Wurzel

If the club had no ambition why didn't they settle for the mediocrity of Division 3 with large crowds (for that division) and low wages? Until this season it has been steady progress every year since then, and even then our "hiccup" included some European ties and a Wembley appearance. What club (by their own standards) doesn't have the odd "bad" season ? Chelsea and ManUre last season are perfect examples, it's not having one bad season that shows a lack of ambition, it's how you react to it. Next year would be the time to judge, not now. Having said that I've seen nothing to suggest the club - or fans - have no ambition, just that they and most fans have realistic ambitions and realise success doesn't happen overnight.

First bars of Jackie Wilson Said, youtube it if you can't place it. His name fitted perfectly. The chant one of the best, was on a par with "Phil Boyer, Phil Boyer, first division's top scorer" to the tune of Sham 69s "Hershan Boys, Hersham boys, laced up boots and corduroys". (again youtube may be required for our younger readers) All goes to emphasise how unoriginal the chant of today are.

First paragraph - if a team has kept possession for several minutes they've gone backwards and sideways several times, so the second one would be a totally different attacking phase whether defenders have touched ball or not. Second paragraph. Unfortunate for them, but then no more unfortunate than with the defending team winning the ball in mid-half and hitting the (previously) attacking team (who may now have several players going forward and out of position) on the break whereas if offside had been given (correctly or not) they'd have had chance to regroup defensively whilst the free kick was taken. Swings and roundabouts, things balance out, **** happens sometimes. Unless a lino has made a really glaring error a replay would only be needed for those marginal decisions anyway. As a fan I'd sooner see play continuing as uninterruped as possible without being broken up because an attackers knee may or may not have been 6 inches forward of a defender who may even be on the other side of the pitch from him. Do such margins "really" give the attacker any advantage?

You're really not getting this are you? To be fair I wasn't for a while till it suddenly clicked. When the flag went up in the ORIGINAL attack either that attacking team score or they don't score. If they score, ball is dead, review the decision. If they DON'T score then there's no need to review it at any point as the possession, and subsequent advantage has then already passed to the defending team and lino can simply put his flag down again. Anything after that is a totally different phase in play. In the majority of cases i.e. any flagged attack that DOESN'T end up as a goal it would actually speed up play as there would be no need to blow up for the offside at all.

Before any of theirs come on here and try and claim otherwise can we just confirm - It's not a derby

I'm noticing more and more with each game that Bertrand seems to be taking on the role of experienced, controlling head in the team, more so when we attacking than defending. He seems to get involved at some stage in almost every attacking move on our left, and is getting into some great forward positions (sometimes too far forward, hence the disallowed goal at Wembley), pulling defenders out wide as Redmond cuts inside.

^^This^^ Speaking as one who has probably no chance of getting a ticket (2 home games this season) I accept that others who have been more often than me deserve to get first dibs. If it extends to general sale, or someone who actually had a ticket they can't use offered me one I'll be there. But to blatantly and publicly ask for someone you don't even know to help you jump the queue is, IMO simply shltting on your fellow fans and depriving someone more deserving of a ticket. The club has set an order of priority for a reason. Surprised the mods are allowing such requests on here to be fair.

Who are "they" ?

Reassuring. That last sentence sounds like she has no intention of leaving us.

This. Redmond's clear chances alone would have been enough for us to have been resting players tonight to keep them fresh for the weekend.

He wasn't , he was wearing his playing boots, including the one he took off whilst on the pitch which would presumably indicate no immediate swelling.

I would think Payet must be useless/past is best/crock-of-****e for even considering, let alone joining, a team below his own in the league after wanting to join a "big club"

Speaking as one who didn't go to Milan and won't be going to Anfield, there's not an infinite amount of funds or time off work available to the average fan. Maybe those 8000 who went to Milan (which, unless they have the gift of hindsight they'd have booked not knowing we'd have a semi later in the season) have already used up their allocation of either or both for this season.

I tried , I really tried. I started at page 103, read 4 pages and didn't have the slightest clue what it's all about. Maybe FF is taking a degree in statistics and has been mentally revising when he should be concentrating on the game I think it's fair to accept that over 20+ games all keepers will have faced their fair share of soft shots, hard shots, deflections, direct shots etc for the results to show an acceptable trend. If you're insisting on so many factors to be taken into account the one I would be interested in is how many of those shots he has faced would be as a result of him not commanding his area well enough to claim crosses/loose balls before they even reached the "shooter".

I get what you're saying but if that many factors need to be taken into account there's no point in even collating the statistics. You may as well say Alan Shearer should be discounted as the Premier League all time top scorer because not every player has had the opportunity to shoot for goal from the same position as him against the same defence/keeper after being provided with a pass from the same team-mates as him the same number of times as him.

Exactly my point. So between all those clubs you can name 6 players that they have managed to sign/retain of the same calibre . (and I wouldn't be putting Morgan and Deeney in the VVD/Pelle class anyway). Yet we have managed to sign around a dozen on our own (and still have 8 of them). And you think I'm the brainwashed one?

Maybe that IS what makes us different. Maybe other clubs (outside top 6) tell a player they want a 3/4/5 year contract and they'll expect them to stick to it and players with ambition respond with a "Sod you then, I'll wait for a better team to make me an offer". Maybe by us making it clear when we bid for them that if they come to us on relatively moderate wages by EPL standards, if they improve enough so that we can make a decent profit on them by selling them on to a top club then they can go with our blessing they are more likely to join us. Can you really see the likes of Mane, Wanyama, VVD, Bertrand, Hoijberg, Forster, Tadic, Cedric, Romeu, Pelle, Lovren, even Redmond joining us if we had the attitude in the first paragraph? Is it any coincidence that we HAVE signed all those players? How many players of that calibre have Everton, WBA, Watford, Sunderland, West Ham, Swansea, Aston Villa, Hull, Bournemouth, Stoke, Burnley, Norwich, Boro, Palace, even Leicester signed in that same time scale? Most have managed the odd one but none have come close to signing the same quality in the sort of numbers we managed to. Maybe evry other club outside the top 6 HAS been blown out of the water by the way we operate. Maybe instead of bemoaning the fact that many of them go on to leave we should be thankful we got to see them play for us in the first place. Yes, it would be great to have had them all stay but then if we were going to insist on that we probably wouldn't have had them here in the first place.

That could be the case now thanks to FFP rules , nothing to do with transfer fees. Fonte is probably one of our biggest earners. It may be under the current rules we need to offload him and his wages before we can pay a similar or bigger amount to an incoming replacement. That may not have applied this time last year when Austin joined.

Depends how you define "better". I've been watching since late 60s. There have always been the odd stand out exceptions but talking in general ....Players are now more technically skillful. Definitely faster. Definitely physically stronger. But because all teams have progressed equally the effects of those improvements cancel each other out. Is the entertainment aspect of the game "better"? The excitement? The unpredictability? Definitely not.

You, Sir, have a way with words. Couldn't have but it better myself. 100% in agreement (except for the fantasy football bit, that's the only thing tat makes MotD bearable nowadays)

Didn't he get rid of Jimmy Case on his first day in charge? A sort of pre-emptive strike from which he (Branfoot) never recovered

I'm 9 years younger than you, it wasn't till 73/74 season that I was "trusted" to go to games without my Dad. Aftermatch ritual was to hang around the Milton Rd/Hill Lane crossroads to get a glimpse of and "excitement" going on, but still young enough at 11/12 years old to justify running like buggary if anything kicked off Like mrhafaji's Dad, I knew "Dougal was our leader" without having the foggiest who he - or any of the other recognisable names above - actually was (or even really existed such was his fabled reputation) I don't recall the white builders helmet but there was always a guy in the middle of the Milton, longish straight hair in a white warehousemans/ice cream mans coat. Was that him? Also remember - probably a few years later - a huge guy curly hair and facial birthmark(?), often wearing just dungarees, hanging around outside away fans exit in Archers Rd after games always seemingly on his own. Again no idea who we was but didn't look like the sort to be messed with.

You are linking to and quoting from a league table from 2 years ago not last year. Try this one for last year http://www.worldfootball.net/schedule/eng-premier-league-2015-2016-spieltag/16/ Same as this year, 5-6-5 , admittedly with more goals scored (and conceded) but were lying in 12th place

Easy solution - let them sit where they like but ban their team from scoring.

That wasn't cringeworthy. Round the wrist was the way to go.(also made swinging it around in the air to Que Sera easier) Cringeworthy was the "tucked into waistband at hip so scarf hangs vertically down side of leg" look.