The English Lower League thread
- Thread starter Stray Wasp
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For one reason and another, 2017 was the first year since I was a small child that I didn't attend a single game of football live. Recently, the urge overtook me, and I tried to work out which London team I might find it least offensive to visit. Then I saw harmless old Fulham were on a tear, and wondered whether they had any interesting games pending. Then I saw they were playing Wolves at Craven Cottage, and I'd heard it suggested that Wolves were playing really good football- having been filled to the gills with heaps of dubiously-sourced money, in the best traditions of modern English football.
Mentioning traditions, when I was a child, it seemed like annually the BBC trooped down to Fulham to report that some evil capitalist was trying to buy Craven Cottage, so they could tear down the stadium and build houses on that juicy slice of real estate. The resistance would be lead by singer Ralph McTell, whose haunting lament about homelessness The Streets of London had apparently been mandated as part of every hapless youth's music lesson curriculum.
Craven Cottage is beautifully situated by the Thames, so I'm told. I hadn't time to find out. The District line was part-closed, so rather than alight at Putney Bridge and head west, I walked down shabby Hammersmith streets decorated with newsagents, offies, bookies and takeaways before finally reaching a leafy-suburbsish area. A right turn, and the street I was passing down boasted some floodlights beyond its far end.
I'd been told that Craven Cottage was a nice ground. Entering, I was stunned to discover that despite those dozen uninterrupted years of Premier League football, the Hammersmith End looked like an old temporary stand. Beneath were pretty bog-standard facilities for food and drink, to say nothing of narrow, basic toilets. Bradford looked better fitted to the higher echelons- and City had been a fourth-tier club back when I'd visited them.
I assumed my seat, high up behind one goal, would give me an excellent perspective (and save me shelling out £35 for a main stand ticket). On entering the seating area I nearly cried out loud, 'But where's the rest of it?' Hard to believe capacity is 25,000 or so. In comparison to SJP, Upton Park had seemed a touch on the small side. Craven Cottage seemed positively dinky.
When I'd bought a ticket for the game, I'd been surprised how many unsold seats remained. Now gaps abounded. Fortunately, these began to fill, but the place neither heaved nor throbbed with excitement as kickoff approached. The seats had attached to them contraptions that resembled fans, and with the start not far off the PA system launched into Seven Nation Army, at which the home supporters took up the fan things, which they used to thwack against the palm of their other hand in time to the music.
I reflected that the locals were probably too posh to risk damaging their delicate hands by clapping, but even so, the spectacle was skin-crawlingly plastic. The heart filled with dread.
But as the game kicked off, a miracle occurred. From behind me, singing broke out, and the noise grew. What proportion of the crowd participated, and how loud it would have sounded from further away I cannot say. Heard from close by, and in stark contrast to what had gone before, it gave one the sense of being at a proper football game. And the noise persisted throughout.
In between buying my ticket and the day itself, each team had undergone a significant change. Neves- Wolves' star midfielder- had earned himself a suspension. Meanwhile, Fulham had taken on loan The Thirteen Million Pound Lard Baby. Or Aleksandar Mitrovic, as he is more widely known. Talk about farce dogging your every step.
Neves' absence was felt from the start, and Nuno had compounded it by leaving Jota, his top scorer, on the bench. He'd spotted that Ryan Fredericks tended to bomb forwards from right back to give Fulham's 4-2-3-1 formation width down that side, and tried to exploit the resultant gap through counters. But without Neves, Wolves lacked the craft to make real incisions, and Costa's pace worried without creating end product.
Fulham benefitted from the discipline of their holding midfielder Kevin McDonald, who frequently operated so close to his back four as almost to be an additional centre back. When Fredericks was caught forward, McDonald indeed dropped into defence so that Kalas could cover out right. Tim Ream was reading the game well, and intervening usefully when his team looked on the brink of being opened up. Fredericks suffered from his winger, Ayite's defensive unreliability, but he himself was never slow to sprint back towards goal. All to the good, given their keeper's handling was more than once shaky. The visitors played 4-2-3-1 too, and apart from a few frantic minutes early on that resulted in a block by a Wolves defender and a save from John Ruddy I felt the teams cancelled each other out.
For the home team, Mitrovic was at times isolated. Occasionally he wandered unwisely in search of the ball, denying his team a focal point. His hold-up play was the usual mixture of deft touches and lumpenness. Johansen was busy, decent in his touch, lively in his thinking, but not always so hot in execution. Tom Cairney impressed with his two-footed distribution and positional discipline- keeping his team ticking over by the golden virtue of not trying to do too much for no reason.
Then there was Ryan Sessegnon, of whom I'd heard so much. His speed stands out, and his control is mightily impressive. On the evidence of this game his movement off the ball and passing is that of a second-tier English winger, alas. Nevertheless, when Wolves were caught trying to play offside as the ball returned towards their goal Mitrovic found himself played into the box alone. Ruddy saved the shot, but Sessegnon darted in to dispatch the rebound.
That happened seven minutes short of half time, yet the interval didn't engender a Wolves revival. Twenty minutes from the end, just to annoy me Mitrovic turned his marker with embarrassing ease in the inside left channel. His control served him perfectly to open up a shooting angle. From behind that goal it was evident even before Mitrovic struck the ball that despite being twenty yards or so out he was in a perfect position to place a shot low into the corner to the keeper's right. He realised the opportunity, and celebrated by doing the silly gun celebration he's so fond of. The fans lapped it up, which encouraged him to show off his bicep muscles as he bounded back to the centre-circle. Nothing changes- the same pea-brained grandstanding interspersed with transient suggestions of an actual footballer.
After that, Wolves lost heart. Yet with a few minutes left they enjoyed an unlikely burst of life that yielded a ghastly miss by Jota, who when faced with an empty net lamped the ball into the crowd. Another chance followed, but then the final whistle. On the tube, the mood of their fans was gloomy. They've dropped twelve points in their last eight games. Yet if they accrue 50% of the points from their final dozen matches, they'll finish the campaign with 91 points, which should be enough to earn automatic promotion.
As for Fulham, they proved last season they were capable at this level of beating anyone. They impressed more than a few Newcastle fans as the best pure footballing opposition in the 2016/17 edition of the second tier, and as they roared into the playoffs with eleven wins from their final seventeen games, I assumed they'd prove the team to beat. That events turned out differently leaves them in a tight spot. Unless memory misleads, this is the Cottagers' final year of parachute payments. Miss promotion this year, and Ralph McTell may again be propelled to the fore.
Mentioning traditions, when I was a child, it seemed like annually the BBC trooped down to Fulham to report that some evil capitalist was trying to buy Craven Cottage, so they could tear down the stadium and build houses on that juicy slice of real estate. The resistance would be lead by singer Ralph McTell, whose haunting lament about homelessness The Streets of London had apparently been mandated as part of every hapless youth's music lesson curriculum.
Craven Cottage is beautifully situated by the Thames, so I'm told. I hadn't time to find out. The District line was part-closed, so rather than alight at Putney Bridge and head west, I walked down shabby Hammersmith streets decorated with newsagents, offies, bookies and takeaways before finally reaching a leafy-suburbsish area. A right turn, and the street I was passing down boasted some floodlights beyond its far end.
I'd been told that Craven Cottage was a nice ground. Entering, I was stunned to discover that despite those dozen uninterrupted years of Premier League football, the Hammersmith End looked like an old temporary stand. Beneath were pretty bog-standard facilities for food and drink, to say nothing of narrow, basic toilets. Bradford looked better fitted to the higher echelons- and City had been a fourth-tier club back when I'd visited them.
I assumed my seat, high up behind one goal, would give me an excellent perspective (and save me shelling out £35 for a main stand ticket). On entering the seating area I nearly cried out loud, 'But where's the rest of it?' Hard to believe capacity is 25,000 or so. In comparison to SJP, Upton Park had seemed a touch on the small side. Craven Cottage seemed positively dinky.
When I'd bought a ticket for the game, I'd been surprised how many unsold seats remained. Now gaps abounded. Fortunately, these began to fill, but the place neither heaved nor throbbed with excitement as kickoff approached. The seats had attached to them contraptions that resembled fans, and with the start not far off the PA system launched into Seven Nation Army, at which the home supporters took up the fan things, which they used to thwack against the palm of their other hand in time to the music.
I reflected that the locals were probably too posh to risk damaging their delicate hands by clapping, but even so, the spectacle was skin-crawlingly plastic. The heart filled with dread.
But as the game kicked off, a miracle occurred. From behind me, singing broke out, and the noise grew. What proportion of the crowd participated, and how loud it would have sounded from further away I cannot say. Heard from close by, and in stark contrast to what had gone before, it gave one the sense of being at a proper football game. And the noise persisted throughout.
In between buying my ticket and the day itself, each team had undergone a significant change. Neves- Wolves' star midfielder- had earned himself a suspension. Meanwhile, Fulham had taken on loan The Thirteen Million Pound Lard Baby. Or Aleksandar Mitrovic, as he is more widely known. Talk about farce dogging your every step.
Neves' absence was felt from the start, and Nuno had compounded it by leaving Jota, his top scorer, on the bench. He'd spotted that Ryan Fredericks tended to bomb forwards from right back to give Fulham's 4-2-3-1 formation width down that side, and tried to exploit the resultant gap through counters. But without Neves, Wolves lacked the craft to make real incisions, and Costa's pace worried without creating end product.
Fulham benefitted from the discipline of their holding midfielder Kevin McDonald, who frequently operated so close to his back four as almost to be an additional centre back. When Fredericks was caught forward, McDonald indeed dropped into defence so that Kalas could cover out right. Tim Ream was reading the game well, and intervening usefully when his team looked on the brink of being opened up. Fredericks suffered from his winger, Ayite's defensive unreliability, but he himself was never slow to sprint back towards goal. All to the good, given their keeper's handling was more than once shaky. The visitors played 4-2-3-1 too, and apart from a few frantic minutes early on that resulted in a block by a Wolves defender and a save from John Ruddy I felt the teams cancelled each other out.
For the home team, Mitrovic was at times isolated. Occasionally he wandered unwisely in search of the ball, denying his team a focal point. His hold-up play was the usual mixture of deft touches and lumpenness. Johansen was busy, decent in his touch, lively in his thinking, but not always so hot in execution. Tom Cairney impressed with his two-footed distribution and positional discipline- keeping his team ticking over by the golden virtue of not trying to do too much for no reason.
Then there was Ryan Sessegnon, of whom I'd heard so much. His speed stands out, and his control is mightily impressive. On the evidence of this game his movement off the ball and passing is that of a second-tier English winger, alas. Nevertheless, when Wolves were caught trying to play offside as the ball returned towards their goal Mitrovic found himself played into the box alone. Ruddy saved the shot, but Sessegnon darted in to dispatch the rebound.
That happened seven minutes short of half time, yet the interval didn't engender a Wolves revival. Twenty minutes from the end, just to annoy me Mitrovic turned his marker with embarrassing ease in the inside left channel. His control served him perfectly to open up a shooting angle. From behind that goal it was evident even before Mitrovic struck the ball that despite being twenty yards or so out he was in a perfect position to place a shot low into the corner to the keeper's right. He realised the opportunity, and celebrated by doing the silly gun celebration he's so fond of. The fans lapped it up, which encouraged him to show off his bicep muscles as he bounded back to the centre-circle. Nothing changes- the same pea-brained grandstanding interspersed with transient suggestions of an actual footballer.
After that, Wolves lost heart. Yet with a few minutes left they enjoyed an unlikely burst of life that yielded a ghastly miss by Jota, who when faced with an empty net lamped the ball into the crowd. Another chance followed, but then the final whistle. On the tube, the mood of their fans was gloomy. They've dropped twelve points in their last eight games. Yet if they accrue 50% of the points from their final dozen matches, they'll finish the campaign with 91 points, which should be enough to earn automatic promotion.
As for Fulham, they proved last season they were capable at this level of beating anyone. They impressed more than a few Newcastle fans as the best pure footballing opposition in the 2016/17 edition of the second tier, and as they roared into the playoffs with eleven wins from their final seventeen games, I assumed they'd prove the team to beat. That events turned out differently leaves them in a tight spot. Unless memory misleads, this is the Cottagers' final year of parachute payments. Miss promotion this year, and Ralph McTell may again be propelled to the fore.
Last edited:
Chloraflora
NOLU
I thought it was well known Fulham have the cringiest fan base in the capital. They have a neutral section for goodness sake.
A QPR fan of my acquaintance had murmured something disparaging about 'clappers' when I'd told him I was going, but the warning had sailed in one ear then out the other.
Even had I kept his words in mind, it's all very well to know a fact, but you can never fully steel yourself for the full dismalness of experiencing it first hand.
Chloraflora
NOLU
Why do we keep winning? WHY?! I’m going to presume we’re getting payback for playing so well earlier this season with no reward. We literally haven’t won 5 straight away games in my lifetime until now.
BKIslandersFan
F*** off
Wolves' lead at the top is starting to decrease after winning only 1 of 5, in fairness the fixtures have been tough for them with Villa, Fulham involved and in the next couple of weeks they still face Boro, Cardiff and Derby. If they can survive that stretch things get much easier
BKIslandersFan
F*** off
Villa I think, is out of automatic promotion spot race after that dreadful performance against Bolton.
It's Fulham vs. Cardiff.
It's Fulham vs. Cardiff.
Cardiff could go 10 points clear of Fulham should they win tomorrow, however their fixture is tough (Derby away). Its looking more likely that Wolves and Cardiff will not only automatically promote, but do it rather easily with games to spare. However as usual, the final playoff spots will be hotly contested
Sunderland on the brink, 5 points from safety which is really theoretically 6 because of their awful GD
Sunderland on the brink, 5 points from safety which is really theoretically 6 because of their awful GD
With the international break time to look at whats going on in League 1, 2 and the Conference which all played today and have roughly 8 games remaining
League 1
Three way fight for the two automatic promotion spots: Shrewsbury (78), Wigan (77), Blackburn (76) however it must be noted Wigan have two games in hand due to their FA Cup run and Blackburn have a game in hand. Behind these three the nearest competitor is Rotherham on 65 points with no game in hand. Playoffs are tight with 6th-11th separated by 6 points. In the bottom half interestingly both MK Dons and Wimbledon are in the relegation scrap
League 2
Luton Town and Accrington Stanley on top of the league comfortable on 74 points however Accrington Stanley have two games in hand, nearest competitor is Wycombe on 70 with no games in hand. The playoff race is also not as tight as in League 1. Not much drama at the bottom either with Barnet and Chesterfield cut adrift but Chesterfield have three games in hand and are 6 points from safety
Conference
Sutton and Macclesfield have nearly similar record (Sutton better GD but Macclesfield game in hand) and those two are expected to compete for the lone automatic promotion spot. Sutton I guess are best known for playing on artificial turf which is creeping more and more into the European game
League 1
Three way fight for the two automatic promotion spots: Shrewsbury (78), Wigan (77), Blackburn (76) however it must be noted Wigan have two games in hand due to their FA Cup run and Blackburn have a game in hand. Behind these three the nearest competitor is Rotherham on 65 points with no game in hand. Playoffs are tight with 6th-11th separated by 6 points. In the bottom half interestingly both MK Dons and Wimbledon are in the relegation scrap
League 2
Luton Town and Accrington Stanley on top of the league comfortable on 74 points however Accrington Stanley have two games in hand, nearest competitor is Wycombe on 70 with no games in hand. The playoff race is also not as tight as in League 1. Not much drama at the bottom either with Barnet and Chesterfield cut adrift but Chesterfield have three games in hand and are 6 points from safety
Conference
Sutton and Macclesfield have nearly similar record (Sutton better GD but Macclesfield game in hand) and those two are expected to compete for the lone automatic promotion spot. Sutton I guess are best known for playing on artificial turf which is creeping more and more into the European game
Nice. I always liked Cardiff. Hopefully they stick around in the Prem longer this time.
sabremike
Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
Chloraflora
NOLU
Massive win for Wolves at Boro, they will still compete with Cardiff for the top spot but it appears those two will promote automatically. Fulham and Villa are the only ones with certain playoff positions barring a collapse with now as many as 6 teams fighting for those last two spots
Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
Race for the playoff spaces is crazy tight. 5 points separating Derby in 5th and Preston in 10th. Gunning for Sheffield to snag a playoff spot (they started the year crazy strong and have been consistently slipping).
Cardiff, trailing one-nil at home to Wolves, missed two stoppage-time penalties. As such, Wolves are five points away from promotion.
But far more importantly, the EFL has confirmed that Accrington Stanley ("Who are they?" cries a generation of kids reared on the milk adverts) won't have their bid for promotion from League Two derailed by a fast-food bonus controversy.
In case you think I'm making that last bit up, see this for further details:
Burger 'bonus': Accrington Stanley 'reminded of responsibilities' by EFL.
But far more importantly, the EFL has confirmed that Accrington Stanley ("Who are they?" cries a generation of kids reared on the milk adverts) won't have their bid for promotion from League Two derailed by a fast-food bonus controversy.
In case you think I'm making that last bit up, see this for further details:
Burger 'bonus': Accrington Stanley 'reminded of responsibilities' by EFL.
Paulie Gualtieri
R.I.P. Tony Sirico
- May 18, 2016
- 12,329
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Apparently Warnock was furious that Nuno didn't shake hands with him after the final whistle, preferring to celebrate with his players.
Warnock judged this disrespectful. Because as the above footage demonstrates, Neil Warnock conducts himself with unimpeachable dignity at all times.
Warnock judged this disrespectful. Because as the above footage demonstrates, Neil Warnock conducts himself with unimpeachable dignity at all times.
Fulham are basically the only team with a realistic shot at getting into the top two as they won today, however Cardiff have a game in hand and if they win they will be 5 points over them
Sunderland and Burton both pick up away draws but they are 7 points adrift, Barnsley with a big win earlier today to keep pace with Birmingham/Bolton and they have a game in hand as well. Clement with 2 wins in 3 for Reading giving them some breathing room
No rest for these clubs, another midweek set of fixtures; the big match is Aston Villa (4th) hosting Cardiff (2nd), game Villa really needs to win to keep their slim automatic promotion hopes alive
Sunderland and Burton both pick up away draws but they are 7 points adrift, Barnsley with a big win earlier today to keep pace with Birmingham/Bolton and they have a game in hand as well. Clement with 2 wins in 3 for Reading giving them some breathing room
No rest for these clubs, another midweek set of fixtures; the big match is Aston Villa (4th) hosting Cardiff (2nd), game Villa really needs to win to keep their slim automatic promotion hopes alive
Ceremony
blahem
- Jun 8, 2012
- 113,241
- 15,498
Chloraflora
NOLU
I had an old-fashioned type of live update on the football scores today.
I happened to be in my bedroom with the window open and there came from the direction of South Bermondsey a mass roar that suggested something more exciting than a passing ice cream van. I checked the BBC website and, sure enough, Millwall were 2-0 up.
Alas, it sounded as though they played a goal song.
I happened to be in my bedroom with the window open and there came from the direction of South Bermondsey a mass roar that suggested something more exciting than a passing ice cream van. I checked the BBC website and, sure enough, Millwall were 2-0 up.
Alas, it sounded as though they played a goal song.
Chloraflora
NOLU
Yeah they play a brief clip from the Let ‘em come song we come out of the tunnel to. I don’t like it either....
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