SUMMER NEWS 2024.

The reason there are no home games is because of improvement works at Home Park. This includes repairs to what I take to be the astroturf around the perimeter of the pitch (much needed) and installation of digital advertising hoardings (I suspect a 5 minute fascination followed by a lot of annoying distraction).

We had temporary digital advertising briefly last year. It probably looks good from the TV camera viewpoint but in the lower rows in the ground, it mixes up with the movement of players’ legs and the ball. How can you know when to bellow it the referee when you’re not sure if it was a trip or a sudden movement of a cartoon character on the hoarding?

 

Yes they had to get those three "concerts" out of the way first before re-grassing......GoS summer No3 pictures show the amount of work required to do that....the whole pitch covered with protective "boarding" and lots of articulated lorries parked on it off-loading equipment....looked really busy.

My local team Bromley now in the dizzy heights of Div Two....have had to dig up their astro turf pitch and replace it with grass to comply with FL rules.

 

I see someone has calculated next seasons away mileage....now we know who has been relegated and promoted.

Grand total of 11,884 miles.

Furthest away Sunderland.....804 miles round trip.

Local derby is away at Bristol City.....238 miles....hardly worth stopping for brekky.

 

Bristol Rovers are the Tues July 30th away game ....7pm KO.

 

To be fair its a huge package of work including the installation of a hybrid stitched pitch ( one plastic blade of grass for every 6 natural ones ) , 4G surround replacing the knackered Astro surround, and the installation of digital advertising boards (which also involved some changes to pitch surround heights). I think we are the last club in the Champ to get a permanent install of digital advertising boards so it would be odd not to install given the revenue generation. To be honest I've never been distracted by it and barely notice it when at a live match. And then there is loads of work on the training pitches ( much of which is complete) and work to improve the media arrangements for live broadcasts. It really is full on and a load of work for the stadium team to worry about. There is absolutely no way we could fit a Home pre season match in too! Be good if the staff could fit a bit of time off in too!

 

Thanks Lindy for the inside info.......much appreciated.......I'll ask notDistant to give you a 50pt bonus for next seasons prediction league.

 

Fixture list out 9am on Wed 26th of June.

Preseason possibly Tues 2nd July.

Season starts on Sat 10th of August.

 

That's because you are looking down from on-high Lyndhurst!

I have renewed our season tickets but will have a look at relocating when that stage is reached on 25th June. It wasn't easy finding 4 together last year but I might consider getting 4 as 2 pairs one behind the other. Four in a line does rather limit conversation!

 

Conversation.....HEY behave yourself.....the only conversation allowed is........GGGRRRRREEEEEEENNNNNNNNAAAAARRRRRMMMMMYYYYYY......and shouted at the top of your voice .......oh maybe not....it tired me just writing it........just eat your pasty and swill your tea/coffee/beer/lager/bovril/or water.

 

Two whole pages from the gaffer in the Times today, concerning his experiences in the Euros.

 

Any chance of giving us a taste of what he said ?

 

All about his Euro championships.

2004 - he was 18. Manager: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Felt no pressure: he believed he was the best player in the world. Being in a squad with Scholes, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Cole and Owen was brilliant but very competitive.

He loved Eriksson: calm and an excellent man-manager like SAF. All the players respected him. Gave Rooney the No 9 shirt, which made him feel trusted.

First match was against France: Lilian Thurman had said Rooney was too young. Rooney left his mark on him early on: if there’d been VAR, he’d have been sent off. Early on he nutmegged Zinnedine Zidane.

England lost 1-2 with Beckham having missed a penalty. Rooney was subbed off and after the game, he told Eriksson they wouldn’t have lost if he’d stayed on.

The second game was against Switzerland. Rooney scored twice: the youngest player ever to score in the Euro finals. He then scored two as England beat Croatia 4:2.

After 27 minutes v Portugal, he broke a bone in his foot and watched the end of the game from a hospital bed. England lost on penalties.

When he got home the press and public hype was intense and he and Colleen went on holiday to Barbados to escape it.

2012 Manager: Roy Hodgson

He’d been sent off in the qualifier v Montenegro and was banned for the first two games of the group stage. He went with wife and child to Las Vegas before the tournament on a family holiday but was photographed in a bar with Wes Brown who was also on holiday there and the press crucified him.

Hodgson ran a very relaxed but successful camp, much better than the preceding World Cup with the rather weird Capello. He hated watching from the sidelines.

Some players, including Rooney, took a trip to Auschwitz: others didn’t because the press were to attend. Avram Grant (at various times manager of Chelsea, Portsmouth and West Ham) came with them. He’d had relatives in Auschwitz which made it particularly poignant.

England lost on penalties to Italy in the quarter finals.

2016 Manager Roy Hodgson


Rooney was captain for the tournament. The squad included several new players including someone called Harry Kane and there was a fresh feeling about it all.

Rooney was selected for (and passed) drug tests at every single game, apparently randomly. After playing Wales, he lost it and smashed up the testing room. He paid for the damage and was warned on his behaviour by UEFA.

After an ignominious defeat by Iceland, Hodgson, for whom was a final match, refused to do the press conference and put Rooney up for it. Hodgson was also reluctant to do a FA press conference on the following day, but Rooney and Gary Neville persuaded him to do it to prevent irreparable damage to his reputation.

The thing he hated most during his time was the accusation that England players don’t care. He spoke to both Sam Allardyce and Gareth Southgate about the need to improve press relations. He was pleased when Southgate did just that at the 2018 World Cup.

He found the Euros harder than World Cups because the group stages are of a higher standard. Nevertheless, he feels he had good moments in the Euros and with better luck, particularly with penalties, it could have been better still. Still, as he says, that’s football.

 

Thanks notDistant very interesting.....lets just hope he comes of age being a manager.....just needs a good experienced deputy to guide him..... and who knows things might just take off.....there are certainly good staff at PAFC to help him.

 

It's clearly written by him, or at least directly interpreted. It's very honest. He thinks he's the dog's ******** and to be honest, so he was.

He's appreciated leaders in the best sense of the word: quiet men who lead by example. If he learns how to be like that, he'll go far.

He was immature early on but grew into it and retains confidence in himself. He's passionate and is likely to fly off the handle.

He's not a player any more and his exceptional skills in that role, which he's very self-aware of, don't necessarily translate into other spheres. Can he learn from the men he admires? Time will tell.

 

I suppose if you take it from someone who believed themselves to be the best in the world to someone who helped a much older man to avoid self destruction, then you see someone with faults aspiring to be better. Just like all of us then.

 

INCOMING.

Daily Telegraph Sport has an article stating the Pete Shuttleworth has been recruited as Rooney's Deputy.

Shuttleworth has worked with Rooney at Derby, DC United and Birmingham....and a deal has been struck to recruit him as No2 and his arrival will be announced and confirmed later this week.

 

CONFIRMED.

 

These two have now worked together at four consecutive clubs (if you include Argyle).....first three didn't light too many fires.....we are now hoping that this time is different.....doing a pre-season this time....although Rooney is away in Germany with England and the BBC for the early part of pre-season.... we just hope that Shuttleworth is up to speed and between them they bring in the players that they want.

 

Interesting factoid in the 'Erald: Argyle haven't had a home game on Boxing Day since 2016. What are the odds of that? Well, I can tell you actually: It's 1 in 128.

 

Well it is still only one chance in two at the end of the day.