Inns and owts

Thoughts on Broadbent signing a new deal?

I didn’t think, as a reluctant tackler, he was good enough at L2 level. You’d think McCann would be a better judge. It seemed fairly obvious that Close and Westbrook were not up to it when he rehired them too.

We have been dependent on loanees in the midfield in the past and have added only the man from Barrow to the permanent ranks.

Total change of subject: Liverpool and Jota.
I liked the player and his trajic death hit home.
The attached link from the BBC about the first game since his death. I did not know Ben Whiteman was PNE captain. Nice picture of him.
Hopefully more uplifting things to come with the Rovers!
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cz7l85y42n5o

It's difficult to assess new players amidst the accompanying hype. The CH from Huddersfield looks slow, they say, and the young fellow from Spurs seems actually a striker who strikes. Gott has a very uncompromising name and I have a vision of him as a strong man in midfield. We've had £500k offered for McGrath and its good we're keeping him. I think a lot depends on how the new signings actually perform, because everything looked good in the pre-season last year, but the real world gave us more of a rough ride.

We went to Reighton Gap in the late 40s, and stayed in a white wooden bungalow that seemed (now I contemplate its commanding position) in danger of falling over the cliff, but in those pre-global-warming days such events were not really in the news. We spent a lot of the holiday shooting daddy-long-legs with catapult things, but I don't remember going to the beach or swimming and my mother had the only asthma attack of her life. So it was a bit of a one-off.

Chelsea's win over PSG will be a big boost for them after lukewarm enthusiasm from their fans (well - the one I know) at the idea of their competing. If ever there was an image of boredom, it was D Trump having to sit through it. Perhaps it's the nearest his detractors will get to seeing him discomforted by having to endure it! I almost felt sorry for him.

I suppose failing to beat mid-table tier 6 Peterborough Sports is a bit of a set-back, but perhaps the team we put out there was only the better of the two squads we fielded on the day, and the MK Dons match will be more of a test.

Playing Blackpool who are top-half quality of the same league is a bit of an innovation, but assuming they will field their best 11, it will provide a pretty accurate indicator of how we might fare when the real business begins.

I might try to watch the next two matches.

And Jota, yes - we remember Tiger Woods too.

Top-class sportsman and there are probably more well paid footballers than any other class, in Europe at least, have to balance the need to remain in the peak of physical fitness with a life-style that will not threaten their ability to perform which may seem a nice problem to have and buying the ultimate sports car seems to carry no threat to that.

I hope that the focus remains on the man and the joy he brought to the followers of the game.

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Not sure it's time for predictions yet. Pre season results rarely indicate League form. Though things seem to be going mainly to plan for GM and his team so far. Suspect there might be one if not 2 late additions to the squad. Having a more than average size squad did work in our favour last season. The bookies have us finishing 18th. I think we'll do better then that but can't really see us competing for auto promotion and less than likely a play off spot. But as you all know I still live in Hope. Blackpool used to be my favourite childhood holiday destination. Went there again a few years ago and it was horrendous. How perceptions change over time. But let's hope we have a towering performance against them and it illuminates our potential. How quickly the start of a new season has crept up on us. Not planning at this stage to catch any live performances at home but might venture down to watch them play Cardiff. Yes most of those Reighton Gap bungalows went for a swim in the North Sea some time ago. Luckily the asbestos sheeting most of them were made of too!

I didn't know about the asbestos Nookie, but the "asthma" might well have been connected to that. My mother is obviously dead now and did not suffer with her chest any more anyway.

So-called "Supercomputer" predictions were hopelessly inaccurate about Rovers last season and even if those who did the programming were any good at it, the available data is not. Who knows how players will gel as a team and how do you judge the relative quality, degree of organisation and impact of injuries? Perhaps in the relatively settled long-term-contract world of the PL there is some chance of assessing a few of the factors accurately, but not in League 1 or 2.

I suspect that in the collective opinion of fans of the 24 clubs the top half of the table will be hugely overpopulated.

Without having seen any action yet I'd be content with anything above half way up and whilst I might have that optimistic feeling that it could be better based on the assumption that all the new signings will be as good as the best existing squad, it's all based on emotion.

That's about right as usual.

Rovers+ rates for this coming season.
After getting no response to my questions to the main media email, I directly emailed Liam. He replied quickly and said all will be known by end of the week, and yesterday he sent me a link that came live today.
The international season pass is £180, and an “early bird special” of £140 until next Wednesday.
He said 20 games will be on SkySports which may mean time changes. Some will be mid-week with no time change. At the moment only two are known that will change to 12:30 UK time on Saturdays, the game against the Rotherham, and one sometime from October onwards to be determined. Further will be known by 31 July.
Last season they used an outrageous exchange rate and then VISA charged 3% on top. Normally my Chase VISA uses the true exchange rate of the day and then adds 3%. If that happened, based on today’s rate of £1 = US$1.3416, the early bird would be US$187.82 + 3% = US$193.46. That looks expensive compared with the $7.99/month I pay Peacock to watch some Premier League games. If I knew the total number of games that will be before “Sparrows”, it would be easier to take a decision.
I do have a HSBC sterling debit card, but not sure if I can use that online.
Maybe I’ll just buy a month’s pass to see how things are going (£45)
I wish to remain RTID, but……

If I had no means to see the games - and the number of TV live games was very low until recently, it is hard to maintain an interest. I don't think Doncaster-based people recognise the dedication of those of us who follow from afar (and for me 200 miles in UK traffic equals 4 hours) and a full day's commitment with associated costs. The management of football clubs and the supporters clubs (who would never consider having exiles on their Boards) do not seem to regard the interests of exiles as any kind of priority, but complain if they don't get adequate notice of KO changes.

I don't really know about the economics of streaming. In the case of overseas you imagine there is an additional overhead, but you wonder if profit margins are proportionate. And of course it is not the sort of question that Supporters Clubs representing the locally-based fans would be likely to ask.

In an ideal world you might expect that it would be offered more cheaply in countries where the matches take place in the middle of the night (Japan, Australia and New Zealand) and with some reduction where the early KOs are similarly timed. Of course, in such a World those with no realistic chance of attending matches would also be able to stream them all too.