What is it about football administrators and administration that encourages pettiness?

VAR is on the verge of its first successfully disallowed goal for offside after a player gets an erection, so it comes as no surprise to me that the FA remains as petty and rule-bound as it was when I ran teams and helped to run a league over 30 years ago. Good men so obsessed by bureaucracy that only an interest in BDSM could tie them up more artistically.

We have to replay our cup match ten days after winning at Stockport in a way only slightly more ludicrous than seeing who could fart loudest. One of our players, in the team all season, is ineligible due to pointless procedures so incorrectly being followed that it has taken ten days to correct.

Personally I would simply withdraw from the competition, and avoid the excitement of a game against Rochdale. We could invent a Covid case!

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 7:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



Well how can I put that into words, POOR, DOGSHIT, CRAP, PATHETIC, EMBARRASING, GUTLESS, USELESS, PAINFUL (You can pick your own word for the last performance).  Wycombe weren't any great shakes, but knew how to tackle, pass and shoot, the basics for a football match. 44 crosses and 6 successful also says a lot about our service to our strikers.

THE MATCH



Earlier than normal start as we kick off at 7pm BST. Bournemouth travel north for an easy 3 points. They are far better than us on and off the pitch and have been in the Premier League in the last 20 years, unlike us. They have drawn 4 of there last 5, but will get back to winning ways when they play us. They have the likes of King, Solanke, Brooks, Smith & Stanislaus on there books still.

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                   

BOUR               -                             

THE BASTARD IN THE BLACK

JEREMY SIMPSON
Richard Wild and Wade Smith
Fourth Official : Michael Salisbury

THE TEAM

Headless chickens most of them.

Wildsmith
Lees Iorfa Borner
Palmer Bannan Brown Penney
Windass
Marriott Paterson

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-3 Paterson

BML STANDINGS

Owlkev 3
Washington 2
Maddix 2
Wereham 1
Stateside 1

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Brentford v Swansea City
Huddersfield Town v Bristol City
Norwich City v Millwall
Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough
Cardiff City v Barnsley

HAHHH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC





One for Washington

2 points for a correct result
4 points for a correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.


Cup games:
In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

Friday 6th November:
Cardiff City v Bristol City (18:00)

Saturday 7th November:
Town v Luton
Town scorers:
Luton scorers:

Reading v Stoke City (12:30)
Birmingham City v AFC Bournemouth
Blackburn Rovers v Queens Park Rangers
Brentford v Middlesbrough
Derby County v Barnsley
Norwich City v Swansea City
Nottingham Forest v Wycombe Wanderers
Rotherham United v Preston North End
Sheffield Wednesday v Millwall
Watford v Coventry City

Bonus matches:
FA Cup 1st round:
Friday:
Harrogate Town v Skelmersdale United

Saturday:
Tonbridge Angels v Bradford City (12:30)
Hull City v Fleetwood Town
Ipswich Town v Portsmouth
Oxford United v Peterborough United
Rochdale v Chesterfield VOID
FC United of Manchester v Doncaster Rovers (17:30)

Sunday:
Wigan Athletic v Chorley (12:45)
Eastbourne Borough v Blackpool (14:30)

Monday:
Oxford City v Northampton Town

Chesterfield played an ineligible player in the last preliminary round against Stockport. The FA made them replay it and Stockport won, so I have voided that match.
Don't forget as well, there are no replays in the FA Cup (unless somebody plays an ineligible player ), so if you predict a draw in the Cup matches, you may want to add on who you think will win eventually.

Table after Matchday 9:

1. themaclad = 207 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 197 pts
   
3. jjamez = 191 pts
   
4. Baggiebob(BBB) = 177 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 164 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 163 pts
   
7. Beefy 1965 = 154 pts
   
8. St Charles Owl = 144 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 140 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 131 pts
    
11. ritchiebaby = 120 pts

Gary Neville got it right last week when he previously remarked in Paris that he had no idea what United team was gonna show up v PSG. Then United won and played well while I thought PSG were actually poor on the night. Today United returned to their normal home dross in a boring "bounce match" and deserved to lose again, this time a stupid and needless pk conceded by Pogba who can add another useless performance in a red shirt to his CV. That is four consecutive home defeats for United and it must be a club record??? This alarming situ cannot be acceptable for much longer and I'll be surprised if OGS is retained unless they start "getting their act together" asap.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football...d=msedgdhp

this year gets worse every day , just a couple of days after Nobby’s death it’s now been diagnosed that Sir Bobby Charlton has Dementia, and it’s also thought that Sean Connery died of this horrible disease. Think I will have to go to sleep until it’s all over and hope that things change.

The importance of our employing Paul Lemon and hopefully setting up some sort of scouting operation is being proved by the only man above Tom Denton in the goal scoring lists, Sam Barratt.

It must be three years ago, whilst we were still in the EFL that during one of my many bleats about our need for players and our lack of cash meant that we should be scouting Non-League, where there was plenty of talent available for free(-ish), I mentioned Sam. Of course Caldwell gave two-year contracts to declining EFL players going nowhere and set sail for a second relegation. Anyway Sam Barratt of Maidenhead was one of the names I kept boring you with. So his talent must have been pretty damned obvious, or I wouldn't have been able to pick him out.

He's an interesting and unusual player. He really is an artist. Off the field, if not quite on it. But he is also a good player as well as a painter. At the time he was scoring a few and making plenty of goals and was young enough still to go places. AND HE DID - Southend! Almost immediately, though never injury prone in the past, he was seriously injured and his contract was spent in hospital and with the physio' and, of course, a club permanently on the verge of liquidation eventually released him.

Fit again he's back at Maidenhead and banging in the goals, helped by being the club's penalty king. Now obviously I was right that he would have been worth signing, but had he been injured for us, he'd have been a flop. That's the chance we have to take. Of course signings come with a risk factor, injury, or simply poor form at a new club. Premiership clubs sometimes invest millions on a kid who looks as though he'll be the business, but every time he trots onto the field for him something seems to go wrong for him. Within a season or two the kid'll be sliding into obscurity. Sometimes injury intervenes and an Italian age-group international ends up at Buxton Town.

But this new chapter in Sam Barratt's story sees him top of our goal charts and now Southend who released him can't buy a win. It looks as though all they had to do was extend his contract for a season and see what happened once he was fit ....... Isn't football strange? You scout the talent, get it right and just as you are about to blow your own trumpet fate pours superglue into it.

The match between these two Gloucestershire rivals was every bit as intense as might have been expected.

The Robins changed their usual formation slightly to play and match Rover's 3-4-1-2. This meant that striker Alfie May was being asked to play an unaccustomed No 10 role.
The match was niggly from the start and May and Will Boyle were both booked early on as the referee tried to maintain control.
The match turned on it's head as early as the 10th minute as a long throw from the right found Will Boyle who headed home from the 6 yard box.
The Rovers players protested strongly as their goalkeeper seemed to have been impeded although the Robins felt that he had in fact collided with one of his own defenders.

Cheltenham should have gone two ahead when a great ball in from the left found top scorer Andy Williams unmarked at the back post only 6 yards out. Somehow he contrived to head the ball straight at the Rovers keeper.
Forest Green were now having more of the possession and it was becoming obvious that Rueben Reid was well off the pace and contributed little during this phase.

Within 10 minutes of the re-start the Robins scored again as not one but two errors by Rovers players saw Andy Williams race unmarked into the box and slot a low shot passed the keeper.
On the hour Mike Duff finally made the obvious substitution taking off the ineffective Reid and replacing him with the pacey Alex Addai.
For the next quarter of an hour Cheltenham were content to merely contain the Rovers and by and large were successful until the 72nd minute when Chris Clements conceded a totally unnecessary penalty which Collins easily converted in Josh Griffith's right hand corner.
Spurred on by this success the Rovers threw everything at Cheltenham whose players seemed to get deeper and deeper as the pressure became more and more intense.

Although no real clear cut chance materialised those last 18 minutes were a lifetime as Cheltenham defended desperately; not helped by time added on amounting to 7 extra minutes.
The better side lost the game but, at least the local derby hoodoo has been put to rest for the time being.

I wish this year would F**k off now, legend and movies Ikon Sean Connolly has died. Sad week along with Nobby Stiles and Bobby Ball. RIP to all in this terrible year.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football...d=msedgntp

One of the great characters of United's first European Cup winning team of 1968 v Benfica at Wembley Stadium and of course played a big part in England's only World Cup win in 1966 at the same venue - a toothless terrier of a player who certainly "gave his all" for club and country. Well remembered! RIP.

Bromley 2-2 Eastleigh
Dover 1-2 Altrincham
King's Lynn 0-3 Woking
Maidenhead United 0-2 Solihull Moors
Stockport 3-0 Weymouth
Yeovil 0-2 Chesterfield
Hartlepool 1-1 Torquay

League Table After Matchday 7
Lord Snoots = 72
Spireitematt = 68
Amelia = 66
Devon = 64
Dancing = 54
St Charles = 28