eighteensixtyfive

You can prove anything with statistics

I had ten minutes spare at work (I was waiting for my computer to do its thing) so I looked at Bridport Red’s excellent site and compiled the following list:

In 1993-94, under Frank Clark: W 7 D 6 L 7 = 27 points
In 1997-98, under Harry Bassett: W 12 D 6 L 3 = 42 points
In 1999-00, under David Pratt: W 5 D 6 L 9 = 21 points
In 2005-06, under Gary Megson: W 8 D 3 L 8 = 27 points

These take into account league games, in the season following relegation, upto but not including the 1st December of the year in question.

What does it prove? I have no idea (and my maths is probably wrong as I’m at work and not thinking too hard about it) but it does show that things could be worse or better, depending upon if you are a half-empty or half-full type.

Me? I’m half-full at the moment – but that could change.

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Faithless

The reason that I didn’t go to Huddersfield on Saturday (apart from being skint and the fact it was bloody freezing), was because I went to see Faithless at Nottingham Arena. My review of it is now on the BBC Nottingham site, or by clicking here.

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Car hits Sign

The Nottingham Evening Post has the honour of two of my favourite things.

The first is the best headline ever – “Car Hits Sign” – with the first line of the article being “A car hit a sign yesterday …“.

The second is the best advert ever – “Evening Post Classifieds” – with Richard Briers and Penelope Wilton (from “Ever Decreasing Circles”. Richard Briers had acquired an elephant and Penelope Wilton had instructed him to get rid.
“But how?” asks the hapless Mr Briers.
“Use Evening Post Classifieds” replies Ms Wilton.
“What’s the number?” asks Briers.
“It’s easy – think of the legs of an elephant. Elephant, Double Elephant, Half an Elephant. Twice” says Wilton.
“What?” asks Briers, unsurprisingly.
“An elephant has 4 legs. So Elephant – 4, Double Elephant – 8, Half an Elephant – 2, Twice. 482 482″ comes the answer.

The fact that I have not lived in Nottingham for ten years and the advert must date from the late eighties and yet I still know the number for Evening Post Classifieds shows the power of this thirty seconds of air time on Trent FM.

However, Mr Megson has decided not to talk to the NEP anymore. If he has been misquoted as he says (and I did think that “I have no idea” was a strange thing for an under-fire manager to say) then I cannot blame him.

But it does bring to mind the last days of Joe Kinnear, where fans desperate for any information were left wanting.

PS: I’ve just checked and Evening Post Classifieds is still (9)482 482. The power of advertising.

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Huddersfield Town 2 – 1 Nottingham Forest

I was looking forwards to this one. We seem to be improving, gelling as a team and we’ve got Tyson – who I have not seen yet.

So I leave in good time (Huddersfield’s only about fifteen miles down the road for me) and hit some traffic coming off the M62. Forty minutes to go – no problem. I get into Huddersfield and recognise the crossroads – that’s the one, near one of my client’s offices. Turn left – bugger – wrong turn. It’s a “retail park” – absolutely fucking heaving. Twenty minutes to go and I use all that up just getting out of the car park. Then it’s a quick drive to the ground, scout round unable to find a parking space and rush up the hill to park miles away. Run full pelt back to the ground (luckily downhill) and make it in at fifteen minutes gone.

No time to buy a programme either – so a quick look at the team (I was sat behind the goal that we were defending):

Things were reasonably quiet for about five minutes (a couple of breaks by Tyson but not much else) until Town played a high ball into the “channels” – the way Eaden does for us utterly uselessly. And this time, Eaden was caught napping, their striker received the ball in space and left Gerrard with no option but to rush out. Their striker lobbed the ball over Gerrard, Morgan desperately tried to clear off the line but one nil it was. We (the fans) responded well but unfortunately the team didn’t. They got a free-kick and did things that were strangely unfamiliar to us. Short passes, little triangles. Our (eight) defenders were totally bamboozled by this display of “foot” and “ball” and Town scored an easy goal. Actually, that’s not fair on Huddersfield. It was an excellent goal and the fact that we forgot how to defend shouldn’t detract from them. Town ended up hitting a post and coming close a couple more times as Huddersfield showed us how to play football.

For all Megson’s reputation for defence at all costs (remember, we only started with eight defenders), he made a change. Lester came on for Wes, Tyson moved to the left wing and we switched to a 4-4-2. And it made an immediate difference. We started playing higher up the field and putting some pressure on Huddersfield’s defence. We didn’t really look like scoring, but Jack did his “I run like a chicken” act and ended up annoying a couple of the Town defenders. Or rather, incensed them. As it was at the far end of the field, I couldn’t really see what was going on, but, Jack being Jack, I reckoned his funny running style (all arms and legs and weird chicken neck) probably got on their nerves. A couple of times it almost broke out into a scrap and the ref gave Jack, Perch and at least two of their players a good talking to.

Towards the end of the first half came what would turn out to be the main incident of the match. The ball came over the Town defence, Jack chased after it and their keeper came rushing out. Again, it was the far side of the pitch and Jack had his back to me, in line with the keeper, so the view wasn’t the best. But I was expecting Jack to loft the ball over the keeper, like they did to us. Perspective must have got to me because instead the keeper got to the ball and Jack ran into him. Town’s mascot started making a kicking motion from the touchline and the ref shows Jack a yellow card. “A bit harsh” I think “for a collision”. Soon after came half time and I was not happy. We were awful (for the first ten minutes I saw us) and were then just poor. Curtis and Eaden in particular, had no answer to Town’s wingers, and Perch ended up getting booked for a late challenge. Plus, playing Tyson on the wing was a total waste as he didn’t see the ball after the switch to 4-4-2.

Cheerleaders (for fuck’s sake) at half time and I engaged in a (somewhat angry) text conversation with Rish (who couldn’t make it as he was out that night watching Faithless). We ran out (through the cheerleader’s routine) and eventually kicked off. I was still texting, looked up to see Jack with the ball on the edge of the D, with Town standing still. Jack lobs the ball over the keeper off his line and within twenty seconds. Cue chants of “we’re going to win 3-2″ and suddenly Town looked rattled. We had switched to 4-3-3 (Taylor at the head, Tyson and Jack either side of him – that ought to terrify League 1 defences) and started putting a lot of pressure on Town, without really troubling their keeper.

Another attacking substitution (Bastians on for Perch) increased the offensive potential of the 4-3-3 and Town resorted to dives and shoves to keep us under wraps. We still weren’t troubling their keeper much but you couldn’t doubt our commitment and passion (something the players have been accused of this season and last). Bastian’s first major contribution came when he broke into the Town box. He was forced to go wide but two Town defenders pulled him to the ground – a definite penalty in my eyes – but the ref waved play on. The defender clears the ball upfield and Breckin, the last man, ends up tugging their attacker to the ground. A straight red card and utterly deserved.

We carry on playing in the same vein – high tempo, mostly (but not always) on the floor – and Town exploited the gaps as we pushed forwards. No complaints from me – this is what I wanted to see – a committed Forest side giving everything to make up for their abject display in the first half. In fact I had little doubt that we could get three points – it felt like one of those “equaliser on 85 minutes, winner on 93″ type of games. Megson seemed to agree, replacing Curtis with Holt, giving us a very attack minded 3-3-3 formation. However, the ref had other ideas as Town quickly realised he would give anything against us – all the 50-50s went against us and Town capitalised by falling whenever we went near them. But then Jack was involved in the other major incident of the game. He broke into the box, was blatantly tripped by the defender and was immediately shown a second yellow for diving. We couldn’t believe it. “You don’t know what you’re doing” to the ref and “you’ve only got twelve men” to Huddersfield Town.

But still we piled forwards. A 3-2 win was still possible. At least an equaliser was bound to happen. Town took full advantage of the gaps we were leaving to keep Gerrard busy, but you could not fault us for belief and determination. And still they fell like flies and one of them (don’t know who) put in a fantastic act to try and get Gaz sent off. Right at the death we won a corner, Gerrard came storming upfield to get involved and as the move broke down, they attacked the open goal with only one defender in our half. Whoever our defender was, he looked terrified as three Town players bore down upon him. However, the player with the ball opted to pass it, immediately prompting an offside flag from the linesman. It made me laugh.

And then the final whistle. I was incensed. Two definite penalties, both resulting in red cards for our players. A total idiot of a ref. And our crappy away record continues. On the radio (Home FM) on the way home, they were saying about Jack’s challenge on the keeper – the more I heard about it the more I felt that he should have probably gone in the first half. Which calmed me down. They also stated that it was good to see Town play well in front of a big crowd – well we brought 3200 but there were still lots and lots of empty seats. I don’t get where the Town fans got their “we are arrogant” from – we were just incensed at a crappy ref and pissed off at the usual “scab” taunts.

As for the team. The second half was a great performance – we held our own with the one of the best in the division (as we should) and could have ended our away day troubles. The problem was the first half. Defending too deep with “rabbit in the headlights” style tackles simply isn’t good enough. Megson made all the right moves – I fully understand starting with last week’s team and he changed things to increase our attacking options at every opportunity. But we need to sort out this away form and Jack needs proper yelling at.

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A message to Huddersfield Town fans

We’re not normally dirty but jack went mental.
The first twenty or thirty minutes you pulled us apart until we changed formation and should have had three or four.
Jack was a disgrace.
The second half we had you, even with 9 men, but the ref bottled it and your lot started diving.
We know that we deserve to be where we are after our last joke of a season.
It was a penalty but jack deserved to have gone from what i’ve heard about the challenge on the keeper (i couldn’t see it but from the descriptions on the radio it was disgusting).
The bloke on the radio said it was a big crowd but there were lots of empty seats.
Jack was a disgrace.
It’s a nice stadium but the traffic through that retail park is a git.
I know that Jack was a twat and tempers were fraying but trying to get Gaz sent off was equally out of order – so don’t make out that we were the dirty team.
We know full well we’re not famous anymore.
The ref was a homer and bastians should have had a penalty – if that had been given then Brecks wouldn’t have been sent off.
Missing that open goal was funny.
Jack was a twat.

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It’s taken a while …

… but it’s the first Premiership sacking of the season. George Burley would be a fool. Mandaric sounds like an idiot.

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Changes

You may notice things look a bit different around here.

This has now become NFFC and I’ve set up a new blog at made of stone. This one will concentrate more on football, as well as some other rubbish, whereas made of stone will be more about computers.

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It’s just like watching Stern John

This is about 3 minutes of video but is pretty fucking amazing.

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Joke of the Day

A Billionaire asks his sons what they would like for Christmas.

The first son says “I would like a train set” – so his dad buys him Virgin and the London Underground.

The second son says “I would like some golf clubs” – so his dad buys him St Andrews and Gleneagles.

The third son says “I would like a cowboy outfit” – so his dad buys him Derby County!

Nice work by Nathan Tyson. From listening to it on the interweb, it sounds like he can make the difference. Also interesting to note that we are now playing exactly like West Brom used to – a back three with three defensive players in front, creating an impenetrable wall in front of goal. Let’s hope it works as well at Huddersfield next week. As it’s Yorkshire, I shall be there.

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David Tarka

An interview with David Tarka, ex of Nottingham Forest.

The interview was by Nottingham Forest Supporters Down Under and is lifted from the Lost that Lovin’ Feeling Forum (registration required).

1. What do you think were the reasons why you didn’t get an oppurtunity
to play in the first team?
Firstly alot of reasons why I didn’t get an oppurtunnity to play first
team. These were mainly because of a lack of faith from the coaching
staff after Paul Hart left. Also coaching staff didn’t understand my
desire to represent my national team and held it personally against me.
Therefore, when the oppurtunity was there they would play an English
lad. Injuries played a major factor in my confidence.

2. Why did you leave the club?
I left the club because I was extremely unhappy. I left Australia and
went to England entirely for progression in my football. I hit stalemate
and was learning nothing at all for a long time. No one wants to play
reserve football for 18 months under Ian McPharlin. Also my injury
treatment and rehabilitation was disgusting. Unfortunately if you’re not
playing regularly in the first team you dont get the same attention,
time and level of treatment. This all lead me to be extremely unhappy
and meant I was never going to progress as a player and was suffering
extremely as a person.

3. Forest were in a bad position last season on the field, what do you
think were the contributing factors?
When Paul Hart left, Forest lost focus on playing a particular style or
formation, and really relied alot on chance and luck to win games,
rather than having faith in a playing group and playing to your
strengths. If the club wanted to get rid of Paul Hart everyone needed to
go at the same time (coaching staff). They had the talent in the playing
group to avoid relagation, but not enough passion and drive to work with
the players. Kinnear allowed himself to be influenced by the remaining
coaching staff.

4. Do you think that the club is running well behind the scenes, or are
there problems running deep?
I didn’t have much to do with the club behind the scenes. As far as I
saw they all want the utmost for their supporters.

5. Who did you you see as the best player within the club?
Best talent at the club was Andy Reid.

6. What are the players like? What type of characters are they?
Alot of the players were fine blokes, but unfortunately there are alot
of big egos in English football. I guess it comes down to the money they
get paid. I don’t have time for anyone who thinks they are better than
someone else as a person because they earn more money. Alot of the
players had that mentality.

7. Megson or Kinnear?
I didn’t get a chance to do anything with Megson, although being around
Forest with Kinnear anyone would do a better job.

8. What did you think of Nottingham?
Nottingham as a town was gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed living in
Nottingham. And the support I received from the fans was humbling.

9. Did you consider any other English team before returing to Perth
Glory? (rumour of a possible move to Barnsley??)
I had oppurtunities to join other English teams but didn’t even consider
them. For me I had to get back to Australia, sort my injury out and get
a smile back on my face. I needed family and friends to revitalise my
undoubted passion for the game.

10. What are your hopes and plans now that you are back at Perth Glory?
Now back at Perth Glory I’ve had an operation on the troubled hamstring.
It was reattatched to the bone with two screws. I am weeks away from
joining in at training, and am extremely happy outside football
considering i haven’t played for 5 months. I hope to be a major
influence to the team achieving the championship in the inaugural season
of the A-League. The standard on and off the field has dramatically
improved in Australia, and very exciting times ahead for Australian
footballers. I know once I get back fit and playing, I will have a
buring desire to play with the world’s best where I belong in a world
class league.

Thankyou very much for your support and continued interest. It is a
driving inspiration in my battle to get fit. I am also very sorry I
didn’t get an oppurtuntiy to represent you in the first team at Forest.

Yours Sincerely,
David Tarka.

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