badgerx16

It does as the fans have got used to winning, and therefore their view of how the team perform might be slanted because they aren't used to seeing us lose, especially at home. Similarly with the players, as a group they probably aren't used to having to graft and chase every week in the way experienced Premier teams will make them do.

18 months ago the majority of this squad were League 1 players, and we were dreaming of today. We have become used to winning far more than we lose, we damn near went a complete calendar year without a defeat at SMS. Yes today was disappointing, especially after last week's efforts. But maybe we just froze a bit due to the occasion and found out to our cost that those slight errors that we have been getting away with for the last 3 seasons will be punished at this level. None of the teams at this level are going to roll over and let their tummies be tickled - let's hope that the players and coaches are making their way up the learning curve. There's a long way to go, and que sera sera. COYS !

I thought the navy supported Plymouth.

Off the bench on 63 minutes: Work 6 Ipswich 0.

So today did have a silver lining :-)

No need to despair : 14 Tottenham 2 -1 1 15 Reading 2 -2 1 16 Norwich 2 -5 1 17 QPR 2 -5 1 18 Southampton 2 -3 0 19 Aston Villa 2 -3 0 20 Liverpool 1 -3 0 Last year after 13 games Wigan had 6 points and yet stayed up. We need to learn fast, certainly faster than our build up play today, and not linger so long on the ball.

At least one of Nige's post match 'positives' is easy : "I'm positive we need 2 new centre backs".

Too slow on the ball, too slow off it.

What happened to the team that played last week ?

Guly looks like he's stuck in 2nd gear.

38 minutes in and the matchday thread is still on page #1 !!!!

I may have got confused between contracts and registrations, but I posted this earlier :

http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstongs-statement-of-august-23-2012

A few random points : Lance Armstrong can be a very difficult person to get on with, he is driven, focussed, and self-centered. None of this in any way counts against him, but I think somewhere in the past he really p!$$ed somebody off and as a consequence the USADA have conducted a witch hunt, and they have finally worn their target down. The USADA have several former team mates willing to testify - as far as I can work out ALL of them have plea-bargained their 'convictions' for failed dope tests and given their statements as a result. Currently the USADA refuses to name them, but it certainly includes Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton. ( the latter of which coincidentally has a book coming out soon - no such thing as bad publicity ), and apparently George Hincapie may also be on the list. None of the evidence has been publicly presented, and the process seems to have been conducted on the basis of 'guilty until proven innocent'. Because LA has now stopped trying to fight them, they announce that this 'proves' his guilt. The USADA apparently have 8 B samples that have tested positive for EPO, but they haven't, as far as I am aware, been independently verified. One line of argument against him is that he beat a doped peloton and therefore MUST have been doping himself, he couldn't have done it any other way. ( A similar line has been trotted out by some French media about Bradley Wiggins this year ). If they strip him of his titles, what do the UCI do ? ( The USADA have absolutely no authority to do this ). In each of his 7 Tours de France wins, if you look at the top 10 in the GC, almost all of them have served some form of drugs related suspension. ( I saw a quote on a cycling forum pleading with the USADA to ensure they didn't also strip him of his cameo appearance in Dodgeball ). Personally, my 'heart' says he's clean - the best TdF rider ever, my 'head' is unsure, but without being openly presented in a legitimate public court, the evidence will remain circumstantial, but as is stated above, even IF he did it, all it did was level the field of battle - he still put in the hours of graft, went through pain barriers we can't even imagine, and some of his stage wins were simply epic. Roger Hammond, a team-mate of LA for 2 years and who has taken a very firm stance against doping, said on ITV4 last night said he believed Lance was clean, and that he ( Hammond ) only joined Lance's team because they were clean. Most of the USADA's allegations were subject to a 2 year federal investigation, which closed with no further action being taken.

87% of statistics are made up, funnily enough that's exactly the same proportion as the fictional ITK and Twit(ter) posts on this thread.

Yes.

Sorry Bearsy you are wrong, there is also the Pompey way - ignore them.

As far as I can recall there are 3 key points : 1) They have to apply to the courts to extend the admin process beyond 12 months - early February 2013. 2) They cannot be in admin for more than 18 months - FL, rule and so they must exit before August 10th ( or thereabouts ) or be expelled from the FL. 3) If they come out of admin after the end of the season the -10 will be applied next season - the FL's published condition states it is applied once they exit the process.

Is there any way to apply an 'ignore' filter on a thread to remove anything that doesn't actually relate to the subject ? ( I reckon if there was, this thread would only run to 4 pages ).

But would they have got away with it ?

Whether he has up until now is a matter for debate.

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/9766563.Pressure_mounts_on_Watford_FC_owner_Laurence_Bassini/ "While Bassini confirmed this incident had taken place, he rubbished suggestions HM Revenue and Customs is currently investigating the club for unpaid taxes and national insurance contributions." Sound familiar ?

And how would the other 23 teams in L1 view the FL reneging on their openly published conditions ?

"In 2011, he was quoted in a newspaper in Watford as admitting that he changed his surname from Bazini after being declared bankrupt five years ago." Sounds perfect !

So the one horseman of the apocalypse is cantering back over the hill, and likely to be passing Appy's bunch of monthly mercenaries going in the opposite direction. At least they've still got that group of 18 year olds that turned out at Plymouth.