27 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Definitely. When I was younger the local ABC was ran by "Mad Frank". MMA was up and coming back then and most of us went to Frank's to box. Some of the roadmen lads at school would come down occasionally and Frank was perfect at bringing them down to 'normality'. He'd put them in the ring to spar with one of the better lads and they'd walk out with a different mindset. Mad Frank died when we were 15 sadly, and unfortunately a few of the roadmen lads who boxed with us are either dead or in jail now. I can't help but think if Frank had stayed around a few of them might have stayed out of trouble. One of the best boxers I've seen is doing a 10 year stretch for armed robbery right now. There's certainly a dozen or so success cases from the gym. I think it has since shut down. 

Personally speaking I was always a bit of a tearaway as a youth. I always lacked mental discipline and it got me in a bit of trouble. I started wing-chun and Brazilian ju-jitsu after hitting it off at Dark Circle MMA gym in Wolves when I was 17. Without blowing my own trumpet them two martial arts have instilled a discipline I never thought possible. Whether it was solely the art or a mixture of that and maturing I'm uncertain but, without it, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

From Birmingham there are two big success stories: Leon and Fabian Edwards. I saw Leon train at the Erdington UTC (now a washing machine wholesalers!!!) and he's a whole different animal physically. The level of fitness them pro fighters have is breathtaking. Fabian is a bit different: he recently done time and has come out the other side. He's now in the Bellator and smashing it so will no doubt see him in the UFC at some point. As a final note, both of them have said in the past without MMA they'd probably be in and out of jail all their lives.

 

Good story mate ?

Yep there's definitely an important place in society for those local back street gyms i'd even make these sports an option at school. For the older kids obviously although this present attitude in society would never allow it.  

The story of the Ingle gym in Sheffield highlights all that perfectly along the lines of your Mad Franks.  The rules he implemented there were amazing.  The Brendan version obviously not the latter day PEDS tainted Dominic one.

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Another old boxing saying - " The only thing square in boxing is the ring ".

I boxed at school. Three x three minute rounds. I was a fit as fiddle and it was still by far the most tiring sport I ever took part in Half way through the third round you had a hard time keeping your guard up.

The thing about boxing is when you meet up against somebody better than you it can go South pretty quickly. In football if you meet up against a team better than you then you get beat 6 or 7 nil and it's embarrassing but it's not the end of the world. In boxing you can get physically hurt.

It's great leveler though you can have one person who'd win in a street fight 9 times out of ten. Put gloves on and abide by some rules and the balance might go the other way. 

No better way to sort out differences.

You're right about fitness though the top guys take it to another level.

17 hours ago, Darrenbot said:

I may be showing my age  here but Wasn't there an early 80's private eye tv programme called Shoestring set in Bristol ,maybe he could have helped lol

Eddie Shoestring !   I don't know why i know that as it's all i know of it.

Even he couldn't solve some of Rovers team selections and tactics.

Fury for PM ?

Old saying in boxing that always rings true -- Nothing signed, nothing agreed 

This is just verbal publicity just wait till they get around to trying to thrash out the finer details.  The Fury mob and Warren won't sell their soul to Hearn no chance. Meanwhile Hearn won't fancy a load of gangsters setting it up no doubt this fella has links to the same underworld as Fury's family.

Don't hold your breath for this one all they've done so far is agree it's a 50/50 purse split. That could soon change again.

4 hours ago, rigger said:

I still think a proper training session would have been more sensible. 

They'll probably have another more even friendly before it gets going again. Even if you are competitive and ship a few less against a side like Liverpool you're still never going to be able to play your own brand of football. 

All about getting some mins in the lets again i think.

Don't worry if we start shipping goals when it starts again the non contact social distance training will be to blame. The boys have forgotten how to get close to people or are even a bit afraid too.

Chasing the best current team in the land around though is a good workout to be fair, better than strolling past a non league side at walking pace.

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

@only2garners

Did the FF make it clear to Waggott, not withstanding the obvious cash flow issues the club has, the potential cataclysmic drop in ST sales if the club brushes off the need for any kind of discounted price for next season? 

(Apologies if you didn’t attend)
 

 

Well we can rely on 12000   10000  8000 so we'll set the prices accordingly.....

They do seem to find the money to carry favourites and spew on big money investments easily enough.

Tony will put players first it's why he's so popular with them in fact some seem to please themselves what they do. Smallwood falls into that category he's been allowed to just sit on his contract and collect his wages. Disgusting really, i expect TM will instruct Waggot to hand out short term deals to anyone who wants one so they don't go short whilst getting 'fixed up'.

I understand the clubs situation there's a monumental hole in the cash flow now. Next seasons budget probably doesn't kick in until July after their summer traipse to India to get it signed off. 

However it's still bonkers when you consider how much V's pour in to VLL every year, puzzling in fact.

The Not Proper Prem Champions With an * Forever   6    The 1995 Proper Prem Champions  0

About right given the difference these days..... ?

2 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Must be a nice one....?

It is but he'll never get his money back.

Not a bad screw when you think crowds have fallen further, the stadium is dirty on the outside, he's over estimated ST sales leaving a 300k hole in his budget. Oh and they've blown 12 million on his watch.

As i say every time and will till i'm blue in the face, i'd love to see who is actually on the BRFC/VLL payroll in fine detail. 

With the amount they take in money in the Prem no established club should carry much real debt. Until they fix the complete cash drain that is players wages / agents and other parasites fees and astronomical transfer fees it'll never change.

All people in suits do is figure out ways to get money out of clubs, those at the top should be figuring out ways to keep money in the game and keep it solvent.

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

After reading about the Charlton players yesterday I got thinking about Rovers situation as the start date of June 20th now seems cast in stone. We have two loan players who arguably have been amongst the mainstays of our team whose loan deals are due to expire ten days after the restart. Without them we are severely weakened and I don't believe we would really has say in whether they play beyond June 30th. The decision would lie with their parent club and the players themselves. Uppermost in the clubs and players minds must be fear of injury. Similarly we have several out of contract players who it seems will not offered deals as nothing has happened yet. These include Graham, Bell and Leutwiler who are all part of the first team squad. I saw Graham interviewed yesterday and he mentioned being out of contract but so far no offer of a new deal. He did however mention the possibility of monthly contracts. If Leutwiler and Walton are not available it leaves a massive void in the keeper area. Similarly Bell and Tosin would leave us exposed defensively.

It will clearly be something Mowbray is aware of but something he doesn't have control over.

 

That fine line between letting go those that need replacing or keeping them because you're in no position to do anything else. In a normal world i'd be brave and let all 3 go and use the funds elsewhere but in present circumstances and knowing TM i can see all 3 getting new deals of some sort.

All depends what's in next seasons budget and as we know that doesn't usually get set till late summer.

It may well all but burn itself out in the next few months nobody really knows not even the experts, internet or otherwise.

Prepare for worst case scenario though but we might see some real daylight in the next 2/3 months although the frail and elderly or those with other issues will always have to be extra careful or stay out of harms way a good while longer.

Lower down the scale, namely our level and beyond football without fans has been on the cards for ages even before this crisis.

Of course it's important to the clubs - when they want it to be, i.e when the tv companies aren't calling the shots - but to the suits and paymasters they aren't that bothered.  The often stupid ticket prices, daft kick off times and rearranged fixtures all contribute that's before the police get involved yet it's been allowed to go that way because of the income and all the snouts in the trough.

I remember years ago on a Sat dinner whist waiting to go to Ewood and on the box was Coventry at home to Millwall, championship fixture. We were in the Prem so it was that long ago, anyway the ground was virtually empty and most of who were there must have been at the back of the stands or in the one underneath the cameras. I recall thinking that's awful it was hard to watch with so many empty seats and an eerie atmosphere aside from about 150 Millwall fans in a huddle. Obviously the home side wasn't doing well but there were no protests i knew of it was just mainly down to the stupid kick off time.

It's about time the game had a complete rethink but armchair experts and advertising pay rules the roost now.

Alarm bells were there as far back as then but no one gave a toss and i'm convinced we'll eventually see games kicking off on a Sunday or Saturday morning or a Weds tea time.  Anything to fill tv slots will end up fair game fans outside of the traditional TV media favs will be an afterthought.

Waggot will probably set his target at 10k again, put prices up again then trot out the old we've done all we can line. 

24 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

It does, bennetts interview confirmed he's virtually only been Tesco a couple of times. Just imagine the numbers that got it at gatherings like Chadtenam and Anfield etc.....

People are still in denial to this day, but now benno's got it certain attitudes might change. ...virus bad now.?

That's the pull of football, more sway than politicians.

15 hours ago, Stuart said:

From people I know first hand, an inconclusive test is treated as positive.

That said there seems to still be a concern over false negatives.

That's an odd way to treat a failed test result but maybe it just depends on the situation and who's testing.

We had to do it self testing in the car at a test site and the other half was 95% convinced she'd not got it right on her lad. Was fully expecting a failed test to be recorded but all 3 of ours came back negative.

Presumably the club docs do these but were they back in on Friday last or testing themselves at home before coming in i wonder. Either way it's good so hear he has no symptoms and lets hope he doesn't get any.

Just shows what everyone is up against with this thing there'll be a hell of a lot more examples like this now there's more testing and mingling. 

Track and trace time, where's he contracted it from in the space of a few days ?

Or did the first test not get done 100% correctly so it gets marked negative ?

Speedie - a true Rovers cult hero, only here a short time but what an impact. Everything about him screamed 'winner', my type of player get stuck in first ask questions later.

I think the last time there was a downturn over there chicken wise coincided with the taps being turned off. Of course that was put down to FFP, the big sales followed and no real return investment for a while, probably until we went down if i remember right. 

I've always been a believer the parent company pays the wages from it's monthly turnover, others disagree but it does tie in with a lot of things. Last time though a few seemed to think some personal money had paid the wages for a spell so fair play if true and that might be the case again. If they are sat on a giant cash personal fortune they'll probably prop up what they have to for a while without it bothering them too much.

Key to it is if they want it back, how quick and how long this lack of real income goes on for.