GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Nov 6, 2015 22:40:15 GMT
"...there is a huge, grim question over where £10.25m has gone, which was lent to the club by Northampton borough council between September 2013 and August 2014..."
I wonder if any of that cash was used to bolster the playing side, helping the Cobblers to finish clear of the relegation places that year?
Hang on a minute...!
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Nov 4, 2015 14:24:15 GMT
Half volley rocket from 10 yards in front of the Blackthorn, in a league 1 game where we comfortably beat Charlton Athletic. Proper!!! If I remember rightly, Dominic Blizzard should have been sent off in this game after 10 seconds for a vile leg breaking tackle. All of this live on sky sports as well. Yes! That trusty left foot again! I disagree about the Blizzard tackle though. I've got the Sky coverage on DVD. In my opinion, both the Sky commentators and the Charlton manager (Phil Parkinson, now of Bradford) went further over the top in their reaction than Blizzard did with the tackle. It was a foul, and unfortunate that the Charlton player (Grant Basey) had to be substituted, but Blizzard kept his lunge along the ground. I've seen a lot worse. Charlton claimed it was a "vile leg breaking tackle", but the next day it was revealed that the player had sustained strained ankle ligaments. [Charlton] Physio Steve Allen told the club's official website: "It's not as bad as was feared at the time. Grant has soft tissue contusion [bruising] to the inside of his shin from the direct challenge, and subsequently this resulted in him rolling his ankle, causing ligament damage. Here are two quotes, taken from the Evening Standard: "Parkinson: The crowd were vociferous and I felt they refereed the match. Every time they shouted for a free-kick the whistle went." "Rovers were ... denied a blatant first-half penalty when Sam Sodje took out Chris Lines as the midfielder went to challenge for a high ball".
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Nov 4, 2015 8:48:30 GMT
Amongst the all-time best central defenders for Rovers. Probably the one with the most creative left foot. At the time, I reluctantly accepted the decision to let him go. He was suffering from a knee injury and I thought it was making him a little uncomfortable against some of the better sides in League 1 at the time. Hindsight (of Rovers' status after 2010 and his record in 5 years at Cheltenham: 174 appearances, including 9 goals) shows that it might have turned out differently. Off the top of my head, four memories: - Hooked shot to win the game at Mansfield in 2007. The three points helped us to the play-offs.
- Crucial intervention to block Shrewsbury shot at Wembley to maintain our lead in the 2007 play-off final
- Late long-range strike to equalise in 2008 at the Mem against Gillingham SE on Equaliser v Gills (audio)
- Teasing ball into the box which tempted the 1982 defender (under challenge from Dis) to set the ball up for one of the all-time greatest goals.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Nov 1, 2015 9:31:44 GMT
Nicholson subbed on & Lambert scores the winner against the filth within 10 seconds.... What a hero!! Certainly did his own little bit in that season! Hear, hear! Seems like yesterday, but some of today's teenagers might need a briefing on that game. Lambert's goalBristol Rovers 1-0 Bristol C€£yBristol Rovers win 1-0 on aggregate Rickie Lambert scored the only goal of the game as Bristol Rovers reached the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final with victory over their fiercest rivals. After a goalless first leg, Lambert's rocket of a volley after 65 minutes sent Rovers through to face Doncaster at the Millennium Stadium on 1 April. Steve Phillips made a fine early save to deny Bristol C€£y's Steve Brooker. Before Lambert struck, defender Steve Elliot kept Rovers in the game with a goal-line clearance from Jamie McCombe. Bristol Rovers: Phillips, Lescott, Hinton, Elliott, Carruthers, Igoe, Campbell, Disley, Haldane, Lambert (Sandell 87), Walker (Nicholson 64). Subs Not Used: Mike Green, Oji, Lines. Goals: Lambert 65. Bristol C€£y: Basso, Carey, McCombe, Fontaine, Orr, Noble, Keogh (Smith 69), Johnson, Showunmi (Skuse 76), Jevons (Andrews 62), Brooker. Subs Not Used: Thomas, Russell. Booked: Carey, Fontaine. Att: 11,530 Ref: A D'Urso (Essex).
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 30, 2015 21:41:09 GMT
Up to ninth place, same games as those around us.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 30, 2015 21:38:44 GMT
Well done Rovers!!
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 30, 2015 21:27:29 GMT
Goal! Cambridge United 1, Bristol Rovers 2. Matty Taylor (Bristol Rovers) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 30, 2015 21:09:55 GMT
Goal! Harrison!! And not Harrison Dunk!!!
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 30, 2015 20:03:26 GMT
Rovers Twitter:
14 - James Clarke gets something on a Harrison Dunk shot and puts it behind for a corner, 0-0.
I was thinking, good for Ellis, but what is a "dunk shot"?
Then I realised that the number 11 for Cambridge is called Harrison Dunk.
Doh!
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 29, 2015 19:19:44 GMT
On 7th March 1981, Rovers - nearing the end of their seven-season stint in Football League Division Two - were at Cambridge United.
Having travelled up from King’s Cross, I started the long walk to the ground from the Cambridge station in a light drizzle. By the time I reached the Abbey Stadium, the rain had become very heavy; the weather was as dismal as Rovers’ record in the League: just two home League wins, none away.
The Abbey Stadium hasn’t changed much over the last thirty years, apart from the south stand behind the goal, which was opened in 2002. When I went in 1981, it was open terracing, a bit like the Bristol end at Twerton Park. Nobody - even for a joke - was going to stand in the open in the driving rain, given the alternative which Cambridge offered: a small, covered, cosy standing area, just around the corner flag from the open terrace. The sight-lines weren’t great, and the weather made the view even worse, but the eighty or so Rovers supporters gathered in the dry enclosure and the game kicked off.
Through the first half, the rain eased and then stopped. That was the cue for a few of us to leave our cover and venture round the corner to stand behind the goal. Everything - sights, sounds, smells - seemed fresher and brighter; more alive, more optimistic, more immediate and closer.
It not only seemed closer, it was closer. I was used to watching games amongst thousands at Eastville, separated from the pitch by the greyhound track and the curve of the ground at the Muller Road end. In contrast, the goal posts at Cambridge were only a couple of arms’ lengths away.
And the game was being played just beyond the goal posts! Rovers were on the attack - in 1980-81! We knew it really was Rovers, because they wore blue and white quarters. (Bukta made the kit. You could see their tiny logo and the Rovers badge - shirt sponsorship had not yet been permitted).
The attack continued. Paul Randall turned and drove the ball along the ground, eighteen yards out from goal, so twenty yards from me. The line of the shot was straight towards me, and there was only clean, fresh air between the ball and the goal.
I heard the thump of the shot, the swish across the wet surface and then a rasp as the ball came to rest in the corner of the goal and a thousand raindrops flicked off the taut net.
We were unsure whether to cheer, applaud, or just stand there, stunned. Rovers had only scored eight goals away in seven months, so it was an eerily novel feeling. And the players were so close!
Randall stood with arm raised and fist clenched, as if gripping a steadying strap on the bus, with a big grin, looking at us and thinking…what? “I’ve scored!”? Or “We all know we’re going to be relegated, but that’s for you small group of fans”? Or “What are we all doing here”?
It was Rovers first and, as it turned out, only away win in the League that season. David Williams and Shaun Penny scored two more goals, Rovers won by three goals to one.
It was the first time I’d seen Rovers win away in the League after watching a dozen away games over six years.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 29, 2015 12:41:36 GMT
The Rovers Official Site has announced that the Cup tickets are now on sale.
"The First Round tie has been selected for Single Camera Coverage, which means, Darrell Clarke's men will entertain the Evo-Stik League Southern Premier side at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday 8th November (2:00pm kick off) following Monday's draw live on BBC 2. However, this DOES NOT mean that the game will be live on the BBC, but will be part of a highlights package".
The capital / bold text is from the original, emphasising that it's not a live game; in other words "if you want to see the match, you'll have to be in the ground". I sense Rovers have realised that any compensation from the BBC for the fragmented TV coverage might not cover the loss of revenue through the turnstiles.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 27, 2015 13:38:44 GMT
I have long experience of living and working in Germany, but that's one of the craziest things I've ever seen!
From a British perspective you'd have to think this was an April Fool's joke...if it was, Netzer's reaction - "basically, I think there should be more colour in the stadia, as a service to the spectators" - was delivered with dead-pan irony!
And good to see a young Angela Merkel allowed into the West especially for the occasion.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 25, 2015 10:23:34 GMT
Thanks AMPG. It took me over 4 hours to get to the game from Cheshire yesterday , so wasn't in the Radio Bristol area when it was on. I can be guilty of over-analysing how people speak on the radio, and looking for too much meaning in every choice of word, or in every hesitation. But I can't help noticing the word " potentially" in the phrase " potentially a court hearing". Combine that with "discussions ongoing with Sainsbury's" and the reference, with respect to the outcome, to "possible steps between a complete loss and a complete success"; does it suggest that they might be working towards a compromise settlement? I wasn't aware that there was a potential hearing, I thought it was a certainty and we were only waiting to know the date. Also, "going through a process of looking at people - not one particular group". It sounded to me as though he meant that nobody - other than 'chancers' - had so far come forward, and in the event that any credible group should come forward, he would advise the BOD on applying a process to evaluate them. As I say, I might be over-analysing, and CS himself said that he's not been deeply involved so far...and might have chosen other words if he had had the luxury - as I have - of writing, instead of speaking on the radio.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 22, 2015 9:09:08 GMT
Thanks for the report, Steve.
By the way, the number 33 is Stanley Opoku Aborah (born 23 June 1987 in Ghana, with Belgian nationality).
As a former young Ajax captain, he stepped into the senior Ajax squad in 2004–05 and made his debut on 16 October 2004, playing in the UEFA Champions League victory against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC three days later.
He spent three years at Den Bosch in Belgium, but since then has been at a number of clubs around Europe, including two months in England at Gillingham in 2010!!
Before his arrival at Notts County, he played just 46 games in 5 years, scoring eleven goals, for clubs in Belgium, Holland (Vitesse), Slovenia and Hungary (Ferencváros).
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 21, 2015 13:57:31 GMT
.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 21, 2015 13:53:49 GMT
The first home game since last weeks possible 'big' meeting with the consortium, anyone notice if any familiar faces were missing from box 1, or if any new faces were seen up there?? I know there are a few Gasheads on here with access to the hospitality areas on a matchday, anyone know anything? I'm not suggesting that we read anything into this observation, but I noticed the mayoral vehicle outside the West Stand turnstiles last night. (The Lord Mayor for 2015-16 is Councillor Clare Campion-Smith). And on Twitter: Bristol Lord Mayor @brislordmayor 4h4 hours ago Thoroughly enjoyed the game Bristol Rovers last night - many thanks for the invite
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 19, 2015 18:23:12 GMT
I do too, but have a feeling their fans (300 at most?) - will be as good as gold tomorrow... According to the match reports on their web-site, last season, for mid-week away games, Notts County took: - 170 to Sc'thorpe (JPT)
- 293 to Crewe
- 527 to Barnsley
- 170 to Accrington (FA Cup)
- 342 to Doncaster (JPT)
- 391 to Doncaster (League 1)
- 339 to Leyton Orient
- 159 to Colchester.
This season, in League 2 games, Notts County are averaging 5,349 at home. The highest crowd was the 10,074 in the opening home game against Mansfield, but since then they've had a couple of attendances under 4,000 (Accrington and Crawley), and only topped that by 30 fans in their game last Saturday, at home to Yeovil. Away from home this year, they've taken 331 to Oxford, in a midweek game in August, and 377 to Leyton Orient in their most recent League 2 away game.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 16, 2015 13:00:34 GMT
So glad you said that as I have believed it to be the case too. I will never blame Mansfield and I hold no ill will to them whatsoever. What really did it for me was them playing in our kit. That is bound to end up being a question in a sports quiz someday Been away for a few days so not had a chance to respond. I think I might have misrepresented myself, when I said go down, I purely meant get beaten on the day. Actually on the last day I could not make the match, I was away on a long weekend, planned when I anticipated a mid table finish. It rates as the second worst weekend of my life. The classic car I was in overheated twice, on the Friday it got taken away on a low loader from Cheshire. The upshot was I had to share with another mate, he has a significantly more cramped but exotic Cobra. Regretfully on the Saturday lunchtime that got side swiped and the wing crushed, whilst we were driving, he was not happy. To make matters worse, he is a BCFC season ticket holder and I had to sit in a bloody garden centre, near Mansfield, with him huddled round a mobile phone with 5 other friends listening to us get relegated.. I don't wish Mansfield any ill will, I am just reminded of that weekend every time I hear the word Mansfield, I am hoping to exorcise that ghost by beating them tomorrow. After that I will be quite happy to see them promoted with us. Here's another reason for drawing a line under history and focusing on tomorrow's game. Of the eighteen-man Mansfield squad at the Mem in May 2014, only three appeared in the Mansfield squad in 2015 in their last game (the 3:0 win over Newport County). Jamie McGuire is the only one who played both games in full. Jack Thomas was a non-playing sub in 2014, but started the game against Newport last week. He was replaced by Chris Clements, who had also stayed on the bench at the Mem in May 2014. In contrast, five of the Rovers squad against Mansfield in May 2014 were in the squad in our last League game, at Morecambe: Steve Mildenhall, Ollie Clarke, Tom Lockyer, Mark McChrystal and Tom Parkes. None of the Mansfield squad against Newport figured in the eighteen that faced Rovers at Field Mill in October 2013.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 16, 2015 7:35:45 GMT
64’ to 72’. Continued good covering; not turned, in any of four attempts. Better marking from a Mansfield corner, but Steve Mildenhall had to punch clear. Under pressure, John-Joe slipped and had to flick the ball back to Steve Mildenhall. Three successful passes. One set up a goal chance, but Eliot Richards and Andy Bond, in turn, failed to get a shot away, and Ryan Brunt’s effort was blocked. Bond’s substitution was greeted by some ironic cheers from a few travelling Gasheads. John Ward’s wagging finger of rebuke to those fans was justified, in my opinion; Bond had played a solid part in a hard-working if unspectacular performance to that point.
73’ to 81’. Two passes, both successful (although one was really a long clearance that found Ryan Brunt, upfield). Broke into the Mansfield box, but Alefe Santos’ cross was to the near post, allowing the ‘keeper to collect safely. Highlight: Excellent high speed passing by Rovers juddered to a halt. By this time, we knew we could expect nothing from the referee.
82’ to final whistle. Header. Shot blocked on the edge of the box. Pass. Tackle. Clearance, and general closing down. Highlight: Alefe Santos goal. Sky TV highlights described it “as a touch fortunate”, but the opposite was true of Rovers’ reward from the game as a whole.
|
|
GasMacc1
Les Bradd
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 1,423
|
Post by GasMacc1 on Oct 16, 2015 7:35:10 GMT
Second Half. Rovers attacking the North stand, housing the visiting Rovers fans.
Half-time to 54’. Four passes, all successful. Three headers, one from a Mansfield throw. O’Toole suppressed two Mansfield passing moves. He moved forward to join the attack after a Keary clearance was received by Clarkson, but had to sprint back from one box to the other as the passing broke down. Won one tackle, lost another. Other highlight: None noted, but it was gripping stuff!
55’ to 63’. Three passes, all successful. The referee again refused appeals for a foul, twenty yards from the Mansfield goal. Good covering to hinder another two Mansfield attacks. David Clarkson had to leap over a reckless challenge, but the referee waved play on. John-Joe had another quiet word. Eliot Richards replaced Oliver Norburn. Other highlight: Ollie Clarke shot narrowly wide from 20 yards.
|
|