The Football.....

[Dorset Boy]

Did Liverpool not get the memo about Spurs being sh!te and relegation fodder?

 

[PaulSB]

I'm trying not to get overexcited by the boy Max Dowman. Been trying to keep a lid on it for two years now, because he's just a kid and we shouldn't hype kids up, it's not good for them. But I think that's over now, he just made himself a national talking point. So what you need to know:

1. He's ridiculously talented, very very smooth dribbler, and like Messi (not comparison in quality, just style) it's based almost entirely on improvising from stitching simple cuts and balance shifts together, rather than doing tricks
2. Tall and strong at 16, dunno how much growth he has left. He's been playing way above his age for years
3. Totally grounded, you'll rarely hear him speak (it's actually not allowed to interview him at matches due to his age) but his head just seems to be screwed on right. Mature beyond his years
4. Comes from a family of Arsenal fans, so genuinely a fan growing up (err... quickly remind myself, he's still doing that). I think most of his family are volunteers at a local grassroots football club
5. Hale End product

Anyway, yesterday was an absolutely incredible moment, Gooners all over the world will be on a high until at least the midweek game tomorrow!

I've seen Dowman's goal. It's already creating a huge amount of exposure. I hope this doesn't have too much impact on him.

I take much, much more from your post than I do watching the goal. It describes exactly how we felt about one of ours. Adam Wharton, now at Crystal Palace, is a Rover. A local lad, he came through our academy and we're privileged to watch him in the "first" team. An absolutely tremendous footballer, supremely talented, very grounded and comes from a football family who are all Rovers.

I don't know if he has the footballing personality but he certainly has the talent to captain England. We're so very proud of him, we know he'll always be a Rover. He signed a new five year deal just weeks before the January transfer window when it was so obvious he was leaving. He did that for Rovers. I check how Palace are doing every weekend.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I've seen Dowman's goal. It's already creating a huge amount of exposure. I hope this doesn't have too much impact on him.

I take much, much more from your post than I do watching the goal. It describes exactly how we felt about one of ours. Adam Wharton, now at Crystal Palace, is a Rover. A local lad, he came through our academy and we're privileged to watch him in the "first" team. An absolutely tremendous footballer, supremely talented, very grounded and comes from a football family who are all Rovers.

I don't know if he has the footballing personality but he certainly has the talent to captain England. We're so very proud of him, we know he'll always be a Rover. He signed a new five year deal just weeks before the January transfer window when it was so obvious he was leaving. He did that for Rovers. I check how Palace are doing every weekend.

People have been talking publicly about Dowman (at least in Arsenal circles) for years now. Obviously a lot more attention now, but he's stepped through e.g. being the youngest player to score for England u21s and every time he's broken a record he's just continued to progress with a lot of maturity

Wharton's a great player, been very good for Palace, I think a few Arsenal fans have wanted him

 

[laurentian]

Probably no more than York playing at Old Trafford 1974/75

I've also been to Old Trafford. Despite my anticipation of going to one of the world's best known stadiums, it was, by far, the most underwhelming place I've ever watched football (. . . and I've been to Peterborough!)

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I've also been to Old Trafford. Despite my anticipation of going to one of the world's best known stadiums, it was, by far, the most underwhelming place I've ever watched football (. . . and I've been to Peterborough!)

Mine was St James's Park (the Newcastle one, not the Exeter one some Barca fan turned up at last week for their CL fixture, though that might well have qualified for most underwhelming...). As an away fan there you're tucked up in a corner of the upper tier, miles from the pitch, where you can barely see the tiny ants below and your contribution to the atmosphere is almost completely negated. The actual atmosphere there was absolutely rubbish for most of the match, Newcastle fans didn't sing anything much until the second half and even then it was fairly half-hearted.

The old Wembley was also pretty rubbish, though I only saw some Arsenal Champions League games there (we did that for a season but everybody hated it). Got to see Batistuta though. Batigol did next to nothing all match, barely got a touch on the ball, the famous Arsenal back four keeping him quiet. Then, in the 75th minute, with two touches he scored a goal that made The Guardian write a whole article about it 15 years later
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...briel-batistuta-for-fiorentina-v-arsenal-1999