The non-Watford football thread

I notice the link in the article to Southend being in the same boat. Shame that, they were our opponents for both my first home and first away matches way back when - and we won them both.

 

Two of tonight's EFL fixtures -

West Brom vs Harrogate
Everton vs Salford

Only a few years ago, would anyone have thought those remotely likely?

 

Fulham 1971/72 (1-2 defeat) was my first with our 2-0 win over Huddersfield before GT came on board being my first regular home match; Wimbledon away on New Years Eve 1977 for a 3-1 win.
Been to Roots Hall just the once. 1-1 draw I think, an Easter Monday. Went out drinking with a cousin, a wet spam STH, so I really don't remember much except that we didn't win and it was a sunny day.
Saw Macclesfield play a pre-season friendly at Leek Town a few decades ago when up there for a "Boys" weekend. Sammy McIlroy was managing MT.

 

Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has tested positive for coronavirus and is in self-isolation, the Championship club has announced.

 

Does that mean we are at risk of having to self isolate??

 

Seems not - but worry for Warnock as he isn't that young.

 

Seeing as my Ligue 2 games are now played on a Saturday evening rather than the Friday, I watched some of Lyon v Nimes from Ligue 1. It was robust to say the least and the ref had his work cut out to keep all the players on the pitch. Lyon play in a very large 60,000 stadium and they were allowed 5,000 fans in, all spaced out along one side of the ground. The atmosphere was odd with muffled shouts as they were all masked, but it was slightly better than a totally empty stadium. It will be interesting to see how things go in England this weekend at the grounds with limited numbers of fans.

 

I wonder what the odds are on West Brom coming straight back down?

Down 2-5 at Everton with 20 minutes to go, manager and one player red-carded, and looking like lost schoolboys...

 

Bilic can hardly complain about players getting others sent off after the 1998 World Cup semi final.

Laurent Blanc comes to mind !

 

You can tell it's not Man U's day.

Twice done over by VAR.

 

Son looking a bit deadly for the Spuds - four goals in their 5-2 win over Soton.

 

Great for my fantasy football team !

 

Seems like Newcastle are cheating to me, given the BBC text below:

Morecambe 0-6 Newcastle

How Newcastle haven't scored again. They are throwing corners in from both sides. Morecambe have just cleared one off the line.

They are down to 10 men remember.​

 

I see we seem to have gone from forwards being pulled up for handball each time it hit their hands (well except against us!) to defenders suffering the same fate.

Going to be like hockey soon where they have a penalty corner for any touch of the foot.

No wonder Deeney thought he was still a PL striker - he'd get the chance to score a penalty each week.

 

Liverpool must be pretty pleased with results this weekend.

Well unless they think Everton and Leicester will be their title rivals !

Mind you VAR seems to making headlines again.

 

As we watch the teams from the lower leagues saying they could be forced out of existence unless they get some support from government, the government replies by saying that the PL should be providing the support. Although I have often argued that there should be a fairer distribution of money coming into the game, as there are no structures in place for this to happen currently, this sounds like government trying to pass the buck. It seems that they just don't realise what is happening. Just look at what does happen when a club folds. You find that they have debts to local suppliers who are in turn likely to go out of business. If they can find money for their friends then they should be able to find money that will keep what is the centre of some towns viable.

 

Wealdstone are playing Chesterfield on Saturday. No spectators will be allowed in the ground. Instead the game will be streamed on a screen in the clubhouse bar for a socially distanced crowd to watch with the windows overlooking the pitch blacked out.

Surely the people gathered in the bar would safer in the open air.

 

I surveyed part of a non league club ground recently and had quite a chat with the general manager and they're finding everything extremely challenging. I'm really looking forward to helping them out. Confidentiality dictates I can say no more for now but I'll let you know what's what in due course.

 

Looks like Newcastle are heading for a cup exit at the hands of Newport too - and they appear to have more first team players in their side than we did.