Portugal Owl

Did he travel away with the Worksop Owls and Kiveton Owls in the 80's? Or have I got the wrong bloke?

The last time I went to an away game at Middlesbrough was in the 80's when away fans were routinely treated like animals by the Police. Some were a bit more tolerant than others. But the Middlesbrough cops were absolutely awful. The Boro fans were ok. It was the cops that were the problem. That was the point at which I decided to give up going to away games. Been the odd time to away games in the past few years since and had no problems with the local Police at all.

Leeds have a squad fortified by parachute payments and stuffed with Premier League quality players. We have a team of mainly ageing League 1 and lower Championship quality players. We have a visionary young coach who has made our team play like a Championship team on the fringe of the Playoffs. We made a decent fist of it. We weren't humiliated but over the 90 minutes the gulf in class between us was obvious. As it was why Poveda couldn't get in their team, excellent though he is for us. I trust Danny implicitly to get the team selection and the tactical changes right. Far more than I trust myself or any of the other 'Owlstalk' experts. We made a decent fist of it last night. We weren't humiliated but over the 90 minutes the gulf in class between us was obvious. Tired legs and tired brains make mistakes. A team like Leeds will always punish you for that. I went to the game with hope not expectation. I came away disappointed but not deflated. We are in a relegation scrap and under Danny Röhl we can do it. It's going to be nail biting to the end. But at least we are in the scrap instead of being the dead certs to go down we were under Xisco.

Ever since I started watching Wednesday nearly 50 years ago there has been arguments about the price of tickets. Obviously whether you can afford a match ticket depends on your outgoings as much as income. It also depends on individual priorities. I reckon I have watched over 95% of home matches in the last 50 years plus a fair few away games. I have to confess I am addicted. Even though I know sometimes it does me more harm than good I have to keep going. Constantly hoping for a 'high'. Friday against Leeds for me holds the potential of one of the biggest highs of the season. While at the same time it can't plunge me anywhere near the lows of the 'Xisco' period. I've tried to conquer my addiction at times but I always got hooked again. For me watching Wednesday on TV is no substitute for the real thing. I suspect around 25 to 27 thousand people addicted to Wednesday are going to show up on Friday along with 3,000 plus addicted to Leeds. Our Danny will be pleased and I hope he believes it is all down to him. Which in truth much of it is. I sympathise with anyone who desperately wants to go but feels they simply can't afford it. I've been there myself several times in the past. I just hope they find the wherewithal somehow.

Looks like he has been sentenced. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13117945/QPR-footballer-Ilias-Chair-jailed.html

Watching the whole interview. Hearing him talking of his experience and what he learned with the German National team, Leipzig and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and Champions League, Southampton in the Premier League. Quite takes your breath away.

I guess all of us will be feeling a mixture of anger and despair. Something we need to share with each other. But bottom line is we need to find a way to save our club from extinction. Because that is what could happen. So somehow we need to channel our anger in ways to save the club I have loved for nearly fifty years. I care more about saving Sheffield Wednesday than I do about what happens to Chansiri. If I thought putting money in to pay the Taxman would save us I would do it. But even if it keeps us alive in the short term it won’t help in the long term. Without a doubt Chansiri has to go. But that on its own won’t save us. I have no idea anymore who we can look to for Leadership in all this. But as fans we need to unite around something more than just ‘Chansiri Out’. I just pray there are people out there with the knowledge and the clout to find us a solution. I am now too old and tired to do much other than to help in a small financial way. But if somebody comes up with something that looks like it might help save us I will do whatever I can to help them.

I don't know what is more dispiriting. Reading the predictions of doom on Owlstalk or actually watching it happen in front of me. After nearly half a century of supporting the Owls nothing should surprise me anymore. But it still occasionally does. So maybe this season will turn out to be way better than it looks right now. Or maybe it will be yet another one of crushing disappointment. Neither will surprise me.

I really don't understand why there is such a vitriolic Barnsley Forum thread about yesterday's victory Parade. I didn't get any feeling of such animosity from Barnsley fans at Wembley. Six big fat beer swillers muttered something about "smell of pig poo" when I walked by them coming out of Wembley Central. But other than that no problem. I'm sure the majority of Barnsley fans were as gutted as I would have been to have lost with the last kick of the game. But usually you cry in to your beer then get on with it. Which I guess most Barnsley fans will do. But there seems a significant hardcore consumed with hatred which I find really weird.

Whether we older fans like it or not the 'extravagant' celebrations of scoring a goal will continue. It probably reflects the fact that men now feel able to show their emotions more openly than they did in the past. Personally I don't have a problem with it. If I was jumping up and down like a loony when the Vaulks 'Offside' goal and the Windass last minute clincher went in why shouldn't the team and coaching staff do the same?

That was embarrassingly bad. No player comes out of that with the right to do anything except hang their heads in shame. Diabolical.

Sadly he died in 2009 aged just 61.

https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2023-02-06/watching-your-sides-table-topping-win-as-a-ball-boy

Game management during the extra time was little short of amazing. Loved the way the league table with us top and Plymouth second appeared on the Big Screen within less than a minute of the final whistle. Must have really peed of the Plymouth fans as well as their team and their manager.

Will be setting off shortly and looking forward to that special tingle as I approach the stadium and see the 'hordes' heading towards it. I obviously want to come away elated but who knows what the result will be. Whatever it is we know promotion wont be either won or lost today. I want to see a rip roaring game with us coming out on top. But will settle for a turgid, scrappy, affair if it brings victory. On a slightly negative note I was browsing a Plymouth forum and some of their fans going up to the game posted photos of tickets they had bought for the Kop. They were quickly taken down but without doubt there will be some Plymouth fans in the home end. I just hope it doesn't lead to any problems.