terriersmad - Comments

Somebody will go down with 54 points this season. Somebody could go up with 60-odd. In league table terms, they'll have been 22nd and somewhere in the top 6 - but do they really 'deserve' to be two divisions apart next time out? Rules are rules, and three go up and three go down, but it's an insane league. A record high points total will go down (Leicester went down with 52 in 2008, the highest ever), and a record low points total might go up, play-offs depending (lowest since 2004/5 being 70 points - Blackpool in 09/10). This is the tightest this division has been since the Championship rebranding, and whoever goes down will, in relative terms, be staggeringly unfortunate. Made even more so by the fact that, at this level, with 46 games in a season and with 3 points for a win, it has never been the case that two sides with 50+ points have been relegated in the same season. That will change this season.

We have to turn up tomorrow against Wolves. I don't care what the table says - the core of that team competed in the Premier League for three years and have some serious quality to turn on. Getting a result against them would be massive, and it's our toughest match of the season, despite league placings. They'll be battling for their lives, and we have to go out there and out-fight them. Clayton's definitely back, and Hunt might be back, which would be massive. Ward's still out, as is Southern (whom we've missed massively since his ridiculous sending off at Charlton in November, which in hindsight might have been the turning point of the season, and his subsequent injury). Gerrard's doubtful.

We don't deserve to go down. No one at present beyond Bristol City deserves it (though with 5 games to go there's time for that to change). On the other hand, no one beyond Cardiff deserves to go up. But 3 go up and 3 go down, and whatever will be will be.

And Leicester have gone and proved my point. What was the point in spending all that cash when they're only 14 points better off than the side one from bottom of the league?

So it's just like going to Portsmouth, then?

Defending a deserved lead, they get a corner, what do we go and do? Lose the header at the near post to the smallest bloke on the pitch and don't have someone on the back post to stop that header going in. I could have defended that corner better. What's the point in battling for everything and being made to work to score when we then go and concede stupid goals like that? Deserved the win on the overall performance, but dear God, you cannot defend like that.

Presumably where the keeper gets the ball under his control? Just Lonergan didn't get it under control and had to palm it wide, which had me wondering. Bloody good save, it has to be said. Zat Knight was a very lucky boy.

Seen the highlights from the Bolton game.

1. What was Clarke doing for their goal?
2. When was the last time anyone saw a backpass given? I ask as on the highlights Zat Knight deliberately passes it back to Lonergan, who has to palm it around the post. Has the law changed so merely handling a backpass is no longer a free kick, and in fact the ball has to be under control?
3. Can see why the ref didn't give a penalty, which doesn't change the fact we should have had a penalty. Scannell got caught but made too much of it. Ref gave a dive, though the contact is pretty clear for all to see, knee on knee.

Voluntary manslaughter (which is following a successful defence of what used to be diminished responsibility or provocation, and which has since changed, albeit not significantly), which carried a potential sentence of life. And involuntary manslaughter, most commonly where there was an illegal act - such as an assault - without the necessary mens rea to be murder, and which also carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. In one case murder is charged, and the successful defence essentially mitigates the charge to manslaughter. In the other, manslaughter is charged.

All true. Life may not automatically mean life, but it's more than serving the minimum tariff and getting released.

What will normally happen is that he'll do a load of work on thinking skills a little later in his sentence, and provided he progresses he'll probably end up in a Category D prison a few years post-tariff, following his second or third Parole Board review. Once in Cat D he'll be monitored to see how he copes in open conditions, and from there, following a few years, he may be released. And it has to be borne in mind that he's got to show himself as trustworthy in Category B to progress to Category C before he's even considered for open conditions.

Such is the public anger in this case, however, I'd be surprised to see him ever come out of prison. Firstly, he'll be 71 at the conclusion of his tariff - so if he's still considered dangerous, as he probably will be, he'll be looking at being 73+ before being eligible for release. There's every chance that he'll die in prison before then. Then there's the public outrage element of it - there's every chance that he's safer in prison than he is in the community, as people will be out for his blood. If he's not deemed to be safe in the community, then he won't get released.

Wasn't meant to be an argument. Was meant to just be a change from 'the ref', 'Deadman', 'dickhead', etc.

Would be nice to have a break. We haven't got a thing this season. But it's written in the stars that we'll go down. Absolutely proven by the Sheffield Wednesday fiasco earlier in the season - we should have faced 10 men for 70 minutes but the ref booked the same player twice and didn't send him off. That point will keep Sheffield Wednesday up at our expense. It's got them above us now. We're owed some luck. It has to start tomorrow night, but Bolton used up their bad luck in having two sent off on Saturday - so that bodes well.

Fine assist on Hull's goal (and only chance of the fucking game) from Darren Deadman, who had a complete shocker. We weren't going to score in a month of Sundays, but dear God what do we have to do to get a competent official that doesn't give them a goal start? Danns gets fouled, they break away and score. We weren't great but we were better than them and deserved much better than to get rodgered by yet another dick of a ref.

Not sure how Hull even had double figures on the pitch at the end, never mind all 11. Some of their 'tackling' was downright dangerous. No.23 should have walked for a professional foul that wasn't even given as a free kick, no.8 should have walked for just kicking Beckford after a throw-in, 31 should have gone for constant dissent after being booked, Bruce should have gone for being Alex Fucking Bruce... We lost our discipline in the end purely because we didn't get any protection or fair treatment from the Peterborough-based official.

11 Premier League titles, 2 SPL titles, a Bundesliga title, 6 FA Cups, 4 European Cups and a JPT final appearance where I got tonked 4-1 by Nottingham Forest. And I have a few days to spare, not starting my new job for 11 days, so more than enough time to do the Blackburn job.

Leeds up for sale again, like a house with woodworm in the rafters.

Form has been much better. Huffed and puffed and lacked cutting edge against Charlton last week (who stood firm despite our second-half domination - though we never looked like scoring), but back to winning ways at Bellend Road thanks to a late James Vaughan strike.

Looking at the table, last week really was a missed opportunity. Had we won, we'd have been on 50 points and within an ace of safety. As it is, anyone from Burnley down is in the dogfight. Leeds are the lowest side who can say they are safe, especially with the way scores are going so far today. Could do with Watford sticking one in to keep Barnsley to just a point.

Almost calmed down after the Forest debacle after some thoroughly good performances (and a gubbing at Brighton, but that was expected). Drew with Ipswich though we were the better side (Ipswich had no attacking venture - worst side I've seen this season), great gutsy win at Burnley, defeat at Brighton though we hung in for 75 minutes and didn't get the luck for 2-1 (cue crapitulation with 3 goals in 5 minutes), then a deserved win over Middlesbrough, first time we've come from behind to win all season. Middlesbrough were awful - one shot on goal (which they scored) and thoroughly second best against a Town side who were much more at the races.

Fuck off, Town. Just fuck off.

Twenty fucking years I've followed you up and down the fucking country. Thousands of pounds pissed up the wall in the forlorn hope we might do something one of these fucking years whilst crap like Stoke and Swansea saunter into the top flight and we consistently punch under our fucking weight, losing to fucking Yeovil and Kidderminster Harriers. We're not lucky. We don't get decisions. We've had twenty years of shite in that department. But you, the players, should take a fucking look at yourselves.

You're playing for Huddersfield Town. Not some shit like Peterborough. Yet shit like that consistently punches above its weight on gates of 5,000, while we wallow in our status as sleeping fucking giants. Man the fuck up. Play with some fucking pride and as a fucking team. Take setbacks on the fucking chin and use it to spur you on, not lie down like some fucking doormat and let a side all of 5 points better off in the table put six past you. But no, you can't fucking do that, can you? You'll all go elsewhere and do something, but don the blue and white and rather than realise you could be a great you decide to piss about and show no pride or passion.

One year we're going to piss a league. We've been saying it for 33 years, but it hasn't happened yet. In the mean time, fucking Stoke City are Premier League perennials and Wigan Athletic - FUCKING WIGAN ATHLETIC, who were non fucking league when we last won a division - manage to survive in the top flight year in, year out, have won all the fucking divisions bar the top one, and gained national acclaim for playing great football.

So fuck off, Town. I'm sick to the back teeth. Whenever there's something to be proud of you promptly kick every fan in the smiling teeth. You'll go down with a whimper and make us a fucking laughing stock. Half of you will fuck off to lesser fucking clubs like fucking Barnsley (Dean Gorre, your turncoat tendencies are not forgotten), and the other half of you will wallow in your own personal despair rather than man the fuck up and piss that fucking league like you should do.

It took us eleven fucking years of grim away days to get back to the second flight and you're going to piss it away.

Just fuck off.

(James Vaughan and Lee Novak are exempted from this rant).

Town's game with Hull is now on Sky, so it's gone from a police-arranged 12.30 kick-off to 5.20 - with the police stipulating that Hull can only bring 1,500 fans, all of those have to be season ticket holders, they all have to travel on the official coaches, and it can't be pay on the day in home areas.

West Yorkshire Police. Set of fucking muppets.

Town v Wigan on telly. The question has to be: why? Not exactly a glamour tie, is it? We've dropped prices to a tenner and we'll probably get a decent gate numbers-wise, but neither side is likely to play a first XI and the fact it's on TV will hit the gate for 2-3,000. Still, great chance to get into the quarter finals.

And does anyone outside Huddersfield and Wigan really care about watching the game?

Harsh calling Heskey crap. He wasn't great in later days, but for the best part of a decade he was a phenomenal striker. I remember his Leicester days when he was an absolute beast of a player. Sadly people only think of the last couple of years when he lost it.

Dire player who I love anyway: Nat Brown.

That he feels he has to retire from football because of coming out - or that he can only come out because he's retired - is a sad indictment of the homophobia still in football. Play Brighton and you'll see it every time - the fools coming out of the woodwork who think that saying and/or singing something crass and offensive is all right because it's in the name of 'banter', when all it does is puts pressure on people, stigmatises people, and shows the bigotry and idiocy of far too many people to a wide audience.

Best of luck to the lad for his future. Hope he finds happiness in whatever he does.

Just to say I bloody love Sean Scannell. Like Messi. With a better haircut.

Really, really good point. Probably should have been three after their keeper somehow got a free-kick after dropping the ball at a Town player's feet under little pressure, and they should have been down to 10 after a swinging elbow caught Vaughan full in the face early in the second half, but we were the better side, created better chances, and kept a very good forward line quiet. Sadly, the bastard teams playing the sides below us all took the afternoon off so the point appears to not matter a jot.

Megson was at the game, but not in a capacity linked to Huddersfield Town.

As for the new manager, I know who I want, but it's whether he'd come. Nigel Adkins' stock is high, and he'd probably be able to get a job in the Premier League if he hung on a bit. I wouldn't have minded Billy Davies (arse he may be, but he's a very capable manager), though there's every chance he'll be available in a week or two if we're patient. All kinds of whispers have gone around about Nicky Butt, Paolo Di Canio, Graeme Jones, and even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But who it'll be - I don't know.

And Alex Smithies has been named captain for tomorrow. Great to see a Town academy product as captain.

Bearing in mind most of those have only got injured in the past week since Grayson left, it's a pretty moot point. We'd had injury trouble, true, but that's still no excuse for going 12 games without a win with increasingly spineless performances. I know we lost 3-0 last week, but at least we didn't capitulate and got undone by a superior tactical performance.

Our injury list: Peter Clarke, Joel Lynch, Oscar Gobern, Oliver Norwood, Keith Southern, Danny Ward, James Vaughan, Jermaine Beckford, Lee Novak, Jimmy Spencer, and possibly Tom Clarke.

Up next: Cardiff City.

Oh heck.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/mile-jedinaks-horror-injury---1571795

So. This horror challenge which was clearly premeditated and intended to end the player's career was in fact...



A 50/50 aerial challenge where their lad gets to the ball second and comes up on the blind side of Alan Lee. I know Lee has (a lot of) previous for elbowing, but I don't think anyone in their right mind would say that was intentional. I can understand being angry at the time, but when you see the evidence you realise that it was an accident, and a pretty innocuous one at that.

Also, saying that we only had one player come in to see how their player was is a bit rich, bearing in mind half his team had attacked ours in the tunnel, and he'd been verbally abusive to members of our staff. Why would we go out of our way when we were only aware that we'd been attacked for no reason?

Bad luck. Clarke was caught in a collision between Smithies and Sammon at 0-0, and apparently didn't know where he was at half-time. I didn't see the cause of Novak's injury, but nothing untoward. Vaughan and another lad went up challenging for a ball in the last minute and Vaughan got flattened by an accidental elbow - one of those that has you wincing when they hit the deck back first.

Derby deserved the win - used our narrow midfield against us and got quality crosses into the box. In fairness, we just had one of those days in front of goal - hit the woodwork three times and two or three last-ditch challenges denied us a goal. 3-0 is harsh, but Derby were the better side. More worried about Peter Clarke, who was taken to hospital with a head injury, James Vaughan, who got knocked cold in the last minute, and Lee Novak, who's got a suspected fractured metatarsal. With Beckford already out for 6 weeks, we're a bit buggered up front.

Fair enough. There was talk earlier in the season of a switch so I thought he'd be playing for NI. Made all the more likely because we have NI international Oliver Norwood (who after going off form in October suddenly looks a player again after the last two performances).

And Bolasie, who's a tidy player in the same mould as Zaha. Were I a Premier League side I'd look at him more - in no small part because he's French and several orders of magnitude cheaper. That front three aside, the rest of the Palace line-up is very average.

And on last night's evidence, I'd rather have Sean Scannell. In his 20 minutes he had the Palace defence on the run - every time he gets the ball there's a buzz. If I were Northern Ireland manager I'd pick him now, because they don't have any other players who would give them that unpredictability and pace. On the other hand, Zaha spent the whole game losing the ball to Jack Hunt then fouling Hunt in an attempt to win it back. Hunt also carried far more of an attacking threat than Zaha, and he's a right-back (albeit probably the best outside the Premier League).