Hildy
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Everything posted by Hildy
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Legia will surely appeal. This looks like a genuine error rather than an attempt to cheat. They have nothing to lose other than the cost of the appeal.
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Cricket is a brilliant sport, although it may well be more fun to play than to watch. It is a team game, but each player has to take his turn, alone, in the line of fire. There is no hiding place. They say it is character building, and you know, it just might be.
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There's nothing wrong with a drawn game. It's a failure to win, but a success in avoiding defeat. It gets a prize, but not a big one. If we move to a system where a draw earns a side a higher chance of getting all three points when players are taken off or the teams go to penalties, negative football could be over-rewarded. Instead of a draw being the most a weaker, defensively-minded team can achieve for adding nothing to the contest, suddenly they get a go at taking all three points. Let them get what they get now - a point if they hold out, all three if they fluke it and nothing if they are crushed. We understand the drawn game and its just reward. Let's not start Americanising the sport, at least, not until we really have to.
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They will seek leave to appeal? How likely is it that they will be refused?
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I don't see a return to a shorter break at half-time happening. I'd like it to but it's highly unlikely. This period is used for television advertising and looking after guests in hospitality.
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I don't agree with timeouts at all. Coaches and managers have plenty of time to prepare their players beforehand and at half-time. Timeouts would be used to stop the flow of the game when one team was getting on top, which from a spectating point of view is frustrating and annoying. I'm glad you can see where I am coming from with regard to substitutes. There is no need to stop the game at all. The fourth official can take care of this.
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I'm less keen on this. I don't want to see the game stretch from 90 minutes - and it can sometimes last near to 100 - to an even longer period. The game is timed at an hour and a half to take account of natural stoppages and breaks but things have got out of hand, especially with substitutions and free kicks near the box. The first thing to address is the time it takes to substitute a player. Without a great deal of difficulty, this can be reduced to zero.
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Let the fourth official take this responsibility. Let him be the one who makes sure players leave and enter the field at the appropriate time. It will mean less stoppages, and that will be good news.
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I think King would be well advised to keep quiet until everything is signed, sealed and delivered - if of course he is involved.
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Under the watchful eye of the fourth official, making life a little easier for the referee, one player leaves the field and is replaced at that same moment by another. No stoppage. No time wasted. The player coming off may even be urged to get a move on by his manager if he is eager to get a replacement on.
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The fourth official wouldn't let him on until a player had come off.
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Without naming sources, can you expand on that?
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It surprises me how our support doesn't fully take in what has happened. It reminds me of the boiling frog story. As for the CL, Scottish clubs could miss out on the group stages for years to come. Three qualifying rounds just to get there - this is quite a feat for Scottish clubs these days.
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Celtic will not recover, but I wonder, when will a Scottish club again play in the CL group stage? Three rounds to negotiate is a tall order for every Scottish team now. While this is good news tonight, it should serve as a warning that Scottish clubs are likely to be off the CL gravy train for quite some time to come. Scottish football's best days are over, certainly indefinitely and quite possibly for good.
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There should never be any rush to change the laws of the game, but I don't imagine teams brought everyone back at corners many years ago when the sport was more cavalier. Times change though and we now have managers crowding the penalty box at corners specifically to cause congestion and reduce the chances of anything skilful happening. The result is a spectacle that is more bagatelle than beautiful. Substitutions are relatively new too but we take them for granted. There will be people reading this who remember the days when it was 11 v 11 and no substitutes, and yet the sport still thrived. Think of the throw-in. What a strange way to restart play but there is merit in it. It limits the advantage of the team taking possession because the ball can't be kicked long distances. When it was first introduced though, I'll bet there were people like you suggesting that the game should be left alone. A gentle evolution in the laws of the game has been going on since the game began, and it continues today - as it should.
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If a team is coasting and a player without a card to his name wants to sort someone out, ten minutes in the sin bin isn't a punishment at all. With his team 4-0 up, he can mete out a bit of personal 'justice' and relax in the sin bin. I really don't want to see this in football. I don't think it is needed and I can just imagine how fans would react if important players were sin binned at crucial times in key matches. Generally speaking, fans don't like to see the spectacle ruined by the dismissal of players. I think we should kick this sin bin idea into touch.
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Does the referee still have the ability to move a free kick ten yards further forward if there is dissent when it is awarded? If so, it is rarely applied.
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Officials are far better respected in rugby and in hockey than in football. I'm not keen on the sin bin idea though.
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We needed offside to stop players 'poaching' and shortcutting the whole process of the way the game is played. I think we need a revision of the corner kick because a penalty box full of players clawing, pulling, tugging, grabbing and pushing is a low point in the way the game is played. There is no obvious solution to this but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be trying to find one. Imagine what it must have been like when offside was first introduced. The sport's main body has to face down the cynicism and negativity of coaches when they go too far. It is generally accepted that the passback rule was good for the game but not too many thought it would prove to be anywhere near as successful as it has turned out to be. Re substitutes, it wouldn't be a bad thing if the final glut of substitutes all appeared at the 75th minute. The rest of the game would be played out without unnecessary timeouts and that would be a pleasure to see. What about no stoppage in play when substitutions are made? Leave it all to the fourth official. It would give him something to do other than being a sounding board for greeting managers.
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Are you happy with the corner kick situation as it now stands? I'm not. The ball is effectively fired into a tight group of players in a small space and the outcome is rarely satisfactory. If we want the sport to improve, would it not be a good idea for the football authorities to look into this and try out one or two innovative ideas that could be accepted in the future? Would you be against that? What about my suggestions on substitutes? Have you anything to add?
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See my thread on the laws of the game.
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If you had a pile of money to invest, would you invest it in Rangers while this board holds sway? A quick examination of the club would show a massive drop in season ticket sales, significant disillusionment within the fanbase, a dreadful product on the pitch, over-generous salaries being paid given our circumstances, and millions of pounds having been spent since the last, very recent, share issue. What about the long-term view? Will there actually be a long-term? The club seems unable to pay its way in the world now, and the current board has presided over a period where cynicism and pessimism have become the norm. A share issue might interest asset strippers but fans are fed up parting with money which never seems to reach the areas where it is really needed. A man with money is waiting in the wings - so we are led to believe - and yet Rangers has the begging bowl out once again. This institution, this former great club, is sick and dying, and no-one is looking hard enough for the cure.
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I said this elsewhere about entire teams being brought back to defend corner kicks: I can see the time coming when the football authorities will feel inclined to amend the laws of the game regarding every player back at a corner kick. This tactic is designed to clog up the area, limit runs, deny space and minimise goalscoring opportunities, and the outcome is often a series of fouls which may or may not be punished. Officials usually favour the defending team and too often a promising moment in the game fizzles out when a free-kick is awarded. It'll take an extensive trial and error period before the cure is found, but if the football authorities want to make the game better, they really need to guard against coaches and managers who are too often negative and safety-first. The general well-being of the sport comes first and eleven players in the box defending corner kicks is not something that should be tolerated indefinitely. In addition, now that we have a fourth official, I see no reason why the game should be stopped to make substitutions. Players on winning teams who are about to be hooked are often told to go to the either side of the pitch before their number is called, and then they make the long, slow walk to the dugout. Let the fourth official take care of this and let the game flow. Managers know that this is an effective time wasting tactic. That's why they do it. On the same subject, let's draw the line at the 75th or 80th minute regarding substitutions. After this point, no matter what happens, no more substitutions should be allowed. If a player has to go off injured, so be it. We really need to end this business of time-wasting substitutions being made deep into injury time purely to upset the game's rhythm and waste more time.
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I can see the time coming when the football authorities are forced to change the rules(laws) of the game regarding every player back at a corner. It is designed to clog up the area, limit runs, deny space and minimise goalscoring opportunities, but the reality is a series of fouls at almost every corner kick which may or may not be punished. Officials usually favour the defending team and too often a promising moment in the game fizzles out when a free-kick is awarded. It'll take an extensive trial and error period before the cure is found, but if the football authorities want to make the game better, they need to guard against coaches and managers who are often too negative and safety-first. The general well-being of the sport comes first and eleven players in the box defending corner kicks is not something that should be tolerated indefinitely.
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Okay. We'll leave it for another day. Enjoy the football.