Had a sh*te week at work, so called off my meetings for today and came down last night - sometimes you've got to say 'enough is enough'. So I'm in for a weekend of Scrabble, Rock and Chips and CAFC. Looking forward to this tomorrow, but I can't find out any ticket information from the new OS - is it just pay on the day or is it a bit more formal?
You'll be able to pay on the door tomorrow. But there is no chance that I'm paying £15 for a friendly - hope those of you who do go have a good time and it proves to be worth the outlay P.S you've made me hungry for rock and chips!
Had it for lunch today - absolutely gorgeous - can't get it anywhere I've lived in the last 25 years. FIFTEEN QUID...ye gods.
Just some info for you lads that do come down, from the local old bill, although I expect most of you know the form... KentPolice Football ‏@kentpolicefooty #Charlton fans heading to #Gillingham tomorrow should head for the Livingstone Arms PH who accept away supporters Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 6h KentPolice Football ‏@kentpolicefooty #Gills v #CAFC car parking for @CAFCofficial supporters is available at Railway Street and Ingram Rd next to the level crossing Expand Reply Retweet Favorite 6h KentPolice Football ‏@kentpolicefooty Tomorrow is the Kent derby #Gills v #Charlton Ath, the match will be segregated. Officers will be on duty in the town and train station Expand I never use this suggested pub myself but I'll let you lads make your choices...http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/29/29533/Livingstone_Arms/Gillingham
I was at The Valley a few hours ago to pick up Brum tickets and three new strips for the nippers. The club shop was utterly denuded of stock and looked very spartan. I didn't bother with the Gills tickets, though. I am undecided between the football and a trip to a Warriors event at Old Sarum. Keith Peacock and Reg Varney were loitering around the ticket office. Had a lovely day today at Charles Darwin's house. The kids took part in the Bug Safari and really enjoyed it. COYR!
Tewkes, just to give you a bit of info re Rock and Chips.(i'm obviously on a roll after my advice re watered Hockey pitches) - 'Rock' is also known as Rock Salmon, ie Huss or Dogfish. Now, where i live, Dogfish is known as a pest - mainly because they are in vast supply in the Solent and also not known (locally) as very nice to eat and also really hard to skin and prepare. When i went fishing in the Solent a couple of months ago, we caught in total about 30 fish of which dogfish represented about 26 of what we caught. Most anglers throw them back, however we were lucky in as much as we had a skippers mate who knew how to gut and skin them. However, i'd much rather have a nice Bream or Bass on my plate ! Anyway, Angling lesson over !
Thanks Stu, they also use Smooth Hound as well - both in Redditch where I lived for ten years and now Tewkes, all I can get is haddock...
Naughty to use Smooth Hound - as its a protected specie and you *should* put them back - plus they are good for fishing - very fast and agile.
Was in there mid week and was very confused with the new shop, lad working there said there had been delays with the full refit which will now probably happen first week or two of the season. They rushed it open just to display the new kit apparently. I agree though, i felt lost in there!
Whats the latest about the CAFC XI against Tonbridge Angels? OS just says ticket news soon but the games Tuesday. Do we think this will be trialists?
Development squad, triallists, and anyone we want to put into the shop window (Hayes? Clarke?). AllHell suggested Andy Hughes won't be ready to come back just yet but here's a funny thing. The OS says that CP has a "full squad" to choose from, apart from Pope and perhaps Green. Does that mean Hughes is now an "unperson" like Leon Clarke, who was deleted from the player profiles on the OS before last season was even finished, even though clearly stlll our contracted player? I hope it was just a slip or, even better, that Hughes is back quicker than AllHell thought.
Went to the Gillingham game, on the way back. Massively let down. Hamer 6.5 - nothing stood out too much, a few decent saves. Solly 7 - made some great tackles, controlled the ball well and was decent going forward. Caught out of position a bit much though. Cort 6.5 - pretty solid as per usual. Morrison 6.5 - solid. Took a few dirty elbows from Kedwell. Wiggins 6.5 - didn't do great defensively but swung in some good crosses and showed some good close-control when under pressure. Pritchard 7 - made some killer passes and had one chance near the end where he leapt above their defender who was twice the size of him, to head the ball just over. Not as useful out wide as he is in the middle in my opinion. Stephens 4 - lost count of how many times he gave the ball away. Just never seemed focused and thus failed to even pass the ball a few yards without it going to a Gills player. Cook 6.5 - not that effective but did little wrong. Helped maintain possession very well, but sadly had to constantly cut inside and thus the ball stayed in midfield too much. Jackson 5 - did very little, seems even slower than normal and his reactions were equally slow. Kermorgant 7 - not as effective as he normally is, but layed off some great passes and very nearly scored a beautiful over-head kick. Well two actually, but the first was blocked. BWP 6.5 - bursted with energy and chased a lot of balls, sadly wasn't afforded that many goalscoring opportunities. Keeper saved one chip which this time last year he would have buried (Subs) Dervite 6.5 - seemed solid. A few poor forward-passes but was firm in the challenge and quite mobile too. Hollands 6 - didn't do much for me to judge fairly. Personally I felt it was a negative substitution bringing off an attacking, pacey Jordan Cook for Hollands. Did maintain possession well. His introduction marked a change back to a 4-4-2 with Stephens alongside him in the centre. Haynes 7.5 - always looked dangerous. His pace put a lot of fear into the Gills defence and he linked up very well with Kermorgant. General comments: -Our 4-1-2-1-2 formation, whilst allowing us to maintain possession, doesn't pose much of a threat. Pritchard isn't much of a winger and thus his role in the wide two in midfield was ineffective. From what I've seen of Cook so far, he plays much better when higher up the field. The formation really didn't play to our strengths. -As much as I like Stephens, we can't continue playing him so deep in midfield. His main strength is his ability to slide a perfect through ball into the path of strikers, his main weakness is his habit of misplacing the most simple of passes. Its foolish to have a player who loses possession so often, playing just in front of the back four. It will be punished by Championship teams. -Haynes seems to link up a lot better with Kermorgant than BWP does. A number of us on here observed this point in the latter half of last season. I hope CP has too. -Some of our fans behaviour was atrocious. Constant crude language and embarrassing behaviour which would make the average Millwall fan blush. All in all, I'm slightly concerned. Hopefully today was just about giving the 4-1-2-1-2 formation another try-out, rather than being a glimpse into how we will set-up for Birmingham. I'd like to see the 4-3-3 tried out again, as it seems the perfect formation when we have the likes of Kerkar, Cook and Haynes on our books. Anyways I'll try crack a smile and enjoy the rest of the weekend, in CP I trust.
Hello guys, I've just got back from the game and forgetting about the result (it was only a friendly), I was not sure what to make of it. Obviously I will save my thoughts on my side for the Gills board but I was really surprised from what I saw (or didn't as the case maybe) from your side? I was quite pleased to see WWCOB's take on the game, because my concern was I being bias or was we that good. Sadly I think it was nether, so can I just ask of your team that started today, how may of them would you expect to be in the starting line up in the kick off of your Championship campaign? On a separate note, in regards to WWCOB comment about your fans, to be honest I never noticed, although I was sitting the opposite end of the Gills stand (furthest from your supporters), so maybe I just did not pay it attention. Good turn out by your fans at 15 quid a throw, really impressed by the support shown for a nothing game.
The worrying thing BRB is that that was pretty much our strongest side. The only two who perhaps won't feature at the start of the season would be Pritchard (our number 7 today) and Cook (who wore number 11). Yet both of them will be expected to be in the match-day squad each week. Personally I think some tinkering needs doing with the formation used, and when that's done we will be alright. Glad you didn't pick up on some of the nonsense from our fans though . It was mainly just 'pikey chants' mixed with screams of 'c*nt' at every opposition player/member of staff/our own players when they made a mistake. Also, due to the 'privilege' of an open-air stand, a number of 'fans' took it upon themselves to puff away on cigarettes all game and shout out such witty phrases as 'you pikey c*nt' at every passer by and neighbour. Of course it wasn't all of our fans, just a few twits who'd had a bit to drink.
WWOCB thanks for the insight on your team, always difficult to judge as an opposition fan. As for your following faithful, maybe I'm to think skinned and going slightly deaf at my age to bothered by it Sometimes rules (cigarettes) are meant to be broken as long as no one gets hurt
You're a tolerant man, WeWant - I thought that was an atrocious performance. I'm not going to tinker with your analysis, but I thought Cook was as bad as Stephens, and he was dreadful. Agreed as well that the behaviour of a group of our fans was disgusting. Some of them were clearly hammered and their language, apart from that displayed in the mindless chanting was appalling. Glad the stewards moved in. Most outstanding thing of the afternoon was Martin Allen's enormous gut - get in the gym, man...
