Griffin's Penultimate Stand - Division 2 2018-19

[longeared]

The lap of honour Leeds did tonight. Still only March the first fellas...

[Gangster Octopus]

Still can't win by more than one goal. I'm miffed that I was too ill to travel and use the bloody ticket that I'd paid for...

[cantagalo]

After an even first half, a soft penalty turned the game and thereafter Brentford were dominant and should have scored more than three. That makes 20 goals in the last 6 home games. If only we could sort out our away form.

Rangers weren't great and even bringing on Matt Smith didn't induce its normal panic in our defence.

A useful win as I can't see us getting anything from upcoming trips to Boro and Sheffield United.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Agree. Dreadful decision by Stroud was pivotal, though that doesn't excuse our lame response. Truth is we are a very one-dimensional team with no speed anywhere. We had a great run before Christmas while Eze was still a novelty to most teams, but since then we've looked very ordinary bar the occasional bit of magic from Freeman.

[Sits]

Anyone in Australia on this thread? Just wondering where I might be able to watch Reading games. Deranged fool.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Most Championship clubs run a streaming service, I'm guessing Reading probably do. QPR's costs £100 per season, but you can buy individual matches too. They show most FL games except the ones Sky picks up. In Australia I guess the time difference might make that awkward though. QPR do show highlights the next day, and a full replay shortly after that. I'd check Reading's official site to see what options they offer.

[Sits]

See, if I'd actually stopped and thought about it, I might have taken the time to look. It was a lazy question so thanks for your trouble AdC. Obviously Hoopscomelately followers aren't all bad. <winky>.

[cantagalo]

Without wishing to rub things in for Amor de Cosmos, Clive Whittingham's match report from Loft for Words is a great read.

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/footba...ers/news/49836

And I think we can all agree that Keith Stroud is 'Refereeing's Chris Grayling'.

[Amor de Cosmos]

True enough, I'd read it already. What he doesn't take into account is that the team has had a match every 3.8 days since Boxing Day. It's been almost the same players every game, they're visibly tired and there's been almost no time to practice. I think this week coming is the first time they've had a Saturday to Saturday break since early December.

[longeared]

Rubbish game last night, albeit not as bad as at the Lane as we actually made an attempt to win the game this time. We had the best chance but it fell to the wrong player in Hutchinson. United put some delicious crosses into the box but didn't have strikers able to get on the end of them. Laughed at Wilder banging his chest in celebration at achieving another point against a team in the bottom half of the table. See you next Tuesday season.

The game was played on a Monday at the behest of Sky and (especially) South Yorkshire Police. Astonishingly the latter managed to mishandle yet another big match in the city, loads of statements beforehand making everyone appear to be a criminal, telling everyone they have to go to work the day after so not to drink too much, then after the game they let both sets of fans out together and it all kicked off on Leppings Lane and there were reports of crushing. Yes. Really.

[ursus arctos]

I made the mistake of watching that on ESPN+

[Capybara]

The choice in my local was between this and Hamburg v Greuther Fürth. The Sheffield game would need to have been pretty dire to be worse than what I opted for.

[Glass Half Empty]

It beggars belief that the Leppings Lane end is still in use. In combination again with the UK's most arrogant, complacent, violent police force Hillsborough is host to yet another shambles after a big match.

https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/foot...orks-1-9630901

[cantagalo]

Rubbish game last night, albeit not as bad as at the Lane as we actually made an attempt to win the game this time. We had the best chance but it fell to the wrong player in Hutchinson. United put some delicious crosses into the box but didn't have strikers able to get on the end of them. Laughed at Wilder banging his chest in celebration at achieving another point against a team in the bottom half of the table. See you next Tuesday season.

The game was played on a Monday at the behest of Sky and (especially) South Yorkshire Police. Astonishingly the latter managed to mishandle yet another big match in the city, loads of statements beforehand making everyone appear to be a criminal, telling everyone they have to go to work the day after so not to drink too much, then after the game they let both sets of fans out together and it all kicked off on Leppings Lane and there were reports of crushing. Yes. Really.

I was there last Tuesday with Brentford. We were let out of the Leppings Lane end separated from the departing Wednesday fans by a single line of stewards. There was no trouble as there was only a couple of hundred of us but I remember thinking that funnelling supporters into the confined space behind the Leppings Lane end was potentially dangerous if there was any animosity between the two groups.

[longeared]

You may not be surprised to learn that your experience was different to how last night was handled. For the more high profile games (South Yorkshire clubs, Leeds, teams with large support) they minimise Wednesday fans coming onto the concourse by closing the gate at the South Stand side and erecting an actual physical barrier to funnel the home support coming out of the North Stand. What happens in reality is that all it means is that the flashpoints shift a bit and you can get scenarios whereby home and away supporters are directly heading towards each other, a situation not helped last night by the coaches all being lined up close to the away end. It would be much more sensible to hold away fans back to allow the home support to disperse, but this never ever happens. They are restricted to what they can do on the concourse by the geographic limitations of the space - it's all hemmed in by the river, road and housing and can't be expanded further.

Interesting to note the reaction to last night's incidents. SYP got a message out around half eleven by releasing a statement saying the night had passed off peacefully and thanking supporters of both clubs for their co-operation. Looking on social media and our messageboards it was clear that stuff had happened, was more than isolated incidents of general dickishness and that the problems seemed to have been created rather than resolved by the policing. It took until mid-afternoon today for the counter narrative to find its voice via that article in the Star linked to above by GHE. Now it's made wider news and the police have had to respond with defensive statements admitting there were some problems but still largely blaming the fans. Sound familiar at all?

[Greenlander]

Am I missing something with this talk of coaches. Are Sheffield United fans bubbled in from Bramall Lane or are they for groups like the Denby Dale Owls.

[longeared]

It wasn't a bubble game. United have previously run official coaches (a fact which always creates some amusement for our fans) in the same way they would for any away game, no idea if that was the case this time round. Coaches for Wednesday groups always pick up on Penistone Road at the opposite end of the ground.

[Paul S]

Meanwhile over at Bolton, their next match may be cancelled due to safety concerns as the club still owe Manchester Police money and cannot afford to fund any stewards. Staff and players are also due last months wages.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47457750

https://www.skysports.com/football/n...urday-in-doubt

[Glass Half Empty]

One of the many things that have gone wrong with the Sheffield derby match when held at Hillsborough was last year's shambles when the tram system was screwed over by SYP. In theory the most strait forward way for many United fans to get to Hillsborough is to jump on the tram from the middle of the City. Last year however the SYP operation included holding the fans in town to put them on designated trams and escort these to the ground. Unfortunately, some Wednesday knuckle draggers were hanging around the end of Leppings Lane in wait for the Blades fans on the trams. The police failed to disperse these morons but did decide to hold the trams mid journey for 40 minutes, refusing to let the United fans off. When they finally arrived (late) Kick off of course was not delayed and Wednesday had brilliantly organised 2 turnstiles to be operated. Despite the fact that Wednesday only sold United about 2,600 tickets a significant number of these were late in getting in the ground. In view of this very few United fans would have chosen the tram system again this year.

It might seem odd but It's quite possible that more coaches than you would expect were arranged on Monday to avoid a Tramgate Mk2. Also, the geographical divide between the 2 teams in Sheffield is approx on a North/South basis and certainly many areas of predominantly United support in the South and South East of the City must be 15 miles or so from Hillsborough so coaches from pubs/groups in this area can make sense.

[Snake Plissken]

Ton of bricks heading down on this guy and probably the club.

https://twitter.com/sportdw/status/1104716811826839552

[ad hoc]

What was Leeds' punishment when the same thing happened to Kieren Westwood?

Edit:blimey it was Chris Kirkland. Time flies

[Snake Plissken]

Well, Grealish has scored.

And in the celebrations, it seems a steward might have been arrested for punching him.

[Ray de Galles]

Really? Where was that reported?

[Ray de Galles]

Ah, being reported on R5 now.

Seen the video now, it's repeated shoving and kick in from behind. What an idiot.

[gt3]

https://twitter.com/aaronlta/status/...526960129?s=12

Scroll down and you see the other clip with a steward in what looks distinctly like a neck brace swearing at Grealish