|
Post by mehewmagic on Jan 28, 2015 9:53:44 GMT
As requested on this thread ( gaschat.co.uk/thread/2162/rovers-topics-needed-next-article ) I have written a bit about Sainsbury's this week. I've deliberately not gone into the details, just some of the feelings around the way they are conducting themselves. "Be good to yourself, and even better to others" Gasheads, there is no need to give up the fight yet. Yes, this is more delay. Yes, the Board will not be able to give us a blow by blow account of every legal issue that is going on. But Sainsbury’s won’t be able to win this just because they can afford a posh lawyer. A well-aimed sling shot to the forehead can bring down even the mightiest Phillistine Goliath, and if the spoils of war are only a partial fulfillment of the contract, at least we died on our feet rather than lived on our knees. Viva Zapata, Viva Higgsy. Hasta la victoria siempre! www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-good-better/story-25929694-detail/story.html
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Jan 28, 2015 9:57:14 GMT
Mentions for Hugo the shelf fitter and Darlogas!
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Jan 28, 2015 14:36:55 GMT
BRISTOL ROVERS BLOG: G is for Gas - Be good to yourself, and even better to others
By Martin BullWith yet another barren Saturday, Rovers fans embarked on a multitude of alternatives from putting up shelves to watching our old friends Bath City continue their impressive march in the F.A. Trophy. One thing most of us probably weren’t doing though, was sitting down with a rosy red pen to write a Valentine’s card to the head cheese of J. Sainsbury plc. It comes as no surprise that the BRFC Board of Directors have felt they need to take Sainsbury’s to the High Court as it has seemed clear for quite some time that the behemoth retailer has been having cold feet about agreeing to buy the Memorial Stadium and that their wallet really isn’t in this love affair. If this was an episode of Eastenders I suspect the obligatory relationship blow-up scene would have been played out by now with the bling engagement ring being ripped off in a fit of pique and sinking like a stone to the bottom of the River Avon. Usually it is us fans and Rovers who resemble a mismatched couple, aptly described after the shocking relegation in May by David Roberts in my recent book as, “a one-sided love affair, unrequited love, but only one of us seems to be committed to the relationship.” In 1996 Sainsbury’s became one of the first retailers to sell Fairtrade products, and now claim to be the world’s biggest retailer of such produce. Yet it doesn’t seem to promote fair trade towards everyone and have recently been accused of bully boy tactics by Citigrove Securities and South Ruislip Residents’ Association for declaring that they will apply for a judicial review into the planning permission that was legally granted for a large development in West London on the site of a former dairy that had been a derelict eyesore for ten years. The development includes a cinema, five restaurants and 132 much needed flats and houses. Oh, and an ASDA store. Andrew Rennie of Citigrove Securities was quoted as remarking that “Sainsbury’s have had permission to extend their store in South Ruislip since 2006, but have chosen not to do so”, and thus believes that the legal challenge “has no merit, but its sole purpose is to stifle and restrict competition”. Unless you’ve been holidaying on Mars with Colin Pillinger’s Beagle 2 probe, no-one could have failed to notice that the big supermarkets are going through a torrid time, and are looking at crisis cutbacks, especially of bigger stores. This though is a crisis of their own making as they didn’t respond to the economic downturn and haughtily kept prices high when customers clamoured for alternatives that didn’t exist at the time. Experts say that the problem is that lots of people may well shop in these big hypermarket-type retail units, but very few actively love to shop there. The strategy was a real example of the ’build it and they will come’ philosophy, but as the great Motown team Holland, Dozier & Holland wrote (what a creative midfield they would be!) “you can’t hurry love… it‘s a game of give and take“. What is galling many, including Rovers fans, is the lack of clarity and openness as to what Sainsbury's intentions for Horfield now are. What is worrying is that some Gasheads seem to have already given up the fight. Of course we cannot influence the legal process, but there is no reason to suggest that Sainsbury‘s have a get out of jail free card just because they have an enormous turnover and are a FTSE 100 company. A contract is a contract, and when they entered into it they were extremely happy to secure such a prime piece of real estate. Since then Rovers have bent over backwards to accommodate what are increasingly looking like disingenuous delays to the sale. Little did we know that their range of ’Be Good to Yourself’ foods was also the slogan for their own self-centred strategy to abrogate contractual responsibilities. If the contract was full of escape clauses they would surely have been long gone by now, like the expensive ring in the Avon. Gasheads, there is no need to give up the fight yet. Yes, this is more delay. Yes, the Board will not be able to give us a blow by blow account of every legal issue that is going on. But Sainsbury’s won’t be able to win this just because they can afford a posh lawyer. A well-aimed sling shot to the forehead can bring down even the mightiest Phillistine Goliath, and if the spoils of war are only a partial fulfillment of the contract, at least we died on our feet rather than lived on our knees. Viva Zapata, Viva Higgsy. Hasta la victoria siempre! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Bull became a Gashead in 1989 and immediately fell in love with Twerton Park, standing near G pillar. In 2006 he wrote, photographed and published the first independent book about the artist Banksy. Having been exiled for much of his past, away games have always been special for him; so much so that he has just produced a new book about them, in collaboration with Rovers fans far and wide, young and old - www.awaythegas.org.ukRead more: www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-good-better/story-25929694-detail/story.html#ixzz3Q7uT1hgF
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 15:05:13 GMT
Very good peice that MM.
Balanced and neither spiteful nor vitriolic.
I suspect the club will need us again as we near the end game, but for now all is not yet lost.
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Feb 5, 2015 16:02:35 GMT
new article available now on the BEP website www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-Dartford-Dossier/story-25973973-detail/story.html'The Dartford Dossier'. Not surprisingly rather deflated after another away draw to a team near the bottom. Jimmy Hill proposed the three points for a win system and it was introduced in England in 1981. It didn’t really catch on elsewhere, and certainly none of the ’big’ leagues used it until after it was adopted for the 1994 World Cup Finals. We have had 34 years to get used to it. Away draws may be fine in League Two where three teams get automatic promotion, but too many draws in the Conference can really curtail your chances of that sole, elusive solitary automatic promotion slot.
|
|
|
Post by pirateman on Feb 5, 2015 16:34:30 GMT
Deleted
|
|
|
Post by buckrippers on Feb 5, 2015 17:01:24 GMT
Spot on Martin. Your sentiments are roughly the same as mine (though I'm not quite in agreement over Mildy/Puddy) but you've said "In fairness to Darrell" enough times that the DC hit mob may let you get away with it!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 18:09:25 GMT
Spot on Martin. Your sentiments are roughly the same as mine (though I'm not quite in agreement over Mildy/Puddy) but you've said "In fairness to Darrell" enough times that the DC hit mob may let you get away with it! It's not even the DC hit mob. It's the 2nd in the league can hardly be considered failure mob.
|
|
|
Post by Antonio Fargas on Feb 5, 2015 19:36:50 GMT
1 Barnet............... ..... 32... 20.... 5.... 7..... 65.......45 2 Bristol Rovers........... 32... 15... 13....4..... 58.......43 3 Macclesfield Town.... 31 ...16.... 9.... 6 .....57.......41 4 Grimsby Town.......... 31... 16.... 8.... 7..... 56.......40 5 Forest Green Rovers 31... 14... 11... 6..... 53.......39
Here's the League with 2 pts for win in the final column (I haven't docked FGR any points)
Couldn't agree more about dropping Puddy. Especially as DC has several times said no one has a right to a place in the team, and if players play well they will hold on to their place.
|
|
|
Post by pirateman on Feb 5, 2015 19:41:26 GMT
Bloody League buggering about with the points system sack the league sack the board sack TBone
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 19:47:33 GMT
Spot on Martin. Your sentiments are roughly the same as mine (though I'm not quite in agreement over Mildy/Puddy) but you've said "In fairness to Darrell" enough times that the DC hit mob may let you get away with it! Is it a hit mob or are you just wrong in having a go at DC this time? Sometimes, the fact that nearly everyone's reaction to you was to tell you you're wrong may just be because what you did wasn't a good idea after all. A bit like the time I pushed my thumb up a lions arse on a school trip to Longleat.
|
|
|
Post by pirateman on Feb 5, 2015 19:52:54 GMT
Never tried the thumb up the lion's bum trick. Is it fun?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 20:02:23 GMT
Spot on Martin. Your sentiments are roughly the same as mine (though I'm not quite in agreement over Mildy/Puddy) but you've said "In fairness to Darrell" enough times that the DC hit mob may let you get away with it! It's not even the DC hit mob. It's the 2nd in the league can hardly be considered failure mob. I think there does also need to be *some* balance though. Yes, 2nd is brilliant and much better than I expected, but how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable? Before the season kicked off 2nd is good, but having watched a lot of our games we really could and should have had more wins.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 20:13:28 GMT
It's not even the DC hit mob. It's the 2nd in the league can hardly be considered failure mob. I think there does also need to be *some* balance though. Yes, 2nd is brilliant and much better than I expected, but how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable? Before the season kicked off 2nd is good, but having watched a lot of our games we really could and should have had more wins. "how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable?" For me as many as we can draw and still be in a play-off spot. I don't subscribe to the if we don't get go up this season we're doomed narrative. Look at Luton smashing it in League Two this year. Cambridge not doing woefully either. Then again I started following Rovers in earnest in 2012 so my expectations are lower. "we really could and should have had more wins." No team "should" have a win if they didn't score more goals than the other team in the 90 minutes. A lot of teams have raised their game when we come to town. Our goals for hasn't been great but to go without a defeat in 15 games is a remarkable achievement. I'd change very little tbh.
|
|
|
Post by buckrippers on Feb 5, 2015 20:36:51 GMT
It's not even the DC hit mob. It's the 2nd in the league can hardly be considered failure mob. I think there does also need to be *some* balance though. Yes, 2nd is brilliant and much better than I expected, but how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable? Before the season kicked off 2nd is good, but having watched a lot of our games we really could and should have had more wins. You're sending out mixed messages there, Hugo. Or are you? (cue Twilight Zone music)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 21:08:31 GMT
I think there does also need to be *some* balance though. Yes, 2nd is brilliant and much better than I expected, but how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable? Before the season kicked off 2nd is good, but having watched a lot of our games we really could and should have had more wins. You're sending out mixed messages there, Hugo. Or are you? (cue Twilight Zone music) I'm a creature of balance Buckaroo. I can understand the point you make and I would defend your right to make it. To a degree I have some sympathy for you. However I don't overly like your article this time. Not because I necessarily disagree but because I strongly feel that the constant knocking of Bristol Rovers and staff is detrimental to the club I love. Particularly when we are actually doing ok for once. You are in a position to reach many people and I believe you should use your position to do all you can to help the club, rather than find new reasons to knock us. Just because you can say something, it doesn't mean you should. But like I say, fair enough, you are entitled to your view.
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Feb 5, 2015 21:13:23 GMT
Never tried the thumb up the lion's bum trick. Is it fun? Lord Bath does it every night. Helps him get to sleep. I let my little lad do it as well. it certainly stopped his thumb sucking problems!
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Feb 5, 2015 21:20:11 GMT
sorry, I do usually paste the article in but haven;t had access to a decent computer for much of the day. Here it is. BRISTOL ROVERS BLOG: G is for Gas - The Dartford Dossier
By Martin BullAssistant Manager Marcus Stewart was sent to face the press for the traditional Thursday briefing and said that “we’ve had them [Dartford] watched and we know what they are all about… No game is the same and you have to approach them all in different ways but the players we have here are brilliant and they all understand what is needed to get the points”. Well clearly the players did NOT know what was needed to get the points, or they ignored the advice they were given and somehow Darrell Clarke and his helpers couldn’t drill it into them on the training pitch, before the match, or again at half-time. I guess the dossier on Dartford, by persons unknown, went something like this... ‘This will be part-time Dartford’s eighth match in January; twice as many as our full-timers. They have lost nine of their last 10 league games (five by more than a goal) and seem to have only one likelihood of scoring if Harry Crawford fluffs a chance, Tom Bradbrook isn’t playing, and his brother Elliott gets stuck in the ground sharing sludge. That one prospect is Ryan Hayes who is very dangerous from set pieces and has already scored direct from his curling corners twice this month. He has a strike rate of almost one in every four games, despite playing on the wing. I would suggest (a) not giving away corners if possible, (b) not giving close range direct free kicks away, and (c) not tinkering around with our goalkeeper, who has done nothing wrong.’ I have consistently supported Darrell Clarke but I am furious that we (apparently) did our homework and then ignored it. Rovers have always been considered a rather light touch and we certainly showed it on Saturday. People may not like what I am about to write but a truly successful team would have forced Hayes off the pitch (rather like Easter was) or at least reduced his effectiveness by not giving him dead ball opportunities. I'm not condoning the former but a ruthless team would have done that if they had to. And a less irresolute goalie wouldn’t have looked to the ref for a foul, but would have claimed his territory in the first place and ushered the Darts' player out of the way if necessary. And before anyone shouts ‘penalty’ at my suggestion of a more aggressive approach, how many penalties have ever been given for a goalie assertively staking his claim in his own six-yard box at a corner? I genuinely can’t think of one. If you think I am being overly critical then I guess you have lower standards than myself. I really don’t want to see my team in non-league and I will admit I am desparate to get automatic promotion this season. I really don’t trust the play-offs, nor a second, third or fourth season in this quagmire. Successful teams strengthen whilst they are near the top, and we haven’t done that. Four loan players have left, Ryan Brunt has gone for good, and The Beard, Ollie Clarke and Jermaine Easter are injured, whereas we’ve only had Mr Easter and two loanees come in. Darrell was clearly very frustrated in the post-match interview and I applaud him for not blaming the pitch. But the buck stops with him. He said “you can’t coach individual mistakes” but it was him who consciously decided to put that player back on the pitch. It is a shame the interviewer wasn’t brave enough to ask why a goalkeeper with three clean sheets in four games was ‘dropped’ for no reason whatsoever except to let a ‘big name - big wage’ keeper back in. What sort of message does that send out to our squad? That if you are on bigger wages and have played in the Championship you get your place back? That is partly the sort of big-headed attitude that got us relegated. It really is. Will Puddy has proved himself just as good as Mildenhall and to discard him sets a bad precedent. He has only let in 5 goals in 8 games this season, and three of those were away to Barnet and Eastleigh (when down to 10 men). He played 42 times in the Conference Premier last season for an average Salisbury City team, kept 11 clean sheets and was named Player of the Season by his team-mates. Just in case the Rovers backroom staff have forgotten, that is the same league that we are now in, so he’s hardly the personification of an inexperienced understudy. I can appreciate that Darrell may have expressed some unwise thoughts when still angry at 5pm, but I loathe to hear him saying “we deserved to win the game” and that “we are the better team“. Football is a simple game. No club ‘deserves’ to win a game when it doesn’t score more goals than the opposition. Several Darts fans said that it was their best performance of the season. If so then we just have to deal with that. We need to be 20 percent better than the opposition if they truly do “raise their game against Bristol Rovers”. Again I will give credit to Darrell Clarke for understanding that we have dropped far too many points away from home when ahead - although it has to be said that not only did he forget the fourth example of the phenomenon (1-0 up at Forest Green Rovers, but drew 1-1) but also he didn’t articulate that he took ultimate responsibility for it. We have dropped eight points away from home from leading positions, but we are being slightly harsh on ourselves on that point as Barnet have dropped nine such points. However, what sets us apart in our respective away performances is not only their 30 points to our 24 (from one game more), but also the fact they’ve not needed to convert draws into wins often, as they are usually in front anyway! They have a whopping away game goal difference of +12 (it was +17 until two heavy defeats), whereas ours is a faint +1. Jimmy Hill proposed the three points for a win system and it was introduced in England in 1981. It didn’t really catch on elsewhere, and certainly none of the ’big’ leagues used it until after it was adopted for the 1994 World Cup Finals. We have had 34 years to get used to it. Away draws may be fine in League Two where three teams get automatic promotion, but too many draws in the Conference can really curtail your chances of that sole, elusive solitary automatic promotion slot. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Martin Bull became a Gashead in 1989 and immediately fell in love with Twerton Park, standing near G pillar. In 2006 he wrote, photographed and published the first independent book about the artist Banksy. Having been exiled for much of his past, away games have always been special for him; so much so that he has just produced a new book about them, in collaboration with Rovers fans far and wide, young and old - www.awaythegas.org.ukRead more: www.bristolpost.co.uk/BRISTOL-ROVERS-BLOG-G-Gas-Dartford-Dossier/story-25973973-detail/story.html#ixzz3QuKaJOeY
|
|
|
Post by mehewmagic on Feb 6, 2015 11:40:26 GMT
I think there does also need to be *some* balance though. Yes, 2nd is brilliant and much better than I expected, but how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable? Before the season kicked off 2nd is good, but having watched a lot of our games we really could and should have had more wins. "how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable?" For me as many as we can draw and still be in a play-off spot. I don't subscribe to the if we don't get go up this season we're doomed narrative. Look at Luton smashing it in League Two this year. Cambridge not doing woefully either. Then again I started following Rovers in earnest in 2012 so my expectations are lower. "we really could and should have had more wins." No team "should" have a win if they didn't score more goals than the other team in the 90 minutes. A lot of teams have raised their game when we come to town. Our goals for hasn't been great but to go without a defeat in 15 games is a remarkable achievement. I'd change very little tbh. Not sure quite where you are going with the Luton and Cambridge examples. Luton took 5 seasons and Cambridge had, what, 9 seasons?? totally agree re 'should win' talk. One of my bugbears in life. As as for 'raising their game', this is one the most fascinating issues of this season. Do teams REALLY raise their game or is it just that we aren't that good? There is no right or wrong answer.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2015 13:16:39 GMT
"how many games like Saturday (which we really should have won, but didn't) are acceptable?" For me as many as we can draw and still be in a play-off spot. I don't subscribe to the if we don't get go up this season we're doomed narrative. Look at Luton smashing it in League Two this year. Cambridge not doing woefully either. Then again I started following Rovers in earnest in 2012 so my expectations are lower. "we really could and should have had more wins." No team "should" have a win if they didn't score more goals than the other team in the 90 minutes. A lot of teams have raised their game when we come to town. Our goals for hasn't been great but to go without a defeat in 15 games is a remarkable achievement. I'd change very little tbh. Not sure quite where you are going with the Luton and Cambridge examples. Luton took 5 seasons and Cambridge had, what, 9 seasons?? totally agree re 'should win' talk. One of my bugbears in life. As as for 'raising their game', this is one the most fascinating issues of this season. Do teams REALLY raise their game or is it just that we aren't that good? There is no right or wrong answer. "Luton took 5 seasons and Cambridge had, what, 9 seasons??" Precisely. Not getting instantly promoted back to the league didn't kill these teams like everyone on here seems to think it will if we don't. Luton are actually doing very well. "Do teams REALLY raise their game or is it just that we aren't that good?" An established league team, near the top of the table, with more away fans than some of them will have ever encountered. Yes, I believe they must.
|
|