FOOTBALL TALKING POINTS

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The Suarez topic could run and run!

Sounds like the sensible option Blue - enjoy!   

Thanks Mary, haven't been to the Bahamas before so looking forward to it.

It seems as though Vincent Tan isn't quite as mad as we thought! I didn't see this one coming.   

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2730307/Malky-Mackay-Iain-Moody-investigated-FA-sexist-racist-homophobic-text-messages-time-Cardiff.html

Groan! With 1 point in 12 in the league it looks like we are doing our best to live up to the predictions that we are favourites for relegation. Still on the bright side we got the same score in the league cup as Man U!

Dipping a toe into the bubbling cauldron that is non-league football this weekend. Going to watch Rovers against the unbeaten league leaders - the mighty Halifax. Time to face reality!

Good luck Mary, enjoy the match. Darren Ferguson's Peterborough for us tomorrow, I'm anticipating an anxious 90 minutes in the stands...

Well I guess that a 3-1 defeat was pretty predictable.

Manager Joe Dunne pays the price and gets the sack this morning after one draw and four defeats in our first five league matches of the season. It's the usual old 'leaving by mutual consent' story, but the new man in the hot seat will have to be competent at performing miracles with little or no budget at his disposal.

Blue - I see that Alan Devonshire is the favourite to take over at Colchester. Co-incidentally, he is currently managing Braintree, who are our opponents on Saturday.

I witnessed a 2-1 win for Rovers. Encouraging to see some of the football played on the ground, although both teams resorted to hoof ball at times!

Maybe Mary, although the Braintree Chairman has said that there has been no approach from Colchester. Mark Venus is the name currently being spoke about the most this afternoon. Anyway press conference later at 5.30pm so perhaps the new man has been appointed already.

I saw that you had a nice little win on Saturday. And with 5500 there to witness it that was about 1500 more than we had for a derby against Peterborough!!

Tony Humes is the chosen one - any thoughts on that Blue?

An awful, awful decision by Robbie Cowling even by his recent standards. I cannot think of a more unimpressive or uninspiring choice than to promote your academy boss who has absolutely no managerial experience whatsoever. The reason must be purely financial, this will be the cheapest option by some margin and a decision made by a Chairman who quite clearly has fallen completely out of love with the idea of owning a football club.

I would be delighted to be proved wrong but I will be absolutely amazed if we are not playing league 2 football next season.

Still that's cheered me up...I've just seen that Arsenal have wasted 16 million quid on Danny Welbeck!

Looks like John-Joe is coming back to his Essex roots by signing on loan for Southend.

That's him crossed off my Christmas card list then...

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Looks like John-Joe is coming back to his Essex roots by signing on loan for Southend.

Rather unusual that Northampton allowed him to play against them, as he's only just gone on loan. They lost 2-0 so maybe JJ briefed Sarfend on the tactics they'd been working on before he departed.

Apparently that was part of the deal and it wouldn't have happened without him being able to play against Northampton.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Apparently that was part of the deal and it wouldn't have happened without him being able to play against Northampton.

Thanks GG, I didn't know that. I don't think he's featured much for Northampton, so I guess they were happy to offload him for a while.

Strange really how he went so off the boil at Northampton after having such a successful season personally at the Rovers last year.

Bet your fans are loving seeing City at the top of Division 1 Mary, especially with you in the Conference!

Mind you I shouldn't say too much. I think that's where we could be heading after four consecutive league defeats and a 6-0 thrashing at MK Dons on Saturday!

BBC News reporting a mugging in North Essex early this evening.  I hope you didn't leave early and that you're okay

Would you believe it. 0-0 with 2 minutes to go and we concede a penalty. We win 1-0. Amazing, don't you just love football sometimes

That's not much of a draw for you Blue; must be one of the longest trips of the third round.

This is the second time that I know Arsenal have been drawn against their Cup Final opponents. Last time we got revenge against Liverpool, I think it was the one where Carragher had his meltdown, hopefully Hull won't do the same.

Shame that The Gooners get another Prem team in the third round - but Hull at home shouldn't be too much of a problem ... could be Stoke away

We beat mostly premiership teams last time around so why not do it again this time? They gave us a bloody good scare last time at home so hopefully we learn the lesson, again...

You're right Grumps, don't think I will be making the trek to Wales for that one.

What a coincidence that last years finalists were the first two balls drawn this year. And that after being drawn together in the rehearsal as well! Which one of the statisticians amongst us is going to tell me the odds of that happening?

Any of you Arsenal fans seen the youtube video of Arsene Wenger being booed and abused by Arsenal fans at the station as he and the team were boarding the train back to London after the Stoke game? What do you make of that?

I haven't seen it but I read about it .. seems pretty disgraceful to me!

Same here, I've only seen Lineker's comments about it on the BBC website.  I agree with Davie.  

I get that people are entitled to their opinion but there are other ways of making it heard.  Whilst watching recent games I've seen the banners calling for Wenger out and I don't think that is fair.  That said I don't think he should be entirely free of criticism either; it has been obvious for some time that we needed strengthening at the back and for defensive midfield cover and that hasn't happened.  

I think a lot of the criticism has come since we moved to the Emirates.  That opened up seats for another 20,000 "fans" who were perhaps used to the recent successes that others are now enjoying.  Even at Highbury there were pockets of disgruntled fans who would get on players' backs for not much and I also think based on the attractive football we used to play, there was an element of sitting back and waiting for the team to entertain us.

There are more questions that need to be answered about replacing Wenger.  Who out there is better and, crucially, available?  You only have to look at Man Utd's transition from Ferguson to Moyes and now van Gaal to see the pitfalls.  I think that to make it as pain free as possible it needs to be a promotion from within, similar to the boot room production line that Liverpool had.  Whether that will happen is another thing.

I've seen the video, and it was a disgraceful way to behave. Apparently Arsenal fans were also fighting amongst themselves after the match, a shame that the club seems to be so divided on this issue.

A new low for Rovers this weekend - our first appearance in the FA Trophy. We are home to Bath City, who were our landlords when we were without a ground, so it is a game with a lot of good feeling between the fans.

Last week they wanted Wenger out and now they're singing his name. How fickle are our fans, think we're turning into Geordies.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Last week they wanted Wenger out and now they're singing his name. How fickle are our fans, think we're turning into Geordies.

Let's hope that they don't start punching horses as well

Selling Freddie Sears, Blue. I hope the club thinks the money they're getting now is worth more than the goals he's been scoring for you. Thoughts on this transfer?

Not totally surprised Grumps in all honesty. His contract runs out at the end of the summer and I thought that Robbie Cowling would cash in now that Freddie has scored a few goals this season. He might do okay at Championship level but I can't see him cutting it in the Premiership and that looks like where Ipswich might be heading. That's not just sour grapes on my part and I hope he does better than Anthony Wordsworth who Ipswich also bought from us and has been loaned out to Crawley this week!

Yeah, I saw in the report that his contract was ending this year. As you say it would make sense to cash in especially as you're at the wrong end of the table. Hopefully you'll be able to find someone else to knock in the goals otherwise you could be in a lot of trouble.

Does it make sense though except to the Chaiman's pockets? It just pisses off the fans even more and if we drop to league 2 because of it, how much in lost income is that going to cost us in the long run?

I suppose we could still go down if he had stayed and then he would walk on a free transfer, it does bloody hack me off though. Might just have to get my boots on...

One for Mary and Blue. Saturday is John-Joe O'Toole day at Northampton. 1,000 odd fans will be wearing wigs and headbandsin celebration.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31439814

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:One for Mary and Blue. Saturday is John-Joe O'Toole day at Northampton. 1,000 odd fans will be wearing wigs and headbandsin celebration.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31439814

Ha ha - love it.

John-Joe seems to be a very complex character, and it's a shame that his time at Rovers didn't end well as far as a lot of the fans were concerned. I really hope that he fulfils his potential before long.

Oh dear, John-Joe O'Toole day didn't go very well as he got sent off for fighting in the first half. Apparently a Mansfield player pulled JJ's headband off, so he turned around and punched him.

So it turned into John-Joe is a Tool day

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:So it turned into John-Joe is a Tool day

Ha ha - unfortunately, he does seem to have shot himself in the foot. Mansfield probably knew that if they messed with his barnet he'd see red!