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Reply | Supporting QPR
at 23:54 2 May 2025
You support QPR because it's your club and that's that.
Most match-going fans will never or rarely see their team win a major trophy. We get the odd promotion (usually a few seasons after a miserable relegation) and we get memorable wins along the way in derbies or games we weren't expected to win. We sometimes have absolute sh ithouse owners who threaten our clubs' existence, and we sometimes get benevolent but clueless owners who threaten our clubs' existence. We get ownerships who view people who have loyally followed their clubs and held season tickets for decades, as an inconvenient impediment to revenue growth. We have TV companies who actively seem to conspire with football authorities and the railway companies to make our lives as difficult and costly as possible.
But at its best, a football club is a proper community. The day after my mum died, I went with my dad to watch his local football team, where he's a season ticket holder. Between getting to the turnstiles and kick-off, he must have had 15+ people pass on their sympathies, invite him round for dinner, etc. The kindness that he was shown had me in bits. They've even stuck a plaque on a seat for my mum - free of charge and unsolicited - even though she never went to a match in her life. My dad goes to watch them every week, sits in that seat, and I know that he has the company of some great people that he otherwise probably wouldn't see, and that even though he's in his 80's, it's something he is still buzzing about when I speak to him midweek, and on a Saturday morning. That's what football can do for you.
If you're lucky enough to get to matches, then for most of you, I'm sure you will have had more laughs, and deep chats with family and friends that you go to matches with, than the average football on the telly fan will have had watching Liverpool in the pub this season. My joint favourite season is still the Micky Adams promotion from division 4. We still talk about that season all the time. For those of us who don't support the biggest clubs, our successes might be more modest than those of the richest clubs, but they're probably even sweeter. Life won't always been a grind - you'll celebrate again. As the great Micky Adams used to say: keep the faith.
PS. Sorry, I've had a drink... [Post edited 2 May 23:56]
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Reply | Cifuentes on gardening leave
at 18:48 30 Apr 2025
I remember being about 16 years old, and waiting to cross the Fulham Palace Road, when an old woman pulled at my sleeve. I turned to look at her, she must have been at least 80, she had long white hair, a witches hat, and a Blue Peter badge drawn on her cape. I will never forget what she said as we waited for the lights to change:
"When Wise and Ferdinand wrecked the garden,
QPR's prospects they did harden
They desecrated the holy land of Blue Peter
Now they are cursed to always teeter
Between 15th and 16th in the Championship"
We laughed it off at the time, but now... I dunno. Maybe there was something in it after all? |
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Reply | Cifuentes on gardening leave
at 11:08 30 Apr 2025
I saw Cifuentes' cousin on the school run this morning, and wanting to get a scoop for you lot, I said, "So, what's going on with Marti then?" They shrugged their shoulders and said, "I don't know". Determined not to be fobbed-off, I followed my opening question up with "really?" to which they replied "Honestly". So, there you have it, more-or-less straight from the horse's mouth. I hope this clears things up. |
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Reply | New R...
at 07:28 30 Apr 2025
Congratulations, mate. It's a lot of graft but probably the most rewarding thing you'll ever do x 1,000,000 and loads of fun. I hope you're all well. |
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Reply | Rest of the Championship thread
at 22:51 28 Apr 2025
Watched the game with a load of City fans and most are convinced that they will miss out. PNE very happy to shi t house and if City don't score early, or if they concede first, then they will struggle. Can't see Millwall getting more than a draw at Burnley, but not beyond possibility that Blackburn win at Sheff Utd.
Having now watched Armstrong across a season, I have to say that he is never a centre-forward, and not great out wide either. I've (sadly) seen 30-odd City games this season and Armstrong has maybe had 6 decent/good games in that time. Despite his build and pace, he never bullies defenders, presses half-heartedly, rarely gets in behind defences, and always snatches at chances. Of course, he may improve but his signing has not been a success to date. |
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Reply | How Much Our Kid?
at 15:13 23 Apr 2025
It's the same at Fulham. I've just got to a point where the club can fu ck-off. Every time someone buys a ticket at £70-160 down at Fulham, it encourages the club to take the pi ss even more the next season. If they want to turn the Cottage into some sort of £££ Premier League football theme park for tourists, there's not much I can do other than sit it out until we're sh it again.
I'm part of a group of 20+ kids and adults that have season tickets together at Bristol City (I want my son to support his local team with his mates), and once you deduct the price of the free shirt that the kids get, it works out something daft like 50p a game for the kids, and adult season tickets in those blocks are about £16-17 per game. All of us know that if City did make it into the Premier League (spoiler alert: they won't) and stop up (they wouldn't) then ticket prices would rocket and the number of blocks that are set aside for discounted family tickets would inevitably be drastically cut given the relatively small capacity of the Gate. As someone who grew up with football costing about the same as going to the cinema, and remembers many clubs offering cheap entry for the unemployed when I was a kid, I hate the idea of people being priced out of watching their team. |
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Reply | Green Army worth a punt?
at 09:21 23 Apr 2025
I think Luton will stop up. I was there on Monday against Bristol City and they were a complete pain in the ars e to play against. Very limited, very, very direct, and a lot of big lumps running round bashing into people, but City really struggled with the physical nature of the game. With the crowd behind them, I can see them beating Cov, and then WBA away on the last day seems doable too. Shame as I would quite like them to go down. |
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Reply | Best Player That Each Club Has Produced
at 23:27 17 Apr 2025
If you're going to be silly, you might as well say Dean Coney. And I've not even mentioned World Cup winner, George Cohen. Johnny Haynes - genuine legend of English football. |
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Reply | Best Player That Each Club Has Produced
at 13:21 17 Apr 2025
Gareth Barry came through at Brighton and then signed for Villa.
Fulham - Johnny Haynes (captained England 22 times, scored 18 goals in 56 games for England, 146 goals in 594 games for Fulham). The absolute Don. |
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Reply | Preston roll call......
at 18:36 15 Apr 2025
If you like your ale/craft beer, then the Moorbrook is a good spot about 15 mins walk from the ground. It's got a beer garden and did decent pizzas. Not sure if they have any rules re colours, but we were clearly not PNE and the locals were all sound. |
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Reply | Great Football Food (Non QPR Obvs)
at 08:34 3 Apr 2025
Shepherds pie at Kiddy. Size and weight of a brick, easily the best Shepherds pie I've ever had. Crispy on top. 10/10.
The first chicken balti pie I ever had was at Walsall in about 1990. So, so good. You always remember your first time.
A Forest mate took me to this little shop in West Bridgford, that I think only sold pork rolls on match days. Absolutely lush.
Pasties down at Torquay - was battered and hungry, so spent most of the game eating pasties.
Worst thing ever eaten at a game: Scotch pie at Partick Thistle that looked and tasted like it had been in a cupboard since about 1954. Not even brown sauce could make it palatable. Had to give up 1/3rd of the way through. Absolutely minging. |
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Reply | Chelsea owner Tod Boehly
at 10:43 1 Apr 2025
Chelsea have reported a pre-tax profit of £124m in their financial results for the year ending June 2026.
Operating losses for Chelsea FC Holdings of £126m were offset by the sale of season ticket holder, Darren Hopkins (52, Leatherhead) to BlueCo 22 Properties Ltd, a deal between companies under the control of the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership.
Without that, Chelsea may have made a significant loss.
At the time of the purchase, BlueCo 22 Properties ownership issued the following statement to investors: "At BlueCo 22 Properties, we are constantly reviewing our portfolios and looking to buy non-profit-making businesses from Chelsea FC for inflated sums. When the opportunity arose to buy Darren Hopkins, a season ticket holder with 22 years experience of attending Chelsea FC matches at the Shed stand, it was a no-brainer. We believe that Darren is an undervalued asset, and at £250m, we consider him to be a great investment opportunity.
Despite now been owned by BlueCo 22 properties, Darren's new role will see him continue to serve as a non-fee-charging season ticket holder at Stamford Bridge, but for accounting purposes, he will now be registered in the Cayman Islands. We are confident that this transaction is in full compliance with the Premier League rules. Let's go Chelsea!" [Post edited 1 Apr 10:44]
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Reply | Liverpool Newcastle Cup Final
at 11:47 17 Mar 2025
Saturday evening. Peter Drury's wife knocks gently on the door of the study, enters the room and places a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits on corner of the desk.
"How's it going?" she asks her husband, "Are you almost there?"
"Yes, I think I'm almost there now. Sorry about missing your birthday lunch earlier" he says, squeezing her hand and offering an apologetic smile.
"That's alright, Peter, I know you have a big day tomorrow. I know I don't know much about football, but would you like to try it out on me?"
"Okay, if you're sure...AND THERE IT IS! SEVENTY YEARS IN THE MAKING! FOR TWO THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY SIX DAYS THEY HAVE PATIENTLY WAITED AT THE CATHEDRAL ON THE HILL, THE CHURCH OF ST JAMES'S, BUT NOW THE GEORDIE NATION FINALLY HAS A NEW KING, KING EDDIE HOWE, KING OF THE GEORDIES! THE BIGG MARKET JUST GOT A LITTLE BIT BIGGER! FIRE UP THE STOTTIES MAM! WE'RE BRINGING THE CUP HOME! THE TYNE, THAT PROUD RIVER OF COAL, STEEL AND THE BOAT DISCO WILL BE OVERFLOWING WITH GEORDIE TEARS TONIGHT AS KING EDDIE HOWE BRINGS A TROPHY HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LIFETIME! FROM DAN BURN TO OUSEBURN, FROM BYKER GROVE TO WEMBLEY WAY, THE TOON ARMY ARE NO LONGER MARCHING ON EMPTY STOMACHS BECAUSE THIS TEAM, THIS GEORDIE TEAM OF BLACK AND WHITE HISTORY MAKERS HAVE FED THEM A BLACK AND WHITE TROPHY! THE GHOST OF SIR BOBBY ROBSON WILL BE DRINKING BROON ALE UP IN HEAVEN TONIGHT AND RAISING A TOAST WITH SIR JACKIE MILBURN AND SIR KEVIN KEEGAN, ALTHOUGH KEVIN KEEGAN IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE THANK GOD! WOH ME LADS, YE SHUDDA SEEN US GANNING! ALL THE LADS AND LASSES! WELL THEY HAVE NOW! What do you think? Too much?"
"No Peter, I think it's just right. Well done." |
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Reply | Cricket- South Africa
at 07:24 11 Mar 2025
If you do go to Cape Town, then do the Cape Point day trip with this mob: https://www.convoytours.com/cape-point-tour/
I thought the guide/business owner was going to be a bit too wacky for me and that it would be hard work being in a mini-bus with him all day, but he was such a good laugh and a lovely fella. When he dropped us back off at our digs, I was genuinely gutted to think I would never see him again! Really knowledgeable and the day is timetabled to avoid the crowds. |
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Reply | Ten-man Baggies latest to trap QPR in low block ball-ache – Report
at 15:23 10 Mar 2025
I love our coaches to bits, but it is insane. And on the very rare occasion that one of the defenders involved panics and tries to smash it down the pitch, it either goes straight to one of the opposition who is camped on the edge of our box, or lands somewhere between our box and halfway, where we have no players because most of our team are still in our bloody box. I'm getting stressed just thinking about it! |
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Reply | Ten-man Baggies latest to trap QPR in low block ball-ache – Report
at 15:06 10 Mar 2025
I am currently finding it incredibly frustrating watching my son's team doing the pass-it-around-in-the-box bit whenever they get a goal-kick. Usually on a pitch like a ploughed field, and when by the third time they've done it, even the kids on the other side have figured out exactly what is going to happen. We've conceded so many goals this way that you find yourself hoping the ref gives the opposition a corner rather than a goal-kick. Still, trust the process. |
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Reply | Cricket- South Africa
at 10:32 10 Mar 2025
I was chatting about this yesterday with a mate who has just returned from South Africa. He absolutely loved it and did a classic Garden Route trip. We did 18 days there about 15 years ago and thought it was an absolutely incredible place. People from every background were ridiculously friendly and helpful, the scenery is stunning, great wildlife, the food and drink are great, the driving is easy, and it's brilliant value for money.
You do have to keep your wits about you with valuables etc, and South-African friends advised getting taxis pretty much anywhere after dark, as well as limiting driving at night, but we had such a good time there. Highlights of the trip for me were Cape Town, Kynsna, Franschhoek, Montagu (only a small place, but so peaceful and relaxed), and Addo National Park. |
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