A Barrow-load of laughs - Division 4 2020/21

[Simon G]

0-0 in the, urgh, Gloucestershire derby at the New Lawn.

By all accounts the game was a shite as the weather.

Barrow at home on Tuesday for Cheltenham

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

We're back-ack-ack from our enforced hiatus and despite an early goal looked rusty and eventually nervy, as we continued to gamble with our brand of low-possession football against a decent Exeter side. Exeter's Nicky Law announced his departure to Indianapolis promptly after the match, and in his interview noted that his first and last Exeter appearances were against Carlisle.

[Baptiste]

Lucky day yesterday with Morecambe blazing a penalty over and then having a man sent off for something he seemingly said, all just before HT.

Four wins in a row and up to 5th. Rock and Roll football as Mr Hill put it last week.

[Paul S]

4-0 down at halftime. I think our league status has gone and I wouldn't be surprised if the club goes with it.

[Paul S]

So Southend are bottom of the league and are now 1-0 down to Port Vale after just one minute. Wake me up when this seasons over.

[jwdd27]

Will this be their first midweek off for a while?

Last time we had a full week off was the week before Christmas, and before that it was the start of December, when we had a Saturday off because we were out of the cup, so played Tuesday-Tuesday. It's a gruelling schedule, but we've seemingly used about 50 players for it, so fatigue should be less of an issue.

[Satchmo Distel]

Will this be their first midweek off for a while?

[jwdd27]

Three wins (and clean sheets) on the bounce for Scunthorpe now after an early Alfie Beestin goal saw off Colchester tonight. So our 6 games in January have been LLLWWW. Not sure if something has clicked or if we've just met 3 inferior opponents in Grimsby, Port Vale and Colchester.
We've been very lucky to avoid postponements and have now played 26 games, which is remarkable as we had a long stint of games called off through Covid in the Autumn.
A whole week off now before the inevitable crushing home defeat to Oldham.

[Simon G]

Gloucester has gone through a lot of regeneration over the last 15-20 years or so, that being said the city centre looks a sorry state these days. When not working from home, I work on the edge of the city centre and Gloucester Quays is directly opposite. It's actually very nice there and on the docks these days.

Cheltenham also has it's rough areas, God knows I've never lived in a posh part of the town.

One of my best mates is a Gloucester City fan, and hatred of Cheltenham from their end certainly be real. Don't suppose the years having to groundshare there helped

If anything, it did actually ease some tensions. A lot of Gloucester fans don't see Cheltenham in the same light, although with that being said a large number did refuse to set foot in Whaddon Road for a home game. The main issue Cheltenham fans had with it was the damage it did to our wonderful pitch. By February time it was looking like something out of the 70s, whereas before the groundshare it was like a snooker table year round. Some had the audacity to blame the pitch for our relegation back to non-league, failing to take into account that we couldn't win away either so that excuse didn't really hold much weight.

[tee rex]

It's far posher than Gloucester, which would be called a dump if it was up north. Its location (and perhaps name) means people assume it's ye olde worlde Cotswolde, but it's really not.

[Satchmo Distel]

Is Cheltenham assumed to be more gentrified?

[E10 Rifle]

One of my best mates is a Gloucester City fan, and hatred of Cheltenham from their end certainly be real. Don't suppose the years having to groundshare there helped

[Simon G]

Ha, my mother is from Churchdown (roughly between the two), and her parents were very much Gloucester people, so they were perturbed when my mother was drawn instead to the delights of Cheltenham, which was a place they regarded with suspicion with its higher class pretensions, and avoided visiting even when my mother moved there.

I'm also from Churchdown. Well, I lived there from the ages of 6 to 18, and from 4-5. I consider it home still when I visit relatives over that way. I'd also move back there tomorrow if it was ever feasible.

[Sporting]

Funny, because for some reason I always associate Gloucester as well with the moneyed classes. Maybe it's because it has an important rugby union team and in my prejudiced mind I associate such teams with (in my generalisations) upper middle class towns (Richmond, Bath etc.)

[jwdd27]

I've mentioned it on here before - it's a historical thing between the two areas, not just football. It's probably not there as much anymore, but I do know people who won't go to Gloucester and vice-versa because of their weird prejudices.

Ha, my mother is from Churchdown (roughly between the two), and her parents were very much Gloucester people, so they were perturbed when my mother was drawn instead to the delights of Cheltenham, which was a place they regarded with suspicion with its higher class pretensions, and avoided visiting even when my mother moved there.

[Simon G]

I've mentioned it on here before - it's a historical thing between the two areas, not just football. It's probably not there as much anymore, but I do know people who won't go to Gloucester and vice-versa because of their weird prejudices.

[Gangster Octopus]

I've mentioned this before, but when I was doing missionary work south of the river back in 96-97, I was watching the Saturday results in the Alexandra in Wimbledon. The biggest cheer came when Sutton lost. Wimbledon were in the top division at the time, Sutton were, and still are, non-league...

[Simon G]

A lot don't, but for me and people who've been supporting the club the same amount of time and more, they will always be our main rival.

A lot of the newer fans (since promotion in 1999) have tried to create rivalries with clubs that don't care about us (Bristol Rovers, Swindon, Oxford, Rushden and Diamonds, Hereford) but none have really stuck. That's why they cling to FGR so much now.

[Paul S]

Do Cheltenham fans still care about Gloucester?

[Simon G]

Probably not as much as when we play Gloucester City.

[Paul S]

This could probably go in the positives of Covid thread in World, but this Saturday we're away to Forest Green. No fans attending means that those idiots who think it's Millwall-West Ham at the height of the casuals won't get there 10 mins of standing behind police cordons pretending to want to fight in a town that's more sleepy than one of the 7 dwarves.

So what happens when FGR play Shortwood Utd then?

[Simon G]

This could probably go in the positives of Covid thread in World, but this Saturday we're away to Forest Green. No fans attending means that those idiots who think it's Millwall-West Ham at the height of the casuals won't get there 10 mins of standing behind police cordons pretending to want to fight in a town that's more sleepy than one of the 7 dwarves.

[ingoldale]

Even by fourth-tier standards, this season's League Two is absurdly tightly packed and hard to call. You'd predict Southend and Grimsby as the likeliest to go down, unless Paul Hurst can bring the good times back at the latter, but up the top, fuck knows. I've got a niggling feeling that Mark Cooper's well drilled but basically fucking horrible Forest Green are gonna go the distance this time, though Newport, Exeter and Cheltenham are the best three teams I've seen. Exeter's innate Exeterness will probably keep them down though.

Our current form suggests we will go down but I believe Hurst will keep us up. We need a couple more signings ideally but the players he has brought in so far who have played have impressed on their debuts. Whether we stay up or not, expect a huge clear out in the summer as there's a few players who he clearly doesn't fancy.

[ingoldale]

Tonight's games at Barrow and Salford were also called off due to the effects of bad weather.

Really poor from Barrow to call it off little over an hour before kick-off. Clearly could have been called off much earlier.

[Paul S]

Southend will go down this season as we're just so bad. Only another side going bust or the National leagues being abandoning their season will save us now.