Mr Biscuits

Automatic places gone now, no way they are going to make up 8 points with no one above them winning in the last three matches.

They could STILL miss out on playoffs but that is much less likely. It's the hope that kills you

Actually you could argue that their favourite phrase has never been more appropriate......

4-1

They are in the fourth tier we are in the first tier.

It is a special, special place full of special, special people

Well, 8th is a good finish. We could have done better so the school report would say 'does not believe in his own abilities, needs more confidence and self belief'

So then, target for the summer is to avoid losing too many key players, keep Koeman, build on what we have.

Next season I'd love to see a cup run - past time we went for one seriously.

Hartlepool have hit a decent run of form under Craig Hignett as well.

How about this scenario:

Wycombe and Wimbledon win the next two

The Skates don't

Hartlepool get a draw

Last match of the season is against Northampton with the skates needing a win to get back in the playoffs.......

I'd go for a humiliating heavy 1st leg play off defeat away from home, meaning a pointless 2nd leg at their place.

Oh that would be good. Thing is though I just really really don't want them to even get a sniff of a playoff chance. I realise that the likely scenario is they will do enough for the playoffs however it's still not set in stone and time is running out for them.

Have to congratulate them on keeping us entertained, and this thread going for far longer than most of us thought possible. I wonder if they would want to add this to their huge great big long list of achievements.

Definitely miss out on the playoffs.

Seeing them get a playoff and then losing it would be good however I'm an evil vindictive sodpot who wants them to suffer for another season in League Two so I don't want them to have a chance of promotion at all.

What a lovely surprise, I didn't realise they were playing last night.

 

A skate capitulation always gives me a nice boost, today I will walk with a swagger and whistle a jaunty tune.

I heard the score line, tuned in to Solent because I couldn't quite believe it. From what the commentators were saying it wasn't even a capitulation they were absolutely dire. York barely got out of second gear. The goal they scored only happened because the keeper fumbled it.

This is turning into a real banana skin for them. It's almost like an exquisitely devious plot thought up by some criminal mastermind.

The resources everyone keeps going on about them having should mean that they would be battling Northampton for top spot with third a long way behind. I'm beginning to doubt that they actually have much of anything at all.

The only other explanation is that the back room staff are really crap at player analysis and they've blown their money on the wrong players. They could be in serious trouble if they don't get promoted - there's only so much loyalty in the fanbase beyond the hardcore group who will go to games no matter what. We saw it with Saints on our short trip to League One.

If they stay down for next season I think gates are going to start falling which is going to put a serious dent in their ability to buy the players they need to get promotion.

About 20 miles, give or take

Oh I say, well played sir, well played!

I listened to a bit of it on the radio driving up to London.

1) the score line reflects how p!ss poor the skates were, York could have got at least two more

2) Guy Whittingham spent a fair bit of time taking the p!ss out of the skates

3) Champagne Ian was less than amused

@ The9...... I know what I said about York, however I did agree with you - I thought they wouldn't really put up much of a fight. Quite nice to be proved wrong really.

So then.... 12 points up for grabs.... Technically anyone down to 15th could catch them up.....

. Wycombe will be a tough game as they will want to be back in the playoff spots

So will Wimbledon

Hartlepool should be 3 points for them..... Should be....

Northampton won't be giving anything away.

Do you know, their run in is far from easy all of a sudden. I think they can forget an automatic promotion spot now, dropping out of the playoffs is actually the most likely scenario if they don't win the next two games.

I do hope they didn't put everything on promotion this season.....

Firstly, you complain that it breaks the game up 'more than you like', but a lot of time is wasted because the players complain a lot debating the decision. It could speed up decisions if anything.

Secondly, I think it would be exciting to see decisions on the big screen, a bit like cricket and tennis where it is nail biting stuff.

Thirdly, it would be fair!

Complaining about it would be 'it's rubbish and stops the game I don't think it should be allowed'

Saying 'I'm not sure I like it' is mere opinion stating that I haven't actually decided about it yet.

As for the behaviour of football players mobbing the ref I think having the replay on the big screen would cut a lot of it out - it certainly levels the playing field if the ref says 'I think there has been foul play let's review it' and then bases his call on that review. It would be very hard for players to do what we have seen in the past once the replay is up there for all to see.

18/04/2016 11:51 AM CUT

Rate: (7 | 3)

blue shoes2f

 

Problem is, we have a team that is better suited to L1 than L2, so we need to just dig deep and get out this vile league.

 

Aha - I like it. Joint top and too good for promotion!

A perfect demonstration of the massive chip on your average skates shoulder tbh. Long may they remain there.

According to Lescott they are going to start playing now.... Whatever.

Should be 3points in the bag.

Should be......

Shane didn't shoot as Jay Rod was screaming, nay , pleading for him with arms out for him to pass the ball, Longy clearly thought he had an open goal.

Having seen MOTD again, I can see that Long tried the pass to cut out the GK and a defender and give JRod a tap in, he just missed the defender chasing up behind who got the ball instead. Not a bad decision but the better one would have been to go for goal with JRod coming in for any rebounds

Still mystifies me how Rugby can develop and support such a great refereeing system and yet football appears to be stuck in the Stone Age. Rugby refs do still make the odd wrong call (hello Scotland) but by and large you can't fault their performance.

One thing I'm not sure about is what we saw in the last World Cup and the 6 nations where foul play was shown on the large screens in the stadium and the ref pulled the game back and awarded a foul - on the one hand it's great to see foul play actually being dealt with properly and ensures that players understand they can't get away with it, on the other it does break the game up more which I'm not sure I like.

Compare that to football referees...........

Frankly the point at which I realised football needs a revolution when it comes to how the 90 minutes are governed was when that buffoon Blatter insisted that human error was good for the game several years ago.

The performance of the ref in the West Ham - Leicester game was a perfect example of poor decision making on several different occasions during the game.

I'm sure the hero-to-villain swingometer will be deployed for him, ex player of the season and all.

[sarcasm]Unbelievable how traitorous some players can be really [/sarcasm]

Missed that, sorry.

Tbh, Northampton are away and gone but I believe when a team is in that position it generates this kind of 'let's see how many points we can get'

I wonder what the points record for League a Two is and if Northampton are close to it.

Whichever say, I don't think the skates gave enough to beat them

Lol I didn't notice

Should have won, at least we didn't lose.

Wish Long could be a bit more confident on the ball

The mansion is believed to have been left significantly damaged following the fire but Mane's personal property is believed to be in tatters.

How poor is the standard of English these days?

12 points in the season left. 8 teams are mathematically capable of overtaking them.

Reality is that they just need to win the next two games and they'll be safe into the play offs. However given their penchant for royally f*cking things up I think we shouldn't discount anyone who could overhaul them on points just yet.

York are pretty much gone so there's no pressure on them - they could really screw things up for the skates

Wycombe should be an interesting match as they'll be looking to ensure their playoff spot

Wimbledon will be the same

Hartlepool have nothing to play for really

So the two wins are there against York and Hartlepool as long as they don't f*ck it up.....

I'm rather getting the feeling that Norwich might not survive this season. That'll be annoying in a way because Sunderland have been terrible for so long I'm bored of hearing about them being in the relegation fight.

Excuse me, is this the full meltdown thread or just the half hour one only I don't wish to participate for more than 30 minutes?

Yes you do

Did a brilliant job in the NPC though, which was what he was bought for....

Absolutely, but it wasn't half painful to watch him struggle in the PL. he stayed a season too long imho, he would have been better off moving to another Championship side sooner.

However we are a very different side now so it will be interesting to see if Lukaku does anything if he gets on the pitch

Lukaku always seems to monster our defence. Would be good if he was out. He picked on Danny Fox when playing for West Brom. Not really a fair contest. Danny Fox ended up getting sent off out of sheer frustration

Yeah but to be fair, Danny Fox was completely out of his depth in the PL anyway no matter who he was up against.