Whitey Grandad

Not my choice, that's down to the businessmen.

Words of wisdom from Brian Clough: Rules are Rules The rules are the rules. We all have to abide by them, on and off the field, because somebody has written them down. They might be good or they might be bad but the rules enable us to have a game. Without them, there is no game at all. Everybody makes mistakes. I haven't seen a goalkeeper yet who hasn't let a ball slip through his hands when he should have stopped it with his eyes closed. I've never seen a centre forward who hasn't missed a simple chance to score. I've never seen a perfect referee, either. In fact, I've not seen a perfect anything in life (apart from me!). page 159 Referees are doing their best My players learned to understand that referees were doing their best, honestly and in keeping with whatever talent they had for the job. It developed into a kind of mutual respect for one another: my lot made life as comfortable as possible for match officials, and they were quick to appreciate it. I lost count of the number of referees who came to me both at Derby and Forest and said, 'I'd just like to express my thanks. I love matches involving your team. We never have any trouble with them.' pages 161 - 162 Your Reputation Precedes you It worked to our benefit. A team of mine was the referees' best friend. It was only human nature that they should have a sympathetic outlook towards us. They wouldn't bend the rules or do us any particular favours but they knew that my players were not cheating or taking liberties. A mistimed tackle was exactly that and nothing more sinister. When a player of mine stayed down with an injury, no one was in the slightest doubt that he was genuinely hurt. I made a point of going to talk to referees at their meetings. Inevitably, I was asked about the badly behaved sides and I told them, 'That problem could be eliminated overnight. If a team persistently has players in trouble, especially for dissent, arguing and cussing and swearing, they should fine the managers concerned a month's wages. If a manager was hit in his pocket, he'd be quick to get rid of the rotten apples in his barrel. He wouldn't stand for some yob or thug costing him his wages.' page 162 Over Scrutiny Scrutiny is the referees' greatest enemy. Their performance is watched and recorded from just about every imaginable angle. Eventually, after as many re runs of the slow motion replay as it takes, the experts make up their minds and declare whether the referee was right or wrong. Would you like to have your every move at work recorded and analysed by some smart arsed expert who hasn't a clue what it's like to do your job in the first place? Of course you wouldn't and neither would I. The only thing that surprises me about modern refereeing is that so many people volunteer to do it. page 164 Plus ça change

...and some remember where we were in 1984

It's what they would have wanted.

Isn't beating Man Utd always a cause for celebration? No other reward necessary.

There must be something in it or every club would complain every week. Clattenburg is starting to get a reputation. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times...

That would be worth seeing, but last season the prize money was over £700k per league position.

A comment like this is hardly going to calm the situation, it displays poor man-management. As was suggested earlier, public support so as to uphold the authority of the refereeing community and a private bollocking for letting the matter arise in the first place.

Prize money for league position, I suppose.

Highly unprofessional but not really abusive. I think that Premier League refs are too familiar in their dealings with the players, using first names, for example. This can lead to an unfair bias when handling a cup game between a Premier team and one with unfamiliar players. It also dilutes the authority of the referee.

Absolutely. They are certainly at least lower Premier League level but we are at home and both teams probably have other priorities so it should be an interesting game. It all depends which team we put out and which turns up.

I'm pleased because it's another home game I can go to and one that we have a good chance of winning. Nothing more than that really.

The price reduction was only £50 to £100 so they must have given her more than £100 each.

It appears that the £450k is only the sum of the 26 charges brought against her. There were plenty of others that were not listed.

How would you know?

They all do to a greater or lesser extent.

Exactly. If it messes up your brain then it must be doing some damage.

There does not have to be contact for it to be a foul, despite what all the TV commentators might say.

Useless wallies. I get home to Chandlers Ford within the hour and that includes 30 minutes walking.

Quite true, plus the wages, fees etc.

I saw an item about old railway tunnels under Lord's. http://www.thecnj.com/westend/2009/051509/wnews051509_04.html

What would he rather have, another league game or a Saturday off?

Even I can't blame him. Another taller keeper might have got his fingertips to the first but equally the ball could have looped straight into the net. It shows the advantage of having a shot instead of waiting for the perfect shooting opportunity.

Yes, of course, I was mainly referring to the plastic junk part of it. I am totally against the dumping of rubbish like this in the seas. I once saw a school of fish in Malaga harbour. One of them had swum into a clear plastic bag and obviously had no chance of swimming out backwards. It was heartbreaking.

I take no credit for the theory, but some small steps in understanding the process: http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/08/cern-investigates-connection-between-cosmic-rays-and-clouds/ http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2013/10/cerns-cloud-experiment-shines-new-light-climate-change http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/10/cern-experiment-finds-key-ingredient-for-cloud-droplets/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Svensmark The theory even has a name: cosmoclimatology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmoclimatology#Role_in_climate_change Jasper Kirkby at CERN is the other loud proponent: http://notrickszone.com/2013/05/19/cerns-jasper-kirkby-on-the-newest-unpublished-results-of-cloud-the-results-are-very-interesting/ It would seem that the results are 'interesting but inconclusive'. I suppose that means a whole new round of funding is required.