jim mk2

Good piece by Scyld Berry in the Telegraph, saying the most successful Test teams (especially away from home) generally have older batsmen and young bowlers. England have the exact opposite at present. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2021/06/05/england-batting-line-up-exposed-naivety-youth/ Have to say I've never seen so many England batsmen with dodgy techniques. Sibley, Crawley and Lawrence all have serious flaws and in Sibley's case I don't understand how he became a professional cricketer never mind a Test player.

One tournament final in our history. And we're supposed to be one of the world's leading football nations. Compare England's record to Germany, Italy, Spain, and (unbelievably to older fans) France England deserve to be slated

The point is, the likes of Portugal and Germany know how to play tournament football, they know how to scrape through even when they're not at their best. In short, they know how to win when it matters - in tournaments

Most of the big nations out, a kind semi-final against one of the "minnows" and we still blew it. It's pathetic and this tournament won't be different. Who is going to be 2020's Iceland?

Time is grim yet compelling. If the government ever needed propaganda to encourage people to stay within the law that was it.Sean Bean is outstanding in the lead part

In international terms Rice and Henderson are very average, Philips wouldn’t be in a top country’s squad and Bellingham has potential but that’s all. And the defence has obvious weaknesses

Grealish is exceptional, an outstanding talent. But the fact Southgate doesn’t always start him says it all.

Been watching England nearly 60 years....we've reached one final of a major tournament in our history. England always find a way to lose. We're hopeless, and it won't be any different this time. Trust me

Goalkeeper and central defence.... crucial weak links in the England team and the potential for silly mistakes. Quarter-finals at best.

If Mings is an international footballer then Tony Mowbray is am international manager. Southgate is worse than Graham Taylor in giving caps to players who do not deserve them

....or even a centre forward

And to think he's a multi-milliionaire who stole a living from us and other clubs. Not the worst player we've had but certainly the biggest prat

I notice them too Funnily enough, the Times style guide says football clubs are always singular and teams plural, which I've always adhered to Had a "robust" conversation with a US friend recently who insisted it was the other way round

They look like Americanisms to me .......... to be resisted at all costs

Every day is an excellent day to be Lancy, oldjamfan!

Would you take him now instead of Mowbray though?

Liverpool was too big a job and club for him (same with England), and he doesn't like the criticism that went with it., The likes of Palace and Rovers is his level. He won't get a job in the Prem again and he might fancy a Rovers return.

I thought that might be the reaction. He made mistakes with Jack's money certainly but I'd take him now to be honest - he knows what he's doing and would surely be better than the present incumbent.

Woy is back on the market and still doesn’t want to retire. He was a flop at Ewood in the 1990s but would be better than most suggestions. Any thoughts?

From the FT.... a good read Barnsley’s dream team give football club sporting chance https://www.ft.com/content/a2724840-9851-4900-b331-e4be9247f7ed After the tragicomedy of the European Super League comes a feel-good tale to restore the romance of football. Lowly Barnsley FC have a shot at the big time. The club rooted in northern England’s defunct coalfields, with a tiny budget, has reached the playoffs for the lucrative Premier League — a season after the team escaped relegation by drawing the final game. Valérien Ismaël, head coach, is no fan of the Super League, which would have given 15 rich teams such as Manchester United and Real Madrid a permanent place and locked out smaller clubs. “This is not football. Football needs to have a dream and to give people hope,” Ismaël told the Financial Times. “The test is on the pitch. If you get the result you get the reward.” Of the six English teams initially backing the ESL before fan outrage forced them to pull out, three are owned by Americans. Pundits believed they were looking to protect their investment by replicating the US system of closed leagues with guaranteed revenue. Yet Barnsley is also run by Americans. A consortium led by financier Chien Lee bought the club in December 2017. Fellow investors include Billy Beane, the baseball executive who invented the data-driven Moneyball system celebrated in a film of the same name. Beane turned the Oakland Athletics from no-hopers to play-off contenders by identifying quality players that were missed by other clubs or deployed in the wrong positions. Lee has refined Moneyball. Barnsley almost always buy players under 24, whose value is likely to rise. They rarely take loan players, so as to forge a team ethic from regulars. And they play the same tactics whoever the manager is. The club has adopted the high tempo gegenpressing “heavy-metal football” favoured in Germany. The three attackers provide the first line of defence, closing down the opposition to win the ball high up the pitch. That enables them to create chances when opponents are out of position. It appointed Ismaël from LASK in Austria when Gerhard Struber was headhunted by New York Red Bulls in October 2020. Most managers change the playing style and therefore the players but by insisting on one with a similar philosophy Lee says he can save money and get better results. He says he has the second lowest wage bill in the Championship. Wages are the best predictor of League position. The club must live within its means, with turnover about £10m this year. This is in a league where the average wage bill is £33m and the 24 clubs racked up combined operating losses of £382m last season, according to Deloitte. Lee and his co-investor Paul Conway had success at Nice in France before Barnsley. They have sold that club but built a portfolio across Europe. Through Pacific Media Group, an advertising business, they own KV Oostende in Belgium, FC Thun in Switzerland and AS Nancy in France, with each performing better than when acquired. Oostende just finished fifth in the Belgian first division, despite the club’s small size. But Barnsley’s 23,000-seat Oakwell stadium, which still has wooden seats in one century-old stand, is usually half full and the club’s only major honour is the 1912 FA Cup. So what attracted Lee? “We feel we can do something meaningful using our vision and expertise. We are long-term investors. If we get into the Premier League the value of the club will go up. We are ahead of schedule.” Ismaël said the pandemic had helped Barnsley. The increase in the number of substitutes from three to five means he can replace his three exhausted forwards after around an hour and still make two other changes before a match ends. His small, young, ambitious squad remain underdogs for next week’s two-leg playoff with Swansea, whose time in the Premier League has boosted revenues. They would face Bournemouth or Brentford in a Wembley final on May 29. An erudite Frenchman who speaks fluent German and English, Ismaël only resorts to cliché once, when asked if his team could survive a season in the Premier League. “My focus is on the next game. I don’t want to start dreaming.” The town’s 227,000 people could do with a dream. Once, they made their living from hewing coal. Now they pack boxes. Asos, the online clothing retailer, has its main facility there and courier Hermes is planning a huge warehouse on a former colliery. The club badge featuring a miner with a pickaxe provides a vital connection to the town’s proud industrial past. On Barnsley market’s shoe stall Kieran Hunt, 63, recalls the joy of their only other season in the top flight, in 1997/98. “It would be brilliant for the town if they go up. It would give the town centre a boost. We need all the help we can get.” Paul Gallacher, 47, of Barnsley Supporters Trust, said the owners, who took over from local software entrepreneur Patrick Cryne, have kept their promises. “They have not thrown money at the Premier League dream. They have not saddled it with debt. They invest in the club, build slowly.” But, like any true fan, he cannot relax. “The worry is when the next owner comes along. What they would bring? Getting into the Premier League would be a good point to sell. That worries a lot of fans.”

I rarely find watching football boring - though Tony's endless passing game drives me to distraction sometimes. So no. it hasn't been boring........ but it has been pointless, because we were neither going up nor down, the games had no meaning and even the good wins and performances were no cause for celebration.

Here's a tough one - the Rovers Central League (reserve) team in July 1965. Name the players and the chap in the suit

What would it take (apart from £5m a year perhaps) to persuade Sean Dyche to take the Rovers job? He's done a brilliant job and gets very little praise for it in the media. I'd even allow him to keep living in Northants...... well away from Clarets fans

End of term report: "must do better" is being far too kind It's been a poor division: Norwich and Watford were solid and organised but nothing special; the 4 play-off places occupied by teams who were no better than us but had good managers A top 6 was up for grabs and Tony should have got us there given the money he had to spend and the 3 or 4 genuinely talented players we had in the squad In a top school, Tony would have been sent to see the head teacher, told to pull his socks up, or face expulsion. He's on borrowed time. .

Some odd views on Bell. He still passes the ball to an opponent more often than he passes to a Rovers player, he always seems to pick the wrong option such as crossing when when he should pass and vice versa, he gets caught out of position alot and his defending one on one is still poor. Bell cannot be number one pick at left back next season.