DangerousSausage

That would make sense, but then we'd just end up scouring VAR stills for a pixel of clear space between the attacker and the last defender instead. Maybe we should just accept that refereeing decisions will always have a human element no matter how much technology you add in, and can never be entirely consistent.

We got one point out of Barrow, Mansfield, Stockport and Wrexham in the first half of the season. Anything we gain from the latter three will be an improvement on that, hopefully starting next week For the time being though, I don't think Mansfield and Wrexham are our direct rivals - Gillingham and Wimbledon are.

The County Road stand looking fresh and new there, it must have been four years old at the time. The Main Stand roof had already been patched up.

This is awesome! Are @Robbie and @Fan of Big Tone in the video? Having your picture taken was a bit of an event back in the day. I've seen pictures of streets that suddenly came alive with people because a photographer turned up with his equipment! Maybe it was the equivalent of people waving at the camera when they're on the big screen during World Cup matches

I've never been a fan, but I don't doubt it could be implemented more smoothly. The trouble is, there's still a human element, it's just two men in a room with a monitor rather than the ref. I've seen countless contentious decisions made by VAR when even the slowest replays aren't clear. If you're not 100% sure whether a defender's hand brushed the ball even when you slow it down to individual frames, you shouldn't be giving handball. Likewise, we need to think about the offside rule and what it's actually for. Should goals really be ruled out for offside because the striker's nose was 1 millimetre beyond the last defender? Is that really giving him an advantage? VAR seems to have ushered in this fundamentalist interpretation of the offside rule, and it no longer seems to matter whether the striker was actually gaining an unfair advantage. We seem to have got to a point where, if ANY part of the striker is even the minutest distance past ANY part of the last man, it's ruled out. That's impossible for humans to judge and is often difficult using slow-motion replays too. It inevitably results in delays as the replays have to be scoured for infringements that are undetectable by the human eye.

Millwall 2-1 Preston North End Sunderland 2-0 Stoke City (joker) Cambridge United 1-1 Burton Albion Wigan Athletic 1-0 Stevenage Grimsby Town 1-2 Tranmere Rovers Swindon Town 1-1 Bradford City Hartlepool United 2-0 York City Oxford City 0-2 Ebbsfleet United

I used to be addicted to panto. But it's behind me now!

I agree, and it's not a good thing. I'd much rather that fans of Championship clubs could realistically dream about winning the title one day without having to be taken over by a billionaire first. However, times have changed and this makes it difficult to compare the eras. How far could Clough have taken the West Bridgford club if they had to overcome today's massive financial imbalance? Could he have built such a successful team if richer clubs were tempting them away after a year or two? We'll never know. By the same token, in the modern era some managers have hit their head on the financial glass ceiling. Would Alan Curbishley or David Moyes have been title winners in days gone by? Klopp has been on the wrong side of this financial divide in the past, it's where he built his reputation. He's not the best Liverpool manager, but he's a damn good one!

I'm interested in seeing how things go for him now. I'd like to see him do well, but he's had a rocky start and the Swansea board aren't known for their patience. In the NL he relied heavily on a free-scoring attack, but it didn't work quite so well in L2 and going gung-ho away to a Premier League club is insanity. That statement must have been an incredibly awkward one to make so early in his career there.

Oh dear, didn't he realise the Notts hot seat was already taken? Whoops. @Robbie you could use the financial power of the top six to talk down his success, but it's a double-edged sword. Liverpool's main competition for honours has been an absolute behemoth of a club with the spending power of an oil-rich state behind them, while Manchester United and Chelsea have fallen away completely despite all their spending. Klopp has managed three clubs in his career and is a legend at every one of them. He took Mainz into the Bundesliga for the first time in their history - they were a struggling second division outfit with crowds of about 5000 when he took over. That club wouldn't be where it is now if it weren't for him. As for Dortmund, people assume they were always successful but that isn't true. He took over a struggling team and turned them into title winners - they've won the Bundesliga five times, and two of them were under Klopp. And this against a Bayern side that spent twice as much money. It'll be interesting to see what he does next. I wouldn't bet against him taking over the German national team after the summer.

It's round 30 and the finish line is coming into view - here's your chance to top up your points! These fixtures all kick off at 3pm on Saturday, and remember those jokers! Millwall v Preston North End Sunderland v Stoke City Cambridge United v Burton Albion Wigan Athletic v Stevenage Grimsby Town v Tranmere Rovers Swindon Town v Bradford City Hartlepool United v York City Oxford City v Ebbsfleet United

He's an absolute quality player, the stats say it all. Even when we're having an off-day, one of his crosses can unlock a defence, it's like having Beckham in your team. This season we look a bit unbalanced in general, and in Jones and Nemane we have two wing-backs that would be more suitable as out-and-out wingers. That's a problem for the new head coach to solve, but IMO Jones is undroppable.

Play nicely please - I know better than most how emotive this is, but let's not get personal.

This does sound quite good, I'm optimistic about this signing. Really I was hoping for a leader at the back, someone with a bit of experience to organise the back line. Not sure we can really expect that of Warner, but he does sound promising. I'd still like to see one or two more come in. We're still paper thin in central midfield, and another option up front wouldn't hurt either.

He made big waves when he joined us, but from his point of view we were a side note in his career. He did mention that he always wanted to manage Liverpool, and plans might be afoot for him to coach their veterans in a charity match in March if he's well enough. Fingers crossed it happens, it would be a lovely gesture.

Clayton Blackmore went on to play for us when Sam Allardyce was manager. Obviously the highlight of his career!

This is really cool! I don't remember the modelling creator @Chris. You'll need a lot of lollipop sticks to make a replica Meadow Lane, but it's all for the sake of art

The results: Bristol City 1-1 Watford Norwich City 2-0 West Bromwich Albion Exeter City 0-0 Cambridge United Stevenage P-P Barnsley AFC Wimbledon P-P Crawley Town Barrow 1-3 Crewe Alexandra Eastleigh P-P Oldham Athletic Ebbsfleet United 0-1 Hartlepool United --- Drum roll for this week's winner, @Chris! @Chris - 8 @CliftonMagpie - 6 @super_ram - 5 @ARLukomski - 4 @Dan, @DangerousSausage - 3 @DonnyNotts, @Harry Buckley, @Joshua, @magpiejue, @TheSkipper - 2 @4everapie, @cheeky~k8, @gtownjohnno, @liampie, @Megan_Elizax, @william1984 - 1 @allardyces tash, @Fan of Big Tone, @nottsnutter - nul points --- @ARLukomski extends his lead, @super_ram gets a boost in the play-off race and @Harry Buckley joins the fight against relegation! ARLukomski - 157 gtownjohnno - 146 cheeky~k8 - 130 4everapie - 129 Fan of Big Tone - 124 super_ram - 122 william1984 - 122 DangerousSausage - 121 Dan - 117 magpiejue - 117 nottsnutter - 112 Chris - 104 Megan_Elizax - 103 liampie - 99 upthepies - 90 DonnyNotts - 87 Joshua - 82 allardyces tash - 67 KingWilliams - 66 TheSkipper - 60 CliftonMagpie - 55 thommo - 49 OoooooTommy - 45 NottsCountyKev - 41 JIMBO - 40 jimbob - 38 Nocturnal-Magpie - 38 AmericanPie - 36 KB1862 - 22 Robbie - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 Harry Buckley - 2 --- The next round is on Saturday, so expect the fixtures to appear on Wednesday. Thanks for playing and have a good week!

AFC Wimbledon's match has been postponed - @ARLukomski, @liampie and @cheeky~k8, feel free to pick another joker, provided you do it before kick-off. As for the rest of you, keep an eye on postponements before you make your predictions - it's likely there'll be more. You're free to change your jokers until kick-off time! Bristol City 1-2 Watford Norwich City 1-1 West Bromwich Albion Exeter City 2-1 Cambridge United Stevenage 0-2 Barnsley (joker) AFC Wimbledon P-P Crawley Town Barrow 2-2 Crewe Alexandra Eastleigh 1-3 Oldham Athletic Ebbsfleet United 0-1 Hartlepool United

This is terrible news, but the writing has been on the wall for a while - they've gambled heavily on winning promotion. Not a well-run club. They were liquidated in 1991 and 2008 and initially restarted at the same ground as Nuneaton Town. Their ground isn't even that old, but now it looks like it'll all be lost and they'll have to start from scratch completely. I went to their old ground once, Manor Park, there was a proper old-school stand behind one goal (on the left on the pic, taken from Wikipedia). This is a massive shame.

I've moved about a bit so you do tend to pick up second teams that way! Since I've lived in Germany it's been SV Waldhof Mannheim in the third division, who are having a really poor season. Before that I went to see Coventry City a few times when they played at Highfield Road, which was just a short walk away. I've been to the Ricoh as well but it's just not the same.

Welcome @Harry Buckley! Looking forward to seeing you on here

You're going to be basking in six whole degrees tomorrow! You can wear your shorts.

To be fair to him @Chris he scored more goals for Watford than Les Bradd scored for us. He was their talisman for years. I don't think his ability as a player is in question, but not every player is cut out to be a good manager. Sometimes you need to bite your lip if you want to inspire loyalty and trust in your players. Players need to channel their passion and emotion to the right place, and the manager should be an example. Deeney walked into a really difficult situation that many experienced managers would have struggled with, but he blew it. What a plank.

One manager who laid into his players was Giovanni Trapattoni when he was Bayern manager. This outburst features very broken German (with the grammar replicated in the English subtitles). He starts banging the table after about 1.30. Unlike Deeney, he didn't get the sack - they won the title!