Most liked posts in thread: Adams In No Rush To Extend Contracts (&Food chat!)

My mum had a frying pan like that, bacon and egg double deckers with the bread dipped in the fat. Paradise.

 

Genius Tennesseebantam. Merry Xmas mate.

 

That brings back fond memories of bread fried in proper bacon fat... Must try that again one day, as I do have a good source of bacon here. Yes, it has to come from a butcher's or a good deli; the supermarket stuff is generally not worth it.

RCB

 

I'm already looking forward to a fried slice - and bubble & squeak, of course, from Christmas dinner leftovers - with our Boxing Day brunch fry-up. You can take the boy out of Essex...

 

This is why we have such a fine forum. No football to talk about, so we all riff on food we love - and the Mods haven't stepped in once to put us back on track. Love it. Can I also put in my vote for dry cured bacon - the best.

 

Shhh, shhhh! Don't mention the Ministers of Decency by name; don't even mention the Masters of Debate by title...we don't want to wake them up!

Going all multi-culti today with dinner. Just popped a roast in the oven; in a couple of hours it'll be roast pork with sauerkraut and boiled potaotes (for the Estonian/Nordic part of me), traditional Christmas pudding (for the English part), and a very nice and local Pinot Grigio to drink (for living in Canada's wine country).

Very English weather here today: grey, foggy, rainy, and +5 heading for +8. The frozen North this is not.

RCB

 

Back to footballing matters, Ollie Crankshaw just scored his 6th goal in 7 games.
I’m not sure why Adams didn’t like him but it’s proving to be a terrible decision to let him leave.

 

I swear Ollie Crankshaw has become Messi since leaving us. Whether we saw the best of him or not, I don’t recall one game when I thought “he could be a game changer”. As I’ve read before, some players are world beaters in the lower leagues and fail to make the grade when they step up. Let’s see if Crankshaw proves me wrong when he steps up - hope for him he does……

 

He's a non leaguer.

Very dangerous non league player who is too good of an athlete for poor, semi-pro defences.

 

If you look at who he's scored against in the league they are all in the relegation fight apart from Altrincham who he scored against today. He won't be tested anywhere near as much in that Stockport team that he did for us or if Stockport get promoted last season. Defensively he was a liability and very likely why Adams didn't rate or trust him. Last season he was in and out of the starting 11 so it's not like it's just Adams who doesn't rate him enough to start constantly.

 

Dover Athletic did not qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Yate Town (Southern League Premier Division South) on a replay.
King's Lynn Town did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Walsall (League Two).
Maidenhead United did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Halifax Town (NLP)
Weymouth did not quality for Round One, they were eliminated by Yeovil Town (NLP)
Southend United did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Chesterfield (NLP)
Wealdstone did not qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Dagenham & Redbridge (NLP)
Aldershot Town did NOT qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Bowers & Pitsea (Isthmian League Premier)
Barnet did NOT qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Boreham Wood (NLP)
Eastleigh did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Boreham Wood (NLP)
Woking did NOT qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Horsham (Isthmian League Premier Division)
Altrincham did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Gateshead (National League North)
Torquay United did NOT qualify for Round One, they were eliminated by Havant & Waterlooville (National League South)
Yeovil Town are in the FA Cup Round Three, they beat Yate Town (SLPDS) & Stevenage (League Two) to get there. They face Bournemouth next. ***
Grimsby Town did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Kidderminster Harriers (National League North)
Dagenham & Redbridge did qualify for Round One, where they were eliminated by Salford City (League Two)
Stockport County reached Round Two, beating Bolton Wanderers (League One) to get there, before losing to Rotherham United (League One)
Notts County did qualify for Round One, where they lost to Rochdale (League Two) on a replay.
Solihull Moors did qualify for Round One, where they lost to Wigan Athletic (League One) on a replay.
Wrexham did qualify for Round One, where they lost to Harrogate Town (League Two).
Bromley did qualify for Round One, where they lost to Rotherham United (League One).
Boreham Wood are in the FA Cup Round Three, they beat Eastleigh (NLP) & St Albans City (National League South) to get there. They face AFC Wimbledon (League One) next. ***
Halifax Town reached FA Cup Round Two, they beat Maidenhead United (NLP) to get there, where they lost to Kidderminster Harriers (National League North).
Chesterfield are in the FA Cup Round Three, they beat Southend United (NLP) & Salford City (League Two) to get there. They face Chelsea (Premier League) next.

So unless I'm very much mistaken, NLP vs L2 stands at 2-4.

Chesterfield beat Salford City
Yeovil Town beat Stevenage

BUT

Harrogate Town beat Wrexham
Rochdale beat Notts County
Salford City beat Dagenham & Redbridge
Walsall beat King's Lynn Town

Not only are results against L2 sides not favourable, but...

Six of those sides (all below 9th in the NLP table) lost to teams even lower down the pyramid, suggesting the level in the bottom half of the National League Premier is very unimpressive even by non-league standards.

 

The best teams have loaded their squads with good League Two players so I imagine you're right about the top five or six. But they do tend to get a bit overrated.

I imagine Chesterfield and Stockport will be well fancied if they come up, but we've just had three (?) seasons of being told Salford will piss the league each year.

League Two isn't that easy, even for ambitious, surging clubs with a bit of cash behind them.

 

I don't think the national league will be as strong next season as I see two of their current big boys being the two promoted clubs. But if we go back over the last 10 years nearly every club has established themselves fairly easily in the 'professional ranks'. The likes of FGR, Salford, Accrington, Harrogate, Fleetwood etc. And now the likes of Sutton, Hartlepool, Barrow, none of these look out of place since they've entered the EFL.

 

There can be no better example than Burnley...

 

C'Mon Halifax.......

 

After 1 -1 draw away to Chesterfield Halifax are joint top on 40 points with Chesterfield..

 

So far, so good for him.

There are too many red flags for him to be considered a potential City boss at this point, in my eyes, and if anything I think it would probably destroy him.

But he's doing some good work at Halifax, long may that continue!

 

In so far as he's never seemed to want a big job to me, and doesn't seem to want to be outside his comfort zone.

Maybe it will change but he seems to want to enjoy what he's doing and develop rather than go to a bigger club and face all the pressures and bullshit.

 

I'm not sure how you have come to the conclusion in your first paragraph, though in fairness, I have no reason to counteract.

I suppose I'm looking at the skilset displayed, the "reasonable" success achieved, with limited resources, both at Halifax and in his two spells as caretaker manager at Oldham.

That said, Adams is still the man for me. His CV is good and hopefully he gets it right here, provided by the correct tools by BCFC.

But just like any boss here at City, he is under scrutiny.