Dom Ballard

[swedish dave]

20 hours ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

I’m guessing - Welcome back, Dave; it’s been a while since I used to read your strangely-formatted posts on this forum.

Thanks for the greeting Tommy.  Firstly, I was away on a long, pensioners summer holiday and 

decided to ignore the site - until all the fan aggression disappeared after that awful relegation.

As a fan for over 60 years, I have experienced relegations before but I never reacted in the manner

that some apparently did by posting incessant abuse day after day. 

Later on I had major problems with my e-mail account, and got lost and was forced to begin again

with a new ID, leaving my previous 11, 000+ posts disappearing into the dusts of time.

[swedish dave]

21 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

I read this like I would a poem 😭

Oh....was that a compliment, or a criticism?  I do write in a lot in differing styles, (and even had some poetry

published - back in the day).  Nowadays my hobby is writing film scripts that may never see the light of day, 

and responding to postings on football sites that are written in understandable English.  

[Crab Lungs]

1 hour ago, swedish dave said:

Oh....was that a compliment, or a criticism?  I do write in a lot in differing styles, (and even had some poetry

published - back in the day).  Nowadays my hobby is writing film scripts that may never see the light of day, 

and responding to postings on football sites that are written in understandable English.  

A backhanded compliment, I got halfway through and realised it wasn’t a poem 😂
 

don’t stop - it’s unique

Edited Wednesday at 14:21 by Crab Lungs

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

A backhanded compliment, I got halfway through and realised it wasn’t a poem 😂
 

don’t stop - it’s unique

I've listened to enough radio 4, to be able to read Dave's posts as poetry. Finishing with things like "dusts of time" adds real gravitas to them.  More please!

[swedish dave]

17 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I've listened to enough radio 4, to be able to read Dave's posts as poetry. Finishing with things like "dusts of time" adds real gravitas to them.  More please!

Thank you H&W , (that's 3 of you who have commented), although there used to be "someone" on here who

periodically criticised me, but the only thing I can recall was that he rarely used a Spell Checker. I don't go out 

of my way to be different, but I was the kid who read a lot of books when young, (and then teachers wanted

me to read my scrawling aloud  to the class), which frequently made me unpopular with those ...who didn't. 

 

The tone of some postings tends to brings out the cynic in me, but as I am in a generation too old to care,

the one thing I have learned ...is to be pragmatic. Changing managers and even owners, and surviving

bankruptcies is just par for the course for me after 66+ years as a fan, although to be fair there are times -

when provoked - that quite frankly - I just don't give a da*n. 

Edited 9 hours ago by swedish dave

[Badger]

On 14/01/2026 at 13:13, swedish dave said:

Thanks for the greeting Tommy.  Firstly, I was away on a long, pensioners summer holiday and 

decided to ignore the site - until all the fan aggression disappeared after that awful relegation.

As a fan for over 60 years, I have experienced relegations before but I never reacted in the manner

that some apparently did by posting incessant abuse day after day. 

Later on I had major problems with my e-mail account, and got lost and was forced to begin again

with a new ID, leaving my previous 11, 000+ posts disappearing into the dusts of time.

Welcome back. 

[Fabrice29]

Funny for this thread to be bumped over some good performances in the league below us when there’s a young lad invigorating Wolves season in the one above who was in our U18’s for a period 2 years ago.

Edited 6 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Tommy Mulgrew]

51 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

a young lad … who was in our U18’s for a period 2 years ago

Did his elder brother score for Senegal against Egypt yesterday?   🤓

[The Kraken]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

Funny for this thread to be bumped over some good performances in the league below us when there’s a young lad invigorating Wolves season in the one above who was in our U18’s for a period 2 years ago.

Yes, it’s definitely funny that a thread started 4 years ago about a 16 year old would be bumped to update on his progress. Very funny indeed.

[Ted Bates Statue]

On 14/01/2026 at 13:13, swedish dave said:

Thanks for the greeting Tommy.  Firstly, I was away on a long, pensioners summer holiday and 

decided to ignore the site - until all the fan aggression disappeared after that awful relegation.

As a fan for over 60 years, I have experienced relegations before but I never reacted in the manner

that some apparently did by posting incessant abuse day after day. 

Later on I had major problems with my e-mail account, and got lost and was forced to begin again

with a new ID, leaving my previous 11, 000+ posts disappearing into the dusts of time.

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Funny for this thread to be bumped over some good performances in the league below us when there’s a young lad invigorating Wolves season in the one above who was in our U18’s for a period 2 years ago.

Presume you refer to Mateus Mane. I'm not sure of his history but records show he played one game for our U18s in 23/24. Strange because there is no transfer history for him other than he went from Rochdale to Wolves.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 minutes ago, saintant said:

Presume you refer to Mateus Mane. I'm not sure of his history but records show he played one game for our U18s in 23/24. Strange because there is no transfer history for him other than he went from Rochdale to Wolves.

According to 

https://alwayswolves.co.uk/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wolves-mateus-mane/

"The promise was clear to see and, despite a trial with Southampton, he opted to sign for Wolves in the summer of that year."

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

According to 

https://alwayswolves.co.uk/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wolves-mateus-mane/

"The promise was clear to see and, despite a trial with Southampton, he opted to sign for Wolves in the summer of that year."

Ah, so his appearance for us was as a trialist and he opted to join Wolves. Presume for some reason he never met Ankersen or he'd have certainly joined us 🙂

[saintant]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Funny for this thread to be bumped over some good performances in the league below us when there’s a young lad invigorating Wolves season in the one above who was in our U18’s for a period 2 years ago.

Seems it was one game as a trialist and he decided to join Wolves.

[Badger]

3 minutes ago, saintant said:

Seems it was one game as a trialist and he decided to join Wolves.

Or it was one game, we’d seen enough and didn’t pursue it.

This seems a non-story to me. Plenty of players have passed through our trials and either chosen elsewhere (Gascoigne for example) or been overlooked (Kevin Phillips for example). Others have slipped the net elsewhere and ended up at Saints. 
 

Big deal. What was Fabrice’s point ? 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 minutes ago, Badger said:

Or it was one game, we’d seen enough and didn’t pursue it.

This seems a non-story to me. Plenty of players have passed through our trials and either chosen elsewhere (Gascoigne for example) or been overlooked (Kevin Phillips for example). Others have slipped the net elsewhere and ended up at Saints. 
 

Big deal. What was Fabrice’s point ? 

About to make a connection between the Arias playing for Wolves and our Federico Arias from around 20 years ago?

[saintant]

20 minutes ago, Badger said:

Or it was one game, we’d seen enough and didn’t pursue it.

This seems a non-story to me. Plenty of players have passed through our trials and either chosen elsewhere (Gascoigne for example) or been overlooked (Kevin Phillips for example). Others have slipped the net elsewhere and ended up at Saints. 
 

Big deal. What was Fabrice’s point ? 

Not sure. He seems to suggest that Mateus Mane was a member of our U18 squad but that appears not to be the case.

[Fabrice29]

34 minutes ago, Badger said:

Or it was one game, we’d seen enough and didn’t pursue it.

This seems a non-story to me. Plenty of players have passed through our trials and either chosen elsewhere (Gascoigne for example) or been overlooked (Kevin Phillips for example). Others have slipped the net elsewhere and ended up at Saints. 
 

Big deal. What was Fabrice’s point ? 

I thought this place would have a bigger hissy fit over Mane than Ballard, that’s all. He’d have been much more useful this season. Anyway, as you say, non story and no big deal. Far too sensible approach. 

[Fabrice29]

15 minutes ago, saintant said:

Not sure. He seems to suggest that Mateus Mane was a member of our U18 squad but that appears not to be the case.

Well except for the time he played and trained for them. But yeh not the case 😂