Just Like Devon - Division Three 2022/23

[Satchmo Distel]

They need to be kicked out very swiftly with an apology from the club to those they have insulted. The last thing Barnsley needs as a town and a club is to be seen as fascist enablers. How the fuck that account hasn't been suspended is also concerning.

I've reported the Sandy Hook Tweet.

[Simon G]

I saw about this yesterday and the bots really were out in force against anyone who dared to question the company - even people saying the size of the sponsor on the shirt was too big were immediately rounded upon.

Fingers crossed the powers that be at Barnsley back out asap.

[Simon G]

https://twitter.com/BarnsleyFC/status/1558009573184782336

The Barnsley board see sense

[Guy Profumo]

https://twitter.com/BarnsleyFC/status/1558009573184782336

The Barnsley board see sense

"Throwing away the opportunity to have Premier League football within five years"

(That thread)

[Satchmo Distel]

It became inevitable three days ago when they issued a club statement condemning discriminatory social media posts.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

For a brief period this afternoon, Exeter were top of the third division. As it won't happen again, I wanted to record it for posterity.

[Janik]

Seeing as that is referencing the Cambridge game (which Cambridge eventually won), Cambridge have started pretty well this season. Two wins from three in the league, knocking a higher Division side (Millwall) out of the league cup, and just one unfortunate loss to a late, late goal. Which today has pretty well reversed... and a win and a loss is a point more than they would have got by drawing both games.
Most reports on them say they look "solid and well-organised". 1-0, 1-0, 0-1, 2-1... goalfests don't seem likely on the evidence of so far.

[Patrick Thistle]

Shrewsbury won with a late penalty at Wycombe. Good thing lambers was otherwise engaged today. (And congrats to him becoming a new dad!)

[lambers]

Thanks PT. Football is rather unimportant right now, especially when your team loses to a late penalty!

[Simon G]

Congratulations lambers.

Cheltenham are second bottom of division 3 and, but for some sort of miracle, I don't see us climbing out of the relegation zone much, if at all, for the rest of this season.

[Foot of Astaire's]

Congratulations lambers.

Cheltenham are second bottom of division 3 and, but for some sort of miracle, I don't see us climbing out of the relegation zone much, if at all, for the rest of this season.

Can I refer the right honourable gentleman to his own comments on page 2 of this thread? The comments that prompted one poster to change his season predictions!

What do you put the bad start down to? Poor recruitment, new manager, combination?

[Greenlander]

Argyle were excellent yesterday and made Peterborough look very ordinary indeed. I'm not sure we'll play much better all season.

The boy next door (to my mum) is looking like a proper player too, totally owning the midfield.

[Simon G]

Can I refer the right honourable gentleman to his own comments on page 2 of this thread? The comments that prompted one poster to change his season predictions!

What do you put the bad start down to? Poor recruitment, new manager, combination?

Tough start (Peterborough at home, Barnsley away then Pompey at home) and what appears to be poor recruitment. Our first XI isn't too bad, and probably has enough to stop up, but the backups showed against Exeter in the League Cup how far off the pace they are. The recruitment has been, how do I put this politely.....questionable.

We lost our captain in Will Boyle to Huddersfield. Mattie Pollock, Kion Etete and Callum Wright were fantastic loanees and were always going to be difficult to replace. Caleb Taylor (Pollock) looks good, as does Dan Nlundulu (Etete), however Taylor Perry is not even close to Wright's level. We released both goalkeepers and replaced them with a keeper from the National League, who looked decent in our friendlies to be fair, and a loanee from Reading who looked like a little boy among the big centre-backs at corners yesterday. On Friday the socials teased a new forward, Twitter was on tenterhooks all morning, then at 2:00 it was announced we'd signed Christian Norton on a permanent 1 year deal. We had him on loan for the first half of last season and he made that much of an impression that he didn't even make the squad in the last 11 games of his loan.

I won't blame Wade Elliott yet, but within days of his appointment we lost our analyst, our goalkeeping coach and, obviously with him being promoted, we had no first team coach. That last one was rectified by appointing a man who had just been found guilty by an FA Commission for homophobic language aimed at his own player. We still have no analyst and also no senior goalkeeping coach. I've been told that Bignot's appointment and the struggle to replace the other two vital roles are due to the fact we're offering little more than peanuts as wages. This, despite apparently having the biggest budget in the club's history.

It's still very early days, Michael Duff didn't win any of his first 10 games, but he had the luxury of being a club legend before he took over. Wade doesn't have that behind him and a 7-0 home defeat in your third game in charge, regardless of the fact we played our reserves, will have the idiots calling for your head.

We have two massive away games on Tuesday and Saturday at Fleetwood and Exeter. It's the first time we've played teams that weren't among the favourites for promotion. If we don't come out of either with at least two draws (I'm a win home games, draw away games advocate) then more than just the knee-jerkers will be questioning Wade's appointment.

[Patrick Thistle]

It's going to be a while until Shrewsbury fans see Aiden O'Brien in action. Dude's gone in for knee surgery.

[NickSTFU]

It's going to be a while until Shrewsbury fans see Aiden O'Brien in action. Dude's gone in for knee surgery.

According to O'Brien on Twatter, it's his hip.

Either way, it's a huge disappointment.

[Patrick Thistle]

According to O'Brien on Twatter, it's his hip.

Good thing I'm not an orthopaedic surgeon!

[Janik]

Nice interview with Cambridge boss Mark Bonner in the i at the moment (published last Friday). Obviously of most interest to those who follow Cambridge... but others might also get something out of it - https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/m...-years-1788265

[Uncle Ethan]

Thanks Janik. I have many friends who are fans, sponsors or both and it is good to see Cambridge in good hands again.

[Janik]

It is something of a worry how dependent on a specific pair of hands it might be. See, seemingly, Cheltenham, Duff...
What Bonner says about Cambridge as a club where players can further themselves if they take the opportunity, and then move on to bigger things, could also apply to coaches of course. It is a bit of a wonder that no-one appears to have been in for him to fill a managerial gap at a better resourced club.* Maybe that he never had a professional playing career is a help to Cambridge in this regard, as it means he lacks the contacts who might push his name forward. Again, unlike Duff, who will be a known individual to plenty of people at clubs from League One to the National League.

* - or maybe clubs have been informally and Bonner has responded flatly negatively to those particular approaches as not the right move for him, so nothing ever became public?

[Satchmo Distel]

Barnsley 3 Bristol Rovers 0. The visitors had no shots on target.

[Jimski]

Oxford are in serious trouble this season. We fluked a win from a moment of individual brilliance against Cambridge, and have otherwise looked terrible. We haven't even played any of the more fancied teams yet (unless you include a Derby side whose players could barely have even spoken to each other at the time they played us...)

[Janik]

Seeing as that is referencing the Cambridge game (which Cambridge eventually won), Cambridge have started pretty well this season. Two wins from three in the league, knocking a higher Division side (Millwall) out of the league cup, and just one unfortunate loss to a late, late goal. Which today has pretty well reversed... and a win and a loss is a point more than they would have got by drawing both games.
Most reports on them say they look "solid and well-organised". 1-0, 1-0, 0-1, 2-1... goalfests don't seem likely on the evidence of so far.

That aged badly. And very rapidly.

[Kevin S]

Ipswich register three wins in a row, which didn't happen at all last season (happened twice in 2020-21). Last time we won four in a row was in the 36-game season 2019-20, where we were in the top two at the halfway stage and finished 10th. So, not getting carried away by any means.

Two very different games, Saturday and Tuesday. By all account - I didn't see it - we were pretty dominant over Franchise on Saturday and the 3-0 was a fair reflection of the match. Last night, which we watched on iFollow, saw Burton press high and fashion several chances. We needed Walton to be in the good form he is to keep them out. Somehow there just wasn't the sharpness we needed to the goal earlier than we did. But Marcus Harness now has three for the season, and we managed to win without Wes Burns - so definitely a positive. It's Strawberry v Isspitch on Saturday and that Shrews' defence looks pretty tight on the matches so far.

[Reality Checkpoint]

That aged badly. And very rapidly.

I blame you.

[Janik]

I... erm... um.

Hey, isn't that an aardvark? Over there? Never thought we would see one of them around here...