A Load of Cobblers - Northampton Town (A) 26/11/16 @ 3pm

[nelson66]

when Parky got the job I was like WHO ????
now
I tip my hat to the man
He's made a silk purse out of a sows ear
Given our team a plan A B and C
Installed discipline all over the pitch
Sorted the wheat from the chaffe
I always liked Big Sams mantra of clean sheets - stop them from scoring and you always have the chance of nicking a goal and winning - it appears as though Parky sings from the same hymn sheet

I have been angry and disillusioned for a long time now (since Megson) but at last I think its time to believe

Parky - I'm now a believer
In Parky we trust

Please accept my sincere apologies for such an enthusiastic post - the result of a bout of alcohol fueled optimism
Normal service has now been resumed

We're domed !!

[Worthy4England]

^^ Aye, I wonder how many years we've been saying that the oppo scoring none, improves your chances of winning. We don't even have a forward putting the ball in the net. Owen Coyle can stick his you score 2 and we'll score 3 shoite, right up his arsehole.

Been saying this ages on here and was routinely shouted down. We had to be practical. We don't have the tools to play total football. Being organised and physical and having one or two players who can make the difference up there is the way to go.

We very much want this to be a marathon about consistency rather than everyone matching us till a sprint finish. I doubt we have the tools to outshoot someone in a sprint. But we have the resilience now to outlast others, hopefully.

Not by me mate. Although I still don't think that you have to be over 6ft tall all over the field to accomplish it.

[jonnycooper]

Know it doesn't belong here!! Cba starting a new thread! But 20 yrs ago today,we were handing Spurs a 6-1 mauling!

[BWFC_Insane]

^^ Aye, I wonder how many years we've been saying that the oppo scoring none, improves your chances of winning. We don't even have a forward putting the ball in the net. Owen Coyle can stick his you score 2 and we'll score 3 shoite, right up his arsehole.

Been saying this ages on here and was routinely shouted down. We had to be practical. We don't have the tools to play total football. Being organised and physical and having one or two players who can make the difference up there is the way to go.

We very much want this to be a marathon about consistency rather than everyone matching us till a sprint finish. I doubt we have the tools to outshoot someone in a sprint. But we have the resilience now to outlast others, hopefully.

Not by me mate. Although I still don't think that you have to be over 6ft tall all over the field to accomplish it.

You need an element of physicality throughout your side. Last season routinely noticed we were small compared to the opponents during the lineups. This season we definitely look more physically competitive.

Spine of Beevers, Thorpe/Derik, Madine is imposing. Although smaller Spearing also. And Taylor.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

There's no way I'm having Derik described as imposing. The fella is a Spanish Bert from Sesame Street

[Bruce Rioja]

Know it doesn't belong here!! Cba starting a new thread! But 20 yrs ago today,we were handing Spurs a 6-1 mauling!

Remember it well, Jonny. When Scott Taylor comes off of the bench to put the 6th in then you know that you've had your arse hended back to you.

Gerry Francis still has the same haircut, by the way.

[Montreal Wanderer]

http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sp ... 0-1-bolton

nice ball from Ameobi

good finish from Clough

Not available outside the UK. All I could find was this Vlog. It may amuse some of your - indeed some of you may be featured.

Highlights for foreigners are here.

[BWFC_Insane]

There's no way I'm having Derik described as imposing. The fella is a Spanish Bert from Sesame Street

As a centre half, maybe. But central midfield he's decent enough in the air and a physical presence in that role.

Screens the back four and wins headers in front of them. Not the best in the air admittedly, but like Campo for a midfield player he's competitive there.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

There's no way I'm having Derik described as imposing. The fella is a Spanish Bert from Sesame Street

As a centre half, maybe. But central midfield he's decent enough in the air and a physical presence in that role.

Screens the back four and wins headers in front of them. Not the best in the air admittedly, but like Campo for a midfield player he's competitive there.

I'm not disputing he does a decent job, but in no way is he imposing, which was the word I was disputing.

[Athertonian]

Didn't go yesterday, but from what I have read and been told we still need a striker. Madine again is not the answer to score goals. I watch him closely but I'm still in doubt as to what he even contributes? They fans who sit close by are always telling me he works hard? maybe so but he's still not good enough full stop. PS. Proctor is worse.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Sixfields is almost comical.

That's so 'not' something I'd expect to read from you, especially. They used to play on the outfield of Northant's cricket field.

Mate, you obviously hold me to higher standards than you expect from others... or indeed football grounds

In all seriousness, as I hurtle toward senility I'm becoming increasingly interested in the built environment. Not in a snobbish way based on a hierarchy of perception – I'd prefer a good honest incinerator to a high-falutin' bridge or bank - but in terms of what works. Going round a few new (to me) grounds this season (Wimbledon, Bristol R, Walsall, Swindon, Northampton) has been almost as much fun as not watching us get hammered. I find it interesting to grade my reaction to these places of regular mass usage, these built environments.

And Sixfields is fairly comical.

They've somehow managed to build it far enough up a hill to be exposed (especially for the home end) but not quite far enough up to be at the top, so you can quite easily stand above it and watch the match for free.



The stadium as a whole is a quickly chucked-up breezeblock job that the architect must have taken all of an hour sketching out. The home end is about 15 steps deep. So's the away end.

As you descend the hill outside the single-tier main stand there's a bloke in a Punch & Judy programme hutch.



There's a signpost outside the single-tier main stand, pointing to the ground in case your brain has refused to acknowledge it. At least the main stand doesn't just go for the total breezeblock exterior; at each end of the first-floor level there's a strange glass atrium, presumably where the home fans mill around at half-time drinking warm nitro-keg lager in the dying embers of the setting sun. It hasn't aged well and the whole effect is somewhat like an 80s swimming baths - think of that one in Bolton that got knocked down.

The stand opposite the main stand - imaginatively named the East Stand – isn't finished, with a big gap above the seats as if they can't decide whether to add another tiny tier or just block out the views. Did somebody order the wrong roof?



Once inside the ground, you also have to put up with various trappings of modernity – a frankly nonsensical number of flags are handed out for children to wave incessantly while standing around the pitch looking increasingly bored; there are two mascots, Mick the Skip and some dragon thing (because Cobblers, right?); Mick the Skip, who looks like Bob the Builder laid low by the economic downturn, is there because of the match sponsors, whose input also ensures that at half-time they do that kicking-the-ball-in-the-skip thing.

But all that nonsense is par for the course at most grounds, including ours. Here it just feels like an attempt to polish a breezeblock.

[Enoch]

as I hurtle toward senility

[Bruce Rioja]

They've somehow managed to build it far enough up a hill to be exposed (especially for the home end) but not quite far enough up to be at the top, so you can quite easily stand above it and watch the match for free.

I remember when they drew Man U in the cup and put a fecking big fence up to stop people from doing exactly that

To be fair I'm not sure that I've actually been impressed by anybody's new ground to date.

[Prufrock]

Brighton's is lovely!

[Bruce Rioja]

Brighton's is lovely!

Haven't been. Did visit the Withdean once though which was a lot like Leverhume park with additional seats.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Brighton's is a good ground which puts the fans first - good ale (apparently), food etc. It's in the middle of nowhere, but that's typical these days, and they had to fight hard to get in anywhere, so good luck to 'em.

I do quite like a characterful old ground - Bristol Rovers was memorably odd, Swindon had its curious corners. Not that I'm a reactionary - there's also something weirdly winning about Millwall's brusque functionalism, which certainly fits in with the vernacular (incinerator, railway lines, dead space, caravans, barbed wire).

[Bruce Rioja]

Brighton's is a good ground which puts the fans first

Heard a very decent interview with Paul Fletcher a couple of weeks ago. They dragged him in during the planning stage to garner his opinion regarding the design of the Olympic Stadium - then chose to completely ignore him.
He advised them to build a football stadium that was capable of hosting a fortnight's worth of athletics (as they did with the CoM Stadium), so of course, they did the exact opposite.

[LeverEnd]

Walsall doing us a favour so far, 1 nil up at halftime at Sheff Utd, who would overtake us in 2nd with a win. C'mon the Saddlers!

[TonyDomingos]

Walsall doing us a favour so far, 1 nil up at halftime at Sheff Utd, who would overtake us in 2nd with a win. C'mon the Saddlers!

And Walsall hang on to win! That's the Blades' game in hand gone.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Walsall doing us a favour so far, 1 nil up at halftime at Sheff Utd, who would overtake us in 2nd with a win. C'mon the Saddlers!

And Walsall hang on to win! That's the Blades' game in hand gone.

Sharp missed a late pen too. The L1 table will make pleasant reading for the next 11 days!!