Keith B

Nothing really wrong with being content with doing well in the same league, if players and club are happy with that. But I know what you mean and agree with the spirit of your post We Two.

Great to see Callum George is still there. Very gifted player.

Ahh - thank you Dave.

Godolphin withdrawing from the league. What on earth is going wrong - not many seasons ago they were a team to be reckoned with. Watched them many times and they always gave you a good game. Very sad.

Oh dear - that's sad. This is happening all too often.

I've always said, what's the point of it all if you don't want promotion ? That said, there are some teams who simply couldn't afford it - they just have to enjoy the competition and playing football each week and settle for that. Some players simply won't be free to do the travel, especially during the week or, can't get away from work in the afternoon early enough to travel for evening or long distance games. It's a problem for some teams without a doubt. If the club are ambitious and can afford the travel, even so, they will need a fairly big squad of players to cover for those players who won't be able to do the travel. Some seasons back, when I was on the Committee at St Just - Isaac approached me one day as I was doing some painting at the rear of the stand. As a new Committee member he asked me, what was my ambition for the club ? 'Surely promotion' - I answered. As an ex club secretary at St Just, Isaac sucked in his breath and said, 'the club simply couldn't afford it Keith'. That knocked me a bit, but of course it was true. Some clubs can afford it - some can't.

Reading these tributes - here is another football man I wish I'd met. Rest in Peace indeed sir.

Well fenman - so you were in 'the job' too. PM me if you would like a chat over old times. You're certainly right - life has changed and so have people and their attitudes. It would be good to say for the better but . . . I cant. Values have changed and words like 'standards' and 'morals' are not wanted anymore. Thankfully not everyone is like that though. Take care sir and PM me if you wish. Don't feel obliged to - it was indeed a different world then. No that's wrong - same world - people have changed.

In today's Telegraph, they report that the FA's controversial deal to allow betting companies to screen FA Cup matches on a so called 'bet - to - view' basis is under investigation, along with the whole matter of betting companies sponsoring sport in general. Hooray - not before time. However, the 71 English Football League teams are protesting because they stand to lose £40 million in sponsorship. So it's sod the weak minded souls who are hooked on gambling and who are in great debt through this weakness/illness - just keep giving us the money. Again you're right older - sadly.

I'm afraid the whole way policing is done these days Bruegel is different. They look for a different breed of person these days when recruiting, sadly - as evidenced by your average local Devon & Cornwall Police Officer. I, along with many other ex police officers I talk with agree, that today we would never get into the job. Attitudes to the way policing is done these days has changed. The whole system needs shaking up. You don't need to apologise for being a law enforcement officer. The old days of policing were better. They need to get back to it.

Well Bruegel in my experience most folk do have a better side, if you bother to try and find it. Over the seasons latterly, I got to talking to a number of players who, yes had so much enthusiasm on the pitch and sometimes this ended in punches thrown, and the language got pretty ripe too. However experience over the years taught me, that often people respond best when you a) don't use bad language yourself and b) appeal to their better side by first a little flattery, for example - 'you're a good player John/ Dave/whoever and you don't need to get involved - just run rings around them and don't retaliate'. My years in the police force in London found me dealing with all sorts of people in all sorts of circumstances. Many times I've taken the loudest mouth (often through drink), taken him to another room and told him to calm down (I'm not swearing at you - so don't swear at me) sat him down and just chatted to him. Tried to give advice and usually he responded well enough. Many despairing fathers would say, 'I don't know what's the matter with him officer, he just won't listen to me'. 'Well he listened to me Mr . . . '. Often this approach brought success or some times chance for further chats with the lad. No it didn't always work, but more often than not, it did bear some fruit. True - I'm sure some times the good results were because the advice came from a police officer -perhaps therefore from a source they hadn't expect it from. I apprehended a man once, took him out of the immediate surroundings and drove around with him in the police car for about half an hour, before taking him home again. When he got out of the car he said - 'I used to think all coppers were bastards' - I know better now, thank you sir. Most people, even the most objectionable ones do respond - perhaps the fact that someone actually cares and listens to them brings this response. Only if he spat at you older ? In that case I would have too smacked him too.

Thank you We Two and Bruegel. Yes, I guess this horrible subject is here to stay, sadly. How could you stop it - except perhaps by appealing to the better side of player's characters ? I don't suppose they give it a second thought. I don't remember it it my day. Sometimes perhaps you'd swallow or catch a fly/midge in your mouth and spit it out. I suppose it's the fact that you can't watch a game on TV without seeing close ups of players faces and invariably they spit, or worse. I can't say it's so noticeable when watching live football from the stand, so it gets back to televised matches and the umpteen times they show the players faces close up. Maybe the TV companies could have a word with the camera crews (?) - not so many close ups of faces. Would't stop the spitting etc, of course. Again, sorry it's not a nice subject. My wife made the comment the other weekend saying, every time she looked up when football was on (which isn't often 😀) a player always seemed to be blowing his nose out onto the pitch. There we are - just thought I'd mention it.

Being an unsophisticated chap, schooled in the 1940's - 50's and taking technical subjects at night school and day release as an apprentice thereafter, there may well be an easy uncomplicated answer to this question, of which I am ignorant ? When ever blood is seen on a player's shirt, face etc, all is panic until the shirt has been changed and the player cleaned up, bandaged if required etc, and at times even the pitch is disinfected. Why is it then, that constantly we see players spitting, coughing up phlegm and blowing snot out of their nose's all over the pitch and this is accepted as ok or, the norm ? Surely saliva, phlegm and snot pose an infection danger to players who, by nature of the game fall, slide and generally go over in this filth under their feet ? I would have thought that these horrible habits pose a health hazard along with blood, or, perhaps I'm completely wrong ? As an aside to this, I'm sick to death of having to watch all this spitting etc, when ever the cameras close in on a player's face - which is far too often in my opinion. Sorry to bring this subject up, but we see so much of it these days. When I played all those years ago, mother used to make sure I had a pocket sewn into the inside of my shorts in which I always carried a handkerchief. Don't laugh, it's just the way I was brought up !

Along with the hair style ☺️. You mean you didn't vote for Boris older ??? Rhetorical question - don't answer sir.

Which one is Boris ? 😀