Fleckys Flip-Flop

All time: Holt Roberts Flecky Gunn Huckerby Current: Klose Howson Tettey Martin Jerome I should point out (before I get a ton of flak) that Russ gets in there for his overall contribution to the club in his time here. Not because I think he is one of our top 5 best players right now.

It really was a very good block. The chance came from Turner being uncharacteristically outmuscled and Hooiveld reacted so quickly to nick the ball off Miller''s toe. Hooiveld may not be the quickest, but I think it''s a bit harsh to say he has a poor touch. He looks incredibly comfortable with the ball at his feet and for a guy who hasn''t played a great deal of competetive football over the last year or so, to come straight in and play as well as he has is excellent. I don''t necessarily think he isn''t a Premiership player, rather he and Turner are not a Premiership partnership. The lack of pace between them being the issue.

I agree with the OP. I was very happy with the side Adams put out. Hooper and Howson are held by many to be our best striker and midfielder. Quality players who needed game time. He used the squad well and took the opportunity to rest players who needed it whilst giving game time to the immediate second string. All of whom could easily find themselves in the starting 11 on any given matchday. That they failed to perform was really down to them. Laffs missed a couple of decent chances in the first half. At risk of stating the obvious, I''m sure had they gone in it would have been a very different game all round. It''s not like he just went over there with the under 18s is it!

Rudd Whittaker (RB) Garrido (LB) Miquel (CB) Cuellar (CB) Odjidja-Ofoe (AM) O''Neill (CM) Josh Murphy (LW) McGrandles (RW) Howson (CM) Hooper (ST)   I''d like to see these boys show us all that they should be in that matchday 18.

If we start well it could be 6 or 7. Birmingham have quite a weak defence. I spoke to a Brum fan yesterday and he is petrified!

You lay off bets to spread the risk. Of course. But you don''t lay off a bet which is effectively risk free. It''s all about making money and assessing risk. If you lay it all off then you only make any money if Rotherham actually win the league and if you laid it at greater odds than those you gave. That would be impossible if the markets only moved when bets were made. On the other side of the coin, if I had Rotherham at 200/1 to win the league and they then won their first 10 games then I would have reduced their odds significantly even if I had taken no money on them. As I would also have lengthened their odds to be relegated.

In easy terms City 1st. The bookmaker makes the profit because Rotherham are not going to win the league.

City 1st. If they balanced the book completely then they simply would never make any money. They would pay out exactly what they took! The reason why bookies don''t change the odds on Rotherham because they''ve taken a £1m bet is simply because they want people to keep betting on Rotherham. It''s easy money!If you suddenly drop them in to 1/1000000, to balance the books, then you put everybody off backing them because it simply isn''t worth it. So you effectively kill a market, the Rotherham to win the Championship'' market. Also, on your model, it would mean that bookmakers odds would differ drastically from firm to firm. If the £1m was bet through Hills, for example, then they would be dropping their price drastically and leaving any other optimistic punters to take hugely better odds elsewhere, rather than taking the easy money themselves!   And before you ask, I know this from my brother. His job is, you''ve guessed it, setting odds. He has also worked for Coral, Hills and ran two local bookies, in which I worked too.

It''s not entirely a reflection on the money bet City 1st. The whole difficulty in odds setting is attempting to balance the potential risk and reward. So, if someone came in now and lay £1m on, say Rotherham, you wouldn''t find their odds change very much, even though they would have the most money on them. It would be really silly to suddenly drop Rotherham in to evens, because you still want people to back them. Similarly, if we now lost our next 5 games in a row, but no money was taken on the market at all, then our odds would drift hugely. If it was purely on the amount of money bet then it would stay the same. It''s a delicate balance of which money bet is just one factor. It''s not a particularly lucrative market and most money is placed before the season starts. So the odds then tend to change with performances.

That Dion Dublin had a fairly decent career before he came back... If we are counting loanees I''d also shout for Scotty Parker.

Interestingly enough, the stats for this weekends game were incredibly similar to last seasons games against Cardiff. A huge number of shots but too low a proportion on target. Two sloppy goals conceded through poor passing and sloppy defending. If anything, we were probably more dominant last season under Hughton. Of course, Adams has got the result that Hughton failed to get. I don''t know why that is, there''s a number of possibilities. I like to think that it''s either because of the winning mentality Adams has bred in to the squad since they came back after the summer break, or it''s because the players we have brought in are better than those who left. There are some others though. I do think it''s unfair to make such general sweeping statements about Hughton. Clearly the Cardiff games last season are two examples of games he set out to win. That said, I''m perfectly happy to admit that the board were right to get rid of him. Adams is doing a fabulous job so far. Long may it continue. 

10/15 minutes is an absolute maximum. You should have plenty of time.

Marc Tierney is another. I also remember Mark Peters coming to give out the trophies for our presentation evening when I was about 10. I don''t know if he ever played a competetive game though. But definitely on the books at one point.

I know 4 of them - just can''t quite work out number 3!

I''ve heard a couple of stories. One of them being that one of Bassong''s decisions as captain was to split the squad in to two distinct social groups. Nobody was allowed to cross the divide, so to speak. It was felt that such a divisive character would be detrimental to the clubs success.   The other one was that when Adams turned up for his first day''s training, Bassong asked him if they (the team) were ''supposed to know who'' he was. Adams immediately removed him from the squad for undermining his authority as manager.   The second seems the most likely to me. But it is just hearsay. I guess we will probably never know. Until Neyul releases his autobiography at least!

I think Whittaker is the better player on the ball, but he is so slow. If he goes marauding forward then we get hit on the counter then he simply can''t get back. Russ isn''t as quick as he used to be, but he still has the edge on Whittaker on that front.   For me Whitts is the better going forwards and Russ is the better player defensively. So it''s horses for courses and they both have an important role to play. Regarding Russ at CB, I just think he is too short. Especially in this division, where so many sides play the long ball game.

Oh and Becchio... I completely agree. If Hooper leaves then I think Adams will have a bit of a rebuilding/reintegration task with him.

How about when I listed a bunch of Celtic strikers and said that if Celtic fans thought he was better than them then I''d say they were crazy? I certainly meant that to be a direct reference to how good he is. That those players are better than Hoops is only my opinion of course! When referencing my own investigations, it was simply to convey that Celtic fans no longer appear to hold him in as high regard and that their opinions were probably born of the disappointment in his impending transfer away. Which I think you got?   With regards to his positions, that was based on what I have seen of him as a Norwich player and on the one occasion I saw him as a lone striker for Celtic in the Champs League. Now, to clarify, that''s not me doubting your assertion that he played there numerous times. All I''m saying is that I base my opinion on what I''ve seen. I think he neither has the pace, nor strength to play up top alone effectively. That said, I think a striker who has the complete ability to play up top on their own is a very rare thing. Hoops will have a role to play, I''m sure, and I hope we don''t sell him.

Migs, sorry I''m late! My only point is that Hooper isn''t THAT good. Personally, I don''t think you need him to be the second best striker in Celtic''s history to support your argument. He is a proven striker at this level. There''s not really much else to say about it. I hope we keep him too. Grabban/Hooper and Lafferty/Jerome give us great squad options. Without Hooper we would need to sign someone else because I don''t think Loza isn''t quite ready for the Championship yet and Becchio is just, well... Becchio!

December 1990 against Southampton. We won 3-1. I wrote down Fleck, Bowen and Crook as the scorers on my programme. I''ve often wondered if I got that right!

It''s funny isn''t it, because I thought Cuellar actually had a decent game. Looked a little off the pace once or twice, but that was all really. The og was unfortunate, but on the whole a solid 6 out of 10. I''d give McFadden the same mark. Better in the first half than the second, but on the whole a good solid display which will hopefully have been noticed by a league 1 or 2 club who would take him on loan. Positives outweighed the negatives on both fronts I thought.

I think last night Murphy showed what he can bring defensively. I''d say he is just as good going past players as Redmond is and, judging by the number of offsides Redmond has had of late, just as good with his positioning. I just cant see an argument for not starting Josh right now.

Miggins, Jaemae, you are two extremes of the Hooper debate. Migs, having checked, I can tell you that very few Celtic fans consider Hooper even in their top 10 strikers of all time. Some do mind you, although probably those who never saw Dalglish, Di Canio et al. Maybe at the time it was all very raw for them? Jaemae, can you let us know exactly what it is that Hooper jas done to you? I just don''t understand why you hate him so much!!??!?!? All we can go by is what we have seen. Hooper cant play the lone striker, number 10 or wide role particularly well. Maybe if we play 442 he will fit in. Id keep him to allow Loza to head out on loan. He could be useful, but until we actually see him, surely the jury is still out?

Do you have a source for that Mrs Miggins? If you are right I''d say Celtic fans are crazy!! Hooper better than McClair, Dalglish, Sutton, John Deans, Willie Wallace, Jorge Cadete, Paolo Di Canio?!?!? I''d be very surprised. Hooper is a good option for us. I''d like him to stay, but I wouldn''t drop anyone for him right now.

For me, Redmond is just so frustrating. He is fantastic running at players, but his final ball, whether cross or shot, is almost always poor. Whereas, Josh Murphy came on last night and his final ball was spot on. Super vision to lay the goal on for Grabban and won a few corners too. Redmond seems to panic when he gets close to goal. He just needs a little extra composure, which I''m sure will come. He was neither our best, nor worst player last night.