SOD Interview

[Jonathan]

Going back to 07/08, I have to admit to feeling momentarily disillusioned in the immediate aftermath of the home defeat to Walsall, probably due to the manner of the performance (we were a bit allover the place) and the frustration of missing a late penalty to claw back a point. By the next morning, though, I'd regained perspective and I felt that was rewarded by the fact that we put in a great performance down at Luton, getting a good point against a team that had the best home record in the league at the time - we could and should have won the game actually. Some people still chanted for his head at the end of that game, which I still find bizarre and very disappointing.

Ironically, after the Walsall game, we went on to average 1.8 points per game in the following 10 league games that take us directly up to the Yeovil match that BST always rattles on about. Now normally Mr. Statistics would have been salivating over that kind of return, that is until he decided to become all subjective and reflect on performances!

Anyway, we all have our opinions on here and there have been times when they have made all of us look a bit stupid somewhere along the line. Paul Green in my case, as barring the odd spell I wasn't convinced by him for a long time ever since Souness came to watch him. However on his return to the team in 07/08 he proved me totally wrong and I was gutted when he decided to leave.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Ah, Jonathan, you're committing the cardinal sin of taking statistics out of context to support a particular argument.

You're right about that ten match run of course. In itself, that would have been a fine run of form.

The problem was, you can should never take isolated stats to make a point. A run like that could not be looked at in isolation.

We had already had a dreadful start to the season. After being promotion favourites, and after assembling by far the most expensive squad in the club's history, we were rank for the first two months of the season. By the time of that Walsall match, in points won and performances offered, we were seriously looking like relegation candidates. So by the time that little run started, we were playing catch-up on a huge scale. To the extent that even a run of 18 points in 10 matches wasn't going to turn the season round. By the time it was 18 points from 11 matches after the Yeovil game, we had 28 points from the first 20 matches - spectacular mediocrity.

Then you look at performances. You harp on about one excellent performance against a side that was destined to finish bottom of the league. But that was a rare gem in a heap of dross in that period. And not only in that period. We had been bloody awful to watch since the end of January. Sides were finding it easy to come to the Keepmoat and nullify us. By that Yeovil match, we had won 6 of our previous 19 home matches and the majority of those games had been dreadful affairs. The abject performance against Yeovil was sadly typical of far too many over the previous 10 months.

So, that run of form that you quote appeared at the time to many of us to be too little, too late and giving no indication whatsoever that we were remotely looking like promotion candidates.

With hindsight, it's obvious that we were wrong and that those who had faith in O'Driscoll were right. Mind, I suspect that few of the faithful would have predicted that he'd turn it round by a significant change in the style of play, sacrificing the safety first, slow, plodding midfield style for a buccaneering style that would grab games by the throat. We'd seen no evidence of that approach in the previous 10 months, then it suddenly, wonderfully clicked into place and the rest is history.

Football eh? Bloody Hell.

[CusworthRovers]

Truce is called Billy. The thing is, you know this Thorne hillbilly outsmarts that Denaby hick when it comes to Footy and understanding how it works.

Our 3 biggest debates have been:

SOD - Me always for, you against (early days only, granted)
Greeny- You for, and me, well not against but backed the manager in keeping him out
Heffs- You for, and me against his all round contribution really

All your 'fors' have left the club, and essentially been allowed to leave.
My one 'for' has remained and now enjoys a god like status.

I make that 2 to me, and I will accept the Greeny one is half a point each

Total score

Thorne Massif 2.5 v Denaby scum 0.5

Mr Tears, are we ignoring the above or acknowledging it to be so. To be fair, I could say 3-0.

I could also give you a comprehensive reply to your post above, but is there any point

[BillyStubbsTears]

Oi. You don't call a truce then fire a pop gun in the enemy's general direction. (And let's be honest, your arguments are about as wounding as a spud gun)

You ought to be a politician mate. No. Make that a priest. Your take is \"I don't have any opinions on the team other than what our Almighty Leader deems to be The Way.\"

So. O'Driscoll suddenly changed policy halfway through misfiring seasons (as he did twice in two years) to reinstate players he had discarded. In both cases, you argued vehemently that the said players weren't required (because The Leader didn't rate them). In both cases, I argued vehemently at the time that the said players were EXACTLY what was missing from the mix. In both cases  the reintroduction of said players transformed the season. Had we not brought those players in a) we'd not have won promotion and/or b) we'd have gone straight back down.

You reckon those outcomes justify your faith. I guess they do, but where are your BALLS man? Have some opinions of your own that you're prepared to argue over and above just worshipping whatever The Almighty says.

[rabjohns]

I recall being on Cantley Park with the dog's one sunday morning it was in the early day's of sean's tenure and it followed one of the dire performances on the saturday.

The player's were turning up for training but the barrier was down at the bungalow and the physio was running round looking for a key when an unhappy looking Sean turned up, well owd Sean was'nt waiting for a key, he parked up and without a word stormed of toward's the training ground.

It was quite a comical to see 20 odd player's and staff bag's en all following him like the pied piper.

I somehow knew this lad meant business and was'nt to be messed with.

[CusworthRovers]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Oi. You don't call a truce then fire a pop gun in the enemy's general direction. (And let's be honest, your arguments are about as wounding as a spud gun)

You ought to be a politician mate. No. Make that a priest. Your take is \"I don't have any opinions on the team other than what our Almighty Leader deems to be The Way.\"

So. O'Driscoll suddenly changed policy halfway through misfiring seasons (as he did twice in two years) to reinstate players he had discarded. In both cases, you argued vehemently that the said players weren't required (because The Leader didn't rate them). In both cases, I argued vehemently at the time that the said players were EXACTLY what was missing from the mix. In both cases  the reintroduction of said players transformed the season. Had we not brought those players in a) we'd not have won promotion and/or b) we'd have gone straight back down.

You reckon those outcomes justify your faith. I guess they do, but where are your BALLS man? Have some opinions of your own that you're prepared to argue over and above just worshipping whatever The Almighty says.

Classic BST response when said back is against said wall. Let's mask the fact that I have been proved wrong about Sean, Greeny and Heffs by cheekily turning it onto the opposition poster by chucking in loads of inane asides into an intellectually written paragraph that hopefully will hide away the fact that I got it totally wrong.

Nice one chief.

I'm sure I'm put my arguments across before, rather than just say I agree with Sean  and I want to bum him. The man is generally right, so is it wrong to support him in his decisions?

For the record, incase I never put an argument across or you didn't want to hear it:

Greeny was your shout, my just as equal shout was JJ and Cammo playing up front and allowing the midfield something to aim at and to give us a physical edge to our game that had been seriously missing (as our strikers before seemed to be struggling up front).

You said Heffs, I said Woods, Stock, Wellens and Spicer plus Copps gave us an attacking forward momentum that created loads. You supported Heffs and wished him still here, arguing he was right for this team up to him leaving and even argued against signing Billy when we had Heffs

You were against Sean...I was for him.

Now in simple terms which of the above have you been wrong about

[BillyStubbsTears]

Intellectual? I was actually having a dump after waking up bleary eyed when I wrote that one. More stream of (barely) consciousness stuff to be honest.

Anyway, at the risk of continuing our bore-fest, your bizarre argument is as full of holes and failure to accept the bleeding obvious as ever.

One of the reasons regularly quoted as to why Heffernan was no good is that he now can't get in a L1 side.

Yet, apparently it was two journeymen centre forwards who transformed our 2007-08 season. These two players had both made regular appearances in the early stage of that season when we were cack. Since that season, their careers have been on a downward spiral, but for a brief moment in time O'Driscoll sprinkled stardust over them. Of COURSE it was them that transformed the season. OF course it was nothing to do with a player who had been very publicly discarded for most of the previous 10 months. A player who had not started a single one of those underachieving first 20 matches, but who immediately gave us the vital ingredient of midfield forward drive and who has since gone on to double his wages with a much bigger  club and become an established international.

1-0 to you. How could I possibly have thought otherwise.

Course, I've actually heard some folk seriously suggest that O'Driscoll deliberately kept Green under wraps for the first half of that season, before choosing the right moment to unleash him on an unsuspecting division.

The following season, you and plenty of others were regularly telling us that the only thing missing in the squad early doors was a goalscorer. You said times many that Heffernan would not be the answer, that he wasn't up to that level. Of course you're going to struggle to backtrack from that when the lad was finally selected and had the second highest scoring rate in the division. Of course it would all be down to some other change. I fully understand your discomfort and I'm not going to ask you to publicly prostrate yourself and plead forgiveness. We're all mates here and the last thing I'd want to do is show you up.

As for the Heffernan-Sharp debate, you will no doubt recall the many times I said that Sharp us clearly a better all round player than Heffernan. It'd be stupid to say otherwise and I don't say stupid things. I did query at the time whether a) we would ever be able to afford Sharp (and I was utterly delighted to be wrong on that) and b) whether there was a danger in placing all our financial eggs in that basket at the expense of strengthening other areas. Like centre half for example. I'd be delighted to be proved wrong on that.

[CusworthRovers]

Pure quality.

[wilts rover]

Blimey, you two again - so how many Angel Rangels can you fit on the head of a pin then?

[BillyStubbsTears]

wilts rover wrote:

Blimey, you two again - so how many Angel Rangels can you fit on the head of a pin then?

Intellectual post of the week.

You weren't have a Tom Kite when you wrote that were you?

[Viking Don]

I knew this was going to be the funniest thread when I read your post-shite-post this morning BST.

I'm still not sure who wins the argument though. I'm thinking it's about one and a half each.