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Football Focus


S.A.C Martin
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The present situation is akin to Andy Murray getting knocked out of Wimbledon in the second round, only to turn up next day in the third round of the Ladies' Singles!

He wouldn't win that either.

 

Agree the Europa cup is a farce. You have to feel a bit sorry for the team that plays 200 matches before August to qualify and survives the league stage only to face a drop out from the CL. I wonder if money has anything to do with this arrangement.

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Off to the last match of 2011 at Charlton, with Xmas Pies and flasks of tea for my friends in the West Stand. I'll be picking up my parents soon, and then my sister, and we'll park up the old Volvo a few roads away as we've done for the last 20 years.

 

If we win today, CAFC will have 50 points and be top of League 1. Oldham are a good side and will give us a good game, so I'll settle for a draw and a merry christmas for both sides. :)

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Simon,

that was a good forecast,a draw it was then. I fear 4 home draws (despite no defeats) could have a bearing on CAFC going up automatically or through the play offs. However your away form has been very impressive and to be at Xmas with only one defeat in the league is the stuff Champions are made of. I seem to remember another London side being in that position last season and going up to the Premier League as Champions (Just).

Regards,Derek.

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Has to be said Derek, I'm not quite as happy as I was yesterday! Oldham Athletic are an appalling dirty side. So many elbows, poor tackles, and various other niggly things (the goalkeeper taking his sweet merry time to kick the ball at the 23rd minute was ridiculous).

 

We had our chances, only took one, and they scored a decent equaliser. Prior to the equaliser, Charlton played with ten men for fifteen minutes while Yann Kermogant was taken off, stitched up on the side of his head, returned to the field and then told to leave it to exchange his second shirt of the game due to the blood.

 

The opposing Oldham player suffered a similar injury but seemed to be dishing out the battering much more than he was receiving it - the number of time Kermogant went up for a header and got an elbow in the back was unreal. Missed every single time by the refereeing team.

 

Who, I might add, I normally stand up for as I've been on that side of the fence previously and I know the job isn't easy. Would I today? No. They were horrendous. They managed to get the easiest of decisions wrong ("is it a corner or a goalkick when an attacking player deliberately kicks the ball off the pitch with no other player anywhere near him?") and somehow managed to book only three players.

 

I think if you manage to make refereeing difficult by not watching the game enough, then of course both teams' fans are going to turn on you. That's part and parcel of it. I've been there, taken the abuse, known I've not performed well enough, but this was a whole new level of awful refereeing I wasn't aware existed, even in League 1...!

 

Overall, I know we're at the top and we're going to get matches like this, but Oldham didn't come to the Valley to play football, and I put that down to their manager - Paul Dickov. Somehow their style of football all makes sense when you realize he's on the touchline.

 

Truly dreadful pre-Christmas match! But glad to see the back of them. Onwards and upwards I hope - Huddersfield and Wednesday drew yesterday so we kept our five point lead!

Edited by S.A.C Martin
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You have to feel a bit sorry for the team that plays 200 matches before August to qualify and survives the league stage only to face a drop out from the CL. I wonder if money has anything to do with this arrangement.

 

We were discussing this very thing during the Fulham/Odenese game. How an earth are the smaller clubs going to become bigger clubs if any chance of progressing in the Europa league is thwarted by drop outs from the Champions league. It's all about perpetuating the established clubs and not upsetting the status quo.

 

Rob

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What the two of you have said is what's always been the case since wages were deregulated decades ago... The only thing that has changed is that the rich clubs (note, I didn't say "big") have suddenly come across a new problem, the "big" club which has always had the support but not the money now getting the money (currently Man City, though they aren't the first by a long shot), and they are desperately changing the rules so that they can prevent them getting into their little group at the top...

 

Rather pathetic, really...

Edited by Hobby
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  • 5 weeks later...

Had one of the hardest days of my football supporting days today. We were within minutes of going out of business when a life line was thrown and we battle on. Don't want to dwell on the money arguements but 50k in football is peanuts to some but nearly cost us our club. I would not wish the emotions we have gone through today on any fan of any club. We fight on until the end!!! http://www.thenorthe...en_club/?ref=mr

Edited by 43110andyb
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Andy, is there a link you can give us for those of us who want to throw a few bob the way of a football team down on its luck?

 

I remember at the age of five holding open a black bin liner whilst my dad put in weeds and rubbish while we cleared up the valley, after returning home in the early 90s. We (the club, I was a young un and only really remember the football!) had starved off administration, losing our ground, ground sharing, and various other problems.

 

It all comes good in the end when the fans rise as one.

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Andy, is there a link you can give us for those of us who want to throw a few bob the way of a football team down on its luck?

This is the web site of Darlo uncovered http://www.darlofc.co.uk/ thanks for the support, we really are up against it and have the next three games to raise money and find a deal to save the club. A very emotional day yesterday but lots of support coming from all over. We dont expect a pot of gold to appear as most of the financial problems are of our own making but the fans are again suffering. Again thanks for the support. ----Andy.

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No-one in Darlo has thought of getting in touch with Mario Balotelli, have they? Every week, it seems, he's reported as having committed some random act of kindness or generosity. Sorry, that should be every other week - on the ones in between, he's getting into the papers for completely different reasons...

 

Seriously, I hope that Darlington find some kind investor. After all, we're one talking about one week's wages for the average Premier League "star", so secure a club's entire season. Surely someone must be able to dip their hands in their pockets?

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No-one in Darlo has thought of getting in touch with Mario Balotelli, have they? Every week, it seems, he's reported as having committed some random act of kindness or generosity. Sorry, that should be every other week - on the ones in between, he's getting into the papers for completely different reasons...

 

He's quite, quite mad. I like him for that! Better than sourpuss Rooney by some way.

 

Seriously, I hope that Darlington find some kind investor. After all, we're one talking about one week's wages for the average Premier League "star", so secure a club's entire season. Surely someone must be able to dip their hands in their pockets?

 

I hope so too. I sent a few quid the way of their rescue fund. Not a Darlo fan but a Charlton fan who remembers the bad old days. Link above.

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No-one in Darlo has thought of getting in touch with Mario Balotelli, have they? Every week, it seems, he's reported as having committed some random act of kindness or generosity. Sorry, that should be every other week - on the ones in between, he's getting into the papers for completely different reasons...

 

 

.

Having stamped on Scott Parkers head and got away with it, it seems he was having one of his other weeks. And he was on the pitch to score the winning penalty :nono:

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Plenty of other players do it... If they do him then so be it, but I'd be wanting others done for their misdemeanors as well... :rolleyes:

 

I do wonder if we're going too far, especially as far as defenders are concerned... If i was a defender at the moment I'd be wondering whether to even bother trying to make a tackle... If the ref doesn't get you then the tv pundits and armchair fans will try...

Edited by Hobby
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.

Having stamped on Scott Parkers head and got away with it, it seems he was having one of his other weeks. And he was on the pitch to score the winning penalty :nono:

 

I can quite see why the ref. didn't give it. I thought he genuinely got himself in a tangle - he had nowhere else to put his foot without doing himself an injury

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I can quite see why the ref. didn't give it. I thought he genuinely got himself in a tangle - he had nowhere else to put his foot without doing himself an injury

Well he's been charged so I'm not alone in thinking it was out of order.

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As I see it, if you see one video replay and not the other, you get a different opinion of the situation. When I saw it real time, I thought (and the referee did the same) that he had literally got himself in a tangle. Seeing back the replays, I couldn't 100% condemn him either way. Only Balotelli can tell you what was going through his head and it'll be up to him if he appeals.

 

However I agree with the poster above - by all means charge him - but charge others for dangerous conduct as well.

 

A few years back Charlton Defender Grant Basey had his leg broken in the first thirty seconds of the away leg at Bristol Rovers by Dominic Blizzard - it was shown on video replays as quite clearly with intent to injure. Charlton appealed and complained, and got nothing.

 

There's no consistency in the FA or Referee's Association in enforcing the laws of the game, and that's half the problem.

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As I see it, if you see one video replay and not the other, you get a different opinion of the situation. When I saw it real time, I thought (and the referee did the same) that he had literally got himself in a tangle. Seeing back the replays, I couldn't 100% condemn him either way. Only Balotelli can tell you what was going through his head and it'll be up to him if he appeals.

 

That was my take on it as well... Trouble is he's got form... and he doesn't play for united so he's had it!

 

I still have severe doubts about all this retrospective judging by the press and fans... It's not just in football either, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you could get done... as witness by that scotrail guy...

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That was my take on it as well... Trouble is he's got form... and he doesn't play for united so he's had it!

 

I still have severe doubts about all this retrospective judging by the press and fans... It's not just in football either, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you could get done... as witness by that scotrail guy...

Sorry, don't agree, The technology is there, cameras at all angles. These guys are roll models to many youngsters who copy them on a Sunday morning. The game needs cleaning up, too much cheating, diving for penalties etc. If ANY player is caught on camera wrong doing then they should be punished accordingly.

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These guys are role models to many youngsters who copy them on a Sunday morning. The game needs cleaning up, too much cheating, diving for penalties etc. If ANY player is caught on camera wrong doing then they should be punished accordingly.

 

No one disagrees with those sentiments I would hope, but I can't believe that anyone would dare make a decision when it's clear that the film captured, in this instance, is not entirely conclusive as it was with, say, Rooney kicking a player in THAT particular international match. I've been watching the twitter feed go back and forth and it's interesting exactly how divisive this incident is.

 

If we do use video technology in a way that can allow decisions - correct ones - more consistently on the pitch to be made, and decisions made more quickly so it doesn't slow the game down, I'm all for it. But you've got to be certain you're making the right decision at the time, and if there's an element of doubt, you (as a referee) don't give it.

 

Lord knows, the referee for the Man City match would have had in his ear three assistant referees who could have seen the incident. That's not necessarily indicative of the correct decision being made, but what he might have had to base his decision making on at the time.

 

This is why the system does work in this particular case, because Balotelli is being retrospectively punished (subject to appeal).

Edited by S.A.C Martin
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Interesting comments from one or two journos (and now, it seems, dear old Mario's agent, naturally!) about refs and the FA favouring British players over the foreign contingent in the Premier League. Although I'm sure it's not intentional on the part of the authorities, I've thought about it, and I think they've got a point.

 

Rather than out-and-out bias, I think it's a case of "good old Frank/Glen/Stevie, he's not that kind of player, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt", whereas if it's Vincent/Luis/Gianfranco (at least wo of those are purely made up, by the way!), it's "we can't let these foreigners come in and ruin our lovely game".

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That was my take on it as well... Trouble is he's got form... and he doesn't play for united so he's had it!

 

I still have severe doubts about all this retrospective judging by the press and fans... It's not just in football either, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you could get done... as witness by that scotrail guy...

 

Spot the City fan! Lets just put this one to bed about Utd getting favourable treatment from the FA, it just doesn't happen.

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