terriersmad - Comments

Comments
#242237 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
He does have a very mixed record to be fair! We do need a big lad, and on a short-term deal it makes sense. Worst case scenario, he isn't very good and we get rid in the summer. Best case scenario, he surpasses all expectations, secures a first-team place, bangs in 10 goals and fires us to a top-half finish. One is distinctly more likely than the other, but you never know.
#242210 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Our quest to get rid of all the deadwood continues. Matt Crooks and Jordan Sinnott have been released. I'm a bit disappointed to see Paul Dixon go back to Dundee United as he's a senior player and if anything happens to Jack Robinson we're snookered. That said, if we could keep Robinson on a permanent basis I'd be delighted, as he's turned into a great left-back for us. And as I type this we've sent Daniel Carr out on loan to Dagenham - I suspect that'll be it for him. He'll probably be a great little striker for League Two/Conference sides, but I doubt he'll make it in the Championship.

We've also signed Ishmael Miller on a 6-month deal from Blackpool. If it had been a longer deal I wouldn't be too happy, but he's not the worst short-term fix we could have got. He bagged a few last season, even if he hasn't set the world alight at Blackpool, and will offer something different to Vaughan and Wells. We'll see how he goes.
#241707 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
That's even if they're challenges. I've torn my achilles and torn my cruciate twice now and not once has another player been involved. Sometimes just turn or twist the wrong way and it's bad news. Some lad at the indoor centre the other week snapped his ankle in half after kicking the floor instead of the ball according to my brother.

I also have a habit of injuring myself without anyone else being involved. First time I dislocated my knee there was (I made a challenge on a lad who was pulling the trigger, and on his follow through he caught me bang on the knee - it was a mess, I don't mind saying), but the second time I did it I just went for a shot when stretching and came down awkwardly. Banged my kneecap on the way down as well, so it had flipped over. Still on the right side of the joint, just back to front - I went to one hospital, and they couldn't work out what I'd done. They needed an orthopaedic surgeon to come from a different hospital to diagnose and to put me under properly to correct it. The knee still isn't right, and I'm probably going to have to call it a day some time soon. Buggered tendons right up, that one.

Anyway, Tommy Smith is home from hospital and should be back in action sooner rather than later. I doubt he'll be playing down at Millwall on Saturday, because he'll have a heck of a case of concussion, but hopefully by the Bournemouth game.
#241610 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I do think their lad has to go through Smith, which is why I think it is a foul (contact with man before ball and all that). I don't think Smith does a lot wrong, gets his body in the way, just happens to be extremely unlucky. Thankfully, the news is good, he's sat up in hospital and talking, though he has been kept in for observation.

The worst injuries are innocuous challenges. For all we talk about leg-breaking challenges, it seems to be those where sheer bad luck gets involved which end up in the worst injuries. Rudy Gestede had to go off in a neck-brace at our place last season after an innocuous collision. In my own playing experience, I once took a shot on the turn and collided with a lad while I was falling - he ended up breaking his leg in two places. Grant Holt did his ACL pivoting, Anthony Pilkington broke his leg and dislocated his ankle when colliding with a player on the follow-through from a cross. We could both think of many we've seen which were just down to wrong place, wrong time or bad luck.
#241602 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Jeez that sounds rough. I think its a relief for all concerned his condition was documented as stable.

Judging by what terriersmad posted and the substitution details on the BBC match report, I think it happened in and amid the sequence that saw Leeds' winner scored, which came on 90 minutes.




You'll see a thousand worse challenges a season. Truly rotten luck. Just a player getting himself between a man busting a gut to get on the end of a ball, the ball, the goalkeeper, and the post. As I say, I think it's a foul, but you might disagree with me (I think it's a push in the back which makes him duck forward, but it's hardly a challenge that should end with those kind of consequences).
#241596 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
There are images on Twitter of an air ambulance having to land on the Huddersfield pitch to carry Terriers defender Tommy Smith to hospital after a serious head injury during their game with Leeds.

That's a bit shocking. Hope its not as serious as it sounds or looks.

Down my end. Made me feel physically sick. It was a foul, but not a dangerous or bad one, just a barge in the back from a player going for the ball but he collided with Joe Murphy and/or the post and spent at least ten minutes out cold. After that it was clear our lads just wanted to get off the pitch. Bad afternoon all round.

And having seen it again, it looks even worse. Looks like he gets caught between Murphy and the post from behind the goal, momentum of the collision with Sharp. Their lad had no blame, just running in onto the ball, wouldn't have had an inkling of what had happened until the kick-off was delayed.
#241303 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Useless stat of the night: that's the eighth opposition player sent off against Bournemouth this season - four more than against any other side in the Championship. By comparison, only one player has been sent off against Derby.
#239726 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I will admit I've not been paying close attention to Wigan this season, but I was really surprised at how they played, lumping it into the channels. I think they created one real chance all afternoon. At one point Carson actually kicked for touch, like in rugby, hoping that they'd win the second ball from the throw-in deep in our territory - they did, and put us under a couple of minutes of pressure.

It was a satisfying win, though, especially as their captain's notes in the programme had a heading, 'We should be beating teams like Huddersfield'. When you read what he'd said, he actually said something quite different, but their programme editor had obviously had a rush of blood to the head and now looks pretty silly. Nothing like bringing down cocky little so and sos.
#239666 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
He meant that. I'm certain he meant that. Possibly. Maybe.

Oh, who cares. We won a bloody awful game. Wigan look only slightly less doomed than Blackpool. A nice 13-point gap has opened up between us and them (17 to Blackpool).
#238373 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
When you sign James Vaughan you expect him to get injured. You don't expect him to get a facial injury that could keep him out anywhere between a week and about four months, though. That's twice he's got crocked inside twenty minutes against Middlesbrough this season (the first admittedly being entirely his own fault after mis-controlling a ball and flying into a 50-50 with the keeper, though he was desperately unlucky when getting a flying boot in the face on Saturday, especially as it was hard enough to do him real damage). Hogg went off as well. We're bloody cursed this season - our luck really has been out.

New striker needed for the rest of the campaign. Though given that the last one went back with an ACL injury...
#236397 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Big squad overhaul in progress. Ward and Hammill gone, with Paterson, Gerrard and Dixon all on the brink of leaving (for Orlando City and Preston, respectively). I'd say that quite a bit of the wage bill will suddenly be free to make a few signings, especially with Ward going for £375,000, which isn't bad for a squad player with 6 months left on his contract.
#235967 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I've never had a great deal of respect for MacAnthony anyway, but that's bad. To be fair to the bloke, he wears his heart on his sleeve and gives a damn, unlike certain others. But still, not really on to criticise individual players for errors and have a go at fans.

Great performance and result against Watford. We were always the better side - Watford looked like they wanted to be on the coach home from the kick-off - and should have gone in ahead at half-time. But when they levelled Nahki's opener you could just see it being one of those games where we played all the football but were punished for not killing the game. But Vaughan and Lynch scored great goals in the last 15 to secure a much-deserved 3 points.

It's probably a bit simple to blame the conditions for Watford not turning up, but they clearly didn't fancy it for one reason or another and we did. It was quite funny to see Gomes subbed after making a mess of one of two crosses and claiming to be injured. Apparently Brazilian internationals don't mix well with trips to Huddersfield in January!
#235002 Ched Evans
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
He was tried before a jury of his peers and found guilty. An application for appeal also found that the conviction was safe. Having read that judgement, I strongly suspect this latest appeal will not succeed. He MUST be treated as a guilty man unless and until a court rules his conviction to be unsafe, because that is what he is. Any club should bear that in mind before taking him on, especially given that he's shown no remorse or regret, and he and his supporters have conducted themselves in a thoroughly unpalatable manner.

Rehabilitation is, of course, a key consideration. Being given a second chance is a big part of that. But rehabilitation should start with him admitting he has done wrong and issuing an unreserved apology (with the current caveat obviously being that he's protesting his innocence, so it's hardly something he can do with an appeal pending). Until he does that and asks forgiveness, he can't be rehabilitated and should not be given a second chance. He certainly shouldn't be given a second chance in football at this stage, given how high-profile it is.

My personal feeling is that miscarriages of justice happen. But I don't think this is one of them. I think a very arrogant, very stupid young man made a very big mistake. With the caveat that all rapes are exceptionally serious offences, I think this is one of the 'less serious' rapes that will pass through the justice system, but it's one that's ruined a girl's life (perhaps less as a result of what happened to her that night than the later actions of Ched Evans' supporters, who have forced her to change identity and move house several times). Evans has never shown remorse, and deserves his status as a pariah.
#233815 FA Cup 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I went. Might as well have not bothered.

Join the club. Football has a habit of ruining otherwise palatable weekends.
#233769 FA Cup 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I hate teams like Reading. Teams like that need to realise there's a good way to defend for a draw and a bad way, that leaves those who pay to watch their constant cheating and moaning frustrated and angry. But, for the second year running, they've come to our place and conned their way into a win with their only shot whilst conducting themselves disgracefully, surrounding the referee, moaning and generally getting away with murder (which is why Jamie Mackie was allowed to stay on until he was subbed off for the eventual matchwinner, despite his multiple bookable fouls when on a booking) while ours get booked for what is actually fuck all (Hogg's second booking, trying to retrieve the ball off their lad who refused to give it to us - his arms go round him reaching for the ball, but bugger me, time to give up if that's a bookable offence).

Add in Town's poor overall performance, two stick-on penalties not being given in the later stages, their lad at the back being an almighty dick and the fact it was a 1-0 defeat to fucking Reading, and you can make it an all-round miserable afternoon. In another shit draw in what is fast becoming a frankly shit competition. We've got one decent home draw in the last 50-odd years, so I may as well stay at home when we draw Bournemouth next year.
#232254 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
It is a running "joke" here that we send all our shit players to Bury...

Regarding Evans.. I couldn't care less about what happened before he came to RUFC, since he joined us, we went from mid table League 2 to being in the Championship in the 2 and a half years he has been here.

I'd rather have a "crook" in charge and be in the Championship then being stuck in League 2 like we were for 5-6 years.

So you'd like to sign Ched Evans, a convicted and unrepentant rapist, because he'd keep you in the Championship? Sometimes principles matter far more than the standard of football being played.

Anyway, we won, and deservedly. Looked like a long afternoon when we made a mess of a) defending a bloody kick-off and b) the resultant free-kick to go a goal down inside 40 seconds. But we battled back and got the equaliser. Lennon's moaning about Heskey having one ruled out for offside, but he looked several yards off, didn't moan, and had pretty much stopped before the whistle had gone before sticking it past Alex (who had also stopped). He's also moaning about our winner, which he has more of a point about, but to be fair to Hogg, the ball was blasted at him from about two yards away when it hit his arm. We got the break and scored, which is a nice break of fortune, and no less than we deserved. I think Alex only had one real save to make (though it was a game-changer, as had Gudjohnsen scored it would have put them 2 up), whereas Lonergan was busy throughout. Butterfield's goal was a cracker, snap-shot on the half-volley from the edge of the area, and Nahki took his ever so well after a goal drought.
#232035 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
No one can doubt that he's a capable manager, and some (grudging) respect should be given to those abilities.

But he is a criminal, convicted on his own admission. He shouldn't be allowed to take part in football in any way after the Boston fiasco. Then there's his touchline behaviour. I have no problem with passion, but I do have a serious problem with bullies, and he's a bully. He's been removed from a ground with a game in progress by the police in the past because of his touchline behaviour, as well as having been sent to the stands however many times. He was probably lucky to avoid police involvement when he exposed himself to a female Bradford City official (for which he got the 6 match stadium ban the other year) after being directly involved in a mass punch-up.

Pretty much everyone here will agree with me when I say there's a difference between being a good man inside football and being a good man out of it, and one doesn't affect the other. Steve Evans is not a good man either in the game or out of it. He's a crook, a liar, and a bully. And he has no place in the game of football.
#231744 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
On the plus side, Vaughan's back. Actually back. And had a cracker - the ball went up, the ball stayed up, the defenders didn't know what to do with him.

On the minus side, Holt's now injured, Vaughan can't play 90 minutes yet, and we conceded two stupid late goals to sure-fire League One fodder who we'd outclassed for 88 minutes without killing off (albeit thanks to getting absolutely no luck - double deflection from only their second proper shot for the equaliser just sums it up). New striker and some backbone needed.

Also, Steve Evans is a vile cunt.
#231554 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Merry Christmas, all. Hope you've all had good days today. Our teams are liable to ruin everything tomorrow, so need to get what we can.

Stat of the day: Town haven't won away on a Saturday yet this season. Wins have been midweek matches at Reading and Wolves. Hopefully we can continue the decent 'not a Saturday' trend at Rotherham tomorrow.
#230075 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Birmingham City can fuck right off. Worst team I've seen two years running. They've beaten us both times. Last year we were shocking and frankly could have been beaten by a pub team (which Birmingham were on the day). Today both sides could at least defend. We were very poor, but they were even worse. At least we tried to play, even if it involved a lot of mis-hit passes and players taking the safe decision time after time. They had ONE shot in the whole game, and it was a Ronaldo-style free-kick which went in. Classic playing for a point but taking any chances while we huffed and puffed and promptly failed to blow their house down.

Ref needs shooting for not doing anything about their time-wasting. When you're a goal up away from home you waste time, of course. It's down to the ref to handle it by booking players and taking appropriate action. They made a double sub at one point - by which I mean one player walked off very slowly from the far side to be replaced, and once he'd gone off they announced a second sub, whereupon exactly the same happened. Ref just stood and watched rather than get his cards out or force them to re-start with ten, which is what I'd have done. Three minutes for those two subs, which took the piss. I think after they scored half their team had treatment, the keeper faffed about with goal-kicks, the lot. Didn't even have a word. Not the reason for the defeat (that was a soft free-kick which was inflicted by taking fucking stupid decisions in the back four), but very annoying when the other side are allowed to use the dark arts with impunity to waste the better part of half an hour.
#228662 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Meh, saw it coming, bad times. Thought more would have been involved than just us 3.

It will be. Bet Bolton haven't announced their accounts yet. Expect a fine the size of a small African country's national debt.

Got to be honest, I think only Forest really deserve any kind of embargo. Yourselves and Leeds are at least trying to cut cloth accordingly (although in your case after a bit of a splurge on players in the first season in the division). Unlike Forest. And even then the embargo is hardly an embargo, is it? Can still bring players in on free transfers for up to about £12k a week, albeit on a one in, one out basis. Daft, really - FFP hasn't got the teeth and doesn't have the common sense in its application.
#228334 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Had Nahki stuck that one away at 0-0 then we'd be talking about a different game. Had the ref not been so keen to send Wallace off it'd be the same. I can see why he thought it was a red, but it's another one where the ball's bouncing, not under control, and he's not really in - corner of the box, heading towards the dead ball line rather than in on goal. Harsh, for an honest attempt to play the ball, but that's how the ref has interpreted it.

I don't understand what constitutes a clear goalscoring opportunity these days. Wallace was sent off against Charlton when there were 2 covering defenders for a bouncing ball 40 yards out as well as yesterday (which was overturned - though we're in the ludicrous situation now where he's got a 2 match ban because it was his second red of the season, despite the fact the first was overturned), but watching MOTD last night Dummett of Newcastle hauled an Arsenal lad down eight yards out and about to shoot and wasn't sent off. I don't see how that isn't a red card but ours are under the same law of the game. It's a nonsense.
#226579 Champions League 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Fair enough. I stand corrected.
#226576 Champions League 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Did he get hit in the eye though? Only way that could be excused

Didn't look like it to me, tbh, but if he was touched I will happily retract my comment.
#226573 Champions League 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Red all day long. Contact doesn't matter, intent does. Looked back and shoved his hand back at another player's face. That the lad should also go for cheating is beside the point.
#226118 FA Cup 2014/15
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
One day we'll get a good home draw, with one of the really big guns paying us a visit.

But then I have no doubt that the next day the apocalypse will strike.
#225399 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Good performance, great result, utterly shocking ref. If waving away a stonewall penalty was bad enough in the first half after their right-back decided to turn his back on the game and wrestle Grant Holt to the floor wasn't bad enough, he also missed Alex Pritchard's blatant kick at Hogg - an act which would have seen the on-loan Tottenham off had the ref been paying attention. While Hogg was off getting treatment, they scored. He also missed a possible penalty for them in the dying seconds, but had he given that it would have incited a riot, quite frankly, after his previous decisions. No doubt the FL Show will do its usual London-centric thing and ignore our moments where we could have made it 3-0 and more and focus on their missed opportunities by saying they should have got something (which they could have done, but they ultimately lost because we scored and they didn't).

Ref did have the most entertaining moment of the game. After their central defender clattered Holt he pitched a proper five-year-old's hissy fit, complete with foot stamping. When he started berating the referee when he got called over, the ref did an impression of him then booked him. A rare moment of good reffing.
#224395 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
Needs banning, tbh. Think pretty much everyone in their right mind would agree.
#223095 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
I went away to Middlesbrough today and what a great point for us! They dominated the game but Eastwood in net as Steele couldn't play against his parent club but Eastwood was amazing making some great saves one a worldie off a header off a cross and he deserved the luck when he fumbled one in the first half. He was unlucky to be beaten by a deflected shot but they deserved to be ahead. We got a late corner last seconds and Brown and Duffy both went up and it looked like a clear foul on the keeper but Gestede smashed in the loose ball, all 11 players celebrated in front of out fans as we went mental! Mark Clattenberg who was reffing the game didn't have his best day.. Karanka was sent off for pushing the fourth official and one of their fans had a altercation with Gestede. Overall a great finish

Having seen it, there's no way that should be given as a foul on the keeper. It's a collision between two players going for the ball, nothing more. If the keeper is a defender no one bats an eye at that collision, but because it's the keeper he gets special privileges about no one being allowed to breathe in his vicinity. Karanka has no grounds to complain whatsoever.

Poor result for us today at Bolton. Disappointing in front of goal again. We seem to go through gluts where we score freely when have droughts. More worrying is that both Lynch and Scannell came off injured. Brentford (and their five-match winning streak) next up.
#220607 The Lower League Thread
terriersmad
19 years ago
5 years ago
744
The second "assault" on your keeper was a load of bollocks. May tried to pull up and stop, your keeper leaned in towards him, flipped him then got up and tried to blame him!

That was the third. First half made a poor one (probably entitled to go for it, to be fair, but the ref should still have booked him for a poor challenge), second half left a very deliberate foot in, and third one Murphy had had enough of getting sod all protection. May had ten minutes to slow down and didn't. Good, commanding goalkeeping, and he had every right to be unhappy with the player and the referee who hadn't given either free-kick at that point.

Also, I retract my statement about it being a nailed-on penalty. Ref got it absolutely spot on (though in real-time, I really thought it was a stick-on, and Lynch still got lucky):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3D1qDjIMAEWdmZ.jpg