The Gateshead fans are worried and talking about it. This new loan seems a strange move for them unless DB is coming back. Here's a North East football writer, just commenting on how good Brown is:

Yes this is two leagues below, but you look at all these goals -

left foot, right foot, headers, and often very clever finishes, poaching in the six yard area, running from the halfway line, shooting from outside the box - 

And this fast, powerful, skillful, confident young striker looks *exactly* what we (and any team at our level and probably above) needs. It seems baffling he's not had proper first team time this season. But huge plaudits to Dajaune for putting down a marker, and getting an U23 international call up as an 18 year old. The future looks bright with him on our books - scoring goals is the hardest thing. 

Dajaune's goals. So pleased for him.

8 hours ago, BatRam said:

if im not mistaken the amount of radiation on mars is the reason they said it could never be done. And id rather he put his money into fixing this world not letting it go to ruin and then buggering off somewhere else. I wrote a song about it years ago called locust of man.

 

Love the song. 

"They" (the Mars naysayers) might have said that about radiation, but they're completely wrong. 

We're protected from some radiation on Earth because of our planet's magnetic field, created by a molten iron dynamo at Earth's core. Mars used to have a similar dynamo, but being smaller it cooled to the extent it no longer works. However, there are LOTS of solutions, some of which will be deployed at different times along the colonization timeline. 

Due to its historic magnetic field, areas on Mars already have a stronger magnetic field than Earth's and might be sites for early settlement. Then, rock provides shielding. Other early settlements will be built inside collapsed lava tubes or into the walls of canyons with rock above. Water is also a great radiation shield, so some cities will have lakes built into their roofs, with fish etc for food swimming above the settler's heads. 

Overall, the risk from radiation only leads to a small increase in cancer risk, but even so Mars genetic engineers will work to reduce this. Then, moving on, it will be possible to create an artificial magnetic field for Mars. One suggestion is to place a large magnet at the gravitationally stable point between the Sun and Mars (called L1). A magnet only a quarter the size of those already in use at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern would probably suffice. We just need to work out how to power it at that location. So these problems are surmountable. And definitely not on the critical path to Mars colonization. 

Here's Ship 29 having an engine test in the run-up to the coming fourth Integrated Flight Test:

Analysing Flight 3, it seems the team had significant problems with stabilizing Starship on reentry, so that its heatshield was properly positioned. It was pitching and rolling all over the place, exposing the unprotected areas to the surrounding plasma - hence the loss of vehicle quite early into the descent. Finding a solution is likely the biggest objective of Flight 4.

In the early tests, when it was just the Starship on its own, flying up and then bellyflopping back down, this wasn't a problem as it was beginning from a stationary start. But now Starship is coming in at 'orbital velocity' it proved harder to maintain stability first time around. In Flight 3 the team decided against a deorbit burn to slow the ship, because of the rolling. I expect they'll be keen to do this next time around.

"This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper." 

T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

Reluctantly, watching Brown at Gateshead, I think he's likely better finishing the season there. But it's a close call. If Warne had prepared to play a little more youth earlier in the season, we might know better.

Will Gayle or Collins make the bench? It's unlikely but would give everyone a fillip. Without Bradley or Fozzy, and without decent strikers, this is going to be four at the back and then it's almost anyone's guess for the remainder.  My guess would be:

Wildsmith

Smith     Nelson     Cashin     Elder

Wilson     Adams     Thompson     Blackett-Taylor

Sibley

Waghorn

Subs: Loach   Ward    Radcliffe   Hourihane    Robinson   Washington   Weston 

Obviously very disappointing, buckling yet again when having the opportunity to pull away and put one foot in the Championship.

Warne's substitutions prioritised experience over energy, which seemed the wrong approach. I get that Adams was having an off day, but still twice he came closest to scoring. Sibs always has a goal in him whatever position Warne puts him in, as well as picking out Waghorn with an amazing ball, only for it to be smashed over. We had to keep Adams on and move Sibley into a more advanced role. And as I said at the start of the thread, I'd have had Weston on the bench for a youthful attacking option, given our lack of strikers. 

I've watched and rewatched the highlights. Was it really a headbutt from Bradley (I couldn't see anything) or yet more gamesmanship from the opposition? People on here saying he was a fool - was he, or just a victim? 

For their goal, Wilson was probably fouled, Bradley should probably have stopped the cross, and Wildsmith should probably have been better positioned to come and claim the cross. 

Never easy being a Ram, as the injuries stack up.

3 hours ago, Ambitious said:

I was able to jump on the betfair exchange and lay (bet against) Derby getting promoted £133 returns £240 profit. I bet against Derby every game anyway, but I lost £80 on the Bolton game alone so this just seems like a more stable way of monetising my depression.

Obviously Betfair is going to be better for serious gamblers, but I've never used it. Instead, I saw I had a "free" £5 "build a bet" on Sky about to expire so I went for Northampton winning and us not scoring (as I figured we were unlikely to concede 2). For which they gave me 9/1. Really all that does is add money to the account which can all be lumped on us losing a more crucial match nearer the end of the season, should it come to the worst.

Please let us go up automatically and have me lose all my gambling funds!