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Reply | Pitch video
at 17:33 15 Dec 2025
My many residencies obviously include your head |
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Reply | Refwatch - Leamington v Rochdale (FA Trophy)
at 09:13 15 Dec 2025
How does that compare with their attendances in the NL?
How many might have turned up at COA if we'd hosted the Leamington fixture?
Not asking you specifically, just musing on the nature of the fixture, which no doubt Gateshead fans did, just a couple of weeks before the expense of Christmas |
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 20:23 11 Dec 2025
No problem
I agree with every word. We underestimate the pressure on those teams trying to play catchup with us. Let's keep it that way |
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 19:31 11 Dec 2025
This is the reality
There's people who post, or simply vote on here who're subject to what one might call "magical thinking". Sorting the pitch out is "heroic" ffs
What's truly worth thinking about is the absolute hard-headedness involved in both escaping this league and taking Dale into the future, as our owners are focussed upon
I'm 100% with them. No doubt a Trophy win would be welcome (i wasn't thinking anything other than that when we played Spennymoor last season) but this time round, let's just get the pitch sorted and get the all-important league games on
The rest is bollocks
[Post edited 11 Dec 19:32]
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 18:22 11 Dec 2025
I think you're right
What an absolute pain that would be, as we try to conserve our energies for the only objective that matters
Of course, we could win both the FA Trophy and top the league. JM referred to having a squad capable of taking on both. Let's see how that works out, now we're starting to incur injuries, and with the winter barely upon us |
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 21:58 10 Dec 2025
Great result
What we don't take account of is the pressure our results puts on others. Carlisle knew they needed to win tonight, and that's the kind of pressure that can take its toll |
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Reply | Pitch video
at 19:46 10 Dec 2025
Sorry, but that's just bollocks
It's been planned for, carefully assessed by our owners. Don't do them the injustice of having us undertake something that might not work but for some kind of miracle. They're better than that |
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 19:42 10 Dec 2025
I wish those Daleys making the journey to Leamington on Saturday well. Hopefully a good day out with the right result (no-one looks to welcome a defeat)
That changes nothing. As i said earlier, coming through the fixture unscathed, in terms of further injuries, is the biggest priority so that our squad isn't further hampered in the main business of not just this season, but all seasons - progression up the pyramid, after the awful descent though the EFL trapdoor
FA Trophy? Bleuuuurrrrrrrghhh..... [Post edited 10 Dec 19:43]
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 19:26 10 Dec 2025
What Dale fans predominantly thought as that last minute header dropped in is well-documented, on this forum
It could be summarised as follows: "We have a manager who, whilst doing reasonably well given the cards he was dealt, can't handle the real crunch games"
Nothing has changed since then, since we've only had one "winner takes all" fixture, against York, at home, in the cup
Maybe Aldershot fans would swap that "huge" moment in their history to be at the top end of the table. Who knows? It's ALL that matters [Post edited 10 Dec 19:33]
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 19:10 10 Dec 2025
I take your point about all NL clubs having to play in this competition. Last year's winners, Aldershot (an easy victory over the team that outlasted us at the COA) will no doubt still be basking in the glory as they languish in the relegation zone
It's meaningless |
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Reply | Carlisle v Woking
at 18:09 10 Dec 2025
Saturday v Leamington is such a waste of a fixture. We really should be taking on a NL opponent in our continued effort to build our points total
Couldn't care less if we beat Leamington, it's meaningless in the scheme of things. People point to "income" from progressing, but placed against the context of pitch replacement it's peanuts
The competition at the top of the NL is fierce. It's all that matters. I wish the lads well on Saturday, but mainly to come through unscathed |
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Reply | Pitch video
at 11:14 9 Dec 2025
Why? If they've said they can do it, it'll be based on a hard-headed assessment. Perhaps the Bromley pitch wasn't the only one OBI were working on during the summer months - would be surprising if it was - and therefore their equipment and manpower was spread more thinly. They're not "heroes" ffs but a business
Good luck to them [Post edited 9 Dec 11:16]
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Reply | Th'Ashes Down Under
at 16:05 8 Dec 2025
It's a fair question. The problem with central contracts (and some of them have already been highlighted by others) is that players, especially England players, are entering the test arenas the opposite of "battle hardened"
Take Jamie Smith. He's immensely talented with the bat and a good enough keeper, but he's just not done the hard yards behind the stumps that's required to build up concentration levels. Result? He's faltered, both behind the stumps and with the bat. Putting him into the Ashes cauldron with so little match practice behind him is madness, and the same might apply to others [Post edited 8 Dec 16:07]
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Reply | Th'Ashes Down Under
at 14:09 8 Dec 2025
I disagree TS
The single most important attribute that Stokes brings is leadership, perhaps the most important attribute of any captain. What he then does is try to lead by example, which can result in either great innings or great bowling spells (his first test bowling was superb, you're too easily forgetting this)
The problem: no-one to tell him when he's over-bowling himself. That's where he needs a more objective manager, who's not a "mate". England were in a very dire state when McCullum took over. His initial psychological boosts worked wonders but they're past their sell-by date now
As for Stokes' fields... someone like Root should be providing input. Does Root step up with that advice? He himself wasn't a great captain. Brooks as vice-captain is withering on the vine, too much too soon. There's very few "perfect" captains, all have their strengths and weaknesses, and i repeat, there's absolutely no-one else to fill Stokes' boots right now. He's big enough to take this tour on board and stay for the return Ashes at home, which could be his swansong [Post edited 8 Dec 16:01]
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Reply | Th'Ashes Down Under
at 12:05 8 Dec 2025
Stokes is absolutely the right man to be captain, but the Stokes /McCullum partnership has run its course, a glorious experiment while it lasted but now outrun its usefulness. It's McCullum who needs to go
There's no obvious replacement for Stokes, but he needs a manager who can tell him and other players the hard truths. The likes of Brook and Smith are in danger of having very promising careers ruined by not having more discerning management who'll rein them in
[Post edited 8 Dec 12:06]
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Southend United
at 22:10 7 Dec 2025
I'd prefer the statue of Gracie Fields melted down and recast as SPO, bang in the middle of the town centre. He's already done more for the town than she ever did |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Southend United
at 12:43 7 Dec 2025
They've been noted, and put in the drawer marked "Showing signs that he can produce a successful team"
There's no "fairness" involved when the actual crunch games kick off. That jury remains out... until it's in |
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Reply | Refwatch - Rochdale v Southend United
at 12:23 7 Dec 2025
it is more enjoyable, and "looking past" his words is one thing but as yet, he's actually achieved nothing, as opposed to KH as one example
When he starts to look past the errors he's made in the really key fixtures and take us over those lines, then - and only then - might my attitude change |
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