Today, a dose of literature at The Hay Festival

17 minutes ago, Piethagoram said:

Today, a dose of literature at The Hay Festival

Well I suppose it's one way to spend some time watching a good comedy act on second thoughts maybe not.

What, no Egrets ? @super_ram

Flooding in Brazil and and also landslides kill 670 in Papua New Guinea

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckkkyxvdv5eo
 

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Man City are gonna get away with it. Politics shouldn't be a factor in football. 

Would it have been possible to achieve without the things they're being charged with? Maybe not but even with the charges they still have to go out there week in week out and perform. What Pep and this group of players have done is a great achievement. 

I don't think it is a great achievement what Man City have done.

The gulf is so great between them and the team that finished even in 7th place (31 points) never mind the other 14 PL clubs, that there is a massive chance that they will go on winning it just like Celtic in Scotland & Bayern Munich do in Germany all due to money.

Unless there are changes made to the FFP rules that equalise the PL somewhat, the gap between the big six & the rest will continue to grow and it will eventually destroy the game as we knew it.

And as far as best Managers go Guardiola is no where near the best.There are many more deserving above him, Nicholson, Shankly, Clough, Robson & Ferguson to name a few.

I'd put Jimmy Sirrel above him for what Jimmy achieved too, taking a club from the fourth Division to the first, & building a team from scratch, & rebuilding in every division to get from the bottom to the top, and all done on a shoestring budget.

So Manchester United beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final today..United qualify for the Europa League.

All of the big six are back in Europe. They have all got what they want once again.

Multiple millions of pounds will be earned by the big six next season, while the rest can only dream.

Congratulations to Aston Villa for joining them. Good for them.

A very short statement, if I had to guess the reason I'd say Pete Wild thinks more money is needed to progress the team and they either don't have the ability (or want) to increase their funds.

Barrow are overachieving in L2, if they've sacked him just because they missed out on the play-offs it's very short-sighted. They average about 3,700 fans which at a quick glance puts them 19th in the table. They don't exactly generate a massive amount of income compared to the other teams in this league, they probably need 3 home games to match the income from just 1 of our home games.

I think they'll do well to find someone as good as Pete Wild, he'll get another L2 job quite quickly. The managers Barrow had in-between him and Evatt shows what a good job he did.

Newcastle beat Spurs 5:4 on penalties after the match ended in a 1:1 draw at the MCG in Australia in front of over 78,400 fans.

The match would have earned both clubs millions in revenue just 3 days after the season had ended.

This match was also filled with controversy because the FA decided to abolish FA Cup replays recently on the behest of PL clubs because they were concerned about playing more matches and worried about players fitness and potential injuries 

Well this match shows them up for the hypocrites they are. There is also an injury scare for England too now with Trippier being substituted after 36 minutes.

It's just greed pure and simple, everyone who plays in the FA Cup should've been able to vote and not just the top division teams. Like you both mention above, you can't claim fitness and fatigue being the reason when you then go and play a pointless exhibition match just days after the season. Now I don't want any player to pick up a bad injury, but if it does happen, they've only got themselves to blame...

@menzinho Well said

I agree entirely with your sentiments.

It is greed pure and simple.

Full time.

Crawley 2 Crewe 0. Crawley are now League one. What a story.

Congrats to Crawley, I thought once they went 1-0 they managed the game very well. Their fans will be incredibly grateful for VAR though. If that pen had stood and been scored it would've been a massive controversy!

However whilst I’d be celebrating, I’d be a tad worried going into next season. They lost 18 times in L2 and only finished 9 points ahead of us! That doesn’t exactly feel like a team that's ready to step-up. The top 3 were quite comfortably ahead of the rest in the end and their massively superior GD tells a story too. Recruitment will have to be almost perfect for them over the summer, even with that I think if they stay up next season they’ll have done very well.

i am pleased that crawley were promoted, i thought they deserved it based on how they had performed over the course of the season and in the playoffs.

All season long League Two had no VAR but the play off final between Crewe and Crawley, it was in place. But had it not been for VAR Crawley might not have won with the penalty incident that the VAR overturned. 

VAR have come out and said that they won't intervene next season only for clear errors, I'm sure we've heard that before.

Surely time to scrap it. 

i dont see premier league teams voting in support of scrapping it, it can work but its been rushed into the game before those who use it can really handle the decisions which need to be made. it needs to be clearer and simplified.

On 08/05/2024 at 17:27, menzinho said:

I think VAR does have a place in football, I just don’t agree with the way it’s used currently. I thought it was going to be used for clear and obviously mistakes, but it seems they check everything and every goal, even when they don’t need too. When you’re having to look at things for 3/4 minutes it can’t be a clear or oblivious mistake… I don’t want to force them into making more mistakes by applying time constraints or just the one replay but if it’s an obvious mistake you should, in theory, spot it straight away.

Another grievance I have is the handball rule, deliberate handball we’re told, but so many times I’ve seen balls smashed at players who are about 5 yards away and it hits their arm that’s slightly away from their body and penalty is given. VAR never overrules it either. 

I agree in some parts of what you say..

I think VAR could be used as an appeals system where a Manager can appeal up to two decisions such as handballs in the penalty area, sending offs & offsides, but I would like VAR just to have that secondary role and the Referee & Assistant Referees making all the decisions  like they did pre VAR.

53 minutes ago, liampie said:

i dont see premier league teams voting in support of scrapping it, it can work but its been rushed into the game before those who use it can really handle the decisions which need to be made. it needs to be clearer and simplified.

Unfortunately, I think you are right.

All 92 Clubs should have an equal vote on VAR, not just the 20 PL Clubs.

I do hope that Notts will recruit midfield players who have tenacity, a great work rate, can run all day, don't mind defending and getting those tackles in when required.

And are good ballers too.

I've now put this out as a thread on Twitter

With O'Brien and Bostock off, there's space to recruit two really good options.

I noticed Charlie Lakin had a really good second half of the season at Sutton, seemed to score every week at one point!

Callum Maycock from Solihull is out of contract and has been offered a new contract – usually a good sign! He played pretty much every game and scored 8 goals too. Most Solihull fans seem to really rate him and is described as “tireless” and “energetic”, not sure how technically good he is though – he doesn’t stick out in memory when we played them.

Interestingly JJ McKiernan is the only player Morecambe have offered a contract to that hasn't turned it down, yet. His defensive stats are surprisingly good, and I know he considers himself more of an attacking midfielder.

Fourth days play scheduled to start at 11 am. Can Notts get their second win of the season.

The match is delicately poised with Hampshire requiring 85 runs & Notts 5 wickets, although it could be just four because a Hampshire batsman is injured. 

Notts failed to make a breakthrough this morning and Hampshire win by five wickets.

Hampshire finish on 171 for 5.

Notts take 3 points from the game.

Just me watching then. Congratulations to Oxford promoted to the Championship. It remained 0-2.

It was a great performance by Oxford, I fancied Bolton before it kicked off but they just never got going. Their performance reminded me of ours in the play-off final against Harrogate.

Watching Ruben play again was bittersweet! I know some thought he'd made a strange decision moving to Oxford but he got it spot on and is a Championship player now. It's been quite a dramatic rise for him these last few seasons. I was slightly hopeful if it hadn't worked out at Oxford we'd see him again for us but I think that ship has truly sailed now...  Be interesting to see how he gets on the Championship now, I think he'll be fine!

On 18/05/2024 at 18:18, Fan of Big Tone said:

Just me watching then. Congratulations to Oxford promoted to the Championship. It remained 0-2.

I watched part of the match. The second goal assist was typical Ruben 

I think Notts were very fortunate to have him playing for us for so long. He's surely going to go on to big things, & good luck to him 

So we come to the final day of Premier League season with all matches starting at 4pm.

The last relegation place is yet to be decided with Luton and Forest trying to survive for another season.

Forest are in the best position being out of the relegation places & 3 points ahead of Luton with a much superior goal difference, (12 goals), so Forest are in prime position to survive.

But we all know that football is a funny game and the least likely scenario sometimes does happen.

What we do know is Luton need to win and Forest need to lose, for Luton to have any chance at all of saving themselves. Then goal difference comes into play.

Could we see a massive shock of momentus proportions?

So Forest survive for another season.

Forest beat Burnley 2:1 & Luton lost to Fulham 2:4.

Forest survive by six points, would have been 10 if no point deductions.

Forest staying in the PL is good for Notts. Forest prices keep going up and up & Notts can cash in & get the floating supporter, who may become a commited Notts supporter.

14 hours ago, Robbie said:

Forest staying in the PL is good for Notts. Forest prices keep going up and up & Notts can cash in & get the floating supporter, who may become a commited Notts supporter.

I agree but Notts need to get back to playing their attractive football scoring lots of goals and most of all winning games, floating supporters of Forest aren’t going to come to Notts to watch us lose, they might end up at Mansfield, it’s imperative we keep our best players and have a good season.

I'm still around, kind of. I've just had a bout of German relegation battle panic to deal with (thankfully averted), plus an upcoming job change and other stress. There are one or two things I want to post though! 

Always really quiet this month on here until the summer signings start to come in, only Chesterfield appear to be moving in the market at the moment.

Yes, it's never quite the same when Notts aren't playing but I've got a few topics I think I'll post over the summer that'll entice a few replies (or drive them further away as I try to just about connect them to Notts!)

Yes I watched the interview on EMTV and he really sounded as if he wanted to stay so let’s hope he gets his wish and we get ours that’d be a real bonus.

I've just read that article, thanks for posting it @Robbie!

The bit about LW leaving really stands out though, he speaks about him like he was some sort of super-human and how he was "heartbroken"! I can only assume he wasn't the only player who felt that way given he says the mood of players was horrible. That clearly affected the form more than we realised.

And I know it's harsh, but I'm imagining if I was a player hearing the next gaffer is coming from Wealdstone I wouldn't initially be excited. Now I'm not saying a "big-name" was someone we should've gone for but I'd imagine it would've lifted the spirits quicker, whereas SM probably had to prove himself on the training pitch and needed time to bond with the players to get them back on track - which by the end of the season (FGR excluded) he did.

Very interesting though, just hoping we offer him a new contract over the summer or early at the start of next season like we did with Macca!

Part of Tyson's press conference after the fight.

Happy birthday @Chris Have a great day.

Happy birthday @Chris if your 40 years younger than @super_ram I reckon that makes you around 60. 

Have a great day mate don’t eat too much cake.  

I assume pushed because Tom Weal says he’s looking for his next adventure or words to that effect that doesn’t suggest he has something lined up.

Given most their work goes unseen I can’t really comment on how well they’ve done but they’ve been part of team that’s been on an upward trajectory over the past few seasons. The team was definitely fit enough to carry out LW rigorous pressing and I know Tom Weal got a lot of credit for the penalty shoot-out that eventually got us promoted. In terms of coaching staff, only Joao Alves remains from the promotion season so you can’t accuse Notts of being too sentimental now…

They’d have been on short(ish) contracts just like the players, I guess the club thinks a change would be beneficial. Always sad when people move on though and it's a lovely message that Tom has posted. I hope he and Ian Hutton find new clubs for next season.

Tom's a good coach, I am sure he will find something.

I don't want to speculate on if he decided to leave or if the club pushed him out of the door, we don't know if it was mutual or that the club has just decided to change the direction. I will say, I think we've been lucky to have him as our coach. Watching him train and warm up with the keepers before every game, you can appreciate his efforts and to boot he's a really nice person.

Good luck to him as he moves on with his career, I wish him all the best.

Lots of clubs have been very busy in the transfer market already. Looks like Notts are taking their time.

I think that Notts have given the players a few weeks off so we won't know much about longer contracts and possible transfers, until they all come back.

I want to see Jodi commit himself to a longer contract at Notts too.

Finally a team with a backbone. I doubt it will go through though according to reports pretty much all of the "big 6" clubs all are in favour of keeping it so no doubt they'll bow to that. Also factor in the owners of the clubs, they see the PL as a project rather than a football league so if they have their way, it will remain next season onwards. I really hope though that clubs listen to their fans and realise that VAR needs to be scrapped.

The only downside to scrapping VAR that I can see is that with the situation with Mike Dean not calling a decision to protect his mate could happen more often and be deemed as missed by the naked eye in real time thus meaning human error and it'll be accepted. 

Football is a game. Football is not a science,

A Football match has always been controlled by a Referee & assistant Referees using their own senses to make judgements.

Those judgements may not be 100% perfect but that is how the game has always been.

Even with VAR, the VAR officials rely on their own judgement. That's why VAR should be discontinued.

Football is just not the same with VAR.

If you scrap VAR fans (and managers) will still moan about the decisions the refs get wrong, I'd predict they'd be quite lenient for a few months but once the novelty of no VAR has worn off and big decisions go against them they'll want some sort of way of looking at these scenarios...

Every other sport manages to implement some sort of technology without it having a major impact on the flow of the game. I think it just needs to be used a lot more sparingly, some form of VAR-Light! Stop checking goals/fouls for 3 minutes, stop drawing lines for offsides - if you can't tell with the eye just go with the on field decision. Just add a bit of common sense into the whole thing really.

You could even have a system where managers/head coaches get a limited number of challenges like in tennis or cricket for example. VAR should be treated as a fall-back system, not something it seems refs are totally reliant on now. I'd totally understand why you'd scrap it in it's current form but I think getting rid of it creates another set of problems.