Posted November 22nd, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
As expected, three of our youngsters have moved out on loan. The highest profile loanee (at least in terms of first-team experience) is young Emile Sinclair, who goes to Brentford for a month, with Alan Power going to Grays and Tom Sharpe moving to Bury.
Amazingly, some fans on the forum have been moaning about this, as they say that it will stunt the kids’ (OK, Emile’s) chances of getting in the first team. I think it is a great move, as once Junior Agogoes to the African Cup of Nations, we may need Emile ready and raring to go.
I am not going to say anything about England, everything I think has already been said elsewhere by other people with far more knowledge of football than I have… I was mightily impressed with Croatia, with that level of skill and team ethic, they may even win the whole thing next summer.
Posted in General
Posted November 21st, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
I’m writing this just before half time in the England Croatia match.
Everyone went on about how Sven Goran Ericsson squandered England’s “golden generation”. Bollocks. I have defended his record before (2.6 points per game compared to Alf Ramsey’s 2 per game) – but one thing he definitely did not do is squander those players.
Look at the historical record:
Fifties – crap
Sixties – win a tournament with home advantage
Seventies – failed to qualify
Eighties – failed to qualify
Nineties – failed to qualify
Ericsson – qualification is easy and we consistently reach the latter rounds
Post-Ericsson – failed to qualify?
In other words maybe he actually did quite well. He got the best out of the “golden generation”. And the “golden generation” weren’t actually good enough to win anything.
Posted in General
Posted November 19th, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
Courtesy of Woody on the 606 forums:
I was in Sainsbury’s the other day buying some Oxo cubes.
They had Chicken, Lamb, Beef, and Derby.
‘Whats the Derby for’? I asked the assistant.
‘Oh that’s our new range’ she replied, ‘It’s laughing stock’.
Posted in General
Posted November 17th, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
It may have escaped some people’s notice that the fans’ group MyFootballClub have agreed to take over at Ebbsfleet.
This is an interesting concept: on the one hand, it allows fans a vital say in how the club is run, it reconnects football with the grass roots, and it prevents the club from being run by “fat cat” directors, only seeking to line their own pocket.
On the other hand, there is the cynical view that power corrupts, and therefore many of the board’s motives may become less pure as time goes on, and also the very real problem that you cannot expect a committee to pick the team – as David Sullivan points out, the manager Liam Daish won’t be very happy at this, although he is naturally making all the right noises about it being “happy for fans to have an input” etc (he would say that, wouldn’t he?).
As a Red, I had alarming flashbacks of the hierarchy of our club, which was previously run by committee, then by the 209 greedy shareholders who sold our club down the river leading to the horrendous problems of the last 15 years (see Duncan Hamilton’s excellent book “Provided you don’t kiss me” for an insight).
An interesting experiment – I hope that it is a success (a la AFC Wimbledon, where the good feeling of fans has taken the club a long way), because the cost of failure in this case could see the end of Ebbsfleet.
Posted in General
Posted November 7th, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
Great result for Forest last night – I did harbour ambitions of trying to make the trek up for the match, but unfortunately work commitments got in the way. My Dad did go and said Southend were all right, but Forest were “great”.
The BBC Live Text commentary (hey, I was working, but I needed to know what was going on!) seemed a little confused by Leon Clarke’s red card. It suggested that he was booked for dissent, then dismissed for violent conduct thirty seconds later. My Dad’s version was that Clarke “thumped” Luke Chambers off the ball. Steve Tilson’s verdict was that “Luke Chambers has made a right meal out of nothing, and it’s disappointing to see him trying to get Leon sent off”.
Some people have said that Luke may have exaggerated, there are even rumours that Luke winked at the away fans after the incident. However, if you aim a blow using your head, arms or shoulders, then you are likely to walk, and I think the photographic evidence is fairly conclusive:
What say you now, Mr Tilson?
In other news, it has been confirmed that the Carlisle match, scheduled for the Sky cameras a week on Sunday, has been postponed due to the international call-ups of Messrs Agogo, Clingan and (encouragingly) Davies. Mr Murdoch will be pleased…
Posted in General
Posted November 5th, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
According to “Red_in_Ireland”, CC had words with a couple of the idiots who regularly boo the team on Saturday:
“When Commons came off and Cohen went to the left 2 numptys sitting beside me screamed at calderwood, CC told them rather loudly to F off, Then at the end of the game he shook Ronnie Moores hand then headed to the direction of the numptys and confronted them at the front of the stand. Had a full blown conversation with them, that for me is the courage of a tiger.”
I agree with Red_in_Ireland, it takes real guts to actually enter into a dialogue with the kind of meatheads who boo your every move. Further down the thread, he continues:
“I was 3 rows back but i managed to get nearer towards the end of the conversation and i heared (sic) the numpty say to colin “sorry Colin but i feel we needed 2 wide players especially on the left as there right back was rubbish(stockdale i think)” Colin replied “I knew that thats what i said at half time and where did the 2 goals come from?” he left it pretty much at that, and walked away too a standin ovation, And he was spot on the 2 goals came from crosses from the left wing from Jules.”
Good stuff Colin, you tell ‘em! The full thread can be viewed here.
Other news:
In the latest round of speculation, it seems as though those who live in Gotham, and those who think Clifton is a dump, might get their way by having the new stadium located elsewhere.
Posted in General
Posted November 5th, 2007
by Rahoul Baruah
Nothing to do with Forest, but I like Reading’s gesture of subsidising the travel of some of their hardcore fans to an away match.
The club won’t even miss £5,000, but as a gesture, it is a small step in the right direction.
Posted in General
