Leeds Ram

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

Just got back from the game. Travelling on the train was horrendous both rounds but was far worse coming home. Aside from that the game was one played at a frenetic pace with Bolton looking dangerous in the first half. Forsyth and Cashin look immense at the back though and everyone worked hard to maintain their shape and defensively put in a shift. Halftime perhaps came at the wrong time for us as we'd started to gain some momentum in the game and finally put some pressure on Bolton. But throughout most of the half our play on the ball was shocking lacking in any real quality. At times it struck me that some of the players are de-skilling themselves on the ball because of the change in style. 
Second half we looked better and not only continued to manage Bolton and began to press ourselves. However, we wouldn't have scored even if we were playing until tomorrow morning. Collins had a stinker and should have been brought off after 60 minutes for Osula. Dobbin looks devoid of all confidence and it wasn't Lang's day. The bigger problem is that we struggled to fashion chances in open play. Our biggest chances were from 2 set pieces and a couple of crosses sometimes created by winning the ball back via our high press but little was really fashioned. 

Away from home we do look ropy from what I've seen and the danger is when a side does score am not sure we've got an answer to that. Yes, this is a long unbeaten run and that's great but this performance wasn't overly convincing aside from the defensive aspect of it. I think we need to be doing more on the ball creatively in the middle and the final third of the pitch personally. 

*awaits thread for lift wanted to Borneo FC away. ?
Happy Christmas!
 
 

And we’re off!

I think we'll finish 5th and lose in the play off final. Likely automatics of winning in playoffs next season. 

Finish 3rd after an amazing form run gets us into top 2 only to drop out on last game of the season.
Wrist slashers demand Warne sacking before playoffs in which we scrape through on pens to the final with expectations low.
Final vs Ipswich is tense affair, 0-0 with 5 mins to go when Richard Keogh inexplicably volleys one into his own net, rips his shirt of showing the “Once A Ram” vest underneath.

I think we'll finish 5th and lose in the play off final. Likely automatics of winning in playoffs next season. 

cheers i didn't think about this ? 

Cheers will do ?

Thanks for the post tamworth ? I have had a bit of a think about that and maybe I didn't quite articulate myself as well as i could have in regards to that! 

Thanks Tim Ram I'll definitely take that under consideration ? 

Nice one uttox and massive congrats to your brother. You must all be very proud of him even if he did have to live in Stoke for a while... 

Cheers for the advice ? I have seen a few people mention this so it's definitely something I'll be looking at post xmas ? 

My brother never left school, or so we tease him, after Manchester Uni he took a job at Staffordshire Uni and is now a Director of Learning at de Montfort in Leicester. He did have to work in Stoke for quite a few years though!
 

Replied to you privately. Dont apologise for staying in academia, you can be very proud of what you have achieved so far, not everyone can do a Phd, well done.
 

“I just want to say one word to you : plastics.”
Just joking. That was a good film and it astonished me to think that I since that film came out I’ve had a long working life and I’ve been retired nearly 20 years. You are living in a totally different world to the one I worked in. When I started firms would almost be begging for you to work for them. Anyone from my school who wanted an apprenticeship could easily get one. Those boys usually ended up as self-employed plumbers, electricians, gas engineers, etc. The ones who got office jobs often ended up as some kind of manager and they retired at 50 on a nice pension. Now job loyalty and security are long gone. It is every man for himself.
Not long ago I decided to spy on some of the young people I used to work with. These were people around your age. The more successful of them had reinvented themselves as “Project Managers”. Before they had been junior managers or IT workers but they got the Prince 2 qualification and a bit of experience running small projects and then they all seemed to find work as consultant project managers in big organisations like local government and the NHS. I could see from the Linkedin site that they usually moved on to another contract after a couple of years. I don’t know if this is normal practice or whether they didn’t want to stay long enough to be "found out".
That’s one option for you. Just say that you’ve been doing project management in education for about 10 years. I’m sure you could dress up whatever you’ve been doing as various projects.

Asset management. 
Someone like Blackrock love academically gifted folk. Doesn't have to be quants either. 

Keep at it! I would advise against a scattergun approach though.
There are all sorts of techniques available to help you think through what you are good/bad at. What your personality profile says about you. Leader/follower, risk taker or not etc. 
When I mentored young graduates (decades ago) I started with a simple chart. Where do you want to be in 10 years. Where do you NOT want to be in 10 years. Keep it general, then what do you enjoy/not enjoy. Does this match what you are good at.  Then go through random  vacancies (easier now than when you had to buy the Daily Telegraph) and do a gut feel yes/no. Eventually a pattern will emerge. 
Then go for something like that!  Good luck!
PS , a bit left field but with your knowledge of Middle East politics have you thought of the Army in a Staff type role. 

Check out local companies who have an industry you're interested in. Explain your situation and ask if you could be an 'observer' for a day to get a feel for the work that goes on there. It helps if you have a friend/family member who works there. My Dad worked for a local company and got me such a day in their I.T. department. You can get chatting to others and network. I found it invaluable and it set me on my career path.

The ticket office were wanting people, anything to get you out into the routine of work will look good on a cv.

No need to answer on this forum but consider what did they asked you and how did you answer it? They already knew you had a PhD so I imagine they were digging a bit deeper into why you chose to do the PhD and perhaps what relevance there is, if any, to the job you were applying for. If there isn’t any relevance then maybe they asked you why you have now decided to change direction. Not an easy question to answer.