TyldesleyLatic

The east stand holds 8000 when full & the west stand 6000. With the 2 end stands somet like 5500.
I reckon there were about 1k-1.5k spare seats in the west stand with a similar number spare in the east, so 11k at a conservative estimate in those 2.
Probably around 3k from QPR takes it up to 14k & no more than 500-1000 in the south stand.
So I don’t think it will have been far off the figure that was given out

I’m pretty certain that the offer of free transport has to be taken up by some point tomorrow – presumably to allow them to confirm numbers with the coach company

No – he played at Brenford for a time but he’d come back by mid February

Its an option & was one he used at Wembley, but I just think the fact that he didn’t start with either McManaman or Maloney last week, both of whom are being managed as they come back from injury problems indicates that he’ll start with both of em, maybe with Maloney operating in a more central role off the forwards – “in the hole” as they like to call it.
If QPR sit back like I expect them to he’ll need players who can stretch & pull their defence about to create space for others to exploit & both McManaman & Maloney can do that. I don’t think thats one of Waghorn’s strengths & he appears to me to be more of a grafter
But for me last week’s line up, or more the ommissions, are a strong indicator of the team for tomorrow

In all honesty, I’m not expecting the greatest game tomorrow night

This is a case of the tail (the big clubs) wagging the dog (the FA).

The real problem with the development of home grown players is that the big clubs use up their wealth to hoover up virtually all the promising young talent around and stick em in their Academies in the hope that a few of them will be able to succeed at the level they need them to & the rest they cast aside. In order to attract the young players who may be more interested in competitive, first team football lower down the league ladder at that age they offer them (in relative terms) big money contracts in order to turn their heads. They also bend the regulations to the limit – I remember John Deehan saying once at a fans forum that the club were finding it increasingly difficult to attract youth players. he mentionned some regulation that had been introduced (& which may still be in place) that a club could only sign up a youth player if they lived within a certain travelling distance of the club. he mentioned a big club who had used this to get players from all over the place over the heads of other more local clubs coz they could fly them there!!
When the players get released from the big clubs they can often not have developed enough to be ready for first team football in the lower leagues (as they would have been in the past) & they can often sneer at what they see as the piffling wages on offer lower down the pyramid & they drift away from the game.
On top of that owners (& fans) of these bigger clubs bigger clubs often want instant success & are unprepared to wait for these players to develop so big money is splashed out on already, ready players & the youngsters find their route to the first team coming increasingly congested, if not blocked completely & their own development as players gets stunted even further. Chelsea & Man City for example spend an absolute fortune on their Academy systems but they’ve produced almost nothing of note as the youth players aren’t getting the competitive game time needed & the owners want instant results & not a season or 2 for a couple of youngsters to bed in.
Even those who bigger clubs deemed not up to makign the grade (thinking off the top of my head about players like David Platt & Robbie Savage released by Man United), were released at a young enough age that their development hadn’t been stunted, they were ready for lower league football, got the experience & moved back up the system. Nowadays the club’s keep hold of them longer & release some of the more promising ones at 21-23 by which point they’ve lost a good 3 years out of an estimated 12-14 year professional career. In the past the likes of Josh McEachran by 21 would have either been a first team regular at Chelsea or he’d have been released long ago, getting first team football at a club where he knew he wasn’t goign back to a bumper deal at a big club anyway & would be grafting to get back up to the top

In the past, the spread of talent at youth level was far more evenly spread throughout the professional game & players such as those we had at Latics (Joe Parkinson, Peter Atherton & co) were able to get first team football at a young age, develop as players & then move up the system when they were ready.

One player who i think has bucked the trend is James McCarthy. He had the chance to go to Liverpool or Arsenal at 16 & turned it down coz he knew he would get more first team football at Hamilton. When he felt he was ready for the next step he again turned down overtures from the big clubs & decided between Latics & Wolves where he felt he would get more first team chances. Again he could have moved from Latics but only did so when he felt he’d developed enough to be able to command a first team place at a “bigger” club. Had he taken the £££ signs being flashed in front of him at 16 I very much doubt that he’d be where he is today.

Anyway, rather than addressing these issues, the big clubs want to carry on doing what they’re doing & this is their answer – & one that allows them to look like they only want to do it for the good of the English national side when it reality its purely self serving

What if they’d nodded off & woke up but thought everyone was getting up just coz it was half-time???

With our main season over I’ve no problem with what Uwe did yesterday.
Yesterday’s result was irrelevant to Latics but the next 2 (hopefully 3) games are the most vital of our season. Should he have played his first choice side (whatever that may be!!) & risked having some of those 11 unavailable for the play offs through injury or suspension?
Personally I couldn’t care less about any respect or otherwise to any other club. What matters to me is Latics & that’s what Uwe is paid for too
Burnley are in a completely different situation so it isn’t even comparable

Yeah but to be fair, prior to us signing him, they were going on about David Wright as if he was one of the finest players ever to grace a football field.

He wasn’t