Bethnal

Not a lovely watch, but a lovely result. Some really great performances. Ayala, Carter, Chapman, Gallagher. Encouraging to grind it out and not crumble when we concede a well-struck effort. We were unlucky that the ref seemed timid as Forest were leaving a foot in, but we battled through that period and bounced back once we conceded. Lot of grit and determination, really pleasing to see.

Do they seriously have company f***ing cars?

If you ever fancy it on the off-chance, hopefully we’ll have a little group attending games.

If I can hold out a little longer, I remain confident of bringing Zuckerberg down, so it’s a pass for now. Whatever happened to email?!

No better advert for BRFCS in “transfer mode” than me right now. This afternoon I was quietly commenting that there were question marks around Obafemi’s professionalism. I’ve read this thread today, watched one YouTube video and am now beginning to think £7m to kill the other interest is necessary.

Sadly no longer on Facebook!

Totally agree, there’s nothing to say a situation at one club will repeat at another, but the bit about “playing one good game” is a worry. I think a lot of young players have a good game or a spell and become disenchanted that they haven’t nailed down a spot. If he comes to us, I hope it’s a positive for him and he can knuckle down and put the graft in. Still worth noting. I’ve seen another where the player himself admits he could be more professional, which I think is just about positive to see. Knowing you can do better is a strong attribute to have, if you want to succeed.

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/southampton-fc-news/saints-michael-obafemi-hasenhuttl-st-marys/ Seen a few articles kicking around like this.

I had a look for it but couldn’t see anything active online anymore.

Apologies if this is in the wrong bit, wasn’t sure where to put it. Not many this year (and I’ll probably give Millwall this weekend a miss) but for the very few games that are London/South East: is there any coordination for stragglers like me left without any match day buddies?

Nice to be back after the summer, isn’t it?

What an excellent move that was, so unlucky. Killer pass from Butterworth. He’s a long-term prospect.

Kaminski had a shocker there

I’ll say one thing: I’m a fiend for watching a side in blue and white play well and score goals. Stick it in my veins. Lots of little things that could be picked at and you suspect Swansea aren’t a barometer for doing well in this league, but it’s just nice to see us play well, so far. Again for 45, please.

Buckley looks a totally different player.

Dolan isn’t much of a focal point, just yet. Some poor decisions from rushing. Could be nerves or whatever.

Standard of set pieces from us so far has been poor. Needs to be better.

Promising opening, but Swansea will grow into this.

I’m watching via Rovers TV. I have moronically stumped up the £170 intl viewing subscription for the whole season, although works out around £4/game.

Shout me down as a madman, BRFCS, but hear me out first: Daniel Sturridge is a free agent and has been for a while. There are all the reasons in the world why he wouldn't come, we shouldn't sign him and why it might totally not work out for anyone. But as a redemption narrative, somewhere around a "pay per game"/weighted towards appearance fees remuneration and the fact that he seems to have straightened himself out a bit after definitely losing his way. So crazy it just might work..? (It's not, is it? It's just crazy.)

See what you mean, but I was thinking Travis, Davenport and this guy as the three we'll end up playing most often (again, if it comes off). I agree, I think Rothwell more likely to go than stay.

That's Buckley not getting a game, if it happens.

Looking at the most recent minutes, it’s all very softball. Absolutely no probing. Strikes me that the fans’ forum is more interested in being able to ask questions than asking questions of any consequence. Maybe that’s seen as the safer tactic, but I can’t say I see any point in a fans’ forum if it’s not applying pressure at a time like this. Correct me if I’m wrong, of course, but with a Twitter presence as it is and no working website, are they even trying?

Some bleak reading in the last few pages, but I find it very easy to believe. Owners aren’t so much asleep at the wheel as curled up on the backseat with a brick on the accelerator. A genuine tragedy if the legacy of Jack Walker was dismantled to save face of a trio of spoilt, bratty siblings on the other side of the world. I have nothing but ill will towards them. The type of things I wish for them are possibly incriminating to share publicly, but I do hope they get what’s coming to them. Having said that, Jack himself would say that no one person (or group of people) defines the club. Players, managers, owners - even fans! - all come and go. The colours, the crest, the history, the town are what last, what defines us. I think a part of me has always held onto the shred of possibility that we could be a top-flight team again, that we could go up, grind out and stay up. Before the 90s, we hadn’t been one for a while, so I suppose older posters on here can point to that as the norm for us. Is it so bad? Well, it’d be awful while these owners and the litany of chancers they’ve employed were still involved with us, no doubt. I don’t spend money with the club anymore, where I can help it. Occasionally I’ll buy a match pass to watch when I’ve the time to sit down and watch. The new kits have definitely piqued my interest. But the thing I understand about business is that - while the average consumer has very little bearing on management’s KPI’s - mass desertion (while maybe not a huge effect on top/bottom line) - works. When you have absolutely no customer base, it’s impossible to ignore. One way or another - whether the owners are still at the helm or whether they drop us in some way - it feels like administration is pretty nailed-on. There’s no way anyone buys us outright in our existing state and the owners have been unresponsive to offers, if memory serves me right. Tragic, genuinely awful. It will be absolutely heartbreaking, it will feel like a bereavement. Part of the reason I don’t spend money with the club where I can help it is I’m essentially ashamed. I love every pre-Venky’s memory, I absolutely cherish it. But I’m embarrassed to be a fan of a plaything of some of the most two-bit amateur-hour morons that have ever been involved in football, Waggott included. When it comes, administration will be mercy, essentially. And with that, comes the opportunity to move on. Agency. An opportunity to learn, an opportunity to reminisce, to bond, to share. If there are enough of us feeling that way, there will be a way to build out of it, there will be something to be proud of again. We’re all masochists for still following the club, maybe out of duty, compulsion, compassion or delusion. It’s going to be a painful watch, at times, but at least we’re all still watching, at least we all still care (to whatever extent!) and maybe we’ll one day have something to be proud of, of our own making.

I’m really not one for quoting or getting into disagreements on here but I’ve read two or three of your posts and I just fundamentally disagree with your assessments. Magloire made at least two runs into the opposition half from the back and Nyambe is a very effective forward player. If the expectation is that he’s constantly getting balls in from out wide, then you need to broaden the scope of understanding what an effective wide player is. Overlaps, underlaps and his stamina are crucial for how this kind of system would work and he does all three well enough to be effective. Not got world class delivery as an end product, but more than effective. I just don’t see how you came to your conclusions at all.