Tamworthram

Zero chance any time soon. The only way I see it happening is if we have a disastrous start to the season and PW is “let go” late October onwards by which time Rotherham will have a new manager anyway. I don’t think the relationship is quite as fragile as you suggest. Certainly not between DC and PW. IMO, even the majority of fans, whilst disappointed, won’t be rioting on the streets if we miss out this season given we’re pretty much guaranteed of reaching the play offs and therefore coming close. Of course, the existing anti Warne commentary on social media will ramp up a few levels but not enough to force him out. I personally don’t think DC will take action based on social media reactions and comments (given you can’t assume they represent the majority. Even negative posts by a couple of dozen individuals may look like a lot but is only a couple of dozen out of tens of thousand). I think the only remote chance of him acting on the fans mood is if there was widespread and regular seriously negative reactions at matches (that’s not a call to arms by the way 😀) or a significant drop off in attendances. Whilst there will no doubt be an expected decline in ST sales (as there probably would be for any club) I don’t think it will be massive. Will the fans protest against the manager if we miss out on autos? No, because we’ll all be anticipating the play offs. Will the fans protest if we fall short in the play offs? I don’t think so. There will be disappointment of course and possible anger/frustration if we go out with a whimper but that will be viewed as a natural reaction to the performance on the day.

Sky TV money is the lifeblood that allows the big clubs to pay obscene wages. Football existed before Sky and would continue to exist without it (after a period of painful adjustment). If the absence of Sky meant the premier league clubs couldn’t afford the sort of wages that attracts players from across the globe well, maybe I’m old school, but I wouldn’t shed too many tears.

It’s not just what happens this weekend. There are seven rounds of games before Barnsley play their game in hand.

The opposition coming out swinging in the second half? Sounds familiar and doesn’t bode well for when we play them.

Two things I’ve learned today: 1) It seems we can’t “trust” the number of goals a team score/concedes or the number of points a team accumulates. Maybe final league tables should be determined by XG 2) if you produce enough fancy looking graphs you’ll probably impress someone (probably just yourself though) 😀

You’ll have to do better than that. A point per game would give us 79 points which is already enough to see us safe. 😀

Presumably you meant to say Barnsley rolled over for them last season given Posh won 2:0 away. In any event, I wouldn't bank on it. Didn't Posh switch off against Sheffield Wednesday in the play off second leg when they definitely had something to play for.😀

Must have been a temporary glitch. I’ve just looked at got this.

The comments were made whilst working for a Swiss TV company commenting on a game between a German team and an Italian team. I don’t know but I suspect there is a reasonable chance he wasn’t speaking English. It’s a fine line between stereotyping and racism. Reading what he said, and checking the definition of racism, I’d say they were clumsy stereotypical. In any event, I am always wary of bringing back ex players into a coaching/management role simply because they were “legends”.

I see Barnsley having a strong finish.

I only average half a dozen away games a year but I've NEVER seen it happen.

I'd say an excellent time for their form to dip (please). 😀 Seriously though, that's why I have them finishing 4th in my predictor. Sadly I have us only 3rd.

I would have thought the best place is as near to the away end as possible (that's what I'll be aiming for if I have to resort to a home ticket for Northampton or Cambridge). Looking at the stadium plan, it looks like you have the choice of either sitting in the South Stand (G) or better still, on the "Popular Insulation Terrace 2" you won't be restricted to staying in an allocated seat if you're on the terrace. Either way, I'm not sure there will be too much singing (especially in the seated area) due to the risk of being evicted from the ground.

I’d say neither are ideal. Form can change compared to half a season ago and three matches isn’t enough to determine current form or a trend. That’s why I looked at the last 10 games (plus, it quite neatly matches the number of games remaining) in which we have lost three. In terms of which I see as the biggest risks of defeat - Portsmouth away is the obvious favourite although I wouldn’t be surprised if we battled out a backs against the wall 0:0 draw again. Bolton is obviously a dangerous game but, as I’ve not seen them play much recently, that may be just because of where they are in the league rather than how well they are playing. The next one that worries me is Wycombe away. Their home form isn’t great whilst our away form (in terms of results) is good but it just feels like one of those games we’ll struggle in. I don’t see us losing more than a couple of games but there may be too many draws in there to keep us second.

Maybe because we’ve managed to lose 3 from our last 10 games 🤷🏻 But I’m only expecting a couple of defeats.

I don’t want you to go back in history at all. I didn’t ask you to list all the examples you can think of. I don’t know why you have responded in the way you have especially as I was essentially agreeing with you - it is a f***ed up world and there are sadly plenty of examples.

There are sadly plenty more examples than the two you have quoted. 😢

I’d like to think so but I also somehow doubt he would have won if there had been a labour candidate standing in what was, at the last general election, a very safe labour seat.

I know. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Apart from points (which, of course, at the end of the season is the most important element) what are the other two quarters? I can’t help but think you’re confusing “expected” (as in expected goals) with “deserved”. As I understand it, a penalty kick has a fairly high xg rating (something like 0.79) but, if the penalty taker puts it wide then he didn’t deserve to score - he missed the target from a good goal scoring opportunity. 🤷🏻

I’ve just set one up for Northampton as a back up.

Sadly, I don’t have any friends let alone any with good away membership.😀

Some folk must have found a way to beat the system. I can’t believe 65 people in the 10+ category waited until this morning to get their ticket when there were only 67 left.😏

Lots of ifs and buts, but if Bolton win their game in hand or Barnsley win their two games in hand they will only be 4 points behind Portsmouth with 10 games remaining. I personally wouldn’t consider that as running away with it. They have the advantage but not running away with it.

You seem to be obsessed with the word “deserved”. Did they not “deserve” to finish fourth simply because they got the fourth most points? If that’s not enough, they also won the fourth most number of games and scored the fourth most number of goals.