The Cat

Mixed reception in the ground for him. Plenty booing, some cheering. When his song started it quickly got booed over or hijacked with the alternative version. Some woman in front of us was getting quite irate with the people who were slagging him off. I clapped Tadic going off then ignored Van Dijk coming on.

They also use addresses which they claim the families live at when in fact they don't move at all. Chelsea run an "academy" training site at Fleming Park on Friday evenings. It's all about seeing as many players as possible. They also ran trial sessions there in the summer holidays. Michael Calvin has written an excellent book about how academy football works if anyone is interested. https://agreatread.co.uk/no-hunger-in-paradise-the-players-the-journey-the-dream-9781780896304/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwruPNBRCKARIsAEYNXIjhroouXgUtcbomx-dBdjWUOVQnwH9iIJGD0M6FE4omIJD_wUPQYAoaAoEwEALw_wcB

Yep. Dropped mates off at the pub by the ground (Sportsman?) and got the park & ride into Brighton to go record shopping. Was completely unaware of what was going on until I got back to the pub about an hour before kick off, and even then no one knew the full details. Wasn't until after the game when we got into the car and put the radio on that we understood the full horror. Drove back in silence listening to the reports.

I heard one on 606 last night who was absolutely slating him. I chuckled because everything he said was true.

I hate them, I hate the selfies on the screen, I hate the fact our home atmosphere is fast turning into one of the worst in the league.

Watford were far more organised, we were a mess. There seemed to be some vague plan to get the ball forward quickly but often the passes were aimless, or hit to an isolated Gabbi who would have little chance to do anything with the ball. I thought our best period of the game was just after half time when Tadic came on and we finally got some possession but this didn't last long, they scored again and we never looked like getting close to scoring. Tadic's dive for a penalty in front of us was embarrassing. Rolling around holding his knee then getting up and limping for 30 seconds didn't fool anyone.

Hahaha.

Despite not being with us long we've had a lasting effect on his career, converting him from a central midfielder to a CB where he's had decent success since leaving. I once saw him play in a reserve team friendly alongside Anthony Pulis in midfield. No surprise that the raw 18 year old fresh out of non league looked 10 times the player of the utterly useless Pulis who I just googled to find out is currently head coach of Orlando City B team. For anyone interested his career is a very strange one. Only 90 games of first team football, half of those in the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Pulis

I'm not booing anyone, but interested to know people's thoughts on the difference between booing compared to shouting out stuff like "Tadic you're a ****ing waste of space you useless ****" as we routinely hear directed towards players. Personally I don't see booing as any different to the audible groans which occur pretty much every time a player misplaces a pass. Both are an outburst of dissatisfaction. Neither of them help.

Why is everyone fixated with Les Reed? If we buy or sell a player the board have to sanction it. Yes, he is one of the key decision makers but he doesn't have ultimate control. It's a bit like the Arsenal fans moaning at Wenger for not buying players - it's not his money that is being spent, it's the club's.

I hope that come transfer deadline day he ends up sat in a car outside Anfield like Odemwingie at QPR.

We only turned up on kick off so missed all that, however I very much enjoyed the use of Get A Move On by Mr Scruff during the half time relay.

Much more positive going forward and good pressing in the final third. Should have won comfortably. Shout out to the bloke in the bogs in the family stand afterwards shouting "SAME OLD ****, TADIC STILL ****ING RUBBISH AND BOUFAL A ****ING WASTE OF SPACE"

Same. I've been to Barnet but not their latest ground.

Let's face it, VVD isn't even fit to lace Ken Monkou's boots.

What's wrong with Clyne? I thought he was doing alright there.

What we need to get back to is the days when people would wave their season tickets in the air to signify they were better fans than others.

It looks pretty strong with Stephens. Seems to be a lot of people hoping we buy someone to play instead of him when in fact it's surely better to keep him in the team and keep developing him.

Hahaha

Just scanning the end of this thread, do people not know what a cult hero is? I liked Van Gobbel for fronting up to Roy Keane and making him crap himself, and for his barrel chested runs where he just barged through people. Also for his no nonsense clearances, he smashed one pretty much from one side of the pitch over the far stand at St James' Park.

Their big friendly against Eastleigh is off which will probably annoy any of their fans who were hoping to cause a bit of bovver in an SO postcode.

Injury set him back a bit, but from what I've seen he looks like he'll be a decent player. Hopefully we'll see him carry on playing well for the U23's then push to be in the first team squad by the end of the season.

Good on them. He's quality and worth every penny.

Player for player they are better than us and if they sign Sigurdsson they'll be way ahead. Plus they have some old dugouts and there's something special about their floodlights so I'm off to support them now.

The return of Juanmi?