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Post by Big Dave on Nov 10, 2014 1:11:07 GMT
Why are we hijacking a football forum to put forward political/personal views, I'm 100% behind the rememberance day but not behind the PC theme of being seen to be taking part, another example is having to wear poppies on TV, if it's a personal choice fine but when all and sundrie have to be seen to be towing the line it wears thin! Guys no disrespect meant really but it jars me off, seems we're all programmed to be sheep now, tow the line your fine dare not too and your chastised. Ah, the beauty of 5,000 or 10,000 or 50,000 men women and children at an 'entertainment venue' falling silent to remember how 'we' earnt the right to live in a country where we can choose to observe it or not, wear a poppy or not... We have not had a home match to pay our respects at our ground which honours the sacrifice of so many sportsmen...I hope the club will be honouring it on Sat 15th vs Kidderminster. I don't care about TV celebs, or Celtic fans. I care about my club and fellow fans showing respect at this time, in this year, in this ground.
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 31, 2014 18:33:22 GMT
Hugo - you are spot on! TV has already ruined football at our level. Look at the league tables and the job of Sky TV is almost complete! The Premier League and Championship are full of "big" clubs. If they could squeeze City, Sheff Utd & PNE in to the Championship, they could shut the door on the rest of football! i) There will come a day when lower league football fans stop paying £60 per month to Sky/ Virgin/ BT and instead move those funds to their own football clubs!!! If not, will the last one out turn off the lights!ii) Don't mind a Friday night match, but when it affects someone who can't go with their lad, then it is wrong! That's what going to football should be all about. Sadly not anymore!i) Since it's not happened in the last 20 years I suspect it never will... ii) But it means I can go and (by the by) I pay full 'pay-on-the gate' price. Swings and roundabouts? For me (and I've worked in retail and the nightclub industry for 15+ years) any game not on a saturday afternoon is sooooo much easier. I can't take advantage of 'kids deals' (as I never want any). Why is it what football is all about?
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 21, 2014 14:29:45 GMT
The biggest group of supporters 'ignored by the club' (IMHO) are single males between 18-64 with no dependants and not *quite* enough commitment to get a season ticket. Add them as a category and I would probably support the idea.
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 16, 2014 16:10:54 GMT
Sorry if i've missed something here, but have we been found guilty of anything yet? I'd happily join the protest if there was any evidence this actually happened, but not seen anything to contradict what one of our stewards told me at Aldershot. Namely the stewards followed the protocol to the letter, and neither the steward or anyone else had heard anything racist. If it has to be guilt by association, should we apologise for the bombing of Dresden? My Uncle was a bomber boy in the second world war. The difference is we know the bombing happened. Regardless of whether we have been found guilty of anything, does that make it wrong that we stage a visible protest against racism? I hardly see how it equates to war (all is fair etc etc). If it was a war it was pretty one sided for hundreds of years. I think the incident probably happened, but has not yet been proved to have happened. And even when it is, it was an isolated incident in a crowd of 5000. I think the club is massively over-reacting and is doing to to try and calm down the FA on one front whilst massively annoying them on another one. I wish we had someone in PR who could advise when and how to make issues go away...
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 16, 2014 14:40:15 GMT
I honestly think if we can afford the legal fees to attack Wycombe again we can defend against something that cannot possibly be prevented. Just to compare a few things: Wycombe broke the financial rules and got away with it. Fair play to them if it had been us doing the same thing I'd be ecstatic. There are many fans who's clubs are overtly racist: Zenit St Petersburg, Steaua Bucharest, Debrecen, Maribor...comparatively the sanctions UEFA have taken against them are i) a drop in the ocean compared to the revenue they made from that particular match, ii) a drop in the ocean compared to the revenue they make from any matches affected by any sanctions, and therefore iii) would have much more impact if the governing bodies actually cared about racism. Our fans as a whole are massively non-racist and (as far as I know) reaffirmed this during this incident. I hope the FA body investigating this incident sees Rovers taking action, but like FIFA, UEFA and the FA themselves, I hope they see they are focussing too much on the small problems and far too little on the bigger issues...
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 16, 2014 11:54:45 GMT
How does holding up 5000 red cards say we're not a racist club? One (maybe two) people were racist for a short time at one match. We're going ultra-defensive to defend something we're not really guilty of, whist FIFA/UEFA/the FA repeatedly ignore much worse racial issues with a slap on the wrist (carefully missing the gold-plated watch which may or may not have been a gift) or pathetic fines to those clubs that seem guilty of much worse on so many occasions... I just assumed it was tongue-in-cheek, because most Rovers fans know we're not a 'racist club' and just wish we could move on from it. I don't see you're saying anything I'm not in this article. Yes, we know we're not a racist club, but our reputation was sullied. Even programmes like BBC South East (our Points West) did a big item on this incident last week. Bringing Rovers' particular protest, however 'ultra-defensive' it may seem, to the attention of more people (including the FA and PFA) can hardly do any harm. The alternative was not to do anything. Social Media, however much we love or hate it, has the power to get a message across these days so why not use it for the good of the club and in doing so try to shame people in much loftier positions than ourselves... I liken it to actual politics. If it's a positive news-cycle, you want it to run 24-7 for as long as possible. If it's negative, you want it to go away. Someone at the club has thought its a good idea to buy 5000 red pieces of card, but this only drags it out. In the sunday papers (even if we win) I will bet the first line of any report is the 'red card campaign'. Social media will only report the bad things, its the nature of social media - as a journalist, surely you've realised controversy on Facebook/Twitter gets 10x the attention of good news? I would happily bet the assistant ref is more likely to be hit by a scrunched up 'red card' if he gets an offside decision wrong on Saturday, against FIFA or the FA caring in the slightest what our fans do just before kickoff. And I would then bet we're more like to get in trouble when he's hit by said scrunched up red card...
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 16, 2014 11:35:44 GMT
How does holding up 5000 red cards say we're not a racist club? One (maybe two) people were racist for a short time at one match.
We're going ultra-defensive to defend something we're not really guilty of, whist FIFA/UEFA/the FA repeatedly ignore much worse racial issues with a slap on the wrist (carefully missing the gold-plated watch which may or may not have been a gift) or pathetic fines to those clubs that seem guilty of much worse on so many occasions...
I just assumed it was tongue-in-cheek, because most Rovers fans know we're not a 'racist club' and just wish we could move on from it.
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Post by Big Dave on Oct 16, 2014 11:25:57 GMT
I assume you're taking the Widdle out of (in order) FIFA, Twitter, the FA, our board, our club...
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Post by Big Dave on Sept 6, 2014 15:53:32 GMT
7 points from the last 9 before this match and definate improved performances is hardly 'awful'. Eight points from seven games with negative three goal difference is pretty awful...
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Post by Big Dave on Sept 6, 2014 15:11:56 GMT
This is rubbish, seemingly robbed by a rather vague refereeing decision. Have to get two goals in the second half now, to water the ref off if nothing else. Poor refereeing decisions don't matter if you're already 3-0 up. I'm upset it's not now 3-1 to us...
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 12, 2014 23:41:36 GMT
I'm of the same. I give a manager 10 points. 1 point deducted for a poor sub, 2 for a poor starting player for any given position, 3 points for a bad formation. 2 points for a good sub, 3 for a changed line up that does well and 5 points for a game changing sub/formation that salvages a point or more. Darrell was on 1 point before half time tonight. Then recovered maybe 3. 4/10. Trouble is the league table gives him/us 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. It's a results business and he/we have started this season exactly where we finished last season, not enough goals and not enough points...
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 12, 2014 23:30:28 GMT
OK, so two games in fans are already slating Clarke. We have started off with two tough games IMO and Clarke had to change a lot in the summer on a tight ass budget. Mildenhall being out at the last minute tonight couldn't have helped preperations and from the three games I have seen so far we have looked a lot better than last season. Let's give the guy a chance and see what he can do, hopefully the board can show him a bit more backing as well to bring more quality in. The next 2 games are very winnable and if we get less than 4 point from those 2 then I may start to be concerned. This seems a reasonable approach to me. Reasonable, perhaps...but to my mind he's already got several strikes against him. Said he'd have a squad in place before pre-season started. Fail. Used pre-season games to trial players who aren't now part of our plans, part-fail. Team not scored in 180 minutes of competitive football when our MASSIVE ISSUE last year was scoring. Fail Dropped nearly 10% of the total points Cambridge (2nd) dropped in the whole of last season in our first two games. Fail. He needs to knock one out of the park fairly soon (ie Saturday) or those tears will quickly become a sign of weakness and not strength...
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 8, 2014 22:41:23 GMT
I also think that this 3-5-2 formation is a massive risk. Footballs full of risks and nothing ventured nothing gained I know but it's not a formation you see very often in English football particularly in the lower divisions. It's one of the reasons that I feel we could lose all of our first few matches or win them all. Combine the formation with the new division and we're really going into the unknown tomorrow aren't we. I've got to be honest every time I think about it I think of the Mansfield game. It was suicide to play that way that game and I just hope that our new team are more adaptable to the formation than our team was that day or we could find ourselves in real trouble early on and without the neccissary players to switch to a more standard set up. The way I look at it is this: The Chairman/BoD have picked Darrell, and the players/fans have to back this decision Darrell has picked his players (and trained them) this summer, and the Bod/fans have to assume he's done a good job. The players have been signed, and they have to perform. As we all do at work...daily... 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 5-3-1-1, 3-2-2-2-1....who cares? Not us as fans....as long as the Chairman/BoD/Darrell/management team/players both do (and have done enough) to score more goals than our opposition in any given 90-minute period, I will be happy...so bring on the first 90 mnutes!
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 5, 2014 7:47:19 GMT
I have just spoke with the Vanarama directors and i can confirm the order of a new bus for Richertford's "GroundBreaking Thread" passengers. I've managed to get the Vanarette's to take part in a photo shoot when it is unveiled.
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 8:29:00 GMT
Assuming the the new striker who appears this week isn't quite ready for starting action, which I'd imagine would be the case and also assuming that we go 2 up top, what would be your strike partnership for the start of the season? Matty Taylor & Ryan Brunt
So on the plus side, this will allow Taylor to play off the last man. However we don't currently know how ready Brunt is for fixtures to come thick and fast as regular starter. Matty Taylor & Jamie White
Probably the strike partnership with the most goals about it, but will mean that Taylor plays further away as he is the better player in link up play and White strikes me as only a off the shoulder type striker. Also, White's fitness has been questioned. Ryan Brunt & Jamie White
Obviously the least likely strike partnership but probably the most prototypical partnership we have. Will probably be used at somepoint during the season. For me, I'd go for Taylor and Brunt. We saw against Cov how quickly Jamie White can make an impact should he need to come on. Eventually in the season I'd love to see Taylor and White become #1 strike partnership (obviously depending on the ability of the incoming striker) Taylor and Brunt to start with as I feel White needs to regain match fitness. I would replace Brunt with White in the 2nd half though. at 1-0, 0-0 or 0-1?
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 8:24:03 GMT
No reason to doubt it, but I will hopefully be swinging past the Mem in 30 mins to see for myself.
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 8:20:22 GMT
Why not play different strike partnerships depending on the opposition...something we didn't do at all last season, so this season hopefully we pick a formation and players to beat a particular opposition... Yeah you raise a good point, unfortunately I know bugger all about Grimsby's team bar Dis, so have not a lot of clue what their centre halves are like! neither do I...but hopefully the club do.
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 8:07:05 GMT
Why not play different strike partnerships depending on the opposition...something we didn't do at all last season, so this season hopefully we pick a formation and players to beat a particular opposition...
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 8:03:29 GMT
Thank you Dave, Email sent, if I get a response I will post it up. Me to, anyone else?
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Post by Big Dave on Aug 4, 2014 7:58:20 GMT
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