Tonight's Game

Ross was there, and happy to chat to everyone. He reckons he can't wait for saturday, but was worried that he'll get booed by us. I'm not entirely sure that will happen, to be fair. As Timbo says, I suspect he might get a bigger cheer than he'd expect if he puts one home.

First time I'd ever chatted to him to any length. He seems like a nice, smart lad who clearly still has a lot of affection for this club. Ah well.

I can't think why any supporter would boo him. He always gave his all for the team and left us with some great memories.

Would last night's attendance of 330 be the lowest ever for an FA Cup tie at TP?

On the Stearn front... last night was the classic setup for him to come on and score a couple...

I wonder what his opinions were on a tactic of bring a short wingman with pace on from the bench... seemed all rather familiar to me

Certainly will not be booing Stearn, always felt that he was not the easiest of players to manage and our management team did not have the necessary skills to get the best from him.

I think he will get a very good reaction, though not solely for the right reasons from some fans.

It was suggested last night that I should stay near our bench to take photos as if he does score he might head in that direction.

I'd be careful - a young chap was sent to the stand for being near the away dug out last night. Amazed the ref allowed that to go on for as long as he did.

comrade powell wrote:I'd be careful - a young chap was sent to the stand for being near the away dug out last night. Amazed the ref allowed that to go on for as long as he did.

Feel like we have only half a story here.
Was this young chap in the crowd?
If so, not really up to the ref unless the bench let him know.
Apparently, our bench was on the receiving end of some hateful stuff on Sat

I certainly won't be booing Ross Stearn even if he scores a hat trick and we lose 5-0.  Every chance he would have stayed but we can't match the money.
As for the 'sack the management brigade', well they just don't get it.

2weirdtown wrote:As for the 'sack the management brigade', well they just don't get it.

I suppose we could dispense with them and try it without any management, cos' that's how it would have to be I guess. I wonder who would we find to do all those unpaid hours watching/scouting players?

<sarcasm>
Rollo & Coupe... that may be the only low (no) cost alternative...
</sarcasm>

that's not sarcasm. At best patronising, at worst insulting.

On Stearn, dont recall anyone mentioning him in August, so I dont reckon he would be the quick fix now. Nicholson may have been a bigger loss on and off the pitch that we can assess. Perhaps some team is due a hiding from us..and I dont mean in the Somerset Cup.

Nicholson seems to be making some progress at Torquay. Put in a couple of youngsters into back 4 away against Woking and they did well in the 2-2 draw. Comes on the back of winning at Southport.

The slide was well underway whilst Nicholson was here.
He has played in 12 of our 15 game this season - up until Bodmin
The deterioration in form started in game 7
I think attributing the dip in form to the loss of Nicholson is simplistic / wrong.

Roman Mike wrote:

comrade powell wrote:I'd be careful - a young chap was sent to the stand for being near the away dug out last night. Amazed the ref allowed that to go on for as long as he did.

Feel like we have only half a story here.
Was this young chap in the crowd?  
If so, not really up to the ref unless the bench let him know.
Apparently, our bench was on the receiving end of some hateful stuff on Sat

The other half of the story is that those on the Harlow bench were joined by a boy who looked about 12. He held up their number boards for substitutions. The delayed ko after their second goal was caused by the ref speaking to their management and sending the boy down the tunnel. The gobby Harlow fans at the front of the stand shouted some comments at the lino, so I assume he had got the ref's attention. He wasn't the only child by the dug out - a young female Yuffie appeared to be their photographer and frequently walked in front of our bench to take snaps. The 2 kids appeared to be the children of one of the visiting directors in the stand. There was a bloke in some official capacity present (ref's assessor?) and he told the Harlow people what he thought at the end.

And yes, as others have mentioned, the verbals meted out on Saturday to our team, particularly Pratt, the management and fans was disgusting. I'm usually fully in favour of Junior thanking visiting fans for coming - I'm glad he didn't last night.

comrade powell wrote:Would last night's attendance of 330 be the lowest ever for an FA Cup tie at TP?

Since they were recorded (early 80s), yes. Comfortably beat 388 for a 2nd Qualifying Round replay at home to Basingstoke in 1997, which we also lost.

Yes I did make a reference to paralysis.......momentum has been lost........

McCootie was injured! Where did the holiday rumour come from.....doesn't hep to get that sort of misinformation!

He's gone from Australia to Portugal to the RUH in the space of about 18 hours. His head must be spinning even more.

Does £7.5k mean anything to the players and management? Yes it helps the club but does it help them? So it isn't an incentive. The incentive is to pit yourself against higher level teams especially when you reach the first round proper. That doesn't appear to be any influence on the players.

They have regularly played like strangers in cup games. It has come to be my expectation.

I should point out that they have been playing like strangers for a few weeks in the league. If it wasn't for the good start we would be rightly concerned about our form. At the moment I cannot see what would cause the players to lift their game.

If as has been suggested the management are safe no matter what then presumably the same can be said for the players. They can't lift their game for a cup tie so when would they do so in the league? Us fans just have to put up with whatever is dished out.

Or stop coming.

Luton Roman wrote:On Stearn, dont recall anyone mentioning him in August, so I dont reckon he would be the quick fix now. Nicholson may have been a bigger loss on and off the pitch that we can assess. Perhaps some team is due a hiding from us..and I dont mean in the Somerset Cup.

On this, we are mentioning him because he was there last night, he is playing us on Saturday, his replacement Davies flattered to deceive in August and is now on his way out having disappointed recently. It would be very difficult not to speak about Stearn in the circumstances.

comrade powell wrote:

Roman Mike wrote:

comrade powell wrote:I'd be careful - a young chap was sent to the stand for being near the away dug out last night. Amazed the ref allowed that to go on for as long as he did.

Feel like we have only half a story here.
Was this young chap in the crowd?  
If so, not really up to the ref unless the bench let him know.
Apparently, our bench was on the receiving end of some hateful stuff on Sat

The other half of the story is that those on the Harlow bench were joined by a boy who looked about 12. He held up their number boards for substitutions. The delayed ko after their second goal was caused by the ref speaking to their management and sending the boy down the tunnel. The gobby Harlow fans at the front of the stand shouted some comments at the lino, so I assume he had got the ref's attention. He wasn't the only child by the dug out - a young female Yuffie appeared to be their photographer and frequently walked in front of our bench to take snaps. The 2 kids appeared to be the children of one of the visiting directors in the stand. There was a bloke in some official capacity present (ref's assessor?) and he told the Harlow people what he thought at the end.

And yes, as others have mentioned, the verbals meted out on Saturday to our team, particularly Pratt, the management and fans was disgusting. I'm usually fully in favour of Junior thanking visiting fans for coming - I'm glad he didn't last night.

Note to yourself and your whingers. The young lad on the bench, if I am right from my days officiating, including many times at your ground as now living in Dorset having moved down from Harlow. If the laws of association football have not changed in the last 3 years then you can not have anyone under the age of 16 on the bench. whether named on the team sheet or not. So correctlt removed although 86th minute a bit pointless I feel, but correct in Law. The young kid taking photos, was in fact a 19, soon to be 20year old club photographer called Heather, she cant help being small.

Finally to the verbals, as I have said, I have officiated at Twerton Park on numerous occasions in 2011/12/13 (since retired injured) The crowd over the far side can more than hold their own when it comes to dishing out verbals and derogatory remarks so please do not go down the goody 2 shoes route. There are good and bad at EVERY club. I am not condoning the behaviour of some of our fans on Saturday, but pot / kettle springs to mind.

To the guy who we bought a drink for on Saturday and who kindly and graciously stayed to see us out of the ground and to congratulate us and wish us well at Braintree, I would like to pass on all of our thanks. True support is what keeps non league going.

Best wishes for the rest of your season. Mike

Dorset Red, sorry to hear you haven't got great memories of our crowd when officiating at Twerton. However, I can assure you that visiting fans are always made welcome and most speak warmly of their visits.  As a fan of the non league game I'm sure you'll agree that the antics of many Harlow fans on Saturday were out of order and the club's stewards failed in their duty. To be fair, you said that you didn't condone it but I disagree that EVERY club has this problem. If that was the case, segregation would be a feature at this level - thank goodness it's not.
Good luck at Braintree - your team did Harlow proud against us and I hope your big day out isn't spoilt by some foul mouthed idiots.

Following a suggestion from turnstyle13, this thread has been split with the posts concentrating on the Bid's progress in a new thread...

https://bathcityfc.forumotion.co.uk/t966-bid-progress

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