[theo_luddite]

RSPCA Pooch Rescue Kennels
Weather's a bit Wuff oop Nooerth
Going for a Hat(ter) Trick
Leeds Road
HDI Wuff, Yap, Wuff
Kick-off 15:00 UK Time
Sunday 01/01/2023



Happy New Year to all our readers, match thread contributors and friends on t'other boards.


Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images                                                                                                        and By John Mathew Smith from Laurel Maryland, USA

Before I start on the small and mundane matter of our footy fixture, I think it would be rude not to say a few words about a guy who is in my opinion,  the best footballer most of us of a certain age have ever seen, and far away much more of a gent and an example of how to behave on and off the field than most of the more recent so called "best players in the world". There is one recent exception to that but if I dig too deep it might just get too Messi.

We got a whiff that all was not well in Brazil during the recent World Cup, when it was announced and then quickly denied, that Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known to the whole world as Pelé, was maybe not long for this world, and so, shortly before our game v Rotherham on Thursday, when the news broke of his passing it was a little less of a surprise than that perhaps of former England fullback George Cohen earlier in the week. Another footballing gentleman, if not quite in the same class football skills wise as the lad from the slums of Brazil, but also well worthy of a mention for his contribution to England and World football. As I said elsewhere, then there were two. Sir Geoff and Sir Bob have both commented on both.

He first burst onto the international stage in 1958 when he led Brazil's goal scoring efforts in becoming the first South American country to win the World Cup in Europe. Brazil followed this up by being the first to win it on two continents by defending the World Cup in Chile. Italy had previously won two competitions running, but had won in Italy and France.

Up to this point I'd really not heard of him, I was born in 1958 after the Swedish World Cup and wasn't yet 4 by the time 1962 World Cup was played. If the BBC were showing any games, or transmitting commentary on the old hairy whiskers radio's they'd have been way past my bedtime and I couldn't even tell you if we even had a tellybox back then. Although Brazil won again, Pelé was largely injured for this tournament but did enough to get a medal.

So to 1966 and the World Cup in England, and a now football mad kid watched every game I could on the little screen in the corner of the room in glorious black and white. By now I'd heard of this chap called Pelé and also a Portugese chap called Eusebio. It was Eusebio's side that was to progress from the group games. Brazil started with a 2-0 win over Bulgaria, but they lost to Hungary and Portugal as they both played a far less than beautiful version of the game in order to stop Brazil and Pelé in particular. Having been kicked over the stands by Portugal at Goodison Park, and eventually carried off, Pelé announced his retirement from international football, but quickly changed his mind.

Rather than follow the brutal "European style of football" that had emerged in 1966, Brazil turned on the style big time in Mexico in 1970, and are still in my mind, the best side to ever play in a World Cup. If revenge is a dish best served cold, then the way they demolished Italy 4-1 in the final, against a side that was well on the way to mastering the dark arts that they served up on the international and European club stage for many a following decade, then this was that dish well served.

Brazil played defending Champions England in a qualifying game, where England defended stoutly against the yellow and blue wave that was coming at them. Eventually Jairzinho smashed a ball past Gordon Banks for the only goal of the game. It would have been 2-0 had a near perfect cross, met by a near perfect Pelé header not somehow been saved by Gordon Banks - yes it was THAT save.

This was Pelé's third World Cup win, nobody else has matched him. A centre/inside forward (he wore the no. 10 shirt) that was all of 5'9" tall (1.75m+ in new money) and could out jump the tallest of 6'+ defenders around him. His headers were as deadly as his shooting, which could be as venomous as Booby Charlton's screamers or as subtle as Jimmy Greaves passes into the net. He had the dribbling skills of George Best and the passing ability of Moore, Mullery and Martin Peters combined and he could tackle a bit too, though you'd rarely see him on the edge of his own box, it just wasn't expected back then. Above all he that thing that all sporting greats have, he went to where the ball was going to be, thus giving him the space to work his magic. He'd learned big time from the thugs, and the refs that gave him no protection back in England.

All the kids in the school play ground over that summer went from wanting to be their favourite England or club footballer to wanting to play like Pelé. Not one of us ever could, obviously, but you can try.

As a player for Santos, he scored an average as close to 1 goal per game as anyone ever has for anyone else. He wasn't far behind for Brazil.



Brazil goals 1970 - Mexico
FIFA won't allow the YouTube Video below to play on here so I've only posted the link.

https://youtu.be/kCwYo9nL_Dk

I remember screaming goooooooaaaaaaaallllll even before Carlos Alberto met Pelé's pass for that 4th goal v Italy, you just knew what was coming.

I also remember thumping the back of the tellybox at or just before 7 in the morning if the BBC coverage of the previous nights games hadn't started yet.

More here https://www.theguardian.com/football/202...his-career amongst other places and all over the interweb to be honest.

If Town could just find 7 Pelé's in the local Saturday/Sunday Leagues (how hard can it be??? I'd let our defence have the odd day off, they aren't perfect but they'd see a lot less ball coming their way) our problems would be solved. Actually, I'd make do with 5 Pelé's, an Aaron Mooy and another Frank Worthington. I'm not that greedy.
I won't hold my breath on that though, not with our scouting system

Back to the real world.

"Two wins in two games Town" take on "Two wins in two games Luton" in the first game of the New Year. If you were out, or even stayed in and were still up late on New Years Eve you've got until 3pm to clear the cobwebs for Sunday's game. The good news is, perpetual mithering b@stard Nathan Jones isn't there anymore. He's gone on to bigger (pay) and (not so much) better things at the foot of the Prima Donna League. Still, with his record he might return (again) by the start of next season.

Whilst it took Luton 5 games to win one at the start of the season, they've only lost 4 since and all season have only been involved in 3 0-0 draws, so expect some goals in this match.

On the tellybox

In the UK and Ireland this is available on the Sky Red button and probably iFollow if you live elsewhere.

Pies, pees and pints

I don't normally do this for home threads but for visiting fans reading this, Happy New Year. 
Town's concessions don't take cash, so hopefully you've still got some credit on your plastic after the Christmas and New Year's festivities, plus you get the joy of drinking and dining al-fresco at the back of the stand. Dress warm and try to stay dry. If you think it's cold in Luton ......

Fair Play Ref.

Tis the season to be jolly and as the Post Office have been piss poor at delivering Christmas Cards at time this year, (I'd a stack waiting for me when I returned home Friday) the ref's have been having a jolly old time delivering them on the pitch instead. Town picked up 3 in each of the two Christmas games, with Hoggy making up for lost time and getting 3 in his 3 games since he was let back "on the grass" and off the naughty step. It's highly noticeable we've won two of those three though.

Luton have picked up a few too. Against Norwich they got 3, but two went to Osho (oooh, a red shirley) and they got another 4 at QPR.

In the overall Fair Play League, Luton are close to the top and Town are mid-table. Now knock the thick end of 6-10 off for time wasting and we'd be around Luton. Am I missing something here? Why isn't any so called time "wasted" taking goal kicks, throw ins etc. just added on at the end of each half per injuries, subs, goal celebrations etc, most of which are also time wasting exercises in disguise? 



If I moan about this in every match thread do you think FIFA will eventually take any notice?
No, me neither. It's a source of revenue, whether to local, national or International Leagues and ultimately FIFA one way or another.

Latest news

As noted previously by themaclad, Town and Preston have been charged with failing to control their players after the handbags came out following the, er, robust challenge by Kasumu on Preston's Ledsun. Both have until January 4th to respond.

Out Injured/Suspended/Isolating

No real changes here listening to the presser

Back training but not oven ready/Back in the frame

Pearson is finally back training, but it's likely too early for him to comeback in yet.

Last time out

We won agaaaain, We won agaaaain,
We won again, We won again,
We won agaaaain.

Town followed up the 1-2 away win at (dodgy at home) Both Ends with a win at home against faltering Rotherham.



Mind you, so did Luton.
They followed up a win against faltering Norwich (bye-bye Dean Smith) with a win at faltering QPR (well, who hasn't won there recently?)



It was a Happy Christmas for Town, Luton, Burnley, Sheff. U., Blunderland, Boro and The Baggies. Not so happy for Watford, Blackburn, Both Ends, Brum or Wigan.
The rest don't know whether to be    or  .



Musical Interlude

I'm going all Paul Young - memories of happy times when I lived up North, not that I've not had happy times in Muddled England, or in Canada, but er, well, you've all been there (or you will be, sometime, hopefully).





Maybe a little irony, or was it the ironing that needed doing, in between those two titles?



No names, no pack drill as the say, somewhere. 

The Sack Race

Well, Thursday morning sprung an unpleasant surprise for Matthew Etherington at Creepy Crawley. 33 days and 3 games, yes 3 games, in he got the old tin-tack. Selling his best player the day before to Gillingham and calling it a disagreement in ideas and direction looks really good on The Board down there. I mean, you'd never get Town selling their best player to a divisional rival now would you? Especially if you had a sniff of promotion. Oh, hang on a minute.

Since my last thread, you may also have noticed that the defeat to Luton meant Dean Smith got the push at Norwich.
What do you mean I mentioned this earlier? Place for everything, everything in it's place on my threads I'll have you know. 

Tables, Form & Roller coaster

Those recent results put Luton 8th, 2 goals(ish) outside the play-offs and Town 22nd, 11 points outside the play-off's.
For perspective, Luton are 14 points behind Burnley and The Chefs in the top 2 places. Yes, they are closer to us than automatic promotion.
I can see the difference between play-off spots and the wrong side of the trap door being in the very, very low double figures (or less) this season with Chairmen everywhere looking at League position and not what a couple of wins would do leading to a fair few triggers being pulled well before Easter.

My New Year's Resolution is not to look too deeply into anyone else's Crystal Balls.  You got any?



Innies and Outies

Luton are a club that seemingly keep pinching players from right under our bleeding noses because some prick at Town doesn't like getting involved in bidding wars for players. Er, in some places it's called competition. How's that working out then? Well, the table doesn't lie by this stage of the season.

We're the famous Huddersfield Town and we want your players for free,
All for free,
All for free.

No way to run a transfer policy in my opinion.



Who's banging 'em in

Well, it might not be much of a surprise to some .....



They can't all lose

Some play Sunday - some play Monday, we're all back at work Tuesday.
Well, you might be, I'm at the quacks for an MOT.
Hmm, might need some new tyres (my spare is a tad over inflated and lacking tread) and a change of anti-freeze before I go.
Hell, if they did the MOT's and routine services more often than every 3 years it would help.
At least I can keep a visual eye on my spare tyre and an electronic eye on my blood pressure at home.
That only goes up when I visit the quacks. Funny how that works innit?



We've played 'em before

There's nowt to split us on this one. Another 3-3 anyone?



Next up?

Er, Both Ends (yet) again in the Cup, can Snoots double his money on the Players for Pounds thread?

This game starts a run of 4 away games on the trot until we play Brizzle at home on 28th January.
Hell, almost a month for me and others in exile from Yorkshire, let alone you lot that live there.
That's nearly as bad as the summer break. Now if you could only get there by train ...... Well, one day, maybe, 'appen.

How's your plastic looking after December Town fans? Yeah, mine too. 
I've still got a Coventry ticket in it's original unopened envelope and it's an end of a row seat too.
Surely now worth a fortune on one of those "Antique" TV shows? Particularly the one that has a Welsh pisshead (barred from every pub in Conwy allegedly) travelling all over the country with his scruffy mate driving him, full provenance and all that. His ex-wife could do all the checking on the interweb and a confirmation journey to the Town Ticket Office with photo's.
There's enough material there for at least 15 minutes with adverts.

Pressers

Fotheringham's cup of Froth

From Town's website - https://www.htafc.com/news/2022/december...on-town-h/

Only 17 minutes so quite short by his standards

The view from a bedroom window down Kenilworth Road

If Rob Edwards sticks his head out of the window I'll let you know.
He had plenty to say after they won at QPR, seems to have gone all quiet down there since.

About that New Luton Stadium?

It's about as advanced as our current two share holders agreeing on anything, let alone whether to accept a take over from someone that cares about anything football related, apparently.
There's a lot of nice things in the papers ....... occasionally.

IT Assistance - free notes.
I was having problems with viewing the video's I'd posted.
Turned out my Bitdefender anti-virus software had parked an anti-tracking extension on my browser that stopped them playing on Chrome.
Turned off the extension in settings, problem solved.

Well, nearly. Just waiting for the adverts coming in now from all the tracking that's going on. 

[Lord Snooty]

Nice one, theo.

That 1970 World Cup was magic and Pele was it's shining star. Even his misses were iconic. The one where he shot from the halfway line, the one where he dummied the keeper and the save by Banks.

Greatest player of my lifetime.

[jjamez]

Do we think kamberi will be available to take the place of Simpson or Mahoney on the bench tomorrow?

[theo_luddite]

I'd forgotten about him, he seems to be just as prolific as those two so he should fit in somewhere.

[theo_luddite]

Been invited out to a friends for Sunday dinner so I will miss the match and team updates. Please contribute in your usual ways if you can do so
Happy New Year again.

[Lord Snooty]

Will do. Happy new year, theo. And go easy on the sprouts.

[Lord Snooty]

Town’s team vs Luton Town
21. Lee Nicholls
6. Jonathan Hogg ©
9. Jordan Rhodes
12. Will Boyle
14. Josh Ruffels
16. Kaine Kesler-Hayden
18. David Kasumu
19. Duane Holmes
22. Jack Rudoni
32. Tom Lees
39. Michał Helik

Substitutes
Nicholas Bilokapic; Sorba Thomas, Etienne Camara, Danny Ward, Tyreece Simpson, Brahima Diarra, Loick Ayina

---

Unchanged with Ward and Diarra on the bench.

[Lord Snooty]

And back to the usual crap.

[jjamez]

I'm questioning who thought ruffels was a championship quality full back and why do we keep persisting with him. Boyles a very limited CB and it shows, he's an old fashioned CB but then again so is lees helik and Pearson, but lwb is a key part of our formation and atm we have a player that is severely lacking in ability there.

Also got to question why ward was an answer today, Rhodes was winning headers and free kicks and I always feel like we have a sniff of a goal when he's on the pitch, that disappeared when ward came on and won no headers and barely touched the ball.

One final thing, how old will sorba be when he finally stops being petulant and actually focuses on trying to play football, has international 'stardom' gone to his head? Recently he has been poor and his set pieces have been abject of any quality

[theo_luddite]

Obviously haven't seen today's game but Ward hasn't been winning headers for months. He frequently mis-times his jumps or completely misses the flight of the ball. That said, we should be trying to send them into the front player chest high wherever possible rather than knocking a 50:50 ball up that the defender has a better chance of getting to.

The sprouts were sweet Snoots, but let's say, good job I live alone