 | News
Comment | Dobra Nets First Colchester Goal
at 13:55:29
I was at the game and he played well. Conditions were awful and the game was fairly scrappy but when he got on the ball he was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch. He did switch off defensively at one point but fortunately Hammers missed the sitter. |
| Blog
Comment | Expectations of Paul Lambert's Ipswich
at 08:58:01
Thanks for (barring the last 2) the feedback above.
It will certainly be interesting to see how things develop under PL. As I ended the blog, fingers crossed. |
| News
Comment | I’m So Excited By the Way Things Are Shaping Up - Notes for Brentford
at 15:32:17
I like Brentford as a club, but their selection of fans who keep whining about the judge incident need to shut up and get over it. They hardly covered themselves in glory that day either. Hyam's "tackle" was a 50/50 with his eyes firmly on the ball and no intention to cause injury, which is more than could be said for the ridiculously late revenge tackles (most notably from McCormack) that were going in on Hyam afterwards, behaviour which has no place in football. Not a reflection on all Brentford fans whatsoever, the majority having seen the incident for what it was. |
| News
Comment | Webster Tipped for Premier League Future
at 13:47:50
bigautographs - Remember people saying the exact same things about Cresswell, he was effectively an everpresent and consistently very good for 3 years for us, and then got the club big money from his sale. I'll be more than happy if Webster does that for us, even happier if he helps us win promotion along the way |
| News
Comment | Thorne Accepts Douglas Apology
at 13:04:28
All the best to Thorne with his recovery, terrible injury to suffer.
It's a pity that the Derby fans can't be as grown up about the incident as Thorne is. |
| News
Comment | Milne: Stick With Us
at 13:53:39
"that figure is likely to drop, perhaps as far the 12,000s, where sales were prior a boost provided by last season's success."
So most of the fairweathers are having a sulk by the look of it. See ya. |
| News
Comment | It’s Nice to Be Out of the Bottom Three - Notes for Bristol City
at 12:32:53
Despite witnessing the recent dross at Brum and QPR, part of me still wishes I was at Ashton Gate tomorrow. Will undoubtedly be a tough game against a side who are improving and becoming a lot more solid defensively. But we have to believe we can beat the team's near the bottom of the league.
Nice to hear their praise for Pitman and particularly Skuse. Without doubt, Skuse' injury is a massive blow & a player we will miss hugely.
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| Blog
Comment | The 'Exciting and Unpredictable' Championship!
at 18:25:48
A much more levelled blog in response to the Portsmouth changes.
I find the criticism of MM for the FA Cup pretty petty, to put it bluntly. Fair play to the 600 or so fans that went to fratton park on a cold January Tuesday night (I was one of 300 who bothered to do it for a league game a few years ago), but the notion that these fans are owed something because we lost with a weakened team is frankly ridiculous. MM made it pretty clear pre match what sort of team would be fielded. Minimal sympathy is given in that respect, it undermines the fans who have travelled home & away through thick and thin for many years and accept it is part and parcel of the game.
With respect to the team that was fielded, no team goes out without a want to win. They paid and travelled to see a group of ITFC players try to win a cup tie, but fall short. Personnel may change, but the intention to go out and win a game remains, and our team on paper still had enough to more than match Pompey.
The thing that I find interesting is that, when we fielded a hugely changed side against Stevenage in the league cup in August, and won, very little criticism was levied at the manager. Football is a fickle game. I find it very difficult to suddenly feel the need to jump on an anti Mick bandwagon just because we (woe betide) lost a cup match with a weakened team.
Of course, we have fond memories of the FA Cup. The more senior & sentimental ITFC fans out there will of course naturally feel the magic of the competition far more than a younger fan born in the 80s like myself. The win in 78 was one of our club's finest moments.
We see football is changing all the while. We won the UEFA Cup in 1981 - nowadays the reformatted Europa League seems widely regarded by many clubs as something of a distraction from battling for champions league places and subsequently field weaker sides in that tournament to concentrate on the domestic leagues.
Football has changed, and has changed very quickly. It was little over 10 years ago that championship sides really did rise for the FA Cup... Because it provided significant income streams through prize money and gate receipts. The league is the bread and butter, since the prize for promotion to the premier league is almost revolutionary for any championship club (1 look at the figures being banded around of the premier league prize money after the new TV desk explains that).
Some of the league games under MM have provided us with outstanding drama and sensational moments - moments like Hunt at charlton, Anderson v Norwich, Chaplow v Watford, Sears at Fulham, Brentford away last season, Derby away in the survival year, Chambees v Doncaster, Berra's late winner at Derby and the recent late winners at home to QPR/ Leeds. They might not be history defining moments in the club's history, but we've been served (& continue to be served) with battling football and plenty of dramatic moments. This is the closest we've been to promotion in a long time.
I was at Birmingham yesterday and, disappointing as it was, I think the majority of town fans understand the decisions made on Tuesday. Pre McCarthy, the club has been managed/ assembled by our past managers with a very short term view and we should be assured to have a manager who concentrates on the bigger picture. |
| News
Comment | McCarthy: Harsh Red Card Changed Game
at 22:39:32
The red card doesn't mask that Birmingham played well and deserved to win, but we deserved a lot more than a 0-3 out of that, and the red had a huge bearing.
As Mick said, Buckley's foul on Knudsen was almost identical. I seem to remember Cotterill going in much harder on Toure at PR when we were on sky earlier in the year, and that was only a red.
The ref was an embarrassment today. His explanation for Douglas' dismissal doesn't add up with the incident this week. Basically played up to the home fan's protests all afternoon (you know you're in for a long afternoon when he's calling back for free kicks 5 seconds after a "foul" because the home fans put their parts on). An extremely weak performance. |
| Blog
Comment | Mick's Contempt for the FA Cup is an Insult to Fans
at 22:21:47
Imbalanced arguments all the way through this blog... As mentioned by a number of people in response, MM made it abundantly clear of where the FA cup sits in his list of priorities. Tuesday night's performance clearly shows a lack of depth in our squad and underlines the importance that our best players are not only rested but spared of the risk of unnecessary injuries. Is a place in the 4th round of the FA Cup worth pushing the fitness of key players? No.
Not only that, but the players who came in were not just playing to make up numbers. For Fringe players like Tabb, Oar, Varney & Malarczyk in particular, it was an opportunity to impress & give the manager something to think about. The reality that they failed to do so does not suddenly mean that we had no interest for the cup. Had we won with a fringe squad, I'm sure your mood would no doubt be mellowed, such is the fickle nature of football fans.
Talk of us not taking the cup seriously this season is absurd, the substitutions we made in the home tie showed our intent to win the game and get into the next round, as did the inclusion of Chambers and Skuse in the starting line up. That appears to have been conveniently overlooked.
Town have bigger fish to fry. Promotion is Mick's remit, promotion is sole focus. It's called ambition, and managing the squad in the best way possible to get there. The financial prize of promotion is far bigger than ever - like many other clubs in our position, progress in the cups is but a mere bonus to clubs challenging for promotion. It's hardly like MM is the only manager fielding weakened teams for the cups.
Lastly, to the few sad articles who thumbs downed my snickers comment, it was a joke. |
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