Ted Bates Statue

According to a comment on the Ipswich twitter page we only conceded one shot on target, which was the penalty.

Ditto 1-1

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/portsmouth/news/16115/great-pompey-myths-debunked--no-1-the-origin-of-scummers This article confirms that it was the other way round, Portsmouth dock workers had no union so they couldn't strike anyway. Hilariously, it's actually from a Pompey fan website.

Nope but there was a classic thread on here about him.

I have heard the story that locals back then would typically watch whichever side was playing at home but I wasn't aware that there was any semblance of a rivalry prior to the 1960s, got any more information about that?

Fraser Forster is about to get an England recall. I guess the FA couldn't wait a week and a half for April 1st...

I stumbled across a Rupert Lowe interview from a few weeks back that covered his thoughts on the Redknapp appointment, at which he commented that he should have stepped down at the time. Also suggested that the Hoddle leak might have been a result of phone hacking, although surely the culprit was a little closer to hand considering the board split, as much as his ilk wish to blame the mainstream media for all the ills of the world. I've set the link to start at a humourous anecdote that I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy. Apart from that, Rupert Lowe increasingly seems to resemble a Harry Enfield sketch character these days. Just to warn you, it is GB News and I'm not sure how Mark Dolan managed to get the job of interviewer: https://youtu.be/lmByaGgCC0Y?t=395

To a Ralphtologist.

They must be pretty happy with their recruitment having replaced Gerrard fairly seamlessly. Flying in Europe, not in the bottom 10 in the league, and could still win it yet. In retrospect maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Armstrong has become an integral cog in our side, Elyounoussi has come good as well, Vestergaard was useful until we managed to palm him off to Leicester for a tidy sum, Lemina - clearly talented but took a risk on his attitude, Hoedt - ok even I can't put a positive spin on that one.

I thought he looks mildly amused in that picture (and others). You have got me wondering if prostate exams are actually a lot more fun than everyone's been letting on.

I was worried what sort of bonkers political belief it could possibly be. Support for lowering the age of consent? Death to all white men? Clap for the NHS (but jog on if they want a pay increase)? End the NATO aggression and bullying of poor little Russia...? LGBT group supporting LGBT people in the utopia of Saudi Arabia, while playing against Newcastle? Now that is truly outrageous. (maybe not as outrageous as that weird shirt - but let's not go there, again...)

I think most of us were just waiting for a decent slice of schadenfreude at seeing Newcastle go down this season and the cherry-on-top hilarity of seeing Howe get sacked for the triumphant return of Benitez. Clearly none of that's happening as he seems to have got them into gear already, credit where it's due. (Hopefully we can still laugh at Everton...) As for their points total, I know you're not a fan of the annual table but I heard on the radio this morning that only Man City and Liverpool have had a better points total than Newcastle so far in 2022. I didn't see them as rivals for our 10th place trophy prior to this, but I would be a bit miffed if they manage to finish above us this season.

Not only that, they beat City in the Championship on their way to the semis, the year after they won it. So in their last three FA Cup meetings, they have won all three and done it from different divisions. That is some fucking record and I will clutch that straw into dust, oh and the fact that we are once again in very good form.

May I suggest that he takes a look at the bigger picture in some of our league games, as opposed to what will hopefully be three precious opportunities to duplicate our 1976 success.

Oh FFS I thought we had got past this sort of nonsense with Pochettino and Koeman.

I still don't understand how that we managed to reach the point that the club made an actual complaint over Lallana's hurt feelings. If Clattenburg had done something genuinely unprofessional in that incident it surely would have come to light.

Abramovich stepping away from Chelsea, I did not expect that to happen. Don't know too much about their finances but guessing there has been a fair bit of work in recent years to make them self-funding. No new stadium though...

I think so too. Via the FA Cup, of course 🙂

Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, if it is the same one.

Indeed. The flirting between the two of you is beyond tedious and devalues this forum, even in the afterglow of another good result.

Diving to gain a goal scoring opportunity has been a problem in this sport for decades and nothing of substance has been done about it. Think this little titbit will be filed under the 'mildly interesting' category in similar fashion to how it was received back in the autumn, and those outside our catchment area bubble will move on swiftly to other matters. As for The Athletic, whether you care for them or not, now that the NYT have acquired them (overshadowed by Wordle lol) I expect it won't be too long before they will start swinging the axe on the less popular sections of their site, which will no doubt include reporting on the likes of us.

If only we held onto Saphir Taider <3 a bit longer, maybe our profile would also have been boosted in a similar manner.

Thanks for checking. Think I made a typo myself for the H2H though as it should therefore also be increased by +1 to make it +23.

My calculation for the GD difference against last season is +2, on the basis of it being -9 last year, vs -7 today (which would result in +22 on the H2H). I would appreciate a sanity check though.

When I spotted that upcoming group of six fixtures a few weeks ago it consisted of the only sides below us in the table minus Newcastle, and we were 13th. It must have been years since we had such a kind run in the calendar so on one level, I'm really looking forward to them. On the other hand, we're watching Saints and we can't get complacent as supporters and start counting our chickens. It is coming to the time of year when the relegation-threatened teams finally start picking up results as they make a serious effort to claw out of trouble, so I'm personally expecting at least a couple of results similar to our Norwich debacle.