rhysbeck

speaking of cricket!     just spotted today

I know the owner of the Red Dog flag, his name is Steve and 'Caj' is his wife Carol who sometimes goes. Top bloke who goes everywhere, I'm going to the Scotland games with a group including him... I always refuse to help put his flag up!

speaking of cricket!     just spotted today

Not a flag, more wanton vandalism, but it made me smile while away from home.

Those who pull up at the pumps when they're going in to buy a loaf of bread or something.
**** off out of the way. How about you park in that space 10 metres away there?

I developed the same thing about 20 years ago. It's never gone away. That's mainly due to me not doing anything about it, apart from a spell of counselling. I just ran away from the problem, and avoided the situations that caused the issue. I've largely done that ever since. 
The problem came on unexpectedly (the first time). I remember it well. Totally out of the blue. These days, I'll go out for a meal with my Mrs, but no way, if it was more people. Haven't been in a pub for about 18 years. Don't do social occasions of any kind. 
There's probably no point in me trying to do anything about it now. But if you are still young, and wanting to sort it out, I'm sure there are ways to do it. I just don't know what they are! Sorry to be not much help. But I certainly understand what you are talking about. 
 

Forget drivers who just sit in lane two; on the way back from the match yesterday on the upgraded M1 we now get four lanes so all the drivers that were in lane two now sit there in lane three. 
We waved to them from the inside lane as we passed - it was completely empty, of course!

People who walk into a supermarket, during a busy period, and just stop and then wonder why someone has either just missed or bumped into them.

I've been wanting to start this thread for ages
As the "Random stuff that annoys me thread" reaches 100+ pages, it is pretty clear that we could solve the world's energy crisis if we somehow harnessed man's natural ability to complain about things.
So, as one poster accused me of having "no balance" I thought I'd try and tip the scales of karma and start this one up as well. Let's see if it is just as popular?
So I will start with an easy one.
When you read through a lengthy online debate and you disagree with what people are saying, so you stick your neck out and say something - get a torrent of abuse back - and then suddenly someone you don't know pops up and agrees with you. Immediately restoring both your faith in humanity and the thought that you may be going mad.

not sure how I stumbled across this. But it's a long thread.
 
 

it's getting to that time of year where a combination of things usually result in me having low moods.
Dark mornings when getting up, dark evenings when driving home from work, those with families having a purpose and the excitement of Christmas and New Year. I will probably at some point lock myself away over the festive period, and feel like a burden on everyone, which then makes me very low. 
I am trying to counter this, but we will see if my plans work.
I know I am not alone, and hope that if any posters have similar issues, that they are comfortable enough to talk about it, and maybe pre-empting them may prevent, which is what I am hoping to do.

Much needed post @sage
Too easily people are saying "433 didn't work" and "players are bottlers" but so much more went on this season. 
Omar was alright but he was a total hot head. So eager to press and chase (which is what gets fans cheering because they're stupid) that he too often left us exposed. And like you say, Cyrus is crazy. He's either a really crap good player or a really good crap player. He's so up and down that I can't decide if I rate him or hate him.
That goal v Forest was disgusting. More so than the first Brum goal.
A Grant goal kick. Hoofed long to Bent. And as soon as the ball flies over the halfway line 6 players are gone. Can't remember who won the header for Forest but it put 6 players out the game. Then Omar committed suicide. 1 header from their own half put Forest on through on goal. 
I loved how many players Mac used to get beyond the ball. But this was just poor decision making. But there's been little to no danger of it happening since... Or scoring much.
Many asked for a Plan B. But the problem is one we're seeing now. We've got so many options but very little depth to cover any specific system. 
McClaren was very unlucky to lose all 3 DM's. Eustace and Thorne just knew that role. They took so much ***** work off the other 2 midfielders. 
The other mistake Mac made was the tinkering of the defence.
We'd already lost Thorne, Eustace, Martin. So our spine had taken a blow. Then he seemed to set about systematically destroying confidence.
By tinkering with the defence we started to see the worst of Forsyth. Cyrus had broken completely. Then Whitbread, Shotton and Buxton couldn't get settled. Kept getting traded all over the place. And Keogh never knew who his partners would be. He even appeared at RB himself 
Then to kick a team that's down we had all the speculation and panic around Newcastle. 
The lessons to learn from this season were blatant. And I wish Mac had been here longer to show if he can learn. I wish we'd spent £25m on just a Thorne and Martin with a good defender thrown in. Maybe loan a winger because Mac was really good with wingers. He didn't like them to play 90mins and if we had what he called "a full back game" then he gave himself all kinds of options. Dawkins was a great slowly slowly catchy monkey alternative for building play. Ward and Russell very much for exploding play. Ibe for ridiculous ability to go through defenders with the ball. Far more direct than anyone else. No going around them. Through them!! He was improving too. 
So much to take from this season. So much to build on 

Right, just to warn you now that this will probably be the longest opening post you've ever read (or wisely chose to ignore) and is a mixture of fact and opinion. It is an attempt to tell a story that starts in the 60th minute at Wembley as QPR go down to 10 men and ends at the Pirelli Stadium and it's immediate aftermath. It will look at transfers, selections, managers, the chairman and key games. 
Most of the story will be in normal type. Opinion pieces will be in italics. I will write about later key games in bold.
Imagine some slightly haunting music and this page misting over before the vision in front of you becomes clear and you are sat at Wembley on 24th May 2014. Derby have been playing great football under Steve Mcclaren, moving Derby on from the NC era and are on top, Johnny Russell is running through on goal, is hacked down and yes, it's a red card, QPR down to ten men, nothing can stop us now...   
But we were stopped. Missed chances, some bad luck and some individual mistakes. Could Steve Mac we have done anything differently with a game there for the taking? As QPR began to defend their penalty box with massed ranks, I would agree with Dawkins coming on for Russell, but taking Hughes off instead of Hendrick simply didn't make sense with the task in hand and when we were pumping cross after cross into their box, why wasn't Bamford brought on until injury time?
In the close season, Wisdom and Bamford's loan spell ended, but after a saga Thorne's loan was made permanent as was that of Zak Whitbread. We also brought in Cyrus Christie permanently and also Ibe, Shotton, Mascarell and Best on loan.
So what of these signings and loans? Thorne was been a class player, but injuries have meant he has missed 2/3 of our games since, and there are doubts as to whether he will ever realise the potential we all saw in him. Whitbread was only ever a cover player and as such did his job. Christie started off like a runaway train attacking with gusto but like runaway trains he doesn't have a destination or know his station. He now over complicates matters going forward meaning his attacking play doesn't overcome his lack of positional sense and defensive instincts. Shotton never really looked like a Premier League player and became like Whitbread, a cover CB.
The next 3 loans all became more key to our season in different ways. Mascarell helped plug the gap till Thorne was fit, but didn't have Eustace's defensive nous, but we were to miss him after his injury, more of that later. Best was mean to be cover for Martin but was abject. In the early games that he played or came on as sub left fans with little confidence that he could replace Martin in the event of injury, a lack of confidence which was to come back to haunt us later that season. Ibe gave us a lift and real pace, something we have tried to replicate in recent months to little effect. His recall by Liverpool was one of 3 negative turning points in the 2014/15 season.  
Ibe was recalled 2 days before we played Forest at home. We were top of the league with Bournemouth and playing great football but were also missing Eustace who had been sent off at Ipswich in injury time the game before to secure a 1-0 win. Bent had come in on loan but had yet to make an appearance. Forest had only won 2 games in 20 and despite losing Ibe and Eustace who had also picked up an injury, we had signed Albentosa from Eibar, we were a hive of activity,,surely nothing could stop us now...
One nil up at half time, playing pretty well. After Hendrick comes on for Hughes we don't play so well in the second half but Forest only just had their first attempt on target when in the 73rd minute and Mascarell gives away an unnecessary foul 35 yards out and gets booked. Forest score from the free kick and Steve Mac brings on Bent to go 442. Derby press but don't look like scoring and the game goes into injury time looking like a draw.  Grant kicks the ball long towards Bent and it is headed clear, Christie has run recklessly 20 yards past his man and Forest are breaking Mascarell has a 50/50 ball to win on the halfway line, a foul would mean a red card and he does the opposite to Eustace at Ipswich and tries to nick the ball unsuccessfully, Forest have a 3 on 2, Keogh backs off trying to buy time and it's 2-1.   The seeds of doubt are sown.
Derby recover to win their next 2 games and Ince and Lingard come in on loan, we go on to beat an awful Bolton 4-1 with new boy Ince scoring 2. We are equal top with Bournemouth again and that is our next game, away on the south coast.
Derby had an awful start to the game, conceding in the 12th minute, with Hughes and Mascarell failing to track Ritchie, then Martin went off injured in the 15th minute, to be replaced by Bent. Ince equalises after linking with Bent and Bent equalises later after good work by Dawkins. Bournemouth end up hanging on in the game, bringing on full backs to play as wingers, Derby look the better team.
So why was this period a negative turning point? Eustace was out for while and Thorne was some way from returning. Mascarell was showing signs of defensive frailty and Martin, the fulcrum of our attacking play for 18 months was out. Surely we needed a DCM and a target man in on loan or to buy. Instead we loaned in 2 wingers. The senior of which Ince whilst a constant goal threat, wasn't suited to our quick tempo, passing game. Bent scored goals, but couldn't hold the ball up. Derby fans were looking to the physio room for good news on Thorne and Martin. What we didn't know at the time was Grant was also injured with a torn calf muscle that inhibited his coming out for crosses.
We drew the next game at Rotherham 3-3 with Grant and Mascarell both being at fault for goals. Though we won our next 2, the team look disjointed and and only won 2 of the next 12 games, drawing our last away games 4-4 and 3-3 away at Huddersfield and Millwall respectively. In the middle of this run, was a draw that felt like a defeat. Meanwhile, Newcastle were tracking Steve Mac who offered a limited disinterest. 
Derby had Birmingham at home, Bent was out injured and Russell was playing up front with Ince and Ward either side of him, Albentosa was in for Buxton. Derby go 2 nil up through Ward and Ince and the 90 minutes are up with Derby having a free kick in their own box. Christie passes to Ince who is immediately under pressure on the touchline 30 yards from his own goal. Christie and Hendrick both make runs beyond Ince instead of offering him a pass. Ince is robbed of the ball and chases his man into the area. The ref gives a dodgy penalty and it's game on. They get a corner, there's an almighty scramble and it's 2-2. Two points thrown away due to lack of defensive nous and the nerves are shredded.
However due to our early season form we entered the last game against Reading at home needing to draw to secure a play off place.
Hughes and Albentosa contrive to give a goal away in the first minutes and we are playing dreadfully. Somehow we get a penalty in the last minute of the first half. Bent misses, We concede 2 more in the second half and from a seemingly unassailable position we finish 8th.       
So where did it go wrong? Injuries and misguided recruitment or the spectre of Newcastle?.
Losing Thorne in pre season was a blow but Eustace and to some extent Mascarell were keeping us in the top two. but as soon as Eustace was injured, we had to get a DCM in. We didn't. As so as Martin was injured, we had to get a target man in. We didn't.
We ended up with Ince, Bent and Lingard. Ince and Bent scored goals, but you defend from the front and both players are only really interested in the final or penultimate ball in a move. When you could get the ball to them near their box they were good, but you were trying to do that with 9 men.  
If Eustace and Martin hadn't got injured I believe we would have gone up in the top 2. If Mascarell and Buxton hadn't got injured we'd have finished in the play offs. However you expect to pick up injuries over the season and our failure was to provide cover for Martin and a replacement for Eustace.
Now what about the Newcastle rumours? How much of a part did they play in our demise? I think only Steve Mac and maybe the players could answer that. We are just guessing it did, maybe Mel was guessing too.
Volume 2: O My Darling Clement will come when my fingers and eyes recover.  
 
  
 
 
       
 

So I was just re-watching parts of England's 15-16 tour in South Africa; 1st test in Durban, heading into day 4, when suddenly...! 

Have you fallen over?

I noticed these Russian thugs clearly didn't nick a Derby flag, too scarred of us, clearly!
As for the teams they pinched, say no more.

A bloke shot out of his seat when he thought the sign was going to go out, as the plane had been stationary for about 20 secs, as he stood the plane lunged forward and he fell breaking his wrist.  This delayed people getting off the plane, and as I walked by him, he was being treated in the airbridge, he was moaning about suing the airline.
At this point I was annoyed as I was catching a connecting flight, so I walked over and asked him for his details, he looked up, confused, and asked why.  I simply said I was going to sue him for being an idiot and delaying 200 odd passengers, a few cheers and a red faced idiot that immediatly shut his mouth.