BTW Chesterfield currently hammering Gateshead 5-0 who have been in the promotion frame all season and before tonight’s game were averaging two goals a game (only Barnet and Chesterfield have better attacks). Kind of puts into perspective our narrow win last Saturday - yes you can say it should have been a more resounding victory after what Coventry and Leeds did to opponents only a division below them but often FA Cup wins against lower league opposition are hard fought and Chesterfield could well be going straight through League 2 next season. They’re well on course to beat Wrexham’s massive total.
I'm glad because to be fair I am sick of hearing about Wrexham and the Disney connections. It's like the club feel like they have divine right to be noticed all of a sudden just because Ryan Renyolds has a big stake of the club. Yes they still have to win games and the like to get promoted, but the fact they have a Netflix documentry already? Their marketing team has gone crazy.
Not that I'm defending it or am much less repulsed, but in total fairness it's less like they have a Netflix doc 'already', and more like 'the Netflix doc is the emblematic cornerstone of why Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought the club, fundamentally'.
Generally one of my favourite away venues . Lots of memories mainly good although last season was a massive low. Really annoying it’s a midday kick off on a Sunday. Means I’ll be on the 07.34 from Tring ( no Southern service in the morning ) to get the pub for a 9.00 Am liquid breakfast !
That's pretty much the point though! Yes it's very early days to have a documentary - but the club gets paid for the documentary (likely a very good fee) which allows them to pump that money into wages/players. Reynolds and McElhanney being in it draws in casual viewers who then like the documentary (tbf I quite like it) and are likely to also pump money into the club through merch (the release of the first season saw a 600% increase in sales from their club shop!) and trips to the stadium - further increasing the money the club can spend. They're likely to rise through the ranks pretty quick as the money they're getting (their books showed a 404% increase in turnover) and the money they're pumping in (still made a £2m loss!) is insane for that level. The decisions they've made have all been pretty flawless as well, although they are chucking a lot of money around (a few players rumoured to be on 5k a week which is insane at that level), but that's not always a guarantee of success (see Everton, Man Utd etc). So basically it's a circle, club gets paid handsomely for the documentary + worldwide exposure > money goes back into the club on wages/transfer fees that should above their level > club moves up the ranks > club gets paid handsomely for the next series > repeat Ultimately it's a clever business model, but will be interesting to see what happens if they: A) have a couple of poor seasons - will the interest from the public still be there? B) reach a level where the money coming in from the series/sponsorships starts to become less significant compared to their rivals - for instance if they hit the Championship that money isn't going to go as far, especially if they're still forking out mega wages for players.
Indeed. To clarify, it’s on Disney+/FX not Netflix (unless there’s a new one) - and 50% of the programme is about the football team whilst the other 50% about the people of Wrexham and the community. Highlighting how run down all three of those things had become and how the improved fortunes of the football team is helping to improve the city. Something you’d think most Watford fans could relate to. Whilst the wider love-in by the media is a getting a bit much and I feel Reynolds specifically is overdoing the act these days, the ignorance over the documentary series needs correcting. It’s certainly not like those crappy Amazon shows about Arsenal and Spurs, which funnily enough no one moans about.
They're ******* non league. I don't care who they're beating, we should be smashing non league teams, especially at home
Yeah I wanted some coloured/stained glass effect. But it doesn’t work, so I got rid of the bottles a couple of months back.
That's because Arsenal and Spurs are GREAT FOOTBALL CLUBS, and we're all keen to learn something about them.
Quarter Pound of Rubbish, that's what we used to call them at school. I have nothing further to add, much like many of our players.
If it wasn't for the scum I think this lot would be the rivals for me. I can't stand their stadium where you can't sit down without taking the skin of your shin from the seat in front. Their wannabee Chelsea hooligan fans. They hate Chelsea but Chelsea could not give a monkeys about them. **** part of London and we very rarely seem to play well there. I'm still going to the game though!
The parts where the Hollywood R's start guilt-tripping about opposition fans being annoyed by their doping methods and perceived unearned arrogance over Wrexham's natural position, claiming they're against a working class community being on the up again, are laughable and insultingly disingenuous. However, a good deal of the episodes are genuinely fascinating and provide a brilliant insight into (as you say) life in left-behind communities, how lower league clubs work and what it's like to be a professional footballer in the lower leagues who will never earn millions or be 'famous', as well as the good and bad of being a football fan, what it can mean to people and give to them, as well as what it can take away. Whoever's actually responsible for the making of the documentary has done an unarguably brilliant job in that sense.
How old is the sofa. It has a lovely patina. Looks aniline to me. Hope we sign Chair next season. Should have gone for Eze when we were in the PL.
Rhyolite is a ghost town in Nevada and it has a house built entirely of bottles. I remember visiting it, but this was over 40 years ago, when it was used as a tourist type shop. Not sure if anybody lives there now.
I think it's probably the worst part of London to have a Football League team. The houses around the stadium are nice enough, there's the BBC TV Centre and Shepherd's Bush Market not far away (I've only been to it once but personally I thought while fun enough, there's a lot of disposable stuff and it's not a patch on Borough Market) but it's hard to think of any other redeeming features. When I visited there nearly three years ago (still haven't been to a game) it reminded me of the shabbier and poorer parts of Kensington, and indeed Grenfell Tower is not far away and also just south of Westway. Was quite disappointed because so much of the boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea is nice, even the area around Stamford Bridge though I rate Chelsea average at best as an away day. Even West Ham has the Olympic Park and the stadium looks impressive from the outside, and there's Hackney Wick nearby and walking by the River Lea. Not even been to Tottenham (changing at Tottenham Hale doesn't count) but looking at Google Maps even the area Spurs is in looks better, being more affluent and with some nice parks near the ground.
I think if QPR get relegated this season he will certainly leave. No chance he will want to play League One football next season. Even then we would be possibly a handful of clubs after him in the Summer window. I don't think he's PL quality but not many of the strikers in this division are, but he will almost certainly pick a side that would have the best chance of promotion to hopefully advance his career.
Hi Vic great preview, with that in mind (QPR V Watford at Loftus Road) I thought I would lighten the mood, with a few of my memories of earlier visits to such clashes. I will pre-curse the ramblings below with the point that I grew up in Middx (Ickenham to be precise) and spent most of my early years supporting Watford surrounded by QPR fans. My first visit was Nov 1969 evening game Div 2 (at that point only my fourth Watford away game) went with my Dad and sat in the recently opened South Africa Road stand upper tier (the stand had opened the previous season 1968/69 when QPR had one season in the old first division). As for the game we lost 2-1 (Endean scoring for us) and whilst I remember QPR scoring the winner with the very last kick of the game (absolute heartbreak to a 9 year old at the time) I always assumed it was Rodney Marsh who had scored their winner, in checking the WFC archives as you can these days, I discovered it was scored by Tony Hazel, which surprised me as it was a twenty odd yard piledriver, and back in those days defenders rarely scored, particularly long rang stunners. 11 months later I returned again to Loftus Road Oct 1970 Div 2, this time Saturday afternoon and again with Dad and also in the South Africa Road stand upper tier, this turned out better in terms of the score 1-1 draw, Ron Wigg scoring for us. 11 months later again me and Dad were back same stand to sit in Sept 1971 Sat pm, we got trounced 3-0 and from a vague memory we were pretty useless, as the rest of that season for us, turned out to be. On all three of these occasions (remember I was only young) I could hear the Watford fans singing (not too much on the 1971 visit) but could not see where they were, EG they were not in a large group behind the goal at the away end (School End Open Terrace for those that knew Loftus Road back in the day). I realise these days they were situated below us, and out of sight, in the South Africa Road stand as the lower tier back then was terracing, and for a short period was a popular area for away fans. Over the years I have seen WFC more times at Loftus Road than any other away ground, just to finish: One of my best memories was our FA Cup Jan 1980 2-1 win there, to that point probably the best WFC away team performance I had seen, made even better by the fact that it was during a time when the FA Cup really meant something to supporters.
Filling hot water bottles with just-boiled water makes me very nervous. Force of circumstance means I'm currently having to do this on a daily basis, with two bottles. Is there any way that I can assuage my own fears?
I only remembered Millwall just after I posted that and completely forgot about Charlton until your post. Charlton, like Palace is more meh than anything and the houses are pretty drab but it is roughly equidistant from Woolwich Common and the Thames (the Thames Barrier centre is well worth a visit) and has some nice smaller historical parks nearer by. Millwall, yes, is probably the best competitor against QPR for being in the worst part of London as Bermondsey is a ******** (as a keen Thames walker, it doesn’t give me much pleasure to have to stray well away from the river to walk among all those council blocks) but I find the area around the Den has more character than White City. I actually quite enjoyed my last trip to Millwall despite only going straight to the ground for the match and back; I like the view of the Docklands, the fact the Den is behind a railway and the way despite their modern appearance the surroundings still feel like a traditional East End area with working class football fans true to its docking heritage - that said I find the Den nicer looking than Loftus Road despite being the best part of a century younger. Obviously if you’re going to make a day of a game at Millwall best spend your time outside of the match elsewhere, but the same applies to QPR, which may not be the ugliest footballing area, but I just find it really nondescript.
Chair will attract a fee when he leaves with a number of clubs bidding. No way we will be signing him.
The National League to League 2 is not too much of a step up, but League 2 to League 1 is, if they get promoted it'll be a bit of a Land of the Giants which they'll do well to get out of quickly
