Dorset Boy
Senior Member
- Location
- North Dorset or a mountain
Saints are playing some very good rugby at the moment, no matter who takes to the pitch
The Football.....
- Thread starter Spartak
- Start date
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Saints are playing some very good rugby at the moment, no matter who takes to the pitch
Tashman
Well-Known Member
Seemed fine as a Reading fan
laurentian
Well-Known Member
Agreed.
I think they could be seen as the model Premiership club. Loads of depth with a great deal of that coming from their academy, huge support throughout the whole of the county and beyond . . . also a great day out (not that I go that often)
laurentian
Well-Known Member
I only know one Reading fan - given my text at 90 minutes when we last beat them, I was amazed not to receive a reciprocal one on Saturday!
We're one of the three League 1 fixtures on tonight - Barnsley away. Fearing the worst.
AndyRM
XOXO
- Location
- North Shields
Spent a very enjoyable evening watching The Bucks beat Spenny at the Brewery this evening in their rearranged league fixture. There's a mighty slope on the pitch which Telford used to their advantage in the second half to come away with a deserved 2 - 0 win.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I know there's at least one Pompey fan in here. This is an observation, not a dig. This week's Portsmouth v Ipswich fixture was postponed for the second time due to a waterlogged pitch, the previous time was for a frozen pitch. Both situations a modern pitch should cope with. I only know this because a moment's idle curiosity lead me to check the reason on the BBC app. Both clubs, Rovers and Pompey, are embroiled in the relegation battle.
Earlier this season Rovers had two games abandoned due to the pitch waterlogging during the match. The club was pilloried by the press. I'm far from aggrieved but wonder what it is that creates zero reaction in one instance and a huge, ill-informed, over reaction on the other? The press love a headline grabber.
Today's is Guardiola "can't understand" why Guehi isn't allowed to play for City in the Carabao final. It's the rules, Pep. Quite simply the rules. Pep wants it changed for City. Self-entitlement at its best.
Earlier this season Rovers had two games abandoned due to the pitch waterlogging during the match. The club was pilloried by the press. I'm far from aggrieved but wonder what it is that creates zero reaction in one instance and a huge, ill-informed, over reaction on the other? The press love a headline grabber.
Today's is Guardiola "can't understand" why Guehi isn't allowed to play for City in the Carabao final. It's the rules, Pep. Quite simply the rules. Pep wants it changed for City. Self-entitlement at its best.
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No Ta Doctor
Über Member
I think it's fair to say that Manchester "115" City have only a passing acquaintance with the very concept of rules
Red17
Guru
- Location
- South London
Swindon manager Ian Holliday rant at the FA
View: https://youtu.be/rvNEuRx9ecI?si=sOzbr_nBG4Zho_c-
Obviously a passionate man, but surely fielding 2 inelligable players is Swindons own fault
View: https://youtu.be/rvNEuRx9ecI?si=sOzbr_nBG4Zho_c-
Obviously a passionate man, but surely fielding 2 inelligable players is Swindons own fault
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Yeah, the investment in City was very inconvenient indeed to the oligopoly it broke.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Plenty of Ipswich fans have been moaning about it, suggesting points should be deducted…Fratton Park does not have undersoil heating, in part one explanation for why the original fixture had to be postponed (also safety considerations in and around the ground, etc..). As for Tuesday night, CEO Andrew Cullen was quoted as saying:
"We’ve had three (scheduled) matches in 10 days and the team has worked really, really hard. The average rainfall in January over the last five years is 90 mm. The rainfall this January has been 205 mm - nearly double-and-a-half of the rainfall we would normally expect.
‘The ground was totally saturated. We all live in Portsmouth, we know it’s a low-lying island by the sea with a water table which is really, really high. So rain gets here really, really quickly and there's nowhere for it to run off to.
‘All three of our home games since January 25 were potentially under threat. We had Southampton, West Brom and then Ipswich.
‘Over the last 10 days we had aerated the pitch, taking it to the depth of 4 inches so it could assist with faster draining, which also helps with root development. We brought in an Air2G2 machine which uses pressurised air which decompacts the soil and helps with drainage.
‘We brought that machine in after Southampton and have been using it constantly. Before the West Brom game, after it, over the weekend and on Monday.
‘We also brought in boundary blotters, which remove the surface water. We had those ready to go on Tuesday morning ahead of the game, but it was no use because we couldn't actually use them until the rain had stopped.
‘In addition, we brought in an additional two pitch lights to help with the pitch’s recovery. The team probably spent the best part of nearly 300 hours on the pitch in the last 10 days between them - but the weather has defeated us in the end.’"
Yesterday was the only dry day this week, and as I'm on leave I took advantage and go for a longish ride. Went to Littlehampton and back. Loads of standing water, two flooded roads (one with a contraflow as a lengthy stretch of the eastbound side was under, the other a case of easing through it), roadside paths and streams under or saturated…hard to see what more the club could have done.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
@StuAff your Tuesday night postponement was in very similar circumstances to our two abandoned games. The club made similar statements. I wasn't trying to have a pop simply wondering why Rovers appeared to be widely criticised yet little has been said about Portsmouth.
As for the fans calling for a points deduction? Idiots. Rain happens, no one can control it.
As for the fans calling for a points deduction? Idiots. Rain happens, no one can control it.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Yup. I have sympathy for those who were already on their way, had to take leave, etc, but…**** happens.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Well Leicester City are now in the relegation dog fight along with Oxford, WBA, Rovers, Pompey and Norwich. I think it will be two from those six.
Starting on Saturday we play three of those clubs in the next four weeks. We play all of the above before the end of the season. It's gonna be fun!
Starting on Saturday we play three of those clubs in the next four weeks. We play all of the above before the end of the season. It's gonna be fun!
funny how it "keeps happening" though isnt it...and for professional teams, its 2026, not 1926 with jumpers for goal posts, maybe instead of waiting for it to rain, or waiting for it to get cold, something that happens pretty much every winter, to send out your ground staff to fix things. why not invest in the pitch & proper draining for a change.
I dont have a particular duck in this race, but Ive been listening to colleagues all week who do, who took time off, whove spent alot of money travelling, overnight accomodation for these games, one guy has even flown in from Norway twice now apparently for it, and are getting fed up with how amateurish this is given how many millions slosh about in the game.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Actually, the current ownership have spent a lot of money on the ground, which had been neglected for decades despite the years in the PL (or because of them). But they can't do everything at once. Drainage was apparently one of the next items on the to do list even before this week. This has not been a regular occurance for PFC- these cancellations are the first since 2013. Aberdeen and Motherwell both had games called off this week.
