Football Season 2024/25

[mikehughescq]

Thanks but you kinda get used to it. Stress and tiredness do very bad things to my vision but you can’t entirely avoid either in life and definitely not in football and with public transport.

My journey today was complicated by my 12:06 to Chester being cancelled and the email to notify me of that arriving just as I’d sat down to a coffee at the station… That meant having to get 2 trams to get from Victoria to Piccadilly to try and get an 11:44 or 12:10. Made it in for 11:43 so assumed I couldn’t get to 14 for the 11:44 only to have thetrainline app faff me about and discover when I was on 12 at 11:48 that the 11:44 wasn’t now due to leave until 11:49. Could have made that had the trainline app functioned as intended. They have had some forceful feedback since then.

Journey back complicated by Avanti train to Wigan being just late enough to make sure there was no chance of getting from North Western to Wallgate to catch my connection. Ended up on a Stalybridge train and then begging a lift which amazingly saw me get home as planned by 10:30pm.

Fascinating reintroduction to L1. Hard to judge after 1 game but the ref let challenges go repeatedly which in L2 and NL would have been fouls and cards so there’s definitely more physicality. Not necessarily more athleticism surprisingly.

Wycombe were well organised but lacked a cutting edge up front. They’ve a striker injured but I’d guess that they’re at best a slightly above mid table team, which gives us a strong hint as to what it’s going to take to stay in this division. This was definitely not a repeat of MK Dons as our intro to L2 where we looked shell-shocked and not even match fit for 20 minutes. We were superb for the first 20 here and totally deserved to go 2-0 up. The 2nd goal is easily an early contender for goal of the season and should at least be one of the best goals of the day on the EFL highlights. We then gifted them 3 chances which they really ought to have taken. They should have led 2-3 at half time. We never really started the 2nd half but when they finally scored they started to press for an equaliser and got caught on the break.

We have lots of issues to fix - keeper can’t not dominate his 6 yard box; O’Connor remains far too slow at left back. Cannon and Dobson disappeared 2nd half - but as a reintroduction it was far better than last season; actually a very good game of football indeed and the Cae Ras was absolutely rocking. Highest league attendance since 1980 when we played some Newcastle team.

Now to find myself a hotel in Sheffield.

[MDS]

I thought Plymouth looked pretty poor at Sheff Wednesday this afternoon. I’m struggling to recall an occasion in which they posed a threat. Will Rooney survive to Xmas, I wonder?

As for the Owls, a 4 nil win didn’t flatter them. I thought Jamal Lowe had a good game. TBH I was a little disappointed that my club didn’t re-sign him but I guess Sheff W were prepared to pay higher wages.

[Canaryfan]

Beyond distraught at the Canaries capitulation to Oxford yesterday.

Please don’t say that it’s only the first day of the season. I know it is, but really saw nothing to offer a faint ray of sunshine.

But that’s not what I want to talk about here.

Spent yesterday afternoon at Truro City’s inaugural match at their brand new stadium against Dorking Wanderers in the Vanarama National League South.

The saga of their new stadium has dragged on for years & I won’t bore anyone here about it. Suffice to say that Truro have led a nomadic existence for several years &, last season, ended up playing their home games in Gloucester, a mere 400mile round trip from Truro!

Considering the league is just 2 below League 2 of The Football League, I witnessed something I have never seen before &, along with the 2,700 crowd, couldn’t believe my eyes & just couldn’t imagine how it could possibly have happened.

An hour before kick off both sides were out warming up. We joked that both teams had similar looking training kits. When they appeared prior to KO, sure enough they were both in virtually identical kits of red shirts, black shorts & red socks. Dorking’s shirts & socks were slightly orange, but not much.

Five minutes into the game it was impossible to tell who was who & the referee stopped play & there was a several minute conflab on the pitch between players & officials about what to do. Whether the players or the officials called a halt, I don’t know.

The outcome was Dorking leaving the pitch & returning a couple of minutes later in white tops. However, they clearly don’t have Manchester City’s millions behind them as this was not a spare strip, merely their shirts turned inside out which happened to have a white lining! Had they been red on the inside, like the home sides, heaven knows what would have happened. Shirts verses skins I suppose!

It may have been amusing to have the whole match with all 20 players in the same strip as, even for a few minutes, it was impossible to tell what was going on.

At any league level I would have assumed that, days before a game, the first thing you find out is what colours the two teams intend wearing. Whose fault is it? The home side, both sides or the match officials? It was doubly surprising that the match officials hadn’t noticed this problem prior to kick off.

Very much doubt I will ever see it again but, on another gloomy & wet afternoon in Cornwall, it made the encounter one most of us there won’t forget in a hurry.

[mikehughescq]

Both clubs have fascinating histories. Wrexham fans have a soft spot for Dorking though. Marc White is a character to say the least but a genuinely nice, funny and very astute guy. Anyone criticised by Chris Sutton is alright by me.

Put several hundred quid behind the bar for our fans when we played them away. Appeared on multiple Wrexham podcasts. Especially loved his stories of getting a touch line ban or a ground ban and then sneaking in using a disguise Interestingly they are the richer of the two clubs but will likely have had to make some big changes post relegation.

I’ve a zero tolerance policy re: John Askey. Truly a mercenary. Took Macc. out of non-league knowing damn well it would kill them and that he would be walking away. Made all sorts of bizarre claims at York but at the end of the day he thinks that contracts are things that other people sign and honour but not him. Apparently contracts don’t apply to him.

As regards the kit thing it has happened many times both famously (United and Southampton for example) and much less so. As someone who is red/green/yellow blue colour blind and a DSA committee member I rather sadly know these specific rules inside out. The onus is on the officials and they should have queried it the moment Dorking left the changing room. Askey has said that the officials called pause not the players or managers. White hasn’t been asked nor volunteered an explanation.

The interesting aspect is that in the rules the shirts are allowed to clash. It’s the socks and shorts which mustn’t. So to that extent Dorking did nothing wrong re: shirts. This is of course related to the offside rule and the ease of making a judgement. The home team are obligated to play in their home kit even if a change would solve the issue so the onus is all on the away team to travel with the correct kit. Given the division they are obligated to have a third kit so clearly something went badly wrong for them and the officials.

Frankly I find it ludicrous.

[Christopher_M]

Following Pompey’s draw up at Leeds, a treat for all students of journalistic cliché, from the Portsmouth Evening News

It seems that some sub-editors just cannot stop themselves!

[twofifty]

https://x.com/brownie89/status/1822900224722980903?s=46&t=S7DgTsbUAhZJY9iPWZx9Ew

Just for completeness this is what actually happened. In the 2nd half I stood on the Kop watching football as entertainment dying in front of me. Refs, if they act at all, wait until the 88th minute. Time wasting is the default tactic for probably 80% of teams visiting Elland Road.

[mikehughescq]

Refs work with the 4th official to determine how much time to add. Can’t really determine that until the end of each half. Early last season we got what we allegedly wanted and they added on realistic amounts. It resulted in fans missing public transport home; TV kicking off because it screwed up timings and managers kicking off because it allegedly put already overworked players at a;legend greater risk of injury.

I’ve never seen it as especially complex to solve.

For throw ins you insist that the player nearest where the ball went out takes the throw and you give them 15 seconds to do so. After that it goes to the opposition to throw.

For corners you allow maybe 25 seconds and if it doesn’t happen then it’s a goal kick.

Saves time and will open up games slightly too.

All that said it’s pretty standard for away teams to indulge in routine time wasting. Onus is on home teams to counter that with speed in all they do. Interestingly most home teams would rather indulge in whining at officials and then indulging their own version of the same thing when they play away.

[twofifty]

My point, refs watch teams steal game time until the 88th minute when they eventually book the goalie. The bookings should begin when the time wasting begins. As it happens the Ref on Saturday enjoyed stopping the game at every opportunity which made things even worse. And yes all teams indulge in a bit of time wasting but I have to watch it from early in the 1st half on a regular basis. That’s industrial scale theft which an early yellow card or two would stop. No rule changes required. Just a commitment to stamp it out.

[mikehughescq]

Saw it for years in National League and the one thing I can say for sure after 15 years is that cards have never stopped it.

[twofifty]

How many cards have you seen given out for time wasting after 10 minutes or so? How many reds?

[mikehughescq]

Top of my head zero reds. Yellows in the first 10?

We had one game where the ref famously handed out 7 in the first 15 minutes. 6 for time-wasting and 1 for dissent. It made zero difference. Those doing the time wasting stopped doing it with the ball around and started doing it off the ball when officials weren’t looking and as far away from the 4th official as possible. So, going down claiming elbows had been thrown when play was half a pitch away. Going down with cramp. Going down with fake head injuries. Accidentally drifting off the pitch to get a drink and kicking a second ball into play. Deliberately kicking the flags until they broke. Ripping the net behind the keepers back at a set piece and so on. By the end there had been 17 yellow cards but most for dissent from us as a reaction.

Saw the opposite with maybe 3 cards dished out very reluctantly late on but 27 minutes added on. Literally made no difference. Most of the 27 minutes was us struggling to get okay going whilst they carried on with tactics of the above variety.

There is no world in my experience where cards or time added solve it. They’re after the fact solutions. The only solution is target times and instant punishment i.e. limited time to deliver a set piece and ball to the opposition of you do not.

[twofifty]

So basically the ref lost control of the game, wasn’t up to the job. That’s also a problem, the standard of refereeing.

[MDS]

Hmmm. I was immensely pleased with the point, Chris. But I think that journo is getting carried away. I’d suggest that our keeper, Norris, should have saved Leeds 2nd and 3rd goals, both fairly weak shots close to him. While a big fan of Ogilvie, I thought his lack of pace was exposed several times. And while Towler had a good game by his standards, he was too often turned by the Leeds player by rushing in early. He needs to show more discipline for me.

[MDS]

Apparently Preston has just sacked their manager. Is that a record, after the first game of the season?

[mikehughescq]

You can’t lose control over events you can’t possibly control. A referee has no choice but to stop the game when there are 2 balls on the pitch; players down claiming head injury and so on. There is no magic way of enabling them to see both the active play and what’s going on 50 yards away and both teams, managers and fans would be rightly outraged were they to be distracted from events in open play to do that.

We famously saw the Eastleigh keeper get a very early booking for timewasting from his very first goal kick. The solution was that the responsibility passed to an outfield player with the keeper claiming he was managing a foot injury. The ref then books the 2nd player for the same thing and a 3rd and 4th player take over and also get booked. Ref then calls over the captain and wastes longer trying to persuade the captain that it’s not on. Captain gets booked for dissent. Manager then kicks off. A further yellow is issued to him and a member of his team and another 4 minutes were wasted. As play is about to restart in their goal area one of their players during the stoppage has drifted to our area and starts a conversation with our keeper. As the ref turns to face our manager, who also has plenty to say on the matter, their player in our area drops to the floor clutching his head when at least 10 yards away from our keeper. Howling crowd draw his attention to it. Ref has to jog half the length of the pitch to discuss with Assistant who saw nothing as well and into our goal area to assess the player. Physios are called on and after 5 minutes of treatment he forgets what his “injury” was and literally limps off the pitch. He’s in the penalty area but instead of exiting as required by the closest touch line he limps diagonally across the pitch to the halfway line. Comes back on right as rain within a minute and is roundly booed. Physios apparently described the injury and their treatment to the ref. who has since walked back to their area to restart play so he doesn’t see the limping or the wave to the crowd to wind them up.

As I say, cards are not the solution here. The law of unintended consequences is in play. You have to change the laws and time limit set pieces if you want to address the issue.

[Andyblain]

Good, common sense, ideas Mike. I would also ban substitutions in added time. But common sense never seems to prevail in football…

[BlueCanary]

He’ll be back at Plymouth mid September! They only appoint scousers.

Despite Preston’s good start last season fans hated him - chatted to a few in the pub after Town beat them at Portman Road last Autumn, not happy bunnies.

[Christopher_M]

Hi Mike, I’m sorry but I don’t know anything about your game apart from the venue and the result. I know a lot about local journalism though but can’t say more here, for fear of biting the hand that feeds me. How different it could be if we met over a couple of beers in, say, the Still & West!

Good luck with your season. Last Friday’s i paper had you finishing mid-table.

C.

[twofifty]

You’ve just described a ref who’s lost control. That never happens with, for instance, Pierluigi Collina & his assistants.

If not cards, which I believe would be effective, I think your solutions just add complexity, the simple answer is to stop the clock when the ball isn’t in play. Could trial dead ball kicks and corners for a start.

[TheKevster]

Back the very early 1990s I did some shifts on the subs’ desks at The Mirror and The Sun. My love of a groansome punning headline was not only tolerated, it was positively indulged! Happy days!