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Post by Drew Steignton on Mar 2, 2020 11:55:35 GMT
My approach has long been that there's plenty to do other than football during the summer; far less to do during the winter other than football (especially in terms of spending time outdoors). The idea that football makes winter Saturdays different from the other days of the week has become even stronger in my mind since I started to work less. And now, of course, I can visit the countryside on the other days.
I'm adjusted to the cycle. I've invariably seen enough football by May, then don't miss it and completely blank the big June/July tournaments on TV (which I have done for over twenty years). My preference has also survived my disconnection with cricket following my move away from Taunton.
I'm mindful that I'm becoming older and my attitude may shift. Mind you, I was sat next to a ninety-two-year-old at the football on Saturday whilst using the season ticket of an eighty-four-year-old who is recovering from a knee operation. Up to now I've missed very few games because of illness or the weather (save for late postponements rather my reluctance to venture out). But there are signs of me becoming "fair weather"; I stay closer to home on foul days. If I make it to sixty-five under the current regime I shall be well-pleased (and will remain so even if I don't).
My big change has been to give up most of my midweek football. That's partly because I'm enjoying watching slightly less football anyway; also because - when using public transport - it's either impossible, too time-consuming or less appealing at 9.30-10pm whatever the weather or time of year.
The idea of a long walk followed by an evening game brings back fond memories. I've certainly walked a fair way down the Teign valley and then watched an evening game at Newton Abbot Spurs; something similar at Buckland Athletic too. That's a while ago now; the walk alone would suffice for a good day out these days and the two together would surely involve hobbling at some stage of the day.
One development has been towards making the effort to visit new grounds and interesting places during British Summer Time and settling for a more routine programme (and often better football) in the intervening months. I've grown to like that, although as I'll probably do less travelling in subsequent seasons, I'd now settle for more of my local clubs putting down artificial surfaces so there's always the possibility of a winter match close at hand.
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Post by CC on Mar 7, 2020 17:07:21 GMT
Another 4 goals in Stranraer's net this afternoon hammered another few nails into the team's coffin lid. To be fair, the final two goals came in injury time after the Blues had little option but to throw everything forward but nevertheless 4-1 is a final score that speaks for itself. Such defeats have besmirched the entire season and made the whole thing a miserable slog. It's just as well that the fans will all soon be put out of our misery when relegation becomes a 100% racing certainty.
Quite late in the game at Montrose today the score was 1-1 after Cameron Elliott had scored for the Blues, but the team couldn't hold on to a point. Any optimism following that run of draws has now been blown away; we have still only won twice in the League all season and it looks increasingly likely that we are not going to register a single away win before the campaign comes to a welcome end.
It's not that the players don't try. They don't deserve (and I'm pleased to say don't get) abuse from the stands, but for the rest of the season that may be because there is hardly anyone there to watch them. Stair Park's attendances are already far smaller than everyone else's in the division, and with 3 home games coming up in 8 days I'll be amazed if at least one of them doesn't pull in fewer than 200. I don't feel like seeing the team beaten by Montrose once again on Tuesday and I'm away next weekend but I plan to see the match against Peterhead on St Patrick's Day if only to keep me away from the pub. If my presence pushes the attendance figure above 199 I'll be proud to have done my bit.
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Post by CC on Mar 11, 2020 9:33:03 GMT
Choose life. Choose a big television. Choose a starter home. Choose a football team that never fucking wins. Choose Stranraer!
Relegation seasons take on a momentum of their own, or rather an anti-momentum whereby home matches are lost 0-1 and the previously mild-mannered manager gets into trouble with the ref for complaining about his side not being awarded a penalty kick. As night follows day, at some point in the second half a visiting player will find himself unmarked in the box and will score the decisive goal. We've all been there, apart from Celtic and Arsenal fans which is why they will never be proper football fans; you need some relegations on your CV before you can call yourself a true supporter.
Not that I've got anything to show off about because not only was I not among the 180 at Stair Park last night, it wasnae till 9 o'clock that I remembered there was a match on at all. Like a horror film that you've seen too many times already, there's little pleasure to be gained from a trip to watch the Wee Blues at the moment. Montrose, like the rest of the Third Division, probably look on a match against Stranraer as their big chance to get into the play-offs/pull away from the relegation zone.
It's a sad state of affairs, for the fans and players and particularly for manager Faz Farrell, whose impossible task is to try to turn the whipping boys of the division, on the lowest wages, into a competitive side. Looking at what has happened to Brechin this season there would be little in the way of optimism for 2020/21 were it not for that Ibrox money, which is there for emergencies and not worth splashing out till summer when we begin again in the Fourth Division with a clean slate. The rest of this campaign can only sensibly be used now as a series of practice matches for when we start out next time.
And next season we might find a couple of trips to the Far North included in the schedule, since Brora Rangers are certain to win the Highland League title. All Brora's challengers have fallen away, while in the Lowland League the title is now for Kelty Hearts to lose, with only Bonnyrigg Rose holding on to their coat tails. The fact that both these sides have only left junior football in the last couple of years is an indication of how lucky several sides clubs were to be included in the Lowland League when it was formed. One that's unlikely to still be a member next season is our D&G neighbour, Dalbeattie Star. The Star are heading for relegation and the welcome consolation of a resumption of local derbies against Threave Rovers of Castle Douglas.
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Post by CC on Mar 16, 2020 19:20:04 GMT
Ryan Stevenson has kindly donated all his wages back to the club, which will help Stranraer through the crisis caused by the virus. In truth, the Wee Blues are in a much better position to come through relatively undamaged than most other clubs in the Third & 4th tiers of the SPFL, because we hardly get any money through the turnstiles anyway, having the third lowest attendances in the League, and we also have the Ibrox windfall to keep the bank manager happy. For once, having the lowest wage bill in the division has given Stranraer an advantage. It will be the likes of Clyde, Raith and Falkirk who will probably suffer more severely.
The other effect of the unusual situation might yet be to spare SFC from relegation. Should the season not be completed the best solution would seem to be to reorganise the League so that teams who deserve to be promoted are allowed to go up but no-one is relegated without having had the chance to fight for their place. This would mean a 14 team Premier League, with spin-off effects down the League. While it might seem counter-productive to make the competition larger, with more clubs in it than at present, there are some go-ahead teams outside the League whose presence might actually enhance it. Should Brechin be spared rustication, and Kelty, Brora and one or two others invited in to fill the gaps left by promotion but no relegation in the SPFL, it might do the League some good.
It would be nice to think, also, that people might emerge from this crisis with a more reasonable set of priorities. Football should not be an excuse to throw insults at people who happen to follow a different club. In a situation where we are all in the same boat and coming through an unprecedented set of circumstances together, we might all learn something important about how we should relate to our fellow citizens. Kindness and empathy instead of bitterness and envy would make football grounds, and our towns and cities generally, significantly more pleasant places in which to spend our time.
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Post by CC on Mar 28, 2020 13:20:05 GMT
Reading back bits of this thread seems a bit weird now that the League has frozen and all sport has stopped. Realistically, the 2019/20 season is over. In England every regional league below the 6th tier has been scrapped for the season, with no promotion or relegation. This is a bugger for Vauxhall Motors FC of the North West Counties League Division One South, who had already established an unassailable lead at the top, but I expect they will go up anyway, as they deserve, because there's a good chance that at least one club from the level above will fail to survive the crisis and will leave a consequent vacancy. Indeed, natural selection might well drive several clubs in England, Scotland and Wales into extinction before autumn; it will be a big surprise if it disnae.
For the Wee Blues, deserved relegation looks likely to be avoided, which will make us just about the luckiest team in the history of the Scottish League. The fact is that, despite being miles adrift at the bottom of the table, we still had a one in a million chance of winning all our remaining games and fighting our way into a play-off, and that means that should the season never restart, and I'm sure it's no goany, we shall be allowed to stay in the third tier regardless of whether anyone comes up from below. And as noted above, it must be faced that one or two clubs from higher up the League might be killed off by the lack of income between now and Wha Kens When. Raith Rovers and Partick Thistle have already asked their fans for financial help but I'm not convinced they are going to get very much when the folk who stay in Kirkcaldy and Maryhill contemplate their own empty kitchen cupboards.
It's distasteful to think about Stranraer FC benefiting from coronavirus but it's true, nonetheless, that fans at Stair Park might see an improvement whenever next season begins. When I say "improvement" I suppose I really mean that other clubs, having taken on a big financial hit each, might be dragged down to our level with the consequence that the sort of game we have been losing so frequently this time around might, next time, result in a win. Also, as better sides set their players loose in order to save money, we might inherit some of them and bolster our own squad with slightly more skilful and experienced free transfers than usual. But we'll leave that particular subject there for now because, frankly, what happens on the fitba pitch currently seems even less important than it normally does.
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Post by CC on Apr 2, 2020 21:50:39 GMT
Ryan Stevenson's gesture in giving up his wages and paying Stranraer FC back what he has earned since joining the club from Troon looks even more impressive a gesture today, after the English PFA chairman Gordon Taylor said that players in England's Premier League were justified in continuting to draw their full salaries.
While Gordon Taylor was talking bullshit Stenhousemuir manager Davie Irons was announcing that he is giving up his wages entirely. As well as being Stenny's boss Davie is a police officer, and consequently is a key worker still patrolling every day in the Annandale area.
"Morally it seemed the right thing to do" said Davie, and it's not often we hear the word "morally" in a football context.
It wouldnae bother me if every football club in the world went bust and every league was scrapped. We could begin again at Year Zero, with the game played for fun and entertainment. Teams that wished to form a competition could do so while others might prefer to simply play friendlies, but everyone would recognise the need for each club to live within its means.
Bill McLaren played Rugby Union for Hawick till he developed TB and had to retire, after which he became a BBC commentator famous for his ""dancing in the streets" catchphrase. Bill played the game when it was all amateur, and if you came from Hawick you played for Hawick and for the reputation of the town, just as your opponents came from and were glad to represent Gala, Melrose and so on. Bill said that the difference between the game pre- and post-professionalism was that whereas in his day the game on Saturday was a welcome break from drudgery, in the pro era the game itself has become a drudge for the players. It's their job, so they can't enjoy it in the same way that the amateurs used to. It's no fun any more.
Gordon Taylor is paid a ludicrous amount of money. He could give up his own salary for ever and he would never have any financial worries because he must be a millionaire many times over. He represents some of the greediest and mardiest young men who have ever kicked a football and he is insulting our intelligence by insisting that Premier League players have the right to keep drawing their enormous salaries, which could pay for ventilators and PPE a zillion times over, while they aren't even playing the game but are sitting at home in their gated mansions. I wonder if the word "morally" exists in his vocabulary at all.
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