Bury Green

Quite so, after the Playoff Semi Final at Molyneux they were a complete and total embarrassment, I remember a dad and his daughter being accosted on their way out of the ground and indeed one or two of our older supporters being attacked without zero provocation. Just a few weeks later after losing the final in the Millenium Stadium that Birmingham fans were completely and utterly graceless cretins and as such I''ve enjoyed watching their meteoroic demise ever since. Despite the supposed reputation I''ve never experienced anything like this at Millwall, Cardiff and so forth, in fact the complete opposite.

Spot on, I thought just the same. Having had a look at other forums I read with a certain amount of despair that the certain Birmingham and indeed Wolves supporters thought their actions should be considered as banter. Oh really? For me and pretty much anybody else capable of thinking under their own steam their behaviour has them marked down as brainless scum devoid of any form of human decency. I''d even go so far as to say if this silence was observed in our own local derby it''d be observed perfectly by both sets of supporters.

It''d be a fair assumption that he wouldn''t be in the Board for long if the Holy See find themselves owning a football club in Norfolk. Actually there''d be a good chance they''d kick off a whole new Inquisition just for him. A very painful one at that

Ah yes but St Andrews Hall was one of those nights that you need to have in your collection of "I was there". The ''Chase Out'' riot on Carrow Rd, 1-5 at Portman Rd, Milan, 6-0 at Fulham, 1-7 to Col Who, promotion at Portsmouth, these are the Badges of Honour that go with supporting the club. Technically speaking at the time of St Andrews Hall the remnants of the Board were hidden well underground in the Club Shop fallout bunker rehiring Gunn and luring Roger Munby back to make sure they still had four directors, that naughty little quorum! Poor bugger had thought he''d escaped as well.

Yes I have?

Oh make no mistake, not for one moment do I think he won''t be reappointed rather I''d like to see a place (possibly his or the Bob Carolgees looking one) being made for an elected representative. Truth be told I''ve not even looked to see when it is as the last few years have been like going to church and asking who believes in God but it''s always worth a trip up the A11 just for the comedy value. To say I was there when Roeder-Gate unravelled with the England Manager howler, what a night that was. The old boy Cameron Newark - I think that''s his name but don''t put it into an anagram generator- is normally comedy gold then there''s always the chance of some 5* Fen Gibbonery "Can the Away Supporters buses park nearer to the Jarrold as its dark and I get wet feet. I don''t like getting wet feet." "I nearly got hit by a ball during the warmup and the club need to do something about it" " Are there going to be any signings?" Make no mistake the Club''s AGM usually has me in stitches and God knows how the directors keep a straight face at times.

The summer of 2009 is perhaps a useful reference point for this discussion, it''s easy to forget just how far the club has come and indeed how perilously close it came to a very different fate. At this point the ''esoteric'' card gets played as seemingly its heresy to suggest the appointment of the Chairman was integral to retaining the faith and continued support of the clubs stakeholders, it really was. Let''s not forget there wasn''t even a quorum in place, Gunn was reappointed, the rebates were being pulled, things were on the very cusp and the club was on the bring of administration. Of course we can look back now with a huge sense of pride in our club and just how far it''s come but im equally sure that football in general will see a major causality in the near future, QPR following Caterham seems entirely likely. So why then is this relevant to Fry''s reappointment? Arguably it isn''t but I simply couldn''t countenance is presence on board being favourable to an elected supporter and when I say elected I mean elected by the support. As a case in point it''d be favourable if the Chairman of the Independent Supporters Club had a place on The Board of Directors and as such provide what I have described previously, a checking mechanism between the clubs governance and its support. There will be a time in the future when the current majority owners decide to call it a day, in no way is this a criticism , it is a fact. They like all of us will one day will decide to hang their boots up so then what? None of us know what their intentions are, possibly their shareholding might be left in trust for the support, who knows but there will come a time when the current structure changes. None of this is even a direct criticism of Stephen Fry, I regard one of his finest hours as the Intelligence Squared debate ''Catholicism on trial'' he held with the late Christopher Hitchens. He is a great national asset with much of the work that he does but personally I''d far rather have a set of watchful eyes on the Board both this year, in ten years time, twenty years time and so on.

Thanks for that, the actual challenge came from Bowkett and a Bartrum from recollection, both at the AGM and then by way of an open letter? Accepting this was aimed at Doncaster is it not the same as a ''back chanel'' criticism of the Majority Shareholders? They appointed the bloke, they kept him there until he was literally dragged out of the place after relegation to League 1 and the disasters that followed. You don''t need much of a political nose to detect what was actually being said, a criticism of Doomcaster is nothing more than a criticism of the people that kept him there so long? In came the new Chairman, he brought his new Chief Exec and in came the all important third piece of the puzzle, a manager. History was in the making.

PS trying to type from an iPhone is utterly tedious, apologies for the spelling howlers

Actually NN I think you''ll find that some of the open dissent the Majority Sharehildersa came in for at an AGM a few years ago came from none other than our Chairman. From recollection he was a non-exec director holding some Preference Shares from the first share issue, took £25k''s worth and raised some strong questions of them.

As mentioned he got up and left the AGM when he was elected onto the Board, to the very best of my knowledge and memory I''ve not seen him at one since. No idea about Board Meetings as obviously that''s not something we are privy to. Personally I''d much rather there was a fans representative on the Board as I believe bith for our own club and indeed every club in the country it would provide a valuable checking mechanism.

Not sure VOO was fit when he arrived and now this, not good. Certainly O''Nail added some much needed quality and as mentioned, he can can cross a ball. Useful.

Mostly running into his team mates

He certainly added some composure and quality into the middle of the park and yes, he absolutely needs to start on Friday evening. No idea what Quo Vadis was all about today, not a clue.

Grantzilla, very good and entirely appropriate! Personally I''d like to see him take the most outrageous dive in front of the Norf'' Stand tomorrow,, get himself a totally outrageous penalty and of course score the winner.

Certainly looks like our best option for Saturday, I''d feel a lot lot happier with what looks like three midfielders. Two wingers has left us horribly exposed at times.

Jenkins, that''s what the Community Upper stewards are for, making sure nobody escapes. Much more of this current form and this will spread around the ground, supporters thrown in not out.

Jenkins, I do indeed, it''s easier to navigate my old man in and out of the Community C_unts Stand. Evidently that''s how it reads from the City Stand as the stansiion passes through the ''o'' in Counts. We were wheeled out with tales of Northern Monkeys playing with fireworks, the biggest disturbance came when we were allowed back in to watch the second half, what an awful thing to do. I''d hoped we''d escaped but no.

For the first time last night the spectre of Mr Carrow was amongst us, he moved us outside the stadium during halftime. No idea why other than a fire engine rocked up and then promptly left, still the exercise didn''t do any harm. So to all of you who doubt he exists think again, he was there last night and it might be your turn next.

This ''T'' character seems to exist in the world of Godwin''s Law, as soon as a discussion reaches a point that stretches what is, quite obviously, beyond his (or her) comfort zone the purile accusations of trolling and alike flow freely. Why, this after all is a forum where, for those of reasonable and sound mind understand that a discussion can take place so let''s give it a go shall we? The original question is a reasonable one, possibly a little premature but none the less pertinent. At no point this season does the management team appear to have a Plan B or C or D, we play one way and one way only and it''s starting to look costly. Saturday was a classic demonstration of this, the team was set up the same way and at no point was there any attempt to change the shape, to ask some questions of Fulham, any scout for any club we are due to be playing will know very well what to expect. So ''T'' I appreciate that any form of discussion that has its roots in the Greek traditions of forum and debate might not be to your liking but really, there are concerns and it really is appropriate to let a forum be just that, a forum.

Can''t argue with the fundamentals here, we looked tactically inept for long periods but, importantly for me at least, I''d struggle to go waving the finger at any particular player. We lacked balance, the idea of Grabban dropping off to the left where he looked anything but comfortable, a two man midfield where once again it seemed as though we were continuosly outnumbered and overall we just didn''t move the ball quick enough. A point I''ve mentioned in the recent past is, in games such as yesterday where let''s face it we have a truly awful record, was to have played narrow and not lose. A three man midfield, either Wes or possibly Redderz dropped in behind and around Jerome and one other. Laff looked entirely pissed off as he walked past before the game so I''ve no idea what''s going in there. Hooper didn''t look quite as plump as people are making out and good to see him back. VOO, why, what, how? We''ve spent a huge amount of loot on a player who looks like he''s there to keep the bench warm, at best this seems odd. We''ve got a bus load of central defenders and yet Russel Martin seems guaranteed of a start come what way, this one really mystifies me. Nothing wrong with Russell but again, it just doesn''t look like a balanced back four. In summary, our management team needs to get a lot lot more savvy and quickly, right at the moment it''s apparent their isn''t a Plan B to deploy let alone a Plan C, we play one way regardless and it''s going to get increasingly expensive as points slip past.

Some interesting points raised there, it certainly seems as though it''s the Premier League starting to flex its muscles and why not. It''d be hard to think what the down sides are for our lads, some top rate competition hopefully being played in front of a good gate at FCR. It''s a well trodden path I know but surely this is just the sort of thing that needs to happen to help bridge the gap between a clubs accademy and It''s first team?

I''d be quite happy to see us getting a bit more ''Lambert'' and play the diamond once again, certainly away from home. The Laff and Jerome up top with Wes playing between the lines with a midfield three of Johnson, Tetley and Howson with VOO very much a viable option. I know Grabban had scored goals and Redmond has certainly improved of late but Lafferty did indeed look bloody good last night and must surely be worth trying in his natural position?

He had a favoured position, wherever was that?

Well I''d like to take this opportunity to offer him a round of applause "Clap, clap, clap, Hughes, clap, clap, clap Hughes"